"Sometimes God breaks your heart by preparing you to face the future, in turn saving your soul" ~ Subhadra

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It has been two weeks since that day; since we returned to Indraprasth. And a downward hectic spiral from then. 

Indraprasth had been expecting a few ministers from Trigarta to further the already existing trade relations between both the kingdoms. Jiji had sent over a message, delegating me the duty of hosting them. 

The maiden carrying the message particularly mentioned that the Kauravas were also in contention for this, making it even more important for us. Since then, I have been studying the tastes, preferences and the history of the Trigarta kingdom, carefully deciding how to make them feel appreciated and respected at our kingdom.  

Running from pillar to post, skipping lunch and dinner, spending hours at the library, guiding them to our palace by coordinating with messengers of both kingdoms- life hardly gave me a second to ponder over the reason behind my husband and family's behavior.

That being sad, it had been ages since the entire family got together at the food table. In fact, we hardly saw each other.

Now that I was saddled with responsibilities and my brothers were as usual busy with court matters. While traversing through the corridors looking for something, I would often spot my brothers engaged in tense conversations. 

Jiji and Arya, on the other hand, seemed to have vanished. Over the days, the only way I could know that we were staying under the same roof and breathing the same air was through the royal orders I received from her chamber; along with waking up on the bed every single morning despite consciously sleeping on the floor at night. 

The maids repeatedly sang the same song whenever I asked them, "Prince Arjun paid a short visit to your chamber in the night, Princess!"

Only God knew Arya always came to the room after I fell asleep.

Tossing all these thoughts, heaving an exhausted sigh, I sat down on the garden bench. Trigarta's ministers were finally arriving tomorrow and staying over for a month. My work was almost done and somewhere I was sure that we would succeed in furthering our ties. 

The night was oddly still and I heard the bushes creak before looking behind. A few steps far, behind the dark bushes, stood someone staring at me. Due to the dark, I could not see the person.

But from those eyes, he seemed like a young man. I felt my eyes scan the environment and find almost no soldiers.

"Whoever you are, come before me!" I ordered but he stood still unresponsive.

I huffed and stood up to get a better view of him. My hands settled at the knife in my belt while his sharp hawk eyes just studied every movement of mine.

That gaze- there was something very intense about that glance. Maybe a thousand times more accusing than Brata Balram and Brata Krishna's gaze when once as a child, I had landed myself in a life- threatening situation and almost fallen from a cliff.

It was Charu who had saved my life on that day by promptly bringing my brothers to the scene. 

The bushes creaked further and I snapped out of my thoughts. My grip over the knife tightened. I could not afford to get myself kidnapped and wounded once again. Who knows, this time I may as well lose my memory for real.

And with the Rajsurya Yagna coming up, we had to be extra careful.  

"Who are you? I'm sure you do not belong to our kingdom!" I enquired and the figure just stood undeterred. An uneasy sensation clasped my stomach as I found myself rooted to the spot.

It felt like I could not move a muscle. As I tried to understand what was going on, I could sense his intense gaze penetrate further.

Something was definitely going to happen.  

And... BOOM.

* * *

"Bhadra.. Bhadra..." I heard few mild whispers. It was Jiji's voice. She was calling for me. And the tone screamed desperation.

But where was I? And why was everything so dark around? This place did not belong to Dwarka, Indraprasth or Hastinapur. But strangely, I had seen this some where.

"Subhadra!" The cries intensified and something inside me died a thousand deaths. I had to get to her as soon as I could. I felt the ground below me and began crawling towards the source of the cries.

My anklets echoed in the background and in a few seconds, I felt a pair of hands grab my feet, preventing me from moving ahead. And as much as I tried, I could not escape the grip.

The hands pulled me by my legs backwards and I found my head being banged against a rocky surface. My vision blurred and as I tried to spot the face of my attacker, all I could see was those evil pair of eyes.

"Jiji.." I whispered as the screams escalated before falling prey to unconsciousness.

* * *

My eyes flew open to reveal the familiar colors of the ceiling. My whole body had paled out and beads of sweat running down my face.

It was a dream. But something about the dream felt so real that I could not stop myself from trembling. It wasn't that I never saw dreams about death and as Mata told, people who die in dreams live longer on Earth. But I felt real pain this time unlike other times.

"Jiji.." I whispered before trying to get down the bed when I slipped and hit the ground. As I cursed myself over the fatigue, I felt something liquid run down my palms.

And that was when the big cut on my arm came to my notice. The freely flowing blood towards the ground had completely painted my palm red. I wheezed in pain, holding the wound as tightly as I could to prevent bleeding.

"Arya.." I whispered and cried till I had no more tears left. I heard a few footsteps outside the room and called out to the maids but to no avail. 

There was no way they'd hear my faint voice. I knew I had to take matters in my hand and gathered all the energy in my legs. Slowly I pulled myself by my body towards the door.

And with every step, the flashes of a hand pulling my leg played on loop inside my head. I knew that I was safe once I crossed the door. Someone would definitely find me there.

I felt something by my legs and froze. Was it that figure with the evil green eyes? I closed my eyes, trying to even my breath before slowly turning back to spot exactly what I was scared of.

That black figure with the evil green eyes.

Looking at my as ruthlessly as it could, I felt my heartbeats rise. With my body still moving towards the door, I managed to grab the vase below the bed and throw towards the figure.

It vanished. My vision blurred and I failed to spot what had happened. I had almost made it to the door and held on to the latches for supporting my body.

The door opened and I lost my balance, falling behind only to feel a pair of hands encircling my waist. In the next second, he pulled me towards him and I crashed against his chest.

I rested my head on his shoulders, trying hard to battle the pain as his hands caressed my hair, repeatedly screaming out my name, "Bhadra!"

* * *

PS: Hey everyone. I know I missed the deadline this time but Diwali time and there's lot of work. I hope to update the next chapter over the coming weekend.

So, how was the chapter? I know I said mindless fun but I guess I love writing more thrill and this particular plot has lot of genres which I'm really excited to write.

And don't worry, I haven't forgotten the previous chapter. I will merge it with this one in a way that will facilitate the plot.

Please vote and comment to let me know if you're enjoying the chapter.

Take care!
And happy Diwali! 🪔