Chapter 24

She looked at the man whose arms were bound behind his back, forced to his knees. He had a trail of bright red blood, oozing down his face, coming from a cut above his right eye and an obvious broken nose. His left eye was swollen pretty bad and he had bruises all over him. He barely looked like the same man she had married, but there was no mistaking it. It was her Mohan.

Ishwari, with tears building up in her eyes, moved her head to look at Pagan. She opened her mouth to speak but the words were not there. Pagan could read her like a book and instantly knew what she was trying to say.

"Ishwari, I swear that I did not do this. My soldiers had already had their hands on him by the time I arrived."

"The bastard deserved it." Yuma butted in.

"Yuma..." Pagan gave Yuma a look. His tone informing her that was her only warning.

"I...Ishwari?"

Ishwari turned her attention to Mohan at the sound of her name. Her eyes met with his and for a moment there was relief on his face, but his eyes trailed down to her round stomach and his relief soon turned to bewilderment.

"who did this to you?" His voice was filled with contempt as he started glancing around at all armed soldiers that surrounded him.

"That would be me." Pagan announced, pride seeping into his words.

Mohan eyed the man he hated more than anyone or anything else in this world. Anger filled in his injured eyes. "You foreign bastard! First you steal my country, then you rape my wife!"

Ishwari swallowed knowing this was not something she couldn't hide. "He didn't rape me. He asked me. I agreed to this." Tears were now flowing from her brown eyes. Pagan turned to look at her, surprised that she admitted their affair so willingly.

"What?" Mohan looked at his wife, looking for any sign that her words were filled with lies, but they weren't. Once realizing that she spoke the truth, the rage began to build up inside him. "You traitorous bitch! Do you have any idea what you have done!"

Mohan winced and coughed up a small amount of blood when he received a hard kick to the stomach. After regaining himself he looked up to find Pagan standing directly above him.

"Pagan no!" Ishwari screamed running and grabbing a hold of the kings arm in attempt to pull him away. Her efforts to get Pagan away from her husband were useless, for he stood like a fortress.

Kneeling down, Pagan grasped Mohan's ponytail, forcing the terrorist to look him in the eye. "I could care less if you talk to me like that, but you will never talk to her that way again, especially in front of me." He released Mohan and stood back up, still looking down at the severely injured man. "Now if I had it my way, I would have already killed you myself. Unfortunately you're Ishwari's husband and her opinion matters to me."

Pagan finally decided to acknowledge Ishwari, who was still holding onto his arm. He interrogated her with his glance, waiting for her answer on how she wanted him to handle the situation. Ishwari went to speak, but was interrupted by Mohan mumbling something.

"Do you expect anybody to hear that puny whimpering? Speak up boy!" Pagan ordered at him.

"Where the hell is my son!" Mohan said more clearly, with clenched teeth.

"Your son?" Pagan said, tilting his head to the side, as if confused by the question. "Oh! You must be talking about Ajay! Last time i checked he was my son." Pagan smirked at the now furious Mohan.

It was just enough to push him over the edge, and Mohan stood up and made a bolt for Pagan, but was quickly brought down after a guard took action and knocked him upside the head with the stock of his gun. Pagan looked down at the now unconscious Mohan that laid on the ground before him. "That temper of yours will get you nowhere." Shaking his head at the man, he turned his attention to Ishwari, who couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Ishwari, I need an answer. What do you want me to do?"

Ishwari shook her head. "What did he do? How did you catch him." Ishwari looked down at her comatose husband.

"Well it's like I said, they had already captured him by the time I arrived. Supposedly he had the audacity to rally up a bunch of golden path members and attempt to overtake one of my fortresses." Pagan gained a hint of a smile. "Quite frankly, he was out of his league."

"What happened to all the other golden path?" Ishwari questioned.

Pagan pressed his lips into a hard line and looked down at the golden path leader. "He's the only one who survived, and that's only because he's your husband. Had he been anyone else, he would have already been shot and his body would have been thrown out for wild animals to feast on." Pagan walked over to Ishwari and took hold of her hands. "Because he's your husband, I don't get to make the choice of what to have done with him. I need you to decide and I need you to do it soon, before he wakes back up and we have to go through all this again."

"Pagan, whether you want to believe it or not, he's Ajay's real father." She informed the king.

Pagan nodded his head. "This is why I brought you out here. If this is what you want, then he will not be harmed by me or any man I order."

"What!" Yuma shouted, alerting everyone that she was still there. "Brother, do you not realize who you have? This is the leader of the golden path! We were very fortunate to have him just walk into our hands, and another opportunity like this won't come along again. You can't let him live."

Ishwari looked over at the Asian woman, annoyed with her opinions. Who asked her anyways. Pagan let out a sigh. "Yuma, this isn't something that you get to decide."

Anger building up inside her, Yuma walked over to the brother. "What's happened to you? The brother I know would never let an enemy live. You're becoming soft and it's all because of her!" Pointing her finger at Ishwari, Yuma continued to shout. "All she has to do is look at you and you instantly give in! This bitc..."

"Yuma!" Pagan shouted, cutting off his sister mid sentence. "You had better stop while you're ahead."

Yuma went to say something, but held her tongue, knowing that her brother had a temper of his own. She looked over at Ishwari, giving her the dirtiest look possible. Shaking her head, she pushed past the king and stormed into the palace.

Pagan watched until Yuma disappeared and let out another sigh. "Now where were we?" Pagan let go of Ishwari's hand and stuck his index finger up, as if realizing something. "Ah, yes. I believe we were talking about sparing this terrorists life." He turned and began looking at his royal guards. "Camron?"

"Sir." One of the soldiers spoke up

"This is one of my more trusted men." Pagan said to Ishwari, as he walked over to the heavily armed soldier. "Camron, I would like you to take Mr. Gahle and drop him off about a mile or so away from a village. Preferably one in the south."

"Yes sir." Camron confirmed.

Pagan began making his way back towards Ishwari but stopped and looked back at his Soldier. "Oh, and Camron. No harm is to come to this man, understood?"

"Yes sir."

Pagan walked up to Ishwari and brushed her bangs out of her face. "Would you like to go back inside dear, or do you need more time?"

Ishwari shook her head, looking at her husband. "He was so angry with me."

"As he should be. After all, you're sleeping with his enemy." Pagan placed his hand on her cheek, forcing her to look at him. With his thumb he wiped a tear from her face. "But I promise you, I'm worth it." Pagan reached his arm around her waist. "Come, let's get you inside. I think you deserve some sleep. My guards out here will take care of everything."

Ishwari nodded and took Pagan's lead, walking with him back inside the palace. Once they arrived at the bedroom, Pagan helped her undressed and pulled the blankets down on the bed, allowing her to climb into it. Once settle he crawled in beside her and pulled her close, so that her head was resting on his chest, allowing her to cry there in his embrace, until they both fell asleep.