The Alpha Killed My Husband

38| Afflictions Of Avatars

‘What have you done to yourself, Sarva? What have you done to this room? Why was everything,’ Her voice trails off as she takes a little tower around the room. ‘Broken?’ She finishes up.

I buried my nose in the chest. Silence is the best answer, I’d heard somewhere.

‘Did you fight with the Alpha? Oh, my sweet AnantNath! It’s true. You went fist to fist with the Alpha. What was on your cheek? That mark?’

What does it look like, sweety? The sarcasm dances at the tip of my tongue. In spite, I do not say it. I was about to puke it out when another horrifying shriek echoed.

I want my peace back.

‘Mind telling me?’ Her voice is rising higher and higher. ‘Why would you punish yourself like that, Sarva? It wasn’t your fault. Maybe it was, but not entirely. You weren’t that bad. You only pushed your boobs in Alpha’s faces, yelling, ‘You cannot see anything perfect in them.’’ She mimics my voice, jingling her own assets.

I did that? In front of her? I open my mouth to ask her for details, but the talking machine is way ahead. Avika keeps bickering. I keep listening.

‘Gosh! Alpha looked so shocked. He was more amused though. He politely asked me to leave. I was unsure if he’d take care of you, but then, I had no choice. He is your husband hypothetically. I had to step out. Still, I lingered outside the room for about an hour in the cold. You were moaning. I was really worried that something had happened...maybe he was making love to you! Shantanu caught me pacing and told me to shoo away. I tried to dodge him but he dragged me out of the lobby. I guess he was as uncomfortable as I was listening to your amorous pants. I was so worried, Sarva. I could not sleep.’

Her explanation makes me feel worse if that's possible. I squeeze my eyes and palm my face.

‘You have always been like this, Sarva. You push yourself to unrealistic standards and look at what we end up at. Who knows what the Alpha might have done to you? Did you...like...have s*x with our enemy?’

Because why not?

‘Likely! Oh, no! He—’

‘We are going to be monitored, Avika.’ I seethed internally. I’d give my soul at the moment to make her stop talking. Fortunately, this indeed shuts her up momentarily. I take it as my queue to continue speaking.

‘They have appointed an Omega to be my co-assistant. I saw him on the lawn this morning. He will be joining in the evening before Alpha flies to some f*****g-worthy f**k for which I would give absolutely no f**k. I just hope his plane crashes.’ I mumble the last part to myself.

The Lord of Luck has cursed me. Avika overhears and her switch is turned on again. ‘Then you wouldn’t be able to succeed.’ The Serpent adds promptly. I groan at her dumbness. Maybe I do need that charming ass, Omega. This s**t is useless and unbearably irksome.

‘What?’ She gapes clueless at my disgusted face.

‘You told me we’d need him to win that stupid contest that can award you power and ticket to the top admin. You’d slowly change the laws and take over without violence. By the time they’d know, they’d already lost everything. I think the plan was something like that. Isn’t it?’

‘Eh, let it be.’ I brush her off, turning to peer at the lawn where the Omega was staring up at me.

Exhausted at the trepidation, I open the laptop, ignoring my head maid who has sprawled herself on my bed. I don’t even try to imagine what might be going on in her head.

‘We have to take it seriously, Sarva.’ Avika says, her tone eerily calm. ‘It’s near a month and we do not have a clue. I trust you. I really do. I seriously hope you win the contest with Alpha and become the first serpent Luna Queen but looking ahead, I don’t feel it’s very concrete. I miss Izyan so much. His wide eyes don’t let me sleep. He wants to get avenged, Sarva. Maharaj Vachaspati wants to get avenged. We cannot let their sacrifices go in vain. Our females are sold into p**********n. They died without dignity. We cannot disrespect their death.’

I open my mouth and close it a couple of times. ‘I am working on it.’ I say finally. ‘We will make it, Avika. I know it was wrong of me to go trippy like that. I—’

‘Queen, as your head maid, I appreciate your efforts. I have seen you going through so much hardship. I have heard you weep but as one of the serpents, I cannot see our enemies celebrating, laughing, living joyously. It has been three years already; my snake wants results.’

I clench my jaw. I am not used to Avika questioning my actions. For three years, we have been through thick and thin together. True, she has seen me crying lonely tears. She has also seen me going violent and absurd.

It is the first time I have made cataclysmic headlines.

‘Tomorrow when the truth will be revealed that it weren’t Luna Aaradhya but Queen Sarvayoni who went wild; do you believe they will look up at us?’

