Hey everyone!
Enjoy this new update! Don't forget to vote and comment to let me know what you think!! <3
Love,
Luckycharms <3
---
When Aaryan told me how horribly his discussion with Aaru went, I felt an understandable level of anxiety. Most of my anxiety stemmed from how unusual all of this was. It was so unusual for Aaru to be so... angry. He had always been so tame and calm.
Which was exactly why I was so upset.
Aaryan returned to the party with a straight face, making everyone think that it was all okay. Of course, I knew him better than most and I could see from his face that it had not gone well. Nevertheless, I didn't want to ruin Anbu's special day, so I pretended too.
According to everyone, including Anbu, Aaru had returned to his room to relax and clear his head, but then when Aaryan had a moment alone with me, he told me what really happened. We had sent General Sivakasi out to find him and make sure he was okay, but that was all we could do for now.
And from that moment on, time could not go any slower even if it tried.
When the celebrations were finally over, Aaryan, the children and I returned to our home in silence. I had a lot to say, but I did not want to get worked up in front of the children. However, it seemed that both Maya and Aathavan were worried themselves, with Aathavan deep in thought and Maya staring off at nothing.
When we got home, the first thing I did was go to the guards and ask them if Aaru had come home.
To my dismay, they said no.
I turned to Aaryan and looked at him as he let out a breath. "We have to go look for him."
Aaryan didn't argue with that. Instead, he turned and looked at the guards. "I'm assuming you haven't heard from General Sivakasi?"
After the men said no, I was surprised by Aathavan rushing down the stairs, dressed in his riding clothes. "I'll go look for him now," he said.
I was about to nod, but saw Maya rush down the stairs after him, her hair knotted up into a ponytail and already changed into trousers and a blouse. She was still wearing nearly all of her jewelry, but how she managed to get out of her sari so quickly, I would never know. "I'm going too."
"No," I said to her.
The girl scoffed at me. "Why?" she asked. "He is just as much my brother as he is his," she said, gesturing at Aathavan. "I'm going."
To be honest, I didn't have the energy to argue with her, and though I knew that me letting her leave in trousers was going to the talk of the century in the palace tomorrow, I decided not to care. "Fine. Go."
Within moments, the two got on horses and rode off to search for their youngest brother.
Aaryan had ordered the guards to go look for him as well, and turned to me. He stroked his short beard, an expression of worry on his face, before sighing. "I have a very bad feeling," he said to me, honestly.
I did too, but to be honest, I was hoping that Aaryan would feel otherwise and therefore make me feel better.
"Aarun has somehow managed to get into the head of our son from such a far distance."
"Do you think that Karthik has been manipulating him for longer than we think?"
"Of course he has," Aaryan responded. "I can't imagine he'd be so enraged from just one discussion. He isn't like that."
That was certainly true.
"Of course, part of this is my fault too," Aaryan sighed again. "I have not really done much to prove to him that Aarun was wrong."
"Let's not worry about that now," I said. "Let's find him and clear things up, as a family... maybe that will help."
Aaryan nodded. "I'll go look for him too, you stay here in case he comes home."
I nodded. Though I wanted to look for him too, Aaryan was right. He may come home on his own and I wanted to make sure someone was here when he did.
And maybe I could calm him down myself.
After Aaryan left, all I could do was pace back and forth near the door and hope that we were all just over exaggerating. I hoped that Aaruvinth wasn't as angry as we all thought he was.
I hoped this would just blow over.
Time seemed to pass slowly, and it didn't help that I was pretty much alone at home. Most of the staff had gone to join my family in searching for Aarun and the only people left were two guards to watch the home and to look out for me.
Hours passed, and night was almost over, with the moon making its way closer to the horizon. It was still dark, and very soon, it started to rain. To pour, actually, and somehow that made the night feel even darker. Though I was exhausted, I could not sleep because of my worry, and to be fair, I did not want to sleep. I didn't want to just sit here either.
