Chapter 24
Shaurya
I walk towards Reeva’s room. Since the night she suffered those cramps, I have slept beside her with her body curled trustingly against mine.
Nothing more, though God knows I ache for it.
I crave the chance to make love to my wife again, to worship every changing inch of her and show her the depth of everything I feel.
But no matter how desperately I want her, or how many nights that desire keeps me awake long after she falls asleep, I want her trust even more.
Drawing in a deep breath, I glance down at the documents in my hand. The last time these property papers came between us, they nearly destroyed our marriage. I can only hope that this time, they might help me begin to mend what I broke.
I knock and wait until her soft “Come in” reaches me before opening the door.
Reeva is sitting against the headboard with a book open in her lap, the warm glow of the bedside lamp spilling across her face. Her hair is gathered into a loose braid that rests over one shoulder.
She looks up as I enter, and a faint smile touches her lips. “How was your day?”
“Good.” I close the door behind me and walk farther into the room.
She marks her place in the book before setting it aside. “You look serious.”
“I have something for you.”
Her gaze drops to the documents in my hand. Her smile disappears, replaced immediately by wariness. She swings her legs over the edge of the bed and sits upright, her bare feet settling against the floor.
“What is that?”
I hold the papers out to her. “Read them.”
She hesitates before accepting them. Her eyes move cautiously across the first page, then sharpen as she reaches the heading. I watch disbelief spread across her face as she continues reading, turning each page with increasingly unsteady fingers.
When she finally looks up, her eyes are wide. “Shaurya…”
I lower myself to my knees in front of her, bringing us eye to eye.
“Those documents transfer Rajmahal back into your name,” I explain quietly. “Completely and without conditions. You can have your lawyers examine every word before you sign them.”
She shakes her head immediately. “No. I can’t accept this.”
She tries to return the documents, but I place my hands over hers, preventing her from pushing them back at me.
“I’m not changing my mind.”
“You spent years fighting to reclaim Rajmahal,” she says, her expression crumpling.
“It was your father’s dying wish, Shaurya.
” Her glistening eyes search mine. “After everything my father did to yours, Rajmahal should remain with you. With the family it has always belonged to. You just cannot surrender it to me.”
“Rajmahal is just stone, land, and memories,” I say, tightening my fingers around hers.
“It mattered to my father, and it mattered to me. But for most of my life, I allowed the past to dictate every choice I made. I let a palace become more important than the people I love. I won’t do that anymore. ”
She looks down at the transfer deed before lifting her eyes to mine again. “Why now?”
“Because I finally understand that Rajmahal was never worth the price I paid for it.” The words scrape painfully from my throat. “I reclaimed a palace and lost my wife. I won everything I thought I wanted, only to discover that none of it meant anything without you.”
Tears gather in her eyes, but she remains silent.
“I’m not returning it to persuade you to stay,” I continue.
“This isn’t another transaction, Reeva. There are no conditions buried in those pages, and you owe me nothing in return.
Not forgiveness, not another chance.” I draw in an unsteady breath.
“I’m returning it because your freedom should never have been something you had to purchase from me.
Keeping it would mean accepting the cruel bargain I forced you to make, and I can’t do that any longer.
” My gaze falls briefly to the small curve of her stomach before returning to her face.
“I want to become the kind of father our child can be proud of, not a man who teaches them that revenge matters more than love. And that begins with ending this hatred before they can inherit it.”
Her lower lip trembles. “You’re surrendering your father’s dying wish.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I honoured his wish when I reclaimed Rajmahal. But fulfilling his final wish does not mean allowing it to control every choice I make for the rest of my life.” My fingers tighten gently around hers.
“My father wanted me to bring a palace back to our family, Reeva. He never asked me to destroy my own family to do it. I understand that now.” I hold her glistening gaze.
“This is my choice. For my wife, our child, and the family I still hope to save.”
A tear slips down her cheek.
I release one of her hands and catch the tear with my thumb before it can reach her cheek.
“God, I love you. I love you more deeply than I could ever put into words. I loved you every time you waited for me to come home, every time you challenged me, and every time your kindness melted another piece of the ice around my heart.” My voice grows rough as the emotions I have fought to contain finally break free.
“I was simply too blinded by hatred to recognise how completely you had become a part of me until I had already destroyed your faith in my love.”
I swallow against the pressure closing around my throat.
“I don’t expect those words to repair what I broke.
They are simply the truth, and they will remain true even if you never choose me again.
” My thumb trembles against her damp cheek.
“I know I haven’t earned your forgiveness, Reeva.
But whatever happens between us from this moment forward will be your choice.
I will never manipulate you, force you, or use our child to keep you beside me again. ”
I cup her tear-streaked face gently. “But if one day you look at me and find even the smallest part of your heart still wants us, if you choose me and give me one final chance… I will spend the rest of my life loving you the way I should have from the beginning.”
She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head as fresh tears spill down her cheeks.
A muscle jerks in my jaw. Perhaps nothing I do will ever be enough to bring her back.
