Chapter 80

Okay, I know you are all waiting for the chapter. And we need to get into the tale...

But before that, a personal disclaimer. This is the first time I am attempting to write such HOT scenes. I have never braved myself to write this sort of work. I don't even know if the feelings I have written here are right or wrong. I write merely from the Power of my Imagination and from what the World of Art has given us to learn from...

Anyway, not keeping you all waiting...let the ball night take the spotlight again!

Chapter One Hundred Forty Four: Returning the Link of a Legacy

As per Lady Anjali's direction to help with the ceremonial cake, Kushi had gone to kitchen in search of Lady Lavanya but on finding the kitchen empty, she had to scour the entire Castle in hopes of finding her friend.

Lady Lavanya was not in the ballroom, or the living room, the dining room or the guest room and Kushi had no choice but to climb the stairs if perchance Lady Lavanya did venture to the upper floor for some reason of her bidding.

"Lady Lavanya?" Kushi called out as she knocked on the door of the Library and peeped in, hoping to not find the one she was trying not to find, but the Library too was empty.

She must have gone in search of me, realized Kushi.

She walked down the silent corridor, calling out Lady Lavanya's name, and was heading for the stairs again, when she noticed the door of Lord Arnav's bedchamber slightly open. She paused.

It was dark within the room it seemed but the shifting flicker of feeble light gave the impression that there was a candle lit within the room.

So there is someone in there, Kushi comprehended, but who? Lord Arnav? Shouldn't he be the central host at the ball? And then the possibility crossed her mind: Lady Lavanya? Could she be in there, come to say goodbye?

She turned her steps and moved towards the door, her hand reaching up to knock on the door.

She knocked but there was no response.

She frowned through her mask, knocked again, and then cautiously peeped through the space, "Lady Lavanya? Are you in there?"

Silence persisted and Kushi was considering whether to enter or leave, when she noticed the candle on the bedside table.

If there is no one inside, then why light a candle? And she pushed the door open a little more so she could enter the room to extinguish the lonely candle.

As she stepped into the room, a cool breeze blew in and she looked to her left to find the huge balcony of the room open, the breeze fluttering the pale curtains and reaching out to play around her gown and the strands of hair at the side of her face that had come loose from her bun with all the dancing she had done.

She looked to the right and noticed the flickering candle was placed on the tiny table such that it was located right before the huge mirror in the room.

She neared the table and bent down towards the candle but suddenly, she thought she had heard a shuffle behind hear and looked up at the mirror.

To her astonishment, a face appeared behind her, tall and handsome in the reflected candle light, as he stood behind her a little distance away, watching her face in the mirror.

Those dark eyes that looked from his mask kept her rooted to the spot and she straightened up slowly, unable to take her eyes off his gaze.

She was so lost in his gaze that she didn't notice him move closer to where she stood until he was standing right behind her and she had felt the heat of his nearing presence on her back though they were still inches away from touching each other.

She had opened her mouth to retort to his action but that was when she saw what he held in his hand through the reflection of the mirror.

He lifted his hands and brought it before her face, the fire of the candle flashing on the tiny gold heart that hung from the thin golden necklace.

It was her necklace, the one she had presumed to be lost but here it was……..with him.

She looked from the necklace hovering before her to the face of the man reflected on the mirror.

He was watching her every expression and she could only stare back at him through the muddle of curious thoughts in her mind until she felt the cold metal touch her skin as he was gently brought the necklace around her neck.

She closed her eyes as she felt his warm fingers move at the back of her neck, sending wild shivers down her body, but his quick fingers had already fastened the clasp of the necklace and then she could not feel his fingers anymore.

(It is unwise to intrude into the slow narration of this scene, I admit, but it must be noted that at this precise point, from where she was kneeling in a dark cave with closed eyes, the Lady in the Dark Hood opened her eyes and though the hood cast its shadow on her face, keeping her eyes hidden, the moonlight fell on the lower part of her pale white face and she was smirking with a strange glint in her faraway gaze).

Kushi opened her eyes, expecting to find him having gone, but she was surprised to find him still there, his face above her shoulder, watching her.

Her lips parted in the attempt to ask him something but when she saw his gaze slide to catch that slight movement of her lips, words failed and she felt her heartbeat race from the way he was gazing hungrily at her lips.

Lord Arnav swallowed to wet his suddenly-parched throat. When he had danced with her in the ballroom with millions of candles casting their light upon her, he had not felt as aroused as he was feeling now, watching her innocent beauty glow by the tenderness of that single candle before her………….

Finding the courage to gaze at him only from the corner of her eyes, she looked over her shoulder and that undid his will.

She was standing so close to him and the setting made it even more harder for him to remain unflustered.

And when she remained that way, with the candlelight caressing its golden touch on her rich black hair.……..her eyes and her red lips glimmering in the touch of the moonlight that seeped from the open balcony behind him……..

Even in the darkness, she could feel him weaken beside her. She looked back at the mirror, losing the strength to look at him.

But the very next moment, her breath hitched when she felt his fingers on her neck again, one curious finger lazily running along the necklace, sliding lightly on her tender skin.

Then before she knew what was happening, he leaned down and with his eyes still capturing hers in the mirror, he kissed the back of her neck on her necklace.

She gasped and closed her eyes, feeling fire on her neck that weakened her and then, before she had recovered from it, he had kissed her neck again, moving slowly with his short uncertain kisses along her shoulder.

Her lips trembled and she felt her legs become unsteady but, all of a sudden, his arm was around her to keep her steady and she opened her eyes to find the hand of that arm gently pressing on her waist, as though it were cradling her womb……..….

