SNOW HUNTER-FF Chapter 7/3

Chapter 7 (Part #3)

As the Queen turned to walk back to her silver throne, Arnav stopped her with his bound hands.

"Wait!"

The queen smiled triumphantly, having piqued his interest and turned slowly to face him again with a blank expression.

"Yes?" she asked, corking her eyebrow disdainfully. "Is there something I can do for you, hunter?" she mocked.

Arnav remembered how easily Khushi had walked away with Prince Shyam and the seed of doubt that had been planted in his heart, now writhed inside him, ready to spring open and flourish. He knew he had to know.

"What did Khushi do?" he asked, through gritted teeth.

"What did she do to me, you ask?" said the queen, venomously. "I'll tell you what she did, hunter. She took away my daughter! My princess! She killed her."

"Killed her? The rumor was she committed suicide!"

"And who drove her to kill herself? Khushi! Nisha loved someone and had planned the Diwali ball that year, so she could introduce me to him. Only she never got the chance. My poor girl. All I was left with was a note. A note that told me what I needed to know. The reason she had killed herself. She died of a broken heart! Broken by her most loved sister."

"How?" Arnav whispered, fearing that the answer would break him too.

"Khushi seduced the man Nisha loved and he left her!" said the Queen looking straight into his eyes, and watched the words cut through him like a meat cleaver.

"She wouldn't!" He said, firmly.

"Oh my dear dear boy! She did. My daughter was an honest girl, she'd never lie. And she loved Khushi with all her heart. Even in her death note, she wished for nothing more than Khushi's happiness. She loved her like real sisters would but that wench betrayed her and I will never forgive her. "The Queen said, doggedly. "You'd be a fool to trust her." She let her words sink in, throwing Arnav's mind into turmoil and went to sit on her throne.

Arnav felt his mind reeling with the evidence he had just heard. Hadn't she walked away from him without so much as a word? Oh, she had written a note! "There is so much to say including thank you but there is no time for it right now." She had not even cared to look back once before leaving for good, leaving only gold behind as if that was his only worth. A handful of coins, after all they had been through and felt. Slowly, his addled mind began to accept the truth that had been stripped naked and ugly and bluntly shoved in front of his eyes. She had never cared. She wasn't the person he had once thought she was. She was a conniving manipulator, calculating every move and she had used him to get her way with her charm, her smile and her soft lips. He remembered how readily she had kissed him and made him want her in the most unreal way. He had believed it to be feelings where it had only been her extraordinary skills of seduction. He had been a fool! But, not anymore.

"I'll help you get her back and you can have your way with her, once I've had mine." He said to the Queen.

"So, you've finally realized that you were played, hunter?" She asked, with a pitiful smile. "Hmmm…. Well, better late than ever, I always say. So, you'll tell me where she is?"

"Even better. I'll help you take revenge and in the process I'll have mine!" He said as his face hardened, his jaw set.

The Queen watched him for a moment and finally nodded. "Then, we have a lot of work to do, hunter."

HER

Khushi wondered what to do around the palace to keep her mind from wandering towards Arnav's thoughts. The wound was still fresh and she didn't know how to ease it out. The only thing left to do was to kill time. The only reason she had been able to sleep the night before was the fact that she had been tired to the bone, from the hike and the ride to the city. But, she had still slept erratically, with her slumber interspersed with haunting dreams of Arnav in agonizing pain. Her intuition told her that the palace felt more like a prison than the safe haven it supposedly was for her. She missed Arnav dreadfully and kept having sudden desperate urges to run away. But, where would she find him? Where to look? Disturbed and restless, she walked out into the lawns, to surround herself in nature.

The snow peaks towering over the lawns and the soft chilly breeze swaying the trees, instantly calmed her nerves as she walked aimlessly through the well-groomed gardens of the palace, watching the gardeners work and the henchmen patrol diligently.

All parts available on my blog. Link below.

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