ArHi FF:13: The BEASTS and the BLEEDING ROSES - Page 92

Chapter 332: Raoul's Rant of Revenge

With an evil smirk, Raoul contemplated Lord Arnav's stunned expression, "It's comforting to know you still remember me... or at least remember your little parting gift to me." He indicated to the scars across his eye.

Standing chained to the wall, Lord Arnav could only stare at his estranged uncle in disbelief, his mind engulfed instantaneously with sombre memories of the place that once was home.

No wonder he had felt something eerily familiar about him at the Industry. There had been that itching sensation at the back of his mind ever since he'd set his eyes on this intruder but Raoul had changed a lot on the exterior that it had been impossible to place him in his memory.

He had grown his hair long, the blue in his eyes had entirely vanished from his once blue-green eyes, his visage had turned paler and angular, his eyebrows sharper, his lips thinner.

Lord Arnav also understood now how Raoul had come to make the chains, having perfected the alchemy of it over the years. Unforgettably, it was also this very same man who had made the gold cage for him, to trap his bestiality in and, here he was, repeating history all over again.

Kushi had watched their little tete like a clueless outsider but when her husband's face contorted in horror, she instantly sensed danger. It was at the moment that he referred to the man as his uncle that a whole new perspective came about.

She had stepped not into a business feud or into a captivity of her history.

She had walked into the treacherous pit of her husband's mysterious past.

She didn't know why or how, but something about the whole thing gave her intuition a sense that things were about to take a very unfavourable turn.

Finally, finding his voice, Lord Arnav gritted his teeth, "What have you come here for? What do you want from me?"

"Ten years," said Raoul, his green eye glinting indignantly, "Ten years is how long I searched for you and finally, I have found you."

He stepped back slowly, his eyes still trained on Lord Arnav, "And who would have thought you had a wonderful surprise waiting for me..."

He looked over his shoulder at Kushi when he said the last words which drove Lord Arnav furious, "Whatever it is you are here for, it has only to do with me. Keep my wife out of this!"

"But that is it, isn't it?" Raoul looked at him with a menacing grin, "Your wife. Everything that started this wrath in our family."

Lord Arnav frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"Ah, clueless lad!" Raoul clapped his hand once, "What AM I talking about?"

He looked at Kushi again as she stared confusedly at the men. Was he actually talking about her? She looked at her husband but he had eyes only for his pestering uncle.

Raoul smiled at Lord Arnav, "Tell me, boy, do you know who she is?"

"What ridiculousness-!" Lord Arnav pursed his lips in annoyance, "She's Kushi! My wife!"

"Wrong," Raoul shook his head, "She is not any Kushi or Dhukhi."

Kushi bit her lip. If only you believed me, Arnavji, when I told you my real name...

Raoul stepped forward towards Lord Arnav as though he were about to divulge a precious secret, "Her name is one which you must have heard years ago but forgot with the stream of all your sore memories..." Lord Arnav frowned, his mind raking for comprehension, while Raoul leaned forward and whispered, "Chandraki."

Lord Arnav stared at Raoul, still clueless.

But he recollected instantly that it was not the first time he had heard the name: Kushi herself had asked him about it and, if he remembered correctly, it was over that that they had fought that fateful morning.

He looked from across his enemy's shoulder to where his wife was standing, staring at them, vexed and weary.

With his eyes on his wife, Lord Arnav declared, "She's Kushi, daughter of the Guptas."

"Wrong again," Raoul stood tall, his cold eyes on Lord Arnav, "She is Chandraki. Daughter of the Varmas."

At this revelation, Lord Arnav and Kushi looked in astonishment at Raoul. How did he know all this?

Chandraki Varma. Kushi's heart repeated the name over and over again, hoping to churn her misty memories of a time long forgotten.

Varmas? Chandraki? Lord Arnav was perplexed. What was this man talk-? And then he remembered that Kushi was not really the child of the Guptas. He vaguely remembered her mentioning her real parents drowning... So who were her real parents? Was it possible that...

Raoul sensed that his statement had shaken their grip on realities and he laughed heartily, "Well actually that is only partially her identity."

Lord Arnav looked at his uncle as Kushi wondered what he had meant by that last testimonial.

She watched Raoul walk towards Lord Arnav and stand close to him. She saw Lord Arnav flinch when his uncle's wicked fingers gripped him by his chin, his fingernails digging into his cheeks.

Astrophe, who sat by the closed door, watching all that was happening, shook her head slightly as though sceptical of what she knew was coming.

Raoul steered Lord Arnav's face and, it was only a moment later that Kushi realized he was forcing him to look at her.

"Behold her, boy," He spoke, leaning close to Lord Arnav's ears, "Behold how beautiful she is. Don't you think?"

Lord Arnav gnashed his teeth, his jaw throbbing against his uncle's fingers, "How dare you speak of my wife in this unholy manner!"

"Unholy?" Raoul's eyes widened in amusement, "You got me quite wrong there, then. I was telling you to feast your eyes on an angel's face..." His voice turned lower and more furtive as he continued, "The angel's face that drove your father to infidelity, your mother into her murder, your sister into disgrace and yourself into curse!"

Kushi stared at them, bewildered by what she'd heard.

Baffled, Lord Arnav stared blankly at her and then, when he felt Raoul's hand withdraw from his face, he scowled at the wall.

"Preposterous!" Lord Arnav shot him a glare, "That is impossible!"

Raoul grinned at him, "She may not be the Chandraki who did all that but she is, undoubtedly, her long lost daughter."

Kushi blinked, flabbergasted by this disclosure as Raoul appraised her, "How similar she is in appearance to her mother, do you not see?"

