A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 66

            In Regina, at his wits’ end, the King again consulted Juan and his mother. She quietly said that she would get her future daughter-in-law to the palace. When she went to that inn with the soldiers, Myara had vanished! After searching the whole day, the soldiers hit upon an idea. They sent a message to the palace to bring her favorite mongrel named August. When he arrived at the inn, he started running in the direction of Regina then suddenly veered off track and started bounding towards the hill where the shrine was located. Heaving excitedly up the steps towards the cave where Myara had taken refuge from the angry eagles while going to rescue Juan from the shrine; he left the others following him far behind. The eagles who were hungrily hovering overhead, kept a safe distance due to his incessant barking.

             Once near the cave, he sniffed around the opening, picked up her scent and leapt into the cave and was delighted to spot his mistress, Myara lying down on the cold and damp floor, curled up to keep herself warm. He licked her tear-stained, soft cheeks till she opened her eyes and looked at him in amazement. As he barked excitedly, she caressed his head and body and gathered his eager brown body close to hers. “How did you find me, darling?” Then her eyes widened in realization. So someone from Regina was desperately looking out for her! Why?

            August shook himself off from her gentle grasp and bounded outside the cave, barking loudly. When the soldiers who had been busy warding off the birds with their pointed staffs and Juan’s mother spotted him they were relieved and he led them into the cave and waved his tail at his mistress.

           Juan’s mother asked the soldiers to wait outside the cave for a while. She knelt beside Myara and held her hand gently. “Myara, my dear, come back to Regina. The King and Juan are waiting for you.” “But I don’t understand, mother, why am I needed there right now?”Myara asked in a bewildered tone. “Myara, as you are aware, Sara, your best friend is no more. Only you know about the curse that the Master of the shrine gave Juan. Hence the King has decided that you must marry Juan and become the Queen of Regina.” Quickly she narrated the events that led to Sara’s suicide and the private conversation of the trio to Myara.

         With a pained look, Myara said, “But I had promised you that I’d have nothing to do with your son after his marriage, hence how can I break my promise?” Juan’s mother said firmly, “I had given you that oath and now I relieve you from it. Hence there is no harm in breaking your promise now. Come soon. We’ve no time to waste!” Myara looked wistfully at the tunnel. She had again lost a chance to investigate that puddle and solve its mystery. Now a greater mystery awaited her in Regina. How would Juan and she ever have a child? Would Regina remain without a successor forever?

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         The door bell rang incessantly, as Martha wrote feverishly. When the noise became too much for her, she got up from the desk, annoyance writ large on her face and stomped to the door. She opened it to see Dr. Hussey standing there. He looked tired after the long day at his clinic. She immediately felt sheepish and welcomed him with “I’m sorry, Doctor. I was very engrossed in writing my novel. Please do come in.” As she stepped aside, he noticed her gown and the way it clung sensuously to her curves. She sensed him watching her and quickly offered to make coffee for both of them.

          She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece and was alarmed to see that it showed 8 p.m. as the time then. Dr. Hussey had asked her to be ready for going out for dinner at 7.30 p.m. and he was a stickler for punctuality. Though he had himself overshot his time-limit by half an hour, she didn’t have any excuse for not being ready on time! She watched the milk boil absentmindedly. What would happen to Regina if she went for dinner? She felt the absurdity of her thought but was also annoyed that her writing had been interrupted by the Doctor’s arrival. Then she guiltily remembered that it was his house and not the other way around!

           She started as the Doctor entered the kitchen swiftly and deftly closed the stove even as the milk threatened to spill over the brim of the vessel in which it was being boiled. “Martha, come out of it! Where are you dear? Pull yourself together. See the milk would’ve ended up making the place messy had I not come in the nick of time.”

            Vaguely, as his voice registered in her brain filled with thoughts of Regina, she said, “Oh, I’m sorry!”

           “Martha, leave this job to me. Please go and get ready. I’ll bring the coffee into the living-room and wait for you. Five minutes and no more!” he jovially ordered her, keeping his voice firm. She knew that he meant what he said. She hurried into her room, washed her face and hands, pulled on the same dress that she had traveled in, applied lip-gloss, brushed her beautiful hair, left it open and walked out into the living room. A gaping Dr. Hussey welcomed her and told her, “By God! That was fast. You look heavenly dear. Come, have some coffee. Tell me, how was your day? Did you eat anything at all?”

            Lightheartedly she said, “Thanks Doctor, I’ve had a lovely day. I had lunch, rested for a while and then wrote till ten minutes ago, when you returned….” As he noted a slight wistfulness in her tone, he joked, “…and disturbed your thoughts!” She brushed his self-deprecatory remark by saying, “It was just as well, Doctor, other wise I would’ve ended up without dinner and got up in the middle of night, feeling ravenously hungry!” Both of them laughed loudly.

         It was 8.30 p.m. when they set out for the restaurant. Martha could feel their neighbor’s eyes following them from behind the peep-hole of her apartment. “Quite a nosy one there!” she remarked casually to him as he agreed. “Yes, it’s so sad that we can’t choose our neighbors, isn’t it? I would’ve loved to have you as my neighbor,” he said with a twinkle in his dark eyes. She found his ready wit endearing and even surprising. She hadn’t expected him to have a funny bone! 

To be continued.... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.