THE RULERS OF RISHABHAPRIYA

22

Bhargav's POV

Undoubtedly I was angry at her. Last night when she had agreed to stay with me and help out Janaki to make things right here, I did not want her to actually do it. I knew that my relationship with my parents had nothing to do with her and that I should be the one mending it. But her mere presence would have helped me a lot. Even if every single person here were the people I knew from my childhood, everyone felt like strangers. The side eyes, the loud clearing of throats and them treating me like a king and not the son of their house anymore made wonder if all this took just a few months.

I was asked to sit on a chair which I myself used to lay out for guests when I used to live here. The puja kept going on up to late afternoon even after the lunch making me wonder what the occasion was for the celebrations to be so long. I called Radhika who ran to me and sat on my lap to hug me tightly. "Did she not come? Hita?", she asked making me remember how she left me all alone here. I shook my head and asked her," Why is it taking so much time today, Radha? Any special occasion?", she knit her eyebrows and asked," Did they not tell you, bhaiyya?", I shook my head and asked what she was talking about. 

"They are searching for a groom for Janaki and that is why they are doing this puja to make sure no problems arise", I felt numb. I had lived with them all my life and as soon as something happened, they disowned me and did not even bother to inform me about such an important matter. I just nodded and looked back at my parents performing the puja. My mother glanced at me and smiled but I could say that she was hesitating about something. I put Radhika down and stood up making all eyes snap back at me. My parents too stood up and I knew they were doing all that just because of my rank in the kingdom.

"I don't have all day to sit here and keep looking at you people who do not consider me as your family anymore", Janaki tried to say something but I silenced her. "There is a threat for you all and that is because of me. I am here to request you to accompany me back to the palace", my father tilted his head to the side like he always had when he heard something he would never agree to. "Temporarily", I added making him look at me. "I know that this is very out of the blue and confusing to you all but now that our cousins and all of the family is here, we will have to leave with them. There may be anything we could never expect".

"We appreciate your concern, your majesty", my father started making me suck in a loud breath. I cut him off and said loudly," If you people do not agree to come with me to the palace, I will have to order you to do so as your king", I heard my mother gasp. The others in the chamber looked stunned too. They hadn't seen me using my authoritative voice ever and maybe that was why there were taken aback. I clapped twice and the attendees flooded into the chamber and bowed at me. "Help them in packing necessary thing for a few weeks' stay. I want them in the palace by the end of the night", they bowed at me and I walked out of the place I once called home. That was when I realized how much my life had changed. The burden of new responsibilities had blinded me from knowing the fact that my life would never go back to what it was. I sat in the chariot and it was already turning dark slowly by the time I reached the palace. 

I immediately walked to the training grounds as I needed some kind of distraction to vent my anger. I walked into the sword fighting area and heard sounds of clashing metals making me wonder who was practicing at this hour. I removed the silk shawl and picked up a sword from the rack. I saw her hair tied up in a bun and her swift movements made her uniform flair while she kept grunting and groaning. In one swift motion, she disarmed her opponent and he ran out of the ring fearing for his life. She screamed loudly making my steps halt. Something was wrong and I wasn't around when it happened. Unknowingly, the tip of my sword touched the ground and her head snapped towards mine. The hair on the front of her face was messy and flew with every breath she took.