Love Across Time

Chapter 44

Mature scene ahead. Skip the chapter if you do not wish to read.

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Soft, orange glow filled the cave, warming it up, the fire burning in the pit. Where it was lit, yet she felt cold.

A heavy silence descended on the atmosphere, Arjun gazed at his bride who lay on her side.

Her gorgeous long curls unfurled in waves of elegance, spreading around her, like halo around the angles.

Beautiful as always. Without even trying. She was gorgeous beyond his imagination.

She looked pristine. Something, that slipped past the veil of dreams, someone he would expect to meet in heaven.

Beauty of this level on the mortal plain, the mere thought of it was absurd.

So was time travelling. Like a cold slap, reality hit hard, making him cringe from within. She had gone through things, he wouldn't wish on the worst of his enemies.

Being taken away from her family, just as she was born. She lost her family once. Being snatched away from the adopted family, and thrust in the past, she lost her family twice.

What she perceived was her reality, was nothing but mere illusion. And his heart broke fearing the moment, the day she will get to know the truth.

She'll despise them. She'll despise him. The mere thought made his heart bleed.

His gaze anchored towards her. The long glistening dark curls, still wet from her long bath in lake.

Giving it a different allure. She was huddled in the corner, looking so tragically fragile, that for a moment, it was almost impossible to believe that she was the same woman, who protected his people fiercely.

Who seemed the incarnation of the goddess of destruction, Kali herself. Yet, now, there was no one more fragile.

The aftermath of a war, no matter how short or long, were never beautiful. They were ugly.

And gazing at her broken self, shattered him more.

His heart squeezed, where she deserved all the luxurious of the world, she lay on the makeshift mattress, that he and Nakul made.

Wanting her comfortable. This was the best they could offer currently. His heart had stopped hammering, the moment he had seen his eldest brother walk in with her in his arms.

She had been pale as the moon, her mesmerising face had lost it's color. Though she still managed to knock out his breath, he was deeply concerned for her.

When Yudhisthir had explained the happenings, the beating organ in his chest had crushed a little more.

He felt sorry for her. Though he had only known her for a short while, his attraction to her was too unbelievable.

He had fallen for her, all too fast, all too hard, and he loved every moment of it. She made him feel exhilarated, and nervous all at once.

He craved her more than his next breath.

A soft whimper broke his revive. A frown marred he face, "Panchi?" His voice was soft, another whimper reaching his ear, had him moving, from where he sat across the cave from her.

Crouching beside her head, he whispered in the softest of whispers, he never knew he had the capacity to utter.

"Love."

He tried to snap her out of whatever nightmare, she was sinking in. "Arya." Fear. It tainted the word, that he had yearned to hear from her mouth.