For two hours,
Juan watched Sara as she slept, sometimes tossing about and moaning “Juan,
Juan” in her sleep. He felt uneasy. Suddenly she started shouting “Go away, go
away you brutes, shoo, shoo away!” Juan
realized that she had been having nightmares about the eagles attacking
her. He shuddered as he touched his
hollow eye, a nasty reminder of his own encounter with those hostile
creatures. How would Sara react on
seeing his battered eye, he mused. It
was ages since he had seen a mirror and now he didn’t feel like it at all. Who would want to see a deformed face in
place of the former handsome one? But he
felt contented that the noble and beautiful Myara loved him in spite of his
handicap. He was sure of that! He had seen the unmistakable love that swam
in her eyes as she looked at him and her infinite longing to be in his
arms. But her loyalty and word of honor
forbade her from taking her forward in the path of true love. He admired her, respected her and adored her
dearly. He wondered what destiny had in
store for him.
He again looked
at Sara. She was beautiful too, but he
knew nothing about her and didn’t feel as close to her as he had when he had
first set his eyes on her, in disguise.
Now he realized that that very disguise had made him fall in love with
Myara; whom he had mistaken for Sara. He
thought with a start that he hadn’t asked Myara why she had disguised herself
as an old and wrinkled lady. Was she
trying to impersonate his mother and angling at bargaining for his release with
the Master? Did she really believe that
his Master, the all-seeing and all-knowing one could be deceived so easily? If so, she was naïve, in spite of all her
bravado! When he had sprinkled water to
revive her, all her disguise had miraculously been washed away without a
trace! Leaving her as beautiful and
young as she indeed was!
Then in the
middle of his reverie, he felt the Princess stirring. She opened her eyes and looked straight into
his eyes. Then she shrieked and fainted. The hollow, blinded eye of Juan had probably
unnerved her. Many personal assistants,
guards, the King and the Queen rushed into her chamber.
The Queen
anxiously remarked “So my daughter finally woke up! What happened Juan, why did she shriek so
loudly?” Juan burst out laughing
hysterically as everyone gazed at him in wonder. Why was
he acting so strangely? They soon
received the answer to the question uppermost in their minds as he said
sarcastically, “And she is supposed to marry me? A deformed person whom she couldn’t tolerate
even for a second? Whose sight repulsed
and scared her out of her wits? I think
that we are going to have to revise our decision on her. Forgive my impudence, Your Excellency! Please get her married to someone handsome
and worthy of her beauty. Please don’t
saddle her with an unworthy husband. I
beg of you!”
The King and
Queen worriedly looked at each other.
Everyone was silent for a long time.
Then the King spoke “But she repeats only your name all the while. May be she wasn’t prepared to see you with a
single eye. Give her time. I’m sure that she’ll ask your forgiveness and
marry you once she is revived and briefed about your ordeal at the shrine. On my part, I’m convinced that you are the
only one for my Sara and the future King of Regina. I don’t have any second thoughts at all!”
At this
juncture, Martha stretched her sore right arm and yawned. She felt a presence nearly and was amazed to
see Sara near her. She had an innocent
and pleading expression on her face. Her
light eyes implored Martha to find a suitable end to the conundrum in the
palace.
“Don’t worry
dear!” Martha assured her gently and
asked her to rest. “Things will
definitely work in every one’s favor in Regina.
Just wait and watch!” Then she
excused herself and went to the kitchen to make cup of much-needed coffee. When she returned with the mug, Sara had
disappeared. Martha sighed with relief.
The next
morning, Arnold called up to say “I’ve fixed an appointment with Dr. Benedict
Hussey. We’ll be going to Surrey
tomorrow at 7 a.m. sharp. It’ll take us
about 2 hours to reach there. The
appointment is at 10 a.m. hence we’ll have about an hour after we reach there,
to relax and have breakfast. I know
about a wonderful old-world café there, that serves the most amazing scones and
pastries; and out-of-this-world tea.”
Martha laughed
at the child-like enthusiasm in his voice and felt enthused enough to say
“Right Sir! Will you pick me up or shall
I come to your house?” Immediately
Arnold chipped in saying “I’ll be at your service Madam. Don’t worry, I’ll be there at 7 a.m.
dot. Just be ready! Knowing you ladies, that’s a tough one!” he
teased. She good-humoredly laughed and
said “You bet! If I’m not ready on time,
I’ll foot the breakfast bill!”
‘’Let’s see!”
he said and hung up.
Martha felt a
warm feeling course through her veins.
If she ever married, it would be to such a good-natured, witty and
considerate gentleman. Then, as she
remembered her beau Norman, she felt nervous and apprehensive.
What was he like? She hoped
that he was just like Arnold. In fact,
these days, she admitted to herself, she liked Arnold so much that she didn’t
even regret forgetting all about Norman!
Was she
supposed to feel guilty? She didn’t know
and gleefully felt that she just didn’t care!
As long as Arnold was by her side, she had the world by her side! Then she felt really guilty and ashamed. Arnold was married. Happily married, in fact! She had no right thinking about him in those
terms. He was out of bounds for her.
To be continued....
The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.
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