Her eyes were focused on him and he smelled the confusion lacing in her chestnut eyes. Adding fuel more, he uplifted the concentration instead onto Sam whose evil smirk did nothing in lessening his frustration.
"It was self-defense. And who the fuck you are to talk rubbish about her? Hasn't that prom incident been enough or fond of some more bruises?" Vansh rasped, face unreadable and eyes showing no emotion at all but anger.
The incident played fresh in his brain when Riddhima slew the beast Igor being captivated by the charm and supernatural change within his body engulfing all the memories of this dangerous scene. Not that he was complaining. The lesser she got to remember, the better.
Sam stiffened under the rage and rolled his eyes. "Oh just shut up Ginelle is nothing but an arrogant bitch. It was she who approached me and then—"
Riddhima grinned sarcastically and pointed her forefinger against him. To say frustration has been written over her face was like underrating the along situation. "Dear Sam or shame—whatever you are." Crimson colored her cheeks as the people around seemed to bite back their amusement and maintained a serious atmosphere. So did she. "Roaming around a dime a dozen dick-head like you? In dreams. Be grateful to God that I have no refreshed memory of the night Vansh has been pointing out. Only some clouded flashes of almost killing you, which is enough for me to finish your story right here. So please if you do not button your lip, consequences will be there."
The amber eyes of Chris gained amusement as he smirked. "Oh angel, I'm in love with your mouth." He regretted soon the words left his mouth. His muscles tensed, "The boldness of your mouth, I mean. Sorry if that was—"
Riddhima's face broke into a weak smile, not minding at all. "Never mind."
She said never mind.
Just never mind.
His girl smiled at the fucker whispering fucking never mind.
Like Chris's eyes weren't fucking her with clothes on.
Like he wasn't the bastard to flirt and if given opportunities, to have his ways with her and she was the most innocent angel to not understand his filthy words.
Like he wasn't keen to explore these sinful curves and depths which were meant to be his only. His to mark. His to protect.
—Fuck. Fuck. Oh fucking lord.
You fucking shitheaded donekeyhearted bastard,Get your head out of the gutter. She isn't yours. Remember? The angel part of his heart rasped.
Liar, The devil inside laughed.
Vansh latched his eyes close, letting out hyperventilate breath. Now wasn't the time to start a war against these contradictory feelings.
"Heights of shamelessness," Sam muttered gaining the attention of all. "Your highness, she deserves punishment, not compliments. She killed my brother and was planning to do the same to me and you."
Holy mother of Fuck! Leaving him alive that night was the worse decision. She should have killed this douchebag instantly for his dirty acts. For playing with fire!
"Not she but Vansh. He must have manipulated her to end Igor's life."
"Not Igor's but mark my words, Elena, I'll be luckiest if Riddhima, to fulfill my command, kill you."
"Impossible," Elena smirked. "I'm not an easy trap like Igor. Your love is too weak to fulfill your wish."
"Will see."
"Can't wait."
"You should though."
"Poor presentation of humor."
"You're too asshead to examine the good touches of humor.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! NOW!!" Riddhima shouted breaking the series of word-fight around. She couldn't believe they were in love years ago, irritation was visible on her face. While left people were watching them with amusement.
"Am I forgetting something I'm supposed to recall?" The question spilled out past her lips.
For some reason gone was the hope of knowing it by him. His eyes were dark as charcoal and his chest heaved up and down from resentment. Not with Sam or his blaming but with Elena.
—This green-eyed woman affected him so much.
"The garden incident."
Seconds later, the memories rushed in. The pervert she met in the garden. "Fuck me." She exclaimed in horror punching her throat. "God no. I didn't kill him I swear. I didn't."
"Vansh accepted it, didn't he?" Elena narrowed an eye up at him. "Your lover accepts you slay him. After all the time spent with him, you should have known how much this bastard loves you, Ginelle. He had given divorce to me, his wife for you. If it is you then he will never lie. Right Vansh?"
"Shut up." Vansh glared, eye-slaughtering her.
