The giant, stone-cold palace of Raipur had been devoid of the happiness of a child's birth since Rudra Narayan. The young prince was the last to toddle the hard corridors of the palace, filling the void with his priceless princely giggles, pouring motherly ambrosia into the barren hearts of the Mounis. Rudra was indeed the last one, none married ever since, none gave birth, and as time passed, even though Rudra grew up to be the mighty sacrosanct Satyakirth, somewhere he still remained that little toddler to the elderly Mounis, his childlike antics still remained the same to some extent once he'd be inside the stone cocoon of the palace walls.
He was the heart of the palace, the soul of the kingdom, and the son to all those loyal devoted women who could never bore a child of their own!

That morning too, as the entire palace was busy with the preparations for the upcoming Mahasurjograhan, Satya sat on the monolith pedestal at the middle of the grand palace courtyard, in full theatrical display, busying himself with his old and new fire 'toys'. He had pulled out all the guns from the royal artillery, the big barreled shot guns, the imported automatic ones, the German ones, the red Russians, and then the hunting pistols, the revolvers, all of them, as with meticulous perfection he sat on the rock platform, cleaning them one by one with rapt attention, his bare body shining in the soft morning sun, and his beautiful long curls fluttering artistically in the mild winter breeze tickling his neck and forehead.
Satya flexed his muscles alluringly to remove a naughty lock of hair from his forehead and the sight made Raimoti smile from afar.
The day was different for her, a lot busier and engaging that she had been accustomed of. Raipur was no Calcutta, and the palace was match to the concrete urban Raybahadur palace where she had grown up. There, she was the precious lonely, moody daughter of the rich man, whom everyone would keep their distance from, in fear mostly, but here, in Raipur, she was the beloved RaniMaa, the motherly saviour who had arrived to drench their thirsty souls with love and compassion. And, needless to say, Raimoti was acing it beyond expectations.

"Maa, you called."
Karthik bowed infront, breaking Raimoti's gaze from her precious, as she quickly lowered her eyes and then looked up at him smiling.
Kartik too noticed the slight tint of blush on her cheeks.

"Raja Saheb does that rarely these days." He too looked at his beloved companion, his king and let out a soft sigh.

"What? Playing with guns?"
Raimoti asked, stealing another glance at Satya, completely oblivion to the grand sight his antics had offered to admiring eyes around.

"Yes. He said it's his day off." Karthik smiled.
"That he would do since we were children... he'd call a day off and would just be lost with either guns or crossbows or horses... He says it's his way to connect with life."

"Finding himself..." Raimoti sighed and smiled at the same time.
"I understand this Kartik, i once used to write poetries to find myself."

"And now?"
Karthik asked, as the duo walked past the open corridor and entered inside the library where Raimoti had set up her new office.

"Now?" Raimoti smiled, "now I don't need poetries to find myself Karthik, for i find myself in everything that surrounds me." She closed her eyes and pulled the loose end of her saree to cover her bare shoulder.
"I find myself in the song of the birds that sings on the palace window, I find myself in the first hymn sung for RadhaMadhav, I find myself in those sign language of the Mounis, and I find myself amidst these fat ledgers." She picked out a long blue ledger and handed it to the man. Karthik smiled too.
"Where else would I look son, what else do I have if not these... If not you all!"
Raimoti's eyes glistened at her own words, and Karthik lowered his gaze and nodded his head.

"We're lucky to have you Maa... Some good deed, some good work that our ancestors did, that you came to save us in our times of need."

"No Karthik, it's quite the opposite. May be my mother did some good in her life, that I'm here today, amidst you brave people." She looked at him and smiled, and the giant man sat down on the floor kneeling infront of her chair.
"You've given a lot to the land son, and today I'm going to ask you for one more."

Karthik bowed his head lower at her words and Raimoti raised her hand to touch his head.

"I want you to marry and father children Karthik... For the kingdom, for our people."

"Maa??" Karthik almost shrieked out, his mouth wide open in terror.
"But Maa... I've vowed to..."

"I know all about your vows... You took them for the king, and now you'll break them for the king."

"But Maa!" He joined his hands at her.

