Lilavati drummed her fingers on the table, watching her husband as he filled out what could be called the bane of most royals and nobles—paperwork. The only noise in the room was the sound of their breathing and the occasional scratching of a quill on parchment.

A memory from a few days ago blossomed in her mind, and she let it take her.

~

"Satyaa Jiji?" Lilavati called, drawing back the curtain that separated Nagnajiti's personal room from the rest of her chambers.

"Come in, little sister."

Lilavati wandered inwards, looking around at the queen's room.

She had noticed something peculiar recently. The attendants—be they the guards or the handmaidens—had taken to calling her Raani.

And before she realised it, she had spoken. "Jiji, why is everyone calling me Raani? I mean, I recognise that I'm Ka—Natha's wife, but it feels weird."

Nagnajiti set aside her quill with a chuckle.

"You finally realised, Lila? And trying to call Kanha by his name? I know, that takes some getting used to."

Fixing her with a look and patting a chair next to her, the princess of Kosala continued, "You are the wife of Kanha, little sister. This is what it means to be the wife of one of the most powerful people in Aryavarta. The people recognise that and address you accordingly."

"I know," mumbled Lilavati, settling down in the seat. "It just feels weird."

Nagnajiti's smile was kind, as it was every time her elder sister looked at her.

"You'll get used to it."

The daughter of Nagnajita then continued with her work, Lilavati peeking over her shoulder.

"What is this, Jiji?"

Satyaa sighed, rolling up a piece of parchment and keeping it on top of other scrolls. Casting a forlorn look at the rest of the papers, she turned to look at Lilavati who was watching her curiously for answers.

"Paperwork." Another sigh. "Can't run a kingdom without them. And considering the size of our kingdom and its importance in Aryan politics, we get a lot. I don't even want to imagine how much Kanha or Rukku Jiji get."

Noticing the confusion on Lilavati's face, she elaborated, "Royals, merchants, practically anyone has to do things like this. Signing agreements, reading letters, arguing diplomatically: it's all in this. A kingdom has many divisions, and as there are so many of us, we divide the paperwork amongst ourselves. Kalindi Jiji handles agriculture, Satya Jiji goes over finance, considering that Pita Satraajita was one of the foremost finance ministers when he was alive and he passed down all of those skills to his eldest daughter." There was a sadness in Nagnajiti's voice when she spoke of Satraajita.

Lilavati nodded.

"Well, I suppose there had to be more to being a royal than just sitting and looking pretty."

Nagnajiti failed to hide her chuckle.

~

"You seem to be lost in deep thought, Lila."

Her husband's tender voice brought her back from her musing.

She grinned. "Just thinking about Nagnajiti Jiji."

Krishna almost pouted, which was now a common occurrence, to her surprise, placing a hand dramatically over his heart and saying gravely, "Ah, betrayed by the one wife I thought would never abandon me! Everyone eventually prefers my Sriyas!"

Lilavati burst out into startled laughter at his dramatic act.

Eventually, she calmed down, and her husband sobered.

Picking up a fresh piece of parchment and gazing at it with some unreadable emotion, he sighed and set it down only to pick up a quill with fresh ink.

He did not stir to write anything on the parchment, just gazing off into the distance, lost deep in thought.

Lilavati snuck a glance at him: his curls framing his face like a garland around an idol, liquid gold streaming lazily onto his dark complexion, colouring his lotus eyes to colours that shifted from moment to moment, leaping from a deep amber-brown to the black of space. His eyebrows were furrowed the tiniest but, focus intent on the paper. He leaned forward, tugging on his lower lip with pearly white teeth. By Hari, her husband was beautiful.

She caught herself staring and shook her head, causing her braid to whip around her head and she hissed lightly.

Krishna caught the sound and looked up at her, a question clear on his face.

"What are you doing, Natha?" she asked, to distract herself from the fact that she had been staring at her own husband.

His lips quirked upwards, as though he caught her line of thought, and then frowned at the paper again.

"I'm writing a letter to Chedi's Mahamantri. The flag is the best lead we have on the conspiracy, and I wish to confirm some things."

Lilavati nodded.

"But why the Mahamantri and not the Maharaja, Natha?"

The frown on his face softened to a sad expression.

"While Dhrishtaketu might be my nephew and Karenumati married to Nakula, putting him firmly in our square, I killed his father, Lila. I do not wish to exacerbate his grief by suggesting that his people are seeking to hurt me. And, I do not think he is involved or aware of this either way, or he would have put an end to it already."

She acknowledged that and left him to work in silence, the only sound in the room their breathing and the occasional scratching of the quill on paper.

When Krishna was done, he set aside the quill and moved the parchment away, his eyes intent on hers.

"Run this by me, Lila," he said. "What incidents have happened since you came related to the conspiracy?"

Lilavati set her thoughts back to her early days in Dvaraka after her marriage. It felt so long ago, that quiet night when they had married, binding their souls to each other. And she had come a long way since then.

"Well," she started, saying, "There was that man who had somehow managed to sneak into the inner quarters of my palace, who I killed... and the assassin who tried to kill Bhadra Jiji, who we never found—" she watched her husband's expressions as she tried to recall everything that had happened since she had arrived.

"Madhuraa told me of the eunuch who threatened a handmaiden, asking about you and your relationships. I once overheard some people arguing, the night you returned from Indraprastha, they were talking about coming into someone's room and... ending everything? They talked about their dead king.. And I had a dream, a few days before I was... taken. Another man asking about us, our relationship to each other.

"The night I was taken? Someone was definitely there, lying in wait to take me after I lost consciousness. And when I was there..." she trailed off, trying her best to not let the dark edges of the memories pull her in again. Krishna took her hand and squeezed it, and she smiled weakly at him, his touch and presence enough to ward off her demons.

"When I was there... the man who appeared to be the master? He wanted me to be his wife—his toy. I don't know why he wanted it, but I don't want to dwell on it—the memory hurts," her voice shook.

Her husband's eyes softened, and he pulled her closer.

"Breathe, Priyaa."

His voice was no more than a whisper on the wind, their intertwined hands, his other hand lightly resting on her arm grounding her in the moment as her breathing slowly evened out, trying to match his own. Their foreheads came to rest against each other's, and she stared into his lotus eyes, allowing herself to drift away in the universe behind those eyes, trusting that she was safe.

As she slowly returned to herself, she caught herself going over the last few minutes, and she blushed.

"You called me Priyaa."

Krishna's characteristic teasing smile found its way to his lips again, and he pulled her close enough to whisper in her ear, "You are my dear one. Don't expect anything else, Priyae."

A thrill shot up her spine at his teasing words, and she flushed.

He laughed softly, silk-soft fingers brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Aww Lila, the tips of your ears are red. Am I making you blush too much?"

"Natha!"

Lilavati rose and stumbled into her chair, burying her face in her palms as embarrassment coursed through her.

His sweet laughter rang through the room, as she tried to control her blush but smiled giddily as long as he laughed.

A/N: Aish, these two are darlings. I'm glad I'm getting to write a bit of romance between them. How do you think their relationship has come so far? 

And yeah, we're progressing plot-wise too. I felt like the last few chapters were mostly filler, and there will be quite a few parts with filler-heavy story, but eh, Lila baby deserves it.

Oh, and the word count has officially passed 50K with this chapter! I'm so proud of myself, y'all! I never thought I'd be able to write a book this long, but here we are!