INSEPARABLE II

XVII

"Prem...my head hurts..." A half asleep Noor whined like a child as Prem helped her into her chambers.

"Already?" Prem responded propping her onto the enormous royal bed as Charno stood at his side. "That's supposed to happen tomorrow." Studying her drunken state, he got down on a knee in front of her. Unable to help himself, he brushed the lose hair at her face behind her ears. "You okay?" He asked softly.

Noor blinked as if she were refocusing her vision on Prem. "I told you my head hurts!" She exclaimed in animated expressions.

Prem laughed, reaching at her shoulder to fix the unkempt chunni this time. "I'll go get an ointment." He told her. Slowly rising to his feet, he faced Charno, "help her change, I'll be back."

"Yes, My Lord." Charno gladly bowed and placed the silk robe from her hands on the bed before beginning to gently remove the Chunni from around the Queen's neck.

"Prem!" Noor cried grasping one of Prem's hands at once. She had realized he was leaving.

Over a heart elated by her eager touch, Prem bent forward at the hips and angled her face upwards from the chin. "I'll be right back." He whispered looking into her eyes, slowly guiding her to release his hand.

Her pupils dilated and a shy smile forced its way onto her face. "Okay." She managed making an active attempt to suppress her shy expression sending Prem's body into overdrive

Prem suddenly had the strongest urge in the world to lay a kiss on those restricted lips of hers. He thought his heart would explode at the cuteness presented by her intoxicated avatar.

It was only when Charno moved at their side that he forced himself to withdraw and head back out into the garden. He decided no one needed to know that he and Noor were together till that late so using his own chambers to exit into the hallway was most appropriate.

Charno quickly helped the barely conscious Queen out of her royal outfit into the comfortable silk robe for the night. When the outfit change was complete, she looked at her sleepy commander leaned already against a pillow on the backrest of her bed. Unconvinced, she proceeded to release the loose bun from the back of the Queen's head and ruffled the roots of her smooth dark hair as they fell down to her waist. Taking a damp silk cloth, she carefully wiped the golden skin of her master's face, lower arms, hands, and legs to refresh her skin. And then, despite running low on time as the Chief would be back any moment now, she took the chance and rushed across the chambers to the collection of intricately created and perfectly aged, perfumed oils. She spilled a couple drops from the lavender bottle into her palm and rubbed her hands together before running to the bedside again. Placing her finger tips behind the Queen's earlobes, she rubbed them in small circles before repeating the same on her neck and the inside of her wrists. Dabbing the leftover oil from her palm over the Queen's chest, she ran her hands roughly over the rest of the robe as well. She then took a step back to study if the love of Chief Dhaliwal's life looked perfect. Still less than satisfied, she went ahead and untied the knot at the waist of the robe.

Prem walked quietly though the garden to not call any unwanted attention to himself at that hour. Arriving at the door of Noor's chambers, he stood surprised as he watched a highly concentrated Charno untie Noor's robe. She repositioned the neckline of the robe to be just slightly lower than it was before, exposing just a little bit more of Noor's full chest and cleavage and tied the knot again.

If Prem was suspicious before that the universe was working overtime to break his resolve of keeping his distance from Noor, he was now sure of it. Amused, he cleared his throat a little to grab Charno's attention.

Charno froze for a second and then gradually turned around with a careful smile on her lips. If she could freely express herself, the word that would leave her mouth in the moment would be "shit."