Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
RANVIJAY
I moved to India from the US just two years ago, and it didn’t take me long to develop a formidable reputation as a legal shark and a fixer for the rich and famous of the country. People came to me to make their problems go away in a way that wouldn’t come back to bite them in the ass later. And I did. All because of my unfailing instincts.
Like a Golden Retriever sniffing out treats, I could sniff out the smallest signs of trouble.
And right now, my instincts weren’t whispering. They were shrieking that I was walking into a shit load of trouble.
When you were in my profession, you learnt to read a room. And what I was reading right now in Sajjangarh Palace was fear. Everyone was jumpy for some reason. My would-be mother-in-law was smiling too much. Far too much. And none of the smiles reached her eyes.
I didn’t know why the mandap felt more like a war zone than a happy place, but I didn’t like it one bit. It was a bit much when a man had to watch his back at his own wedding. I scanned the whole place carefully, wondering if the Goels had got in somehow despite the tight security, but I couldn’t find anything out of place.
Maybe it was my imagination. Maybe I was projecting my feelings about this marriage. Damn it! I was sick of all this drama. The sooner we got the farce over with, the sooner I could get back to my old life. No, there was no getting back to my old life, I realised. I wasn’t leaving this miserable place alone. I was going back with my wife. Bloody hell.
I glared at Sangram as he walked past me, looking very shifty. For his sake, I hoped he wasn’t looking for Shivina again. I’d turn this wedding into a Game of Thrones-inspired slash fest and behead him in the mandap right in front of all these people if he even looked in her direction.
When I remembered that I had last seen her on one of the balconies upstairs, I calmed down a little. She was safe there. I knew I shouldn’t have waved at her like that. I was about to marry another woman, for fuck’s sake. But I saw her peering out from over the edge of the balcony, and quite against my will, my hand went up in greeting. It was just a wave, I told myself. It didn’t mean anything.
But it had to stop because she made me smile. While Kavya didn’t. Which meant that I had to make sure I never set eyes on her after the wedding because I was not that guy. I refused to be that guy.
“What has that poor pandit done to you?” whispered Isha.
“Huh?” I grunted.
“You’re glaring at him like you’d like to tip him over into the havan kund. Stop it right now,” she hissed. “He’s about to run for his life, and if he runs off, how will you get married?”
For a wild, improbable moment, I wondered if that was the answer to all my troubles. Just chase off the priest and… and what? The Goels would still be baying for my blood. The Mirpur bloodline would still need an heir slightly more intelligent than Sangram. I sighed and toned down my glare until the pandit stopped shaking visibly.
“That’s better,” said Isha approvingly.
“Why are you torturing me?” I asked with a put-upon sigh. “Go torture someone else. Preferably your husband. He asked for it since he chose to marry you.”
“Nah! I’ve promised Nandini Aunty that I won’t let you bolt. You’re a huge flight risk,” she said with a laugh.
Before she got too comfortable in her chair, I nodded towards the mandap.
“Let’s get this show on the road, Isha,” I growled. “Tell that guy to speed it up.”
She rose and whispered something in his ear, and the pandit nodded in reply. His chanting sped up and got louder, and my mother led me to the mandap. My uncle and aunt were sitting where my parents should have sat. As I stared at their sour faces, a wave of déjà vu swept over me because we had lived this exact moment when I married Devika. And look how that had ended. In utter disaster.
I took a deep breath and took a seat next to my aunt, who shot me an uneasy smile.
The pandit asked the Rani Sa of Sajjangarh to call the bride, which was her cue to run around like a headless chicken.
“Haye, she’s not ready yet, Pandit Ji. I think she’ll need a few more minutes,” she squawked.
I glared at the pandit meaningfully, and he shook his head in a panic.
“Now, please. The shubh muhurat is almost over,” he squeaked.
My future mother-in-law went pale, and I wondered what was wrong. Something was wrong, that was for sure. She began whispering in her husband’s ear, and he scurried from the mandap. Rani Sa smiled at us uneasily and cleared her throat.
“I’ll go check on Kavya. It’s not her fault she’s late, Jamai Sa. That darned makeup artist showed up late, and she works like a snail, you know,” she babbled.
“We understand,” said Kumudini Kaki Sa. “It’s just that our Ranvijay beta seems to be in a hurry to get married.”
There was a question in her statement, and I chose not to answer it.
“Hurry,” I growled. “I refuse to wait anymore.”
The colour fled from Rani Sa’s face, and she jumped out of her seat immediately, stammering incoherently as she ran upstairs with her maid at her heels.
I stared at her thoughtfully. What the hell was going on here? From the way they seemed unwilling to bring out the bride, you’d think I was a beast who had stormed their door to eat their daughter alive.
Dheer had lent me his security team to help secure the wedding venue because we had a feeling the Goels were going to try something today. I craned my neck to find Raksha, who was now part of Dheer’s security detail. When I caught her eye, I beckoned her over. She was dressed to blend in with the guests, thankfully.
“Something’s fishy around here,” I whispered in her ear. “Scout around upstairs and see if you can tell what’s going on.”
She nodded and melted into the crowd.
Ten minutes later, we were still waiting for the bride. The guests were clueless about the undercurrents, but the pandit looked like he was running out of stotras to fill the gap.
Raksha sidled up to the mandap and knelt behind me.
“You’re right, Hukum. Something’s fishy. But the women of the palace have closed ranks, and I’ll need some time to wheedle the truth out of the men,” she whispered. “I tried sneaking in to see the bride, but there’s a horde of women barring the corridor upstairs. They sent me back downstairs very politely but firmly. If you like, I can break into her room through the balcony.”
“Is it that bad?”
Raksha’s instincts were as sharp as mine, and if she was suggesting something so drastic, maybe it was time to investigate the situation.
But before she could reply, the music changed, and people started cheering.
“Oh, well. It looks like your bride has arrived,” she said laconically.