Eternally Bound

by T. A. DeMellet

  ***

  Satvi’s days quickly became filled with ceremonial arrangements that she wanted no part of. “But your highness,” Priya protested, “you must choose the silks for your gown. The silk merchants have brought all their finest samples for you to choose from. They are waiting for you downstairs, my lady.”

  “I know, Priya. Thank you, but I have no desire to pick out fabrics, nor do I care what my wedding sari will look like. I do not wish to plan any part of this wedding. Have my father choose, since he is so thrilled for this marriage to take place.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Satvi immediately regretted it. Her chagrin was amplified by the expression on Priya’s face. Satvi could read the disappointed in her beloved maid’s eyes.

  “Priya, I shouldn’t have said that. It was disrespectful and I have been acting like a spoiled princess who isn’t getting her way, haven’t I?” Satvi admitted. Priya silently nodded in agreeance.

  “You know your father will be most angry if he finds out you are not doing your duties as a bride,” Priya reminded her.

  “Please send Hasanti in. I need her,” Satvi ordered, her eyes brimming with tears.

  “Yes, your highness,” Priya said sadly, leaving a very fragile Satvi sitting rigidly on the edge of her bed. As soon as the door closed behind her, Satvi allowed her tears to spill freely. She was overwhelmed and miserable. All she wanted was to see Namesh standing before her. The thought of him made her sob even harder. Hasanti walked in moments later to find Satvi laying upon her bed weeping.

  “What ever is the matter?” she asked, walking over to her mistress and gently moving her long, dark hair away from her face.

  “Oh Hasanti! I cannot go through with this. I know it is my duty to marry, but you are the only one who knows my situation, and knows just how much I love Namesh. How am I to marry another man? How can I betray Namesh in this way? You, my dearest friend, understand just how deeply I love him. I cannot do this!”

  “Have faith, dear Satvi. Everything will work out, you’ll see,” Hasanti said, trying to soothe her mistress.

  “I cannot see how,” Satvi responded, her lip quivering. She wanted to escape, to run away from all of this responsibility and duty. Satvi took a deep breath and composed her thoughts. She vowed not wallow in self-pity. She would do what she must to make the best of this life, no matter what obstacles got in her way.

  “Hasanti, may I ask you to please send for Namesh? It has been several days since I have seen him, and I miss him desperately.”

  “As you wish, my lady.” Hasanti grabbed her mistress’ hand and squeezed tightly in a gesture of comfort, before departing.

  ***

  That evening, Satvi heard the familiar creaking of her window shutters as Namesh entered her bedroom. He had scaled to the second story of the palace and into Satvi’s window on countless occasions, that he almost made it look easy. Satvi had always admired his bravery and strength. She sat up quickly when she heard the creaking shutters and wrapped herself in a beautifully embroidered Kashmir shawl before walking toward the moonlight streaming in from the open window. Namesh stood just to the side, away from the beam of moonlight.

  “You came,” Satvi whispered.

  “I did… your highness,” Namesh added for good measure. He knew how much it bothered Satvi. He had agreed to accompany her to Almir’s palace, but as the days passed, he couldn’t help the resentment that was building within him.

  “I’ve missed you. The last few days have been very difficult. What have you been doing?” Satvi asked, trying desperately to make conversation.

  “I have been working, princess. I have my duties to attend to,” Namesh responded coldly. Satvi wondered why he had come, if all he was going to do was glower at her in the darkness. Hadn’t they agreed he would join her after the wedding? Why was he acting as if this had only been her decision?

  “Oh, I see. I believe I know a thing or two about attending to one’s duties,” she countered, lifting her chin stubbornly. She could see Namesh’s shoulders relax in defeat. Why were they wasting time being cold with one another? Namesh closed the distance between them in two large strides. He gathered Satvi into his arms and breathed in the sweet scent of her hair. Satvi sighed with relief in his embrace. She inhaled the delicious masculinity that exuded from Namesh’s skin. He smelled of freshly dug earth and sandalwood soap. She kissed the side of his neck, noticing Namesh’s slight shiver of pleasure as her lips trailed along his skin. He grasped the tops of her shoulders firmly and took a step back so he could look her in the eyes.

