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Scarlett looked at herself in the mirror, heart hammering. The dress was a simple sleeveless affair, but with frothy skirts and a silver belt, she felt like a dress up doll. The make up certainly didn't help, nor did her father's presence in the doorway, arms folded as he watched Saanvi put the final touches to her daughter's ensemble. Luckily Saanvi had managed to convince her husband to remain outside while actually putting the dress on, but nothing could stop him from overseeing the final touches, and Scarlett shivered. 75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN2HGx0KVxf
"She looks adequate," Arjun observed. "I suppose it's going to have to do, though I'd have preferred her to wear red."
Saanvi took a deep breath. She'd been on edge all morning, and it was clearly taking all her willpower to keep from belting her husband over the head with the nearest blunt object. Scarlett couldn't blame her in the slightest. Arjun was not happy; it showed in his voice, though Scarlett couldn't pinpoint the reason. She'd been as obedient as he'd have liked, keeping her nose clean so he wouldn't have reason to cancel the wedding, or worse, make her and Ihenri sleep in different rooms until he was "satisfied" as to his daughter's compliance. But Arjun wasn't happy, and Scarlett felt the dread resurface once again. He was going to do something today; she could feel it in her bones.
"I think she looks perfectly lovely," Saanvi replied evenly. "The dress is simple, but elegant enough to make her shine, like she should."
"This is not for her benefit," Arjun replied sharply. "She doesn't deserve it, and you know it. Look at her! Playing innocent, when in reality, she is scheming something behind my back!"
"Stop it!" Saanvi snapped, whirling around and glaring at her husband. If looks could kill, he'd drop dead on the spot; Saanvi was in full attack mode this morning. "You've been keeping tabs on the poor girl for the last eight months, leaving her afraid to even breathe in case she does that wrong! She's been doing all you've asked of her without complaint, not to mention she's never once said a damned word about her future breeding!"
"I'm not convinced," Arjun said. "If I had my way, I'd make her and her new husband sleep in separate rooms until. And I may still do that yet; she does not deserve any of this, and if she keeps on with her defiance, I'll have the whole damn affair cancelled!"
"Father, stop!" Scarlett cried, letting her anger finally come to the surface as she too turned to glare at him. "I've taken your stupid contraceptives, and I've followed all your rules. I've answered all your questions, submitted myself to endless polygraphs, and I've said nothing in either public or private to give you anything to hound me about! Why can't you just let it go? I've got the good sense not to push you on the matter of whether or not I'll carry your precious grandchild, and if I have to wait until you're fully satisfied, I'll do whatever it takes to prove that I'm not scheming anything behind your back! How could I, with you on me almost 24-bloody-7!"
Dead silence reigned, and for a moment, Scarlett was horrified, fearing she'd pushed her father to the point where a cancellation was imminent. Even Saanvi looked shocked at her daughter's outburst, but Arjun looked thunderstruck, his face pale as he stared at his daughter. Eventually, he spoke again, and shockingly, his voice was calm, not with a lurking temper underneath, but actually steady. "I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I've no idea what the hell I was thinking. These damn fits... they just won't let me be." He sighed. "I don't even know what the hell we were talking about, but... no. I'm sorry. You're right. I had no right to keep such a tight lid on you, and whatever drove me to it is over. You can do as you wish; I won't impose any further conditions on you. You can stop taking your contraceptives, but it may be some time before you're fertile enough to bear children." He shook his head again as he left the room, somewhat unsteadily, and Scarlett's eyes were wide as she looked at her mother.
"I had no idea the fits could come on him without mention of..." Saanvi stopped. "No, it doesn't matter." She gave her daughter a wry smile. "I don't know how you did it, but the shock of you yelling at him seemed to be enough to get him to back down. Either that or he's a consummate liar, ready to pounce when we least expect it. Either way, you've got your freedom back, in a way."
"The last time I yelled at him, I got punished," Scarlett reminded her mother with an equally wry smile. "But I guess this time it got through to him." She took a deep breath. "I'm taking this slim window of opportunity with both hands, before Father comes to his senses."
Saanvi smiled again, a mother's pride in her eyes as she kissed her daughter's cheek. "Then let's go down and see you married," she said.
But as they left, arm in arm, Saanvi's mind was buzzing. Either the queen's curse was more powerful than she'd thought, or Arjun was playing them. Never had Saanvi seen her husband get unbalanced without mention of Hope, but then again, perhaps Hope had let fly on him in the past, and that had been enough to trigger the geas that caused him to forget whatever he'd been saying.
Either way, Saanvi reminded herself to keep a close eye on her husband. If he was playing his family false, the truth would come out soon enough.
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