The Enemy's Daughter

Chapter Nineteen

 The epidemic raged on but now its intensity had abated. It took fewer victims and many lived through it to see another day. Priyadarshini's work was yet not over for she still went out to care for the sick and distribute help to the needy. The hungry had to be fed, the poor had to be clothed and the orphaned had to be cared for. Following her example the king had generously opened the royal treasury for his people and they could not thank their rulers enough. Never had such benevolence rained on them! The devastation caused by the disease would soon be forgotten but the tales of generosity would live on.

After a long day's labor, when the sun was about to sink below the horizon, Priyadarshini wiped her brow and stretched her tired body before returning to the palace. The week which had gone before had been particularly exhausting, taking its toll on her slender figure. Lack of sleep and rest apart, she seldom took the time to savor a meal fully, always being in a hurry to rush to the people queuing up for a dose of the medicine.

Lalita greeted her at the palace gates, clucking her tongue in disapproval as she saw the dark circles under her mistress' eyes. Hollows marked her cheeks and her already slim frame was gaunt and lean. Shaking her head, she spoke in an admonishing tone, "Have you forgotten that it is your birthday, milady? At least today you should have returned early...."

Priyadarshini gave a guilty look. She had forgotten that she was turning eighteen that day.

"Look at you. You look no better than a scarecrow. Is that how you propose to attract your husband, or do you plan to sleep forever in your lonely bed?"

Her cheeks burning with embarrassment, Priyadarshini snapped at her maid. "Stop your complaints, Lalita. Who said that I wish to attract him?" Lalita rolled her eyes heavenwards and shook her head as if wondering at the naivete of her mistress.

The two women proceeded inside the palace, Lalita mumbling under her breath about witless wives who could not see that their husbands were impatient for their company, when the subject of her reproach walked straight into the arms of Harshvardhan, coming from the opposite direction, deep in conversation with his friend Prithviraj.

"What the...." he exclaimed, before realizing who it was. "Steady Princess..." he grasped her arm as she almost slipped on the marble floor. The light from the burning tapers fell on her face, highlighting the blue shadows under her eyes and the leanness of her cheeks. He frowned, excusing himself to his friend and picking her up in his arms. "You go ahead, my friend, and do as we planned for the new road to our outpost. I have more important things to see to here."

Prithviraj grinned, then winking suggestively at his friend, walked away, while Harshvardhan strode towards the women's quarters, his wife still nestled in his arms. Some minutes later, he still waited impatiently outside the chamber while the maids washed and readied his wife.

She was lying on the bed, her sheer skirts spread around her, and the flimsiest of the lacy veils covering her face, when he walked in again. Sinking down on the bed beside her and lifting the veil aside, he saw that her eyes were almost closing from weariness.

"Lalita tells me that it is your birthday, my lady," he crooned into her shell-like ear, inhaling the sweet scent of jasmines that rose from her newly washed hair.

"Hmm...." she murmured, snuggling into the pillows, sleep overpowering her senses. He smiled at her kittenish yawn, running his fingers through her still-damp tresses, while she sank into deep oblivion. Lying down beside her, he decided to watch her sleep.

*****

It was sometime near dawn that Priyadarshini raised her heavy lids, stretching her arms above her head. She was startled when her hand touched a warm body. Turning, she was stunned into wakefulness to see Harshvardhan sleeping beside her. His face, relaxed in sleep, had lost the hardness which it usually displayed during the day. A lock of midnight dark hair had fallen on his forehead, lending him a boyish look. At some point in the night, he had taken off most of his clothes and was now wearing the bare minimum, a loincloth. His bronzed body, lying so near her own, sent her heart racing with a feeling which was completely new to her. Her body's reaction to his nearness threw her thoughts into a turmoil and it seemed better to get out of that bed of temptations.