Chapter 250

Chapter 331: Perses Revealed

Lord Arnav, wearied, famished and enraged, roared at the guard who had come into his prison, "I said I want to SPEAK TO YOUR MASTER!!!!"

The guard shot him a look, "You keep your trap shut or you'll win a whack from me."

He spat at the guard, the only form of attack he was able to manifest in his chained condition.

The guard responded with a sound thrash against his head.

Lord Arnav spat blood out and muttered threateningly, "The instant I am released, it will be your neck my hands will wring first!"

The guard chuckled.

Lord Arnav growled menacingly at the guard.

The guard made a mockery of fear on his face, "Oh, you really scared me there!"

Then he started laughing and, as though to affirm his fearlessness of Lord Arnav, he crashed his fist into the latter's abdomen.

Grunting, Lord Arnav winced in pain and felt his head dizzy. Days of starvation was not helping with his strength.

Through the haze in his mind, he demanded, "Where is your, Master? Tell him I want to see him!"

"Speak of the devil and he invites himself in," remarked an amused voice at the doorway that was swung open just then.

Something red stood at the open door and Lord Arnav's misty eyes took a moment to recognize the long-haired man named Perses standing there, dressed in an unusual red nightrobe. Following him, at his heel, was his conceited black feline pet.

Lord Arnav growled, "If I get my hands on you-"

"Tch-tch," his enemy smirked, "Many an impossible wish when we are bound in captivity..." He stepped forward and looked around casually, "But the night is still young and I am in a favourable spirit, so I will grant you one of your wishes so you may know I am a good host to even my most unpleasant of guests."

Perses snapped his fingers and Lord Arnav saw two guards walk in, and it seemed they were chaperoning between them, another prisoner.

No sooner had they entered into the room that a pang shot up his heart and he called out in a voice broken with emotion, "KUSHI!!"

Tears rolled down Kushi's cheeks as she whispered in her relief of seeing him, "Arnavji..."

"Ah! What a beautiful reunion," sniffed the tall man mockingly.

Lord Arnav glared at him, "You let her go this instant."

His enemy bowed in jest, "As you wish, your Majesty."

Perses waved his hand to the guards who released Kushi.

As soon as the guards' grip on her had turned lax, Kushi leapt across the room and towards where her husband was chained to the wall.

Wrapping her arms around him, he embraced him tight, her tears brushing against his cheeks as she kissed him all over the face.

"Kushi, Kushi..." Breathless with emotion, he tried to kiss her too but her frenzied affection, added with his inability to steer her face to him because his hands were chained to the wall, didn't bode him well.

Till his dying day, Lord Arnav would never reveal to a single soul how empty of hope he had become, chained irreconcilably to the wall, starved entirely and his mind dizzying to blackness every minute, not knowing what had become of Kushi. But even in the days of old age, he would always remember in wonderment, how in one second's rush of his wife's presence towards him, how in that single moment of feeling her arms around him and her knee pressed against his trembling leg as she reached up to kiss him, he had felt that surge of determination, the rejuvenation of his fading willpower and his heart had become fearless to fight again.

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When Kushi had had her fill of caressing him and assuring her heart that she was not dreaming, she looked over her shoulder and scowled at the long-haired man who was alone in the room with them, having dispersed the guards for more convenience, "Why have you chained him in this manner?"

"So restless, so impatient," he walked unconcernedly to the centre of the room, while his cat sat by the doorway, curling her tail coolly, "If only I could fulfil all your little demands."

Astrophe shut her eyes and feigned sleep, seemingly disinterested in the scene.

Persus caught Kushi's eye and found her to be scowling still, "Unfortunately I can't release him because I know what he is capable of and wish not to make my grand plans find unnecessary disruption."

Before Kushi could reply, Lord Arnav voice rang out firmly, "Let her return to her family. And with her, the children."

Kushi looked at her husband, wanting to tell him that she wasn't going anywhere without him but the manner in which his cold eyes were fixed on his enemy, she knew there was no retraction from his terms.