His seductive kisses had not ended for now he was exploring her other shoulder.

Kushi's hands moved backwards and her fingers clenched into his sides, and she leaned into his hard chest, unable to bear the torture.

The smell of his hair and of his mouth was all she could be aware of and she moaned uncontrollably with each kiss.

When she had dug her fingers into his side, he groaned against her neck with delight and then his kisses were deeper and more confident.

He kissed the crook of her neck and she gasped and stared at the wall, feeling dizzy with awakened passion.

She could not understand what was happening to her or if what was happening was real. Never had she felt so awakened like she was feeling then. Never had a man touched her the way she was being touched by him. She felt her body melt as she leaned against him and though the skin on her shoulders burnt with each of his kisses, she didn't want the burning to stop. Probably because her mind was wrapped up in a fog and she could not think straight. All she could feel was fire.

Suddenly another cold breeze blew into the room and the flickering candlelight was doused, plunging the room into darkness and earning a fresh gasp from Kushi.

She turned around and pressed her face against his safe chest, her hands grappling nervously at his collar.

She breathed against his neck and he shuddered within. She was making it harder for him by every minute.

He brought his hands to her shoulder and one hand travelled up to her chin, lifting her face to look up at him.

She had had her eyes closed but when her face was lifted, she opened her eyes and her heartbeat froze on seeing how dark and hungry his bewitching eyes looked in the moonlight that was filtering into the room.

She breathed in and then felt his warm breath on her lips. She closed her eyes, feeling weak again and losing sense of everything. She felt him gently press her backwards and the cold wall would not allow her to budge anywhere but towards him.

She looked at him hesitantly.

Her face in the moonlight, even with that mask on, had a spell upon his sanity.

He leaned in, hungrily, and kissed her neck.

She moaned, feeling dizzy again in the aftermath of his burning kiss.

He kissed her slowly, his mask brushing against her chin and neck as he explored her neck leisurely.

In her attempts to think through the fog in her mind, she realized why she felt so weak: the heat on his tongue was terrible. It was not human to have a tongue so scorching as the one that she had felt occasionally as he kissed her neck. She gasped and exhaled and tried to not panic and then slowly, she slipped into a longing to have more of the fire she was being numbed by.

She wasn't aware of her hands reaching up and her fingers running through his soft thick hair. This time he moaned against her neck and he pushed her harder against the wall, kissing her neck with renewed hunger.

Her legs felt so weak, she would have slipped to the floor if his arms hadn't been around her, pressing on her back, crushing her against him.

And then his mouth was travelling up her neck, along her chin and then slipping close to her lips.

One more second and he would have possessed her temptingly parted lips but just then a voice called out from somewhere near the stairs outside, "Kushi?"

Kushi gasped in shock and opening her eyes, stared blankly at the ceiling as the intoxicated fog in her mind vanished.

Lord Arnav paused, his eyes-wide in astonishment, as realization slammed into his reviving senses.

Suddenly, he stepped away from her, disbelievingly staring at her.

She stared at him, trembling in her hands and legs as she tried to comprehend what had ensued.

Lord Arnav slid into the darkness and Kushi hugged her arms around herself, afraid of the dark but more afraid of the perplexing things that know staggered her reasoning. What had happened to her? What had happened to him? What had they been doing………..

Tears flowed down her cheeks and then she looked up and saw him before her again and the moonlight shone on his cold face. There was no lost look in his eyes. They were doused in cold distrust.

"What have you done?" he demanded in a low icy voice.

She stared at him, appalled by the absurdity of the question but too shocked to answer.

Her neck burned and she doubted if she would find voice if she were to try and answer him.

"This is all your fault," he hissed at her face, "You always seek to mess with my head!"

Shocked tears flowed down her face and she still was unable to speak. She tried to gulp but she winced for her neck still felt scorched.

She inhaled hard.

"How dare you weaken my-" he had begun but then her fingers had reached for her neck and his eyes were diverted to notice the movement. His gaze fell on her neck and his furious expression turned to one of bewilderment.

There were marks on her skin and the moonlight from the window made them violently prominent even with the room swathed in darkness.

Kushi's fumbling fingers felt the heat on her neck but her gaze was on his face and she caught the change of emotion that had come over his face.

Panicking, she managed to move aside and found herself looking into the mirror. She brushed her inspecting fingers over her neck as she squinted into the mirror in the darkness.

And suddenly she paled and stared at him, her tears frozen in her eyes, "What-"

She looked back in the mirror to make sure she wasn't imagining it with all the mad things running in her emotional mind. But no, she was certain, the red marks were definite and clear.

She looked at him, "What is-" And then she saw how he seemed to be startled too. Or was that worry on his face?

She was too shaken and angry to think but instantaneously a memory crossed her mind when her sister had remarked about marks on her neck. It was an incident after that forest scare she had had one night. And he was there on that night……..……

She looked at him, feeling the remaining walls of her strength crumble, and her voice came in a shocked whisper, "You--you've done this before……...you did it to me in the forest…...it was YOU!"

Tears still streamed down her eyes. She felt chocked in her throat and spoke no more.

His hand reached towards her, "Kushi," he began, his eyes still on what he had let appear on her neck but she stepped away from him.

And then with a tug she let her long hair fall open to frame her face such that her neck would not be easily perceived by others.

Then without giving him a glance, even when he reached out to her a second time, she rushed out of the room and ran for the stairs, not seeing the woeful woman who stood with closed eyes, against the wall near the room Kushi had run out from.