"No buts Karthik, please..." Raimoti held his joined hands and stood up slowly.
"Your Raja Saheb is on a death mission, and i respect his choice, his decision, his sacrifice for the country, the greater good." She sighed, her voice choked with emotion, and Karthik saw a single drop of tear roll down her crimson cheek.
"And, I intend to be by his side when he meets his end, I want to look him in the eye and tell him how proud I am, and that how his sacrifice would be honoured in the decades to come... I want to..." Raimoti couldn't speak anymore, as she quickly hide her face with her hands and clenched her jaws to calm herself down.

"Maa..." Karthik called her gently.

"Karthik, I want you to carry the legacy of the royal family ahead. I want your sons to rule, and then their sons, as the true heir of the kingdom..." She sighed again. "What your Raja Saheb and I won't be able to fulfill, I want you to fill that void... Please son... Don't say no."
Raimoti held her hands up and joined them infront of the man as he promptly rose up from the ground and bowed down at Raimoti's feet.

"Please Maa... Don't request, you order me... And I'll lay my life at your feet a thousand times over. Just tell whom to marry, and I'll do so at once."

Raimoti smiled.
"Turn around. Your bride is right behind."

Karthik gulped once, and then turned his eyes to look behind his shoulder, and for a moment he felt a slight tremor in his heart.

"Mouni, come forward." Raimoti called gently and a lady in the med twenties walked forward and stood beside Karthik, her head held high, his eyes sharp and alert, and she carried a bow across her shoulder.

Raimoti placed a hand on her cheek, cupping it gently.
"When I first saw you, through this very windows, you were riding on your horse, following your king to the battle, and you know what i thought?" She asked and the Mouni narrowed her eyes in a question.

"I thought you to be the goddess of war, the fearsome woman whom the world would bow to." Raimoti held her by her shoulder and looked straight into her eyes.
"You'll be called as Devi from this very day... And, once I'm gone, you'll rule the land as me beside Karthik."

Devi bowed down and touched Raimoti's feet, and so did Karthik, as Rai touched their head fondly and asked them to rise.

"This is for the land, for the kingdom, but I hope you find in your heart to love each other someday... I'll pray for you both, and on the next full moon night, you two would be wedded infront of our holy RadhaMadhav."

Karthik nodded obediently and Devi casted her eyes down, as somehow nineteen years old Raimoti felt a tug of motherly emotions flowing down her eyes effortlessly.

Such was the power of motherhood, such was the power of motherly love!

Raimoti sniffed back a tear and turned to Karthik, as with a gesture Devi left the library at once.

"Now, another small task." She wiped her eyes and winked at the man, a d Karthik looked at her with a confusing frown.
"Fetch me the painkillers I asked you to."

"But, I already did Maa." Karthik spoke up.

"No you didn't." Raimoti raised an eyebrow and smiled.
"The ones you gave me are some green ayurvedic pills, I want to real ones, from your Raja Saheb's medicine bag."

"But... We all take these ayurvedic medicines Maa, these are good, and no side..."

"Come on Karthik, I know what ayurved can do, but right now, I'm in pain, and i need those allopathic painkillers."

"But he keeps his bag locked."
Karthik hesitated and Raimoti flinched her face in pseudo anger and turned her eyes away.

"And, I thought you'd do anything for your mother."

Karthik smiled and bowed again.
"I will Maa... Always, I'll kill for you, I'll die for you..."

"Don't die please... " Raimoti pursed her lips.
"Just the medicines, that's it, my entire body breaks and my head too. And yes, your Raja Saheb shouldn't know."

Karthik smiled. "At once Maa." He turned around, but something in his mind made him turn around.
"I'll obey you. Even if it means stealing painkillers from my king's medicine box... But..."

"But?" Raimoti raised an eyebrow.

"Can you not pursued him to drop this suicide mission! Can you not be with us? Can we not be blessed your royal heirs, true prince and princesses of the land? Can we not be orphans once again!"
The earnestness in his voice was evident and it made Raimoti swallow a hard lump in her throat.

How would she tell him how all these was just a lie! How she wasn't really the true wife of their beloved king... And how she too was dying to live a life with Satya...

Raimoti sighed.
"I respect his decision Karthik, and you should respect mine."

Karthik looked down, as at once he stormed out of the room, leaving Raimoti lost in her thoughts.

The bond that she felt with these grown men and women inside the restricted walls of these queer castle almost equated with the bond that a mother would feel to a child she has birthed...

Such was the power of motherhood!
Such was the string of motherly love!

*******

"Princess..."
Two strong arms clasped her waist from behind, startling her first, and then a soft blush stretched across his cheeks as Raimoti very fondly kept her hands on the bare arms of the king.