The last thing he wanted Riddhima to tell was this and this bitch shamelessly was vomiting all this crap to ruin the affection between them.
"Divorce because of me." She wandered next to him as she couldn't help but ask. "She's lying. How can I be the cause for your divorce back when I never met you personally? Not that I had memory loss or something. Also, you say I kill Igor, but I can't recall. How come?"
The nonstop accusations of Sam were the only thing that broke the silence. At the moment, Riddhima didn't care about his stupid talks but Vansh.
Instead of locking his eyes off for an instant, he tried to find the words to explain without hurting.He got nothing. Seemed as if words got stuck in his throat. The image of what happened years ago still played clearly inside his head, way too fresh to even fully have been absorbed. More than ever, he wished he'd never witnessed them. Wished that he was still ignorant and oblivious to what Elena had done to him and how Riddhima became the reason for their break up.
He couldn't hide anymore.
He tried to open his mouth, but his throat closed up. His mouth felt dry and... well wordless. How did he possibly begin telling her in front of these bastards? Knowing only would lead to the path of destruction. He trusted her to not do something worse under the leverage of remorse and broken outrage but not the magic. At least not now.
Riddhima was staring expectantly at him, clearly waiting for him to say whatever he wanted to say so she could get a clear picture of whom she should trust: Mind or him. She raised a slow brow at him from his prolonged silence, but all she saw was his tensed features.
A fresh frown erupted on her face. Why telling a simple 'no' was getting harder? Wasn't he supposed to lend assurance that she was not the cause of their ruined marriage? The silence only further heightened the indescribable fear. Was she really a homewrecker?
"Tell me the truth. What's wrong with me for not finding your statement real?"
This snapped shut his contemplations and led his attention back to the questioning complexion. He would but with precautions. "Okay but promise me you won't yell and will listen to me until I run out of my words."
"No just say the fucking yes or no dammit. Did I was—"
His finger latched at her lip, silencing.
"Please."
Letting out a frustrated sigh, his hands curled around her face and his thumb ran down at her chin as he replied in a calm tone. "Yes, you did. Magic and anger controlled your senses so that you're not able to keep it up in your mind. And how much I hate to admit that but Elena is right. Our divorce was only because of you but—"
Riddhima jerked his hands away, cupping her mouth as if she was running out of life, eyes pulled out in disbelief and tears threatened. "No. No. Goddammit. This has to be a joke. It has to be. I don't believe these shits. I can't."
Her heart was galloping in her heart, but she couldn't control it. The guilt and horror were burning her alive and had her breath coming out shallowly when she felt others laced with hatred and disgusted eyes. She knew she should forget it all for good, but she just couldn't. The things he said, the unabashed truth without a filter were more than she could forget.
—And truth couldn't be altered.
She murdered a man... for god knows what reason.
"Angel—"
"You mean devil?" She looked like a madwoman laughing next to him, then stepped back, designing the immense distance. Her piercing eyes imprinted on him. "You are fucking saying I had killed a man I never knew. I have no control over my body. Over my magic. It means Sam is right I'm amonster. A monster in disguise. Only because of me did you two break up apart. Oh gosh. Which is why my sister hates me? Want me dead as a person?"
Before he could muster up the courage to open his mouth and speak otherwise, unfamiliar voices rolled in.
"This Angel is dangerous!" The voice behind the raucous crowd squeals-voiced."Angels always wanted us to deactivate and extinct and powerless to rule over the country. But she's worse. She came up in the forest having evil intentions but we approached before anything worse would happen. Even we, vampires are better than this corrupt glamour. She shouldn't be around us. Her presence would bring devastation, ailment, and demise only,"
"Such a gross brute! Even King Draco and Queen Scarlett understood how ill-fated she was. Speaking of them, must they have the intuition of her evilness that has stupid girl thrown out of the palace for good? I don't think the rumors of protection and all is anything near the truth."
"But to snatch Elena's rights and endanger our species, she showed up again." Sam rasped.