Perhaps she will allow me to be a father to our child while keeping me outside her heart forever.
The thought that I may never again be her husband in any way that truly matters leaves an emptiness inside me so vast I can barely breathe.
“I understand, sweetheart,” I say, forcing the words past the agony closing around my throat.
“I love you enough to let you choose a life without me, even if it is the one choice I don’t know how to survive.
” My voice fractures despite my effort to control it.
“You’re free to leave me. If divorce is still what you want, I won’t stand in your way again. ”
A faint, trembling smile touches her lips. “And what if that isn’t what I want anymore?”
I stare at her, unable to comprehend the words, or perhaps too terrified to believe them. “What are you saying?”
She cups my cheek, her palm warm against my skin.
“I wish everything between us had been different. I wish there had been no family feud standing between us.” She catches her lower lip between her teeth before continuing, “But even through all the anger and pain, I never stopped loving you, Shaurya.”
My heart slams violently against my ribs. “Because you are everything kind and good. Only you could love a man like me—”
She presses one fingertip against my lips, silencing me.
“Don’t reduce yourself to the worst thing you’ve ever done.
I married you because I loved you, and I’m choosing you again because you’re finally choosing me over the revenge that nearly destroyed us.
” Tears shimmer in her eyes. “You’ve spent every day showing me that the man I fell in love with was real. ”
Her fingertip slips from my lips, and her hand returns to my cheek.
“I don’t want us to spend the rest of our lives suffering for something you finally understand and are trying to repair.” Her voice trembles as her gaze holds mine. “I don’t want the divorce, Shaurya. I want us to heal, together.”
She leans closer until barely an inch separates our mouths.
“I love you, Shaurya,” she breathes. “As much as I loved you on the day we married.” Her eyes shine as her smile deepens. “No… even more than I loved you then.”
I squeeze my eyes shut as the force of her confession crashes through me. A shuddering breath leaves my lungs, and I allow myself to feel everything—the relief, the love, and the overwhelming gratitude of being given something I was certain I had lost forever.
When I open my eyes again, Reeva is still watching me, a radiant smile curving her trembling lips.
I lean forward until my forehead rests against hers. “There is one more thing I need to ask you, sweetheart.”
She draws back slightly, her brows knitting together. “What is it?”
I slip a hand into my trouser pocket and withdraw the mangalsutra I have carried with me every day since she refused it in the park. My fingers tremble as I hold it between us.
“The last time I asked you to wear this, you said it felt like a prison sentence.” My voice catches around the painful memory.
“I never want it to feel that way again. I don’t want you to wear it because I demand it or because the law still calls you my wife.
I want you to wear it only if it feels like a promise again, one you are choosing freely. ”
Her fingertips trace the pendant I had designed for her… our initials, S and R, intertwined in gold and surrounded by the traditional black beads.
Fresh tears fill her eyes.
“May I?” I ask softly.
She meets my gaze and nods before sweeping her loose braid away from her neck.
I lift the mangalsutra with unsteady hands and gently place it around her neck before reaching behind her to fasten the clasp at her nape. Once it is secure, I settle back on my haunches. She lowers her gaze to the pendant and brushes her fingertips reverently over the intertwined initials.
The sight of it resting against her skin fills me with a fierce, possessive joy I make no effort to conceal.
Her fingers remain curled around the pendant as she lifts her gaze to mine. The love in her eyes is so open and complete that my heart strains painfully against my ribs.
“Shaurya,” she whispers.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
A faint blush spreads across her cheeks, but she doesn’t look away. Instead, she leans forward and wraps her arms around my neck, bringing her face within inches of mine.
“Will you make love to me?”
For one breathless moment, I cannot move. The words I have ached to hear hang between us, so precious and unexpected that I am almost afraid to believe them.
Swallowing hard, I cup her face gently between my palms. “You want me to make love to you, sweetheart?”
“Yes.”
“Reeva, forgiving me doesn’t mean you owe me this.” I search her eyes for the slightest trace of hesitation. “We can take this as slowly as you need. I can wait.”
“I know.” Her fingers tighten against my shoulders.
“I know I don’t owe you this.” Her voice trembles with emotion.
“I’m asking because I love you. Because for weeks, I’ve fallen asleep in your arms and awakened wishing I never had to leave them.
I miss being close to you. I miss being your wife in every way that once made me happy. ”
A tear slips down her cheek, but she doesn’t look away.
“I want to be with you. I want your touch. I want your kisses. I want this moment.” Her breath trembles between us. “I want you, Shaurya.”
Emotion closes around my throat.
I slide one hand around the back of her neck and press my forehead against hers.
“I love you,” I whisper. “And I promise I will spend the rest of my life making certain you never regret choosing me again.”
She smiles through her tears. “I know. Now stop talking and kiss me.”
A broken laugh escapes me before I draw her closer and lower my mouth to hers. I kiss her slowly and reverently, not as a man reclaiming something that belongs to him, but as a husband cherishing the woman who has freely chosen to trust him with her heart once more.