Shadow and Light

32

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The Light

I had opened up to her, relived those treacherous memories of my past just because she asked me about it. And now she slept in my arms, our breathing synced.

I had said sorry to her so many times in my mind while I was running to come here, and the constant thought of her not forgiving me was eating away at my conscious, but I was unconsciously apologizing for that one reason that she doesn't know herself.

She was broken in a million pieces, and for the past 15 years she had lost most of her pieces, and so did I. She was as broken as I was, and maybe that was one of the reasons as to why she wasn't meant to be mine. Because broken glass mixed with broken glass can only cut your hands.

I woke up, with her still snuggled inside the crook of my neck, come stray hair on her face, I stared at her and slowly I saw her smile, "Like what you see?" she asked, I opened my mouth and blinked a few times, "You are awake?" I asked, "Yes" she said, "For a while now" she added.

"You finally got your revenge?" I asked, she stood up from my side, my heart cried from the lack of warmth that I had now, "Yes" she smiled and rubbed her eyes, she wasn't wearing her dupatta, so I could see her scars on the back and her waist. "You should go get ready King, you have a court to attend" she said while picking up her dupatta from the ground and walking towards the common room to select her lehenga for the day.

"But I don't want to hold court today Little Killer" I told her, "Really? What do you want to do?" she asked, "Stay in bed. With you" I said, she walked in the room and put her hands on the side of her waist, "Careful King, I might think you are falling for me" she smirked, "A man's need has nothing to do with falling for a woman" I smirked back, she threw a pillow at me, "Watch your words, don't forget you are still a King" she told me, "I can never forget that, nobody lets me" I said.

"Tsk, stop being so negative about everything and tell me which one I should wear" she said creasing her forehead, I nodded and walked behind her, looking at the meticulous selection made by her servants, I was actually impressed, all of the dresses were beautiful and expensive.

"This one" I said, while handing her a navy blue lehenga that I had seen in the merchant's collection. The dye for this lehenga was brought in from Arab, the cost of importing this dress was more than its cost of making.

"Also, I have something for you" I said walking towards the cabinet and taking out a wooden box, "What is this?" she asked, "One of my allied kings sent this in as a wedding gift for you" I explained, she took the box and her eyes widened, "Is this..." "Sapphire stones, yes" I nodded.

The necklace had a beautiful sapphire stone and multiple diamonds studded in it, it wasn't just a wedding gift, it was also a show of wealth from the King of Anga. I had gladly accepted it.

She took the necklace and placed it in front of her neck and looked in the mirror, "its so beautiful" she stated, I was looking at her when I said, "So beautiful" she looked at me and my eyes diverted to the necklace, "I mean the necklace, its beautiful indeed" I cleared my throat and her eyebrows shot up.

"I am going to wear this today, goes well with my Lehenga" she said and skipped towards the bathing chambers all excited about her new necklace. Oh! If she only knew I could get her 1000 more such necklaces if she asked me, if only she asked me. I smiled thinking about her and went to bathe myself, in a different chamber, unfortunately.

I had put on a navy-blue kurta, trying to match my queen, she walked in the court, the necklace adorning her neck, she had spark in her eyes when she saw. She stared for a second and then gave a slight bow, I was surprised as she had never done this before, but I bowed back to her.