Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

"Oh, well! If you are here to say thanks, you don't need to. In fact, I would request you to not tell this to anyone. If my erhm, partner got to know that I wasted time in helping someone that day instead of running straight to his rescue, he would personally hang me upside down this time with no respite," Mriga shuddered at the thought while telling this to Vaishali.     

Vaishali felt a sliver of jealousy snake through her body when she heard the other girl mentioning her friend. Vaishali had never found any guy to be worthy enough to stand next to her till she underwent the combat experience with Abhirath the other day. His personality and style were really similar to hers and immediately grabbed her attention. But her fierce attraction fizzled out as soon as she realised that the guy was fiercely devoted to the girl next to him. It was as if nothing else really existed for him.     

She was a loner who had come into the world at the same time when her mother died during child birth. Her father left her in the care of his parents and went to fight for the motherland. During the first four years of her existence, he had come to visit her regularly but in her fifth year, his body covered in the shroud was delivered to the family. Her ageing grandfather lit the pyres of his son and then his wife with in a short period of time. The old man couldn't take care of the little girl on his own and with a heavy heart, he sent her to the state-run orphanage with the request that she be told about her father and his heroics when she grew up.     

By the time Vaishali was nine, she had decided that she would grow up to become someone whom her father will be proud of. Before entering the contest, she had already decided that if she didn't succeed in the QIT competition, she would go and enlist in the army. But while she was here, she was going to give it her best.     

"No, I am not here to thank you even though I am grateful for the help. Without your action, I would have lost out on the qualification that day. Actually, I have come to talk about exposing the gang of girls who seemed to have formed a consortium and are playing the game together. Are you aware of it and of the identities of any of those?" she asked.     

Mriga was surprised and asked Vaishali the reason for approaching her for this reason.     

Vaishali looked at the short girl in front of her with a strange expression, "Are you fishing for compliments, Mrignayani?"     

Mriga was confused by her choice of words.     

"No, I am only asking as to why would you come to me with this? We are not even acquaintances, forget friends. Hence the question," she clarified.     

Frankly, she was suspicious about the motive behind the other girl seeking her out and was trying to get a read on her expressions.     

Vaishali shook her head in disbelief and replied, "Don't tell me that you are unaware that your name is ranked amongst the top five on the betting list as the most probable winner since end of day 1."     

Mriga's mouth fell open at the other girl's claims. Why would someone want to bet on her? Did they not know how bad a mass of nerves had she been just a night before, questioning her capabilities? She found it really tough to accept.     

"No, I didn't, nor do I believe such predictions. Anyways, coming to your point, I did feel that contestants were behaving strangely during the physical tasks. But then why would someone jeopardise their candidature by grouping together? I came across a couple of them in the maze near the lake before I got caught next to the tree but I was unable to identify any of them. Maybe… Abhirath could have a clue about it. He mentioned vaguely that he had heard a couple of them that day as well. Do you want to talk to him regarding this?" she asked.     

While Mriga's thoughts were embroiled in who could be the offenders, Vaishali had gone red in the face thinking about whether to say yes or not to another episode of what would be self-inflicted torture. She believed that what she was feeling currently was a simple case of attraction towards a guy for the first time and if she avoided him, it would go away. But on the other hand, even the slightest hint of opportunity to see him had her heart thundering away faster than the galloping wild horses.     

Before she knew it, her seemingly casual voice replied, "Sure. Let me know when."     

Mriga nodded and told her that she will arrange it.     

Himprayag, King's chambers     

Raja Indraditya was breathing hard and despite the coals burning in all corners of the room, he was shivering slightly. Rani Nayantara tucked the blanket around his legs while he sat on the opulent sofa, trying to suck in deep breaths.     

"Don't bother playing the doting wife. It doesn't suit you," he wheezed and pushed her hand away.     

The queen pouted and responded, "Do you always have to behave so suspiciously around me all the time? Your daughter seems to have inherited the same trait. It is so irritating to be treated with distrust by both of you every time I try and do something nice."     

The king didn't want to waste his breath trying to argue with her and simply asked, "Why are you here at this hour?"     

The queen smirked in return and said, "I was coming to visit you and, on the way, I got to know that even Ahilya will be visiting you, tonight. So, I thought of having a cosy family reunion. With both of you so busy all the time, we never get together, just the three of us. I have also ordered someone to bring in the bitter, hot beans drink which you relish a lot. A fresh batch has just arrived from my parents' plantation this week."