The Red Powder

His hand closes over the box, and the lacquer is warm from her grip. He sets it on the mattress and dips two fingers into the red powder, then touches her forehead, her part, the line of her hair, marking her as his own in the light. She feels his other hand slide up her thigh, and she lets him lay her back on the bed, the sindur box tipping between them. He enters her slow, watching her face, and says her name—Nisha—not her mother's, as he moves inside her. She wraps her legs around him and takes the powder on her own fingers, painting his chest, claiming him back. The act this chapter delivers: He lays her back on the bed, enters her slowly in the light, and takes her as his wife, calling her Nisha, while she rides him to completion and he spills inside her, the sindur smeared between them.