The Queen's king |✔️

11. Grateful.

The temple was enormous with high walls and flowering trees around. Even the entrance of the temple has a strong smell of incense sticks and camphor which immediately gave out a pleasant feeling. All walls and pillars were deeply carved into beautiful sculptures and words of holy scriptures were written in Sanskrit. Chitra was lost looking at the beauty of this temple, she felt an immediate rush of adrenaline and couldn't wait to run inside and see what else this beautiful temple has but before she could run Vikram caught her hand swiftly.

"Have you never been to a temple?"  Vikram asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"Um..why?" Asked Chitra not understanding how to reply, Should she just tell him that this is the first time ever she stepped out of her caged palace?

He let go of her hand and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. After the thieves incident, Chitra unknowingly felt comfortable around him, witnessing his playful side made her understand that he was not the rude person he was trying to show.

"You have to go to the pond first and-"

"Really! A pond? Can I take a dip in the water?" Chitra's eyes went wide as she spoke with excitement and again she turned around to run for the pond, but Vikram caught her hand again making her stop the run.

"Are you a kid? Stop running for god's sake!" Vikram scolded Chitra, but of course, nothing was registering in her brain as all she could think was about the pond.

He took her to the pond, it was a huge pond compared to the one's he visited, Vikram thought. He caught her hand immediately noticing the size of the pond, with this excitement she will trip and fall down and that would just ruin her day, he thought.

 The moment she entered the temple she became more careless and he can guess for sure that she doesn't know swimming and he can't take a risk with her life.

Chitra was moving forward towards the water but Vikram pulled her back.

"You are just supposed to wash your feet and hands, that's all! Don't you dare take a dip or play in the waters?"  Vikram spoke in a warning tone but Chitra was too high on excitement to notice his warning tone.

"Yes, brother!!" Chirping happily Chitra walked down the stairs leading to the pond.

He felt a tug at his heart as she called him brother. Vikram noticed she has been doing that a lot, addressing him as a brother. The first few times he was irritated but then he started warming up to that call. He once had a family and if things went right he might have had a sibling, probably a sister. But he was not destined for happiness. He lost his family and he never even had the chance to say his final goodbyes.

"Brother let's go inside!" Chitra yelled as she was climbing stairs up.

"I won't be coming inside," Vikram said with a straight face as he walked towards the entrance which was leading towards the main temple.

"Why?" Chitra asked, looking disappointed.

"I don't believe in God,"  Vikram said, looking down at Chitra.

"You don't?" Chitra asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes, now go and get your prayers done. I will be waiting for you right here."

After giving her instructions about what she should and shouldn't do inside the temple, he let her go. He just hoped that she would come out soon with no trouble around.

** Somewhere in the forest. **

Arjuna hit the man to a tree making him cough out blood due to the force. He held the man by his neck and tightened his fingers, making the man gasp for air.