  “Satvi, I’m terrified of losing you which is why I agreed to leave with you, but I can’t help imagining the difficulty of carrying on our affair in a foreign place. Instead, I’ve being trying to imagine what my life would be like without you these last few days; trying to ignore every thought of you that has crept into my mind in hopes that I could to distance myself from you, letting you embrace the idea of this new life with your future husband. Yet, I found that I am not strong enough to…” Namesh trailed off.

  “Not strong enough to what?”

  “I’m not strong enough to live without you,” he finished. The love Namesh felt for Satvi was so powerful - primal, even. It almost scared him.

  “You do not have to be strong right now, Namesh. You just have to be here, with me.” Satvi wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing his lips to hers in a soft, sensual kiss that slowly began to deepen. Before they knew it, the two of them were tangled together on the edge of Satvi’s bed. Namesh pulled away for a moment, looking at Satvi’s beautiful face. He traced her features with the tip of his finger, smiling at her.

  “What is it my love?” Satvi asked, smiling back at him.

  “Nothing. Just reveling in your beauty. I’ve resolved that the best thing for both of us is for me to follow you. I would be honored to be counted among your retinue of servants.”

  “Namesh, I don’t know what to say. Are you sure this is what you want to do? I know how selfish I am being, wanting you to come along with me. I want you more than anything in this world, but I would never want to wound your pride. I would never want this to come at the cost of your happiness, but I cannot see any other way for us to be together…”

  “Hush, Satvi,” Namesh said, playfully covering Satvi’s mouth with his hand. “I have made my decision, yet again. I understand that you have no choice but to comply with your father’s wishes. You have your duties as royalty, and I realize you are just as much a servant to your father’s court and political affairs as I am a servant in this palace. I will be with you for as long as I am able. If you will still have me, that is.”

  “Oh, Namesh! Of course I will have you. I will always have you. You know I wish nothing more than to be able to run away with you, to live with you solely, in peace. You must know if there was any way - any way at all that we could run and make it out alive, I would do it.”

  “I know, my dearest. But you cannot. We cannot. Your father would find us, that much is certain. We must do what we can with what is presented to us. And the only option is for you to marry Almir, and for me to follow along to your new home.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “I am. No matter what we do, Satvi, we will be in peril. Our secret love has always been a danger, no matter how discreet we have tried to be. At any moment, we could have been caught. We’ve just been extremely lucky thus far. Now, we will face the same danger, just in a different palace. However, this option carries much less risk than that of trying to run away together.”

  “You’re right. It’s not the ideal way of being together, but it is safer than running.” Satvi paused and let out a sigh. “I hate this, Namesh. I hate that we cannot freely love one another. Our positions in life, our castes… everything is against us. It is so unjust! Why have the gods made our love so difficult?”

  “Do not blame the gods. There is always a reason for the way things are, and for the things they do. Pray to Ganesha. He will remove bad luck and
obstacles in our path,” Namesh urged.

  “Yes, I shall make an offering to Ganesha as soon as possible. I will pray for Him to watch over us…”

  ***

  Satvi felt as though the days were slipping through her fingers. She wanted time to stand still. She wanted as much time as possible to spend with Namesh before the unfortunate day of her nuptials was upon her. But the more she prayed for time to slow down, the faster it sped by. Now, she sat in a daze, staring at her intricately painted and adorned feet as her sisters and mother, aunts and female in-laws hovered around her; her future mother-in-law delicately making traditional Mehndi patterns on the palms of her hands.

  “Be still, child. Your hands are trembling like the leaves of a tree before a storm. Calm your mind, Satvi.” Almir’s mother was much kinder than Satvi had expected. No matter how much she detested getting married, she did not want to be unkind to this gentle woman.

