“It’s best if you disappear for a while. Think of the child you’re carrying if nothing else. Do you want him or her to carry the stigma of having a convict for a mother? Worse, think if they were to sentence you to death.”
“But what about you?” Kalpana asked in a small voice.
“I’m a princess. I know my punishment will not be death. Unlike you.” She tried to infuse some assurance in her wobbly voice, burying the part of her that insisted on reminding her that she had just ended a life.
“You could run away with me?” said Kalpana, her voice raising in question.
Chandra shook her head. “It won’t work, Kalpana. They’ll launch a search and then we both will be caught. I’ll stay here. I’ll make them believe it was only me who was involved in this murder. Now go.” She helped her friend to the edge of the grove, alternatively cajoling and threatening, until Kalpana reluctantly limped away through the trees.
Chandra returned to Virat and wrenched her knife from his still warm body. And that was how Veer had found her.
* * *
“I don’t believe you,” said Veer bluntly.
Chandra felt the glancing blow of that simple statement, his stark refusal wrenching her abruptly out of the past. A resigned sort of disappointment and pain breached her heart. She knew it was a possibility he wouldn’t believe her, but still, she had hoped.
“Why not? You believed me when I said I killed him. You believed me when I said I hated you,” she said, hiding the hurt.
“Because that was a credible possibility,” Veer countered with a frown.
Chandra wished she could read him, but he had his mask on, and she couldn’t understand what was really going on behind those pewter eyes.
“If I hated you that much, I wouldn’t have saved you that day in the Navari Woods,” she argued. “If I hated you that much, I would’ve simply refused to marry you.”
“That ‘save’ was from a ‘minor incident,’ Princess,” he pointed out reasonably. “And don’t be so hasty in assuming that your father would’ve agreed to your request about not wishing to marry me. I didn’t give him much choice in that matter.”
She tried another tack. “We both know what Virat was capable of. Why are you not ready to accept it as a possibility?”
“Because I know my friend!” he said with conviction.
“Feelings don’t make for convincing arguments, Prince Veer,” she said, mocking his reason.
Veer pursed his lips. “Very well, then. What evidence do you have, Princess?”
“You know I have nothing beyond my, and Kalpana’s word.” Chandra’s fingers curled into fists. The fire between them was almost out, but the embers still glowed red hot.
“So, no evidence then,” he said derisively. “Conjectures also don’t make for convincing arguments, Princess Chandrasena.”
Chandra’s chin went up, and she opened her mouth to retaliate, but Veer spoke over her. “And why didn’t you reveal all this at the trial the next morning? Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because of you! Of your reputation. Am I supposed to have trusted you? Based on what? On one evening’s experience at the Navari woods, where you gave more precedence to supernatural beings than regular people? Where you decided toburn down those woods to free the Nature Spirits? Or should I have not put much stock in the stories people tell about your ruthless ways?
“Or maybe trust this person who knew his friend was a mind-control mage all along and still chose to hide that fact from everyone, leaving us all vulnerable to his manipulation? Who is the person I was supposed to have trusted, Veer?”
Chandra paused to swallow as tears threatened to break through and attempted to speak in a calmer tone. “I was afraid of what you’d do once it came out that my friend had a hand in Virat’s murder. You were ready to kill me. Only the fact that I was a princess of Amaravathi stayed your sword. Kalpana would’ve produced no such hesitation. I had to change the story to make it believable. To protect Kalpana and her unborn son.”
“Kalpana…?” Veer was watching her outburst with an impassive face, but she didn’t mistake that he wasn’t taking in everything. Those eyes were alive and burning with questions. She just couldn’t divine what his true thoughts were. But those were some strong sentiments, storming his dark eyes.
“Isn’t she Sarun’s mother?” he asked, and then his face cleared as he registered something. “Sarun is Virat’s child?”
“Yes. And she’s the person I wanted you to forgive. The one for whom I was asking the boon.”
“You think I’d kill the mother of my friend’s only son?” he said hotly and then seemed to realize what he was saying. “If what you’re saying is the truth,” he amended. “Kalpana and Sarun will have my protection. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be the truth. You don’t need a boon to protect them from me. I draw the line at killing women and children.”
“Do you really mean that?” she demanded.
“I’m not in the habit of needing to explain myself twice,” he said curtly. “Virat is dead. I only have your point of view ofthe events that happened that day. I need more information and until then, I’ll reserve judgment.”