I blink.

‘I—’ Damn, I never knew Avika could make me speechless. My throat tightens as the brain takes in every word of her. She is right. Tomorrow, when the Sarvayoni is reborn as an individual without the shield of disguise, it would create a catastrophe.

The country has expectations with the Luna, I have crumbled every bit of it.

‘All right!’ Avika claps her hands. ‘Do not overthink! You have been amazing till now except for some occasions that we can ignore. You are evolving as a female. You have become a lot more mature and considerate. I am sure if put out heart and soul in it, you will be crowned by the end of this year.’

I nod. I still privately my past actions. To say I am ashamed will be an understatement. Indeed, I have let myself lose more than I could afford. Rudransh is ridiculously distracting me from the aim that should have become the mission of my life.

I won’t let him manipulate me any longer. I blink the moisture away. The laptop has booted up and Luna’s home screen welcomes me.

With a resounding smack, I slap the laptop screen shut and scurry away from it as far as possible.

‘Yaak! What the f**k? My eyes!’ For the first time in three days, I am not pissed off scrolling through the internet, I am f*****g horrified and steamed.

Avika giggles in amusement at my perplexed state. ‘Why don’t you change it if it disgusts you so much?’ Avika asks. ‘I don’t think you need to be reminded of what the Alpha is capable of doing or maybe he might have done it already. Since you don’t remember? Luna is quite hot though!’

Avika. I sigh internally, feeling a pang in my chest. Had the picture not rendered me speechless, I would have made her see the daylight straightway. Instead, I intertwine my fingers together and lean my forehead on it. My palms are sweaty and my heartbeats are furious.

Umm...please, Sarva! Just this one time. Yeah! The Goddess of Lust is up and filled to the brim with forbidden desires again. Treacherous creature! The serpent doesn’t seem to know the ways to keep her vent intact. I know you want it as much as I want it. She insists shamelessly.

This...I do not, Nagini. Please, don’t. We have better things to focus on. You cannot lust after a wolf who has hit you and made you a widow. I request her. We. Hate. Him. I emphasised.

What else can be worth our efforts than an erect p***s! Umm...just imagine it sliding in. Eh, Sarva...I want it deep in me. I want it to tear me. You can kill him afterwards...kill me afterwards. I am in love with his d**k.

Nope! We do not want any of it. We do not want it. You hear me. We. Do. Not. Want. It. I say every word slowly, letting it seep into my subconscious. My eyes involuntarily steal a peek at the laptop.

An unabashed wave of ecstasy passes through me. It has stolen my breath away. I have stared at Luna Aaradhya for more than an hour—at her naked picture. It does not bother me as much as an equally naked Alpha in her arms does to me. My brain cannot digest the image, to produce anything sensible. Moreover, it is driving Nagini nuts with lust despite the humiliation we have been subject to.

Never mind. I play it cool.

The oh-so-lovely Luna, who is popular across the country for her innocent, vulnerable, and precious aura, has an erotic image as her background. And not just any erotic image; it’s her own with her mate, that is Alpha Rudransh, where all of their ‘concealable’ assets are put on clear display for enemies like me to gawk at.

I am in dilemma. I try not to squirm at how comfortably she was sitting in Rudransh’s lap with his length in her...ahem! And how Rudransh is lustfully cupping her right breast while nibbling at the crook of her neck.

It’s sizzling. The intensity is incomprehensible.

I cannot believe, after a whole night’s torture, I am compelled to peek into my enemy’s s*x life just like that. My first reaction was to gag, then scream, then choke myself, some more screams and then kick the laptop off.

I yearn to pluck out my eyeballs to bleach them for purification and put them back on.

‘I am—’ I squeak.

‘Jealous?’ Avika fills in for me humorously. I narrow my eyes at her, mentally choking her useless throat as I’d flap my tail on her face. Her duality is real. Just a minute back, she was lecturing me on focus, devotion, determination, and mission. The same female is making fun of my horrified state.

Disgusted, I stare down at six baby-wolf stickers from the Jargon on the laptop. Jargon is a popular nine-season series of a super wolf-type character striving to save the world from evils.

Apparently, Luna Aaradhya used to be a diehard of it as she was for her mate’s length of the course.

I contemplate for a moment over whether I’d like to open the device again or I’d rather jump off the balcony or drown in the sea.

