"Lochinvar!"

The night was dark, with only a slice of moon playing hide and seek in the mid-sky, and barring the chirping of the crickets, there wasn't another noise to sheath the loud thudding of Raimoti's heartbeats, and a bloodied corpse of a police constable lay a few feet away.

Raimoti gasped at her own words, her eyes widened at Satyakirth's face in disbelief, as if trying desparately to draw an outline of his silhouette in that darkness.

"You are my... " Raimoti mouthed the words, but couldn't complete, as she pressed the shawl close to her heaving bosoms, frantically trying to calm her palpitating heartbeat, inhaling a known fragnance from it, and Satyakirth sniffed a tear back and nodded.

"I am... Princess..." He tried to smile helplessly.
"Your Lochinvar!"

It's wasn't a shock, but it felt as if someone had shaken her to the reality, yet it felt bleak. It felt as if she was sitting at the bottom of an ocean, with none to pull her to the surface, it felt as if numb, silent! The whole world seemed to have suddenly faded infront of Raimoti's being, and suddenly everything was like an ocean, yet not the ones full of life and colour. And her ocean was a million shades of grey the same as those old-fashioned photographs.

"Raimoti..."
Satyakirth called her, for the second time, and she gulped her thoughts, letting herself surface to the reality.

"How long have you known?"
She was quiet, but her eyes had an earnest urge in them.

"Long enough..." Satya sighed, "You told me yourself about that night, under intoxication, and I tied the ends."

"And why didn't you tell me?"
Raimoti's words were calmer, and Satya felt another kind of sting in his heart.
He knew he atleast owed her these answers.

"I was waiting for the right time."

"The right time?"
Raimoti let out a suppressed yell, as very slowly she got up from the ground, clutching the shawl to her body, and inched closer to him.
"Is now the right time, Satyakirth Sen?"

Satya looked down.
"No... But, tonight I realised if I don't tell you this now, there might not be a next time."

"So you decided to enlighten me..."
Raimoti added, and sighed softly.

"So it's never true... That night, and everything I felt... And everytime I mentioned about that night, and my mystery lover, you probably had just laughed!"
Raimoti's voice quivered once, but the jets of emotions flowing from her eyes were uncontrollable.

"No Rai... Not for a moment."
Satya had pulled her by her arm, making her fall on his strong chest, and the intensity of Raimoti's whimper increased.

"Then what?"
Her voice choked.

"All my life I've dreamt about a free country... I... I have never known, or wished anything for myself... Until you happened..." Satya touched her chin gently and raised her face.
"You scare me Raimoti Mukherjee... You make me dream of a life beyond all these... Beyond my duties... My responsibilities... You make me want to live."

"Then live." Raimoti had parted her lips, only a little, and looking at those quivering red petals, Satyakirth smiled with a profound sadness in his heart.

"I wish I could... But... But, I can't let you sacrifice yourself... Your safety would be my motivation, my last solace."

"I thought we are partners."
Raimoti sobbed, her hands had clutched the back of his shirt, as she clung to his neck, feeling the warmth of his body.

"We are... We always will be... But, this is where we part Princess."

Raimoti suddenly felt Satya's muscles stiffening, and he held her shoulders, pulling her apart from his body.

"Satya, don't do this... I'll die anyway if you leave."

"No, you won't. You are stronger than this, and that's what I love about you Raimoti... That's why I love you!"

The world felt silent for a moment, and that same old feeling of being at the bottom of an ocean, surrounded by bubbles of water crept inside of her, making her feel numb.

"You what?"
Her own voice felt alien to her ears, and her body shook convulsively.

"I love you... Raimoti Mukherjee... " Satyakirth smiled.
"I have loved you for a long time now."

"So this sacrifice is your labour of love?"
Raimoti's words felt mechanical, and her gaze was still, fixated on his face.

"No, it's a promise to meet in the next life..."

Another blaring gunshot at a distance shook the earth and the sky, shaking Satyakirth to his senses, and he looked around restlessly, before inching forward and grabbing Raimoti's statued body tightly in his arms.

"I've to go... Be safe Princess... Be happy... And, your Lochinvar would always love you, in this life and beyond."
His eyes had tears, and he pressed them to let the droplets sieve through his eyelids.
"Goodbye Princess."
Satyakirth lowered his face a little and touched her cold lips with his, but she hadn't parted them, and he didn't forced her to do so as well.
The kiss was deep, one-sided, nothing like that of any romantic novel. It was salty, it was raw, the kind steeped in a passion that ignites. It was the promise of realness, of the primal desire that he had to make her his, the desire to survive for her. And with it he told her that he was alive, connected within, that he too wasn't willing to let go, that he too wasn't prepared...

"Raimoti... Satya..."
Anirudh's concerned voice had unwillingly brought Satyakirth to his crude reality. He had pulled away from Raimoti's lips, letting go of her arms, and yet she stood still, like a cold stone statue, in meditation.

"Anirudh Da, it's time, I've to go."
Satya breathed the words and Anirudh nodded, beside him was Bondita.

"I understand." Anirudh had quickly pulled out the small telegram envelope from his pocket and handed it to him.
"Here, it's unopened."

Satyakirth had grabbed the letter with an urgency, shoving it inside the waistband of his dhoti, and his eyes turned towards Bondita.

"Take care of her Bondita... She's my life."

Bondita's eyes had teared up as well, as she nodded her head promptly and ran towards Raimoti, trying to pull her in her embrace, but Raimoti didn't move.

"Vande Mataram Anirudh Da... May we meet again in a free country."
Satyakirth Sen saluted, touching his forehead with his right palm, and Anirudh felt a lump rising up his throat, choking his words.

