To Love A Murderer | ✔

05 | Silenced

She awoke to silence.

Lilavati shifted, the last of the soreness between her legs vanishing as she fully awoke. Out of instinct, she reached blindly out for her weapon, then blearily recoiled as the image of dark, pure skin under moonlight flashed in her mind.

Her eyes flew open, drawing the blanket over her naked body.

She rolled over, scanning the room, then breathed a sigh of mingled relief and a slight ache.

She was alone.

Her husband had left her alone, presumably during the middle of the night or in the morning, that she would never know. There was a pain that made itself known, dimly but constantly beating behind her sternum, as the realisation flooded her body.

"It's okay. He must be incredibly busy, whatnot with all the duties he must have, and all the people he must take care of," she murmured to herself, throwing the covers off and hunting for clothes about the room.

But Lilavati had to admit that it did hurt that he left her alone, without so much as a by-your-leave when he wedded her last night, binding her soul with his even though she had let him claim it years ago when she was but a child.

She caught herself when she was about to slip on some clothes, recalling a bathing chamber from her shringaara last night.

Retracing her steps to the bathing chamber, she set a bath with fumbling hands, inwardly cursing herself for how unsure her actions seemed. She was very used to being in control of her environment, having known every leaf from each other and stone from stone, but ever since she had been sent to Dvaraka, her Lord's actions always seemed one step ahead of her, seeking to make her second guess herself at every turn.

Lilavati then sunk into the wide hot pool, every muscle in her tense body relaxing.

She had never known people to heat the water they bathed in, though she had heard rumours from the common people that the royalty certainly did. Ever since she had been a child, the cool—sometimes quite cold—waters of a lake or calm river were the only facilities she had bathed in.

But Lilavati had to acknowledge the ingenuity of the idea. She had relaxed more in these few minutes than she had in the days—how long had she been here?—since her arrival.

She laid back against the warm stone, the soothing lull of the water luring her into sleep, and Nidra Devi welcomed her into her arms quite warmly.

~

"Enraged was Enkidu,
And he stormed to where Gilgamesh lay,
To prevent what he was about to do:
Take a bride to be his on her wedding day."

The song wafted through the market as Lilavati walked the city of another empire in her dreams, lively bustling life moving about her. The sun glared at the city even more fiercely than he was wont to, even in the city beside the Buranun river. She dabbed at her forehead with the end of her tunic, the cloth wrapped around her in a manner she was unused to.

She accepted a drink from a vendor, dropping a few shekels in his outstretched palm, and downing the drink in one shot. It tingled as it ran down her throat, but it was cool against the heat of the day and she set the clay cup back down.

This action seemed to draw the attention of the people around her, and all movement ceased. She looked up to see hundreds of eyes on her every motion, watching her without blinking. The song of Gilgamesh and all the liveliness of the market faded away, leaving her in a dreamscape without sound, only the sight of countless accusatory eyes on her.