Chapter 221

Kushi feared the consequential responses of the Raizada family the morning after the terminating blow at last night's ball. Her husband could have no say or defence where the family was concerned, having kept them in the dark and secret for all these years. The brunt was inevitable and it would have to be endured.

But Kushi was relieved when, after a sincerely lengthy conversation which put matters and incidents in a more clarified light, Lady Manorama, Lord Akash and Nani were appeased somewhat and consoled of the shock of the horrid night, though they still found it hard to intake that the General had a beast restrained in him born of a curse.

Lord Manohar surprised them by stating that he had noticed certain things about the General that were entirely unlike his usual self and, he had accurately assumed, could be features that resulted from his inability to confine a hypothetical bestial form.

Kushi could verify all this for them, despite her having to keep it completely a secret from her own family who were ignorant of even her husband's state of bestiality.

Explicably, the one who was the hardest to pacify was Payal.

"How could you, Kushi!" she complained in an offended tone, "We have always told each other our greatest secrets and fears! How could you keep all these things from me! The real reason you were forced into marriage, did you think I wouldn't understand? And the General being the man of our past, how could you not tell me?!"

Apologetic but trying her old tricks, Kushi produced a pleading puppy face but that only infuriated Payal even more.

"I am serious, Kushi!" Payal rebuked her, "You take everything I say so lightly and if there are grave matters, you always carry the encumbrances entirely to yourself. Why don't you understand it hurts me to see you suffer like this?"

Guiltily, Kushi bit her lip, "Jiji, I was only trying to-"

But, all of a sudden, Payal swept her young sister into an embrace and, overcome with emotion, Kushi cried against her sister's head, "I am sorry, Jiji. I didn't want you to grieve. I love you so..."

Payal offered a teary smooch on Kushi's cheek, "If I'd known of all this, I could have been there for you instead of feeling wretchedly helpless and angry, watching you being insulted by that good-for-nothing..."

And then there was Lady Anjali.

For two days, Lady Anjali refused to talk to anyone and, disheartened, also ate very sparsely. She wouldn't even see her child, knowing she would scar the little one if she saw her mother in the distraught state she was in.

She sulked about and mourned the loss of her husband, clutching his clothes to her chest as she cried herself to sleep at unearthly hours.

Reminiscences of him visited in her sleep, and sometimes a vision so real, of him reclined on the bed beside her, propped on his elbows, gazing lovingly down at her sleeping face, his hair fallen over his forehead wet from a bath from his long-gone return from the battlefield.

She would jolt awake at this juncture, her astonishment and ecstasy of meeting him colliding in an expression, only to vanish in an aching moment of realization that it was merely a mirage of her memories.

Devastated, she would crumple herself in bed again and lament longingly for the emptiness she would never be able to complete.

Everyone, family and servants, were distressed by her absence and her unyielding seclusion, helpless to make amends, for Lady Anjali declined their every attempt.

Lord Arnav was agitated. His Di wouldn't speak to him either and he was beginning to regret his relentlessly reckless verdict to get the General condemned that night.

One arm cradling the sleeping Princess of the family, Kushi extended her other hand and touched her husband on his, "She will be alright." Kushi assured him, "It will take time, but she will recover. She knows we are always there for her..."

Lord Arnav searched his wife's face for any betraying sign of hesitance but the firm light in Kushi's gaze ascertained her conviction that his Di would recover from this relapse. Assured thus, he would slip into his slumber that was remotely peaceful.

Little did he know that while Anarkali and he slept soundly, Kushi lay awake, staring at the ceiling as every uncertain fear haunted her resolve and brandished them almost incapacitated. Was it not hypocritical, this manner of hers that ensured false hopes in the hearts of others while her own relished in the storm of qualm and a bitter guilt that she was at fault for the tragedy of someone so precious.

Song Dedicated to Lady Anjali: Avril Lavigne's When You're Gone