Strength

Summary : "Poori duniya maangloon?"
"Hmm"
"De do phir...Mujhe Shrigar chahiye. Uss gaddi par aap chahiye."

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The morning sun filters through misty branches by the time they make their way back into the house.

"Sambhalke," Veer helps her across the uneven ground, littered with foliage and jutting roots by taking her hand in his, his arm wrapped around her waist.

Amrit holds into his arm, battling an urge to simply lean against him. There are guards at the edge of the forest clearing. They shout a greeting at the first sight of them.

"Begham Sahiba, they are back!"

Veer folds Amrit against him, she is already cuddled in the blankets from the hunting lodge - and yet she enjoys the way he shields her dishevelled form from eyes of others.

"Kuwar sahab," says the first guard they encounter. "Everybody at the manor is worried. We spent the night searching for you. There were some intruders trespassing the property..."

"We are fine," Veer cuts him off. "We had a little incident with the jeep. What happened to those men?"

"DIG sahab has seen to them..."

Veer exchanges a look with Amrit.

"I must urge you to see Begham Sahiba at once woh -"

"Veer!" Before the man had finished Farida bolts out, wrapped in a shawl herself and looking rather distraught. "Oh Veer what have you done!" She comes and cups his face, slapping him gently and affectionately. "Humari jaan nikal gayi thi bachcha! Teek ho? Kaha chale gaye the aap dono?"

Veer swallows, Amrit feels how the clear display of affection affects him.

It makes her heart ache, to think for how long he has been denied of the same affection by his own people. Her fingers that entwine his squeeze gently and Veer detaches himself from that trance.

He offers Farida a shaky smile.

"Kuch nahi Hua humein, dekhiye - teek toh hai, aap ke saamne hai."

Farida rolls her eyes and turns to Amrit.

"Maana yeh pagel hai, aur tum bhi chali gayi inke peeche?" She admonishes gently, urging them both inside. "Chehera dekho kaise uttar gaya hai. Coffee banwayein? Are you cold Amrit?"

"Hum bana denge," Veer offers and he laughs openly at Amrit's jaw dropped expression. "Kya? I know how to make a coffee without poisoning myself."

"Aap kaha chalein kuwar sahab," Farida gives him a glare. "Sit will you? And we shall discuss at length about that editorial you did not take my approval for."

Veer shrugs and Farida's jaw clenches.

"Baith jaaiye."

"Which editorial?" Amrit asks watching one face after the other. Veer and Farida hold each other's gazes unblinkingly.

"Wohi -" Farida replies not taking her eyes off Veer. "That you were going to publish in your name..." she says to Amrit.

"And you gave instructions to publish under your name -" Veer tells Farida. "So that both of us  can be spared the trouble."

"And you just went and gave up your real bloody identity?" Farida shoots back.

"What?" Amrit stands up staring at Veer.

"It's done biwi sahab. I did tell you."

Amrit reaches for the copy of Aawaz lying on the low table between them, picks it up and flips through it.

The paper drops through her trembling hands.

"How could you?" She asks Veer in a voice thick with accusation. Veer shifts, breaking eye contact with Farida to look at her. Her eyes are full of betrayal.

"Biwi sahab..."

"Nahi. Mujhe nahi sun ni," she waves a hand at him and turns away, making her way towards the tea room agitatedly. "Kudh ka koi fikra nahi! Bhaag the rehete ho katron ke peeche!" She mutters to herself knowing full well Veer is following her.

The tea room is a mini kitchen made for family use off the study and living room, mostly because of the late night tea tradition of the Siddiquie household. Amrit sets the water to boil just as Veer comes after her.

"Mujhe nahi sun ni!" She snaps and turns to tell him a few choice words when Veer traps her between his arms and the counter.

"I told you," he says. "Last night. Hum kya karne wale hai. Kyun karne wale hai. Phir yeh ghussa kyun?"

"Ghussa kyun?" She fumes. "Rasta chhodiye."