  “I am sorry. I am slightly nervous, that’s all,” Satvi explained.

  “Of course you are. Every bride is nervous before her wedding day. It is the fear of the unknown and the anxiousness of the wedding night that most of us are terrified of. But let me assure you, one woman to another, that it really is not as bad as we fear it to be.”

  Satvi bit her lip, trying to smother a smile. It was ironic to her that the mother of her future husband was reassuring her on the night before her wedding. Funnier still, was the fact that Satvi was not worried about what it would be like to lose her virginity. On the contrary, she was much more worried about the ramifications of Almir discovering that she was no longer a virgin. Satvi prayed the plan she and Hasanti concocted to fake a maiden’s bloodshow would be successful. As Satvi’s mind raced furiously, she prayed for way of escaping her thoughts, silencing the turmoil within, but the tradition of brides having their hands and feet covered in Mehndi meant you had to spend hours sitting as still as possible, leaving nothing to do but think.

  ***

  Namesh sat on the packed dirt floor of his dwelling, his head in his hands. There was nothing for him to do now but sit and wait. Wait for word that he would be leaving along with Satvi’s other servants... wait for his beloved Satvi to be married off to another man. His heart ached to the point of taking his breath away. He could scarcely compose the anger raging within him.

  All Namesh wanted to do was sleep, but his traitorous mind would not allow it. He saw the first light of dawn grace the sky outside his tiny window before his eyes finally closed.

  CHAPTER 23

  DAMIEN

  I opened my eyes and shot straight up in bed; my head swam from sitting up too quickly and tiny dots of light blurred my vision. I blinked several times, trying to clear them and noticed Madelyn was awake too, her breath coming in hard and fast. My eyes met hers - everything in them said she had just experienced the same dream.

  “Did that… do you think that really happened? Like, in real life? Was that another vision?”

  “Yes. I think that… oh God Damien, I think that was us! Those two people, their souls… I don’t know…” she trailed off.

  “But they didn’t end up together. She married someone else.”

  “This must be their quest. All this time, they have been trying to reconnect, to have what they lost.” Madelyn’s big green eyes brimmed with tears. I wiped one away as it started to gently roll down her cheek.

  “Hey, don’t cry. It’s going to be okay now. Their souls - our souls - have finally found one another,” I said, reassuringly. Madelyn smiled timidly before replying.

  “Maybe that’s why everything has felt so natural since we met. So right…”

  “That could be. It really has felt like I’ve known you for years rather than days. But I guess, if our souls are the souls of this Namesh and Satvi, then it makes perfect sense.”

  “I still can’t wrap my head around what we just saw, or dreamed. I feel like that was a flashback into the past. This is insane,” Madelyn said, still in shock. I noticed her hands trembling slightly and took them into my own, hoping to calm her although internally I was freaking out too.

  “What a tragic love story,” Madelyn said sadly. It really was quite tragic once I thought about it. Those two people couldn’t have more differences if they tried. Two very opposite social classes, all the odds stacked up against them, and still they managed to fall so deeply in love. Perhaps this was our destiny, our fate - our souls finally converging to fulfill the love that was so tragically taken away.

  CHAPTER 24

  MADELYN

  We ate our breakfast in silence - both of us deep in thought over the newly gained information about our past selves. Namesh and Satvi. Our souls, our energies transcended time and space to find one another, to realign and be at peace once more. The more I pondered over the lives of these two lovers and all their hardships, the more I believed that Damien and I were doing the right thing. Both of us meeting was like placing that final puzzle piece in the story of Namesh and Satvi… in our story.

  I collected both of our plates and put them in the sink. Before I could grab a sponge, Bentley appeared out of thin air, gently shoving me aside.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he said winking at me.

  “I guess I should probably start packing,” I said looking between Bentley and Damien, then glancing at the clock. My words must have snapped Damien out of his pensive state, because he stood up so quickly, he nearly knocked over his chair.

