Flash Floods And Betrayal ( Part 2 )

Vajra dropped her off at her mother's palace and didn't see her in before he rode to the barracks where the Captain of the Royal guard had his residence. The Surya clan had a grand mansion in town and various other properties elsewhere, but the Captain of the Royal Guard must live on the grounds of the palace. He can only go home during the weekends or holidays. Of course, this sort of arrangement was unacceptable if his wife was a princess. Therefore, the residence on the barracks was renovated so that it may befit a princess. Originally, Vajra wanted to give the couple one of the grand palaces on the royal grounds. With so many deaths in the family, many were lying empty. If she didn't want them, he wanted to build her a new one and give it to her as a princess's residence. But Agni said if would be an affront to her husband's honor to be living in his wife's home. It didn't fool anybody though. Agni had been a tomboy for as long as he knew her. Living in the barracks was her dream!

Calling on the residence without notice, Vajra told himself to be calm. Running his mouth off in haste might spoil his sister's reputation.

"Your Majesty, why are you here!" Harsh-deep of the Surya clan came running as soon as he heard the king was looking for him. He was just in the training grounds, so the sweat and dust was still sticking to his body even as a maid helped him clean up. "You could've just called for me. Is something the matter?"

Vajra couldn't delay it anymore. "Why did you and my sister stop fourth sister from going out?" he asked breathlessly.

"What?"

Vajra held the warrior's sweaty biceps and squeezed him. "Brother-in-law, you must be honest. I know you have your own rules concerning the privacy of the royal family members. Perhaps you wouldn't divulge information to me unless you think its important for me to know. I feel this is important…You must tell me!"

Harsh-deep was still not used to the king calling him so intimately as brother-in-law. It's true what they say. The boy can really tear down your defenses with two words from his golden mouth. A pity though that this time, Harsh-deep has got nothing.

"Umm…err…It's…Your Majesty, it's nothing. I just thought it wouldn't be safe for the princess what with all the movements in the capital…"

"What movements? Are you talking about the diplomats from Pranaya?"

The king's voice made Harsh-deep tense up. This was the trouble with teenagers. They can be really jumpy.

"Uh…that and others…You know," he said vaguely, "These days people are coming from all over to pray at your coming of age…Well there are a lot of elements—"

"What elements! Does it have anything to do with the royals of other countries?" the boy shook him and squeezed his shoulders tightly. Unfortunately for Harsh-deep, the young king developed some divine powers lately. His grip was not like it used to be two years ago. Harsh-deep could almost hear his bones cracking.

"Royals? What royals?" Harsh-deep managed to croak. The Royal Guard was an independent body that acted as a private force of the king. It was not always in sync with the state's information network. Getting out of the king's grip with difficulty, he fell on a seat and decided to accept defeat. "Alright, I'll tell you the truth!" He took a deep breath and blurted, "Your Majesty, don't blame me. It was your older sister's order…You know how she can get when she wants something…"

"You really are managed by third sister!" Vajradandaka slapped the table in disbelief. His wide eyes stared holes into the guilty captain.

"I can't help it! She can toast me from the inside out whenever she wants…plus!" the captain raised his hands in helplessness.

"Plus?!"

"Plus she can really hold out on sex…!" the captain groaned painfully.

"Ew! Ugh!" Vajra threw his angavastra on the idiot captain to hit him. "Why would you say that to me? Third sister will eat me alive if she knows I discussed such things with you!"

"So that you can understand my pain, why else…!" Harsh-deep used the king's top cloth to rub his dirty face, only realising what he's done after the beautiful silk white cloth was all ruined. "Well…" he put it away quietly. He chuckled awkwardly to change the subject. "You'll be married in a month. You'll know soon."

"I will not!" Poor Little Cactus was traumatized at the idea of having sex with his sister-in-law, who he was just reminded was the same person who beat on him whenever he got his letters wrong or used bad words. His mind was in chaos and he decided to take it out on this idiot captain.

With a leap, he fell on the man and pummeled the great warrior to ground, landing many fists in a row. But Harsh-deep had fast reflexes. He flipped his body around when Vajra was lost in his momentum and scuffled with the king, constraining his body in one wrestling knot after another. It didn't matter how strong Vajra was, Harsh-deep was more agile, more cunning. He would flip the situation before Vajra could get any real advantage and he couldn't even dream of raining down those fists again like he really wanted to.

"Just what are you two idiots doing on the floor?"

Harsh-deep froze, his body sprawled over the king's in mid-combat. He became like a fish at the sight of a net, slowly trying to maneuver out before it closed in on him.

"Don't even think of escaping!" the harsh female voice resounded in the hall once again.

Harsh-deep submitted to his fate and got to his knees to look at his wife. A fiery woman was staring daggers at him while dressed in passionate red. Just looking at her would make him weak in the knees. It's not because she's scary…well, maybe a bit of that too, but mainly because she was incredibly hot. No matter how much she took over the roles of a male, Princess Agnipriya of Rtadhara could not hide her incredibly seductive body.

In this society, males and females wore basically the same clothes. Males kept their upper body bare, while females just covered their breasts with different styles of knots and drapes. But that was just a way for the society of upper classes to show off their style and their charm. Only the contrary leaving the breasts open was considered somewhat less seductive or charming. It was not unusual to see commoner women leave their chest uncovered when they go to work, just like the men. It was more comfortable that way. Tomboyish as she was, Agnipriya often followed this style.

Silly thing, how can she look any bit like a commoner when she was a real princess? With gold ornaments defining her toned arms and slender wrists, large necklaces tamely settling in the valley between her breasts, bejeweled waist bands subtly augmenting her curves, she looked more tempting than even the most stylishly draped woman. The so-called 'bare chest doesn't evoke passion' didn't work at all in her case at all, whether it be because of the jewelry which commoner women don't wear so much of, or more likely because of how large and round her breasts were. Agnipriya simply drove her husband mad everyday by pretending to be a man when she was really the most womanly woman ever.

"Wife, you cannot call your husband an idiot," he said weakly in the end.

"Yeah sis," his brother-in-law chorused, "You cannot call your king an idiot!"

"Shut up! You're the worst one of all. Tell me you're not going to ruin your life by marrying a woman ten years your senior!"

Vajradandaka huffed and pushed Harsh-deep away in order to get up. "Why is everyone getting on my case about this? Where were all of your virtuous opinions when I made the decision five years ago?!"

"You were vulnerable back then!" Agnipriya exclaimed. "We all thought you would come to your senses once the trauma passed. Evidently not!"

Vajradandaka took a deep breath and asked. "You mean, you all waited for a man to come back to his senses so that he can go back on his word? How is this logical?"

"Don't act clever." Agnipriya was not one to use her mouth to fight. She let the maids serve refreshments to the king. Leaning lightly on a divan, she opened her mouth. "Don't you get that it is decisions like these that make eldest sister worry about you and unable to leave you? Just what are you thinking Little Cactus?" she shook her head, exasperated.

Vajradandaka wanted to say something but ultimately swallowed it down. He just got a first-hand taste of what's it's like to argue with two women. He wasn't ready for another round.

"Forget it third elder sister. The marriage is written into the agenda for the rite of passage ceremony. The priests have already set the date and time. They will not change the ceremony for a thousand gold. Unless you want them to behave like the world is going to end because of a change in Martanda's 'life schedule', let's just not discuss this anymore."