Kajal's golden eyes flashed, and with a swift motion, she shoved Kiara, Vikram, and Varun aside. The serpents she commanded slithered out of the floor like living shadows, wrapping around their limbs and pulling them down into binding coils. Kiara struggled, her voice breaking through the tense air.
"Mom… please… don't do this," she pleaded, tears streaming down her face. Bhoomi's hands clasped together, quivering, her voice trembling in desperate prayer.
Kajal's gaze shifted slowly to Yuvaan, her lips curling in a mixture of disdain and curiosity. "And you… won't defend yourself?" she asked, her voice sharp, almost teasing, yet laced with menace. "Won't you call upon your dark powers?"
Yuvaan's dark eyes met hers, calm, unflinching. "Umm…" he said, a faint, almost self-deprecating smile touching his lips. "I'm not a fan of getting beaten up, but… I still won't fight back. You are my mother-in-law."
Kajal's laugh was low, venomous, and it rolled through the hall like an echo of centuries. "Fine," she hissed. In an instant, her tail lashed out like a living whip, striking Yuvaan across the chest. The force sent him collapsing to his knees, dust and marble fragments scattering beneath him.
"Yuvaan!" Kiara screamed, her hands straining against the serpents that bound her. Her voice cracked with fear and disbelief.
Kajal moved with lethal precision. She flung Yuvaan against the mandap. The impact echoed through the hall, the wooden pillars shuddering under the force. Blood seeped from a wound across his side, the sharp scent of iron mixing with the tension in the air.
Yet even as he staggered, even as pain shot through his body, Yuvaan slowly rose to his feet. His breathing was measured, controlled, and he did not call upon his healing powers. His eyes, dark and steady, locked onto Kajal, unbowed, unbroken.
The room held its breath. Kiara's sobs filled the silence, Bhoomi's tears fell like rain, and the Pratap Singh family stared, frozen between fear and disbelief. Yuvaan remained standing, resolute, defiant even in his bloodied state.
And Kajal's serpentine gaze lingered on him, a mix of shock, fury, and an unspoken challenge passing between them.
The battle of wills had begun.
Kajal's fury surged like a storm. With a swift motion of her hand, a glass vase lifted into the air, spinning violently. Silver and gold decorations rattled, swirling around her like shards of a tempest, aiming straight for Yuvaan.
Kiara's chest heaved, her tears streaming freely as her voice shattered through the chaos. "Please… stop it! Mom… please!" she cried, her words raw and desperate.
Rocks from the floor lifted, suspended midair, trembling as if caught in the invisible fingers of Kajal's wrath. Kiara's struggles against the serpents binding her grew frantic. She ripped the coils apart, breaking free, her limbs trembling but her resolve unbroken.
She dashed forward, throwing herself around Yuvaan, holding him close as if shielding him with every fiber of her being. Her voice was trembling, but firm. "Please… stop, Mom. I beg you. Don't do this."
Kajal's eyes, glowing like molten gold, narrowed at her daughter. "So now… you would fight your own mother for your lover?" she hissed, venom and disbelief lacing her words.
Kiara took a slow, steadying step forward, still pressed against Yuvaan. Her eyes locked on Kajal, shimmering with both love and sorrow. "How can I fight the one who gave me life?" she whispered, her voice breaking yet resolute. "How can I fight the one I love more than my own life?"
For a heartbeat, even Kajal faltered, the fire in her eyes flickering as the weight of Kiara's words cut through her rage.
The air between them seemed to thrum, alive with emotion, with power, with a dangerous, fragile pause that held the fate of their family suspended as much as the floating debris around them.
The storm waited. The mother and daughter, face to face, love and fury entwined, and Yuvaan standing silently at the heart of it all.
Kiara's hands shook as she pressed them together, the weight of years of fear, hope, and love pressing down on her chest. Tears ran freely, streaking her cheeks, glimmering in the harsh light of the levitating debris and serpents that hovered menacingly around them. Her voice, soft and trembling, carried across the tense air, barely audible above the chaos.
"Mom…" she whispered, her gaze locking onto Kajal's, searching, pleading. "Do… do you remember?"
Kajal's golden eyes, fierce and unyielding moments ago, flickered slightly.
"When I was six… you promised me…" Kiara's lips quivered. "You said that when I turned ten, you would give me anything I asked for. Anything I wanted… and you would never say no."
She drew a shaky breath, the memories crashing through her like waves — the warmth of Kajal's hands, the stories she told, the smiles that felt like magic. She stepped forward, careful not to lose the fragile connection between them, her other hand clutching Yuvaan's arm for strength and protection.
"I… I'm twenty-one now, Mom." Her voice broke, quivering like fragile glass. "And I've carried this wish in my heart all these years… every day, every night. You promised, and I… I've waited for you to keep that promise."
Her tears fell faster now, her words spilling over, raw, desperate, unwavering. "You are my fairy mom… you've always said you would grant my wishes. So now… now I'm asking you… please…" Her hands shook, lifting them slightly as if offering herself and her heart to her mother. "Please… grant this one wish of your daughter… please… Mom… spare Yuvaan's life."
The room seemed to hold its breath. The levitating glass, the stones suspended midair, the serpents frozen in deadly arcs — all seemed to pause, as if waiting for Kajal to respond.
Kajal's face, fierce and unyielding just moments ago, softened imperceptibly. The glowing gold of her lower serpent form pulsed, flickering with hesitation. Her eyes, fixed on Kiara, betrayed a storm of emotions — rage, grief, loss, and something deeper… something she had long tried to suppress.
The silence that followed was thick, almost unbearable. Every heartbeat in the room echoed, every chest rose and fell in a shared rhythm of fear and hope. Kiara's trembling gaze never wavered from her mother's. She had bared her soul, her love, her plea… and in that fragile, agonizing moment, even the fiercest heart might falter.
To be continued.