Soley Red

A white figure ran through the night. Their hair illuminated by the glistening moonlight and jewelry exuded by the palace's torches. She scurried across the bricked bridge, past the gurgling river, into the city square, vanishing into the pricks of a thousand amber lights. Lost until daylight

Rayna peered at the girl through her window,  fingers curling around the golden frames. The slight glimpse of her beauty was enough to tighten her throat sore.  She knew she couldn't match it.  The youth she held was incomparable, an elixir that couldn't be conjured. There's no wonder why Raj Samrat  was smitten by her.  Her breath hitched in her throat at the thought. She promised herself she wouldn't be angry, and yet, blood boiled beneath her skin, hot and violent. 

Her feet stumbled back, meeting her own reflection in the golden frames. 

A red tika on her head, a red gemstone on her nose, red bangles, red headdress , red henna, red walls in her room, red roses on her dressing table the very essence of her room was saffron. 

Red. A colour that symbolizes love, purity and auspiciousness

And all its meaning seemed to have broken with the very existence of that…girl.

She couldn't swallow. Acids fell into her mouth.

She was known as the Red Queen. The Queen of Love. The sole Queen to the king and the kingdom

And yet that single girl escaping into the night was enough to break all those titles. If word came out of this affair…her honour and dignity would be lost in the snap of a finger.

Hands clawed into her hair, her roots burning as she pulled them. Yet she couldn't stop. It dawned on her like  poison festering inside her mind, that things would change-not in a good way. She had all this rage building up in her hands, vibrating , burning and nowhere to channel it.

Her husband wasn't hers anymore. Her life should have been shared with someone else, this colour on her walls, in her hair, on her hands, it's all a lie.

Her world spun around her. Rayna sat on her bed against the blood red bed sheets, recollecting herself. She had seen it with her own eyes. She'd seen that the girl was indeed beautiful. Now what?

Fingers twisted the velvet blanket.

There was a sudden rapid knock on the door. Incessant and painfully jarring.

A shudder rolled down her spine. Are they here to kick her out? Was she not important anymore?

Thud. Thud. Thud.

She flicked off any drops of tears there may have been,  draped a curtain over her window, adjusted her jewelry and fixed her hair and clothing before responding.

"Yes" her voice barely rasped as she awaited. "Come in"

The door unlatched with a series of clicks-each one syncing to the beat of her pulse.

She dragged her taut legs closer to her chest as the doors swung open and footsteps collided with the floor . The figure appeared from the door

Raj Samrat

He pivoted towards her with a bright grin on his face-oblivious to what she knew. His turban was off- curly black hair cascaded to his forehead-his attire was plain and simple as well. Soft, white and even disheveled. 

His jewelry, armbands and shield have come off too, leaving him vulnerable and  bare-it's clear he'd left the courtroom early today.  To do what though? 

But Rayna knew the answer to that question.

His almond eyes curved slightly seeing her, a smile quivering on his lips. 

"The servants tell me you've been upset"

Her eyes averted to the wall in front of her, tracing the golden embroidery of the table clothes and the precise carvings on the limestone, 

"And I see that they are right" he sighed, stalking to her side. 

He stared at the same blank image as she did, his eyes lingering upon  the view for a few long stretched moments, before looking at her again. 

"What's bothering you?" 

Her face heated. The audacity to ask that question. The audacity to lie. The audacity to act as if everything was in order and mendable, when it wasn't. What's the point of all these sweet words? Red was love. Red was everywhere. Yet somehow she lacked it. 

It was all merely a façade. 

" And why did you cover the window? The moon is so pretty today"

He stood on his feet, taking a step in that direction, probably to open it. 

But she gripped his arm. 

His steps faltered and tethered back to her, nails almost tore through his fabric. 

Confusion lined his forehead, eye screwing together and he tugged his hand from hers harshly.

"What's wrong with you?"

A sea stormed in her stomach. It crashed against the walls of her temper. Her skin was hot and livid. Rayna was on the verge of exploding.

"I want to redecorate my room"

His features softened "Then say that. Have the roses dried?Or do you prefer another shade of red? Or-"

"I want my room to be white. I don't want anything red inside my room. No roses, no saffron, no  red earrings, no red clothes, no red walls."

He blinked, and for a second he did not believe what he heard.  He shifted uncomfortably, legs stepping back and front. "Are you upset about something? How can the great Red Queen be drained of red?"

She was no Red Queen-not anymore.

"Do you even know the meaning of red?"  Her voice quivered, Rayna could barely speak. Her mind rewinded the image of the girl again and again and again. A speck of white disappearing with Rayna's honour and pride.

Her muscles went taut.

How long had this been going on for? 

Was she this easily fooled? How many times did he lie?