As the voice got louder and louder, the urge to hide Riddhima inside his heart became more prominent. The dark appearance of the mob reaching past them smelled of blood-lusty vampires as if Chris and Elena weren't adequate to humiliate and fill remorse in her. He opened his mouth but felt his throat drying as words refused to come out. Not because of their false accusations but because of Riddhima's broken state. Closing his mouth and swallowing, he felt a change of mind coming. No words of assurance, as of now, were needed. The sooner they exit, the better.
After making up his mind, in the swift pull, his fingers brushed in her soft skin which wasn't soft as it were but hard rock-like. He felt electric waves rush him instead, eliciting a harsh moan. He didn't realize pulling his hand off her or another systemic movement until 24 seconds later when the pain subsidized completely. It took seconds for the impossible sight to consume his brain.
"No one can touch me unless I wish to. And from no one, you, too." She said after two minutes, titling head in his uneven breathing silhouettes, focus still on crowds.
Previous enthusiastic tone was replaced by what sounded robotic which scared him to the core."Fuck. I have to cut this drama short, anyhow." Blinking once, he murmured under his breath. Unlike Riddhima, their stupid gossip wasn't affecting him.
"She wants to kill us. Demolish us. Look what she did and what she could do if she didn't stop."
"Sam was right. Ginelle is a monster. Having some dangerous beast around is good for nothing. End her fucking life soon."
"NO!" She shouted, shaking her head, the abused expression mirrored on her face. "Shut up I'm not what you think. I am not a monster. I am not. I did..." The words flew hard through her throat as she sobbed harder, palming her face.
"Angel, please listen to me." Vansh pleaded and squeezed her arm. "It's their fucking plan. Vampires don't fear you, they hate you because you're a pure soul. Please, babe, trust me."
As much as she wanted to believe him, his words, she couldn't ignore what he said before and what people were whisper-shouting in rage, pain, and... fear.
"Riddhima, look at me." He said firmly and looked at her palm face seriously when she didn't bother to respond, cried hard instead
The voices around them began becoming louder and more aggressive.
Vampires were devastating creatures—the species of bloodsuckers you never wanted to spend time with, and now that when the crowd began to believe his Riddhima was a monster, the last thing he wanted was to stay here with Riddhima. How ridiculous it sounded, but vampires were scared.
—Or at least acting.
They were definitely.
From when were these ass-fuckers scared of Angels?
Riddhima hadn't removed her hands even after his comforting yet firm utterances because all the while, unpleasant sounds only got her attention, crushing her soul into pieces.
"Kill the fucking bitch before she kills us."
A curse rolled off from his lips which got lost amongst all the coming screams of fear and horror and somewhere... disgust and rage, too.
"Geez No. How we can kill her when King Chris and Elena couldn't."
"We can if we are united."
"RIGHT, KILL HER. KILL HIM. KILL THEM."
Within seconds, every person ahead of meter range breathed in sharply and tumbled into their butts as a powerful explosion unexpectedly made through them, squeezing every shred of energy. The incited explosion was so prominent that Chris and Elena too were incapable of standing straight into their feet and touching the ground with asses, wincing in unbearable agony. In no seconds the light made its appearance again, tearing the air off and a circular see-through cage formed, dividing Vansh and Riddhima from them apart.
Before Vansh or others could comprehend the situation, the furious pitch jolted their pumping organs in ribcages in a way too similar. The only difference their redactions hold was that Vansh's eyes popped out proudly more accurately, love, and the rest were shocked and... apprehensive.
"That's it. You lunatics are dying to kill me? All right then, go on, do what you please. But dare to touch or even speak against him I'll fucking burn you alive. Understood?"
She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across as she heard them in amusement.
"Lord! LOOK AT WHAT SHE DID. SHE USED HER MAGIC AGAINST US."
"WATCH OUT. SHE MIGHT SHOOT US WITH HER MAGIC."
"SAVE US, EMPEROR."
A robotic smile broke out at their words and what surprised her most was Chris or Elena didn't say anything to contradict them or even against herself, making it pretty clear that all sugary words and trifling were all fakes.
