Tish had changed into the complicated her ceremonial attire- white and full of unnecessary amount of ribbons. Rudra could never understand why she loved wearing those. But atleast she looked like she had cleaned up.
Still, she looked somewhat worse than Nayan looked in her bloody attire.
She stared at Rudra for so long without blinking that he, instinctively, threw a blanket over the broken chains. Her eyes drifted then, towards the bundle of blanket as if she could practically see what Rudra had tried to hide from her.
"You need not try escaping," she said flatly, "Your father, the High King of Partha had contracted us a while ago."
Nayan cussed under her breath. But Tish didn't look away from Rudra.
When the silent became so long, Rudra felt uncomfortable.
And then Tish finally spoke again, "Why are you here?"
It was the question which was easiest to answer, "For you," Rudra prompted, ''I came for you."
Tish took a step towards him, "Cut the nonsense! You kicked me out!"
Rudra sighed, ''A mistake I am willing to own-"
"You said I wasn't good enough for you because of my poor lineage!" She snapped.
"I mean having a stableboy as father," Rudra chuckled, "And maid as a mother isn't the best lineage, darling! You do have a poor lineage, where's the lie in that?"
Teresa's face became unreadable. Nayan threw herself before Rudra, "He hit his head!" She blurted out. "Step aside," said Tish, the words coming out of her mouth as if she had chewed them and now spitting them out, "He may have protection of his tyrant father but you don't! Nobody paying to keep you alive!"
''If he dies in my presence, I'll have to answer to the High King!" Shrieked Nayan, "How about you formalize his execution so I can pretend I didn't have any way to stop him from getting killed for his war crimes?"
Teresa's hands visibly shook, her hair started lifting as it it had suddenly forgotten the concept of gravity. Her golden eyes started getting brighter and brighter until looking directly into them became impossible.
"Now now," Rudra tried a soothing voice to calm the Saintess of Benevia, "We can't forget my father paid a hefty sum to keep both of us alive, can we?"
Teresa froze for a second and then added, "But he didn't pay anything to stop me from cut off a limb of two, did he?"
Nayan yelped and lunged behind Rudra, "Just take him! Kill him! He's been a horrible master!" She said very helpfully, ''Just don't kill me, I have a wife!"
Rudra just closed his eyes. Honestly? Dying in the hands of a girl you had intended to marry wasn't worst of fates.
"Teresa!"
The blinding holy right vanished. Rudra cracked one eye open to see the Saintess getting tackled by a man. A MAN ?!
Before he knew it, he was moving. "How dare you lay your filthy fingers on her!" Rudra grasped the collars of the man tearing him off Tish and threw him against the wall, "I will pluck them out. One by one. And shove them down your throat so deep- "
It was then he sees, he really sees, who that man was. It was the one standing on the wall beside Teresa. "You! I know you!" He shook the man like a rag doll even though the movement made his shoulder scream in pain.
"Rudra!" Tish snarled, "Leave him!" She still sounded angry. But the anger was now mixed with fear. Fear for this pathetic man who probably didn't weight more than Rudra's sword. It didn't make Rudra release the man. It only made him want to strangle him faster.
"Let him, Teresa!" Choked out the pathetic man, "I am not afraid of him. I will never be afraid of him."
Rudra froze. He looked away from Tish to stare at the creature hanging from his fist, the man's eyes were pitch black, full of hatred and anger, somewhat darker than that of even Tish's.
Horrified, Rudra realised this man wasn't just the man Tish had chosen over him.
It was him.
"It's.... it's you!" He uttered, shocked, "You're him!"
The man smiled, "Yes, I'm the man whom Tish chose over-," he couldn't finish his sentence, as Rudra's grip tightened over his neck.
"Rudra-," Nayan warned.
But Rudra didn't care, ''The one with the blessings of seven gods, the one who found the Sword of Mamon," he whispered out, "You're the one who killed me. Or.....will kill me".
Rudra felt Nayan stepping behind him, "Dramatic," said the Commander dryly, "Both of us know that puny arrow couldn't have killed you. It barely lodged itself," she tried to disbalance Rudra, a feet pressed against the back of his knee, her arms hooked around his underarms and shoulder like handles of a backpack and then she gave a sharp pull.
But Rudra didn't even budge. He stared at the man before him. But his eyes were looking through him, through the wall, to the series of events from his dreams- or prophecies.
He recalled standing atop a hill on fire, with this man pointing a sword at his heart, not just any sword but the sword of Mamon....
And he had said the very same words.
"I am not afraid of him. I will never be afraid of him."
"Right, you are hero," Rudra laughs, an utter mirthless laugh, "Hero of people !" He grinned, "The one who takes down the big bad dragon!"
Unconsciously he might have tightened his grip onto the man's neck, because his eyes bulged and the tongue stuck out.
"Rudra!" Teresa's voice shook. "He hit his head!" Nayan said uselessly, "Probably!" She was whimpering like a puppy, "Don't get enraged, Saintess!"
Nayan gave another violent pull, almost dislodging Rudra. Almost.
"Leave him!" She barked.
But Rudra couldn't just leave him, his future killer, his nightmare, the thief who stole Teresa and would eventually steal his life,"But he finds the-"
"Ten seconds," Teresa's voice was still shaking, "If you don't leave him, I'll kill you. I don't care about the Partha King, I don't care about the Royal Court. I . Will. Kill. You."
Rudra tore off his gaze from the man and glared at Tish, "But he killed me!" He snapped, "He found the fucking sword and-"
"If I find the fucking sword, I'd kill you too!" Cut in Tish.
The sheer unadulterated hatred was so shocking when it came from Tish, it pierced Rudra sharper than any arrow.
His grip loosened and the man with black hair fell. But Rudra couldn't look away from Tish even if it hurt him to see her.
"You don't mean it," he says, his voice coming out flat.
But Tish didn't waver. Her face was pale with rage, her lips curled with disgust - an expression so foreign to Rudra- it felt like he was still asleep.
"I am a Saintess, Prince of Partha," Tish hushed, "I usually pray for people's welbeing, their health, prosperity.... Life. But you're the only person whose death I have prayed so hard for!"
Rudra didn't answer. He couldn't.
"You are the only person I wish to see dying a slow miserable death!"