YEARN

CHAPTER 05

L A S Y A

Confrontations were hard. Regardless of the people involved, it was hard every single time. Now imagine confronting the highest authority in the kingdom. A person who had the ability to kill you with one word. That was exactly the situation Lasya was putting herself into. She didn't have a death wish, but she might as well have. 

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door that separated her chamber from Rudransh's. The first night of their marriage demanded that she sleep in the same room as the King, so she had. The very next day, she had returned to her room and her husband seemed all too happy about it, going as far as getting himself a mistress. 

She didn't want to walk into anything untowardly.

"Come in."

She opened the well-oiled door, grateful that she didn't have to deal with any creaking as she did. Apparently, the sound drove the King crazy, so the attendants paid a lot of attention to make sure that the doors opened as smoothly as they could. 

Rudransh looked up from his elaborate study. It wasn't unusual for a King to have a small part of his study in his bed-chamber, but her husband overdid everything that he touched, so she wasn't surprised to see the stack of parchments arranged alphabetically on the side of the wall. "I have something to discuss with you."

Lasya expected him to avoid her eyes, but surprisingly, he placed his quill down and looked up at her. "What is it?"

"I know that having mistresses is common and husbands don't exactly bother to keep it discreet because they don't care for their wives' reputations, but I have a request. My father is a member of your court and it would be disrespectful to him to make your mistresses known, especially after you married his daughter, so can you please not make it obvious like you did yesterday?"

She expected a cordial nod or even light disagreement, but what he did upended everything that she thought she knew about marriages. Rudransh's eyes grew furious as he knocked his chair back. "Mistresses? Who's spreading such treasonous rumours about me? I will have their sorry heads rolling in the most ruthless way that they can think of!"

Lasya's eyes widened. She hadn't seen anyone get as rageful as he did in her entire life. His eyes promised blood and his palms had cracked the edge of the wooden table that he was holding onto. "No one did."

"Don't lie to me, Lasya." he said, his voice laced with fury.  He had a wild look in his eyes, one that assured wrath. "Tell me who dared to!"

"I'm not lying!" she yelled, snapping him out of his anger. Lasya heaved harshly, pushing down the fear that threatened to take over. "I'm not lying. I assumed that was the case when you started talking to every minister individually yesterday. Every minister except my father and Shakuntala. Why did you then?"

Rudransh took a deep breath. "You assumed?"

"What was I supposed to think?!"

He chuckled mirthlessly. "I don't know, but infidelity is the first conclusion that you jump to? You aren't just disrespecting me, but you're disrespecting my parents for their upbringing! What do you take me for? I would have mistresses just because we're fighting?"

Lasya let out a sharp exhale. "We fight every minute of every day! It has been a week now and you drive me up the wall with every word that you utter, and I'm sure I do the same to you. So, what was I supposed to assume when you revoked the position of two ministers?"

"That's the thing, Lasya!" he snapped. "You don't! You don't make assumptions. How difficult is that?" 

She clenched her fists. "What were you talking about then?"