My restlessness drags me away from the study table to the glass door that opens on the balcony. A whole day has passed in a blink without the prolonged drama. My reputation is tarnished throughout Cape Comorin. I am helplessly watching this soap opera unflinchingly unfold and Alpha did not take the pain to apologize.

This for an annoying reason is irritating me. I flop myself off the chair and glare at the head maid that annoyingly blinks at me.

‘Just get done with it, Sarva. Let it out already!’ Avika grunts from the bed where her nose is buried in the tabloid. She is lying flat on her stomach with her legs in the air. Her smooth skin glows under the glaring lights.

I enviously scowled at her perfect nails, dark hair, and big doe eyes. She is Avika from Sarp-Samrajya; beautiful in her original attire while I have to endure this clumsily stupid body, blonde hair, and ocean blue eyes.

‘You have made the headlines again.’ My subject jealously points at the paper with a hidden smile, smacking me out of the reverie. She plops another strawberry mochi and closes her eyes in pleasure.

My mouth waters. My hands yearn to feel the softness of the desert. My taste bud tingles, reminiscing the delicious goodies. I gulp loudly and avert my eyes.

Nope! Not till I sort myself out. I tell myself.

Besides, you are getting fat. Nagini pipes in harshly. She is serene as if I was the only one assaulted and insulted and widowed.

Which you were. He meant all of it for you. NOT ME. The wolf does not even know I exist. He knows Hailey, Luna’s wolf. Nagini isn’t even a thing for him. Why am I being punished for a crime your royal ass has committed? The evil serpent points as a matter of fact.

I roll my eyes at her. Bold of me to presume her cooperation for once! East and west, Nagini is the waste. This pathetically crawling insect may roast herself in a bonfire. Thank you very much.

Never mind again! I shake my head and pin my eyes on the tabloid. Oh, yeah! The cockfoam comedy on the paper.

This little s**t is the most excruciatingly obtuse thing I have ever seen in my whole life, after from my cakey-pakey ex-husband’s face, of course. The background picture has already mocked my face enough and, if it is not sufficient, the tabloid has Luna Aaradhya’s face wiggling like a pathetic earthworm. And I despise earthworms like anything.

They low-key resemble snakelets and are highly indignant from every angle. The comparison is enough to drive me nuts. Like, ewe!

‘Don’t you want me to read it aloud?’ Avika speculates in a sassy voice. I wouldn’t think twice before pouncing on her.

‘Go ahead.’ After gulping down the ruminants of my dignity, I choke out. Anything will do as long as it is keeping me away from the thoughts of one person whose name starts with R for Rat’s ass and ends with H for Holy s**t.

Avika ignores my withering looks and starts reading out loud with utter disdain from the copy.

‘FROM THE LUNA TO LUNATIC:

Luna Aaradhya and Vampire Thomas have a drunken face-off at the elite wedding. Sources inside the Hen report the Luna going for the vampire’s neck while Alpha Rudransh, Alpha Ronit, and Luna Scarlet watch its clamped mouth.

Not the Luna Scarlet makes a statement, but the silence of the Alphas running for the Alpha King raises eyebrows.

Allegedly, Luna Aaradhya has been heard slurring derogatory puns—Ol'bald parties or the Duperpire—’

A soft knock on the door interrupts the agonizing blankness. I jump out of my skin, knocking the magazines over. Avika straightens up at the bed and shares a worried glance.

I hurriedly pick up the covers and flipped them close before I straightened up in my seat, ignoring the fast thumping of my heartbeats.

It has to be him. Slower than the old nanny. He thinks he can come begging at my knees after taking his own sweet time. Bloody Punk!

‘Sarva?’ A hesitating voice travels on the wind and rings in my eardrum, making me squirm in disconcertment.

I flinch at the name and squirm at how unfamiliar my real name sounds after just a month. Three years, a bunch of identities and disguising personas have evaporated the sense of ‘Me’ in me. I don’t even remember who I am anymore: what my ideal thoughts should be? In my heart and head, I am a shape-shifting serpent.

I am elegant, proud, venomous and slightly spiky. However, my behavioural patterns have been significantly tamed into those of wolves.

Hell to that, I even eat octopus curry without puking, bro! Old Sarvayoni would have rebirthed in seven lives before she’d even brought the spoon up close.

I am Sarvayoni. Queen Sarvayoni. I chuckle in my head bitterly at the strange sound. Not Luna Aaradhya. Not an orphan Komal. I am Queen Sarvayoni. A king cobra on vengeance who does not know what to feel, think, or expect.

The door creaks open slightly and the omega steps in.