Panchaali slowly sat up on the bed her eyes travelling to the naked torso of Nakul that was covered by just the duvet. Her cheeks heated as she recalled last night, she shook her head to get rid of all the images that were playing in her mind and looked around the room, her odhnis were were half on the bed and half on the floor.

Her lehnga and blouse were scattered on the bottom of the bed near her feet, her blush intensified, he really was insatiable, she thought as she bit back a shy smile.

She reached for her clothes and got dressed, she knew it was too early for her to wake up, but she didn't feel comfortable sleeping naked unlike her husband.

The jhankar of payals had her freezing, as she moved towards her husband once she was ready dressed. Her heart beat violently in her chest as she fisted her lehnga, her eyes travelling to her feet as she slowly lifted her lehnga, she knew very well Nakul had removed all her jewelry last night in their intimate moments, and she couldn't feel any weight of payals on her feet either but she just had to be sure.

She looked down, like expected her feet were bare, no payals or anything for that matter. Her heart hammered wildly as she took a step again towards the bed and the jhankar sounded again loud and clear.

Her heart jolted, as sweat formed on her forehead. Her hands shaking as she hesitantly, very slowly turned around, her eyes looking around as fear sunk its ugly talons in her heart, squeezing it painfully.

She looked around in the darkness, her hands travelling to the one diya that was kept in the room, she picked it up and did the survey of the room, she looked everywhere behind the couch and the curtains too, but there was just no one.

"Stop hallucinating." She chastised herself and sighed at her stupidity, she turned around and froze at what she saw, her feet grew cold as terror sunk in her heart as her eyes looked in two dark ones, there was so much evil in them, like all the bad things had gotten together to form this eyes.

Her heart hammered as she trembled as she looked at the dark figure of the woman, her heart jolted sharply as the rotten smell of dead bodies overpowered her senses, she gagged as the woman in front of took one step towards her making Panchaali jump in fear as the earthen lamp fell from her hand and shattered on the ground.

"Panchaali..." her voice was something she couldn't even describe, it wasn't like anything she heard before, her heart was galloping wildly in her chest as she trembled, fear for her husband sunk in her eyes. She didn't care much for her life but what happened if she did something to her husband? "Who....a....are you....u?" She stammered, fear incapacitating her to even talk.

The dark figure in front of her began to laugh, she held her hand out and it distorted in an odd angle making Panchaali scream so out loud, her eyes shut as tears traced down her cheeks, her trembling worsening.

Nakul woke up with a start as dread sunk in his heart hearing his loves shrill scream of terror, that pierced through his heart. He wrapped the blanket around his waist and rushed to where she stood.

His hands wrapped around her and pulled in his chest, the door to their room was kicked open and four pandavas came rushing in, weapons out.

They searched the room as Nakul pulled her towards the bed, she shivered like a leaf making him worried. "Shh baby we are here, calm down."  He whispered as he rubbed her back, concern increasing with each passing second as she just sobbed in his chest.

The four pandavas checked every corner as Arjun ordered the guards to look around the palace, as he entered the room again, he saw his wife still sobbing, her trembling getting worse with each second, his heart hurt as worry pooled in his chest.

The brothers surrounded her, "What happened Panchaali?" Nakul asked for what seemed like the nth time, she looked up at their faces with her tear streaked one, "Shhhhh, stop crying everything is fine little one, tell me what is wrong?" Arjun urged making her tremble at the memory, she hiccupped and sniffed as she narrated all the event.

"Oh butterfly." Nakul felt his heart throb as he ran his fingers through her hair, "You must have dreamt it little angel there is no one here." Bheem said as he kissed her forehead, "But there she was! I saw her with my own two eyes." She said hysterically, why weren't they believing her? Her breath came in short pants as she felt suffocated, that laughter was still ringing in her ear,something so horrible can't be her imagination. She was so sure of it, she had seen her with her own eyes.

The pandavas noticed that she was having a panic attack, Yudhisthir cupped her cheeks and made her look up at me, "look at me little love. Look at me, it's me, your Dharmraj. You trust me right? Don't worry princess, I promise I'll fix everything." He assured her, he took her hand and laid it on her chest, "Deep breaths. Follow my breathing pattern, match your heart beat to mine. Good girl, you're doing so great." He complimented in the end, his voice sweet and tender, guiding her out of her panic attack, easing her discomfort.

He guided her to lay back, "You're such a good girl sweetheart." He whispered as he laid next to her, the others following his suit, "I am here with you, relax, we won't let anything happen. Close you're eyes and try to relax . We are here, we promise." Arjun whispered in her ear as the others tightened their hold on her assuring her, she trusted them completely, so she never questioned them, and today was no different.

It took a while for the pandavas to ease their wife to sleep, their hands caressing her, assuring her as they lulled her to sleep. Her breathing evened out making them smile, Sahadev kissed her waist an Bheem did the same thing on the other side. Nakul ran his hand through her hair as he lay near her head, while Yudhisthir and Arjun were on either side of her.

"You shouldn't keep her awake so late at night Nakul. Specially when you know she wakes up so early in the morning, I think the tiredness combined with her sleep had her hallucinating." Sahadev said as he looked at his sleeping wife, poor thing had been so scared, for a moment he had actually thought something bad had happened, he sighed as he rubbed her hand on her in a soothing motion.

"Sorry." Nakul whispered, feeling guilty for being so careless, specifically now that they had a doubt that she could be pregnant. He was excited for the results tomorrow, mentally he had begged the gods to bless them with a child again.

"It's okay just be careful, not just you we all need to be, specifically now if she's pregnant, she can't be stressed like this, it won't be good for the child and also her." Bheem said, his voice grave as he looked at her with a worried expression,for some reason all this didn't sit well with Arjun, he looked at his wife, her innocent face, was it really her imagination? He didn't think so, it was quite vivid if she got so scared. Than again maybe he was thinking way too much, maybe everything is fine and they are getting stressed for no reason. Maybe it's just her pregnancy, he kissed her lips lightly, "Oh little one, What is wrong with you?" He whispered, concern lacing his words as he kissed her soft cheeks, worry for her made him restless for some reason he couldn't let her words go, he couldn't just brush them off as her imagination.

He remembered how he was jerked awake from his sleep by his little one's screams, the fear,the dread that he had felt, every negative scenario had ran through his mind as he had rushed down to her corridor with her gandiv, he could never forget the fear stricken face of her and the way she trembled in Nakul's arms as he tried to pacify her, something was really wrong with his little one, he could feel it.

He didn't know how but he knew that this was just the start, oh Madhav please don't let anything happen to her, he prayed as he looked at her innocent face, she didn't deserve any of this, she didn't deserve this pain or fear, and he promised himself that he would protect her with all his might,from this unseen foe but the question was who was this foe...

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