Chapter 133

Mbibi: Don't worry, dear. There is only one detachment track, won't happen ever again in this FF. Each track is unique in its own ways, building up something in preparation for the one that is coming.

MEsw: *gapes* Back at me, eh? Will here's big hugs for that trick! *hugs*

S_mg: Oh I am so happy for you! Two weddings in one Month! 2014 is indeed beginning with a lot of celebrations! One is Shijina's and the other is yours...On behalf of all the readers and beloved Comrades, here's blessings and congratulations in advance. May you have a beautiful future that enfolds with time under the touch of God...

Sansu: Bravo dear! You've un-jumbled the answers most brilliantly! And I so loved your remark on Gen's dialogue, "do you practice lines in the night!"

Welcome to new readers mysticmanthri (dear Hoopoe's already invited you personally on Page 80) and prpk525. Hope you will have a wonderful time here! So sorry to hear, mysticmanthri, that I am always on the verge of a break when you are gather the gust to comment. And here I am , going for one again but voila! You take the leap.

Sweet Farwa, Breeze dear, darling Meg: You three were on a marathon in the last few pages... going somewhere? *chuckles at the irony*

Thanks to all my lovely readers and wonderful Comrades... and stalkers (for they are the only ones who came to know I updated but it's my fault that the others are ignorant of the updates. I didn't PM. But will rectify that mistake now.)

Here's a pic I found and I gift this to all those who like it. I have no comments to add. But kudos to whoever made it!

I am going on a short trip to Bangalore this Monday and will be back after a week. So I will need you to hold on and stay yourself in patience (which I have been taxing a lot, I know *sorry*). You can read and comment, share your views and discuss the tale as much as you want. But DO NOT SPAM. In my absence, do find other FFs and stories to read (or better, get some pending work done at home). And if you miss Arhasia too much, you have 209 chapters to read all over again! Now that's something to kill time... *wink*

Merry Christmas in advance, my dearies, and season's greetings to you all. Do keep the Inn clean, the InnKeeper happy and reveal your Arhasian affection if any new wanderers should come by to our Inn...

Chapter 209: Thy Name is Frailty

The General was furious.

He had waited for Kushi to finish breakfasting so he could convey his most pressing matter but when he'd returned to the dining hall, she was nowhere to be found.

The butler, when asked, had said that he'd seen Lady Kushi leave through the back door of the Castle but was clueless as to where she'd gone.

The General knew if anyone would be made aware of Kushi's disappearance it would be his wife and sure enough, when he'd casually put the query forward, he was told that she'd left for the Industry though Lady Anjali was unaware of the reason for the haste.

He had waited the entire day, hoping Kushi would show up for lunch or for tea, but his patience was wretchedly trodden upon by vacant time and it was only at dinnertime that he glimpsed her next, walking into the dining hall with her husband, both returning from the Industry.

The General remained silent as the rest of the family conversed in their cheery way, Nani enquiring why Kushi had suddenly fancied a trip to the Industry.

Indicating that she wanted something to distract her from her sister's departure to the Village, Kushi appeased their minds but the General knew there was more than just that reason to her running away to the Industry.

Lord Arnav, who sat at the head of the table with his Nani and his wife on his either side, was also very silent and seemed to be in a foul mood, occasioned by something that had happened at the Industry.

The General had no appetite to enjoy his dinner, so after tasting a little of the wares for the sake of his wife, he excused himself and left for an evening stroll in the garden.

An hour later, when he returned from his walk, he had walked into the bed chamber, shutting the door slowly behind him to not wake his wife who was doubtlessly asleep, when he stopped and stared.

The moonlight from the overhead window fell upon the wide bed on which lay his wife. She was looking extremely pale as she stared at the ceiling in a pained expression, her hands clutching at the sheets on her either side.

"Lady Queen?" the General asked, unsure of what to make of the sight.

She didn't respond, only closed her eyes and the moonlight glistened on the tears that coursed down her eyes to her ears.

The General rushed to her and held her hand, "Lady Queen? What is it?"

Lady Anjali opened her mouth in a gasp as though she was trying to breathe.

The General was dumbfounded and he crouched beside her, unable to discern what had caused her such a situation. He worried for a moment if she had learnt of his advances on Kushi.

Her eyes, that had difficulty focusing on anything because they were blurry with tears, slid to his face, and her words quivered, "What is happening..."

"What is it? What ails you?" the General was staggered and that was when he saw where her other hand was.

It was on her womb.

"It hurts...it hurts..." she winced and her breath came in strained wheezes.

The hand that had been on her womb suddenly clutched at his wrist and the strength by which she held his wrist increased until it almost threatened to break his arm in half.

"Lady Queen...calm down, take deep breaths..." he tried to pacify her.

Lady Anjali shook her head, "It hurts..."

"Take deep breaths," he encouraged her, her hold on his wrist hurting him immensely.

