THE RULERS OF RISHABHAPRIYA

12

Surabhi's POV

As soon as his eyes landed on me, he stood up in a swift motion scaring the kids and ran towards me. "Save me, Pranahita", he said bringing a weird feeling in my insides when he called me by my name. "Huh?", I was confused. "You were appointed by Guruji to protect me. Save me from them", he said and stood behind me as if he was using me as a human shield. I looked back at him and gave him an are-you-serious look making him look away but he did not move one inch. I looked back at the kids and my eyes landed on Sourabh who stared at me as if he was figuring out something. 

"Who are you, lady?", he asked making me suck in a breath. "I am your aunt, you little pumpkin, who you got all that sass from", I wanted to say these words out loud but controlled myself and walked closer to the bed. "Is something wrong, Prince Sourabh?", I asked making him nod. "Yes, pwrincess Radhika here thinks her bwrother is better than my father and my Adi mama", he said in a baby accent. I chuckled and said, "Well you are right, prince. Maharaj Vallabh and Maharaj Aditya are indeed stronger than our Maharaj here". Suddenly, Maharaj pulled on my elbow and made me turn toward himself. "What? What did you just say?", he asked in an angry tone. 

"The truth, Maharaj. Both the king of Vajrasiri and the king of Ratnagarbha are kshatriyas. They include meat in their diets to stay strong. But you, on the other hand, are a brahmin and do not eat meat making you weaker than them in some percentages", he looked shocked as his full lips parted slowly and he shook his head before he started," We do not need to eat meat to stay muscular. The mightiest one in the whole world Lord Hanuman ate no meat. Did he not lift the Sanjeevini mountain? If I want to I can grow bigger muscles too. I'm just not prioritizing it right now".

"Oh okay. But most women like their men strong and muscular irrespective of which caste they belong to. So...", I said and looked back at the kids smiling evilly. Suddenly, an attendee came to inform that Sourabh's mother was looking for him and he left with the attendee. Another attendee walked in before the former left and informed that the chariot for Radhika was ready to take her to her parents for a few days. She hugged us both and left. I turned around to leave when he interrupted me," So, you like big, muscular men", I smiled to myself and turned around to say," Most of us do. But don't worry. There may be a few girls who would like you like this. There is no need to lose hope".

He cocked his head to a side and inhaled loudly and took a step towards me. Unknowingly, my hands had fisted on the pants I was wearing and my breathing had gotten a little heavier looking at him towering over me. "Are you ready for the challenge then?", he asked making me lift my head up asking him what he was talking about. "You said I was not as strong as Maharaj Vallabh. He is right here in the palace. How about a fight?", he asked making me cross my arms across my chest. "You have no idea how well trained he is. Don't break this nose of yours just to prove me wrong", I moved to walk away but he pulled me back, making me crash against his chest and whispered in a deep, low voice," Are you scared I will defeat this new friend of yours?", I knitted my eyebrows in confusion. 

"I saw you with him. In the balcony. While he poured his heart out in front of you. You were so engrossed in looking into his eyes that you did not see me watching you both in a safe distance", he sounded slightly angry and for some unknown reason it felt very satisfying. I felt his chest rising with each breath against mine and his ears had turned red showing how his body reacted to anger. "What did you hear?", I asked slightly scared that he had heard our conversation. "I did not listen to what ever shit you were talking about because I do not care about it. But tonight, Pranahita", his hold tightened making me soft moan from the pain he was inflicting on my wrists and scrunch up my nose in frustration," I will invite him for a fight. Let us see who wins. But there should be a reward for me if I win", he said.

"Reward?", I asked. He hummed as his gaze fell on my lips making me squirm in his tight hold. "I want you to obey everything I say for a whole week like a good girl if I win", he said making me shake away from his hold. "Are you mad?", I asked ignoring thousands of butterflies which were having a party in my stomach for what he had called me. "If you say no to this, I will take you to the queen of Vajrasiri and tell her that I saw you with her husband", he said making me stunned. "You are crazy. Go do whatever you want to. Don't drag me into all this nonsense", I turned around to leave. I had placed just one step out of his chamber when I felt him grab on my wrist and pull me with him. 

"What are you doing, Maharaj?", I yelled making him stop and turn around to look at me. "Taking you to Maharani Padmini because you rejected my challenge". I was angry now. How dare he push me into a tight corner like that? But there was nothing to lose by saying no. Jija ji had always been a very strong warrior. He would leave Adi Bhaiyya panting and sweating by the time their fight ended. He was new to all this and I was sure he would be defeated in just a few minutes into the fight. I said," Alright, challenge accepted. If you win, I will obey your every order for one whole week. But if you lose, you will obey me. For a week. Anything I say", he looked smirking for a few moments and then said," Ok. See you in the grounds in the evening", he said and walked back to his chamber.

I walked back to my chamber thinking about what I had just said. Moreover, why did he want me to obey him? I was already his guard. What else did he need? What if he wanted me to clean his bathroom? What if he wanted me to do something more gross? Like cleaning the stables or doing the dishes? How would I do that? I shook my head to stop with the overthinking and quickly took a refreshing bath and drank the minty juice that the doctor had suggested me to drink every day to heal the wounds in my body. After I finished it, I walked out of my chamber towards the royal library. I went to find it completely empty and the attendees were shocked to see me there. I put my head down and walked to the inner most part to find the book I was searching for. 

I wanted to do some research about this queen who lived 700 years ago here who looked exactly like me. I had decided to leave Rishabhapriya if whatever Guruji had told me had turned out to be untrue. I found an aisle named History of Rishabhapriya and I walked in to find many old books with thick spines. I looked at the first book when had a male king's name. Maharaja Jairaj - The king who made the impossible possible. I realized he was a very important person for the kingdom and took it out of the shelf to read it. He was believed to live a 1000 years ago making me close the book and keep it back to the shelf realizing he wasn't around when the queen had cursed the kingdom. 

I moved deeper in the small space between two huge racks filled with shelves carrying countless books and my eyes kept scanning for a book that was dated around 700 years ago. At that moment, my eyes landed on a book named The Great Queens Of Rishabhapriya. I took out the book from its rack and sat down on a nearby desk to read it. I opened the first page to find a list of authors who all had the same surname making me believe that the people of one certain family were documenting everything that was happening at their time by the queens. I scanned through the first few pages and skipped reading about the queens who were older than the queen I had in my mind. 

There were images of each queen before their chapter began. It was a huge book and a lot of pages in the end were left empty. I observed that and then moved to the next page. That was when my eyes laded on the next queen. Maharani Sri Durga.

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How do I end up thinking about such powerful name for each character?

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❤️AISHWARYA❤️