Trigger

Summery : Achchi nahi lagthi mujhe yeh wali hassi."

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Moment they cross the threshold of the stables Rukzaar pushes Anwar against the wall, her fist bunching up his collar, her eyes burning.

"Have you lost your bloody mind?" She demands. "Kaise beheke beheke baatein kar rahe the aap?"

"Toh kya karte?" Anwar demands back, anger from before still holding him stiff. "Kya karte? Tujhe lei jaane dete? Ammie se kya bolenge hum?"

"Ab kya bolonge?" Rukzaar's hand presses against his throat. "Have you thought about the consequences of the lie you just uttered? Khala humare baremein kya sochengi? How will I face her?"

Anwar's hand wraps around hers.

"Jooth toh tune bhi bola tha," his voice drops. "Wohi jooth."

Rukzaar blinks and draws back, yet Anwar's grip is unrelenting, he turns her around and switches their positions, now it is she who is pressed against the wall and pinned by his accusatory glare.

"Why did you lie?"

"Humari baat alag thi."

"Kaise?" Anwar presses. His lips tug with sarcasm. "Hum tujhe apni biwi bulayein ya tu humein apne shohar baat ek hi hai Rukzaar jaan."

Rukzaar's lips part in a sigh, drawing Anwar's eyes to her mouth. She turns her head away, as he trails his gaze across her side profile.

Something between them had shifted. Their friendship had caught fire.

She places a hand against his heart and pushes at him, with no real force.

"I said that thinking of the family's honor. I couldn't bear to stand there listening to dishonourable implications being made about you and me." She tells him.

"I said it because I was thinking about your honor. Your safety. Humare saamne koi teri daaman par keechar uchaale - yeh humse bardash nahi hota," Anwar mutters, meaning every word he said but at the same time learning of the feelings that had prompted them anew.

He had never paused to examine them closely, this need to have Rukzaar in his life. She was there. He knew she would be there. But the possibility that she might not be - that he might lose the right of sharing his life with her - had prompted him into action.

"Zaroori nahi ke yeh jooth, jooth hi rahe..."

A tear glides down her face.

"I'm not Noor Jahaan," Rukzaar says, her eyes fluttering shut over unspilled tears. "Humein bheek ki mohabbat nahi chahiye. Nor do I want your name in charity." She blinks into his eyes, fire in hers burning bitterly. "Yeh logon ko bachane ka aap ka jo shauk hai - kahi aur jaa kar poora kar lijiyenga." This time she pushes at him hard. "Nahi! Manzoor nahi hai humein. Qubool nahi hai aap aur aap ka yeh -" she casts around for a word. "Yeh ehesaan."

Shoving him hard against the wall Rukzaar runs out, not before Anwar hears the sob that wrenches her apart.

"Qubool nahi hai...!"

*

The running water and stinging wounds seem like a constant in their equation.

Veer's hands are gentle as he dabs a wet cloth on the dried blood on her nose. His eyes give her a once over to which Amrit offers a shaky smile.

"You jaw is beginning to bruise," he informs her and brushes a thumb over it regretfully. "Dard ho raha hai?"

"No," Amrit shakes her head and instead takes his hand in hers. "You have scratches everywhere too. And your shoulder - how is your shoulder?"

"Biwi sahab," he laughs away her worries. "It's not the first time I fell from a horse." Veer taps her on her nose. "Falling with minimum injuries is an art. Yeh khel hi aisa hai, you can't stop the fall, but if you are experienced - well trained, you'd know how to do it without breaking a limb or two."

"How easily you laugh away somethings," Amrit tells him heavily. Veer's smile dims. "Jitni achchi aap ke hassi hai, utni kadvi usski wajai hai. Achchi nahi lagthi mujhe yeh wali hassi." Saying that she starts to unbutton his shirt, pushing it down his arms to examine that shoulder.

Amrit swallows at the bruise she finds there, tips of her fingers ghosting over darkening skin.

"Go sit there," she gestures back towards their bedroom. "I'll bring over some ice and ointment."

Veer moves to argue but Amrit gives him a look, the kind that makes him swallow up his words and do as she bids.

