Chapter 1
Mrinalini POV
I had learned very early in life that silence speaks louder than words.
Silence in the temple corridors when the lamps dimmed after evening prayers. Silence in the eyes of people who looked at me with pity, as if being an orphan had become my only identity. Silence in my own heart, where questions had lived for years without answers.
Who were my parents?
Why had they left me?
And why… why did I always feel as if someone, somewhere, was waiting for me?
I did not know.
Perhaps I never would.
The morning bells echoed through the temple before the sun had fully risen, pulling me away from the last fragile threads of sleep.
“Mrinalini!”
Kamala Mausi’s voice reached me before she did.
“If you do not wake up this instant, I swear by Mahadev I will pour cold water on your face.”
A tired sigh escaped my lips as I slowly opened my eyes.
“I am awake,” I murmured.
“No, child, your eyes may be open but your soul is still sleeping.”
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Because sleep had not been kind to me again.
That dream.
That same cursed dream.
Every.
Single.
Night.
I sat up, my fingers unconsciously moving toward my chest.
My heartbeat was still uneven.
Fast.
Restless.
Shaken.
In that dream, I never saw his face clearly.
Never.
And yet…
I remembered everything about the way he made me feel.
His presence.
His warmth.
His voice.
Low. Deep. Dangerous.
A voice that felt like darkness and safety at the same time.
A voice that made my entire body freeze and tremble all at once.
And every single time, just before waking up, he whispered the same words.
The same unbearable words.
“I found you.”
I hated how those words stayed with me even after waking.
Hated how my body remembered what my mind could not understand.
Who was he?
Why did he feel real?
Why did my heart ache for a man I had never met?
“Mrinalini.”
Mausi snapped her fingers before my face.
I blinked.
“Yes?”
She narrowed her eyes.
“You were thinking about that dream again.”
I stiffened.
“How do you always know?”
“Because,” she said while fixing my braid, “you touch your throat every time you wake from it.”
My hand immediately dropped.
I had not even realized I was doing it.
Mausi’s expression softened.
“Did you see his face this time?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“His name?”
“No.”
“Anything different?”
I hesitated.
“Yes.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“What?”
I swallowed.
“This time… he touched me.”
Mausi froze.
Her hands stopped moving.
The room became strangely quiet.
“How?” she asked carefully.
I hated how my cheeks warmed.
“He…” I struggled for words.
“He touched my face.”
Mausi stared.
I looked away.
“He lifted my chin,” I whispered, “as if he wanted me to look at him.”
“And?”
My breathing slowed as the memory returned.
“His hand was cold.”
I paused.
“But somehow… it felt familiar.”
A strange shiver ran down my spine.
“Then I heard something.”
“What?”
“Anklets.”
Mausi frowned.
“Anklets?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
My voice dropped lower.
“And hissing.”
Silence.
A long silence.
Then Mausi resumed braiding my hair as if nothing had happened.
But I noticed it.
Her hands were trembling.
Just slightly.
“You think too much,” she said finally.
“It was just a dream.”
Just a dream.
People always say that.
As if dreams cannot haunt.
As if dreams cannot linger beneath skin.
As if dreams cannot feel more real than waking life.
I said nothing.
Because there was something I had never told anyone.
Not even Mausi.
In every dream…
There were snakes.
Not attacking.
Not threatening.
Watching.
As if guarding him.
Or guarding me.
And somehow, that terrified me more than if they had bitten me.
------
The temple courtyard was already alive by the time I finished getting ready.
Priests chanted sacred mantras.
Flowers decorated stone steps.
Incense smoke curled through the morning air.
Girls my age whispered and giggled while preparing offerings.
One of them, Gauri, rushed toward me.
“Mrinalini!”
I looked up.
“What happened?”
She grabbed my wrist dramatically.
“You will not believe what I heard.”
I sighed.
“That usually means I absolutely should not believe it.”
She ignored me.
“There are royal guests coming tonight.”
I blinked.
“Royal?”
“Yes!”
“From where?”
She leaned closer.
“No one knows.”
That made me pause.
No one knows?
Royal visits were never secret.
Never.
“Who told you?”
“My brother heard the guards talking.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“That is your source?”
She straightened proudly.
“Yes.”
I almost laughed.
Before I could reply, something cold brushed my ankle.
I froze.
Slowly…
I looked down.
A snake.
A small black serpent had curled near my feet.
Gauri screamed.
“Snake!”
The courtyard erupted.
Girls ran.
Flowers fell.
Panic spread.
But I stood still.
Because the snake… was staring directly at me.
Its dark eyes did not look wild.
They looked aware.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then something impossible happened.
It lowered its head.
As if bowing.
My breath stopped.
No.
No, no—
This was impossible.
I had not moved.
I had not done anything.
Why would it—
The serpent suddenly slipped away into the shadows.
Gone.
Just like that.
Gauri clutched my arm.
“Did you see that?!”
I could barely speak.
“Yes.”
“What was that?”
I stared at the empty floor.
I did not know.
But deep inside…
something ancient stirred.
Something sleeping.
Something that had waited far too long.
And for the first time in years— fear touched my heart.
Because a terrifying thought entered my mind.
What if the dream was never just a dream?
What if… someone was truly searching for me?
________________
That night, sleep came like a curse.
And when darkness swallowed me once more—
I saw him again.
This time clearer than ever.
A tall figure stood beneath silver moonlight.
Long dark hair.
Broad shoulders.
Barely visible golden ornaments.
And those eyes—
Dear gods.
Those eyes.
Golden.
Not human.
Not possible.
Not real.
Yet painfully beautiful.
He stepped closer.
Once.
Twice.
My body refused to move.
His gaze locked onto mine as if he had waited lifetimes.
Then his lips parted.
And in a voice that did not feel like sound but fate itself—
he spoke.
“Mrinalini.”
My blood turned cold.
I had never told him my name.
He took one final step.
I felt his fingers brush my cheek.
And then
his golden eyes darkened.
Like a serpent before striking.
“I finally found you…”
I woke up screaming.
