The Commoner Consort: The Country's Respected Empress

The Future.

Footsteps.

Emperor Kalki walks hurriedly towards his chamber. His grip over his sword tightens gradually as he gets nearer to the chamber.

He reaches the door and takes a deep breath. 

"Maya"

His voice remains calm but his heart trembles as he thinks of a possibility of Maya not being inside the chamber. He grits his teeth and calls again patiently.

"Maya, open the door".

Silence.

Bang!

Kalki kicks open the chamber door harshly in the next moment. He enters the chamber without further hesitation and looks around the chamber impatiently. 

Even though he wanted to be nonchalant at the start, he couldn't help getting anxious as he couldn't find Maya yet.

"Maya-"

He stopped calling her name as he caught sight of Maya standing near the window.

He purses his lips as he notices her standing ready with her Bow and an archive of arrows in her hands.

Maya asks calmly "You are here?"

Kalki asks her in disbelief and stares at her sadly "Do you have to do this?"

She looks away to avoid his pleading eyes. She states keeping the bow and arrows aside "I have to".

Kalki asks walking towards her "Can't you let it go? Why are you trying to change the inevitable?"

Maya smiles and asks looking outside the window "How can you say without even trying it?"

Kalki grabs Maya's wrist softly.

'Just let it happen' .

Maya smiles hearing his mind and denies it mentally.

'I can't'

Kalki pulls her gently in his embrace and sighs ċȧrėssing her head 'I know what you have gone through. I don't want you to do this'.

Maya speaks solemnly "I have to stop before something worse happens".

Kalki asks, tightening his hug "Can you just let all this go? Don't you think you will regret doing this to yourself? Should you be so heartless to yourself?"

She declares "Many lives are at stake".

She grabs his robe near his waist and sighs leaning her head over his ċhėst. She whispers burying her face in his embrace "Stay by my side, Xander. I don't want you to stand in my way. I don't want to fight you".

Kalki kisses on top of her head and whispers "You love him, Maya. I can't let you prevent that from happening".

Maya lifts her head and stares him in the eyes before saying  "I don't want to bring the same destruction again in the name of love".

He speaks gazing at her warmly "You didn't do anything wrong".

She smiles bitterly "I did. I did love him, didn't I? My love for him brought chaos in many lives".

Kalki purses his lips and gets silent. 

'Stop thinking about the past. I know you didn't want any of this to happen'.

Maya grips his robe in his palm hard and takes a deep breath. She says slowly again leaning her head over his ċhėst "I will be back very soon. You know I can't stay there for long".

"Have you decided what you want to do?"

Kalki asks "How will you stop her from loving my brother?"

Maya nestles in his embrace and says "I have a plan".

'I just have to stop her falling hard for him'

Kalki chuckles bitterly but didn't rebuke her thought.

Maya declares after a few moments of being in his embrace "Let go".

Kalki releases her from his embrace.

Maya grabs the bow and arrows carelessly while she walks away from him. She reaches a safe distance from him and notices Kalki's dejected face.

She chuckles "Don't put on that long face. I am not dying today".

He never gets his eyes away from her and mutters sadly "You better not".

In the next moment, she was engulfed by the flames of fire before disappearing completely.

Kalki lets out a shaky breath "You can't stop falling for him, Maya. You are just fooling yourself in your guilt".

He purses his lips hard as he looks at a ring in his palm and mutters desolately "You are going to destroy the reason that made me look at you in the first place. I would have never bothered to notice you if not for your love for Xavier. Don't do this, Maya. Don't do this to me. You aren't only destroying yours".

'Should I have gone with her? It's not like I have a choice… She won't let me'.

------

Present.

Maya's voice comes meekly after hearing him "W-What are you saying?"

Xavier speaks slowly "I love you, Maya. I just want you to know this".

"..."

She doesn't know why his sudden confession made her so happy and equally sad. She fears feeling both happiness and sadness for some reason.

She turns anxious and darts her eyes on his face in the alert. It's not a simple thing to confess to one's brother's wife. Even though this whole marriage thing is just for namesake, she couldn't think of loving Xavier yet.

She felt her heart constricting in ache at this thought and struggled to breathe for a second. She doesn't know why she is so scared. Was it because she thought this confession true? Or was she afraid to even acknowledge his feelings?

'He is not telling the truth, is he?'

She suddenly wanted him to laugh at her and tell her that this was just a joke. But he didn't. For some strange reason, this made her both happy and sad.

He releases her from his hold slowly and speaks earnestly "I understand what you think".

Maya simply stares at him still speechlessly.

He takes a couple of steps back and speaks before she could say something "I am not forcing you, Maya. This is solely my feelings. I am not burdening you with my love".

Maya shakes her head softly and whispers "Why?"

Xavier smiles warmly "This Realm needs a Queen badly and I don't want to urge you in this. All I want to do is confess my feelings today.. I couldn't keep it to myself anymore".