Mistress of the Throne (The Mughal intrigues) by Gupta Ruchir Read Free Book Online Page B

the distance I saw a small, skinny figure nearing. I noticed he couldn’t walk straight – his back must have stung as he walked – and he had a limp as he returned to the apartments.
    We were waiting in Angoori Bagh (literally meaning ‘grape courtyard’), which was located within the harem apartments. We knew Aurangzeb would pass from there, and we hoped to see him up close as he entered.
    The small, olive-skinned, five-foot-tall figure came into sharper focus as he neared, and I noticed dried tears on his face. As he walked, he sounded as if his every step was painful. His head hung low, as if he wished to avoid any embarrassing eye contact with us siblings, all of whom by now knew what had transpired in the mosque behind closed doors.
    With a pang of concern I asked him, “Aurangzeb, my brother, how are you feeling?”
    “I’m fine,” he whispered hoarsely.
    “You don’t look fine.”
    I noticed a trail of blood drops along the path he’d walked. “You’re bleeding?”
    “I said I’m
fine
; I just want to go to my room.”
    Still a head taller, I ran up to him and quickly embraced him, weeping myself. “What did they do to you?” I cried, pressing his wounded body against mine. “You’re just a child; it’s monstrous that they made you bleed. Please let me take care of you; your clothes are bloody; let me help you my brother.”
    Dara then broke in: “He doesn’t need your help, Jahanara. He doesn’t need anyone’s help. Do you, brother?”
    “I just want to be left alone,” he muttered.
    Dara snarled,“Did you leave
Manu
alone?”
    “That’s all settled now, Dara,” I shot back.
    “What about Gita?” Dara said bitterly. “Is that all settled too?”
    My eyes widened in shock and I slowly shifted my gaze from Dara back to Aurangzeb: I hadn’t made the connection in my mind that perhaps Aurangzeb had orchestrated that murder as well.
    Dara grabbed Aurangzeb by the collar, pushed me aside and cried, “Listen, Aurangzeb, just tell me the truth once:
Did you poison Gita?
”
    “I just want to go to my room,” he sighed wearily.
    “Not until you answer my question. Did you murder Gita?”
    “I said, leave me alone.”
    Dara pushed Aurangzeb to the ground; his back landed on the hot pavement; it hit his bloody wounds like a hot iron on soft flesh, and he screamed in agony.
    “Did you kill her?”
    “Yes, I poisoned her, okay? I did it! I poisoned Manu, I poisoned Gita! I killed the non-believers. I did what I
had
to do!”
    Dara, visibly, furiously hurt by the admission he must have known for several days now was forthcoming, lunged on top of my younger brother and began punching him in the face repeatedly. I stood at a distance and struggled to keep myself from jumping in to save Aurangzeb. Then I glanced at Dara’s fists; they were now covered in blood.
    I struggled between the two and covered Aurangzeb’s body with my own. “Stop hurting him! Hit
me
, stop hurting my brother! He’s just a child! What’s wrong with you people?”
    Dara kept trying to punch Aurangzeb through the spaces my body couldn’t cover, and I felt a sharp blow on my back that caused me to cry aloud.
    Aurangzeb heard me scream and looked up at me. I don’t think anyone had ever before tried to protect him. His earliest memories had been of being abandoned by our parents in a political game and tortured by his captors. Nobody came to his rescue – not even the mullah. Now, for the first time ever, someone was defending him and had actually taken a blow meant for him.
    Dara jumped back in horror from having hit me unintentionally. I got up still weeping and held my brother in my arms and cried, “No one needs to hurt him anymore!
No one!
He and I will leave this kingdom right away. We
need
no one!
I’ll
take care of him! Youdon’t have to do anything if you think he’s a monster. He’ll be my responsibility!”
    Having heard the commotion, Ami came running from her apartment. Shocked to see not only