And it was just as I was getting ready to go and look for him as well that I heard the two guards who stood at the door speak up.
"My Prince!" One called.
"Everyone has been out searching for you all night!"
My heart skipped as I turned and rushed out of my room and down the stairs, ecstatic at the sight of Aaruvinth. "Where have you been?" I shouted as I reached him. I pulled the boy into a hug despite the fact taht he was soaked because of the rain. Though he hugged me back, I did not fail to notice his stiffness. When I pulled away, I looked at him. "We've been worried sick, you know?" I continued. "Your father-"
"I'm leaving," the boy said, cutting me off.
I hesitated. "Leaving where?"
"Here."
My brows rose.
"I can't be here anymore."
Now I narrowed my eyes. "Don't be silly."
"I've made up my mind and you all cannot stop me."
Now I was getting upset. "Aaruvinth, where on earth would you go?" I asked. "This is your home."
"It does not feel like one," he said.
It hurt to hear him say that... especially to me. "Where would you possibly go?" I repeated. "You are a prince, your duty is here... and you've never left before anyways."
My son pulled away from me. "It doesn't matter where I go, I'm leaving," he said as he marched past me and rushed up the stairs to his room.
Of course, I followed him, but only after sending the guards off to find Aaryan and the others. When I reached Aaru's room, I watched in disbelief as he grabbed a sack and began stuffing it with clothes and other things... like he actually expected to leave.
"Aaru, just wait," I said. "Let's wait and speak to your father, we can get this all sorted out-"
"I've already spoken to him, and it went as well as I expected it to go," he said.
"You have all the right to be upset, son, but you cannot be so upset that you would choose to do something that would cause your father so much pain."
That made him pause, and though I thought that was a good thing, I was proven wrong when he turned and looked at me with a glare. "What?" He asked, turning to face me. "My leaving will cause him pain?"
"Of course it will!" I said. "He loves you!"
"You are so concerned that it'll pain him to see me leave... so what, are you saying I should not allow my father to feel any pain?"
"Not when he only means well," I responded.
"Did you tell him that when he decided to kill his own ?"
His words felt like a slap across the face, and though I had clearly misinterpreted his initial question, I was nearly speechless at his response.
"He is in no place to tell me how I should and should not act-"
"You are speaking out of anger," I said sternly, getting angry myself. "And no son of mine will speak like that of their father."
"He should be grateful that all I want to do is leave," he snapped. "It could have been much worse."
My frown deepened. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"
"I mean that I have enough reason to want to do to him what he did to his own father."
I wasn't particularly proud of myself for what I did next, but his words were so irrational and unbelievable that I could not control myself.
I slapped him.
It was the first time in his life that I had hit him.
Actually, I had never hit any of my children before. I would sometimes give them an aggressive arm squeeze of a tug at their ear or maybe a pinch, but I had never hit them.
I had certainly never slapped them before.
And what was worse... Aaruvinth... I had never had a reason to discipline him with any form of aggression in the past. He was always so good.
But this...
I could not simply let him say something like that.
For the first time this evening, since the outburst at the celebration, Aaruvinth looked more like a child again. He looked at me with wide eyes, a hand over his cheek, and somehow that made him look years younger.
And though I regretted my actions the moment I had followed through with it, I knew it was too late now. It was done.
I kept my glare firm and looked at him sternly. "No son of mine will speak of their father that way," I repeated, a slight hiss in my voice. "I do not know what has gotten into you, but I will not stand by and let you think you can continue uttering such nonsense."
He just glared back at me, a slight look of humiliation in his eyes.
I let out a breath, softening my expression. "I did not raise you to be the kind of fool your father was when he was younger. And because of that, you have the potential to be better than he ever was," I said. "He knows that, and he wanted that more than anything. It was why he let me take charge in raising you and your brother and sister, so you can be better than he was."
He looked away.
