Bonus one.

Reeling back her fingers into place under the thick duvet filled with feathers, her limbs curled into the abysmal warmth that exuded from the toe up. The ends of her painted toenails fiddling with the thick spine of it, her skin still murmuring with the undone joy of last night. Against the backdrop of her family's misery — finding joy for her own self was a sedated, selfish crime. Yet she seemed to not care. For last night she has soared. Her body still vibrating with the emotions and touches of calloused fingers and palms. That slid over her frame.

Running to her face with an unwarranted pace the blood splattered against her pale cheeks, the tips of her ears heated in a short moment as her eyes closed on their own accord. Shadows of their figures, of his sweaty mouth and hair that brushed against her collarbones. The memory of his lips against her breast as they trailed lower and lower. His fingers leaving behind a trace of unwarranted fire, one that coursed into life through the pits of her abdomen. Fulfilling as he reached out to touch a part that she had always strayed from. A part that he had in a few hours made so used to his presence.

So much so that it throbbed even now with the reminder of how it had felt like when he had penetrated her. The throbs, the teasing tension as he brought his lips against hers. Their salivas mixing until their faces were but an entanglement of their breaths.

Golnar rested a palm against her cheek over the pillow. The weight of which sunk with a delirious softness into the feathers, a strand curling above her forehead. Whilst the rest fell against her pale frame, like a waterfall of the cleanest of soils. Her fingers teemed with a spirit of their own and the other one latched on to the coarse beard of her husband. The tip of her thumb, lightly caressed the curled rustles of it. The wisps biting into her tender skin as she pulled them over his cupid's brow. Resting it lightly against his swollen lips.

Last night had been a night she would not forget. While her husband had been handed over to her with safety, he had lost his entire family in one night. Golnar's heart throbbed in worry already — imagining how he would face his own people today. A day that was to be of merriment had just brought around the downfall of their sworn enemies, and though one would be joyous on other occasion's, she could not help but wish things had been different. That Darab had been given a chance to feel what family felt like.

Lost in the billowy depths of her ever tangling thoughts, and the pulsating rift of emotions inside her chest, she failed to notice the eyes of the man beside her open. Her thumb still brushed against his tan skin in memory, unconscious as it moved over the many littering of scars left behind by accidental cuts during shaves.

A gasp escaped her lips as his warm hand wrapped around her delicate wrist. Tugging her into his chest in one go, their bare chests pressed against one another's as he pressed a hand to the side of her face, tucking the thick messy strands of her hair behind her ear. His hand brushing the unmarred skin with undue softness. Darab's eyes — the colour of a starry night took in her docile form, her doe eyes that were pulled far too wide as they stared into his. He could only smile with half his mouth. Sliding a hand underneath her chin, lifting it until his lips just brushed against hers.

Their close proximity intensified the scent of her lemon soap. Her warm breath against his throat, and the pulses of her strong heart against his thick torso. Sweet, rapturous torture. Throwing a hand around her waist, his fingers traced circles into the flesh of her hip, his lips tracing each curve of her face. Golnar's breath hitched as he bit on to the skin of her lower lip. Tracing the dark blush that lingered across the apples of her cheeks.

"Haje vi sharma rae o soneyo?" He chuckled.
[You're still shying away my beloved?]

Darab's voice was thick with sleep and husky like the harsh winds of Naazimgarh during the winter. His casual, sleep induced murmur chopped her skin and matched the seduction of his hands over her. The sounds of his soft chuckle, were manly and muted against the gentle buzzing of the winds outside. Golnar's body flushed at the impact of his hands and the hums of his seductive lulling only made it worse for her.

"Na karein!" She sighed.
[Don't do it!]

Trapped all of a sudden between his hands and chest, pushed into the thick mattress with his frame towering over hers. Golnar shook like a leaf. His hands traced her jaw and his mouth followed suit, the weight of his chest against hers weighing her down. All of a sudden it was too much of him. His scent burned into her nostrils and his hands tempered her flesh gently, simpering her as his thick frame filled the space between the curve of her thighs. His mouth that was everywhere. His eyes that were staring at the parts of her most devious insecurities.

All of it, each of it ; Golnar wanted to stay and melt and yet the soft buzzing of her alarm underneath her pillow reminded her she could not. Duty — and breakfast called.

"Chorein Darab!" She mustered up what little authority she could, pressing her palms over his broad, sculpted chest.
[Let go Darab!]

"Ustani sahiba aeda vi zulm na karo meray tay."
[Miss professor do not be so cruel with me.]

"K-kia zulm?"
[W-what cruelty?]

"Aeday haseen lago te fir ae kavo ke tuanun jaan davan," he replied, pulling her up with him until she was nestled on to his lap, his hands around her waist and face hidden in the entanglements of her hair.
[Looking so beautiful and then asking me to let you go.]

His fingers brushed her shoulders, running soft circles into them before he loosely gathered her hair, smoothing them out with his hands. They dipped into the soft silky flow of her strands, gently tugging at the knots inside of her hair lest he tug to hard against her scalp. His lips pressed occasionally kisses into her shoulders as he watched her press herself against his front, the harshness of her posture softening as he continued to twirl her hair against his finger. Running up and down her arms, his hands kept busy and his chin dropped into the junction of her neck and arm, his beard pressed against her skin and his lips against the underside of her jaw.

"Aj jaan de reya aan, ainda to nai." He murmured, letting go of his hold against her frame.
[Today I am letting you go, never again.]

Stumbling her way from under the sheets, she threw a soft thank you in his direction before dashing into the large en-suite.

Golnar stepped out of their bedroom dressed in a thick embroidered cotton kameez. The plain black fabric covered her frame and the white embroidery matched the jasmines outside in their gardens, the sleeves flared to her wrist bone and the thin lace failed to hide her glass bangles that danced around her bony frame. The chandelier jhumka's with their dull silver make grazed her side burns, and the khussa's done in tilla work gave way to the anklets she wore against them. Her hair coiling loosely behind her in soft ringlets, the veil spread across her neck strategically, to keep from sight the purple bruises that lined her breast bone, and the neckline that slipped lower due to it's depth.

Passing the workers on her way bright smiles, Golnar beamed at the sight of Agha ji, who seemed to be involved in a deep conversation with Darab's trusted servant — Majjo. The home seemed to be full of a new found peace she noted, the clocks were ticking better and even the greenery seemed far more full of life than it had done since the day she stepped into the haveli as a married woman. At the thought, Golnar froze on the marble steps. Her eyes softly traced the figure of her wedding ring, twisting it she felt the coolness against her warm hands. The ends of her lips unknowingly slipped into a vibrant smile, one that melted into a blush the shade of blood red as she caught the scent of her husband beside herself.

"Meray varay soch kar paglan wangae hans rae o?" He spoke into her ear, grasping the ends of her veil into his hand, before sliding that hand into hers. Tugging her to himself, shoulder to shoulder.
[Are you smiling like craze thinking of me?]

"Khush fehmi hai ap ki." Golnar stated blankly.
[It is your sweet misunderstanding.]

"Aho jiyan khush fehmian te menu qabool nai."
[Such misunderstandings are acceptable for me.]