He tries his best not to flinch when the cold compress makes contact with his bruised skin. Amrit notices anyway, and Veer bits his lip looking away.

"Kuwar sahab," she begins rather off handedly. "Will you have time in the evening?"

"I always have time for you," he tells automatically.
Amrit chuckles.

"You, sir, know exactly what to say and when to say it! What did you learn in France again - flirting?"

Veer pulls at her wrist, turning to catch her when she tumbles. Amrit falls into his arms, he holds her there, settled on his lap.

"Hmm," he says, humming against her throat, dragging a lazy finger along her brow. "Depends on what you want me to do this evening..." Amrit's lips part rather invitingly, and Veer smirks. "Irada kya hai biwi sahab?"

"I wanted your opinion on something - something I wrote," she fidgets and settles against his shoulder looking up at him. Her cheeks flush a little. "It's not an article and it's not for Aawaz either. But it needs editing - and a good eye perhaps. Tell me honestly if I should continue or feed the fire -"

"So am I going to finally get my hands on what you've been writing at ungodly hours all these days?" Veer arches an eyebrow. "Good, because I was going to raid your closet otherwise. That's where it's kept isn't it - the left bottom drawer?"

"Haww!" Amrit exclaims. "You weren't sleeping?"

He dipped his head, inhaling against the crook of her neck.

"Let us just say I'm aware of you. Every minute, every breath."

"Veer..." her voice is hushed and breathless.

"Ehesaas hoti hai tumhari, jab tum pass hoti ho - jab nahi hoti. Pata chal jaata hai. I was waiting for you to tell me - tumhe patha toh hai, humein yun raaz rakhna pasand nahi."

He brushed his nose with hers and smiled.

"Yet I didn't want to trespass on things you cherish."

"Aapse koi raaz nahi," she says softly, drawing him closer for a kiss. The telephone in the parlour starts to ring and their foreheads bump together. Veer laughs.

"I'd bet on that kiss - it's ma sahab."

Amrit's eyes widens a little.

"How do you -"

"Katham Singh-" Veer says rather wickedly. "Should have joined the secret service."

He pulls her to her feet along with himself and presses a hasty kiss on her forehead.

"Sit by me?" His eyes search hers.

"Of cause."

Veer takes the call after a moment of hesitation. Amrit sits by the ornate telephone stand and takes his hand in hers, gently dabbing antiseptic into the scratches on the back of his palm. She blows a little to ease the sting of medicine on his raw skin but has a vague idea that his wince is not caused by her but by the woman speaking from the opposite end of the wire.

"Hum aayenge Ma sahab," Veer says and pauses for a moment. "Ji nahi. Aap ne Poore baat nahi suni. Hum dono aayenge, zaroor aayenge. Daulatabadh ki shaan par koi aanch nahi aayengi. Par humara bhi ek sharth hai."

His lips tug, forming a bitter twist to it.

"Hum kudh ko kya samjhein? Aap ka beta hi toh samajh the hai. Nahi, humein koi sharm nahi - jinki poore zindagi ek vyaapar ho unse sauda karne mein kaisa sharm?"

Amrit rises to her feet at that, her fingers squeezing Veer's unconsciously.

She could imagine how the words would raile up Rani Sahiba. Veer draws her knuckles to his mouth and gives her a reassuring kiss all the while listening to his mother's admonishing voice.

"Yaad rakhiye aap kisse baat kar rahein hai. There is a limit to my patience."

"There is a limit to mine as well Ma sahab. You can either agree with me or find yourself a different horse and a rider. Are you willing to stake your baby's neck? In that case we shall put Prem forth for this one."

"Veer!"

"Patha tha humein," Veer chuckles. "Baby se yeh sab nahi hota."

"He is ten times the man you are! Aap ne aaj taq humein sirf -"

"I want daulatabadh." Veer hears the sharp inhale of his mother and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Dekhiye na ma sahab, Shrighar mein jo kuch Hua, usske baadh - I have no sense of safety where your people runs the show. For the duration we will stay under the same roof as some of your most trusted aid, I shall be the master of your circus. Soch lijiye, koi jaldhi nahi hai."

