Saanvi was furious when she found out what her husband was planning, and she did not mince her words when she confronted Arjun that evening. "How dare you?" she said, glaring at him. "You've put my daughter through hell, and now you plan to have her examined? All so you can be proven right, that she did sleep with Ishan?"
Arjun raised a hand, but Saanvi caught his wrist before the blow could land. "Let go," he growled.
"Like hell I will!" Saanvi snapped. "I will not let you put my daughter through an unnecessary examination that will probably do more harm to her than good!"
"She is my daughter," Arjun said, still struggling to break his wife's grip. He gave up and gave her glare for glare. "I decide what is best for her! I am the one who decides if she is going to marry Ihenri! I am the one who will decide if she is allowed to give birth to the child who will save us all! And I will decide if she is allowed to raise that child! As it stands, even if she is allowed to conceive, she will not be allowed to even see her child until he or she is adopted out!"
"So you're going to rob her of her child like you did to her mother?" Saanvi said, and got grim satisfaction out of seeing Arjun's face become confused, as it always did whenever Scarlett's birth mother was mentioned. Normally she didn't weaponise Hope, but this time, she went for the jugular. "You'd better hope she doesn't learn the truth," Saanvi added. "Because mark my words; Scarlett will find out the truth behind this promised child, and she will go for your throat, and for the throats of your precious father and his corrupt council! Then you'd better start praying for a swift end; Scarlett will give you ten times the hell you've given her!"
Arjun cried out and dropped to his knees, his face contorting in pain as he huddled on the floor, hands clapped over his ears. Saanvi felt no guilt this time; instead, she was glad she'd lashed out and brought this fit on. He was left unbalanced after every such fit, and usually, he became like putty in her hands. Not that she'd ever taken the chance to use his unbalanced state to her advantage, but as he eventually got to his feet, shaking his head as the confusion cleared from his eyes. Saanvi decided to strike while the iron is hot. "So?" she challenged, arms folded.
Arjun frowned. "So what?" he asked, shaking his head. 473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvmwy9PCb4
"So are you going to force our daughter to be examined?" Saanvi said.
"What the hell are you going on about?" Arjun demanded. "Of course not! I swear, I don't even remember why I came down here in the first place!"
Saanvi hid a smirk. "You were going to ask me to invite Ihenri to dinner," she said, praying Arjun was still unbalanced enough to agree.
Arjun blinked and then nodded. "Yes," he said, looking relieved. "I swear, if anyone needs examining, it's going to be me. Go upstairs and tell Scarlett to get herself into something decent. I'll to talk to Ihenri and invite him over. I trust I can leave dinner preparations in your hands?"
"Of course," Saanvi said, leaning forward and kissing her husband on the cheek. Arjun blinked, staring at her like she'd grown a second head.
"The hell was that all about?" he demanded.
"That was my way of saying thank you for seeing sense," Saanvi said dryly. "Now go speak to your future son-in-law, and I'll go talk to my daughter. I should have enough time to get something suitable whipped up for dinner; it won't be the first time I've had to prepare a feast on the fly."473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdPHr7LLZT
Arjun nodded. "And you're good at it," he said, before leaving. As the door closed behind him, Saanvi let out a long breath as she sank into a chair. She knew Arjun would eventually cotton on to her, but the curse which brought his fits on was still as strong as ever after almost fifteen years, and Saanvi thanked the elven queen who'd come up with it in the first place. As she got up, her confidence back, she idly wondered if Queen Tanila had added the twist which left Arjun completely ignorant of what he'd been doing or saying before the fits came on. If so, Saanvi thought, as she hurried upstairs, the elven queen had a mean streak a mile wide!
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