Shadow and Light

30

Author

The next morning, the moment Adwith woke up the three of them had an informal meeting in the King's study.

The King, the Queen, and the lover.

All of them in the same room, wondering how, in such tight security was somebody eating at the same table as them was poisoned.

"I still don't understand how this was carried out" Adwith said, "What was the last thing that she ate?" the King questioned, "Well, she ate the potato vegetable and she found it quite spicy" Adwith answered, Ada looked at him with shot up eyebrows, with judgement in her eyes, "What?" he asked her, she shook her head, a sly smirk on her face.

"Well, the last thing that she drank was the lassi" she answered, all of them fell silent a realization dawning over them, "You...you were the one...who gave that to her" Adwith said pointing towards her, her eyes widened, the colour of her face drained, "I...I didn't do anything" she clarified, she looked at her husband, request in her eyes, "Ranvijay...I didn't do anything. Why would I poison my only friend?" she countered, "If you didn't do anything why are you getting so worked up?" Ranvijay asked her, she sat on the chair kept beside her, "Because I don't know, I was previously the renowned killer that struck terror in your kingdom" she said in evident sarcasm, "You need to calm down" Ranvijay said, Adwith was following their conversation but he had already made his mind over who had done this crime.

He went up to her, a dagger emerged in his hand his face red from anger, but before he could push the dagger inside her body, his big brother stopped his hand, "What do you think you are doing?" He yelled at him, Ada sat there, still as a rock, "I made you my sister and this is what you did?" Adwith yelled, "I didn't do anything" she yelled louder, "Both of you fucking calm down" Ranvijay screamed, they both shut their mouths and looked at the king.

"You can't accuse her without any evidence" Ranvijay said while looking at his brother, "And you are not guilty until proven otherwise" he told his wife.

They both nodded and Adwith went and sat on the chair kept in the far corner, "Adwith, I wouldn't ever do that to her" Ada told her brother, he closed his eyes and nodded.

"She's...too precious" he replied, "For me as well" she told him and they both went into a state of gloom.

"I am going to...find out who did this" Ranvijay said and walked out of the room.

The king had ordered everyone to assemble together, everyone was going to be subjected to the king's wrath.

Ranvijay sat on his throne his eyes dark, staring at every single one of the people who worked in his palace.

"Who was in-charge of the kitchen?" the king shouted, "The...the queen your highness" one of the chef's responded, "but...but she had taken a leave for the day and had told us to make whatever you wanted" another added, all of them were terrified but their king was assured that they were telling the truth, no one would want to go against Maharaj Ranvijay Singh.

"Who was the last person that handled the tray containing the poisoned beverage?" the King questioned again, "The kitchen was in a rush your highness, everyone was in a hurry to do something" The head chef replied, "So you don't remember who took the tray from you?" the king's voice took a deeper tone, "I remember giving to a woman, I remember seeing green and red bangles on her hand" the head chef answered, "But the lassi was served to us by a male servant" the king countered, "That would only mean one thing your highness that that woman was the one who poisoned it or the man who served it to you" the chef's wife who worked with him answered.

The King pondered on their statements after some thought he dismissed court but ordered everyone to remain in the kingdom and told them they were not allowed to leave until this matter is solved.