The music being sung was hitting the drunk senses of the men celebrating the victorious return of Rajkumar Abhijit, the second prince of King Shatrujit. The younger brother of Shakrajit.
The celebration was presented by Shakra himself.
While most of the men were off with the prostitutes, Shakra sat listening to music.
"Anna, all this crazy setting you put together for me but you seem far from interested in entertaining yourself." Abhijit questioned.
"The rumours are true, Anna." The third son of the King, Ameyajit answered.
The King of Kalika Empire had 7 sons and two daughters. The eldest one was Shakrajit, the son of Patrani Amritakumari. The second son was Abhijit, the son of Rani Anvesha. The third one was Ameyajit, son of Rani Saatvika. Abhinavjit, and Rudrajit from two other queens, Rani Sukanya and Rani Soundarya respectively. Vikramjit and Kamaljit were born to two concubines. The youngest, Rudrajit was born only 5 years ago.
The two daughters were Aparajita, the daughter of Rani Anvesha, and Medhajita, the daughter of another queen.
While, almost all of them were half siblings to each other, they were tight knit group. All the brothers had given their complete loyalty to Shakrajit. None of them desired to take the throne. It was common knowledge that no one could be more capable than Rajkumar Shakrajit.
Rajkumari Aparajita was engaged to the son of one of the chieftains who ruled under the Kalika Empire as a vassal.
"Is that the rumour about Anna actually having a lover?" Abhijit asked.
Shakra laughed and then sighed. "I wouldn't be hovering around you little brats if she was my lover."
"Anna, a serious question though. How come you can charm several women from our Empire but still not charm away the younger one from Krishneri Kingdom?" Ameyajit asked.
"You can just go ahead and marry her then. Who would turn you down? We're after all an extremely powerful empire." Abhijit encouraged.
"We could form an alliance with Krishneri but the only thing King Gokul is more interested in is marrying off Princess Yuvika to Anna than the other one."
"You can technically take them both. Who is to object?"
"I'm not interested in the older one so it's just a futile attempt to deal with her. Not to mention she irritates me." Shakra answered.
"Good choice considering the fact that I had heard in whispers that the two Princesses don't really gel together." Aparajita commented softly. "You don't want a woman not gelling well with your lover. As far as I know, Queen Raashi doesn't treat the girl all too fair."
"At this point, I doubt Anna even thinks of any other girl." Medhajita pointed.
"What are you doing here? This is for adults." Shakra asked his 15-year-old sister.
"Yes and it is considered adult enough. Also, I wanted to have a short escape from the stuffy Anand Bhavan, so I sneaked into this celebration behind Akka." She shrugged her shoulders.
"I've heard that Maharaja is also looking for matches for you. His most considered option is Rajkumar Mahendra." Aparajita told her.
"Ugh not him. He's too haughty for my liking." Medhajita complained.
"I'm not really sure but little birds in your room have to chirp back to me that my youngest sister does have a certain disposition towards a certain close associate of mine." Shakra commented.
"Who the hell is he?" Ameya asked, suddenly the protective brother.
"Stop being a huffing bear and sit down. It's fine. If she does like someone then what's wrong? Anna isn't highly against it so surely he has considered if the person was even worthy of Medha." Aparajita shushed her elder brother. He glared at her for a moment but then gave up.
"But at least tell us who that donkey is." Ameya asked Shakra.
"This is all nonsense. Nothing but pure nonsense. Out of the one time I asked for a soldier to accompany me when I was visiting my friend, all these stories are coming up."
"Oh. Alright then. I'll ask Ishwar to go ahead and reach out to the girl who was speaking to him by the temple yesterday. I thought she was pretty much impressed with Ishwar but shooed him away from her because I thought you liked him. I guess I'll have to go find the girl now."
"What girl?" Medha scrunched up her nose.
The eldest brother and elder sister laughed at her. She huffed trying to retain the little bit of pride left in her.
"You're practically a child. How come you're moving into the household sphere just yet?" Ameya asked her.
"It's a natural process, Ameya. She's growing up. It's normal. Either it will fade away soon or it will take up ahead. In either case, she has every right to choose her husband. Just as much as Maharaja has the right to find a husband for her." Shakra answered.
"In any case, Anna. You need to be careful with Maharaja. You've crossed him thrice now. One with your plans to expand towards Krishneri. Two with you pulling stunts around the court by not paying attention to him and arriving late. Third time with killing Manjri. Don't push him too much. You know him." Aparajita pointed it out to him.
He sighed. "I would rather go off and spend the time joking around with the boys rather than sit in the meeting where we were discussing how they form an alliance with a Kingdom from the North by marriage. As if six weren't enough."
The celebration continued on and Shakra returned to the palace with Aparajita and Medhajita. Leaving them at the wing for all the Princesses and Queen, Shakra walked towards his own wing.
Ananda Bhavan, the royal women's wing, had sculpted arches, large gardens, carved pillars, and lavish rooms. The Bhavan was reserved for the women officially tied to the royal family by marriage or by birth.
On the way towards his own Palace, there was the temple for the Goddess Vishnujita Sri Mahalakshmi.
Shakra half-way always believed that his half-brother, though an illegitimate child of the King, would end up being a saint. Out of everyone, he was the one who was deeply attached to the Goddess. Shakra knew the number of poetries he had written in her honour.
Shakra smiled. "For all your devotion to her, why do you shy away from offering all of your palm leaves and their messages to her? She would maybe become pleased with us."
Kamaljit chuckled. "The society isn't always nice to a child born out of wedlock and that too the child of a concubine, Anna. You've been nice enough to accept me because our father and some of the ancestors ahead had killed off all the bastard children so that there is no competition to the throne. Not everyone's the same."
Shakra rolled his eyes. "They all may have committed fratricide out of political insecurity and jealousy but Amma Vishnujita doesn't have any kind of hatred or bitterness towards you for something that was a result of another man freely expressing his ability to procreate."
"Anna, that 'another man' is our father. The parent that we all share. I don't think society appreciates being rude to fathers."
Shakra sighed and put an arm around his younger brother's shoulder. He led the younger brother out of the wing before Rani Sukanya spotted the boy and it burned that wounded part of her soul again.
Kamaljit was born to Rani Sukanya's maid, Neelambari, who became the King's Concubine. Neelambari still regretted the momentary lapse of judgement on her part and betraying the newly wed bride of the King. Hence, the woman never ever left her chamber in the wing where the courtesans and concubines lived so she didn't ever come across the queen again.
Whenever Rani Sukanya saw Kamaljit, it reminded her of the stinging pain and she would often be a bit harsh at the boy. Shakra did his best to keep the younger brother away from his stepmother whose situation he could understand. That meant that Kamaljit didn't get to see temple where the Goddess lived even if he had deep devotion towards her. Hence, he never really entered the room or stood close enough look inside the room. Their father was hardly bothered about what the other sons did.
"I heard you held a celebration for Abhijit Anna." He asked.
"Yes. Surely not a celebration you would enjoy being a part of." Shakra answered with a chuckle. Kamaljit rolled his eyes.
"What is so great about being in complete lack of control of your senses?"
"You're a hermit. I don't expect you to understand." Shakra scoffed at his younger brother.
Abhinavjit was still in Gurukul at his maternal home.
Kamaljit and Vikramjit, by the nature of the relationship their mothers had with the King, didn't exactly go to the Gurukul along with the other Princes. They had a private tutor.
Although there were quite some troubles within the family, they put a great united front before the people. The people might be aware of and even criticize the King in private but they pretended otherwise in public.