The sun had dipped just past the horizon when I stepped out into the rose garden.

Saanvi had insisted I get fresh air, and I didn't argue. I needed distance from the walls. From Meersha's lingering perfume. From Rudransh's silence.

The petals were glowing faintly in the amber twilight when I heard footsteps behind me.

Not heavy.
Playful.

I didn't need to turn.

"If I were an assassin, Rani-sa, you'd be dead five steps ago," came a familiar voice, teasing and warm.

I exhaled.

"But you're not," I said, folding my hands behind my back. "You're Yugveer Singh- the only prince who's too lazy to kill anyone."

"That's true," he grinned, stepping beside me.
"I'd charm you to death instead."

I smiled, just a little. He always made things light when the air turned heavy. And yet... today, I needed something else.

"Yugveer," I said softly, stopping near the marble bench. "Can I ask you something?"

He tilted his head, his usual smirk fading ever so slightly.

"Of course."

"A bad news?" he said with smile.

"When is she going back to her own kingdom?"

He raised his one eyebrow. And smirked little.
"So... Finnaly our bhabhi-sa is jealous"

"NO"

"Then why are you asking this sudden!?"

"Meersha. Today... she humiliated me."
"she behaves like... I am the mistake your brother did.
May be she is right. I know She doesn't say anything but her action shows everything"

That got his full attention.

"She what?"

"In the women's wing. She let them mock me. Treated me like a guest. Let the others believe she was the real queen. They laughed at me, called me one of them. And then-she turned around and pretended to defend me. Like I was someone pitiful. Not powerful."

According to them I can be samraat's wife but not his Rani-sa
Not A queen of rajgarh

He will always love meersha.
May be they are right.  Yugveer's eyes darkened. The teasing spark gone.

"You know why she does it, right?" he asked. "She thinks the throne should be hers. Not just beside Rudransh bhai-sa, but instead of you."

"Bhai-sa never showed that kind of interest in her. He looks at her with the respect of friend"

"She won't get anything. Not a throne, not bhai-sa"

"But, you have to fight for this bhabhi-sa"

I blinked.

He gave me a lopsided grin, but his voice was serious underneath.

"You're my Bhabhi-sa.And if Meersha- or anyone thinks they can humiliate you under this roof, they've clearly forgotten who I am."

His eyes turned steel.

"Yugveer..."

He turned back, expression softening.

"I may flirt with half the palace," he teased, "but when it comes to my family- no one gets to touch them. Not without bleeding."

"Now come. You look like you haven't eaten since the last century. I'll steal some laddoos from the royal kitchen. For the queen. Secret delivery." He said to ease the situation.

I laughed-genuinely this time.

And as we walked back toward the inner palace, I realized something: For the first time, I didn't feel alone here.

Not completely.
Heeee shivv jiiiii....

Later at night I went to my chamber. It was our... Mine and Rudransh's but he never sleeps here. So now it's only my chamber.  I thought I had locked the door. Not that it would stop him, if he ever wanted to come.

But still, there was something soothing about curling up in the quiet of my chamber-without guards, without maids, without judgement.

Just me. And a book.

The lamps were dim. I slept curled up on the bed, a soft cotton shawl around my shoulders, hair left unpinned. My anklets had been removed. My bangles slept in their velvet box. No red on my lips. No rubies on my throat. only Bichuye in my toe.

Just the white folds of my saari and the feel of parchment between my fingers.

"His touch was fire. Not the kind that burned, but the kind that melted everything she thought she knew about herself..."

I bit my lip, eyes moving faster over the lines. My heart knew this chapter too well. I had read it before, but tonight... it felt different.

Maybe because I finally understood what the girl in the story felt when his breath hovered near her skin, when his hand slid under the edge of her bodice and paused there, waiting. Not demanding.

Waiting for permission she never gave but never denied.

My fingers trembled just slightly as I turned the page-

Click.

The latch turned.

I froze.

No.

Not now.

I shoved the book under my pillow with the grace of a panicked deer, straightened my spine, and smoothed my dupatta with lightning speed.

And then I heard his voice.

Low. Drawled. Amused.

"Hiding state secrets under that pillow, Rajkumari? Or just tales of forbidden love?"