Lady Anjali breathed in and then breathed out, loosening her hold on his wrist gradually.

He withdrew his hand and then watched as she breathed in again and exhaled. That was when he noticed something else. Something he should have seen the moment he entered.

He had felt her, the eerie coldness of her presence, but it had not crossed his mind to inspect the room when he saw Lady Anjali in pain.

Seated cross-legged, beside where the oblivious Lady Anjali lay, was the haunting girl of his dreams. A shadow had fallen on her face but he knew she was watching them.

You...!! The General glowered, I should have known. You must have hurt her the way you hurt my horse...

He reached out violently to grab at the apparition but his hands caught nothing and there was only an empty blackness before him.

His wife moaned, bringing him back to reality.

"Lady Queen," he looked at her, holding one of her hands in his, "How do you feel now?"

"I can breathe better," she whispered, "But it still hurts."

She winced as she kept a hand on her middle.

He sighed heavily and Lady Anjali blinked at him through her tears, "What is it?"

"I told you, Lady Queen, I don't think this child is safe. It will destroy you."

Lady Anjali was taken aback, "What are you saying! This is your child! OUR child! How can it destroy us...!"

"I know it will," the General eyed her womb hatefully.

"Don't." Fresh tears sprang in her eyes, "Please don't speak so about our child."

"I cannot accept it."

"DON'T!" Lady Anjali wailed, "You hurt me more than the child hurts me now!"

"I can't help it," the General looked at her miserably, "What I say is the truth. Get rid of the child. It is cursed."

"No, a child cannot be cursed!" wept Lady Anjali, digging her fingers into the pillow as new stints of pain wrecked her body, "Stop this! Stop this talk! I can hear no more!"

The General lay beside her and gathered her in his arms. She cried into his shoulder as he caressed her hair, "I only want you to be unhurt."

"I can bear any hurt but the words of scorn you have for our child..."

"Then I shall speak no more of it," he assured her.
But he was certain of it.

The child was cursed and he had to get rid of it somehow or if would bring down not just his life but the life of everyone in this Castle.

For the next two days, after breakfasting with the family, Kushi left with her husband to the Industry. They were silent in their carriage journey, wanting to not trod on their pride.

When they were at the Industry, one remained in his cabin while the other busied about in the workers' hall, monitoring their work and conversing with them.

The workers felt their hours brighten with her presence about them and, determined to not confute with her, the First Lord himself confined to his cabin, sending Adil down for any orders to be issued for the laboring assemblage.

Even when the couple left the Industry for home, the carriage ride was silent.

But in the darkness of the wagon, they were aware of each other's eyes occasionally glancing in the other's direction.

On the night of Kushi's second day at the Industry, when all of the Castle had retired to their rooms for sleep, Kushi walked into the bed chamber.

Standing before the bed, she addressed the one in it, "I would like to borrow a book from your Library so I can read before bed."

Lord Arnav, sitting in his bed in preparation for sleep, slid his gaze to the young woman standing beside the bedside table.

He offered her a frown, "I don't like my books leaving my Library. If you must read, do so in the Library."

Kushi crossed her arms across her chest, "You are quite parsimonious, do you know that?"

He raised his eyebrows as he lay down, "Parsimonious? Because I don't permit my books to be carelessly paraded all over the Castle?"

"Because you make senseless rules treating your house like it was your Industry," Kushi lifted her head proudly, "This is supposed to be your home and everyone needs to feel warm and welcomed here but with you being its Master, people cringe and grumble to remain here."

He sat up and glared at her, "Are you accusing me of the way I run my house and my Industry?"

"It seems to be so, doesn't it?" Kushi pointed out, "Take the Industry for instance, I have seen how the workers fear you and scamper away from the mere glimpse of your shadow. What do you expect to gain in life by letting people live in fear of you? How do you suppose they will ever benefit in trembling at the mention of your name-?"

Kushi hastily took a few steps back because Lord Arnav was scrambling out of bed.

But she didn't run or leave the room though she did clutch at the sides of her robe to stay her flurried willpower.

She stood her ground valiantly and glared up at him as he stood towering before her.

He was furious but his voice was composed, "What do you want me to do then, counselor?"

Kushi overlooked the sardonic label. "Be kinder to your workers and to the people who belong to you," she said simply.

"Are you suggesting I be like your father?" Cold sarcasm dripped in his words.

Kushi stared at him, "My father is certainly a fitting example to a perfect proprietor."

"Indeed he is," said Lord Arnav, crossing his arms across his chest, "And yet I am the one with the Industry and he is without a mill."

His words slammed into her resolve and she was staggered by his utter heartlessness.

Hurt by his words, she gulped down the tears that threatened to choke her and scowled up at him, "In depths of cruelty you remain, never to rise from that wretched pit!"

