"Behind her smile is a hurting heart,

behind her laugh she's falling apart.

Behind her eyes are tears at night,

behind her body is a soul trying to light."

Warm yellow rays wafting through the window slit, dust modes floating, suspended, in the air. Beautiful yet normal. Too bright to look at, yet too bright to look away. The daylight comes as such intricately woven threads of gold so light that its creator can only be divine.

The warm sunlight caressed her cheeks making her a small smile appear on her lips. She looked so peaceful, though her heart and mind where in chaos.

Daasis looked at the young royal woman in pity. They could clearly see the red hand marks and dried tears on her face. They knew who was responsible for her condition yet the could do nothing to save her. Some of theirs eyes filled up in tears seeing the young woman's condition while some didn't care as they had seen worse.

Soon all the maids dispersed around the chamber doing whatever job they were supposed to do. A maid pushed the curtain covering the window to the side, allowing the fresh breeze and sunlight to fill in the chamber.

Nandha stirred in her sleep feeling the bright rays of the sun. She opened her eyes with great difficulty. Her head was aching and her eyes hurt too. Her whole body ached in pain.

She blinked a few times, trying to clear the darkeness in her vision. A small smile spread on her lips as she sat on her bed soaking in the warmth of the sun.

But her smile did not last long as yesterday's memories came crashing before her, her meeting with Nakul, her aarya misunderstanding them, him dragging her, him killing her soul and his hurtful words. Unknowingly a tear dropped from her eyes. She wiped it before any of the daasis could notice it.

With shaking legs she stood up from the bed. Her whole body ached in pain especially her lower abdomen. It felt like someone was stabbing her there with a knife. Wrapping the bed sheet around her body, Nandha walked towards the bathing chamber, to clean herself.

Making sure all the maids were out she let go of the bed sheet covering her. With shaking hands, she started removing her clothes. Her clothes had traces of blood on them, especially her skirt. She walked towards the pond and looked at her reflection in the clean water. A gasp escaped her lips as her eyes took in the battered form of her body.

Her eyes were swollen and red, and there were dark circles under them. Her husbands finger print married across her face in bright red colour. She flinched touching it. The mark sting even with the slightest touch of her finger. Her eyes stung with tears as she eyed her body with a heavy heart.

She could clearly see Duryodhana's teeth marks all over her body. She sobbed loudly, her fingers slowly caressed the marks on her body. Each and every single mark in her body hurt. He was a vicious animal last night. Her screams and pleas did not stop him from unleashing his monster.

This spreading purple with yellow blotches is only the surface wound which will be healed in few days. The real one is within, that feeling of betrayal, that breaking of trust that is so essential to true love.

She remember how her Mandita maa used to tell her brother Ahaan to always treasure his love, to protect the woman who was living behind her home to be with him. She wished her husband too knew that, then maybe should not had suffered in his hands like yesterday.

But then she has lost her status as his wife. She was just a whore to him now nothing more. She could hear his voice calling her a whore making her cry out in pain. She is not a whore. She closed her ears trying to block out his voice but it was no use.

She don't know for how many hours she spent lying on the floor crying and cursing her face before deciding to take a bath. After washing and cleaning herself, she changed into a beautiful lehenga. She looked divine in the red and yellow silk lehenga.

Walking out, she found a new maid arranging her accessories. She was an aged woman with wrinkles covering her face and hands. Few of her white hairs peeked out of her veil. The woman looked unpleasent with a frown covering her face.

"Who are you and why are you doing all these work? Were is Madhu, my lady-in-waiting?" Nandha asked as she walked towards the old woman.

"Yuvrani, I'm Tuya, your new personal maid for the next few days as the one before had to leave to her village due to some personal problem." The old woman smiled showing her yellow teeth.

Nandha nodded her head in an understanding manner. Sighing, she sat on the chair before her dressing table, allowing the daasis to do her shringar. A small hiss escaped her lips as the old woman pressed her wrinkled finger on her brused neck.

"I apologize yuvrani. I didn't see the marks there. Seeing the marks, I guess you had a very pleasurable with Yuvaraj, last night." The woman said with a fake smile plastered on her pale lips.

"Last night was very pleasurable for him but for me, I can't say the same. It was painful, so painful that I wish I could just embrace the darkness of death. It still hurts. My body, my heart and my soul, they are still burning with unbearable pain." Nandha mumbled.

She bit her lips to keep them from quivering and blinked her eyes to get rid of the blur. The pain was fresh. The scars and wounds are still open and are bleeding. If Tuya was not standing close to Nandha then she would have surely missed the words spoken by her.

