Summary: a much awaited reunion and a renewal of long kept vows.

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A happy Vashma makes a beautiful bride. Dressed in the palest of mint green she is a vision in the mirror. Her lips spill the joy she couldn't contain and her eyes sparkle.

It amuses Amrit to see how fast friends Vashma and Rukzaar have become, despite their reservations, resentments and rocky beginnings. Beneath it all, the two girls had a lot in common which once discovered worked to tie their loyalties to one another. It only aided that Anwar was no longer a problem between them, more like, they had both realized he had never been between them in the first place. 

Vashma reached out and held Amrit's hand pulling her closer. 

"Meri Peheli aur sab se kaaz dost," she says, "kaha khoyi ho?" 

Amrit shakes her head and beams at her beautiful sister in law. The thought itself overwhelms her and her eyes brim. 

"Come Rukie, isse bhi tayyar kar the hai!"

That startles Amrit. 

"I'm already dressed, what more do I-?" But her exclaims are thoroughly ignored as the two girls with their viable excitement flutter around her and make her sit in front of the dressing table instead. 

"Not that one," Rukzaar is saying. "The other - yeah - yeah that. And the maang teeka too, it really brings out her eyes!" 

"What are you two up to -" 

Rukzaar almost pokes her in the eye with kohl. 

"Stay still!" She admonishes. Brandishing wet strokes against her lashes. "Quit frowning." 

"But - but -" 

"Arre babhi jaan, how many questions do you ask!" 

Vashma, who is fixing her Maang teeka, which actually does sit rather nicely with her eyes, smirks at that. 

"Don't forget Rukie, she is Ranjhan, asking questions is her bread and butter!" 

"Bread and butter goes with breakfast," Rukzaar says promptly. "And we are dressing you up because aap ko kahi jaana hai!"  

"Kahaan?"

"Hai ek jagha," Vashma says with a conspiratorial wink. "You'll see." 

"No. Tell me. Tell me now." 

"Amrit..." Vashma shakes her head. "Aaj humara khwaab poora ho raha hai. Toh humne socha, tumhari ek armaan bhi poora kar dete hai." She places an affectionate hand on her friend's cheek. "Don't doubt too much and spoil the moment. You'll know everything in time." 

In time apparently, it is revealed part by part. First there is a ride waiting for her as Omar informs, the secret has him in good spirits as he exchanges greetings with Rukzaar. They leave Anwar behind looking comparatively glum, to cover for their absence and manage the wedding till their return . Amrit doesn't miss the solemn look that is exchanged between them or the serious nod Omar gives his brother. Between the three Siddiquie brothers he might be the most easy going one, yet Omar always knew where the line of duty was drawn. 

It intrigues her to think that Omar considered this secret mission a duty that required his absolute seriousness. Amrit keeps the question to herself. 

"You know," Rukzaar begins, as they pull away from the estate. "The rivalry between Huzenabadh and Shrighar began due to a land dispute?" 

Amrit shakes her head, silently urging her to go on. 

"There is a temple on the Huzenabadh side of the river bank. One that has been attached to Shrighar traditions for several centuries. At some point I guess those lands belonged to Shrighar or the entire thing might have belonged some bigger principality." Rukzaar shrugs at the possibility. "But the issue of who has the right over those temple lands has never been satisfactorily resolved. At some point of time Shrighar declined to have any ties with the temple at all. Then of cause Bhaijaan's grandparents got married there. You might have heard the whole - he brought her on his horse - story from him?" 

That brings a smile to Amrit's face, although a contemplative one. 

"None of Pratap Singhs had a normal wedding I suppose..." 

Rukzaar chortles. 

"Yours was normal." 

"Pretty normal," Amrit says darkly, "unless you count getting attacked en - route and spending the next week in hospital." 

Rukzaar's smile dims considerably.

"I didn't mean to remind you that Bhabijaan," her tone is apologetic. Amrit covers her hand with one of her own. 

"It's not something I'd forget soon," she says grimly. "You don't have to bother with that Rukie. My inability to forgive is something I don't intend to fix." 

"Neither does it need fixing." 

Amrit jumps at the voice by her ear, having failed to notice when the engines had died, or Veer had reached to open her door. She takes his sudden appearance in a muted awe, wishing if it is a dream for it to go a little while longer. Veer had grown his hair, ever so slightly, leaving the upturned edges to brush his collar. Something about that and the pinned Shrighar brooch on his collar reminded her of all those illustrious ancestor portraits mounted upon sandstone walls. 

Veer chuckled at her bewilderment and nudged her a little, indicating the hand he was offering. 

"Padhariye Rani sa," he says, sun warmed brown of his eyes peering into hers.

Amrit doesn't care what Rukzaar and Omar would think of her as she throws herself into her husband's arms. Veer catches her with a throaty laugh which he buries into her hair. He lifts her slightly off her feet, folding her frame into his smoothing the resulting collision. Amrit cradles his face in her hands, overwhelmed. 

"You are here, you are here, you - are - here," she breathes in a broken itinerary of repeated phrases, each word punctuated by a kiss Veer plants on her hair.

 He allows her to find reassurance on her own, drowning in the comfort of her presence himself, that sweet scent of her hair, the soft familiarity of her embrace and that never ending owe of her love, he basks in them all. 

"Bass jaan, bass -" he says finally, detaching her gently from his embrace. Amrit clutches his hand with both of hers, there is such an endearing greed in her touch. 

"Why are we here?" She asks finally, lifting her gaze to the surrounding. 

The imposing structure of the temple fits with its centuries of history Rukzaar had shared on their journey. It is made of dusty pink stones, giving the entire structure a look of a perpetual sunset. Amrit draws in a breath as Veer squeezes her shoulders. 

"Why don't we go in? Pandit ji is waiting." 

