What happens when betrayal mars innocent hearts in love?
What happens when innocence is destroyed and a monster is created?
What happens when judgement is ruled by the burning feeling of retribution?
This is a Quartet (4 part book) and this one bein...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ishani's mind did not register what he said. She just stared at him, trying to drink in the sight of him.
Wearing black chinos and fitting shirt, he looked as if he had just walked out of the pages of a fashion magazine. His hair was still wet from the shower and it only heightened her desire to slide her fingers through those glistening strands.
As her eyes skimmed his face, she noticed that he had trimmed his beard a little, which emphasised his cheekbones and sharp jawline more than usual.
He stepped a little closer and his scent slithered through her senses making her weak again. She wanted to touch him; feel her fingers gliding along his rugged skin. She wanted to kiss those lips again and forget herself completely.
Most of all, she wanted to feel his arms around him; feel that protectiveness and wanted that possessiveness to surround her wholly.
"Like what you see?" he asked again pulling her to him.
Her cheeks reddened the moment she understood her question and she shyly looked away.
Rudra turned her and tipped her chin to make her look at the view in front.
"I was talking about the temples."
Ishani blushed and bit her lip to control the gasp that was about to escape.
"How many times have I told you not to do this," she heard Rudra say as he put his thumb on her lower lip and pulled it out of the grip of her teeth.
There was something so damn tender in his touch that she couldn't help but look straight into his eyes, which for some reason showed something that she had never seen before.
"Rudra—"
"You can look at me anytime you want. I am all yours."
Again, his words completely wove a mesh of tingling feelings in her head, making her drunk.
As she buried her face in his chest, he held her tightly to her and then said in a straight tone, "If you are done admiring me and the temples, we can actually visit them."
Laughter rumbled through her and she nodded.
"Think you can freshen up and get ready in, say, one hour. Or do you need two?" he asked looking at her with a charming smile.
"I need less than one," she said stepping away from him.
Rudra looked at her retreating back and thought to himself—
Why is it so damn difficult to keep his hands away from her?
Why does he feel this urge to feel her body pressed against his whenever she is near?
Okay, Rudraveer Sangawat, you need to get a grip on your hands, senses, body, basically everything. You are not supposed to feel all this. Do what you need to do and then just get rid of her.
He closed his eyes and let his inner voice repeat the words again and again in his head. And then he compelled his brain to think about what had happened that night. Flashes after flashes of memory burned inside him and he felt his demons rising up again.
He needed his medicines before he lost it completely.
Ishani came out of her room and entered Rudra's bedroom. As she was about to go out to the balcony where he was sitting on the lounge chair, her eyes fell on something lying on the ground.
A medicine strip!
She picked it up and her eyes narrowed as she saw a name that she did not recognise.
This was definitely not a generic drug; it had to be a prescribed medicine.
But Rudra? Why?
Unable to hold her curiosity, she took out her phone and googled the name of the medicine.
"Why are you taking antipsychotic medicines?"
Rudra's eyes flew open with alarm just as he heard her. His vision adjusted to the brightness around and he saw her standing at the balcony door with a medicine strip in her hand.
Dammit!
He just stared at her and then clearing his throat said, "It's nothing."
She saw him turn away from her and instantly knew he was hiding something. Striding up to him, she clutched his arm and tried turning him but he did not budge from his stand.
"Why are you hiding?"
When he did not reply, she turned away from him.
"You don't trust me. That's why you can't tell me why you take these medicines. I get it. It's okay, you don't have to tell me anything. Sorry to have asked."
Saying this, she kept the strip on the nearby table and was about to leave when Rudra caught her arm.
"I have anxiety attacks; pretty bad ones," he said in a low tone.
Just as she heard him, she came near him and wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck.
"I am with you. You are no longer alone in this," she whispered in his ear.
Suddenly his phone rang and he let her go.
"The car's ready," he said to her disconnecting the call.
She linked her arm with his and said with a smile, "Let's go."
The car stopped at the main entrance to the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple and Ishani could do nothing but be gape at the magnificence of it. As she entered it and started to walk along the structure, her eyes widened with the prominence of detail on all the sculptures.
Yes, she had heard about the erotic nature of it but this was something way beyond eroticism. This was definitely the most unabashed display of passion and pleasure that she could think of. Even though these images showed different postures and obviously same-sex union but still she did not feel at all out of place. Instead, a potent and pleasurable energy started to build inside her.
And, she forgot Rudra.
She completed circling one of the parts of the temple and came to the other side, and stopped in front of the sculpture, which had the legs of a female wrapped around the male's waist in a passionate embrace. She stepped a little closer up to the barricade to look.
The passion and lust just radiated to her within seconds transforming her into a world where only sensations mattered.
"I would love to have you wrapped around me like that."
