Part 6

She laid there on her bed, her eyes fixed on the grand glass chaleinder that hung down the ceiling of her bedroom. The streaks of moonlight falling on the crystals making it glow like daimonds in the darkness.

She was going to get married tomorrow!

Why was this happening to her? While every other bride she had seen has been smiling her brightest and glowing her best before she is united to her spouse. Why wasn't  she able to do the same? Why does a shiver runs down her spine whenever she recalls the way Amarendra's eyes had been moving up down her body that afternoon?

She turned aside, her eyes now falling on the dazzling white moon outside her window.

'How would I spend the rest of my life with that man?'  An owl hooted somewhere far away and she closed her eyes forcefully, the night was already near it's culmination. And she hadn't slept a wink!

She have to keep these useless thoughts at bay. It was already too late!

~♡~♡~

The next morning was a chaotic one more so because she was the center of it all.

While playing the smiling and blushing bride, she was given a grandeur sented bath. The exotic perfumed oil treating her fair skin while her hair was washed with jasmine water. The jokes and teasing of the ladies never ceased as she was taken back to her room, her rouge wedding dress jutted with the brightest of diamonds and glazing pearls was laid down.

The softest of Persian silk glided over her physic like a second skin. While the onlooker ooh-ed a aah-ed at the princess that they could not help but envy.  

The large agleam wooden box of gems and ornaments were set aside for the time being, the assemblage of woman now santured through the corridors and hallways of the mansion till they reached the temple. 

Devika's bare feet tingled with the sudden contact on the cold white marble floor. The grand idol of devi 'Durga' stood a feet feet away, sitting on the wild beast of a tiger.  The young girls rang the heavy bronze bells as she bent down to pray.

"Pray to the goddess darling, she listens to all! Ask for her blessing before you start your new phase to life!" Her eldest aunt told her. 

And she could not hold on to her fears anymore. perhaps because of the finality of it all, her eyes watered as she bent lower to seek blessing, her forehead touching the cold floor, while tears knew no bounds anymore. 'Help me mother!' She bit her lip to control her lament, lest anybody notices her deary state. 'Save me from this marriage!'  

Little did she knew that the goddess would actually listen to her wishes then, and send a devil riding her way though the wilderness....to reach straight to her!