"Of course I know"  He laughed, plucking one of the roses on her bed stand. He held it out to her." It symbolises that only you will stand next to me. That's why you're showered in red. The whole kingdom accepts you as the sole queen, and that can never be stripped"

Her throat stung like salt rubbed on a bloody bruise. It closed in, threatening to choke her and knock the breath out her lungs. 

His hand awaited for her to receive the rose-but instead she brushed it away.

"Are you sure it can Never be stripped?" 

A cold draught rushed from the windows, billowing the gossamer curtains. 

Her skin shuddered, the chills dancing down her arms.

His finger tightened around the stem snapping it in half, his jaw ticked and he reared back from her. 

Realisation dawning in his eyes. 

"You know"

She nodded solemnly in confirmation "Maybe I'm not your rose. Maybe I'm your thorn."

Her head dropped down to the red embroidery of her clothes-a mockery of her state.

He exhaled, fingers massaging the ridge of his nose.

"It's not-"

"Maybe you should make her your new queen. You're new red."

She picked the rose from the bed, her calluses running on the arched red petals . They were soft and light, almost feather-like.  

"Tell me " she breathed, eyes fixated on the rose "Tell me the rumors aren't true"

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

He was there, she could feel him next to her. Heat emanated from his side. Yet it took a long moment for him to respond. 

"I'm sorry"

The words stung her cheeks.  She knew it was true. What else was she expecting? But hearing him admit it made it real. A slap on cheek- a reminder that this was her reality now.

"Of course" she sighed and left her seat, walking towards the door

"B-But that doesn't mean you're not Queen." He shouted from behind. "She's there but that doesn't take away what I have for you"

He was pleading now, probably even crying, she could imagine the wet tears trailing from his eyes,  down his cheeks. As much as she'd like to admit otherwise, a twinge of satisfaction seeped into her bones. 

"You're still seen as the Red Queen. The sole queen"

She swung around to him. His hands covered his face in sorrow and his knees were held to his chest.

She knew better than to pity him. It was her honour being stripped-not his.

"I should have asked you first" he admitted, removing his hands revealing red eyes.

Rayna's hands dug into her palms, her knuckles whitened  like pearls "And what if I say no now?"

"How can I leave her after-"

"Then you should have thought about me before you touched her" those words came out like an uncontrollable force. She couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry"

"No-no. I'm not giving in-I won't" she pedalled back, her back meeting the door. But what stared back at her was her supposed fate. The red walls, the roses, the bedsheets. She loved this life. How easy would it be to just fall back in? Pretend as if all of this was some bad dream. As if she didn't see the girl. As if red was still her colour. As if she was the only one.

"You're not going to leave me are you? There's no way you're gonna do this to me.  I've never had anyone while I was with you for our twenty years of marriage.   I made one mistake. And now…"

He groaned, hand pressing against his forehead. Each word he said jabbed her chest. There's no way he's defending himself. No way he expects to be let off this easily.  But was it really that bad for this to be swept under the rug? Be the ruby of the kingdom again.

To erase a mistake?

He continued, gasping in air " You know what? I won't even look at that girl-let alone marrying her. I'll remove her if you want. Just don't leave . This kingdom adores you. "

She could run back now . She could accept all this was a lie. She wouldn't lose her honour. She wouldn't lose her room nor her status. Even he won't indulge in any of this. Things could go back to how they were. Things could be okay again.

The red bed sheets called to her. These dark red walls were her home. All her expensive jewelry was red. 

But that girl…all it took as one pretty girl for twenty years of loyalty to be broken.

Was it worth it then?

It wasn't.

She couldn't trust him again-not in this lifetime. She's always living in fear and sorrow. And she didn't want that.  She couldn't. Dread would follow her everywhere-torment her for the rest of her life. And no matter how hard she could try to ignore it-the truth would always be beating on her head .She wasn't really special. She wasn't really the Red Queen. She was merely a showcase.  

Her face stiffened, eyes steady on him. For a moment a flicker of happiness sparked on his face. He thought she'd agree

"If it takes one simple girl to break two decades of loyalty-then how brittle is our relationship? How brittle are you?"

She removed her red bangles, her veil, the roses in her hair, her jewelry. They all dropped on the floor one after another, clinking and, thudding, in sequence.

"You can marry her- give these to her. In Fact I'm going to ask the royal painter to turn my entire room into white"

That smacked the gleam out his eyes. "Rayna don't be like this, this is yours-"

But all his words came as white noise to her ears.

"And remind me to give you this dress too. It would look good on her for your wedding day"

She knew her eyes were glassy. Rayna was fighting her inner demons to hold back tears-there's no way she'll cry for a decision she's made. Especially not after being humiliated. 

Her knees weakened.  His fervent yet disappointed stare intensified it. 

 Before her legs could give in she slipped out the room and collapsed on the floor. 

She wouldn't be the Red Queen anymore. There would be another addition in the palace, and yet it felt like something had vanished.

Red was gone from her life. The lie had fallen. 

.