"Though it's unbelievable to accept in the first place," Riddhima declared after a while, letting out a deep sigh. "But I do have faith in myself that if I killed him, there must be a conspicuous reason for me to have this cruel stunt. To harm me was his biggest sin for which he received the best punishment one should get."
A huge grin that decorated his features from when he eavesdropped on Riddhima carefully rehabilitated with that of latent outrage as the memories were brought back to his mind. "Lust it was."
She frowned, "disgusting! He must rot in hell. Now that I have proved myself innocent, I don't see why anyone would call me rubbish. Plus, who will be the future queen of Angbotain is anything but your concern, so having gossip around the very topic seems nonsense to me and whatever others believe you to be, I assume, any of you are not nonsense."
Chris laughed nervously, Vansh assumed, to hide his irritation as the plan to fill nervousness, and apprehension broke out in pieces just within three minutes.
"With words, no one could beat you." The Vampire King mouthed, flashing the fakest smile of the year to which Vansh wanted to laugh but suppressed skillfully.
"Well, with powers, too. I have killed your man the time when I was almost unaware of my powers," she replied with utmost innocence. Riddhima smiled softly as she received some death glares and chuckles, too. "Sorry for your loss. But you need to teach your people to respect women. If your pumpkins have the audacity to touch me— The princess of Angebotain without my consent I can see what other women out there have to face. True they have powers and are strong enough to protect themselves but the fact that men see women as fucking sex toys is non-ignorable which is why they think they can do whatever they want. Change the fucking mindset of your men, the legislation, and make sure these icky sins won't repeat ever again, or else I have to change the faith of your country, ruler, to be precise which I can if I'm willing to."
Chris tightened his fist, nonetheless replied calmly as he faced Sam, "this will not happen again, I promise."
After that, Chris commanded them to exit, and himself with Elena ambled outside, controlling his unleash resentment which the Crown princess, from unnecessary touches of sarcasm and authority, bolstered for his good.
•••••••••
Chris knew from the beginning that Riddhima was something hard to achieve which tonight's incident assured also but nothing impossible to gain, and he would make it sure. Such a beauty with the brain and way too much power belonged to his Palace, in his... bedroom not in Angbotain or in the arms of Vansh.
Speaking of Vansh, the nincompoop mouth of his must shut down soon. He had noticed the way his hands clasped and unclasped every time Chris mouthed confectionary words for Riddhima to win some attention. The way she watched him through longing in her eyes—the sweet cravenness and temptation any guy would easily die to achieve for. But being stupid as Vansh was, seemed he didn't care about the hot crown princess which was good for Chris to turn the opportunities for his benefit.
—For that, Vansh must be killed soon.
Oh! how he wished to suck the blood of this poor human.
"You shouldn't be showing this crooked smirk when I'm exploding in anger after all this fucking embarrassment. And you stopped me from breaking that little girl's magic for Jesus know what reason. Care to enlighten me?"
"Elena darling, I don't like it when people raise voices against me, you know that, right?"Waves of satisfaction hit him when she nodded, fear written all over her countenance. He continued, "so behave unless you want me to do something cruel. And for answering you, well I was thinking about sucking your ex-husband's blood."
Seriousness. If there was some apparent mood that Elena could feel from his statement, it was seriousness, utmost seriousness.
Casting him a glare, Elena rode through the couch, leaving him behind on the King size bed when the ceiling of his huge bedroom caught considerable attention she was supposed to steal. Slipping into the couch, she was hit forcefully by the unwholesome endurance of strong desire, illuminating from his dead cells—fused with eros and ruthlessness, the most dangerous mixture.
She crossed her arms on her chest and closed her eyes for better concentration. Of all the vampires of Travis, to go through the vampire king's mind was the most complicated stunt.
"Fuck!"
The cursing drew his attention. He tilted his head to discover an unpleasant scowl on Elena, lips quirked up in an innocent grin when her surprised expression came into view.
"What?"
"You are drawn to her, sexually."
