Hey. This one is a bit different from the usual, hopefully you'll like it. The paragraphs in bold are flashbacks. Enjoy!

Padmavati steps down from her palanquin with her bare feet, her thighs aching from sitting in the same position for so long. The moment her feet meets the warm sand, she sighs with relief and walks to Alauddin's side, stretching her legs.

Khilji was talking to Kafur when he heard the tinkling of Padmavati's jewelry. He turned back to see her walking towards him, her feet digging into the sand with every step,the golden light from the sunset breaking on her dark, thick eyelashes.

Alauddin immideatly reacts to her uncovered beauty, moving in front of her to keep her away from the soldiers' gaze.

"Go back to the palanquin." He orders, looking down at her feet and then the locks of hair that escaped her scarf.

Padmavati's confused gaze meets with Kafur's curious one. He used every little chance to look at her, inspect her in some way. Alauddin knew it, but he never considered Malik as a man, he excused his curiosity because it was born out of the passion of pleasing him. By excused, it only meant that he could serve them food while Khilji's having meals with Padmavati, because he didn't trust anyone else with his food during war and road.

"What are you doing here?" Khilji whispers between his clenched teeth.

Padmavati looked around to check if there is an inappropriate condition, finding nothing but an endless desert, the soldiers setting up their tents quite far away from them. "I am taking a walk?"

"Go back to the palanquin." Khilji says barely audible compared to his usual tone. Padmavati can't read his intentions as he leads her back to the palanquin, pressing his palm kindly to her back.

"Don't come out without my permission." He says, sounding like himself again once Padmavati is in her room.

Rani eyes him, her eyes furrowed with confusion. "I wasn't told to seek permission."

"Yes. Now you've been told, by me." He ends the discussion, pulling the curtain to hide her from the world's eye. Before leaving, he stops to look at her.

"I don't want anyone to see you. I am a jealous man." He says in a warning tone. However, it sounds rather vulnerable and shy, as if he just exposed a side of him she wasn't supposed to know.

Padmavati nods and adjusts the curtains, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. Ila was right, he was uncovering, taking off the layers that hid his weaknesses everyday; one by one. This jealousy which made his hands the most gentle she has ever experienced, was one.

He smiles too, and it is one of those rare, cheerful smiles which doesn't wake disgust in Padmavati's heart. "I'll see you after sunset."

***

She's always been a compassionate child

"People call me evil, tell me that I belong to hell... That woman was one of the gate holders of hell." He said, pouring water to Padmavati's cup and his. "She let this devil out."

Dinner with Khilji were hard to digest when he started speaking, but it gave Padmavati what she needed most for her escape plan; him. She once wished to never understand, now she was all ears, and even though it was hard to confess, she was curious.

"Where is she now?" Padmavati asked, fearing what she's about to hear.

"In the old palace, living with a thousands servants and still drinking from golden cups." Khilji smirked and went on explaining, seeing her astonishment. "Mehrunisa loves her mother."

She probably loved her father too but you killed him anyway, Padmavati thought. That couldn't be the reason she is still alive and well.

"I never miss the Eid celebrations since we got married. Can you guess why?" His voice was cheerful as he raised a bunch of grapes to his mouth. Padmavati eyed him with a weird look but he took it as an encouragement to go on. "I love the look she has on her face every time I walk in with Mehrunisa next to me. It's the same disgust." For some reason this entertains Alauddin but Padmavati can understand his resentment. "She couldn't even bear hearing our names together. She was ready to marry her own daughter away with some old governor when Mehrunisa was thirteen just so that she does not end up with me." Khilji grimaced with hate. "Mehru was terrified of the thought of stangers, let alone marrying a man she never knew."

"Mehrunisa wouldn't love her mom, then." She argued, she knew very well that no matter what, Mehrunisa had the most undying love towards Khilji and it wouldn't tolerate anyone harming it other than Khilji himself.

"She was a naive one. I've been merciful enough let her keep her hopes up on humanity. Out of all people, she thinks her mother is a good person." Sultan chuckled a little, his eyes lighting up as he raised his cup to the air. "The irony."

Padmavati furrowed her brows in confusion, truly lost. "But why?"

"Does not The Rani of wise words know, one would last two weeks without food, three days without water but wouldn't last a second without hope?"

What she wanted was him and him only.

The Princess of Singhal remembered her father lovingly, he never restricted her and she never had to face the pressure most noble women did. She grew up like an ivy in the forests of her homeland, free and unamenable.

