𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 | 𝟏𝟖+

𝟏𝟔.Snakes around Thrones

･:*࿔.ೃ⋆❀˚༺☆༻°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Aakarsh POV

She flinches, and I can't stop the flicker of a smirk that rises in my chest, fast, sharp, alive.

God, she's changing me. Completely. I feel it in every nerve—my old, perfect self, the controlled, untouchable Aakarsh, the one who never loses, never loses control... I just want to throw him out the window. Just for her.

She makes me snap in ways I've never—never—snapped before. I feel words on my tongue that aren't mine, thoughts I'd usually cage, morals I hold like shields... all crashing down because of her. She twists me, pulls me into this raw, reckless dimension where I don't recognize myself—and I don't even care. Not fully.

I've never spoken like this, never thought like this, never let anyone—anyone—see this side of me. But with her, it's different. She makes me different. Something dangerous, something impatient, something... un-Aakarsh.

And yet—I must remember. I should keep my morals, my boundaries, my code. No woman near me. No woman. Including her.

Argh.

But my plan... my god, my plan requires this. I have to make her agree—yes, agree—to go with me. To Jaipur. On a roadtrip. Alone.

Why? Because only she... only she can make the mundane feel like fire. Because only with her can I burn all the rules, all the routines, all the perfect, sterile self I've built... and survive it.

I have something planned for the dear Singhania parcel.

I glance at her, sharp eyes locked on the two naags, her glare fierce, deadly—as if she was their nagin. Maybe she could be... but do I care?

The venom she spits at me, though... she's more poisonous than them. Far more dangerous. And yet, intoxicating.

"Why are you doing this?" she hisses, and I can't help the low chuckle that escapes me.

She's shivering in my hold—maybe it's my touch grazing her bare arm, sliding along her waist, or maybe it's the effect of the snake nearby. Or maybe... maybe it's just me.

"What am I doing, sweet Daisy?" I murmur, letting the words hover, teasing, deliberate.

One thing these two days have made painfully clear... she is fragile. Delicate. The way she laughs, the way she giggles with people, how she leans to understand them, cares for their perspectives... she's nothing like the fierce, untouchable mask she shows the world.

She's not what anyone else thinks she is. And god... that makes her entirely, devastatingly... herself.

The fierce, hard facade she wears... she makes everyone believe she's steel, a robot who's killed every trace of softness, every flicker of emotion. But no.

Beneath that fire, that blaze that burns everyone at first glance... beneath it lies a girl so soft, so charming, so achingly delicate, that the world never bothered to recognize her.

The innocence... the one Singhania tried to erase, tried to bury... I've seen through it. I've seen her.

Maybe I started noticing, started understanding only after she stormed into my life. Maybe I did my research, watched, observed... studied her like some puzzle I couldn't resist.

But late is better than never.

And now that I've seen her, truly seen her... there's no going back. I don't want to.

I looked at her flowing hair, dark and silky, and couldn't resist. My hands slid through it, tangling lightly in the strands, making her lift her gaze to mine. For a flicker of a second, her scared, delicate self peeked through... before that infuriating, kissable pout snapped back into a hard, lethal glare.