Agnipriya watched the varying expressions on her little brother's face and found them rather apathetic. It was like he didn't have any opinion or hesitation of marrying a woman ten years older than him, his brother's wife no less! Did he not understand the concept of marriage? Surely, someone must have told him what happens after? They say a corrupt man thinks that all men are corrupt. Similarly, a domineering wife would think all women are domineering. She did not want her sweet little brother getting crushed under her sister-in-law's foot. Agnipriya could see the sight happening as though it was pasted to her retinas.
"Little Cactus, why are you here?" she said, her tone clearly unhappy.
Remembering the reason he was here, Vajradadanka asked breathlessly, "Third elder sister, tell me why you restricted fourth elder sister from going out of the palace…This is important!"
Agnipriya lazily raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down. She clearly wanted to remind him through her body language that she was extremely arrogant and was able to do whatever she liked in this palace. "So what if I did? Did she go cry to you now? Probably, she was under the impression that you might be able to resolve the problem for her…" the light questioning tone at the end was sharper than Martanda's sword.
Vajra knew he was standing on knife's edge. He decided not tell her he already allowed fourth sister to go out even if she slit his throat. "Third sister, please tell me what you know…" he begged.
"I obviously know nothing," Agni's expression was closed. "Clearly you do not want this elder sister to have any opinions on your personal life, the both of you…"
When she said personal life, Vajra almost dropped his heart to the floor. "Third sister…" he asked in a deep voice, "If something is going on with Varu, you must tell me. This is not a joking matter!"
Women are wily and independent. It is extremely hard to please them and even harder to get something from them when they are not willing. However, when they sense the seriousness of the men in their life, they usually cooperate.
But of course, this did not apply to a certain little brother who was only cute when we was young.
"What makes you think I'll tell you if you use that tone on me?" Agni said flatly, flabbergasting her hapless younger brother.
"Well, why wouldn't you?"
Agni found the perplexed tone of her brother amusing. But her expression didn't change. Throwing her beaded angavastra against her palm, she said in a calculative tone. "This little woman is a mere slave to her lord husband. How would she dare to comment on matters of the state…"
The lord husband looked at the little slave and gulped. Just how did the king grow up under four of these 'little women'?
Vajra took a step back and sucked his breath. "So it is a matter that concerns the state…Indra save me now!"
He didn't say anything more to his sister. The Captain of the Royal Guard was right. It was nearly impossible to grow up with four young, hormonal elder sisters who would throw up tantrums left and right for every little slight. Survival was tough, so Vajra had to learn through intuition. Just now, the words third sister used and the tone she took told him pretty much everything he needed to know.
She only had to skim the topic for him to confirm his worst fears. Personal matters. Matters of the state. Dare not comment. Matters big enough that even a princess cannot comment. More specifically, a married princess can't. Because she cannot represent her husband's house to decide which house her sisters will be married to…Especially not when that certain house is in conflict with the state.
And where does the 'conflict' part come? That's not in the words. No, you must also read the tone as well, if you want to decrypt…Really, if women become encryption masters, the spies can never dream to break the codes.
Yuga-dheera!
When a certain lord husband was still confused about what was happening, he observed the king grabbing his sister's angavastra to replace his dirty one. The boy didn't even stop to think what a violent headrush it gave his sex-deprived brother-in-law.
Before he even had a moment to react, he saw the king walking away in large strides. His demeanor changed entirely in seconds. A regal hum vibrated in the air as he moved with sure steps. The striking momentum caused Harsh-deep's heart to be encapsulated by that regal hum. The extremely compelling effect arises from the king's divine power.
Just as the king stepped down from the exit pavilion, he yelled, "Captain Harsh-deep!"
"Yes, sir!" Harsh-deep leapt to his feet and was in front of the king in moments. His own demeanor changed as well. From a silly, wife-owned brother-in-law, the young man turned into a sharp warrior with the poise of a spear and the momentum of a horse.
"Your Majesty," he saluted naturally, although they were just horsing around moments ago. It was customary to salute before receiving an order and to bow when acknowledging it.
"Bring your platoon. We are leaving in ten minutes!"
"Acknowledged!" Harsh-deep shouted and only then asked in a normal voice. "Your Majesty, where are we going?"
Harsh-deep was not sure if he was imagining it but he saw flames flickering inside the king's eyes. Deep black eyes hosted a cosmos that exploded and reformed, exploded and reformed. The air around him vibrated even more clearly now, making a keening noise that would upset a person's life source.
"We are going to kill someone!"
Vajradandaka got on in his horse in a single movement. He rode away without a further word.
Only then did Harsh-deep resume breathing. While issuing some signals to his men who were waiting outside, he looked at Agni. She just came out. "Wife, what exactly is going on with the fourth princess?"
Agnipriya's thick and sensual eyebrows puckered. She watched her stubborn little brother's back as he rode away. That back still hosted that long diagonal scar and it would still give her nightmares.
She turned to Harsh-deep and held both his hands. "Husband, please stop him. He is going to confront the prince of Pranaya."
"What!!" Harsh-deep nearly lost his soul. "Whi-Which prince?"
"Which other is there that can even make my great warrior husband stammer," Agnipriya spat out wrathfully. "That little scoundrel! How many times have I told you not to let her out? Look at what she's done now?"
"Just what did fourth princess do?"
"She's going to elope with that bastard. What else?! Gee why are you so thick. My brother doesn't need so much explanation."
"El-El-Elope with…Elope with Yuvaraja…. Yuga-dheera?" he suffocated himself with those words. "…Who is…actually…here in the capital."
"Yes, yes and yes! So get it into your thick head already. Go stop my brother now, otherwise, I swear to Indra, you are never seeing the inside of the bedroom again!"
That jolted him awake. But Harsh-deep still couldn't help but ask. "Fourth princess is so sensible. Why would she do this?"
"Sensible my foot! She had been a love-struck fool ever since she accompanied little brother to that campaign in Abhaya. When she came back, it was all she talked about for weeks. How valiant he looked, how brave he was, how handsome, how charming and so much other nonsense! She didn't even care that he's nearly fifteen years older. The man is in his thirties for god's sake and his first wife already died!"
As they spoke, his platoon has already gathered. Harsh-deep acknowledged his wife's explanation while putting on his armor, but he didn't totally believe it.
His wife and the fourth princess were polar opposites of each other. They literally were fire and water (Agni and Varuna). While it maybe true that the fourth princess was infatuated with Yuga-dheera all those years ago, the fourth princess was also invested politically. Her actions contained vision and men deeply admired her even in court. It is not possible that she would simply up and elope with the successor of a rival kingdom.