The room was dimly lit. She heard some voices. She was awake now but her eyes wouldn't open because of all the exhaustion she had endured in the past few weeks. Her fingers moved a little, as she wanted to know there were people around her, people she was safe with.

Ruqqayah and Jalal were not on talking terms after the scene as per Jalal, his wife just pulled in front of everyone. He was in no mood to talk to her or even look at her. Anger was boiling inside him but he didn't do or say anything. No one more than Jodha needed him right now and he wouldn't just waste his time on Ruqqayah.

As though Ruqqayah sensed his thoughts or something, she walked towards him. "Are you satisfied now, Jalal? Now that Jodha is on the verge of death....have you gained what you wanted? Are you happy now that the only woman who loved you is dying? And why.....because she couldn't bore you an heir."

"I don't owe you an explanation. Do yourself a favour and get away from my sight, or I don't know what I might do."

"You will kill me...or worse, humiliate me in the same way you did to her and to every other woman who lost your child?"

"ENOUGH RUQQAYAH. FOR ALL I KNOW, I HAVE ALWAYS TREATED YOU WITH RESPECT. SO, WHY DON'T YOU STOP BOTHERING AND INTERFERING IN MY LIFE FOR ONCE??!!"

"You have only treated me with respect? Yeah, you are right." she sobbed and gulped, biting her lip to control herself from breaking down. "You never humiliated me when I miscarried, right? But I heard Jalal...I saw you that day on the terrace while you were fencing and I heard everything you said that day and I have not forgotten one word that came out of your mouth, so don't you dare start with all your hypocrisy again. I am tired of it now."

Jalal was speechless. He had laid his heart out to Maham Anga regarding Ruqqayah's miscarriage about how careless she was to run on mud and that if Allah has taken away motherhood from her it is because she is cruel and doesn't deserve to be a mother. He looked at her and realised where all this anger was directed to. It was years of her pent up feelings and emotions that finally exploded. He neared her, as his hand touched her face but she withdrew quickly. Shooting daggers at him, she continued, "Don't touch me. You are the worst human being I have come across. You treat me like shit and then talk nicely and expect me to forget it all? Leave me, why do you think Sabrina killed herself?"

Jalal wasn't paying attention to her cursing him. He was used to it by now, but when she mentioned Sabrina, something in him changed. He looked away and his face became hard as his body stiffened.

"That's the best way to end a conversation. Coward!" she said and turned around to leave but he grabbed her arm turning her around, face-to-face with him. She winced as his grip was tight. "Let go of me, Jalal."

Anger was blazing in his eyes. And when he spoke, it shuddered her. "Don't speak of matters you have little knowledge of." And by the look on his face, she knew she did something wrong. Sabrina was one topic he would always avoid and she had sources so she knew why, but she never brought her topic. She knew how much it pained Jalal when he was made aware of the fact that Sabrina was not pregnant with his child. She had known that Jalal asked her to keep the baby and also prepared means for her to leave the palace, but one fine morning she was found dead and although rumours had it that she killed herself, Ruqqayah knew who was behind the murder. How could she forget it all then?

He let go of her as she stood frozen in her place. She shouldn't have brought up Sabrina. Anyone but her. What now? He was extremely angry right now. She was about to say something when the hakim appeared informing them about Jodha's condition.

"Malika has woken up, Badshah." Not caring anymore about Jalal she ran towards the tent.

~

"Where am I? What is this place?" Madho could not speak properly as the sun blinded him, and he had lost all energy not being fed for so many days. He was kept in the horses' stable for a few days before his punishment would be decided. "WHERE THE HELL AM I?" He shouted and one of the attendees spit on him. "Don't you dare raise your voice! These are your last days on earth, so enjoy while it lasts."

What? Last days? But why....? And then he recalled what he did and what was now bound to happen to him sooner or later which no force could ever stop.

