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Dhriti's POV:
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It had been a week since my altercationwith prince Asur, a peaceful mundane week, but a welcomed one. A break that I needed away from all the madness back home.

Hastinapur was a beautiful place, there was no doubt about it. Some of the sweetest people I ever met resided here.

But like everything nothing was perfect here. Not the people, not the place, no one.

The air here was sour with grief, that hung like a pungent odor. It clung to every soul, rooting deeply in one's heart. A silent agony that most shared.

No one really talked about the person they mourned, but it was there, an open wound that was festering with time.

Its agony reflected in the eyes of the three princes. Its pain echoed in Rajmata Kunti's laughter, and the melancholy that curved on Queen Gandhari's lips.

Thick in the hearts of the Kuruvanshi's resided hurt, so deep that crippled them everyday. It was palpable in their expressions and their words-

"Dhriti."

Rajmata Kunti's words had me reeling back to the reality, a smile found its way on my lips, as did the warmth that a child only ever felt for their mother.

I looked up from the parchments that were scattered over the larger oak table, and up at her warm smiling face.

Always smiling, it was one of the many traits that I loved a lot about her. She always smiled. Regardless of the situation, and with an affection that only ever a mother could possess.

"May I come in my child?"

Softness rang through her words, she was one of the few people that were inherently good.

Smiling stood in the doorway, draped in a cream saree and a matching odhni, with tulsi beads wrapped around her neck.

"A mother is bound to ask permissions Rajmata."

I stood up walking up to her, wrapping my arms around her, and that deep seated warmth bloomed in my chest. Her arms encased me in a genuine affectionate embrace.

All the exhaustion of the day melted away, Rajmata Kunti gave one of the best hugs, and why wouldn't they be best? After all they were a mother's hug.

"How are you doing dear one?"

She asked cupping my cheek in one hand, as she pulled back.

"I am doing really fine. What about you Rajmata?"

"As always I am good."

She stared at me for the longest, a far off look marring her features. As though she had lost herself in the maze of memories. There was affection and warmth in her gaze, but hidden deeply in her dark orbs was also a pain.

A pain that screamed loss, this woman had the wisdom and had seen too many things in today's world.

"What happened?"

My words were soft, she blinked hard as though snapping out of a memory.

"Like I said you remind me so much about Mt daughter that I lost."

Her words hung in the air, a deep rooted pain pulsing from every word. Echoing with a suffering that was too intimate to be shared.

I didn't know what to say? Nothing really surfaced in my mind, except for the fact that the girl was really lucky, it was unfortunate that she no longer walked on this earth, but she was just as much alive.

Unlike me who was a means to an end to her family. A person though alive was nothing more than an empty vessel to her family.

Sadness creeped in my heart, like a overgrown plant vein with thorns sinking in the soft flesh of my heart, tightening with every breath, it bled with emotions too dark to be described by words.

She had lost a daughter, and I never had a mother. Destiny? Perhaps.

"Anyways."

She blinked again, a forced upward curve of lips, that somehow was more heartbreaking than the forlorn look.

"As I was saying, I need a small favor from you dear one. "

"Order away Rajmata."

She smiled, my heart broke. This sweet woman didn't deserve this pain. I really wished from my very last fiber that maybe, somehow I could take her pain away.

"I want you to clean a room, it belongs to my daughter in law. I usually clean it, but today I am really really exhausted. And my son's get really furious if it is anyone else entering in that room. No one is agreeing to step in that room, I know its not fair to-"

I cut her up, giving her a reassuring smile. Stress lined on her forehead, this was truly weighing her down.

"Rajmata. You have welcomed me like a daughter in this palace. I would gladly do this for you."

I told her with as much honesty as possible. And how difficult could cleaning a room be?

The relief on her face was palpable. The grief lightened a bit on her features, it truly lit up with happiness, completely changing her demeanor.

"Oh you are such a blessing Drau-"

She stammered, the grief that had fled momentarily returned with a vengeance. And that soft smile on her lips crumpled, it wavered precariously though she attempted to smile through that crushing pain.

It weighed her down like dead weight. Rajmata Kunti was hurting, just like all the people in this palace were.

And for some unfathomable reason, their pain tormented me. I was a practical stranger, but it didn't feel like I was one. After all family wasn't always blood, I would know this better than anyone.

"Be blessed. The room is in the pandavas palace, a maid shall guide you." Misery rang in her words, turning away the mother to all walked away, grief shadowing her, its steps echoing with a deafining silence.

It was heart breaking and soul shattering. A husk of a motherhood, that mourned a child she didn't even birth, Kunti was the embodiment that motherhood is never fabricated with blood, but weaved with emotions and love. . .