He looked at Lord Arnav, who stared with a lost expression at Kushi who could only feebly shake her head in naivety of all that she was hearing of her supposed origin.

Raoul inclined his head to the side, interestedly observing them as he addressed his nephew, "How can you not remember! Your lovely wife is the daughter of Chandraki, the woman who tore your father away from his wife and children, the woman who is the reason your mother wept endlessly for days and exhausted herself in the sorrow of being unloved, the woman who is the reason your father was away from home even on the day of your sister's wedding, the woman for whom your father murdered your mother..."

Confounded, Kushi felt her head dizzy and she gripped her hands into fists at her side, trying to remain composed and unemotional. But all the things she was hearing staggered her senses...

All through Raoul's relation of the incidents, Lord Arnav felt life drain from his being. He stared wretchedly at the floor, his eyes swimming with burning tears as a hurricane of aching memories stormed his wearied mind.

The only thing he could do was stand against the wall, with his limbs limp from being chained, his heart torn of hope and his parched throat swallowing down on his rising agony.

Kushi? His beloved Kushi? The daughter of that vile woman who seduced his father and wrecked the happiness of their innocent family?!! The woman who ripped off his mother's smile and living breath forever.

In his mind, he saw himself glimpse through the ajar door of their bedroom, his wailing mother, his aloof father...

Lord Arnav squeezed his eyes shut and dismissed the scene from his mind.

As the frigid darkness of his anger enveloped his mind, he inhaled sharply and, opening his eyes, looked upon the woman standing across the room from him.

Kushi's heart froze.

She saw in his eyes the betrayal and alienation he felt.

From her...

Shattered, Kushi's teary gaze pleaded silently to him.

To see beyond the pain, to see beyond the past... To see the truth.

Of their love. Of what they meant to each other.

Would you let the past get in our way, Arnavji? Kushi wanted to ask.

But she bit her lip and closed her eyes, a tear drop sliding down her cheek, as she succumbed to the fate of his heart's sway. If he believed in their love, he would choose her and not overlook.

Even Astrophe felt pity on her plight and looked sadly in her direction.

Raoul sensed the tension in the air and smiled knowingly, "How curious that you would repeat your father's sin and bond yourself with the very offspring whose mother destroyed your family for eternity!"

Kushi glared at Raoul, bruised at heart but furious that his rude descriptions were inconsiderately branding her as a family wrecker.

"Arnavji," Kushi found the courage to speak and Lord Arnav looked at her as she spoke with desperate firmness, "Don't listen to him... He is only trying to separate us."

Lord Arnav was silent but his lifeless gaze remained on her.

"Tell me you don't trust his words," beseeched Kushi, "Tell me you'll-"

"Is there truth in what he said?" asked Lord Arnav cuttingly, a strange darkness rising in his eyes.

Kushi was furious, "How should I know! I never knew who my real parents were until he began telling these stories!"

"But you said to me, I clearly remember, that you were convinced your name was Chandraki," Lord Arnav posed.

Kushi didn't know what to say for a moment and the pause furnished hid distrust denser, and knowing this, she rebutted instantly, "I was made to believe it was my name. At the market that day, the man asked me if I knew it and there was the book-"

"What book?" interjected Lord Arnav impatiently.

Kushi frowned, annoyed at how easily he'd forgotten, "The one I told you the Chinese Princ-"

"This is all too fantastical to be true!" claimed Lord Arnav harshly, "Unless it really is true!"

"It isn't!" exclaimed Kushi hotly.

"How do YOU know!" Lord Arnav refuted in frustration, "Do you know who your real parents are?

"No, but-"

"Then what if your mother really is that woman?!" When he stated this, there was a wounded look in his eyes.

"Whether she is or not, I am not going to let that come in the way of my marriage," pronounced Kushi boldly, hoping her statement would stir some regard from him as her husband.

Astrophe perked up with keen interest, admiring the woman who would not stand down without a true fight.

Lord Arnav bowed his head despairingly, defeated by the anguish of the moment, "Do you know how much I hate my father for what he did to my family?"

Kushi was nearly in tears, "Yes, I do and-"

"Well, I hated that woman even more than I hated him."

Kushi stilled.

In that one line, he had said it all.

She felt her world give way and herself falling into a pit of sorrowful numbness.

Her trembling hand slid to her waist, which he would have presumed to be her attempt to contain her grief.

But in truth, she was comforting the life that grew innocently inside of her, ignorant of its father's cold rejection of accepting its mother... merely on the narrated possibility of something that had happened years ago.

She didn't tell him she was with child. Not when he had chosen his past over her.

Wanting to not reveal herself to have lost heart, she lifted her head high and kept her gaze away from the man she loved.

Raoul had watched all this unveil with an amused grin on his malevolent countenance.

At last, when the silence of their broken hearts prolonged unnervingly, Raoul stepped forward and snapped his fingers.

The doors opened and two guards marched in.

Raoul addressed no one in particular, "Tonight is our last night here. At dawn, we will head for our ship anchored at the coast. Everything else that we leave behind in this Castle will be destroyed. Which includes you." He had said that looking at his nephew but Lord Arnav had his head still bowed, refusing to have the heart to look up anymore.

Raoul turned to the guards, "Take her away. She needs her rest after the excitement of this evening. We have a long journey to make in the morning."

The guards didn't have to hold Kushi this time, for she willingly turned on her heels and stormed out of the room, too bruised at heart to look upon her husband's unfeeling face.

As the guards left after Kushi, and Raoul triumphantly closed the cell door that separated Lord Arnav and Kushi forever, Astrophe paused outside the door and felt the intangible string that bound the couple, on the verge of snapping as they kept stretching it further with the growing distance that their pride had created between their love.