"Raja Saheb, there you are..." She smiled, and Satya pulled her closer from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"You know how much you were missed at the meetings today!"

"You tell me!" Satya mouthed the words, resting his chin in place.

"I arranged Karthik's wedding, the coming full moon, and finalised the security details for the Mahasurjograhan offerings, and the girl's school is sanctioned on the..."
Satya planted a kiss on Raimoti's shoulder and she paused at once.
She gestured the two Mounis accompanying her to leave at once, as the warm breath from Satya's attractive sweaty body made her conscious of losing herself to his magnetic charms.

"Why are you so busy Miss Mukherjee? Thinking about everything and everyone but me... The entire day I've been waiting for you, missing you..."

Satya whispered, and Raimoti moved away from his light embrace, turning to face him at once.

"You were waiting for me? I saw you so engrossed with those guns that you missed the morning prayer, and the meeting with your security incharge, and then the peasants."

"I skipped them... Intentionally."
Satya smirked.

"And why?"

"Because I was missing you." He stretched his arms infront inviting her to come closer and Raimoti raised her hands to hold them instead.

"You were missing me and hence you didn't attend those meetings... How is that even a fair logic Raja Saheb?"
She grinned, as Satya found her fingers and pulled them to his lips.

"Don't look for logics in love Miss Mukherjee, I didn't attend those gatherings as I feared I might end up making love to you infront of them."
He shrugged, and his words turned Raimoti completely red at once.

"Issh! Shameless you are."

"Why? Is that only your speciality?"
Satya smirked again.

"Are you calling me shameless?"
Raimoti raised any eyebrow at him, and Satya pulled her by her arm, making her fall on his chest.

"Yes, you're an absolutely shameless woman, my kind of shameless..." He grabbed her right hand and made her touch his toned abdomen, leading her towards the hardness in between his legs.
"See what you've done to me, you shameless woman."

Raimoti gasped out loud, and trembled at the touch, a wild jolt of electricity coursing down her body in every direction, and Satyakirth smirked at her reaction.
"I love this shamelessness Princess... You know why?"

"Why?" Raimoti closed her eyes, feeling his proud manhood, as a soft question escaped her lips.

"Because I'm shameless too... Absolutely shameless in love." He leaned forward to keep his lips on her bare shoulder, making her shiver, as his tongue left a wet blotch on her soft skin.
"I can't think of anything else other than you Rai... The thought of your naked body, that Jasmine scent of yours, your lips, your eyes... I... I just keep thinking about you all day long... Shamelessly..." He glide his hands down Raimoti's arms, feeling her skin, and she loosened her body on his chest and savoured the feeling of his touch with her head reeling with desire.

"I like this version of you Satya..." She murmured, closing her eyes and without another word, Satyakirth picked her up in his arms and walked towards his master bed chamber, leaving the guards at the door bowed behind.

Raimoti was wiggling in his arms, laughing aloud, as tossing her gently on the bed, Satyakirth quickly ran towards the large iron door to latch it from inside.

"Shameless indeed."
Raimoti laughed out, and Satya almost pounced on her on the bed.

"Yes, as I said, absolute shameless in love." He quickly pulled the hem of his dhoti from his waist, unsheathing himself, as he stood up on his knees and folded his hands to his chest, flaunting his proud throbbing masculinity to her feasting eyes.

"Shamelessly proud!" She bit her lower lip, and gulped at the sight.

Satya smirked.
"Just a few more days I have, Miss Mukherjee, and I don't want to regret missing any opportunity of loving you... Every moment spend in this palace, I want it to be yours."

"Really?"
Raimoti tried to sit up, but Satya pushed her gently, making her fall against the soft silky bed.

"You want proof?" He raised an eyebrow, and Raimoti turned her face bashfully, closing her eyes in response.
The playful intensity of the moment had suddenly taken a much serious turn, laced with wild sensuality.

Satya growled like a hungry lion, as with a matched ferocity he pinned Raimoti's hands beside her face and started to devour the nectar off her skin, his mouth biting and swallowing the crook of her neck, trailing down mercilessly to her breasts. He ran his tongue on the light brown nubs on her breasts and smiled as they hardened under his ministration. Satya rolled them in his mouth and pulled them between his teeth gently, his hands rubbing in between her legs over the saree in merciless seduction.