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If I though that the palace of Hastinapur was veiled in grief, the pandavas palace was drowning in it.

Sinking in the depths of darkness, that clung like fungus that battled to multiply, and grow. To take root in the hearts of those residing in the walls, it was insidious. Sinister.

Like a poison rotting everyone's happiness from within, till their lives failed. And there was left nothing but the husk of one's old self.

Couldn't they see what this grief was doing to them?

Walking down the elegant palace, I wondered just how many memories this palace had of the lost princess Draupadi.

"This is where Emperor Yudhisthir lived with his brothers and their common wife." Ira, the maid who was kind enough to guide me here explained.

"Was this place always this..." I didn't know how to describe it. "Empty?" I finally settled for it.

That's how it felt, like the soul of this very place had abandoned it.

Ira turned to look at me, her dark eyes glinting with a sadness. "No, the pandavas were never what they are today. Abrupt. Furious all the time and..." She paused, as though looking for the right word.

"Distant. Yes, that is the word. They are more distant somehow. Losing Draupadi cut them deep, shattered them, it is their family what is keeping them going."

"How did she die?" I whispered, it made no sense, a woman this loved and her husbands' this mighty warriors, how could she die?

"A cruel monster snatched her away from the princes. This palace of Hastinapur is weaved with lies, and tainted with agony. Cursed to suffer..."

Her words got more ominous, dipping and rising with fear, those dark orbs when they turned around me were round with a horror that had my stomach in knots.

"He will never let this place be happy. As long as he doesn't find Draupadi. He never would..."

With those last words, she turned away and ran, as though the devil was tailing her. My heart hammered erratically, making it skip a beat with every passing second.

"Ira!"

I called after her, but she was long gone. Strange girl. . .

Shaking my head, I turned to the door ahead of me. The entrance to the princess' room greeted me, and that same sense deja-vu washed over me.

This was getting stranger and stranger. Pressing my palms against the hardwood I pushed it within. The doors creaked open.

The room was probably the largest room that I have ever seen in my life. Visions circled my mind, a shadow of a woman reading, writing, talking and laughing, she was everywhere at once.

It felt like I had walked in this place, talked to people. My heart kickstarted hammering at its neckbreaking speed.

Confusion and uncertainty curtained my mind. Questions tormented my mind, how , what and when were the most prominent.

Walking in the room, had emotions slamming in my heart. This room didn't feel like it belonged to dead woman, but to a very much alive girl.

Like she still walked this place with us. Her odhni sat on the back of a chair, jewelleries half falling out of it's box, like the princess had got ready and forgot to shut the box.

Her golden vermillion box was still open. Like she just put it on. And a thick book lay open on her table, as though she was reading and had to go out.

She was everywhere. Even though she was no where.

My feet came to a sudden halt, the floor under me gave away. It seemed like suddenly someone had snatched the ground from under my feet, and I was just free falling. Tumbling down in the dark depths of confusion as I gazed at the huge portrait that hung behind the wall of her bed.

A portrait of five men and a woman. That wasn't what shocked me, but it was the woman in that picture, she looked exactly like me.

Not like the disguise that I opted for, but the real me. The princess of Viratgadh, was a look a like of Draupadi. Or was I?

Thoughts warred in my mind, three years is all I remember of my life, three years is what the woman ahead of me has been dead for. The five men in my dream...

Could I be....

No no no no!

The princess was burned to death. I have heard about her stories.

But her body was never found.

That rotten part of my conscious pointed out. But my father, my family they wouldn't lie to me, would they?

But they never treated you like family. . .

Shut up! No there was no way I was Draupadi. . .

But what if. . .

Could I be the woman this family is mourning? Could I be this loved? Was my entire life a lie? If yes, than why did my father- no- the king of Viratgadh lie about me being his daughter?

And who really was the monster who killed Draupadi? Questions roared in my mind, anxiety infested in my chest, as wetness trailed down my cheeks.

What was happening lord? Who was I?

Fear gutted me. The possibilities scared me. Terrified me. Oh god.

Draupadi has to be my look a like.

My hold on the spell loosened, as my disguise shattered. I gazed in the mirror that stood in the side, the woman who stared back at me, was exactly the same one in the portrait.

Only she was dressed elegantly, smiling, shyness dusted her cheeks. Draped in beautiful scarlet wedding lehnga and decked in heaviest of jewelery she looked like a goddess who had descended on the earth, and the five man around her were the happiest.

The three princes that I met so far were a shell of a man, of who they had been in this portrait.