"Biwi sahab, you know better than that," he traces her cheek and a line down her jaw with his nose. Amrit exhales deeply. "Itni ghussa kyun?"

"I did not know last night you were talking about that article," she tells him in a clipped tone. "That you were talking about taking a direct hit at Chandra Singh Rathod's image. Veer woh aap ko nahi chhodne wala."

"Hum bhi unhe nahi chhodne wale." He pulls back and looks at her. "This is why I told you to leave - keep yourself safe -"

Amrit's hands bunch on his collar, there is fire in her eyes.

"Will you ever understand me?" She hisses. "Humara rasta ek hai - kuwar sahab! Aur main apne liye nahi dar rahi. Meri liye ab - yahaan - aap aur mujh mein koi farak nahi. Lekin shaayad aap ko hai. And it hurts me you know? It hurts me. "

She pushes at him gently and leaves. Shocked by her words, Veer allows himself to be pushed off. The hurt in her eyes is raw, her agony unconcealed.

Veer had always thought of himself as a lone warrior, his battles his own. Her words settle heavily on his conscious, as he begins to realize that perhaps there is a lot to love that he is still learning.

"Kar liya na?" Rukzaar materializes from beneath the curtains. Knowing her cat like tendencies to sit on windowsills and read Veer is not shocked at her appearance. Indeed, there is a book in her hand. "Naaraz?" She adds as an after thought.

"I gave you two such a good opportunity to put away your differences but you two idiots are at it again!" She says admonishungly. "You are impossible bhaijaan. Just impossible."

"Rukie?" Veer calls after her. "What do you mean you gave us opportunity?"

"Oh?" Rukzaar rubs at one of her eyes sleepily. "Why don't you ask your best friend? He has already taken my class on that- three times last night. I need to sneak into my room before he spots me again and starts moral policing. Aap bhi jaaiye apni Jaan ki peeche."

*

A slight fever grips her by noon. Amrit shuts herself in the room and goes through that article once more. Trying to think where Veer will go in the next installment - or how exactly she was to shield this man.

She had no idea what the reception of Aawaz staff will be towards them now that they too will learn the reality of Akif as the son of Nalini Devi.

The thoughts and fears plague her and so does the sadness. To think that Veer did not care for his own well being breaks her. To think that he would simply give up his own life to find justice for his father seems to her like a misplaced madness. If he had been here - this certainly is not what his father would have wished for him.

She shuts the windows against the monsoon breeze that comes with a promise of rain. Anger simmering away to leave bitterness behind. The evening is falling and there is a knock on her door.

A rather impatient knock that Amrit recognizes instantly. She goes to the door and presses her cheek against it, her hand on the door handle.

"Darwaza kholo Amrit," Veer's voice pours through the wood.

"Kiyun aaye ho?" She asks.

He doesn't reply. But she knows he is there. Amrit places a hand on the wood, as cold and unyielding as the man outside. He knocks again.

"I have a key," he tells her then. "Par yeh darwaaza usse kholna chahiye jisne isse bandh kiya. Darwaaza kholo Amrit."

She sighs. Her eyes filling with moisture. It was difficult to be angry with this man. Especially when he is being his softer self like this.

She turns the bolt and Veer pushes his way in, shutting the door after him. He comes bearing a tray in his hands. Amrit looks at him curiously.

"Yeh sab kya hai?"

He keeps the tray down on the bed and turns to her.

"Mehendi - from your brother's function," his tone is rather bitter. "Hum se naaraz ho aur sab ko paraya kar di?"

Amrit folds her arms across her chest and meets his gaze.

"Jinse matlab hai unone toh mujhe apna banaya hi nahi - karoon toh kiss ko paraya karoon?"

He comes to her at that but does not reach out to touch her. Instead he looks at her with deep sorrowful eyes.