For a moment she forgot herself and stood there gazing sadly at him, his face stained and sweaty, his lip bleeding. It broke her heart to see him in the remorseful state he was in.

And yet, Kushi recognized instantly, in his eyes remained the undying determination and rage that had characterized him the worthy Lord of the land. Even when all odds were against him and all hopes dashed to the ground, he still stood bold, rooted and victorious in vision.

The tall man waved his hand in the air, "Unfortunately, I cannot let her go either because I intend to take her with me back home on the voyage at dawn."

Lord Arnav was infuriated, "What do you want with her? Your fight is with me. If it is this land you seek, I will give it to you. Just send her on her way with the children."

His green eye glinted evilly, "My fight is indeed with you. But I came not here for this land. Or for your wife, for I was not aware she still existed until I beheld her." He stepped closer to where Lord Arnav was chained and Kushi embraced her husband tighter, wanting to never be separated from him again.

Perses's crawling words washed over them as he eyed Lord Arnav unfeelingly, "I came here for you. To see you destroyed and to wreck everything that mattered to you."

Kushi looked at them, confused, while Lord Arnav stared untrustingly at his enemy, "Why? What have I done to you? I haven't even a recollection of ever meeting you before!"

"Oh but you have..." The man whispered coldly, his green eye icy, "You certainly have."

Lord Arnav frowned suspiciously. All this while, his mind had been weighed by an inexplicable worry: he was haunted by an eerie sense of a dj vu.

Like he had lived this very same moment somewhere else...

It was then that the memory rushed to him of a troublesome dream he had had once.

Him in chains, a figure in a red robe, and Kushi leaving him...

Lord Arnav swallowed, wishing his arms were free to wrap them around Kushi and keep her from harm's way. He was not the kind that believed in dreams but he was determined to never let anything separate him from his wife. Least of all, by the hand of this uncouth impostor.

His gaze returned to Perses, "If I have hurt you in matters of trade at some point of time, all of which my mind fails to recall, there are saner, more sensible ways to sort them out."

"My issues with you stretch far more beyond that," the man stated, crossing his arms behind him, and Astrophe looked up, suddenly interested in their parley, "Do you not remember? Have you forgotten your past so completely as that?"

Lord Arnav frowned and then looked away, feeling Kushi's gaze penetrating into him as he replied, "There is nothing worth remembering in the past."

Perses shook his head crossly, "But some people have no choice but to live being haunted by theirs."

Lord Arnav shot his enemy a look, "What do you mean? In what way do I haunt your past?"

"Because of who you are," the man growled, approaching Lord Arnav, their faces so close that Kushi flinched and withdrew from her husband just as Perses whispered to him, "Because of your father."

Kushi gaped and Lord Arnav stared at the man, "My father?!" Instantly, Lord Arnav scowled, "I have nothing to do with that man whom I hate more than my life!"

"You lie!" bellowed Perses, "If you didn't care at all for him, you would have done everything to remove the traces of his lineage from your existence, and perhaps even changed your name."

Lord Arnav answered coldly, "You're wrong. I did change my name."

"You might have changed yourself from being a Malik to your mother's Raizada identity but you still held onto the Singh. Why would you, if you hated your father entirely?!"

Kushi looked from the man to her husband, marvelling at the things she was hearing about her husband, a man who was still a mystery to her.

Lord Arnav glowered in disbelief, "Who are you?"

"The one who truly despises your father and everything of his blood," He leaned forward, closer to Lord Arnav's face, such that Kushi couldn't see Persus' face, only her husband's guarded appearance.

"Do you still not recognize me?" asked the tall man coldly, pushing aside the long strands of hair that covered part of his face.

In alarm, Lord Arnav stared at the three huge gashes that ran from his forehead, across his mutilated green eye and stopped at his cheek.

A sickening sensation gripped at his insides.

Gulping, he whispered in horror, "Raoul Tau."

Uncle Raoul.