How does he know!?

I didn't look up.

"You should knock."

"And miss the thrill of catching you so... unguarded?" he replied, stepping in fully, his eyes scanning the quiet room.

He paused near the door.
Then he saw me.
Actually saw me.

I hadn't dressed for him. I hadn't dressed for anyone. But something in his gaze shifted. He didn't speak for a heartbeat too long. His eyes ran over the loose braid, the white cotton folds clinging to the bend of my knees, the bare collarbone that peeked out beneath the shawl.

"No sindoor. No bangles. No veil," he murmured, almost to himself. "Is this how you look when you stop trying to be anyone's wife?"

"Is this how you act when you stop pretending to be anyone's husband?"
"like a jerk, who doesn't even knock" I countered without looking at him.

He chuckled. That dark, amused, almost wicked sound.

"Touché."

He didn't walk toward me right away. He circled, like a wolf sniffing the scent of something he hadn't earned.

And then, without warning, he snatched the pillow behind me.

"Wait-don't-" I lunged.

Too late.

The book fell open. Not just any page.

That page.

He grinned as he glanced at the lines.

And then, oh god-he read.

"'She felt the edge of his breath along her neck. And when he kissed just beneath her ear, she forgot her own name. His hands moved lower-down her spine, across her waist, brushing the swell beneath her blouse as if testing the shape of temptation itself...'"
He was reading it too loud.

"Enough!" I snapped, reaching for the book.

He held it higher.

"So this is what my wife reads when she thinks the world sleeps," he murmured, his tone turning smoky.

"I wonder..." He stepped closer.

"...if she ever wondered what it would feel like. When it's not words on parchment..."

My breath hitched.

He was standing too close now. One hand braced the wall beside my head, the other brushed the book aside. Then he pushed me lightly. I fell on the bed. And he hovered over me.

And then his fingers-just two-trailed lightly along my waist.
Through the cotton.

Over my curve.

"Is this where he touched her?" he whispered against my ear.

I should've stopped him.

But I didn't move.

"Or... was it here?"

His thumb brushed the line just above my navel, feather-light.

I grabbed his wrist.
But not to push him away.

His gaze dropped to my hand. His jaw tensed.

"You can stop me," he said.

"I know."

"Why don't you?"

I looked up.

"I don't want to... "
"Because for once," I said, "you aren't using anger. Or cruelty."

He stared at me for a long second. And then-he leaned in.

The press of his mouth against the hollow of my neck was maddeningly slow. He was tracing my skin from neck to ear with his nose. He breathed, deeply. And I shivered.His lips were warm and close.
And then they touched. Once.

Soft.

I shuddered.

His hand slid up-slowly-along my spine, fingertips grazing skin exposed between the choli and the saari's pallu. His other hand stayed at my waist. Anchoring. Testing.

"You smell like paper and rosewater," he murmured. "And it's driving me insane."

When he dipped slightly lower, his nose brushed the top of my chest-just above the blouse's edge.

"If you want me to stop," he said, voice ragged, "say it now."

I closed my eyes.
I didn't say anything.

Because I couldn't lie.
And he... he understood.

He kissed just above the swell of my breast-once.

Not rushed. Not greedy.
A promise, not a conquest.
And then, he pulled back. Looked at my flushed face.

He leaned again. He traced my cheeks with his lips, slow and deliberate.

And then-
"kya hum jaan sakte hain, aakhiri kuchh dino se aap hamse itani ruthi ruthi kyu hain?"

"Aapko nahi pata?"

"Ji nahi" He said teasingly.

Then he went near my ear and took the shelf of my ear in his warm mouth.

"ummm..."
I moaned slowly

Just slightly.

Then he again traced my skin with his lips and stop at nape of my neck.
He kissed
He kissed me.

I was out of breath.

"what happened shivi...?"

Shivi..? A nickname?
Should I scream? No, it will be embarrassing.

"Aaa...huuuuhhh?" my mind was freeze at that time.

He chuckled. No he laughed.

"Rudransh..." I breathed slowly.

"Hmmm..." he just hummed. Still head deep in my neck.

"Bite me...!"

He looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"I said bite me... There."

He didn't get shocked. He just smirked. He came close to my lips just an inch away from kissing me.

"I didn't know my wife have fantasies"

And then.. Again he leaned on my neck and then slowly he kissed me there. He stayed like that longer than the last one.
Then he slowly began to suck me there.

I can feel warmth of his mouth.

And then he bite me. Slowly.

"Ahhhhhh.... "
A moan left my mouth before I stopped it.

It didn't hurt me. But it was like fire. And I was feeling something in my lower body. As Rudransh was on me.

He licked that place to soothe the pain. And then again he suck and bite that area. This time I didn't moan. I controlled my self. I was breathing heavily.

After some seconds he looked into my eyes.

"It won't always be war, Shivanya," he said quietly. "But when it isn't... it might be this."

"You look more beautiful with my mark" he said while touching that mark which I asked for.

And then he layed beside me. He took deep breath and then..
He sat up.

I held his wrist "Will you not come back to sleep here? Again?"

He didn't said anything. He just got up and went to the tunk of blankets. And grabbed it.

When he came he cover both of us in warm white blanket which was too comfortable in little cozy weather.

"I'm not going anywhere" he said and hugged me. His one hand was on my waist and the other one- under my head. I was sleeping on his biceps.

And then.. Slowly his hand went up, at my back. I stayed still.
He slowly pulled my blouse strings.  My eyes wide open. But he didn't reacted, he just slide his hand there. And was tracing my skin so slowly with his hand.

I was feeling butterflies in my stomach.

And then slowly we fell a sleep. His hand on my bare back under blanket. My face hidden in his neck. And.....
Not before him kissing me on head.

No words.
No names.

Just the quiet truth that-for one night-we weren't strangers in the same bed.

We were gravity.

And for the first time in this cursed marriage, sleep came.

To both of us.

Together.

Next morning

When I woke up the first thing I saw, her. She was sitting in front of the wear doing her shringaar after so long time.

Her long hair were open. And water was dripping from it as she was freshly bathed. She was wearing her bangles. She wore red
Again.
She looks beautiful in open hair.
For some moment I was just lost in her beauty.

And the cleared her throat.

I diverted my gaze and saw that book.
The same book I now know by heart. Unfortunately.

Last night's memories was still lingering in my head..
She moaned as I kissed down her neck, she asked me to bite her...
she asked-"

Nope. Not going there.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at my boots like they were some sacred text.

I should leave.

I should get up. Walk out. Pretend none of last night happened. Go to the stable. Beat someone in sword practice. Shout at my ministers. Declare war on someone. Anyone.

Instead-

I sat there.

Quiet.

Useless.

Utterly betrayed by my own hands, which still remembered how her waist felt under the cotton.

She stirred behind me.

Shit.

I cleared my throat. Stood up. Smoothed my kurta as if I hadn't practically inhaled her breath the night before.

Then she turned. But didn't meet my eyes

The vanity. The door. The vase. The floor. I think she even studied a scratch on the wall for a full five seconds just to avoid meeting my eyes.

Right. Okay.
This was going great.

I tried to fix my clothes.

She got up and walked past me to the main door and left the chamber like I wasn't there.

I turned the wrong way and almost bumped into the divider.

Elegant. Dignified.

King of Devgarh, everybody.

---

I woke up first. Thank god...
I took quick bath and was getting ready for morning pooja.

And the he woke up.
He didn't say a word.

Not even "Good morning."
Just stared my back for sometime

Then he just... stood near the bed like he had never been on it. Like he hadn't kissed my skin and made me forget my name and then slept beside me like peace was something that could be borrowed.

I sat there in front of mirror, wearing my bangles.

I could feel the warmth rising behind my ears. I could still feel his breath-on my throat, my chest, my-

Stop. Stop it, Shivanya.

My fingers trembled slightly while adjusting my dupatta.

I caught his reflection in the mirror.

He was adjusting his shoulder sash like it was some kind of urgent political crisis.

His ears were red.

Then without making this situation more awkward I got up and walked out of the chamber without glancing at him.

This isn't what he was supposed to do.
This isn't what we were supposed to do.

.
.
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