83. To Where I Belong

Akshara’s inner mind jumped in ecstasy to see Dev with flesh and blood rather than in her abstract shape. Both Akshara and Dev weren’t patience enough to touch and hold each other in delight. The Queen noticed his impatience and voiced mentioning the amulet, "Where did you get this from?"
Akshara’s bloomed face was washed out, her rainbow shaped eyebrows knitted purposely, and her voice faded, "From dungeon."
"Dungeon?" Dev stood up immediately to voice his opinion to his maximum with anger and confusion filled face. Akshara was startled by his loud voice and his immediate tremble caught her.
"Sara?" he shouted again, wanting her to answer him and the icicles that were hanged for decorated shivered that made tingling noise to fill the silenced throne room. Akshara looked at him with fearful eyes and was taken aback in his anger.
Akshara breathed through her mouth and panted heavily. The other brides seated in the corner were perplexed to witness his anger and felt ridiculed for inviting them to Ayruzglow kingdom.
Indigo warned Nora, "My lady?"
"Shush," Nora silenced her maid, Indigo, and tried all means to remain cool in the situation. Since Akshara didn’t answer him, Dev looked at his mother for his answer, and Mirabella too didn’t respond to him, but wanted to know what her son would do next.
Dev immediately got down from his throne and marched towards Akshara, sniffing angry flames. He opened his arms to hold her safe in it while biting his lower lip in anger. He told her, "That explains your bruise marks."
Nora was enraged, in danger of missing her last chance to own him; she stepped out of her chair to the middle, where Akshara had been standing before Dev approached Akshara.
"My Queen," Nora voiced to grab Dev’s attention, "Our kingdom is mighty and wealthy by all means."
Dev listened to her with a knitted face while his legs were still approaching Akshara, Nora continued, "We have our allied kingdoms that are dependable only on Ayruzglow."
Nora pointed to the beautiful brides in the corner and added more particulars to her statement, "So, we have to fight with our rivals and enemies in no time. I request you to suggest our crown prince choose a bride who will be able to fight along with him to defeat our enemies."
"Why don’t you suggest your name to be the crown prince’s bride instead of masking your motive with decorated words?" Ravina, the brunette bride, Nora, to Nora, standing by her seat.
"Princess," Dev looked at the princess Ravina for the first time and remarked, "Furious words don't fit your demeanour. I suggest all princesses have a pleasant stay in Ayruzglow until our honoured queen makes a decision regarding the present predicament."
Akshara was impressed with his reply to cool everyone in the throne room with a single take, "Only he is capable of multitasking in speaking."
The white queen announced, "This Ayruzglow is not only expecting a beautiful bride for my son, the crown prince, but she must also be a warrior to defend the kingdom in the future."
The murmuring sound again filled the throne room. One of the subjects voiced, "Nora is known for her sword fighting. Who could withstand her powerful attack?"
The other subject replied, "All brides are beautiful, but only brides who know the sword can win Nora."
Another subject said, "We will accept any bride as our queen whoever wins Nora."
Hearing all the wishful thoughts of Ayruzglow subjects, Mirabella, the white queen, announced even louder, "Prepare the field. I would like to welcome my son’s warrior bride."
Saying those welcoming words, the white queen adjourned soon, not waiting for Dev to make any ultimate move. Akshara totally understood the need and responsibility of the bride who was married to Dev. "Am I his blameless choice?"
"Sara," Dev approached her, who was indulged in much confusion after listening to Nora’s explanation. Akshara moved one step back, stopping Dev from coming near her any further. "I... I need to go."
"Where?" When Dev asked her with a stern face, she replied, looking down at his feet, "To where I really belong."
Akshara turned her back and fast walked towards the dungeon without looking back at Dev, who stood like a statue trying all means to understand her actions and what would have happened in the castle in his absence.
Akshara hurried her legs with tightened fisted hands, biting her lower lips in anger, and her exotic eyes were moist. Dev looked at her stubbornness in revealing herself to him. He followed her in finding a reason, "Sara, you are going the wrong way. Sara...?"
Akshara bumped on to the pillar in front of her, ignoring Dev’s warning. She bruised her forehead and rubbed it to ease the pain. While Dev came running to look at her wounds, Akshara stopped him. "No, I am fine."
Dev forcefully grabbed her chin with one hand and his other hand clutched her resisting hands. "Let me see your face for a while." He said through his gritted teeth, "... which I longed terribly to see for months."