Chris smiled smugly. "Too late to even ask. Rephrase the question unless you want to remain curious."
The memories of them talking with each other in the forest flashed and she fought the urge to smirk. No question that Riddhima alone had the power of hundreds of Angels and 150 IQ level—the almost impossible blend, and if she and Chris unite, his power would increase to an infinite extent.
"You intend to create a blood bond with her? Well, that's interesting to kn—"
"Rephrase."
"Love?"
"I love one person; Chris Evans."
One more time. What she hated most about him was his silence—whenever he could solve queries of persons easily without fiddling with them, the inner demon of him tended to remain silent or ask useless questions instead—and dual meanings of words.
Blinking in confusion, she focused on his face one more time, trying to read the undecipherable lines of his forehead and the amusement causing his crooked smile to grow.
"Fuck Jesus, no! You want her to become the vampire queen?" She exclaimed in horror. If that happened goodness, this would be no good.
Holding back his amusement, he said in a hoarse voice, "Ahh!! Finally, you got this."
Elena rolled her eyes at him, "You have got to be kidding me? I have sacrificed almost everything just because of that bitch and now you're telling—You know the fuck I care of what plans are running into your mind but she would meet a horrible end if she messes with my dreams."
"I'll better chop your clitoris off to save her precious ass," came his furious warning. How dumb she was to assume he'd let her do whatever she have to do with Riddhima.
"You can't be serious."
"Try me."
Elena leaped down from the couch and made through him, smirking across his face. "Whatever, all of us know I can't be killed easily enough which is why Vansh's still in town, hoping his little princess wi—"
Until she had a chance to understand the way things were, She got pushed to the wall with Chris set her up. "Close your fucking mouth. Ginelle doesn't belong—" His hand clenched around her waist when she struggled to liberate herself. He's got his finger run on her flexible structure hardly enough, eliciting a painful whimper escape threatened past her lips. "—to him. Turns out he doesn't want her with himself. Not that I am complaining."
"Bullshit! Believe me or not he is totally into Ginelle not sexually but emotionally, too. I know my husband better than you do, so cut the stubbornness and take it from me."
"Fuck that!!" He yelled really loud.
A tense two-minute break took place.
"After everything that happened tonight, I'm sure she hates him. She has to." After the entertaining drama (for him) took place hours ago, she'd have to contemplate it again and accept that she was no good for Angebotain. As much as he wanted it to operate as intended, imagining small splinters of her tears clenched his heart, giving him tough time breathing.
—He shouldn't feel the way he was.
"Amen to that!"
••••••••
The high-handed attitude didn't last long. Obviously it was all fake.
Riddhima turned to take a look at Vansh and found him smiling a foolish grin. His smiling face – sadly at the very moment – irked her to no end. Abundance of agonizing questions was doing salsa dance in mind, no consent, only if she learned the ways to pack in it. Impossible.
Life was sometimes, cut the crap, all the time too hard. Erratic.
Morning and noon were beautifully promising, and stunning, they were spending quality time, mirthful enjoying but twilight spent otherwise. She must have committed destructive deeds for all this pain to be allotted with.
Chestnut eyes hardened soon enough and she omitted the length that caused them apart, lazily brushing one finger on his sharp jawline, and read through his face– pretentious thereupon the catastrophe, kind of troubled, too, at least ignorable.
"After these pain-in-arse dramas, this amusement is not what one should expect from, so am I."
Reality struck him. She showed no emotion but darkness, charcoal dark.The personality full of enthusiasm resonated with just silence. Shit-eating silence.
And silence was the cruelest of cruelties.
"Angel, you—"
Cutting him off, "You shouldn't. Not really." landed her sharp warning.
The minds of women were hard to read, especially, when it comes to intelligent ones, too smart. It made people uncomfortable—most of the shame-on-the-Earth type men didn't trust their intelligence to be ahead of themselves, and some intelligent who accepted women and their wisdom found it impossible. The things, albeit, with Riddhima were different. There was the (good) characteristic of her eyes and mind--they don't hide anything, and made the emotions plain, helping him a lot.
