Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
SHIVINA
“ U nfortunately, you won’t have any time to change your outfit for the bidaai,” His Highness said snidely. “We’re leaving right now.”
Over my dead body, I decided.
“You’ll have to carry me out of here kicking and screaming,” I declared.
His gaze burned into mine, and I couldn’t begin to decipher the emotions I saw swirling in his eyes. I knew there was stark fury. And menace. Lots of menace. And I couldn’t be sure, but I thought there was some hurt. Only, I couldn’t tell if it was directed at me or Kavya Baisa. But all those emotions were suddenly wiped out by a strong spark of determination.
“Your wish is my command, Rani Sa,” he whispered. “Start screaming.”
Before I could read his intent, he bent and threw me over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift.
There was a loud shriek, but it didn’t come from me because I was stunned speechless. Was he really going to drag me out of here? Hey Bhawani, he was serious! The man was mad!
I pushed at his shoulders desperately, trying to break free. I didn’t care if I toppled us both and got crushed under his weight. I wanted down. Right now!
But it was as if he didn’t even feel my hands shoving his massive shoulders. At any other time, I would have run my hands up and down the powerful slopes dreamily because these shoulders were meant for one thing only. To hold on tightly as the man they belonged to took you over the edge of pleasure again and again until you forgot your own name. They weren’t made for kidnapping a woman, I thought, as I renewed my assault on them.
Rani Sa wouldn’t stop screeching in horror, and I wished someone would stuff a dupatta into her mouth to shut her up. When her screams got cut off abruptly, and the man mountain below me came to a sudden halt and let out a bark of laughter, I realised that I had said that out loud.
Fuck! I wished someone would cut my tongue out for my own good. I couldn’t keep saying such things!
Kavya Baisa moved to bar the door with her body.
“You’re not leaving this palace without me,” she said in desperation. “I won’t allow it. I’m going to be your wife, dammit!”
“Thanks, but no, thanks,” replied His Highness.
Why wasn’t he out of breath? I was quite heavy!
He hitched me higher on his shoulder before he went on.
“If you stop me from taking my wife out of here, I will call the police and create such a scene that you and your despicable family won’t be able to show your faces in royal circles for centuries to come,” he warned. “Step aside now before I have you shoved out of my way.”
When she didn’t move, he beckoned to a woman who stood just outside the room. She put her arms around Baisa’s waist and dragged her out of the way.
“Thanks, Raksha,” he murmured, and I saw the woman trying to hide a smile. Meanwhile, the Yuvarani of Jadhwal stared at us with her eyes as wide as saucers.
Kavya Baisa and Rani Sa’s wails echoed in my ears as His Highness ran down the stairs nimbly. Did he bench press my weight thrice a day? How the fuck was he so fit? I got breathless if I carried so much as a sack of flour.
He ploughed through the crowd that was watching the tamasha avidly, and I realised that I wouldn’t even get a chance to talk to Zarna. My poor sister was waiting for me in our room with that bag of cash.
“I’ve left my phone,” I cried, realising that it was still on Baisa’s dresser.
“I’ll buy you a new one,” my new husband growled as the valet scurried to bring his car around.
“Ranvijay, stop,” cried his mother. “What on earth is going on here? You can’t just carry your wife off like this.”
“Why not?” he demanded.
“Because these aren’t the middle ages,” she said severely. “She has to have a proper bidaai. What her parents must be thinking of us!”
“Those aren’t her parents, Ma. I’ll explain everything later. Just get into your car,” he said shortly.
And sure enough, a huge convoy of cars pulled up outside the palace doors, with the first one gaily decorated for the bridal couple. The guests behind us went mad, hollering at what they thought was a very eager bridegroom carrying his wife off in some obscure royal Rajput tradition.
“What is the boy doing?” demanded his aunt.
“He’s gone mad,” declared that creep, Sangram Singh.
For once, I was forced to agree with him. I pushed my veil back a little to see if I could spot Zarna, but for a change, my sister seemed to have obeyed me blindly. She must still be in our room, I thought with despair.
Diggi Mausi pushed her way to the front of the crowd and stared at me worriedly.
“Tell Zarna,” I mouthed, holding up my veil, and she nodded.
I thought of making a break for it when His Highness set me down in front of the car, but this was clearly not his first kidnapping because he didn’t set me down at all. He threw me into the back seat of the car and got in behind me as his chauffeur looked the other way respectfully before slamming the door shut on us.
The crowd waved gaily, still thinking he was taking Kavya Baisa home in an unorthodox fashion. I threw my veil back and stared at them with despair, knowing they couldn’t see my terrified face behind the heavily tinted glass.