"Vande Mataram... May our paths cross again... Till then, I wish my luck be with you."
Anirudh forced a smile and Bondita neared Satya, tying him in a tight hug.

"May you have my luck too, the fruit of all my good deeds if I have any... Vande Mataram."
Bondita was crying and Satyakirth smiled, leaving the duo in each other's arms, and beside them was Raimoti, the love of his life.

Satya had spared a glance at her once, and then he exhaled sharply, turning back at them, as his quick steps made him sprint towards the broken riven bank where his boat was held.
It wasn't far from where Raimoti stood, and taking another quick glance at her, Satyakirth jumped into the river, splashing water, as it's sound made Raimoti stir up, as if awakening her from some deep slumber.

"Bondita..."
She had suddenly turned towards the duo standing beside her, and her voice sounded vacant.

"Let's go Raimoti... Let's pray he is safe, and sound, and..."

Raimoti hadn't let Bondita finish her words.
"Would you ever leave Anirudh Da, or let him go if such a time comes... Where you have to chose between life and duties."
Raimoti's words had a urgency, and Bondita furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at Anirudh.

"Never, I'd never let go of him... His path is my path... We together..."

Raimoti had chuckled, as she turned towards Anirudh and smiled brightly.
"How foolish I've been Anirudh Da... How foolish I've been..."
She murmured softly and stepped backward, one step at a time, and Anirudh frowned.

"Raimoti, don't... don't do anything that you'll regret." His words were a hush, yet Raimoti smiled.

"Exactly, Anirudh Da... I don't want to regret either... Don't you see where my path leads!"

Bondita tried to reach her, but Raimoti hadn't waited. She had turned around, sprinting towards the menacing broken bank of the river, and in the darkness of the night, Satyakirth's small boat was still visible from afar.

Raimoti smiled, and not for once the thought crossed her mind that she had never learnt to swim.

Another loud splash, and as Anirudh and Bondita ran to the bank, they saw a faint sight of Raimoti trying to spread her arms and legs in the water, desparately trying to stay afloat in the water.

Anirudh had pulled his boots open, preparing to jump to, and before he could, his wife held his arms.

"See... " Bondita murmured, smiling, her eyes below, and as Anirudh followed her gaze, and in the scanty moonlight, he saw another figure swimming across the coarse river water, reaching towards her, as in no time, the two bodies became one, one clutching the other, and their joined bodies reached upto the small boat, sailing away at a distance.

"She chose her path Barrister Babu, as I've chosen mine..."
Bondita murmured, her head now rested on her husband's firm chest, both breathing a sigh of relief, their lips curled into a smile of contentment.

"Let's wish them success to bring freedom to our land, and in the meanwhile, we'll have to ensure that once the land is really free, we, the people understand the true connotation of that freedom."

Bondita closed her eyes and inhaled his musk once again.

"We'll." She murmured.

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

All that was visible of the boat was the blue rim a few inches above the water line. No-one could be seen inside but from the up-ended oars one could easily assume there was someone sleeping inside, keeping the boat weighed down instead of bobbing on the waves.
But, instead of one, there were two... a masculine figure half hovered on a petite feminine frame, their lips pressed together, and their arms intertwined.

"Why did you do it?"
Satyakirth's voice was trembling, his hands had cupped Raimoti's moistened face tenderly, as the latter coughed up some water and smiled at him.

"Because your path is my path... We're partners in crime... Remember?"
She whispered the words, and it made him pressed his lips against her forehead in a fevered urgency.

"If you live, I'll live, if you die, we die together, Satyakirth Sen... There is no other way round... Plus I have questions for you..."
Raimoti's frail tired hands had moved up to reach Satya's head, and her fingers brushed through the back of his hair, grabbing them in a tender yet tight grip, her lips were reflecting a naughty smirk.
"And next time if you plan to leave me like this, I'm going to kill you myself... Even before you could get yourself killed... Clear?"

Satya gulped, and the pressed his lips, letting the taste of his own tears sink into his month.
"Crystal Clear!"

Satyakirth was smiling, and his green orbs had trailed down to her slightly parted lips, smiling at him. There was something eternal about those lips of hers, as much as those eyes, for they too were a passing point of soulful communications, and Satyakirth somehow knew that there was no way out... That now his life was hers, and his lips were to claim hers forever.

"What now?" Raimoti murmured, her eyes were smiling too, and Satya held her closer.

"We're sailing to Raipur... As per the telegram, the new British officer has caused a change in every bit of our plan now..." He traced an outline of her face with his fingers and hushed again.
"We'll stay in my castle till the next communication... And then, to Chattagram."

"Can't wait."
Raimoti gulped in need, making Satya smile.
His lips had lowered down on hers, and she smiled too, only this time, her lips had parted automatically, letting him venture inside the depths of her being, his tongue dancing with hers, his hands caressing her arms with a soothing tenderness.

"I love you Rai... " He breathed, and she pulled him yet closer, deepening the kiss to the next level of passionate urgency.

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

Let me know how this was!!
Yet another chapter close to my heart.
How many Satya-Rai shippers are there?

Do vote and comment. ❤️

So much that I love to read all your inline comments, but for this chapter, i would be waiting to read how you're feeling overall, after reading it.

And.... I'm done writing the next chapter, but will post only after I get my due followers, I feel like I'm stuck on q number forever!!!
And, ofcourse votes on these last two chapters.
Hurry up guys... Don't you wanna know what Mira and Batuk is going through in Tulsipur the same night??