(Book 6) Hayden Mackay and The Third-Eye of the Pancharatna

37.1. The King's Counsel

I resolutely blinked back my tears and kept watching the fire in mute horror when the sound of the light footsteps came pouring in through the doorway. "Hayden?" Nazira called.

I pressed my eyes shut and turned my head to the other side, unable to look into her eyes. Her voice in my head was painful. She was yet to know about Pruthvi. And about Shourya. God! These whole a bunch of half-truths and falsehoods...our cognitive goal to build the relationship wiser seemed to get weaker by the minute.

"Ashwant's moving King Aghasthya to Daulat Haat for last rites," she said. "Don't you want to say final goodbye?"

Leena let out another wail of anguish, and Nazira was deprived of listening to her friend howling and shedding the river of despair. It was as though I was surrounded by a nightmare of a hellish atmosphere. Bile rose in my throat. I gulped it down. It was like a razor blade.

"You weren't this way even when Doctor died," she said. "So calm and distant. Hayden...you're scaring me a little."

I sighed, and bit my lip covering my mouth with a clenched fist.

"Didn't you say there shall be no more secrets between us? But you seem to be keeping a lot lately. What's the matter? Please talk to me. Perhaps I can help."

I did ask for your help, but you shot me down. 

"Fine," she said when I stayed undeterred. "Where is Pruthvi? Tell me he's out scouting or doing something nonsense while a King is on his way for cremation. Just tell me he's okay and I'll leave you alone."

Memories of Pruthvi crashed over me like a tidal wave. Leena wailed and shouted and pounded stuff to the floor. Unable to bear the pressure coming from inside the room, I pulled myself to my feet and turned to face her. "You tell me. Make it simple for me, okay? Nazia, what is the one thing that you love the most?"

She gaped, reading my expression or rather powering her magic to get into my brain. Then her features relaxed, eyes a tad suspicious when she said, "This country."

I smiled forlornly, still listening to the cries and the yells. It was hard to keep my face straight, and not show the miserableness of my heart. "You have a heart of a queen," I said. "You're a total queen. You've shown great wisdom and modesty by letting go of your friends once for the sake of this country. Nazira, will you be able to do it again?"

Her eyes widened in total fear, a flare of sudden overwhelming emotion to which she could only whisper, with every word spoken with glutaral rasp. Dark kohl began to resurface. "Where is my brother? Hayden, is it about my brother or Shourya? Please be honest. Please."

Evidently, she was using her magic and now that I was certain, I did feel a sharp sting inside my head, like a hot pin-prick. Stop, please stop. It will only hurt you more. I gasped and looked away, wishing to unfreeze myself and hug her, rest my head on her lap, feel the stroke of her hand against my hair, and listen to her say that everything will be okay in the end.

More footsteps echoed. The fireplace threw a long and a short shadow at an odd angle across the floor. Tyrell and Celina appeared. The already pressured atmosphere turned increasingly acrimonious with their presence. Celina pulled Nazira away, whispering something, moving her lips so that only Nazira could read with perfection. She glared at Celina but did not freak out the way I had anticipated. Her sharp glare encroached upon the edges of my vision and she hurriedly walked away towards Lithika's room leaving me alone with my friends.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Tyrell walk over and  I braced for a hostile reaction. "She deserves to know the truth," he said, words slurred out his mouth as though he had just been done with desolate sobbing. "You cannot do this to her. We cremated her guardian without even letting her see him one last time and her brother is on death peril."