The Betrayal Story - Part 45

 The story doesn’t end here. The king was distraught. He began spending lot of his time with Queen Satyavati. She was nurturing him back to normal self. She helped him out of his depression. Eventually the king got back to work.  He became more dependent on Satyavati’s wisdom. And this is what she wanted always.

When the king had bought Gayatri as his new bride to his home , she wasn’t happy. She planned for many days ways how she could get Gayatri out of the king’s life. She knew it wasn’t easy. The king was smitten by her innocence and beauty. She also knew she couldn’t retaliate. Hence she began to observe her enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. She waited patiently for the right time.

Her brother , Suryavanshi, complained to his sister for her lack of action. But she kept telling him it wasn’t the right time. “When is the right time? It will be ages then if you won’t act on time .”, he once said. “Patient, brother! Time will come when everything will be on our side.” , she said. “What if she produces heir to the throne and takes your place? ”, he asked. She smiled and replied, “That shall never happen. I have been personally taken charge of dietary needs of the king and serving him with food mixed with herbs that can deter any accidental pregnancies.”

Years had passed by when Roopali arrived. Satyavati took this as chance to realise her plan. When king came to her for counsel, she smartly  advised him to take her in. She had noticed the king’s increasing proximity towards Roopali and used it to fuelling  Gayatri’s mind. As expected Gayatri began to retaliate against king due to his closeness with his new mistresses.  The young queen’s desperate attempts to get the king back poisoned her relationship with the king. 

The final nail to the coffin was when Suryavanshi’s planned argument with the king. He used the General’s finding about Roopali and bought it to his notice by portraying that he had found it. They had watched Gayatri expressions change from lost soul to determined person. Few days after the war, she sent Suryavanshi to plant the findings to the king.

 Watching king punish Gayatri to exile , Satayavati was at peace. After so many years, she got what she wanted and now she was bearing the heir to throne.

       *****  The End *****

The Betrayal Story - Part 44

 Gayatri's heart was beating faster. The whispers around her were getting louder. Everyone wanted to know the name of the traitor while she wished the truth never got out. “ I never planned to do this . I only wanted attention and love from my husband. Is it sin to desire husband’s love ?”, she said aloud.

It took her few minutes to realise what blunder she had done. The people exclaimed in shock. “No, my Queen! But if you had shared your insecurities with me, I could have helped.”, Amar spoke. Gayatri laughed sarcastically. “Would you have left your mistress if I had asked you?”, she asked.

The king stayed silent. “Your silence answered my question, your highness . Why would you leave her for me? You had lost interest in me just like you had lost interest in Queen Satyavati when you bought me to this kingdom as your bride.”, she continued. 

Satyavati listened intently. She didn’t interfere. She let her speak out her emotions. “I tried several ways to get your attention. I failed. I even tried to accept the fact that I have to share you with her. But I couldn’t . I am not like Queen Satyavati.”, Gayatri spoke.

As she poured out her emotions , tears welled up in her eyes. Her eyes were red , filled with pain and love. “I had to take the wrong route. I ordered my spies to spy on Roopali. As soon as I found out her true identity, I bought it in front of you. I assumed you would exile her or sentence her to death. But you didn’t do anything. Instead you put her into prison.” , she spoke.

“Then I watched you suffer and to get you back , I manipulated her to escape from prison by blaming her for your suffering. It was true. You suffered due to her betrayal. I told her to go as far as you can and never show your face again.", she said without any remorse. "She betrayed out of compulsion not by choice. What about you? You had choice. No one tried to force you to betray me.", Amar said. "You still think she is right.", she snorted. "No one is right ! She was wrong and so were you. Do you know what consequences your action bought? Do you have bit of guilt for what you did? You killed not only our beautiful relationship. You killed an unborn child as well the mother for your selfish need.", he growled. She opened her mouth to say something but he signaled her to stop and ordered the guards to take her from his sight. She was exiled to a palace faraway from the kingdom and given all the luxuries. Her punishment was that she would no longer meet the king. She spent her entire life pining for him. But  the story didn't end here. 

(To be continued)

The Betrayal Story - Part 43

 Amar Singh Rawal was shocked. He had almost lost his balance. He didn’t understand why would Gayatri would stoop so low to get him. He wished she had come to him to discuss her insecurities. 

“Your highness, are you fine?”, Suryavanshi asked. “How do you expect me to react? Obviously I am hurt and angry.”, he muttered. Suryavanshi stayed quiet. He didn’t want to lose his head by putting into an angry lion’s mouth. He remembered the last incident when he was insulted by the king in front of everyone.

The king called one of his guards to send message everyone to assemble at the court. He had made his decision and he had to inform the public about it. The ministers and royal members  assembled at the court. They were confused as to what news king wanted to share.

The king arrived and everyone arose from their seats to greet him. They were happy to see him back in action. They sat after the king sat on his throne. He looked at his people and thought of how he was going to break the news. But he had to as he couldn’t keep the criminal free in his kingdom.

“I am sorry for not doing my duty since war towards you properly. This war has broken me and I had to heal. I had to clear my mind to get back to serving my people. Now I am better.”, he said. Everyone were happy especially Gayatri. “At last my king is back to his old self”, she thought.

“Before I can fully takeover my duties, I want to clean the dirt from this kingdom. I cannot do my duties  peacefully , knowing that my kingdom is tainted with such dirty mindsets.”, he said , surprising everyone at the court. “Suryavanshi bought me some news that he and his spies were investigating. It’s about that culprit who had manipulated Roopali to escape.”, he said. Gayatri’s heart pounded faster at thought of king knowing the truth. “I made my decision”, he said . Gayatri’s face turned pale. She wanted to die before she could face the wrath of the king.