The Mirpur wedding party all got into the cars that stood behind ours in the convoy, and with one final, rousing cheer, the crowd parted to let us drive off.
I wondered if I could jump out of the moving car before we left the palace gates. I just had to time it right. Unlock the door quickly and jump out with a neat tuck and roll. Sure, I’d break a few bones, but it was better than going home with my new husband.
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned softly.
With a defiant glare at him, I pressed the lock on the door. But nothing happened. I kept pressing it frantically, harder every time, until the chauffeur cleared his throat.
“Hukum,” he complained mildly.
“Your Rani Sa is a stubborn woman,” said His Highness, and my heart slammed into my ribcage at hearing that title. It held no respect, just thinly veiled contempt.
I shrank against the seat in despair, and His Highness pressed the button that rolled up the privacy screen between the front and back seats. We were cocooned in a tiny vacuum, and as we stared into each other’s eyes, the air around us suddenly seemed charged with fear and fury. And something else that made my throat go dry in anticipation.
With an effort, I dragged my eyes from his and fixed them on the window as the car raced down the treacherous, hilly road. I needed to calm down and reason with this madman. Because he couldn’t just carry me off like this. I knew he wanted to make some kind of statement by driving off with the woman he’d married instead of Kavya Baisa, but I couldn’t leave my sister behind.
I took a few deep breaths, and when I could speak coherently, I turned to him again. To my dismay, he was still staring at me. Damn it! That hypnotic stare drove all my thoughts out of my brain.
I shook my head and tried again.
“Your Highness, please take me back. I beg you,” I said softly.
He looked as if he was about to say something, but he suddenly changed his mind, and his eyes glittered dangerously. I tried to retreat, but there was nowhere to go in the back seat of the car. Without warning, his hand shot out, and he pulled me into his arms.
“What are you…ummmffff?”
His lips swallowed my indignant question as he took advantage of my open mouth and kissed me fiercely. I wanted to protest, but without my permission, my arms went around his neck, and I tilted my head to grant him better access.
He was breathing hard when he pulled away. I opened my eyes slowly and froze when I realised that I was plastered against him. I moved away hastily and glared at him.
“You opportunistic bastard,” I hissed. “How dare you touch me without my permission?”
“You conniving bitch,” he countered with a smirk. “How dare you marry me without mine?”
For fuck’s sake!
“I made a mistake, and I’ve apologised for it, Your Pigheadedness! Get over it, and let me go!” I snarled.
“Never,” he said with relish. “I’m going to lock you in my palace and torture you for the rest of your life.”
“Pfft! You would never torture a woman,” I scoffed because I knew that about him, even if I knew nothing else.
Under all that grumpiness and vile temper was a deep well of kindness. Only, right now, the temper seemed to be in ascendance. And rightfully so. I had cheated him horribly. Just because of that, I was going to give him some grace and not slap the living daylights out of me for mauling me like a bear. I ignored the fact that I had quite liked being mauled by this bear of a man.
Focus, Shivina! You have to get to your sister, I told myself sternly.
“Torture comes in many forms, Rani Sa,” he said, casting a slow, burning look up and down my body.
Fuck me if that didn’t make me wet! I squirmed in my seat and met his eyes calmly.
“You don’t scare me, Hukum,” I began, but my words ended in a squeak when he pulled me into his arms again.
“I told you never to call me that,” he whispered against my lips. “I see that I need to punish you until you learn to do as you’re told.”
He claimed my lips in another steamy kiss that left me dazed before he set me down again.
If this was his idea of punishment, sign me up right now, I thought hazily. No! What was wrong with me?
This was Kavya Baisa’a fiancée. After he got over his little temper tantrum at our deception, he was going to dump me and marry her as planned. So, I had no business giving in to his kisses.
“Look here,” I began sternly, but he put his hand out again, and I scampered backwards. “Stop it, Your Highness! You’re better than this!”
“If you don’t want me to kiss you again, I suggest you sit there quietly,” he said menacingly. “You’ve only seen the good side of me so far. Don’t make me break out my inner demon.”
That silenced me as nothing else could. Not because I was afraid of his inner demon. But because I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to resist it.
I exhaled sharply and turned my head to stare out of the window resolutely. There was no point in reasoning with him when he was in this mood. The best thing to do was to wait patiently until we got to Mirpur and then appeal to his mother. Even if the Rani Ma was furious with me for deceiving her son, I was sure she’d help me get back to my sister because she’d be as eager to move on from this disaster as I was.