Chapter 43
My eyes widened in surprise.
“Why? I already took a bath, see?” I said, pointing at myself. “I’m ready.”
He pecked my nose. “Who told you to get ready?” he murmured. “You’ll be ready when I allow you to be.”
My smile faltered just a little as he stepped into the bathing chamber. The air still carried the fragrance of oils and herbs from my earlier bath. I giggled as he walked straight into the pool, and I felt the cool water splashing against my skin.
But my laughter softened when he loosened his hold and stepped back. As his green, predatory eyes darkened, I lowered my gaze shyly and splashed water at his face. But he didn’t laugh.
When I was about to go for it again, he caught my wrist and pulled me into him. Our chests collided, and in one fluid motion, he turned me, wrapped an arm around my waist, and tugged my dupatta free from my shoulders.
My breath hitched as memories of the night before rushed through me. The way he felt inside me, the way he had claimed me.
His fingers found the strings of my blouse, and I lowered my eyes, feeling my heart pound, as he eased the fabric down my shoulders.
A soft gasp escaped me when his hand curved around my waist and slid upward, cupping my breast.
His lips pressed into the hollow of my neck. He sucked my neck, once, twice, then lingered, firm enough to make my skin sting and my stomach flutter.
“Kunwarsa,” I breathed.
His hand tightened on my breast possessively. Heat pooled between my legs as his fingers traced lower to the waistband.
“It’s morning,” I whispered weakly. “Someone might come…” but he didn’t stop.
He pulled the strings open, and my skirt slipped away.
As his palm cupped my crown, I pressed my thighs together, anticipatively. A low, helpless moan spilt past my mouth. My knees wobbled under his touch as the soft tinkles of my jewellery and water-wavering echoed through the chamber.
Every part of me surrendered to love. Every doubt, every hesitation melted into the carriage of his caring arms. I heaved, drowned in desire as I stood bare before him once more, naked yet wrapped in comfort and pleasure.
A sharp cry slipped from my lips as he pushed his finger inside me. I leaned forward, but his hand came to my neck, holding me steady.
I was adorned from head to toe with heavy gold ornaments, yet he didn’t seem to care.
Suddenly, he turned me toward him, and it took everything in me just to breathe. He guided my hands over his chest, and with that touch, the last trace of my shyness seemed to melt away. The reality settled over me that he was my husband, and that I had every right to him, just as he did to me.
My palm slid slowly down his chest, and my fingers reached for the strings of his lower. I breathed in broken breaths as I loosened it.
He crept closer, making me step back instinctively until my spine met the cool stone pillar. I gently stroked his arousal, gazing into his unflinching eyes.
Swallowing, he brushed my hand aside and wrapped his arms around me. He lowered himself, grabbing my thigh, and looped it around his waist. Slowly, he directed his length and pushed it inside me.
I gasped; my brows knit together at the sharp invasion. I clutched his arm, swallowing my cry until it broke free. Tears blurred my vision.
He lifted me and pinned my wrists above my head, pressing me against the pillar. As his lips claimed mine, the cold stone, the heat of him, the sound of water and bells, overwhelmed me.
He pressed his lips over mine and thrust in more. My body shuddered terribly, and I shattered with a trembling cry.
But he didn’t stop. He went on, moving faster.
The gentleness slipped away, replaced by something raw and animalistic. We clung to each other as pleasure and ache tangled together until nothing existed beyond our breaths and the walls echoing our moans.
I coiled my arms around his shoulders as pain coursed through me.
“On the… the bed pl… please,” pleas escaped me in pieces.
“Bed, huh?” he retorted against my mouth, and I bit his lower lip.
He grunted and jerked me harder against the pillar. I tightened my hold on him, elevating myself slightly to slip through the pain.
We held onto each other, lost in the shared rhythm of our lovemaking, until he released his seeds within me once more.
When it was over, my strength deserted me. I rested my head against his shoulder as he gathered me into his arms and sank into the pool with me.
We stayed there, laughing, kissing, talking, until the day called us back for lunch.
Nandani had our lunch arranged in the chamber, and I was asked to step out only if someone came to meet me.
At lunch, he kept watching me as though I might disappear.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.
He smiled softly. “It feels unreal. Like a dream I might wake from.”
I laughed. “You’ve exhausted me twice already, and you still think it’s a dream?”
