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.”