I turned towards the mirror, the empress of Aryavart gazed back at me. I looked exactly like her. I was Draupadi's look alike. But what if I wasn't. . .

"Drau?"

The words were barely whispered, shock rang through the masculine voice along with what sounded like was hope. A budding fluttering hope.

My gaze clashed with the flabbergasted hazel orbs through the mirror. They were wide with disbelief. Tears flooded in his scarlet eyes that were swollen, it looked that this man had cried not long ago.

The man was dressed in the darkest of clothes, her eyes moved to the portrait, at the smiling prince whose face was vibrant with joy, this same hazel eyed prince, that were lit with excitement, holding a bow in one hand and another around his wife, was so much different than the one who stood in the doorway.

"Drau."

The man breathed again, his dark angvastr that seemed like the night had gifted him, along with a matching silk dhoti amplified his rugged handsomeness.

Dark platinum jewelry just added to his charms. The man was a devastating concoction of power and fury, like all the darkness in the world was absorbed by him.

"Drau." His voice was firmer and faster than I could process, he erased the distance between us, his arms wrapping around my arms, he swirled me around to face him.

A zillion emotions zapped through his features, but the most prominent one was love.

It floored me, I knew this emotions weren't for me, they were for his wife, but in that moment I couldn't help myself.

My throat dried, clogging with emotions. Pain arose in my heart, longing tugging me closer to him, and for that one moment I forgot everything.

All I could see were his beautiful hazel orbs, that gazed at me like I was his universe. "Please don't cry." My words wobbled, reaching up to wipe the tears on his cheeks.

"Drau."

It was all he could say, that one had more emotions than I could ever interpret. Tears ran down his cheeks, his arms tugged me ahead, crushing me in a fierce embrace.

"Oh Drau. I missed you. I missed you so much. Please please please don't leave me Drau. I can never live without you, I'll die princess, I will die."

Agony seared in every word, he sobbed his heart out. Breaking with every tear and every word, my heart shattered for this man, for this stranger who didn't feel like a stranger at all.

I yearned for him, my heart thrashed to ease his pain, to reassure him. He pulled back, gazing down at me, tears soaking his face.

Those hazel orbs captured mine, gazing at me with numerous questions. But like him I had no answers.

And before I could process what was happening, he slammed his mouth against mine, and my soul nearly abandoned my body. He kissed me with a desperation of a dying man, like I was the oxygen he breathed, the passion in his blood, the very reason for his existence.

My heart thundered, my blood sang, weaving a tale of heartache and separation that no words could interpret.  I kissed him like it was my last day, his soul spoke to mine, whispering the aches that we shared.

His lips crushed mine, searing my soul with his, it was like he was kissing my very essence, reaching in to possess my very being.

"I love you. Fuck I love you so much."

He whispered against my lips, biting them hard. The saltiness of his tears crushing my heart, his tears merging with mine.

"Drau. My precious girl. My everything." The reverence and love in his words. "Where have you been?" His voice had confusion but the smile was just so ethereal, like all the joys of the universe had been gifted to him.

"I..."

Words failed me, all I could do was cry. Tears traced down my cheeks, sobs tearing through my lips.

"Shhhh. It's okay. We'll fix everything." His rough warrior hands wiped my tears, the tender caress of his fingers had my heart thumping erratically.

"It is going to be fine." He whispered pressing his lips my forehead, and that soul warming feeling washed over me once again.

I don't know why I was crying. But it felt like something had shattered in me, that something in did had cracked open. And I had no words to say. All I could do was cry.

"Shhhhh."

His arms wrapped around my back and my feet, carrying me bridal style he laid me down on the bed like I was the most precious possession to him.

"Everything is going to be fine princess. I am here with you."

And in those moments, I believed him, I believed that I wasn't alone for the first time in my life, that someone was there with me, that he was there with me.

Laying back on the bed, he pulled me over his chest, his fingers running through my dark tresses.

I lay there for what felt like forever, a calmness that I never felt before rooted in my heart. I felt his breathing ease, gazing up at his sleeping form, I couldn't stop the smile  from unfurling on my lips.

The reality slapped hard. My eyes flying to the portrait above us. He was married to someone, he thought I was his wife.

Which obviously I wasn't, but what if-

NO!

Just no!

I needed to move. I needed to find the truth. Moving out of his arms, I gazed back at the warrior laying on the bed. His face looked so calm and so handsome.

Emptiness slammed hard in my heart, as I walked away from him. My heart wailed that I return, but there were too many questions and I was determined to find the answer to.

The truth of my reality.

The truth of what really happened to Draupadi. . .

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