King of Hearts and Queen of Swords✔️

Chapter Two

The night passed in a blur. Mahendra and Avantika lay in a tangled mess of arms and legs, holding each other. They spoke for hours. But a lot had been left unsaid. 

The noise of a distant rooster crowing on a rooftop assailed Mahendra’s ears. He stirred slowly and looked beside at the beautiful apparition who lay in his arms. Her eyes looked peaceful and her cheeks were overspread as though she was trying to smile even in her sleep. He released himself from her grasp very slowly, taking care not to wake her up. 

Mahendra hastily scrawled a note while throwing sideways glances at the door. The maids would be coming in at any moment. Gossip, though usually harmless, could sometimes be very vicious and poisonous. He did not want Avantika to bear the brunt of that side of gossip. 

Ever since he became king, his life had not been his own. Everyone wanted a piece of their own out of him. Living up to everyone’s expectations when he had never even been groomed for that was mentally exhausting. He did not seem to have any privacy. There was a crowd. Always.

Last night had been special even though it had been stolen. He dropped down on his knees and beheld her sleeping form mentally committing every inch and every curve of her body to his memory.  One tendril of her hair was fluttering in the gentle morning breeze. He bit his lips as he tucked her hair behind her ear. He pressed a feather-light kiss on her forehead before he jumped out of the open window and was gone the way he came. 

Still half-asleep, Avantika's hands moved to her side to find the bump beside her missing. She woke up with a jerk. Her eyes searched for him all around the chamber before they landed on the note perched to the edge of the side table with a silver pitcher on top of it. 

Her eyes drank his words,

“When you wake up today, you will find me missing. But last night was real. Just as real to me as it was to you. Today, I will wait for you at the coronation. You add meaning to my life. I will talk to the Rajamata about us after the coronation. I might be the King to others but I am Me only to you. 

-Love Mahendra” 

Avantika stretched her arms as she rose up from the bed. She held the note close to her bosom. She reread it a couple of times more, savoring each and every single word before she folded it and kept it in a small rosewood casket within her trunk.

She bunched her hair up in a messy bun before she wetted a small piece of cloth and proceeded to wipe out all traces of their togetherness the previous night had left on her. She examined her appearance in the mirror. "Presentable enough", she sighed to herself.

The maids burst into the chamber just a second later, chattering away and bustling about as they proceeded to clean and dust the chamber, fill the intricately carved porcelain pots with water and light the lamps. The water had been heated for her bath had been filled in the bathroom. Sweet scented aromatic oils had been added to it.

Her bath paste of sandalwood, turmeric and gram flour had been mixed with rose water and kept ready in a bowl. The soap nuts for washing her hair had been crushed and boiled to form a soapy paste.

Avantika closed her eyes and relaxed in the luxury and opulence that surrounded her as the maids gave her a bath. She had to pinch herself to make sure she was not dreaming any of this after the hardships she had endured as a rebel warrior. It seemed surreal.

After the bath, the rest of the maids withdrew while a single maid remained behind to groom her and assist her in dressing.

"How would you like your hair done, Madam?" The maid asked.

"Do whatever looks nice and pleases you. I don't have any idea about these things", Avantika replied.

"I've spent three years grooming the ladies of the old king's harem. And moreover, you're so naturally beautiful. It shouldn't be difficult to think of something that will add more grace to your beauty", said the maid as she pursed her lips and proceeded to unentangle and deftly part Avantika's hair into strands with the peacock comb in her hand. She then proceeded to twist them this way and that into a braid while embedding pearls and gems in its various layers.

"But I heard that King Bhallaladeva and his Queen got separated a long time ago. Then these women..."

"Concubines and dancing women, Madam. There were hundreds of them.  They served King Bhallaladeva, the dead Prince, ministers, generals, high-ranking officials and nobles. All these great people wouldn't have known the names of half of these women, let alone remembering any of their faces in the morning. They don't stay loyal to one woman like us common folk. At least, that's the way I have always known."

The maid's lips trembled and her voice cracked when she mentioned the 'dead Prince' but it was wiped out the very next moment and her mask of blankness and impenetrability slipped back to replace the raw pain in her voice and facial expressions.

Avantika maintained a wary and distant approach towards the maid. She knew a mask when she saw one. The maid was definitely hiding something. She had to figure out what it was and decide if it was dangerous before letting her guard down.

The maid appeared to be of the same age as her. She would have been considered very beautiful, exotic even, had it not been for the glassy look in her eyes and the rather grim mould in which her lips were set.

"I am sure things will change now that the old rule is gone", Avantika replied.

The maid did not reply anything to this remark. She took a deep breath and continued to concentrate on the hairdo. "It's done. Shall I get your dress and jewelry for the coronation out of your trunk for you, Madam?"

"No,  I think I can manage all that on my own."

The maid looked hard at Avantika's trunk as though she had missed an opportunity. Avantika pondered what exactly the maid could want out of her trunk. The silence in the chamber was becoming heavier and oppressive with every passing second.

"Do you know where the rest of the warriors have been housed?" Avantika asked.

"I hear most of them have been allotted rooms in the West Wing. Only the women warriors have been given the East Wing. The royal family is staying in the South Wing I guess."

"You're smart. You know quite a lot around this place", Avantika casually remarked while training her narrowed eyes on the other woman. "Who are you?"

The woman stuttered and searched for words as though she had been caught, "What...do...you...mean?"

"I was asking your name?" Avantika cooly said.

"Shiva...I mean Dharini, Madam."

The maid bit her lips and hurriedly curtseyed before she left the room. Avantika waited for the door to completely close before she opened her trunk. She did not have a great many grand clothes to choose from.

Avantika's eyes fell upon her mother's pink and yellow silk wedding saree. She fingered its soft, golden border before she proceeded to place it over her shoulder and look at her reflection in the mirror.