He hangs up on her not giving her time enough to start a tantrum. It is then that his eyes meet Amrit's. Veer smiles slowly.

"That's that -" he says pulling her closer by the waist. "Aise kya dekh rahi ho?"

"I can't believe you actually said that?"

"Sach batayein? I can't either." He shrugs, takes her hand and leads her back to her seat. "But after everything that happened last time. After Shrighar and Ranimehel - I don't want to put you in any more danger. I will not take you anywhere that is not under my absolute control. Aur waise bhi Daulatabadh is supposedly mine since I was four."

Veer fumbles with the first aid and starts tending to the scratches in her arms. His thumb smoothes over her mehendi appreciatively.

"Achcha rang chadda hai," he tells her.

"You forgot to write your name," Amrit smiles. Veer's eyes flicker to hold hers and his mouth tugs in a smirk.

"No I didn't," he says wickedly. "Just - it's not on your hand."

"Oh hush!" Amrit slaps him on the shoulder. He just laughs. "Kuwar sahab - do you think there's danger in daulatabadh?"

"There's danger everywhere Amrit. I don't understand how - but we've made some terrible enemies."

"Bhaijaan?" Rukzaar comes rushing in, hastily wiping tears. Veer stands up abruptly.

"What happened?" He demands.
"Can I accompany you two when you go to daulatabadh? Kya hum saat chal sakthe hai?"

"Of cause - but Rukzaar tum kiyun -"

"Thank you!" She leaves as fast as she came. Down the hallway they hear the door to her room slamming shut.

"What's wrong with her?"

*

Rani sahiba slams the receiver down, breathing hard.

"How dare he! How - dare - he!" She grits her teeth, slamming her fist down on the table with each of those words.

"We don't need him - I can-" Randheer begins. His mother waves his words away.

"You can't," she says shortly. "Yeh koi bachcho ka Khel nahi hai. That horse is a beast from hell itself. No one can handle it. Even without it, you need years of training and experience to take part in a race Beta. One moment's mistake could cost you a limb - or even your life. Nahi nahi! Hum aap ko kissi bhi keemat par jaane nahi de sakte!"

For a moment Randheer looks taken aback.

"But you don't mind if Veer go?"
Rani sahiba huffs.

"He is trained. He's been doing it for a decade," she turns away and sorts the papers on her desk. "He is a beast himself."

For a beat no one says anything.

"Kher," she speaks again. "He has a way of getting what he wants. Let him have Daulatabadh. He will soon learn that when things are bound to happen, even kings can't stop them."

"Rani ma - what are you -"

"Prepare to go and meet that solicitor beta, I'm sure he will look kindly upon you. The man's never been too fond of me."

Randheer rises knowing he has been dismissed. Rani sahiba's voice recalls him from the threshold.

"Randheer?"

"Ji Rani ma?"

"You still love that girl don't you?"

There is a pause as Rani sahiba watches him expectantly. Randheer holds her gaze wondering why the answer was so complicated. The Amrit that he loved did not exist. The one that did - he felt rather disgusted by her. To think that she chose the man who had almost killed him twice over - would help him in his twisted ploys -

"I don't know Rani ma," he says truthfully. "She has left me no reason to continue."

"You have wasted four years of your life after her," Rani sahiba says tactfully. "Do you hate her then?"

"She has hurt me," Randheer says slowly. "Thinking about her, learning the truth of her - it all hurts. I wish she understood what it feels like, to go through this pain. Shall we talk about something else?"

"Of cause beta, but answer me this - just this one last question. If you could make her understand what a terrible mistake she made - will it make you feel better?"

"Why are you asking me this?"
Rani sahiba smiles slowly.

"Because I think it's time to show - both Amrit and those old fools of Panchayat - how very wrong their chose of a prince is." She folds her arms, her expression contorted, malice in her eyes.

"It is time for them to see why Veer should not sit on the throne. Let him come, let him snatch my power over my own roof. Let him lord over us. For this is the last time he will do that. This is the last act and I will be the one to bring down the curtains."

**