"Where I remain does not matter. We are miles apart, Kushi, remember?" his words only added to her pain, "You are a Lady by marriage and not by birth. Forget not where you sprout from."

He turned to the bed but she clutched at his elbow and stopped him, "I won't forget where I sprouted from which is why I know the value of respectable words and kindness. If you haven't forgotten where you sprouted from, then the place you came from must have been a cold, wretched hell."

Suddenly, she didn't know from where, inhuman strength gripped at his muscles and with a wild turn he plummeted her to the floor, and they toppled onto the rug, him on top of her.

A gasp escaped her mouth the moment her back hit the soft rug.

She stared at him as his weight pressed upon her chest.

He clenched his hands at her shoulders and shook her mercilessly, "DON'T YOU DARE, KUSHI!!! DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME OF MY BYGONE!!!"

He cursed and Kushi flinched, and then he pushed her away, his face shaded by wrath, "You have no right to speak thus to me or about where I come from. You know NOTHING! Nothing of what I have gone through or what I endured to come this far! So don't you dare DARE speak of my home, you filthy beggar. You-"

He stopped, for he realized his eyes and cheeks were wet.

He turned his face away immediately, shaken.

Kushi sat on the rug, staring at his cold back.

Tears blurred her vision but she was too raged by his reactions and his spitefulness to weep.

Her hands were pressed on the dark floor, were they rested on stray slippers. Without a thought to spare, she yanked them up and threw them at his back, yelling, "I hate you! I really hate you! I wish I'd never married you!"

At her words, he looked over his shoulder and a slipper thrown at him got him on his cheek.

Kushi expected him to lash out his wrath on the slipper's impact, but instead she was taken aback to find the yearning in his eyes, as his hands reached out for her.

She resisted his hands, slapping them away when they tried to grasp at her, but he came for her again, his arms wrapping around her.

She slammed her fists upon his chest but he crushed her against him, her hands trapped between them. She frowned up at him but gasped when his lips pressed coldly upon hers.

"NO!" she struggled against him, but he held her to him, lying her down on the rug as he kissed her to blindness.

"Stop this! I hate you!" she exclaimed when he gave her a little space to breath but his lips would crush upon hers again and she would be lost in the warm swirling sensations again.

His burning tongue raved its warm desire down her throat and her fingers painfully dug into his shoulders as she struggled to catch her breath.

Her heartbeat rose to such a heightened race that it almost leapt out of her mouth into his.

He withdrew his lips and she gasped the full bout of air that her lungs could be filled with.

When her heartbeat settled to its calm rhythm, she leaned her head down and stared at the ceiling.

Though he had stopped kissing her on the lips, he hadn't altogether withdrawn.

He was brushing his cheek against hers, making their contact warmer with the caress of his skin against hers.

Kushi reached out a hand and tried to push him away but he held her resisting hand and pressed his lips upon its palm.

Kushi's voice was emotionless, "Do you think I will forgive you for all your words just because of your sudden show of affection?"

He lay down, his eyes on the ceiling and remained silent.

They lay beside each other, her looking at him as he watched the moonlight dancing on the walls and the celling. A silent Lord Arnav was a worrying sight.

The silence grew on her anxiety until she asked, "Are you alright?"

With his eyes still fastened to the celling, he said, "Your father...he is a good man."

Kushi blinked, "Wha..."

He looked at her, and she was astonished to find tears glistening in his eyes.

"But I am afraid he was too good," he said to her, "If he was a little sterner to his workers they wouldn't have dared to turn against him. He lost his mill because he was too gentle."

"But too much rudeness can also be harmful," reasoned Kushi, trying to defend her father's gentleness, which truthfully, she grasped, was the reason for his downfall.

"True," said Lord Arnav, his warm gaze on her face, "But I can't change. Nor can you father. Where I am cruel, there he is compassionate. We will always remain that way." He leaned forward to her face and kissed her lightly on her lips. Kushi closed her eyes, marveled by the gentleness in his voice and in his kiss.

She opened her eyes and he gazed down at her as he spoke, "Which is where you come in. You are kind but you know to resist. You are gentle but you are firm too. In a way, you have the better side of both your father and your husband."

Kushi's eyes filled with tears and she leaned up to embrace him. Smiling against her hair, he wrapped his arms around her and they remained locked in each other's arms, their wounds still unhealed but their emotions brimming with so much longing for the other...

Slowly he lifted her up and carried her to the bed, where he laid her in the warm center before lying himself beside her.

Affected by the excitement of the night and the many emotions that had wrought her young mind, she was quick to fall asleep, but Lord Arnav lay beside her, watching her sleep.

Her mention of his past had undone his dormant wrath and he hated having hurt her for something that was not her fault. His past only gave him hurt and he wanted her to not be part of its brunt.

Before his eyes closed to sleep, he insentiently mouthed a promise, "I will never... never regret marrying you, my beautiful beggar."