"You are, indeed. Their blame, blasphemies, fake fear were as useless as 'ea' in tea," Keeping their gaze together, said Vansh in a tone rich and warm. "You fought back against them, what sets you apart. Not all people have the resilience to pull themselves together in these kinds ofsituations and being a soft-hearted angel you are, trust me on this, it was the last thing I expect you to do. I'm glad you believe in yourself—"
"Nonsense. I don't. I can't, Vansh. Not after this, anyway. The crowds have opened the utmost overwhelming book of mine, letting me understand each and every piece of incidents of my life. I killed Igor for his evil intentions. I shouldn't be that hard on him but okay, acceptable. But Elena—"
"Not today, please."
The abrupt change of his expression explained ample disturbances spreading in his veins whenever asked about Elena.
Riddhima looked down as she slowly confessed. "You aware of all that and still choose to remain silent. I hate that, Vansh and, ironically, I hate it more than I love you." Her voice thickened as she moved away from him, aching for his warmth but she wouldn't ask it until receiving a good explanation. "I heard what they said and they got it right." She said after a pause, wiping through tears but damn they refused to give up.
He shook his head, stone-freeze, afraid to touch her devoid of approval, not fond of suffering the electric current again.
"You have more faith in them than me."
"I don't." She replied honestly. "But ever since we met, you've been messing up with me; surrogate, wife, long lost lover, and what not."
Regardless of how much she struggled, it was way too hard to comprehend him. Why would someone kiss the girl he was hired to protect for? Every time with a fresh burning passion even though heknew that her parents had arranged her marriage already with a random guy? Who gets divorced from his wife because of her sister?
To protect you!—Clearly, it would be his bloody excuse if she would provide him a chance to explain. Or he'd eventually land upon the surrogacy part purposely —an interval she despised with all of her heart, she still does— only to mess things further. And if she was being honest with herself, she wasn't interested in learning this as of now. It'd bring more heart-piercing anguish.
He rested his hand in his pocket, sighing heavily. "To distract you. It was getting tough whenever you came up with too many questions which weren't supposed to retort until the right time. What I've done was wrong perhaps but I'd repeat the same no matter what it costs me to protect you from evils. Even if you hate me."
"Shouldn't you protect others from me?" She rasped, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He gasped shaking his head, coming into her proximity. "What, no. Calm down. Don't let them influence you.
"Influence? Influence. I'm fucking dying because of this bullshit. Except for metaphysical powers I have no qualities for that I can hold the royal crown and what powers? Devastating." He flinched when Riddhima shouted. "Holy mother of fucks! I can't even keep them in check."
"Almost entire clans have to face these changes and their effects after turning 25 when their body starts accepting esoteric changes. Like others, your body needs time to keep up with them—probably days, months, more than what general angels require. I agree this is hard and depressing for you coz you never knew you are an Angel but it will sort out eventually." In an assuring manner, he promised and brushed her tears off, his thumb rubbing slowly to warm up her pale skin. After a pause, he added, taking her small frame in his hands. "One thing you have to do is control your emotions as much as you can."
Easier said than done was all she wanted to rasp back, she restricted herself anyway. Even though she was damaged and miserable, and out all on her own, truthfully, the last thing she preferred was debating him.
"There is a huge difference between not being able to control and shouldhandle them."She said and looked at him, making him drop his jaw.
"I do understand. But practice makes men perfect. Keep practicing, no fuck it, just ignore negativity."
"Negativity is what I'm in real. I'm no good!" She rehashed, her voice breaking. "I don't belong here. Fuck. I'll never get accepted here. I want to disappear and not come back again."
"That's a fucking bullshit. How can you even say that?" He exclaimed, mortified. From where was she getting this? "You think disappearing would eventually sort everything out. Goodness no."
Adamant enough, Riddhima gave a nod, dark eyes daring him to accept everything as she was comprehending it, providing a challenging glare to him, anything but ignorable.