Amrit is uncertain if it is a conscious thing how their steps sync with one another and also with the quite hum of her heart. Beneath her feet cool granite of the temple floor is soothing. It has the scent of burning incense, of camphor and sandalwood, of marigold and jasmine and roses. In the cool shades of grand arches, the place holds the peace of God's presence. Amrit holds her breath feeling that overwhelming sense of serenity blanketing her. 

Veer takes her hand in his, strokes her palm with his thumb. 

"Biwi sahab," he begins. He takes such care of his words that Amrit feels a tug at her heart. Uncertainty does not suit him, Veer who has always been confident, powerful, astute with himself looks utterly out of place before her now. Surely he must know that there is nothing in this world which she would deny him. Amrit reaches with a hand to caress his face which he catches in the midair, and presses a chaste kiss on her knuckles. 

"When I asked you to marry me, I was simply asking to be given a right to protect you, to do right by you. I was resigned to the fact that there were some parts of your life that does not - will never belong to me. I thought I'd be fine with it - that I won't have what -" he breaks off. "That I won't have your heart." 

Amrit shakes her head, reminded of his considerate remarks from them. 

"But neither of us are happy with that anymore are we?" Veer asks her in a tone tinted with a smile. "You have given me so much that I don't deserve. I have grown greedy of it. Of you. So I'm asking this now - selfishly - will you have me for seven lives? Phere lon gi humare saat?"

"Veer - aap..." 

She had connected the dots half way through his speech, her eyes had brimmed with the realization. Amrit smiles at the blurred face of her husband and responded instead with a hug, burying her tears against his heart. 

"You said it bothered you - that we weren't married before God," Veer tells her slowly, brushing a hand through her sweet scented hair. "Nothing in this world is allowed to bother you." 

*

The world consisted of him, her and the bright camphor scented flame lapping at sandalwood in the havankund. Of all the possible endings to her fate, of all the possible destinations stars could have conjured for her, this particular moment, with her hand in his, blessed by holy water and extended to worship the fire - in this moment, Amrit is home. 

"Aap ko rulane ke liye nahi kiya yeh sab," Veer mutters admonishingly, in between prayers. Amrit dabs at the corner of her eye hastily. Rukzaar secures their gatbandhan and they rise for the pheras. All that time her hand remains in his, a gentle anchor in the middle of a dream. 

"Waise toh yeh vaade de chucke, nibha chuke," Veer tells her taking hold of both her hands. Reverently, he kisses each of her knuckles. Each soft press of his mouth a reminder of all the moments they had shared. "Par ab hum woh adhure log nahi rahein jinke dardh ka koi dawa nahi tha."

"Indra," from the moment they had discussed the name Amrit had thought of their baby as Indra. The cure of their pain, the boon granted at the end of their suffering. "Humare pyaar ki shagun." 

"Or Sia," Veer suggests. "It could be a daughter too, bilkul tumhari jaisi..." his eyes are warm with a love she hadn't seen before. "I wanted to make a pledge to the baby too. I might not know how to be the best father -" he presses on when Amrit tries to protest. "I haven't seen much of how that's done. But I'll be there on every step they take and I'll always try my best." 

There is some unsaid epilogue to his words. It hangs heavy around them as they renew their vows. If her heart could burst or brim over, Amrit knows that it would. But she holds it in along with the tears filling her eyes, until the moment Veer fills her maang. 

It is then that she lets the tears fell, smudging her smile as Veer folds her into his embrace. 

"Lo hogayi aap humari," he mutters in her ear. "With God's will." 

"Will you be leaving again?" 

The moment she asks the question Amrit knows she had asked the right question. Veer stiffens against her, his hold around her tightens. 

"I intend to do something," he tells her as they descended the temple stairs. "I wanted to do this before that. I wanted you to know - know without a shred of doubt - that I am yours. I will never do anything detrimental to what we have." 

"What do you intend to do?" She wonders aloud, a little afraid as to why it had required pledging his loyalty to her. 

"I plan to prey on Ma sahab's insecurities. Of the worst things she imagines me being capable of - some might push her to the brink of doing something irreversible." 

"You intend to fish Narad Sha." 

"And I have absolutely nothing to do with his daughter. But I'm sure that's the angle that wretched man will play for his papers. Up to a certain point -" 

"You will not contradict him." Amrit supplies. "But why kuwar sahab - why would you -" 

"I want Ma sahab to make an attempt." 

"An attempt -" 

"On my life." 

*

I'm sorry about the amount of waiting in between chapters. But this last leg is time consuming and I have offline commitments that eat up most of my time. However, there are few new stories coming up soon to fill that Amveer shaped void in your lives. Keep a watch out for that. 

Below is a sneak peak of one such upcoming story, first look - revealed only here, exclusively!

☆.....☆

Kuda kuch log bana te hai
Phir sochte hai ke
Kya qayaamat banadi...

Dev knows he shouldn't have said that. But his heart sometimes has a greater control over his actions than he would have strictly appreciated. Like just then, when he looked straight at her as he said that.
It was unnecessary a risk, one that he paid dearly. An all too familiar jolt in his heart marks the moment her eyes sweep up to his. Those dark, dark eyes - with their deep, deep shadows and pain. A sigh leaves him, he is a little more besotted, a little deeper in love each time she graces him with a look.

Kuda kuch log bana te hai
Phir sochte hai ke
Kya qayaamat banadi
Ek hi toh dil banaya
Par todne ke
Sau bahane banadi...

The cluster around him bursts in praises which he acknowledges with gesture of a bejeweled hand, his eyes already flitting away, finding and pausing on her.

☆....☆

A prince without memories
A widow without history
&
A love without compulsion.

....

Coming this Spring 2022, only on wattpad.