(To be continued)

The Betrayal Story - Part 42

Amar Singh Rawal was mourning the death of his beloved. He had withdrawn himself from all the duties and spent his day in guilt. One fine day , he was distracted from his thoughts towards the loud voices coming from outside. The voices were of someone arguing with his guards.

He walked outside to see what was the commotion about. He wasn’t surprised to see Suryavanshi arguing with one of guards. “Whose orders are you following? Do you know who I am?”,Suryavanshi asked. The guard didn’t argue . He stood silent with  his gaze bent downward.

“He is following my orders. I had asked him to not to let anyone inside my chamber.”, the king spoke. Everyone stayed quiet including Suryavanshi who was now embarrassed. 

“What is it you want ?”, Amar asked. “Your highness, I have some news for you. It’s about Roopali.”, his brother in law replied. “I don’t want to hear. I can’t bear to hear anything negative news about her. Please leave me alone.”, he snapped as he turned to leave.

“I found out who helped her to escape from the prison.”, Suryavanshi spoke immediately to gain the king’s attention. Amar turned back. He called him inside as he wanted to get the first hand information and didn’t want others to spread rumours on what they heard.

“My spies provide valuable source of information. They have never wronged me. It’s Queen Gayatri who helped her escape. My sources tell me that the few  prisoners and guards have seen her speaking to Roopali . She was enticing her to escape from prison.”, he said. Amar was shocked. He was betrayed by that person whose innocence attracted him. 

(To be continued)

The Betrayal Story - Part 41

 Rasheed’s blood spluttered on Amar’s face. His lifeless body lay on the war ground next to his fallen head. Confusion and fear spread among Rasheed’s soldier. Their leader was dead. Some of them ran in fear of surrendering to the enemy. Few fought back while others accepted the defeat. 

Ratan and his army attacked Abdul and other soldiers. Abdul was killed with his army. The rest of enemy’s army were bought as prisoner of war. No one celebrated the victory before giving proper burials to dead bodies of Rasheed and his soldiers. 

Amar was still in state of shock. He had not accepted the death of his beloved. He was stuck in those beautiful memories  he shared with Roopali. He was numb to the celebration of their triumph over Rasheed. He didn’t look at his queens who were waiting for him with the large silver plates filled with lighted oil lamps and flowers,

They noticed his withdrawal expressions. Both queens immediately understood the reason. However they reacted differently. Satyavati was calm as usual. Gayatri’s heart sank . She cursed the time when he met Roopali. Later she decided to wait for sometime for him to heal.

Days passed by. The king was still depressed. He hardly met his subjects or took interest in matters of his kingdom. He received the praises for his valour by kings from different kingdoms. But he was unaffected by them. His mind was consumed by how he could have saved Roopali.

Gayatri was annoyed. She had waited for many days to get him back. She had sent Roopali- the cause of her pain away. Now when she was gone, he was still under her spell. She wondered when she would get his interest on her back. 

(To be continued)

The Betrayal Story - Part 40

“What love can do to people? It blinded my sight and made me believe in illusions. But now my sight is clear after I killed the source of my misery.”, Rasheed said. “You know nothing about love. Your selfish motives and evil mind took away precious lives. You used your friend and discarded him when he was of no use to you. You speak of love when you can’t keep your friendship. You were never blinded by love but by power and greed. It amuses me that you don’t know the difference between love and greed.”, Amar said.

Rasheed smirked. “You think you know more about love. Then why did you throw her out to be preyed by vultures like me?”, he said. Guilt stung Amar’s heart. His eyes were bent down in remorse. “Aren’t we similar? You threw her after getting bored of her company and I killed her because she was of no use.”, Rasheed spoke.

Amar looked up in anger. Rasheed didn’t stop. He continued,” After killing her, I learnt that she was three months pregnant. Foolish girl ! She could have been prime queen of Rawalgarh if she had told me. But do you think I would let her stay alive after learning this?” “Never  !  “, he laughed.

Amar couldn’t control his anger anymore . He rushed towards Rasheed with  vengeance. Ratan and army watched in horror as their king headed towards the enemy in anger. 

Rasheed’s soldiers who intervened were killed. He watched his enemy in fear.  For the first time, he felt scared. His great warrior couldn’t stop him. 

Amar wasn’t just any jilted lover. He was a fearless warrior. He was unstoppable. As he reached Rasheed, he didn’t wait any longer to behead him. He roared like a lion in anger. Rasheed watched his end helplessly.

(To be continued)

The Betrayal Story - Part 39

Amar Singh longed to meet his beloved Roopali soon. He wanted to apologise for his treatment towards her. He wanted to fulfil his promises to never let her go and give her position of his queen. He built his dreams with her in his mind , unaware that she was dead already. 

Rasheed smirked at the thought of how his enemy would react when he surprised him with memorable gift. “Amar Singh ! Now let me keep my promise.  But before that let me offer you a gift. Hope you will be happy with this token of my friendship.”, he said. 

Intrigued Amar watched carefully as Rasheed ordered one of his men to bring the gift. Amar hoped there was no hidden motive of attacking him slyly. He had known Rasheed’s war tactics of surprising his enemies by attacking them without their knowledge from his friends who had battled against him.

Rasheed’s slave arrived with a something covered in Persian woollen scarf on a silver plate. Amar Singh imagined what it was while Rasheed smirked. As his slave began to head towards Amar , he stopped him. He removed the clothing to disclose what was hidden. 

Amar Singh almost fell from his horse. But he managed to compose himself while he silently mourned at the loss of his beloved. His heart was filled with mixed emotions of pain, guilt and revenge. 

“What is this, you scoundrel beast ?”, he growled. “This was not the part of our agreement. You killed her . How dare you?”, he continued. Rasheed laughed devilishly. His laugh added more pain into his suffering. He vowed to avenge her death.

(To be continued)