Dark Knight [A Wattpad Featured Story]

Chapter 1: Angels & Demons

"And that is Siya." explained Padmavati to a silently disapproving Suchitra who had decided notions of how young princesses should behave, and falling out of carriages with unseemly haste and openly laughing did not fit into those she deemed acceptable. At the same time, the other occupant of the carriage dismounted. Siya fussed over the rather frail but elegant looking lady alighting with the help of a cane. The contrast between Vijaya and Padmavati Udawat was apparent for all to see. Vijaya could not boast of the overt loveliness of her husband's younger wife, but what she lacked in conventional good looks, she made up for in presence. Despite her disability, she stood proud, her lineage to the famed Sisodhia line traceable in her bearing, as was the innate grace that women born to such pedigree often seem imbued with. She had fine eyes and an intelligent countenance, as well as a serenity radiating off her. Now Suchitra could clearly see the stamp both Keerti and Siya carried of their birth mothers, irrespective of the bonds that had been created through upbringing.

For the exuberant Siya may have lacked the refinement of her younger half sibling, but was certainly blessed with an ethereal loveliness that would exert the same sort of allure, especially to the opposite sex, that her mother too projected. Her smile lit up her elfin face and she had a sylph-like aura about her, compared to the cherubic features of her sister, who seemed to somewhat pale in comparison for want of that animated spark that denoted her one year elder half sister. At twenty-one, Siya was slight but very comely, with long dark hair that rippled down her back and beautifully expressive eyes that dominated the perfect oval of her face, offset by her slightly pointed chin. Suchitra absorbed all this with interest, noting how indulgently Vijaya smiled at Siya as she adjusted her shawl around her shoulders and took her arm, and how she shot a stern glance at Keerti who delayed in helping.

Suchitra was glad that it was Keerti who was soon to be betrothed to her spoilt princeling, and not the feisty Siya. Not that there had been any chance of the haughty Shekhawats seeking the hand of the daughter of a second wife, always tainted with unsavoury gossip about her love affair with her now husband, which was only legitimised years later. However, Padmavati was very much an official part of Jaswant Singh's life and family, as was her daughter, which Suchitra had no conflict with as long as she could ensure that the more desirable match was made for her precious younger son.

A pair of eyes followed the hectic activity in the vast courtyard below from their vantage point of the lower west wing tower, from behind the room with the bars, which to the discerning marked the chamber for what is was- a homelier version of a makeshift prison for family members or house guests who could not be confined to the dungeons. They took in the arrival of the guests, noting even from there, the idiosyncrasies that those greeting them observed at close quarters. The sound carried up to the relatively low floor where he was housed, and at hearing Keerti introduced, Aaryan smirked at how meek Raunak's intended fiancée looked. "Exactly the opposite of what attracts my dear brother" he thought with amused satisfaction. He found his eyes flitting back to the other girl, the one they called Siya, as she darted about in a constant state of curious activity, looking around her new surroundings with lively interest.

"I wish these pesky people hadn't come. But I am bored, and it may be fun to meddle in my beloved cousin's love life, although looking at his bride, I doubt there is much mischief I can stir. She seems the very obedient type and will probably not move from the shadow of her parents. I just wish the news I am waiting for comes soon, but then again, even if it does, I am no further in finding a way to get what I need and leaving this cage. Perhaps one of these new arrivals? But no, I can't imagine they can. How much pleasure it would have given me to destroy any match for Raunak but with this one, I cannot see that he will particularly mind, although who knows? I wish that dratted girl would stop flitting around, she's distracting me!"

Just at that moment, as if his voice had carried to her, Siya suddenly looked up, her eyes unerringly finding him, despite the shadows in that part of the building. They both froze and despite the distance, it seemed as if an odd force compelled them to lock startled gazes. It was far away enough not to pick up individual details of face or features, but something elemental gripped them. Siya could see a tall man, he was shrouded by darkness from the room behind him but his angular jaw and fiercely blazing eyes were in glaring contrast to the mellow visage of the majestic Palace in the background. She could see him through the bars; the sun shining behind her but casting a diffused light all around the building, making him visible enough. He seemed to be in a forbidding cage of black steel-framed bars. To her fanciful imagination, he resembled a captured angel from the dark side, grim and forbidding but starkly beautiful. To Aaryan, she was framed with the sun behind her, casting its bright glow and catching the little mirrors in her brightly coloured "lehengha", making her sparkle like little pinpoints of dancing white and gold light. She was all that was bright and happy and lacking in his life. He hated her in that moment. She signified all that he had lost. Something of the intensity of his unfathomable emotions must have translated over to her, causing her to shudder in wide-eyed dread, and breaking their inexplicable trance. Aaryan hurriedly stepped back into the gloom of the room, and away from her staring gaze.

* The term Saamvant here is used to denote a lesser ruler than the Rana. The term can span a range of functions and positions of power but effectively could denote, I believe, chieftains in the time of the Rajputana rulers who could command clusters of villages and the number of these could vary widely, ranging from say a hundered to many thousands, depending on the rank of the Saamvant in question. As with many aspects of this story, I have used it to build up the story background to show that the Udawats were subordinate to the Shekhawats, despite being allies.