Mahnoor sat cross-legged on the bed, her brows furrowed in thought as she pulled the silk shawl tighter around her shoulders. The morning light filtered through the room, casting a warm glow on her skin, but her mind was racing with a dozen unsettling questions.
She bit her lip, glancing over at Rudra, who was pacing back and forth, clearly agitated by their earlier conversation. His muscular form, still radiating power and intensity, was now cloaked in frustration. The man who had been so confident, so commanding in every situation, suddenly seemed unsure. And that only fueled her anxiety.
"Rudra," she said hesitantly, "I've been thinking..."
He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, his brow furrowed. "What now?" he asked, his tone sharper than he intended. He was still grappling with the reality of what they had done—the forbidden union, the consequences that might follow. The last thing he needed was more uncertainty.
Mahnoor, however, wasn't deterred by his frustration. If anything, it made her more determined to get answers. "Will I... lay eggs? Or give birth like a human?"
Rudra blinked, clearly caught off guard by the question. "What?" he muttered, running a hand through his messy hair.
She tilted her head, her curiosity growing. "I mean, you're a naag—a snake. You've been, well, inside me. So does that mean I'll lay eggs? Or will it be a human birth? How does this work, Rudra?"
He stared at her, completely flabbergasted. "Mahnoor... I don't know," he said slowly, trying to keep his composure. "How would I know? This has never happened before."
"But surely you must have some idea," she pressed, leaning forward, her eyes wide with genuine curiosity. "Like, after two months... what happens? Does your snake sperm turn into something? Egg deposits? Or do we get a baby like humans do?"
Rudra pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly losing patience. "I. Don't. Know!" he barked, his voice echoing through the room. "This hasn't been done before! It's not like I can just ask my father, 'Hey, what happens when a snake prince mates with a human?'"
Mahnoor rolled her eyes. "Fine, but you're the naag raja's son. You must have some knowledge of how these things work biologically, right? Like, do snake people even have pregnancies like humans? Do naagins lay eggs? Or—"
"Mahnoor!" Rudra snapped, his voice sharp as he interrupted her barrage of questions. "I don't know, alright? No one knows! The last time this happened was 400 years ago, and they were too impatient to find out how it would play out. They killed the snake, and the woman didn't survive long enough to reveal anything."
She blinked, taken aback by the sudden outburst. But then her expression softened as she realized just how little they both knew about the path they had chosen. There was no guidebook for this, no ancient wisdom to rely on. They were in completely uncharted territory.
"Okay," she said quietly, her voice more subdued now. "I guess that makes sense. But what if—"
"Stop!" Rudra growled, throwing his hands up in frustration. "You're driving me insane with all these questions. Do you think I have all the answers? I'm as clueless as you are!"
Mahnoor pursed her lips, her stubborn nature flaring up again. "Well, excuse me for wanting to know what's going to happen to my body after you've... you know," she gestured vaguely towards her lower half, "done what you've done."
Rudra sighed, his irritation fading slightly as he walked over to her and sat down on the edge of the bed. He rubbed his temples, trying to calm the storm brewing inside him. "I get it, okay? I get why you're asking. But Mahnoor... I just don't know. We've broken every rule, every law that's existed for centuries. We're in this together, but it's not like there's a precedent for it."
She nodded, chewing on her bottom lip as she processed his words. "So... we're like the first ones? The first human and snake... to actually try this?"
Rudra glanced at her, his jaw tightening as he nodded. "Yeah. We are. And we're going to have to figure it out as we go."
Mahnoor slumped back onto the bed, her mind still racing with a thousand questions. "Okay, but like... what about the timeline?" she asked, her voice small but persistent. "Humans take nine months, right? Snakes... I don't know, like four or five months to hatch eggs?"
"Mahnoor!" Rudra's patience was wearing thin again, his voice rising in frustration. "I have no idea! We could be dealing with something entirely different here. You might not even get pregnant. Or if you do, who knows how long it'll take? We're dealing with the unknown, and I can't predict what's going to happen."
"But what if—"
"I don't know!" Rudra yelled, standing up and pacing again. "I don't know what's going to happen, and neither do you. And honestly, all this worrying isn't going to help."
Mahnoor crossed her arms, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed. "Fine," she muttered. "I'll stop asking. But I'm just saying... you could've thought about this before, you know? Before we did all of... that."
Rudra shot her a dark look, but he didn't say anything. She wasn't entirely wrong. He had been driven by his lust, by the thrill of breaking the rules, of defying the ancient laws of the naag kingdom. But now that they had crossed that line, the reality of what they'd done was sinking in.
He paused, his shoulders slumping as he let out a long breath. "Look, Mahnoor," he said, his voice calmer now. "I know this is terrifying. For both of us. But we've already done it. Now we have to deal with the consequences. Whatever they are."
She watched him, her earlier frustration giving way to a feeling of helplessness. For the first time, she realized that she wasn't the only one scared of what might come next. Rudra, for all his bravado and power, was just as lost as she was.
"So... what do we do now?" she asked quietly.
Rudra turned to her, his expression softening as he sat back down beside her. He reached out, taking her hand in his, and for a moment, the tension between them eased.
"We wait," he said simply. "We wait and see what happens."
Mahnoor stared at him, her fingers tightening around his. Waiting. That was all they could do.