"So stop with this childish, foolish anger and go to bed. Sleep on it... you will wake up feeling much better and we will all laugh about this in the morning," I said, putting my hand under his chin and forcing him to look at me. "I know you are much better than this, Aaru."
He continued frowning, and though I had thought that I had gotten him to settle down, I was completely disappointed when he pulled his face away from me and grabbed his sack. "You don't know me," he said. "That's the problem."
I was stunned, frozen for a moment as he threw the sack over his shoulder and walked past me.
Turning around, I followed him down the stairs. "Aaru... you can't possibly-"
"Leave me alone!" He snapped.
I was calling after him, following him out the door and to his horse, getting soaked by the rain almost instantly. At first, I wasn't too worried, knowing he could not leave as the guards were here.
But then I remembered that I had sent the guards off to find Aaryan and the other's.
My heart stopped beating as I grabbed the reins of his horse after he got onto it. "Aaru, you have nowhere to go!" I shouted. I felt like I had to shout, as the rain was pouring so hard that it was hard to hear anything. "You have no idea what it is like out there! You could die on your own! There are bandits and enemies and nature itself!"
He was ignoring me.
And without another word, my son, the one who was known to be the sweetest of all my children, snapped the reins of his horse and urged it into a gallop, nearly knocking me down as he did it.
I stared after him in shock, watching him ride out the gates. I genuinely had not believed that he would actually leave. The thought of him leaving on his own seemed too unbelievable for me to even consider. But within seconds, he was gone.
I didn't know what to do except rush into the stables.
All the horses were gone, taken by everyone to go look for Aaru... all except Bhumi.
Bhumi, who was Aaryan's faithful companion, was now quite old. Though Aaryan did take him out for most rides or trips that did not require a lot of energy from his favourite, most trusted horse, Aaryan did have a new, younger horse now that he used for emergencies. For times like now where he needed a faster horse.
I suppose Bhumi would be my horse today.
The old horse greeted me with his usual happy head nod, and though I knew I could trust this horse, my concern was getting onto Bhumi with a sari on. I had no time to saddle Bhumi up, so I climbed on without one, struggling thanks to the weight that was added to the already heavy sari thanks to the rain, and the result was my sari rising up well above my knees while I gripped onto Bhumi's mane.
The horse, which seemed to always read our minds, didn't need to be told to go. He knew when I was ready and trotted forward, switching into a gallop when we were out of the stable.
We rode out the gates, and though enough time had passed for me to lose Aaru, there was only one way out of Aathikara and so I knew that that was where I had to go.
However, just as I reached the halfway point, close to the massive Shivan temple of Aathikara, I saw both Aaryan and Maya riding back towards me, the two guards that I had sent to find them with them along with quite a few other soldiers.
Maya slowed her horse down and scoffed, her eyes on my legs. "Amma?" she chuckled. "And you complain about me?"
"Now is not the time, Maya," I said, before looking at Aaryan who, despite the situation, could not help but let out a short laugh. "Did you see him?" I asked, not in the mood for humour.
Aaryan frowned. "No, he's not-"
"He came in this direction!" I snapped.
His brows rose. "You saw him?"
"He came home," I said, speaking quickly. "He said he was going to leave Aathikara! We got into a fight and he spoke horrible things so I slapped him and he left!"
Maya gasped before looking from me to her wide eyed father. Though I was sure that he wanted to know what our son could have said to make me slap him, he knew now was not the time. "He did not pass us," he repeated. "Maybe he took a side route." Aaryan turned his younger horse around to face the guards that were with him. "Head towards the gate now," he ordered, shouting over the deafening rain. "Make sure you don't let Aaruvinth leave-"
"Maharajah!" We heard someone shout, cutting Aaryan off.
I turned around and saw three more soldiers rushing towards us.
"What is it?" Aaryan asked.
"We spotted the Prince," they said when they reached us. "The Crown Prince has gone after him. He sent us to come and let you know but two of our other comrades are with him."
