Dark Knight [A Wattpad Featured Story]

Chapter 11: Desert Blooms (Part 2)

The hours saw no emergence of the stubborn princess from her self-made fortress. The prince who had stormed countless castles was rendered powerless before an unarmed delicate beauty, and felt more helpless before that shut door and the silent Haveli, than he had before the finest strongholds. Aaryan told himself that she could sulk all she liked, he would hold firm and eventually she would come out. His anger had long ebbed away; the realisation that he had been wrong weighed heavily on him and as much as he resented it, he missed her laughter and smiles, her automatic humming as she had prepared food, her sparkling repartee to his quick wit. He was also conscious that just as his stomach growled for food, she must be hungry too. He had access to the kitchen and despite joking about it being her role to cook, they both knew that one his soldier's life made him able to fix a quick meal with basic supplies. However, he could no more imagine eating whilst she stayed angry and upset, than he could abandoning her like she thought he had done earlier.

How she managed to have this effect on him, Aaryan had no idea, but being around her was like being caught up in a spinning whirlpool. His guilt at her situation, as well as for what he had done to her, warred endlessly with the pleasure her company gave him. This was only complicated by the attraction he felt, which he was experienced enough to know went way beyond the friendship they termed it. Aaryan knew he had to coax her out somehow. She was as headstrong as he was, and this battle of wills would have to be ended by the person who caused the fracture to their truce - himself. His long legs made short work of the stairs, and he tried again to reason with her outside her barred door. No reply came from within but he knew with a bone-deep certainty that she was listening to him. Suddenly, Aaryan had an idea and he walked away from the door.

Siya wondered why Aaryan had stopped talking so abruptly. She intently listened each time he tried to convince her to open the door, contemptuously dismissing his forceful demands. When he tried the angle of needing food, it made her even more mad, as hunger was indeed gnawing at her, making her crankier, as did the realisation that he had the kitchen within easy reach and may have already feasted, whilst she was forced to languish here. It made it worse that she wanted to be back downstairs, inconveniently remembering their laughter from the day before, and how he amused her with his stories, how his gaze had made her feel warm and somehow comforted, keeping away her gloomy thoughts. The past few days had made her see Aaryan in an entirely new light. Her initial searing anger at him had faded, her innate sense of fairness and practicality making her well aware that whilst he had played her false, it had been entirely different from what her sibling had done. He owed her nothing. She was a stranger to him and whatever his reasons were, and however wrong or otherwise, he was clearly driven by something bigger. Also, she knew it was him that had saved her that day from that awful assault. Neither of them had spoken of it, but she knew she was not mistaken. Then there was the inescapable knowledge that he had not killed her. He could have, and her sister had intended him to. But she had since recalled that night multiple times and his behaviour, whilst still puzzling, meant that she was alive today. Siya increasingly wondered if it could be that Aaryan was innocent but that was a conundrum she could not solve, so she kept skirting around it. She paced her room once more; the walls seemed to be closing in on her and she was desperately bored. Trying to fight the feeling of dim claustrophobia, she longed to get out, but could not risk it for fear of losing face before him.

When she heard his voice outside her window, she tried to stop herself from running there at once. She heard Veer's whinny as if supplementing his infernal master's yelling. The next instant something hit the carved wooden shutters of the windows she had shut earlier. A series of sharp rapping noises made her throw open the blinds, when a small pebble almost hit her, missing her by inches. She sprang back in shock with a yelp, as Aaryan shouted out.