Though he did it forcefully, she liked his confession, and yet she concealed her feelings. She removed her face from his clutch and tried to walk away from him. He tried to stop her, "Are you ignoring me, Sara?"
Akshara halted her speedy legs and searched for the perfect words to reply to him. Dev wanted to seize every opportunity with Akshara. He stood in front of her, stopping her to go any further, "Our chamber; my chamber is in that direction."
"You must be exhausted. You need rest." Akshara replied without meeting his eyes, holding her voice stable. But, she knew that she couldn’t control her feelings over Dev if she met his icy blue eyes, which had the ability to pierce through her to reveal herself.
Mirabella, the white queen, watched everything from the top and voiced, "Dev, can we have a little talk?"
Ivan, Dev and Akshara looked in the direction of Mirabella. Before Dev could reply, Akshara sighed and went back to the dungeon with a heavy heart.
In a few hours, Dev stood in the hallway looking at Akshara, thinking how his plans of action were ruined by the environment. Ivan patted on Dev’s shoulder to console him.
"Only she dares to ignore me, Ivan." Dev replied, "I can’t understand what’s wrong with her. I crave for her to come into my arms as soon as she sees me. Now look how she is ignoring me. She is more indifferent to me."
"Dev, don’t come to any conclusions. We should find out what happened in our castle in our absence. So many things are weird in our castle." Ivan told Dev, who still looked at Akshara, expecting her to give him eye contact.
Ivan continued, despite Dev’s least involvement in their conversation, "Axe is staying in the dungeon, Nora looks more feminine, and the Queen opened gates for our allied kingdom’s brides."
"Only one person can answer all the questions," Dev tightened his facial muscles and walked towards his queen’s chamber.
Meanwhile, the other princesses rested in their respective chambers; before they were separated by sleep, they had a little talk, excluding Nora. Princess Ravina cheered and excitedly said, "Did anyone see how cute our crown prince replied to me. Oh, I am melted."
D’Rona replied to everyone, "Don’t you see how that dungeon girl and him exchanged their love. She even dared to wear his fallen feathers as her outfit. I am raging in their love."
"What do you expect her to wear when everyone ruined her outfit?" Enerva snarled at everyone.
Avika added to her conversation, "Nora is more viscous than I thought. It is clearly visible that the Crown Prince doesn’t have any fondness for her."
"Yet, she believes that her void would be filled with his never-to-be-loved." Zerena laughed followed by others. Zerena suddenly stopped her laughing and soon the charm vanished, "But he chooses that dungeon girl."
"Who would want to fight Nora to become the future queen of Ayruzglow?" Enerva asked everyone. When all eyes turned to Enerva, she replied, "Not me, I just represent my kingdom and we are honoring the invitation of the White Queen."
"I will!" D'Rona announced it with strong will. Avika asked her, "You want to be the future queen of Ayruzglow?"
"No, not for the queen’s position," D'Rona sniffed in anger, "but to damage the pride of the female general of Ayruzglow, yes!"
Enerva jumped with unlit joy, "Tomorrow will be filled with wonders and miracles. So, let us sleep tonight with little peace."
In the dungeon corridor,
Akshara took big steps to go to the dungeon as fast as possible, but she anticipated Dev to rush up behind her and take her in his arms. She even bemoaned her situation in hushed tones. "What's keeping him from taking me along? Why didn't he draw me to him instead of standing still? Are a few seconds in his arms worth months of agony? He truly understood how desperately I wanted to be in his arms, yet he stood as if his legs were fixed. Is that to say he'd marry any of the six princesses and abandon me in a dungeon for all eternity? Or will he select me as his mistress, who physically cheering him only when he needs it?"
Her tears dropped on the amulet, which shined brightly. She buried the lit amulet in her palms and dashed into the dungeon, locking her with the dungeon's black walls. Akshara hurled her over the amorphous wall, where she sketched the form of Dev. She slumped against the wall, weeping even harder as she imagined Dev. Her beloved birds and savage creatures growled in response to her question, "What happened?"
She pounded the wall hard with her bare fists to express her rage, fear, and need for him. Her palms' gentle lines were scraped by sharp pebbles on the dungeon wall. Her scarlet blood flowed out, yet she continued to beat the wall. Dev's picture appeared on the wall and he grinned at her. Though Akshara was aware that his picture was entirely the result of her imagination, it was clearly not the actual one, and she preferred to live in unsure obscurity rather than reality.