𝕊𝔼𝕍𝔼ℕ 𝕀ℕ 𝔸 𝕎𝕆ℝ𝕃𝔻 {𝙼𝙰𝙷𝙰𝙱𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙰𝚃 𝚃𝙸𝙼𝙴 𝚃𝚁𝙰𝚅𝙴𝙻}

80. A fire is no one's slave.

" Sagarika! " I heard an agitated mumble, rounding off to see my husband standing up, limping as he moved towards me.

" Yudhishthir! " I rushed to him, a hand around his waist to hold him steady.

"Why? You could not have waited? "

" For you to die! "

" For me to stand up, I will never let you embarass yourself, least of all this way that -"

"Dasi Sagarika, move away from Yudhishthir. " Duryodhan called.

" Yuvraj! My first duty is to my husband! Not you! I may have bet upon myself, but that doesn't give you the right to order me to abandon my priorities! " I said, deadly calm, without looking back.

" Dadi! Is this how you talk to your master? You dare to talk back to him? " He seethed, moving to me, when I felt five men standing in front of me.

" Our bhabhishree may have bet upon herself, our Jyeshth may be injured, far too much to support her, but she still has five brothers, six if you count her own. Move back Yuvraj. " Nakul threatened, a sword near his throat as Duryodhan visibly cowered.

" We are leaving here, this place has harmed our king. Palace or not, no one can steal his magnanimity. You may strip his crown, his jewels, but you can't strip his nobility. The kingdom still considers Yudhishthir as the king and and no one can defy that. " Jyeshth Karn said, as Nakul and Sahdev walked ahead, holding Yudhishthir as they tried to heal his injuries with what they had, which wasn't much but he would survive.

"But your bhabhishree is now my dasi. Leave pandu putron, but she stays here. "

"No. She -doesn't. Come. " My husband mumbled , panting.

"Hey, shh. It's alright. I'll be fine. I have my flame, I have Panchali, Pitamah, Guru Dron. They're all here right? I promise I'll come back soon. " I whispered to him as he dropped on his knees again, exhaustion taking it's toll.

" But bhabhishree-"

"Heal him first. " I said, warning them off as they nodded, sighing as they slowly walked out of the sabha.

" Now, Sagarika -"

" Gandharaj, either you choose to disregard my words or you blatantly avoid facing me out of fear. Didn't I tell you, I may have lost myself to you, but it doesn't mean I'm going to be your call dog or your puppet. " I said calmly, while Duryodhan stood up, moving close to me.

"What was it you said to me the other day? You're the Samragyi, you are in power. You ordered me to surrender my weapons. Now, I am the one with the authority, the one with the power. So... What shall we ask you to surrender? " He asked, taking a round around me.

One hand reached out to my hair as I flinched away from his touch... Just a few more minutes of his idiocy and then I'll leave, leave to see my injured husband. I can do that. Right?

"Your hair? But you don't seem the kind who cares about that, no. You know it can be grown back, you couldn't care less.. What about jewelry, " He mumbled, hand running up and down my arms as he felt the gold armbands.

Grinding my teeth, I looked ahead.

" I have a better plan. Want to know? " He whispered suddenly, next to my ear.

" Do it then I can leave you stupid arse. I'm not responsible for whatever the heck you want to do. " I growled, looking at him.

Panchali looked furious, sitting in the balcony. Mata and Maharani had left earlier, way before the game began.

" Oh? Alright then. Come on. Take it off." He said, hand finally resting on my shoulder.

"What."

"Take it off, your saree. " He concluded and agitation surrounded the sabha.