12. Brewing of Love
Akshara pushed Karen away from her who was blocking her way; she rushed into the banquet table to save her Uncle who was followed by Karen silently murmuring “Axe, Wait”.
Akshara told him, “Move away, if you don’t want to be hurt, Karen. I will speak for my Uncle, whatsoever sin he committed.”
Akshara immediately rushed to the banquet table without further delay and she was shocked to witness the scene that the banquet table was empty and she could smell the odour of dead candles which were kept in the middle of the banquet table.
She found no trace of any meeting held there previously and she suddenly turned her head to the window to notice the weather. When she found out the weather also changed from a furious thunderstorm to a cold breeze and the sky was clear with twinkling stars and beamed with moon rays, her heart merely skipped a beat.
Akshara turned to Karen and hold the collar of his shirt tightly by pushing him to the nearest wall with all her strength and with furrowed brows and furious eyes she asked him, “What the hell is happening here, Karen”
“Axe, Stop. Calm down. Hear me” Karen tried to convince the provoked Akshara by removing her hand from his shirt’s collar. But Akshara doesn’t seem to be convinced by his words; she never loosened her hold of his shirt.
“I wanted to know… I know you knew something about what happened today, Speak up Karen. Who are they? Why did you call Nic Queen? Speak up Karen, open your mouth” said Akshara in a sharp tone and fierce look in her eyes.
Karen was struck with the fierce look of Akshara and he could feel that there is very least distance between them. “Axe, they are all gone” by saying these words, Karen takes away the hands of Akshara which was pressing against his neck hard as ever. Akshara on realizing that she was hurting him, calmed down a little and took her hand away from his shirt, “Gone where Karen?”
“Probably sleeping, what else do you want them to do…” Karen replied in a casual tone.
Akshara shockingly asked him by tightening her hold again around his neck, “Sleeping…? Why?”
“Oh Axe, are you nuts, what do you think they will do in just the middle of the night rather than sleeping,” Karen asked her a question to trick her.
Akshara was tensed by the reply from him and stepped a foot back and posted her fierce words towards him, “Do I look like a crazy. We both saw those people around the banquet table was arguing something and accusing Uncle Bruz. But now they have vanished into thin air. Don’t you want to save your dad…?”
Karen replied with a belief, “Axe, my dad is invincible. No one is daring to accuse or punish him. He knows how to protect himself. It’s time for you to go back to your deep slumber”
Karen holds the wrist of Akshara and pulled her to come with him to her room, as he doesn’t want her to create any theatrics. But Akshara didn’t want to sleep unless her questions were answered.
“Wait; explain why God-mother is called Queen” Akshara questioned him repeatedly.
“Queen…Yes. She is our Queen” Karen replied.
“What is the kingdom name? And how did you know all these things? I am with her all the time why I am not aware of it, Karen… I need an explanation” Akshara posted her suspicion.
“Let’s speak about this in the morning. Now it’s sleeping time” Karen wanted to end her speech, he holds the hands of Akshara and started climbing the stairs.
Karen dragged Akshara to her room, while they reach the room of Mrs Blackfire; they halted and observed a deadly silence. Akshara whispered in the ears of Karen, “Karen… Nic”
Karen jolted to make a move to place his index finger on the lips of Akshara and whispered back, “Shush… keep your voice low and follow me”
Akshara asked him again in a whisper, “Karen, what if I go inside the room of Nic and have a talk about what just happened now?”
The husky voice of Akshara pierced straight through his heart to awaken the forbidden thoughts and sinful desires of Karen. When Karen realized that Akshara was too close to him, he lifted his eyes to look at her deeply, “Oh my god… what a beauty! She is indeed flawless beauty. I am the luckiest person to have a chance to see her face in this least distance. But it is not the right time to confess. Also, she is not in the clear mind to understand my love. I must ensure her safety first and then find a suitable time to confess her later.”
Akshara pulled Karen towards her by his shoulders; she moved her head near his ears and spoke in a soft voice, “Karen… May I…”
The instant act of Akshara provoked him and he turned to her and moved forward to reply in her ears while she got goosebumps when Karen came closer to her.
“Axe, you are awakening the sleeping monster inside”, Karen whispered in her ears.
“But Karen, I can’t sleep with all these questions…” Akshara was not certain what is happening around her, denied going to her room.
“No buts, Axe. Go to sleep” Karen accompany her to her bedroom and pushed Akshara a little inside her room and was about to close the door of her bedroom, they heard a long echoed howling sound.
Akshara was shocked to hear that sound, “Howling…in Ardna Chirig? So weird”
“Axe, are you afraid of that howling sound?” Karen asked in concern.
“Not really… Yes,” Akshara replied with a fake smile.
“Beauty, Do you want this handsome man to accompany you this night…You can take a tight hold of me and sleep at ease until it's morning” Karen smirked with a raised eyebrow and was about to enter the room of Akshara.
“Nonsense… Karen, Get out” Akshara pushed him out of her room and gave him a fierce look in his eyes with a cunning smile on her lips.
“Axe, I was just joking. Get back to sleep. We will continue our talk in the morning. Whatever you wanted to ask, you can ask. But now it’s a Good night for me” Karen was rushing to close the door.
Akshara stopped Karen from closing the door, “Sorry Karen… for hurting you…I …just…”
“Don’t bother it, I don’t feel any pain, Axe. It's fine for me if I was hurt by you” Karen replied with a smile and closed the door for her biding her good night.
Karen after leaving Akshara in her room rushed in the direction where the howling sound came from. While Akshara was partly scared of howling and threw herself on the bed and talked to herself, “This Karen is really something. He is a good boy full of flirts. He is cute with amber eyes but I am not falling for him. He is a good friend of mine. What a weird night!”
Akshara turned off the bedside lamp and dived into the deep sleep by clutching her knees and her eyelids slowly closed. After a few minutes of watching her sleep, Eggy flew from her room through the window which was previously locked by Akshara in her action of quenching her thirst.