Cursing under his breath, Vansh stepped up to her as he firmly mouthed, "Riddhima, at least trust me."
"You don't know me." She suddenly yelled, pitch higher than before, and then grabbed the collar of his shirt before he could blink, at a speed more than he'd prepared to balance himself, and pushed him up against the barricade of the tree. He didn't even flinch as if letting her do whatever she had in mind. She curled her hand around to stop making further movement.
"I am an angel. Powerful angel—too naive to understand the thin line between good and bad. Too furious to kill a man to satisfy whatever comes in my mind. I learn things quickly, I observe and I comprehend an eye-blink. I see the coming future more than anyone else here. Am I dangerous? The hell I'm. You saw what I did to them and you. Goodness gracious, that was nothing compared to what I can really do. You wouldn't wanna imagine them either." Scrubbing out a thorough ounce of tears, she turned around, afraid pretty much to break down against him. The feeling of hiding especially from him was never that appealing."I'm running disaster, Vansh. The sooner I disappear the better."
His heart stopped and his throat closed up. "Ri...Riddhima don't be so hard on yourself."
"That's it. From now on no conservation, no explanation, no manipulation. Nothing. Just stay away. Far away." She could imagine his hurtful eyes and his shocked face.
"What?"
Honestly, it was the first time after enternity that she didn't care about his freaking reaction. She cared about his security and wellbeing—there was no saying what she would do, what she could do, unintentionally—so she better stay away from him as if he didn't shut up, she might kill him unknowingly.
Indeed, she couldn't but her magic. She could and would never trust her magic, especially, when distractions, isolation, and destruction were everything she was keen on.
—Precautions are better than cures.
"I have no interest in being hunted down, so you better be careful."
He took his time to consume what she meant. "I'm not leaving you in this uncharted forest where predators are desirous of breaking you." He walked right past her and firmly held one hand around his palm, fearful of letting her go but she didn't budge."We're heading to the Palace now."
Riddhima didn't care to remove his hands off and show her rebellious essence, which perhaps Vansh expected, not yet.
"Why do I listen to you? It's not like I belong to you. I'm on my own to do as I please."She whispered slowly in an extremely amicable tone, staring up at the sky full of stars and one moon, hoping mother nature would help calm her down.
Vansh turned her to face him, disgruntled. "This ain't no goddamn game, Ginelle Salvatore. Stop acting all spoiled and get the hell in the damn car."
She pulled her arm out of his grasp without uttering a word and stepped forward in a direction she had no idea. He felt his heart beating more quickly as she sauntered closer by the minute and away from him, though. He chased after her, tried to break through her, but his words have gone deaf. She wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Instead, she focused on the sight of that frozen tiger, stopping before it.
He watched her in awe when her fingers brushed over its half-dead structure and heard her saying, voice louder than it should. Her instructions were, "Leave this place before sunlight fell upon him, magicwill lose its effect soon after."
She added seconds later, "One more thing, I'm not sure if you love me or not but as long as I mean something to you, you won't frisk me."
"How about I do it?"
Riddhima glared. "There are consequences, of course."
Taking a deep breath, "Great then, you won't be disturbed." he promised.
Riddhima couldn't help but sobbed harder as she realized how vulnerable his tone was.
Again you made him feel sad, you shitload headed, Her subconscious was sarcastically screaming at her, arms folded, leaning on one leg, and tapping her foot in frustration.
Not desiring to hear the truth this real further, she turned it down, pushing somewhere dark inside. She ripped her gaze away from him after gazing at him for a couple of seconds and then suddenly ran too fast and by the time she was gone out of his sight.
Soon a tear fell apart his eyes which for a long time he was trying to stop.
She was gone.
Maybe he was going to break his promise, too. Maybe.
•••••••••••
A/N: So sorry for being this late, this chapter took more time than I expected. Hopefully, it was readable.
The next chapter is more about Riddhima, Chris, and someone special-The character I am trying to introduce from the last two chs but man he's too stubborn to meet you all, lol!
To be continued...