  “You have to pack already?” Damien came over to stand beside me. His eyes were intense, searching my face for something. As much as I wanted to stay, I had to get back to work on Monday.

  “I’m sorry,” I said grabbing his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. His hands were large and strong, yet gentle - and I longed for those hands to touch me again. The mere thought was causing me to replay last night in my head; the familiar delicious warmth spreading through the pit of my stomach. I unwillingly let go and turned, heading toward the bedroom.

  “Do you care if I hang out while you pack? I just don’t want to miss one moment with you.”

  I nodded and gave him a quick kiss, thinking just how lucky I was to spend the weekend with him, and hopefully many more days to come.

  We chatted while I packed and he helpfully handed me things as I bustled about the room. Every time our eyes met, my heart fluttered.

  “Would it be too soon for me to come and visit you next weekend?” Damien asked, throwing me a devilish grin. I walked over and put my arms around his neck.

  “I would really like that,” I replied, and then I kissed the sexy smirk right off his face. Before I knew it, his hands were tangled in my hair and we were on the bed, my fingers skillfully and quickly unbuckling his belt. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, causing both of us to jump. We both looked at each other questioningly, and heard Bentley’s distinctive booming voice as he answered the door.

  “It’s probably my agent Nick,” Damien explained, gently kissing and nibbling down the length of my neck before getting up off the bed. “Let me go see what he wants.”

  “Okay,” I said, readjusting my shirt. I continued my task of packing and mentally taking inventory of all of my belongings. The past couple of days had been a blissful blur, even with the disconcerting dream we shared. The love I felt was unlike anything I had experienced before. It was all-consuming, but in the best way possible. I pulled myself away from my daydream and it suddenly dawned on me that I left the sweater I wore last night on the arm of the sofa. I walked out of the bedroom to retrieve it when I heard the high pitched voice of a woman coming from the living room. I walked to the end of the hallway and peeked my head out to see who it was. From this angle, I could see most of the living room, but no one could see me. This certainly wasn’t a ‘Nick,’ unless it was short for Nicole. All I could see was the back of her blonde head. Then it struck me: it was his ex-girlfriend, Ava Richardson. My heart started hammering in my chest. I turned to leave, hoping to get back to the guest bedroom unnoticed. I
prayed Damien hadn’t told her about me being here, but just as I was about to make my move, their conversation became more heated, and therefore more audible. I stayed to listen, despite the my growing unease.

  “You’re what?” Damien said loudly, his face suddenly drained of all color.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in, but don’t get mad at me. I didn’t do this alone. It takes two to tango, you know!” she shouted. Could she possibly mean…?

  “How far along?” Damien asked, his voice sounding dead now. Good God… she was pregnant. It felt like someone punched me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I thought I was going to be sick, so I made my way as quickly and silently as possible back to the room and closed the door behind me, leaning weakly against it. Had I heard correctly? How I wished I hadn’t stayed to listen! All my blossoming hopes for this relationship shriveled like a dying flower. It had all been too much to hope for, I told myself. Why did I believe my luck with love would change?

  I heard footsteps coming down the hall and had only a few moments to compose myself; to pretend I hadn’t heard anything. The door burst open with force. Ava Richardson - celebrity socialite extraordinaire - was standing in the doorway like a golden goddess of war, hatred painted plainly on her face.

  “Looks like you forgot something,” she sneered, throwing my sweater at my surprised face. Damien came barreling in behind her, pushing her out of the way to stand between us.

  “Jesus Christ, Ava! What the hell do you think you’re doing? Madelyn, I am so sorry she barged in like this. Ava was just leaving,” Damien said, shooting daggers at her with his eyes.

  “Yes, but not before sharing the happy news with your favorite fan... your new little distraction,” she said, waving her hand dismissively toward me. “Damien and I are having a baby!” she finished ecstatically.