Mohini POV 

I woke up to find heat under me, upon opening my eyes I see a bare chest then find myself tangled with Yuvraj. 

I scrambled away from him and when accused him of tangling with me, he reminded me that I like to roll around in my sleep. 

Obviously, I know that but it doesn't mean I will believe him. So, I backed out keeping an eye on him. 

I go and take a bath all the while thinking about last night moment, how unguarded prince looked while spending his time with me. 

The pleasurable twist twisted so much last night, which forced me to think if our life could be like husband-wife instead of enemies forced in a situation. 

I start to smile unknowingly thinking about his mock surrender this morning and think about his soft smile last night. 

I have never seen him smile, either he is brooding, or not smiling, or smirking when mischief brews in his mind. 

After taking bath I enter my room to find it empty, before Yuvraj come, I change into peacock blue lehenga. 

I am trying to tie the knot of my blouse which has decided not to get tied, I am still trying when Yuvraj enters while drying his hair. 

Our eyes collide and instantly the air becomes charged with intensity and desire. His eyes heats up and becomes dark which in turn heats my body. 

I feel the situation of my dishelved state, quickly moves my eyes away and press my back against mirror lowering my eyes. 

I know my cheeks are red with shyness and embarrasment and when Yuvraj speaks it makes me flush even more, 

'You think this mirror will protect you from me or my thoughts for you.' 

I try to hide my face so he can't see me flushing. He throws the cloth in his hand and moves to me. 

He takes my chin and softly tilts my face to him saying, 

'Aapko bhi pata hai ki ye khayal bilkul bhi masoom nahi hai. Toh bataiye Mohini kahin hume pagal karne ka koi shadayantra toh nahi?' 

'You also know that these thoughts are not innocent at all. So tell me Mohini, is there any conspiracy to drive me crazy?' 

He takes both my hands behind me and pulls me closer to him, brings his face close to my ears, whispering makes his lips touch my shell of ear, 

'Kyunki vishwaas manaiye hum apne par vash kho rahe hai, pagal ho rahe hai.' 

'Because believe me, I am losing control over myself, I am going crazy.' 

My heart pounds faster and breathing becomes shallow. He rubs his bearded face against my soft cheeks which pokes my cheek pleasantly. 

My eyes close on this pleasurable sensation inside. My mouth opens on soundless moan. He speaks seductively, 

'Aapko iss tarah se dekh ke hum apne aap se apna vash kho rahe hai. Bataiye Mohini, iska kya dand milna chahiye aapko?' 

'Seeing you like this, I am losing my senses. Tell me Mohini, what punishment should you get for this?' 

He turns his head in my neck and softly kisses the spot which shocks me and my eyes open wide at his soft and thoughtful action. 

We stand like in that half hug for God knows how long but it is oddly comfortable. 

He pulls back, looks me in the eye and says, 

'Your blouse is still open, let me help you to tie it.' 

He never looks away, bring his hands and slowly rubs my back while reaching the strings. 

He ties every string and make sure to rubs his hand on my bare back. 

He steps back still looking at me with heat saying, 

'All done.'

He abruptly turns and moves to take his kurta. I also calm down, wear my jewelleries, braid my hair and put dupatta on my head. 

We both get ready in comfortable silence and thinking about the sensual moment which just happened. 

After getting ready, we walk out of tent and in few time we wrap up everything and are on the move. 

During afternoon we arrive the Kuldevta mandir. Yuvraj comes and helps me out of the palki. 

I look around to find ashram of sages and their family working. Giving the mandir homey, warm and pleasant atmosphere. 

Seeing the look of wonder on my face, Yuvraj spreads his arms and says, 

'Ye mandir humare Dada-sa ne apne samay mein dobara banwaya, humari Dadi-sa ke kehne par. Aur iski halat kharab na ho, iske liye kayi pandit aur unke pariwar ke rehne ka bandobast kiya.' 

'My grandfather rebuilt this temple in his time, on the advice of my grandmother. And so that this temple condition does not get worse, arrangements were made for the Pandits and their families to stay.' 

'Ye mandir gaon se thoda door hai isliye saare panditon ne milkar yaha par ashram banwaya aur rozgaar ka jariya bhi yahi banaya.' 

'This temple is a little far from the villages, so all the pandits together built an ashram here and also made their source of employment here.' 

An old sage comes forward with joined hands and smiling face, saying, 

'Aaiye, Yuvraj. Aapki hi pratiksha kar rahe the.' 

'Come, Yuvraj. Was waiting for you only.' 

We both bow down to touch his feet, taking blessings. He blesses us, 

'Khush raho. Sada Suhagan raho.' 

Yuvraj introduces me to him saying, 

'He is the chief Pandit of here.' 

He takes us to wash our feet and hands then take us to the temple. 

We worship there then take a whole round around the temple, we enter the courtyard, worship Tulsi plant. 

