The Mughal Princess (Completed)

5.

"Dhanyavad." (Thank you)

"You don't have to thank me." He said with a smile, taking in her beauty. He was lucky he realised, she beautiful on the outside, and on the inside as well. "I must take your leave." He said looking at her and then with a lot of effort shifted his gaze to the other two girls who looked at the couple giddily. "I hope you enjoyed today."

"We did. Thank you so much." Gehna said softly.

Prithvi nodded and gave Mrunal one final endearing look before walking towards the east wing leaving the girls in the courtyard.

"Open it." Maheen said shifting on her feet, "quickly."

Mrunal bit her lower lip and nodded. She quickly tore open the packet to remove a beautiful pink silk dupatta.

The dupatta had a thick turquoise border with zari.

"It's.. it's so beautiful." Mrunal whispered in aww.

"It is." Gehna said and Maheen nodded in agreement.

"Put it on yourself." Gehna suggested and Mrunal complied.

"You look stunning Didi." Maheen complemented her sister. "Prithvi is going to spoil you rotten." She teased Mrunal.

"Mahi." Mrunal whined in embarrassment.

"Can you please put it on me, I wanna feel the fabric too." Maheen requested with a pout.

"Sure, come here." Mrunal said and stalled the dupatta loosely on Maheen .

"Be careful with the heena it's still wet, make sure it doesn't soil the dupatta." Gehna warned her.

"I will." She said with a smile.
"How do I look." Maheen asked twirling for the two.

"Beautiful." Mrunal said looking at her sister adoringly.

"Sunno, where is Abeer bhai ?" Maheen asked the man passing by who she recognised as one of Abeer's personal guards.

"He just finished his meeting, he is leaving from the main durbar (court)." He informed and Maheen nodded.

Maheen looked at Mrunal and smiled cunningly.

"No Mahi." Mrunal said warningly and moved forward to take the dupatta draped on Maheen's shoulder but Maheen took a step back.

"Yes Di." She said with a smirk. "Mohabatt ka pehla tohfa !" (First gift from your betrothed )

"Mahi please give it back." Mrunal said.

"Aise kaise ? Thodi mushakat toh karni hogi pyar ke khatir." (Nope ! You need to work a little harder.)

"Maheen."

"No Mrunal di, I'm going to show this to bhai and -."

"No you won't, he will tease me to death Mahi, please, I love you, now give it back."

"No, come and get it." Maheen said pushing Gehna between the two and took a head start towards the south wing of the palace.

"Mahi stop please." Mrunal said running behind her.

"Come get it Di, show me it's worth it." Maheen laughed and ran down the corridor. Her wavy brown hair trailed as she ran along the wind.

Maheen sprinted towards the courtroom to find Abeer before she was caught by Mrunal, her feet moved faster as she heard her name being called from behind. "Not going to stop Di, catch me if you can." Maheen squealed and laughed.

"Mahi wait, give it back." Mrunal's voice reached her ear, she was right on Maheen's heels.

"No. Let bhai to see what your Prithvi Ji has got for you." Maheen turned her head to see Mrunal right behind her. "Stop running so fast I can't -."

Her words were cut short as she slammed against a hard surface.
"Oh god!" She exclaimed expecting the rebound fall.

"Did I not fall ?" She said to herself and opened her eyes to find herself holding onto a white cotton fabric in her heena painted fist.
"Oops." She said looking up to find a man looking down at her. She quickly left his kurta and took a step back.

She looked at the tall man with with raven hair, his grey eyes looking at her intensely. His squared jaw had five o'clock shadow and twitched with annoyance.
Her eyes traveled down to his well built frame, the white kurta hugging his chiseled body snugly.

'His white kurta.' She gulped. She looked at his broad shoulders, the right shoulder had a patch of green and the left side had Heena smeared all over his chest.

"Aap dekh kar nahi chal sakte?" Maheen said haughtily, she wasn't going to apologise. (Can't you see where you are going ?)
"Aankhe hai toh unhe use kijiye, ya Shivji se kahe apko unki teesri aankh dene ?" (Use your eyes to look around, if those two done work I can always ask Lord shiva to give you his third eye so you see where you are going.)

"This is no way to speak young lady." A voice came from behind the tall man who stood mute in front of her. She looked behind him to see an older man with greying hair, a few inches shorter than the one standing in front of him. "You need to apologise to him, he is-."

"Purohit Ji." Aaditya said in a firm tone. "We should head to our chambers." His eyes still firmly attached on Maheen who tried really hard not to squirmed under his gaze.

Aaditya took a step forward making Mrunal take on back, she gulped in fear.

His eyes locked with hers, a shiver ran down her spine, the man intimidated her.

"Wh..what ?"

"Move." He said in his baritone voice and Maheen jumped out of his way immediately.

She watched as he treaded down the corridor, walking as if he owned the place and not Maheen.

"He is very intimidating."

"Hey bhagwan !" Maheen yelped in surprise. "And he isn't." Maheen said trying to save her pride.

"Sure, as you say. I like him though, he helped me get this back." Mrunal said with a smirk pulling the dupatta off Maheen's shoulder and turned around and walked away.