Married To The Devil

Poisoned?!

Uruvi stepped aside as the woman reached for her and said, "Nawab is the Devil," and realized that hadn't come out right. "I mean, he is not really the Devil. But...Nawab is the Raaja of Indraprastha," she said finally, frustrated with herself. "And he didn't do this. I fell in the river."

"Oh, no." Surili paused before her, open disbelief on her face. "Right, and falling in the river ripped your kurti wide open?"

"No," she admitted. "Nawab did that."

Surili shook her head and grabbed her by the arm. "We are leaving. Abhay is getting three horses ready as we speak."

Uruvi cried out, pulling her arm away, "No," but her maid was adamant about saving her and held her tightly. "He didn't mean to rip the kurti, he was just trying to get it off... of him," she added quickly, when Surili clucked with disgust.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard that. Turning back with wide horrified eyes, she asked, "Chee, Chee He is one of those? He was wanting to wear your kurti?"

"No," Uruvi gasped, shocked at even the thought of that. She really couldn't even imagine Nawab or any other man wanting to wear a kurti. "It was just on his head."

That explanation did not soothe Surili. If anything, it seemed to be exactly what she'd expected.

"That kamina Devil!" she yelled with disgust, then started to tug at Uruvi's kurti to pull her toward the door again.

"Forcing his way under your skirt on your first meeting! And the two of you aren't even married yet!"

"Surili!" Uruvi groaned in frustration. " It's not what you think! Please, stop and let me explain. This is all just a mess. He really didn't hurt me."

"You can explain on the way to the stables. It's...Her voice died when she opened the door only to find herself standing in front of several servants holding a tub and buckets of water.

"The Dev... Raaja of Indraprastha ordered a hot bath for you, Raajkumaaree-ji," one of the men at the front of the tub announced. "He said we were to make it as hot as you could stand. This should soothe your aches and pains from when you fell."

"See." Uruvi tugged her arm from Surili's grasp and moved a couple of steps away just to be sure she didn't grab it again. "I told you I fell."

Surili hesitated, then instructed the men to place the tub by the fire, before moving closer to Uruvi. "So, that jaanvar didn't hit you? Not one of those bruises that are on your body is from his fists?"

"No. It was the fall in the river that bruised me, and could you please stop calling him that! Also, he doesn't even know that I fell into the river. He thinks these bruises are from when I fell off my horse." Uruvi assured her in a whisper, her gaze moving nervously to the men now emptying bucket after bucket of steaming water into the tub. 

She didn't want them to hear it and potentially tell Pataali about it.  

Pulling Surili to the far corner of the room, she quickly whispered the string of events that had happened and made her come back the way she did.

"So, his head was not under your skirt?" Surili said slowly, once Uruvi had finished. "He didn't touch you in that way at all?"

"Well..." Uruvi blushed and avoided her gaze. Then seeing the suspicion on the woman's face, she sighed and admitted, "He kissed me."

Surili stared at her silently and quirked an eyebrow. "And?"

Uruvi paused, but she was aware that if she failed to convince her maid that everything would be fine, Surili and Abhay would put their lives in danger to help her run away, and at this point, she really had no desire to leave the marriage.