I instantly felt relief.
If there was anyone who would make Aaruvinth feel better, it was Aathavan.
Aathavan would bring him home.
I let out a breath.
Then, to my surprise, Aaryan turned to Maya. "Go with them," he said to her. "Aathavan may need your help in calming Aaru down."
Maya nodded. "Understood, Appa."
Without a hesitation, my daughter left with one of the soldiers to go join her brother's.
Then Aaryan turned to me. "I believe it may be wise for us to trust them," he said to me, ushering his horse a few steps forward so he was next to me. "It seems that we are the enemies to him right now."
I frowned, hating that he used the word 'enemy.'
I was not my son's enemy.
But I knew he was right, so I nodded,
Aaryan reached out and put a hand on my cheek. "It'll be fine," he said.
I nodded and smiled.
---
We returned to the palace, not back home, knowing we would have to find the family and let them know what had happened. Not knowing how serious this would get, we had kept the search within the staff of our home as well as a few soldiers, and thus the people at the palace had no idea what was happening.
Aayu was first, seeing as he was the chief advisor.
Both Aaryan and I went straight to his room, still drenched from the rain and woke up the surprised Aayu. He listened to the events of the night in shock and once we were done, he leaned forward, pressing his face into his hands. "This is bad," he said before looking back at his brother. "I told you we should not go easy on Karthik. Aarun may have been using him as a pawn to fester bad feelings in your son for years."
Aaryan's face scrunched up in anger.
"You trust that Aaru isn't angry enough to push away his brother and sister too?"
"I can't imagine him not listening to them," I said. "They are all so close."
Aayu nodded, knowing I was right about that. He had seen it himself, after all. "We need to keep this whole series of events as silent as possible," he said. "If news goes out that the son of the Maharajah is displaying such weakness, it could pose a huge problem."
I hated that he called my son weak, but I did not say anything because I knew he meant well.
And I knew he was right.
Conflicts between sons and fathers often indicated weakness in power and made questions arise in regards to a families claim to the throne. Enemies could take advantage of that and start planning attacks... or worse, they could actually begin attacking.
And Aaryan had one enemy who I knew would definitely take advantage of something like this.
I then looked up at Aayu. "Did we let Karthik head home? Or did he stay the night?"
Aayu frowned. "Yes. Karthik left soon after Aaru's outburst."
I looked at Aaryan. "He's going to report back to Aarun, surely."
Aaryan closed his eyes, clearly trying to maintain control over his anger. "I swear on all the gods... if he-"
"Aaryan!" The door swung open, and to our surprise, Lady Suhanya barged in, tears in her eyes.
Aaryan rushed over to her. "What is it?" he asked, grabbing her by the shoulders as she caught her breath.
"The children... they... they've returned..."
None of us waited.
We were all running down the hallway to the front entrance of the palace and just as we got there, we were surprised by a small group of onlookers forming.
We pushed past them, making it to the middle and when I saw what I did, I nearly screamed.
Aathavan was on one knee, an arm around Maya's shoulder as crouched down next to him, trying to help him up from the pool of blood that was forming around him. General Sivakasi was at his other side, pressing his hand over the wound on Aathavan's abdomen to try and stop the bleeding.
Aaryan was already by Aathavan's side before I could even process what had happened. He lifted our son up, shouted for a doctor and carried him back in the direction of Aayu's room, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
I stood there, frozen before running to Maya. "What happened, love?" I said between tears.
The girl was stronger than I was, not shedding a single tear, though she looked in shock and was covered in blood. "Aaru..."
My heart stopped.
Her strength finally broke as she started to cry, wrapping her arms tightly around me. I tried to soothe her, rubbing her back as she cried.
"What happened?" I repeated.
"He stabbed him!" She cried. "He stabbed him and ran!"
And within moments I felt my world begin to crumble all around me.