"Ahh... It hurts..."
Raimoti moaned, as Satya tore open the saree covering her heaved bosoms, and he narrowed his eyes at once.

"Hurts? Where?"
He asked her, his tone a little mellowed and Raimoti freed her wrists from his grip and overthrew him on the bed, now climbing up on his chest herself.

"Everywhere Satya... From head to toe, each and every cell... Everything hurts..."
She hushed the words seductively in his ears and Satyakirth smirked at her words.

"Ah... That...! I thought it really hurts." He smiled and lifted his head to steal a kiss from her lips. Raimoti bit his lip in return.

"It really hurts Satya... My entire body pains... Specially..."
She paused, and Satya narrowed his eyes.

"Specially?"
He asked and Raimoti gestured towards her breasts, now naked under his gaze, and Satya toppled her on the bed and half hovered on her.

"Here?"
He touched her breasts gently and pressed, and Raimoti writhed in pain, yet arching her back for more.

"Is it really paining that bad, or you want to me to press you more?" He winked at her naughtily.
"You're making the diagnosis hard Miss Mukherjee."

"Both... Both Satya... It pains yet it want it more..." She moaned out the answer and Satya applied a little pressure on her softness making her cry out in pain.

"Where else does it pain?"
His voice was suddenly softer, more serious, and Raimoti opened her eyes at look at him.

"Why? Is this bad?" She asked, her fingers playing with the soft dark curls falling on his forehead and Satyakirth sat up on the bed and pulled her on his lap.

"Answer me Princess, does it pain anywhere else?"

"No... Just there, and, and I have headaches, I feel, well, a little breathless... And..."

"And?" Satya's voice had a hint of curious restlessness and it made Raimoti narrow her eyes further.

"It is bad? It something wrong with me?"
She asked, and Satya picked up her wrist and timed her throbbing pulse.

"When did you last bleed Rai?" He asked, and Raimoti frowned.

"Why do you ask?"
Her voice suddenly had a tinge of fear and Satya let go of her wrist and touched her forehead instead.

"Just tell me love... When did it happen?"

"When... When I was in Calcutta, before... before we hit the road."
She swallowed hard, and a frown appeared on Satya's face.
How could he be so careless...
Being a doctor, how could he...

He let a loud sigh and covered the naked upper half of Raimoti's bare body with the crumpled end of her saree, as he himself picked up the dhoti that lay discarded on the bed.

"Get up Miss Mukherjee, we need to go somewhere." He got down from the bed and started the wrap the dhoti around his waist.

"Where?" Raimoti pressed the saree to her breasts and asked fearfully.

"The royal infirmary."

"Infirmary? Why?" Raimoti gulped, and smiled tenderly at her.

"Don't worry. I think you are fine, nothing major happened... But, let's not waste anymore time."

"Why? What do you mean?" Raimoti covered herself and got down from the bed slowly, and Satya held her hand and planted a kiss on her knuckles.

"I mean, there's a cost to everything Princess, even when someone loves freely, without any barrier, without holding back... And, I don't want you to pay the price of our love alone."

"Price?"
Raimoti shuddered at his words, as a sharp realisation shook her, making her knees tremble.
"Do you think... I... I might be preg... " She swallowed, unable to complete her words, and Satya pulled her to his chest and kissed her on her forehead.

"I don't think so... but even if you are, I'll take care of it..."

Take care of it?
The words rang in Raimoti's ears as she felt Satya's lips tracing a kiss on her ear.
And suddenly the entire world seem to be fading infront of her eyes... the man standing infront, the palace of Raipur, her house in Calcutta, her father's face, all fading away and then came flooding to her eyes like a quick flash of light.
Raimoti felt nauseous.

"Don't worry Princess... I won't let anything bad happen to you." Satyakirth whispered.

..................................................

Dear readers,
Don't forget to vote and comment. For that's the only expectation that I have from you. The only motivation for me to go on writing.
You might have noticed I have stopped posting frequently. This is definitely because of lack of time, but mostly lack of motivation.
I hardly read meaningful comments these days, and the votes are very very less...
For 900 reads just 140 odd votes!!
Imagine the ratio.

I have so much to write, Satya and Rai still has so many layers to cross in their relationships...
Then comes Mira and her dilemma. Batuk and his impulsive emotions... And ofcourse Anirudh and bondita.

So, please let me know if you are still reading this, and if you'd really want me to continue.
Else, I might just end it fast. I'm too tired of posting these sad massages.