Free The Aryavarta Chronicles Kurukshetra: Book 3 by Krishna Udayasankar Page B

times his family had faced, Abhimanyu had been relentlessly trained by Govinda and his son Pradymna, and had a strong body to show for it.
    It was not, Uttara reasoned with herself, that she had not encountered handsome men before, nor had they failed to tell her what she already knew – that she was not lacking in beauty. But there was an allure about Abhimanyu that stirred her attention, and she knew that he felt the same way about her. She had seen him struggle with himself, caught between discretion and brazenness when he looked at her. A part of him also struggled with the seeming redundancy of finding her attractive, given their animosity towards each other. Yet, when she and Abhimanyu were together in public, it was not too difficult to regard each other with what onlookers would interpret as affection and desire.
    To all impressions, the two of them made the perfect pair. If it were not for the circumstances of their wedding, Uttara suspected, she and Abhimanyu could have been friends. In fact, she noted, they were friends enough to have decided to eavesdrop on Dharma and Govinda’s conversation by means of the secret passages in Chief Virat’s palace, all of which she knew like the back of her hand.
    ‘What’s the matter? Can’t find another excuse to get your hands on me?’ Abhimanyu said.
    Immediately, Uttara regretted the instant of goodwill she had felt. Glaring at him, though the action was wasted in the dark, she said, ‘This way.’ She began walking towards the doorway to the tunnel, hands on the walls on either side for a sense of direction. She did not stop to check, but knew Abhimanyu was behind her.
    ‘We’re going in the wrong direction,’ he said after some time. ‘We didn’t walk for so long when we came in…Oh!’ The exclamation came as he walked right into a stationary Uttara. The force propelled them both into the wall ahead, Uttara having the presence of mind to brace herself with her hands instead of being driven into the wall. Breathing hard, for more reasons than the close call, the two stood in the darkness.
    And then, Abhimanyu whispered, ‘Uttara…’
    His throaty voice sent a shiver through her. Afraid that she might just give in to the sensations she felt at that moment, Uttara began to frantically run her hands over the stone that blocked their way, searching for the small catch that would release the door set into it.
    ‘Uttara, I…’ Abhimanyu bent down to take in the smell of her hair, grazing her neck with his chin. Closing her eyes, Uttara began to lean back into his chest. She tried hard to think of the numerous matters of importance in the world outside, the impending war – or not – among them, but right then politics seemed a distraction. Everything seemed a distraction except Abhimanyu, except the feeling of being held by him, against him. Her hands retreated from the stone; she meant to sink them into Abhimanyu’s thick hair, but at the last instant her right hand grazed against the door catch and her finger hooked around the small mechanism. Abhimanyu pulled her gently to him. Before she could let go of the catch, it gave with a click and the stone door slid open.

9
    UTTARA DID NOT KNOW WHAT EMBARRASSED HER MORE – THE fact that she had nearly given in to her attraction for Abhimanyu, or that she had done so in front of a familiar but nonetheless amused audience. Panchali and all four of Dharma’s brothers – Bhim, Partha, Nakul and Sadev – were looking at her and Abhimanyu in gleeful surprise. In Uttara’s typical fashion, though, what irked her the most was her fundamental error in thinking that the room they had used to enter the secret passage would remain unoccupied till they came out. She did the only thing she could think of to deflect their attention or any comments they might be inclined to make. Springing out from the corridor as though it was the most natural way of entering a room, she said, ‘He’s back. Commander Govinda is back. He