Ehsaas
The night unfurled its velvety embrace over the grand city of Agra... The towering walls of the Mughal palace stood bathed in moonlight, their ornate carvings whispering tales of conquest, power, and silent hearts that beat beneath the weight of royal duty.
Inside, the corridors stretched like endless rivers of marble, their silence disturbed only by the measured footsteps of the guards. The air was thick with the mingling scents of sandalwood and the faint trace of rose petals crushed beneath hurried feet. The palace was asleep, yet one chamber remained restless.
Jodha Begum sat near the jharokha, where the cool night breeze wove itself around her like an unseen shawl. Her long tresses, freed from the golden pins that had bound them through the day, cascaded over her back in waves dark as the night itself. The veil of a Rajput queen rested upon her head, yet tonight, she did not feel like a queen. She felt like a woman lost in a storm, caught between the walls of duty and the unsettling presence of a man who disturbed the very foundations of her soul.
Shehenshah.
The name itself was a battle upon her lips, one she refused to voice, yet it echoed within her heart like a silent war cry. He was a ruler feared by many, admired by most, yet understood by none. A man of iron will, bound to the path of power and supremacy, and she...a woman of fire, a force neither caged nor subdued. They were opposites in every sense, and yet, fate had written their names in the same breath, binding them in a bond neither had chosen nor accepted
Tonight, however, her mind was not preoccupied with their ceaseless battles. It was haunted by a different kind of turmoil - the one that came when a truth too dangerous to acknowledge made its presence known.
A quiet knock against the wooden frame of the door broke her thoughts. She did not need to turn to recognize the presence. The air itself seemed to change, as if bending to acknowledge the authority of the man who stood behind her.
She did not turn.
“Do you always wander in the night, Jodha Begum?” His voice was deep, the smooth cadence of it laced with something unreadable.
She traced the patterns on the stone railing with the tip of her fingers. “Perhaps the night calls to those who do not belong to the day”
A soft exhale, the kind that wasn’t quite a sigh but carried the weight of an unsaid thought. Jalal took a step forward, though there was still a respectful distance between them. “And do you not belong to the day, Begum Sahiba?”
Jodha smiled, though there was no mirth in it. “A queen belongs to no time, Shehenshah. She exists only where duty commands her”
He studied her for a long moment, his gaze unreadable, his hands clasped behind his back in the familiar stance of a ruler surveying his kingdmo. But tonight, he was not looking at his empire. He was looking at the woman who refused to bow, whose spirit remained unbroken despite everything he had done to make her bend.
“The court was missing you today” he said, his tone lighter now, a subtle shift in his approach. “Even Ruqaiya noticed.”
Jodha turned to him at last, her brows lifting slightly. “Do you say that to flatter me or to amuse yourself?”
A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, the kind that had sent many men trembling before him. But she was no trembling subject.... she was the storm he could never conquer. “Neither. I say it because it is the truth. The court is dull without your defiance”
She let out a quiet laugh, soft as the rustling of leaves. “Then it must be a rather miserable place, for my defiance is all I seem to offer you, Shehenshah”
Jalal took another step closer. The night wind stirred between them, carrying the fragrance of the rose garlands that lined the corridors, as if nature itself held its breath at the space that separated them.
“And yet” he said, his voice softer now “you fascinate me”
Jodha stiffened. Her grip on the railing tightened, the weight of those words far heavier than she wished them to be. “You mistake fascination for conquest, Shehenshah”
Jalal’s gaze darkened, but not in anger. There was something else, something deeper, as though he was looking beyond her words, searching for the truth she refused to admit.
“Do I? ”
She swallowed, but her pride held her ground.
“I know the nature of men like you. You see something you cannot control, and it intrigues you. But intrigue is fleeting, and a queen does not build her world on a moment’s passing whim”
Jalal studied her, his smirk gone now, replaced by something dangerously close to admiration. “And what do you build your world upon, Jodha Begum?”
She turned back to the night, her gaze finding the moon once more.
“On things you would not understand”
A silence stretched between them, thick with unsaid words. The war drums of their arguments were absent tonight, and in their place stood something neither of them had expected.
Understanding
It was not love. No, love was far too simple a word for what simmered between them. It was something else, something unspoken yet undeniable. The weight of shared battles, the quiet respect that had grown between the cracks of their enmity, the realization that, for all their differences, they had found in each other a worthy opponent
Jalal exhaled, shaking his head slightly.
“You are the most infuriating woman I have ever knowwn”
Jodha smiled.
“And you, the most relentless man I have ever met”
A ghost of a chuckle escaped him. “So we are agreed on at least one thing”
She looked at him then, truly looked at him. In the moonlight, his face was not that of the ruthless emperor who had conquered lands and crushed rebellions. He was a man...just a man...standing before her, stripped of his throne and titles, for the first time not demanding and not commanding.
She should not have cared.
And yet, as the wind whispered between them, carrying their unspoken truths into the night, she realized the terrifying truth of it all.
She did.
Jalal stepped back, his unreadable expression returning. “It is late. Even queens need rest”
Jodha turned away before he could see the flicker of hesitation in her eyes. “Shubh Ratri, Shehenshah”
He did not say it back. He simply watched her one last time before turning and walking away, his footsteps echoing through the silent corridors.
And as the night stretched on, beneath the canopy of silver and shadow, ... two hearts beat to the same silent rhythm...caught between duty and something far more dangerous.
Something neither of them was ready to name
Pyaar ka ehsaas?
The moon watchd, a silent witness to the war waged between pride and longing, between the duty that chained them and the fire that refused to die.
Jodha stood unmoving, yet within her, a tempest raged...one she dared not name, one she feared to surrender to. And as Jalal’s footsteps faded into the marble embrace of the palace, she closed her eyes, letting the wind whisper against her skin, carrying with it the ghost of a truth neither of them had the courage to claim.
Some confessions were not spoken
Some confessions were felt
And tonight, in the stillness between them, in the spaces left unfilled...
A confession had already been made!
Mohabbat ka Ehsaas!
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