"Now, now, Yuvrani you should not speak like that. You should be glad Yuvraaj is spending his time with you rather than one of the concubines. Moreover you are his wife, you should please him instead of complaining about pain otherwise he will get board of you and will go for aother woman. You should be happy but here you are complaining." Tuya rebuked as she continued dolling up Nandha.

"How can say that? I'm a woman, I have emotions and feelings. I'm his wife not a mere object of pleasure." Nandha snapped.

"Yuvrani, You are misunderstanding my words. I know you are a woman and everything. I'm just telling you to obey Yuvraaj's words instead of knocking it off. The position you are enjoying now as the wife of Yuvraaj will be easily snatched by another, if you are not careful of your words and actions." Tuya paused and looked at Nandha's face. Seeing the uncertainty on Nandha's face she decided to continue.

"Men gets board of women too easliy. They are like butterflies, they will move from woman to woman and will not settle for anything but the sweetest. Every king in this aryavart have more than one wife. Why? No one answers the qquestion. Even your father had three wives, am I right?. Don't get me wrong, Yuvraan. I just meant that these days polygames marriages are very common. They marry women who are beautiful as well as submissive. Someone of pure blood who would bear them healthy heirs. If a woman ever steps out of the line drawn by her husband then every good she had done till the day will be an utter waste.

"Yuvarani, I do not mean to cross my line but let me tell you this Yuvrani, if you fail in fulfiling your duty as a wife then surely Yuvaraj will leave you and move on to another woman. So instead of complaining and crying, you should be more focused on fulfiling your duty as a wife. I apologize if I over stepped my boundaries." Tuya bowed and moved away leaving behind a broken Nandha.

"Yuvraj I'm returning back to Kalinga tomorrow." Bhanumati spoke not tearing her gaze from the view before her.

"Really? But its been only three days since your arrival. Why are you leaving so early?" Duryodhana looked at her astonished.

"What you said maybe true, but we were here for the function and since it has ended, we are heading back home." Bhanu said looking at him with a small smile.

"Oh! It was really amazing having you here. It is a pity you have to leave so soon. Hope your stay here was comfortable and enjoyable."

"The feeling is mutual Yuvraaj. I had a really good time here in Hastinapur. Your Kingdom is so beautiful and your family, they are so loving and caring. I don't feel like returning back infact I feel like staying here for the rest of my life." She smiled looking at him.

"Who is stopping you then? You are our guest moreover you are my friend. You are welcomed to stay here as long as you want." Duryodhana said with a smile.

"But for how long? Guests are supposed to leave after a few days of their stay and even friends have a limit." She pointed out making him sigh.

"That is also true. But Bhanu don't worry, you can still visit once in a while, right? The gates of Hastinapur is always open for you, Bhanu" Bhanu nodded with a smile before looking away.

A comfortable silence made its way between the two. Soft wind brushed through her hair making it dance around to the unsung melody of the nature. The silence was peaceful yet two hearts couldn't say the same. One heart was bleeding in unsaid love while the other heart was wallowing in sorrow.

"Pitashree is organizing my swayamvaar the week after next." Bhanu whispered softly breaking the silence between them.

"Really? Congratulations Bhanu. I'm happy for you." He beamed with delight.

"Thank you, Yuvraaj." She smiled looking down.

"What happened Bhanu? Why do you look so sad? And don't say it is nothing because I can clearly see sorrow in your eyes not happiness like it should be. Are you not happy with this wedding Or are you in love with someone? You know, you can tell me, right?. I will help you. Why are staying silent, say something Bhanu." He insisted making her look at him with a sad smile.

"I will tell you everything but before that you should promise me Yuvaraaj. Promise me that you will not laugh at me and that you will not talk about this to another soul." Bhanu said forwarding her hand.

"I promise I will not laugh at you nor will speak about this to another soul." He kept his hands on hers promising secrecy.

Taking a deep breath, Bhanu spoke, "I don't know how it happened nor when it happened. I even don't wheather you will feel the same or not but Yuvraaj, I love you. During my stay here, I became close to you and unknowingly started having feelings for you. Before knowing you, I thought you were like what people potrayed, a monster but now after knowing you, I understood you are nothing like they said. You have influenced my life in more ways than I can count.

"How did you make me fall in love with you? You broke my defenses, and now I'm madly in love with you. I have had a beautiful friendship with you. Now, all I want is more in the area of love and deeper affection. I want to be more than just a friend in you life. I want to spent the rest of my life with you. I want to marry and be your queen. Please accept my love for you, Yuvraaj. Please accept my feelings for you." She confessed her feelings looking deep into his eyes.

~*~