Pandit ji tells us to bow to different Gods and bow infront of another mandir which is on high height and there is many stairs in front of it. 

When panditji doesn't take us there instead steer us back then Yuvraj says with a frown, 

'What happened, Panditji? You didn't tell us to go in that mandir and take blessing.' 

Panditji smiles and says, 

'The sun is setting and climbing so many steps then doing puja will take time, after all, you are both tired from journey.' 

'I did got you blessings from there when you bowed in front of it. That is Shiv-Parvati's mandir.' 

Yuvraj asks panditji, 

'It won't be a burden on you if we go and visit the temple.' 

Panditji smiles and shakes his head while saying, 

'Bilkul nahi, balki nav vivaahit jode ke liye Shiv Parvati ka aashirvad bahut accha hai. Aapke saath main apni bahu ko bhej deta hu.'

'Not at all, instead the blessings of Shiva-Parvati are very good for the newly married couple. I am sending my daughter-in-law with you.' 

He walks away and after sometime, a girl comes with her veil upto her nose, she bows with her hands joined, 

'Khammaghani, Yuvraj, Bai-sa. My name is Somti.' 

We also return the greeting and together walks with aarti plate in my hand. When we go to first step of stairs, Somti stops us saying, 

'Humare yahan mana jaata hai ki agar pati apni biwi ko apni god mein utha kar inn 108 sidhiyon pe chadhe toh unka vivaahit jeevan bahut khubsurat aur sukhi hota hai.' 

'It is believed here that if a husband carries his wife in his arms and climb these 108 steps, his married life becomes very beautiful and happy.' 

I want my married life to be happy and beautiful. I have seen the glimpses of that married life in this journey. 

I am not hung up on Rao anymore. I have seen the thoughtful and caring side of Yuvraj which he hide behind his cold mask. 

I want to peel off all his layers and see the real him which he hides. 

I know happy marriage can't be guranteed by this ritual, it needs work and patience. But if he agrees to this ritual, then it will show me his willingness for this marriage to be more. 

I can't ask him outright by my actions or I will be embarrassed if he doesn't want the same thing. 

Yuvraj comes to me and asks in a low voice, 

'Mohini, aapko koi apati toh nahi?' 

'Mohini, do you have any objection?' 

I hide my smile and shake my head. His one question cleared all my doubts regarding the marriage. 

He wounds his one arm around my waist and other around my legs, holds me close to himself. 

Somti takes the aarti plate smiling and moves in front of us. I wound both my arms around his neck shyly and hid my face in his chest. 

When he sees my shyness, he just smirks at me, squeezes my waist and pulls me more closer. 

His bare hand on my bare waist send shiver down my spine. 

We started to move up the stairs. Looking at so many steps my pleasurable high blew off thinking how much it is hurting Yuvraj. 

I look at him and down to indicate to put me down but he just shakes his head and moves forward. 

At last we reached upstairs and he put me down, I hold his arms and look at him to see that he is alright when he gives me the soft shake of head, takes my hand and enter the temple. 

As Somti tells, we do the rituals for puja. This time during return journey Somti doesn't tells us to take me in his arms. 

On returning, we enter the main temple, bow in front of the God and see Pandit ji making bundle of leaves, when he asks me, 

'Bai-sa aapka gotra kya hai?' 

'Bai-sa, what is your clan?' 

I look at him with my mouth opening and closing, it is clear he doesn't know about my muteness. 

Yuvraj answers for me, 

'Kunbi.' 

Panditji looks up and frowns but he doesn't say anything. It is clear from his face that he is confused as to why Yuvraj answered for me. 

He is misunderstanding that Yuvraj is dominating me. 

Yuvraj also sees his expression and says, 

'She can't speak, she is mute so I answered for her.' 

He puts all bundle leaves in the plate, lay it down, stands up and says, 

'Hume kshama kariyega Bai-sa, hume pata nahi tha ki aap bol nahi sakti, hume kisine bataya nahi.' 

'Forgive me Bai-sa, I did not know that you could not speak, no one told us.' 

Yuvraj's body turned rigid, all the playfulness and teasing vanished from his face at the reminder of betrayal. 

Pain twists in my head thinking, Will we ever be past that? Should I tell Yuvraj the truth? 

But then I remember about Dada and quiet my urge to tell the truth. 

Panditji calls Somti and says, 

'Take Bai-sa, give her the tour of ashram and make sure she is comfortable. She is mute so take her translator with you.' 

She turns shocked but recovers quickly and takes me from there away from Yuvraj. 

I look back at Yuvraj but he is not looking at me. I so want this marriage to work but it won't happen if lies of my father is hanging on us. 

I keep my eyes on him while walking away, I just want him to look at me and reassure me like earlier that he wants this marriage to work. 

He doesn't look and we move away from him that I couldn't see him anymore. 

Swati joins us and Somti shows us common dining room, kitchen, guests welcome room, granaries, farms. 

