Chapter Thirty Eight
AANSH'S POV
I should have slept.
My body demanded it with the desperation of someone who had been pushed past his limits. Every muscle throbbed. My wound pulled with every breath. My eyelids felt heavy enough to collapse.
But my mind refused to shut down.
It wasn't the pain. Or the exhaustion. Or even the chaos of the last few days.
It was her.
Ria.
Her eyes-shining with tears she tried so hard to hide-kept replaying in my head like a broken reel. The way she ran out, shoulders trembling, trying to hide her face.
It shouldn't have mattered.
Nothing like that ever mattered.
I've seen worse.
I've done worse.
I took countless souls. Men have cried, begged, screamed my name like a prayer and a curse. Their tears never touched me. They were noise. Nothing.
Yet her tears?
They hit me like a punch to the chest.
"Fuck," I growled, pushing myself off the bed.
Pain flared through my side, but it wasn't enough to distract me. The ache inside my ribs-that was the problem. The anger. The guilt. The confusion wrapped around my lungs like barbed wire.
I walked out into the corridor, every step filled with irritation I couldn't explain. The silence of the villa pressed against my ears. I needed space. Air. Something to make sense of this storm in my head.
Then I saw it.
The lights of one of the rooms were on and I was sure ria was in there.
I stopped.
My jaw tightened. I should walk away. Leave her. Let her deal with her misery alone. I didn't save people. I didn't comfort them. Heck, i didn't know how to comfort someone. I was created to destroy and not to care.
But my feet moved before my brain did.
One step.
Then another.
Until my hand was on the doorknob.
The door opened with a soft creak-
and whatever was left of my self-control snapped.
She was on the floor.
Crawled up against the floor. Sleeping like she had collapsed there from exhaustion. Shivering so hard her breath hitched in her sleep.
A sharp, violent anger tore through me.
Why the hell was she on the floor?and fuck, she looked so fucking breakable?
I hated the sight so much that my fingers curled into fists.
I hated the feeling even more.
I knelt beside her slowly, as if getting too close might make the entire world tilt. My hands hovered uncertainly. I shouldn't touch her. I shouldn't even be here. Caring was not something I did.
But my body acted without permission.
I lifted her into my arms.
She reacted instantly, instinctively-her hands clutching the front of my shirt, her face burying into my chest as if she had been searching for warmth all night.
My entire body went rigid. My muscles tensed and heat consume me.
Her touch wasn't sinful.
It wasn't seductive.
It was trusting.
And that alone ruined me a little.
"Fuck..." I breathed, my throat tight.
Her lavender scent floated up-soft, warm, everything that didn't belong near me. It wrapped around my senses in a way that made my heartbeat pound too loudly.
I carried her back to my room.
Every step felt like a betrayal of my principles.
She belonged nowhere near my bed.
Nowhere near me.
And yet... her small shivers made my chest ache.
I placed her gently on the mattress, adjusting her head on the pillow. For a minute, I just stared.
Her tears had dried on her cheeks-thin, broken lines that spoke more truth than any words she'd ever said to me.
Strands of hair covered her face, hiding her from me.
My hand lifted-slow, unbearably slow-wanting to push the strands aside.
Wanting to see her clearly.
Wanting to... I don't even know.
I stopped myself just inches away.
My hand trembled with restraint.
What the hell was I doing?
"What are you doing to me..." I whispered, barely audible.
Then she whispered, so faintly I almost thought I imagined it:
"Mom..."
The voice seemed broken and it hit me harder than any bullet ever had.
Her innocence.
Her pain.
Her fragility.
She didn't belong in this darkness.
And I-
I was the thing that destroyed goodness. It shouldn't exist in my world.
"I will destroy you, Ria..." I whispered.
Not as a threat.
But as a warning.
As a truth I knew.
I forced myself to turn away and leave the room-because staying felt dangerous. Staying meant I was losing control.
And control was the only thing that kept me alive.
---
RIA'S POV
Warmth.
That's the first thing I felt-soft, comforting warmth that wrapped around me like a blanket I didn't remember pulling over myself.
For a few seconds, I let myself sink into it. My eyes stayed closed. My breathing stayed slow. It felt safe, familiar, almost peaceful.
But peace never lasted for me.
I opened my eyes-
And froze.
I wasn't on the guestroom floor.
I wasn't leaning against the cold wall where I cried myself to sleep.
I was on the bed.
His bed.
My heart lurched painfully. I sat up so quickly I almost fell off. My hands shook as they clutched the sheets, trying to understand.
"What... what is this... how-" I whispered to myself.
Did I walk here?
No.
I couldn't have.
Did he...?
I let out a small, disbelieving laugh.
"No way," I muttered. "That man is heartless. He'd never..."
But the more I denied it, the harder it became to ignore the truth pressing against the back of my mind.
I threw the thought away. I didn't want answers. Not right now.
I scrambled to the bathroom, nearly tripping in my panic. The cold shower helped-not enough to erase the confusion, but enough to steady my breathing.
Then I realized I had forgotten my clothes.
"Stupid girl," I whispered, pressing a hand to my face. "Now what?"
I adjusted the towel around me, took a deep breath, and stepped back into the room.
And then-
The closet door swung open.
And he walked out.
Aansh.
Fully dressed. Perfectly composed. His grey suit framing his shoulders, his jaw set in that hard, unreadable line he always wore.
But his eyes-
His eyes froze the moment they landed on me.
Time stopped.
My breath caught.
My fingers clutched the towel harder.
Heat exploded across my cheeks.
He didn't say a word.
Didn't move an inch.
He just stared, like his entire body was locking itself down to stop something from breaking loose.
His gaze flicked over me once - fast, sharp, involuntary - and his jaw clenched so hard I could see the muscle ticking.
His eyes weren't cold.
They weren't hungry either.
They were conflicted.
Battling.
Fighting something I couldn't understand.
It made my stomach twist.
He snapped out of it first-clearing his throat in a rough, strained sound-and turned away so abruptly it felt like he was running from the room instead of walking.
I stood still for several seconds, my pulse thundering.
Then I darted into the closet.
I dressed quickly, choosing a beautiful sage green shalwar kameez-soft, calm, gentle, a color that made me feel like I hadn't lost myself completely. The embroidery near the neckline shimmered in the light, delicate and elegant.
I needed something that felt like me.
Not his wife.
Not his prisoner.
Just... Ria.
I braided the front of my hair loosely, leaving the rest to fall over my back. Eyeliner. Moisturizer. A tinted gloss. Small things that reminded me I was still human.
Then I looked at the sindoor.
My breath hitched.
The red powder stared back like a chain.
Like a brand.
Like something that tied me to him in ways I didn't want.
"No, i dont want anything to remind me of you." I whispered, pushing it away.
My fingers touched the nuptial chain next.
Fragile. Cold. Binding.
I removed it slowly, feeling a strange shiver run down my spine-half relief, half guilt.
I tucked it into the drawer gently, as if hiding it could hide everything I felt.
Today, the head maid, parvati was taking me out. She had been kind to me since day one-kindness I needed more than I wanted to admit.
I glanced at my reflection one last time.
For the first time in a long time...
I looked human.
I stepped out of the room with a small, stubborn smile.
Whatever happened yesterday... whatever Aansh Rathore thought he was...
He wasn't ruining my day.
Not today.
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