"What did you do? How did you convince her mom?"

The Sultan's smile got wider. "It can not be called convincing."

Padmavati knew in her heart that he killed people for Mehrunisa, and somehow it stopped terrifying her. "Then?"

"You must know the story, it got me quite a reputation."

Padmavati tried to remember the stories Ila told her. Ila heard them all from the servant girls of the palace but The Rani couldn't think of a certain one, because his reputation was quite comprehensive and mostly didn't include this love story.

"I think I am not familiar with it." She answered his eyes in anticipation.

"Oh, so our Rani is unconcerned towards hearsay." Khilji smiles. "The story takes place at our wondrous wedding."

Padmavati instantly remembers the incident. What a disgrace. While their wedding was taking place, Alauddin was getting intimate with another woman just behind the walls of the courtyard. He started betraying her even before the marriage.

"Your face tells me that you are familiar." Khilji says, reading her disgusted expression.

Padmavati just gulps down and looks away from him. So much for the epic love story. He is a ruin.

"I had to kill the prince Mehrunisa's mother chose for marriage. I seduced a concubine from his harem to get to him... The plan succeeded, Mehrunisa's mother almost lost her mind when she couldn't come back to Delhi to stop me from marrying her. She was visiting her sister for preparations around that time. I bribed a bunch of brigands so that the roads weren't safe..." Khilji proudly told his story, feeling the sweet victory of their love again.

Padmavati looked at him blankly, slightly disappointed. "I was wrong for expecting an excuse for your betrayal to Mehrunisa then." She was angry at herself for being disappointed too.

"The concubine I seduced fell in love with me and followed me to Delhi. I had to cut her throat before the wedding. With a little good-bye kiss." Khilji said all of these as if they were unimportant details, and had no fear for Padmavati's judgement. He believed that she understands, if not now eventually she will.

"So those looks of yours, Rani Padmavati..." Alauddin waited patiently to lock eyes with her. When they did, Khilji let a bit of his fire out. "Searching for the fuel of my fire, watching me walk, watching me eat..."

Every inch of Padmavati's body froze with fear, thinking that somehow he found everything out. Maybe he can read minds, or may be he is posessed indeed. His eyes looked directly into her soul, didn't yield to last rays of sun, his face illuminated by the red sunset, she felt like he could be anything but human.

"Believe it or not, it was Mehru's tears of love. It all started as being worthy of her. Then I found out I was worthy of so much more." His eyes were still dark and unapologetic, he didn't sound like he was surprised with the turns of fate either.

Padmavati wiped her mouth, looking down on her empty plate, her heart relieved from fear but her mind crowded with thoughts. She wanted to disagree, say that there must have been other ways and nothing can justify the things he does, but he wasn't asking for anyone's approval.

"And you believe that I am so much more." Padmavati blurted out without thinking. It was absurd and she clearly did not agree, but Alauddin's gaze was telling a different story, fixed on her eyes.

"Oh the breeze of the spring, my rose amidst thorns..." He sang melodically. It vibrated in their tent and made her heart shake. "One does not need faith for what he already knows. Mehrunisa is a spark and you are the storm that the fire needs to conquer." Sultan stood up and walked behind Padmavati slowly, causing her to freeze in her place.

He leaned down, near to her ears. Padmavati could feel her throat getting dry and her mind completely empty as she felt his long hair brushing her shoulders. Before she could utter a word of her discomfort, Alauddin brought a bowl of embers in front of her.

Rani looked at the colour changing embers with slight shock and confusion. Was he going to take revenge... No, he wouldn't burn the face he liked so much. She turned around to see Khilji's face right next to hers, waiting for the moment.

"Blow." He commanded.

Padmavati didn't get what this meant. She looked at him again but regretted this move instantly as his lips got closer to her ear as a result. He whispered again, the warmth of his breath gave her goosebumps all over her body. "Blow."

The Queen of Chittorgarh did what she was told, and the embers caught fire immideatly, rising to life with yellow and red. She moved back with fear, wondering how can such a light blow could light up a fire.

Khilji held the bowl in his hands, not moving an inch from her side. His eyes watched the bright flames in amazement, and his voice was clear with pride. "The perfect match for a wildfire."

Hello everyone! Missed you so much. Thanks for reading after such a long break. I've been editing for a while, and i just wanted to make it right. How do you feel about Khilji's childhood and about the chapter overall? I'm so excited to hear what you guys think. Love you all.xx