"I will kill her!" he shouted at the top of his voice with the little strength left in him. Ruqqayah and Jalal snapped their heads at once in his direction. There was fear in the eyes of one while pure fury in the eyes of the other. Jalal grabbed Ruqqayah's arm as she proceeded but she took it out of his grip and moved forward, her gaze fixed at the man.

"Let go of her." She stated calmly. "I will kill.... her," he said somehow.

"Oh, you will, won't you?" she smiled sarcastically. That smile and those eyes could make anyone pee right at that moment and that is what happened with Madho too. As he realised what he did, he let go of Jodha in an instant looking over at himself in astonishment and surprise at what just happened. Clearly, he was embarrassed. Jodha would have fallen on the ground had it not been for Ruqqayah's quick reflexes. She handed over Jodha to Jalal instantly, as she spoke slowly so that only he could hear, "Take care of her for now." He looked at her with disgust, at outsmarting herself when clearly, she stood in the wrong according to him.

And the next moment she eyed the guards to catch the man and imprison him.

"Now you will only see my face on your last day." She said and turned around.

~

Blinking her eyes continuously for a long time, she struggled to open them. When Ruqqayah and Jalal had visited her earlier, she was conscious but her body wasn't responding. The hakim feared she might have gone into a coma with a lack of energy and constant exhaustion. Ruqqayah looked at Jalal with angry eyes while he had his gaze down, not daring to meet hers, for guilt was constant in those orbs.

"Is there no way she may get better?" he had asked and the hakim had replied saying it could only be possible if a miracle happened. The coma she most probably had gone into could last for a day or even a year, and nothing could be said or done about it. Jalal had broken down at that moment and Ruqqayah had stopped responding as she walked out of the tent. He wasn't the one who would cry, but his eyes were moist today. He could very well lose his begum in his want for an heir.

It was true, his want and lust for an heir and deep down all the allegations put on him by Ruqqayah, he knew were true, for she knew him better than anyone. He stood there gazing at the only woman he loved and how he was now losing her because of his own mistakes.

As Jodha's eyes opened slowly, she felt someone holding her hand. She was too weak however to take it all in, and since it was early morning so the tent was dimly lit which made her see only the entrance. She breathed heavily as she tried to turn her head but failed. Then she ran her own fingers on the hand holding hers, and as she felt his hand wrapped around hers providing her with his warmth, and hot tears flooded her vision. She could no longer see anything and she closed her eyes, recalling the pain he made her go through. She had loved him so much and still loved him a lot but nothing could ever change the pain he made her feel and the humiliation he caused her.

She grazed her fingers slowly over his and recalled the times this hand was intertwined with hers as they made love, but the reality hit her soon after as she realised that he never loved her. And even though she had known it all this while, it pained more when she came face-to-face with the reality.

And as if to make her pain worse, his words came hauntingly back to her reminding her that he never loved her and that their marriage was merely a political alliance.

"JUST SHUT UP WOMAN! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? HAD I NOT MARRIED YOU, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN? A MERE PRINCESS FROM A STATE NO ONE KNOWS OF. YOU ARE MALIKA E HINDUSTAN TODAY AND YOU DARE TALK BACK TO ME? I HAVE GIVEN YOU SO MUCH LIBERTY, YOU HAVE BEEN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF IT."

She started crying now. Her lower abdomen started paining immensely. There was no one....not anyone else who could free her from this pain. Now, she had only one way to escape all this for she could not survive like this any longer.

Getting up with all the energy left in her, she moved his hand from hers as she stood up. Holding onto a vase for support and then the tent she slowly made her way out. There was still a little time left before sunrise. She took slow steps towards the hakim's tent and stopped at its entrance.

"You can do this. This is the only chance you have. No one loves you here, so just do it."

She walked inside and slowly took the poison bottle from there and ran outside almost falling because of lack of energy. Getting up she hesitated for a second before his words came crashing down to her.

"I never asked you to love me either."

And that was it. Slowly opening the lid of the bottle, she gulped its contents in.