Somti shows us huts of sages and their family so they can live separately, places for women and to work in potteries, lac bangles. 

I see two huge garanaries which is quite odd as only small number of people live here. 

So I ask Swati to translate my signs, 

'Two big garanaries, isn't this too much for such a small number of people?' 

Somti smiles and answers, 

'This is not just for us but for nearby villages also.' 

I ask in signs, 

'Why?' 

She replies, 

'About 3 years ago many people died, especially young kids and males, nobody could find the reason behind it, which affected food business.' 

'So Bapu-sa provided foods kept in granaries he built for these days. This thing had happened during Raja-sa's illness also and that time we didn't have sufficient food to provide.' 

I ask in signs which Swati translated, 

'Did nobody sent message about this many deaths to the King?' 

She replied with frown, 

'Of course we sent the news but no actions were taken. First time we thought maybe he was still establishing borders because border villages had more death.' 

'Second time, Raja-sa was ill and Yuvraj was engaged in wars so we got no response.' 

I pondered, Yuvraj wants to know everything everytime, so why he didn't focused on these important things. 

Somti tells me about nature's beauty but I am still stuck on that conversation. 

I will figure it out after I figure out my marriage with Yuvraj. Somti takes me to dining hall where everybody is sitting on mat. 

She takes me to sit beside Yuvraj. Everyone serve themselves here by passing, Somti comes and sets up one plate. 

I frown at her, she just giggles at me and says, 

'Itni hairaan mat hoiye Bai-sa, bade bujurg keh gaye ki, ek hi thaal mein khaane se prem badhta hai pati-patni ke beech mein.' 

'Don't be so surprised Bai-sa, elders have said that eating from the same plate increases the love between husband and wife.' 

Yuvraj doesn't say anything, everyone takes God's name and starts eating. 

This isn't a sign of his willingness because he is being forced here. 

I stole glances at Yuvraj, when Yuvraj catches me I would turn my face away, he starts frowning at my behaviour. 

The plate is close to him so I have to extend myself little to eat. 

I eat and stole glances at him. He pauses, looks around, i also see that everyone is engaged in themselves. 

I am confused as to why Yuvraj is looking, but he suddenly pulls my mat close to him, my hand goes to his wrist to steady myself. 

He brings his face close to my ears and says, 

'Hume aisa kyun lagane laga hai ki aapko khane se aadhik hume hi, khane ki bhook hai? Ek bar apni aankhon se bol dijiye Mohini hum aapke liye ye mumkin karke dikha denge.' 

'Why do I think that you are hungry for me more than the food? Tell me once with your eyes Mohini, I will make this possible for you.' 

His hot breath sent shivers down my spine. I try to shy my face away from him. 

My cheeks are flushed and warm, I look around to see that nobody noticed us, then shoved him away lightly. 

I glare at him and focus on eating. I am fuming at his audacity, I sneak a glance at him to see he is looking at me, with amusement in his eyes. 

After eating I take a walk with Swati, then Somti comes and takes me to a room saying, 

'I know this isn't big like your palace rooms but we will make sure that you are comfortable here.' 

I sign at Swati which she translates with a smile, 

'Even though it is small, it is giving homey and warm atmosphere to Bai-sa. She is more than comfortable here.' 

She smiles and leaves. I tell Swati to retire too. 

I wash my hands and face and change into soft, cotton, plain, pink saree. I look and don't see Yuvraj so I assume maybe he is with Panditji. 

I take my book with me in which I have written my medicines recipes. 

I lay down on my stomach and review my latest recipes and thinking about the modifications for better result. 

There was a time when I used to do these things with my father from a young age but after Aai's death we slowly stopped it. 

While I was thinking, the pallu fall down slightly, I move both my legs up and down which makes my saree to ride up baring my legs. 

I don't even realize that I am in totally inappropriate position. 

I am lying the way which makes my side face the door. 

Suddenly the door opens and I come out of my thought to twist slightly on one side to face prince. 

He enters and closes the door. He stops in his step when his eyes fall on me. Instantly his eyes darkens and desire starts to swirl. 

I look down at my dishelved appearence and my cheeks heat up. 

What am I doing? How can I be so careless? I shouldn't be lying inappropriately like this. 

His lazy voice sends shiver in my body, 

'Ek baar ho toh sanjog hota hai, dusri baar ho toh bhagaya hota hai, lekin baar baar ho, toh sochi samjhi yojna.' 

'Once it happens, it's a coincidence, the second time it happens, it's fate, but if it happens again and again, it's a well thought out plan.' 

He takes slow steps towards me removing his ornaments on the way and saying, 

'Ek din mein do baar, toh bataiye Mohini, isse hum bhagya kahe ya sochi samjhi yojna.' 

'Twice in a day, so tell me Mohini, should we call this luck or a well thought plan.' 

The look in his eyes is very dangerous. 

Oh God, I am in so much trouble. 

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