“You both can adopt a child after a year,” said the King
smoothly. Even as both Juan and Myara looked at him skeptically, he declared,
“So it is decided then. Both of you will be married after the period of
official mourning of a month. Prepare your selves for the same.” He meaningfully
looked at Juan and he and the Queen left the couple alone for further
deliberations. Both of them looked like defeated souls. This wasn’t what they
had sacrificed for! They felt wretched at the loss of Sara’s life. Could they
ever live happily with her soul haunting them? They had both failed her. So
much for all their attempts at sacrificing for her! They felt as if they had
been flung from a high precipice. The precipice of that forbidden shrine! The
master’s curse had worked and ruined everyone’s lives at Regina.
The
Princess hadn’t found a suitor after all. Her suitor had found another
Princess, Myara to spend the rest of his life with!
*****************************************************************************
Martha thought for a moment. Would this ending
be suitable for her story? Weren’t fairy tales supposed to end on a happy note
of ‘And they lived happily ever after!’ or ‘They rode into the sunset;’ where
the hero always got the heroine after triumphing over myriad obstacles in the
path of their union. But then hers wasn’t a fairy tale. It was a story filled
with the angst of unrequited love. The Princess Sara had failed in her
love-life for no fault of hers. Destiny had dealt a cruel blow on her dreams.
Martha
was convinced that her ending was appropriate as the readers these days didn’t
expect all the love stories to end on a pre-determined, happy note. Wasn’t life
in reality full of unexpected twists and turns too? One couldn’t really predict
what would happen in one’s life next. Again if one could, it would take the
anticipation and excitement out of living. Now take my case, she thought. Even I don’t know what course my life will
be taking after finishing my novel. Will I really get well thereafter, as the
Doctor had suggested? Will I marry John or…..? Will my life have a happy
ending?
She thought
that she would ruminate on an alternative ending for her novel though she was
absolutely convinced that the novel was just fine in the current state. She
wondered whether she could take the Doctor’s advice on a plausible ending. But
she wanted to retain full ownership of her work. She didn’t want anyone else to
take credit for the ending, especially after so many months of hard work on it,
at the cost of her health and peace of mind!
Forcing
her self to concentrate on the last chapter of her novel, she started writing
the first words that struck her.
*********************************************************************************
After
the mandatory one month of royal mourning, Juan and Myara were united in holy
wedlock with no fanfare. It was a subdued ceremony with just the ex-King, the ex-Queen,
Juan’s mother, the Minister and a handful of other ministers showering the
newly-wed couple with colorful confetti and heart-felt blessings; in the chapel. Though the Minister was hurt at being left out of the
confidential deliberations that led to this marriage, he kept mum as he knew
how to stay within his limits. The King’s decision was always final in Regina.
Who was he to question him? He knew that the King would have had a very valid
reason for not taking him into confidence. He trusted his judgment.
Myara
wore a simple white satin gown, especially ordered for the occasion by the
Queen and Juan wore a trouser suit in jet-black with a red cape. He had
appeared dashing even with the black leather patch over his right eye. His
other bright eye had devoured the radiant Myara who still had dark circles
under her sparkling eyes, with the sorrow of grieving over the death of her
most beloved friend. The ceremony was somber and was followed by a small party
for those present.
Needless to say, the people of
Regina were astonished to see Myara occupying the Queen’s throne the next day
beside Juan. Then the Minister proclaimed that in the best interests of Regina,
it had been decided after the tragic death of the earlier Queen, Sara, the
queen’s place couldn’t remain vacant and hence Myara, the valiant and loyal
Myara had been chosen for that honor by the royal couple. As the whole Assembly
broke into spontaneous applause, Juan and Myara looked at each other, silently
vowing to be loyal to Regina and do her proud for the rest of their lives.
King Juan and Queen Myara ruled forever in
Regina as they were both immortal. For centuries thereafter, generations of
people in Regina venerated the ever-glowing and youthful royal couple who were
so just and dutiful; as living deities. Regina had always flourished under
their benevolent rule and would do so for many more centuries to come! No one
knew whether they had ever had children and no one cared! The ones who knew
about the couple’s secret were long dead and buried and those and their
subsequent generations had been wiped out long, long, ago.
Long
live King Juan and Queen Myara!
THE END
******************************************************************************
As Martha
wrote the final words, she was filled with a sense of accomplishment. She was
so pleased with herself that she got up from her desk and did a small jig
around the room, giggling like a school-girl. She was ecstatic. What a perfect
ending she had given the novel! She felt that she had done justice to all the
characters in her novel. Now it remained to be seen whether her novel was
acclaimed or panned by the critics. Frankly, she couldn’t care less! She was
satisfied with her writing and only that mattered at that moment.
She would
have to get the novel typed and proof-read at the earliest, so that she could
give it to Norman for publishing. She knew that even if he didn’t really approve
of her concept or its execution, he couldn’t refuse to publish it as she had
already decided to pay for the publishing and make it see the light of the day.
She mentally patted herself on her back. Bravo girl! Way to go!
To be continued....
The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.