"Hum ne kabhi aap se kaha tha. Poore duniya maanglo. Aaj bhi keheta hoon. Poore duniya maanglo. Just don't ask me to give this up. Don't ask me to stop. I can't - Amrit. I can't. I watched him die. I couldn't save him. You understand this - you've been through this loss - please - please Jaan - humein rokiye matt."

Amrit expels a breath heavily, realizing that she had been holding that breath - as it clutched around her heart all this while.

Tears that had refused to fall before trail down her cheeks. She stars at him, wordless, as those tears fall unchecked. Veer raises a hand towards her face and waits for her reaction. She nods briefly and his rough palm cradles her cheek, wiping at her tears.

Exhaling deeply, Veer pulls her into his arms, holding her in an embrace that both of them realize they had been yearning for. Amrit buries her head against him, listening to his heartbeat. Oh she had always known there is no stopping him. She had no hopes on that regard.

"Poori duniya maangloon?" She asks him softly.

"Hmm," he hums.

"De do phir," she says. "Mujhe aap chahiye, aap ke har faisle mein apni hissa chahiye. Har ladai mein, har zakm mein - apni hissa chahiye. Denge?" She looks up at him, her eyes determined.

"I don't want you to stop. No. It's fine - destroy them all. Stake everything you have for that. But I want to play an equal part in the havoc you will bring upon them. Will you give me that?"

He looks conflicted, but says nothing. Amrit inhales, pushing her luck.

"I want you to take everything that was denied to you. Snatched from you. I want to be the one to I've you those things. At the danger of you thinking of me as a greedy woman hungry for power-"

He takes her hand at that and presses a kiss on her knuckles murmuring a "no," at that. She continues.

"Mujhe Shrigar chahiye. Uss gaddi par aap chahiye. I don't want you to die fighting this battle Kuwar Sahab, I want you to remain standing at the end of it. I want to see you as the king of that bloody palace. Will you give me that?"

"Main naaraz iss baat se nahi hoon ke aap yeh sab kar rahein hai. Kijiye. Zaroor kijiye. Lekin apne Jaan ko katrein mein daal kar nahi. Apne Jaan se door jaa kar nahi. They have stolen enough from you - you don't have to lose anymore. Ab unke bari hai."
She pauses, watching him, her cheeks flush.

"Kya soch rahe hain aap?"

Veer's hands cup her face, his thumbs stroke her cheeks.

"Yahi ke shayad bhagvaan ko hum bohut pasand the joh aap ko humare hisse mein de diyen."

"Aur aap ko meri -"

He smiles down at her, his eyes darkening with a particular thought.

"Come," he says.

"Kahaan?"

"I've been wanting to do this for a while now," he confesses. "I will put mehendi on you."

"Aap?" Her voices catches with surprise.

"Why? Do you doubt my abilities?" He arches a brow at her. Amrit bites her lip, taking a seat on the cushioned window sill.

"No, rather I'm well aware of your abilities by now - pati sahab."

Veer barks out a delightful laugh at her unexpected address, quirking a playful brow at her as he picks up the tray.

"Oh? Then you might have a very good idea where this is going...." his voice tilts suggestively, deepening into a tone that stirs her thoughts. Amrit blinks and looks out of the window.

The others were having their mehendi done in the lawn, surrounded by festive cheer and she could catch faint traces of singing. However she prefers where she is and the promise of what is to come.

"Can't say I'm not looking forward to take your hands off the equation."

Amrit reddens. This man and his choice of words never fail to make her cheeks heat up.

Veer comes to sit at the opposite end of the windowsill divan and Amrit pulls back her feet to make room for him.

Veer holds out his hand for her.

"May I?"

She places her hand in his, her lips tugging up into a smile. He presses a kiss on her palm, a searing promise of sorts.

"My queen."

**
Ahhhh...knowing Veer and his - er - abilities you too might have a good idea where this is going. Oh yeah, we have a rated chapter coming up. I'll keep my warnings for that aside for the time being.
Thank you for being here, in this last leg of CK journey, please vote and comment if you enjoyed the chapter.