“No,” he said gently. “I mean, you are like a dream. I searched for love my whole life. I never realised you were always around me, and yet I searched for you all my life. You stood so close, while I ran elsewhere, looking for you. It feels surreal now,” he paused briefly with a smile.
“Sometimes, what we need is right before us,” he added, staring at me.
“But darkness, desire, restlessness, the craving for something more, clouds our sight. It confuses us, leads us astray, and leaves us crying and uneasy. I never imagined that a single incident could alter the course of my entire life. I never thought I would find my wife, my love, in the person who had always quietly helped me, comforted me, asked about my meals, and delivered messages meant for me. I never thought love could exist in such familiarity.”
He sighed deeply, then continued, “You were always my comfort. I just never realised that comfort itself could become love. People wait for extraordinary moments to recognise love, foolishly believing it must arrive with a rush that unsettles the heart. They forget that love is meant to bring ease, not restlessness. Love is comfort, and you are my comfort. And therefore, you are my love. I realised it only when the forces of the universe intervened and bound us together in an unconventional union. I wish I had understood it sooner. It would have spared us both so much pain.”
He looked down, dejectedly, clenching his fists over his knees.
I swallowed as emotions tightened my throat.
“Things happen when they’re meant to,” I said quietly.
“Maybe you would’ve realised your love for me sooner, but I wasn’t ready back then.
I wouldn’t have had the courage to accept my attraction toward you, to look you in the eyes filled with love and desire,”
I smiled, adding, “But I’m grateful to see the light finally; the darkness once caged me and showed me the value of grey. You are neither light nor darkness. You are my grey. Perfect for all that I am.”
He pulled me into his arms. “You are my everything,” he whispered, kissing my cheek warmly.
“I don’t know what these words mean to you, but I look at you, the way you look at me—only with love, love, and love.
You’re much more to me than you know. You’re the light in the darkness, you’re the comfort amid the pain, you’re a tree trunk in the middle of the flood. ”
I laughed through a tear. “A tree trunk in a flood?”
He kissed my nose. “Exactly that,” he murmured, “I love you,” caressing my chin.
“I love you too,” I whispered, pressing my forehead against his.
“Promise me you’ll never leave me,” he muttered, intertwining his fingers with mine. I inhaled deeply, feeling the weight of his words.
“I promise I’ll never leave you,” I said softly.
“And promise me this, too, that you won’t change.
Not for me, not for your brothers, not for your sisters-in-law, not for Princess Rudraja, or the baby growing in Princess Aishwarya’s womb.
I don’t know what destiny holds for us, or for all of us, but promise me your love will never change because of me. ”
He drew a deep breath and nodded solemnly. “I promise,” he said, brushing his lips against mine. “After sunset, my time is yours until the first light of morning. During the day, you won’t disturb me much.”
I nodded, matching his seriousness. “And you won’t interrupt my work or my management, or disturb me while I am working for my kingdom.”
He smiled, a soft, slow smile. “Your kingdom?” he asked, arching a brow.
I nodded. “Yes. My kingdom and my family.”
His smile widened. “By the way,” he said, “I have two things for you.”
My brows furrowed in curiosity as he moved away and pulled two scrolls from behind him. The first seemed official, sealed in red.
I opened it with hesitation, and the first thing that caught my eye was the royal stamp: Rana Rudra Dev Singh, Suryagarh. My stomach tightened as I read the formal words:
“This is to bring into power the amendments of the rituals regarding the widowed wife of any deceased husband. Under no circumstances shall a widow be forced to end her life against her will. Anyone found practising such a ritual will be punished by the officials of the kingdom, with punishment no less than death by fire. The kingdoms listed below agree to this treaty for the betterment of society.”
A list of kingdoms and small royal states followed.
Tears welled in my eyes as memories I thought were buried rose to the surface. He wrapped his arms around me, and I clung to him tightly.
“Thank you… so much,” I whispered shakily. “Thank you for coming into my life, Kunwar-sa.”
He held me close, calming me with gentle breaths. “Don’t you want to see the other one?” he asked.
I pulled back slightly and nodded. “I do,”
He ran his fingers through his hair, and a faint smile played on his lips.
“Well… this wasn’t exactly what I had planned to give you first, but it was your original gift instead of anklets,” he said, handing me a letter.