Vasudev and Pritha -Siblings who brought the Gods to the earth #Mahabharata

She's Gone!

"Now, now, we've had our fill of jokes! Show me my bride to be, Vasudev." Kans chuckled emptying the remnants of the wine in the silver goblet. 

"You heard me, Lord of Andhakas." Vasudev looked at him. It felt good. To tell this brute that his little sister was well out of his reach. It could spiral down to Kans going for his life. Vasudev did not mind it.

"He is right! Cousin, Pritha is indeed gone!" Devki exclaimed hopping out of the inner chambers. "And good for her!"

"Vasudev!" Kans threw the goblet down. "This brat is fibbing. Tell me she is."

"She isn't Kans. Pritha was taken away by Rishi Durvaas. She wasn't meant to be your bride." Didn't he love the frustrated narrowing of Kans' eyes? 

"Let us go Cousin Kans!" Devki took his arm. "Really happy for her that she did not have to wed you. She hated you. I know she hated you!"

Vasudev looked away stifling a grin. Devki sure had the courage that he or any man in the Shoora household lacked.

"Really?" Kans pulled her back. "And how did you know Pritha hated me."

"She told me." Devki stood her ground, hands resting on the sides of her slender waist. "And I told her to elope with the first man she sees rather than wed you!" 

"Ohh you did!" Before she knew what came for her, Kans' hand landed on her cheek, stunning her off her balance. Before she fell to the ground, he grabbed her hair, yanking her towards him

"Kans!!" Vasudev exclaimed hearing her cry. "No! She is just a child, you beast!" He shook Kans' grip off Devki, pulling her behind him. "You can't make a girl cry or bleed! Not in the house of Shoorasena. Not when Vasudev is alive!"

"Ahhh look at that! Protective of your bride to be!" Kans waved a finger at the way, Vasudev had impulsively held Devki back by her waist. "You know what, Lord of Shooras. The preparations for the wedding shall not go in vain. And my men shall hound the little brat of Pritha and get her back. After teaching her a lesson or two..." He winked. I have all my life to teach her, don't I?"

And trust me Kans, she is out of reach of your minions and those of that patron Jarasandh's. Vasudev knew better than saying it aloud. He wanted to say a lot of things. But his own attention was commanded by the shivering maiden in his arms. He wondered at his own protective impulses and at the way she hugged his arm. Ohhhh Mahadev! No, this can't be happening!  Firstly, he had not been ready to marry Devki. Rohini was his first and last love. That did not mean he would see Kans harming his own little sister in the house of Shoorasena and do nothing about it!

"Come along!" Kans barked out to Devki who now refused to face him still holding on to Vasudev's arm.

"I shall take her back to the Devaka household." Vasudev replied, betraying no emotion other than his plain distaste. Harming their own sisters. Is that what the Yadavas had descended to?

After Kans left, Vasudev gently withdrew his arm from her grip and gave her water. "Are you hurt?"

"Here." She replied passing her fingers over her cheek, still bearing red welts of Kans' rough fingers. 

That monster!  Vasudev's hand reached out tenderly to caress the cheek and suddenly withdrew. Devki looked up. "You love the Cowherd head's sister. Don't you, Lord of Shooras?"

"Pritha blurted it all out to you, did she not?" Vasudev found himself smiling. 

"Marry her soon. In secret perhaps." Devki chirped looking straight into his eyes. "Later marry me. But she would be your real wife. I shall just stay here."

Ohhh little one, you surely deserve a better man. But for the moment, Vasudev found himself staring and nodding. 

"Maybe!" She stood up with a start. "You can use me to get back at his clan! He deserves it! Just say you have me under your mercy if they don't...."

"I shall not do that!" Vasudev frowned. "And stop eavesdropping into Kans' conversations with the other brutes. That beautiful heart of yours should not get sullied by such ridiculous ideas!"

"You are Pritha's brother. I want to help you." Devki insisted, pulling at his arm. "So just listen to my idea."

"And?" Vasudev laughed. "But what would you do here when Rohini would be my first wife and the mistress of this household?"

"I shall help her run the household." Devki suggested. "And, did Pritha leave her dolls behind? I'll play with them. When you both have children, I shall play with them as well." She then stepped closer, her doe like eyes rousing every bit of his protective instinct. "You are better than many of them. You'll not harm me. Let me marry you and stay here Vasudev."