Grow along with me, the best is yet to be. -Robert Browning TO MEET AND GREET'Ah!' Catching herself in time, she steadied up, holding the rosewood almirah by the entrance as a large troop of woman bustled inside, shoving her as they went."Excuse me!" She frowned as almost 20 ladies gathered around her and her husband's bed. 'What is happening?' Her temper was slowly flaring as she watched her privacy being breached and her words being disregarded as if, she hadn't spoken at all."Excuse me!" She reiterated this time with a raucous loud tone of voice. "Now that all of you had already barged inside my personal chamber, may I have the privilege to hear what you all have to say....?""And then....get out? Maybe?" Devika didn't bother masking the displeasure on her features. She may not be a royal by birth but she was one now as the wife of the prince of this empire and even as the sole heiress of Raichand, she wouldn't let a few vain women to trample upon her in this manner."Get out,

It's hard to wake up from a nightmare if you aren't even asleep.- j.sDevika staggered back with darkness that came to overshadow every other sense that she possessed. She went numb against the loud chattering of people around her followed by a round of applause and then the series of congratulations and good wishes showered upon both the king and queen for securing another holy bond of matrimony between their families. The queen smiled brightly.... the king nodded, enthusiasm and triumph in his eyes and none bothered to look upon the poor soul torn down by the truth and lies. None except one. Roopak."Come on sister let us get out of here." His soft tone snapped her out of the stupor but the darkness barely receded. It was horrendous....the pain that rippled through her body and soul but it did not ache as much as she expected, rather settled inside her in an all too familiar fashion like an old friend. After all this time she had gotten used to it anyway since there was barely anyt

A small shiver ran down her spine in the fear of unknown, the warm night seemingly turning frost with every moment that passed. Never had she felt this alarmed of stillness. The seemingly endless stretch of placid tranquility stifled her senses and the cold air of garden felt tempting. 'But it isn't the time for that.' With this untimely arrival of Chandra all her plans and strategies hence fell down and crumpled like a palace of cards as a result leaving her open in vulnerability. Moving in the darkness, she gripped the handle of water jug from her bedstead, treating herself with a massive gulp of water. 'Yes, she had lied but it wasn't as simple as that, was it? She had lied right in front of the whole court and that meant just one thing, a crime against the throne. ' And after all that, her purpose still as unaccomplished as it had always been. Her ears strained to listen to the in growing sound of foot steps towards her chamber and for a moment she stopped breathing. '

The closing hours of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.-Cesare Pavese"My lord!" Her voice sounded hoarse as she entered, her body trembling with anxiety as she looked at the man in front of her. With those eyes filled in nauseating and despicable kind of appetite for erotism that all she wanted to do was to abscond and flee before the lecherous old man can put his hands on her.But he will, she knew. And that nothing can stop him now that she was here alone in his presence. She closed her eyes as soon as the last lamp was dosed, she knew what was coming next and she was right!With the room enveloped in utter darkness, all Sunayna was left with were her senses and she could feel his warm breath behind her back, sucking in a deep breath, she waited in silence."Where's your sister?""Coming in a moment." Oh! How did that statement left her throat with a sickening rancidity and her body with abhorrent and horrid ache. 'No, she sister wasn't coming

"But first I require assurance that you are going to let my brother go and hold up your part of the bargain after I get married to your sister." He spoke unable to grasp the significance behind her empty expression. 'Was she going to accept? Or her hunger for revenge far greater than any love she had flaunted for her sister?'But everyone want something and whatever that she may want, Roopak would give her, anything. If it means to save his brother.The silence prevailed for a long time, hanging like a thick curtain of uncertainty between them and Roopak almost came to believe that she was going to refuse when the acceptance came."And what will you require as an assurance?" Her words were almost a murmur but he heard them anyway and a surge of relief went through him when at the same time another part of him was going through something he was unaccustomed in feeling. 'Dread' a foreboding angst for himself.He had married once before, danced on that crazy tune and after how it had end