Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
RANVIJAY
“ A re you okay? Did he hurt you?” I asked roughly. “Did he touch you at all?”
Shivina shook her head slowly.
She crossed her arms over her chest defensively, but I could see that she was wracked with tremors. Damn it, she was really frightened. I wished I had beaten Sangram to a pulp after all. He deserved it.
I took off the jamawar shawl I was wearing over my bandhgala and handed it to her. She shook her head, but I draped it around her shoulders gently and stepped away immediately.
“Keep it. You’re cold,” I insisted.
Her fingers clutched the edges of the blanket closer, and she averted her eyes, clearly waiting for me to leave. I knew that was the best thing to do. My place was out there, with my fiancée. But I couldn’t drag myself away from this frightened creature who had almost been attacked in my own home.
“Have you eaten something?”
She laughed bleakly, and I scowled at her.
“What’s so funny?”
“Servants don’t eat before the guests, Hukum,” she replied bitterly.
I hated the sound of that word from her lips.
Hukum.
It reinforced the difference between us.
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped and regretted my tone when she flinched.
I held out a placating hand.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” I said gruffly.
Sometimes, I was more beast than human. Dheer would have dealt with this situation so smoothly. Meanwhile, here I was, almost reducing the poor girl to tears.
She covered her face with one hand as her shoulders began to shake, and a big wave of guilt washed over me. I really was a beast, I thought remorsefully.
But when she looked up, I was extremely offended to see that she wasn’t crying. Far from it!
“Are you laughing?” I snarled.
That wiped the laugh from her face.
“Would you prefer it if I cried?” she asked in surprise.
“No,” I replied hastily. “But there’s no call for hysterical laughter, either.”
She straightened her spine and glared up at me.
“I’m not hysterical, Your Highness! I was just laughing at the irony of the situation.”
“Explain,” I barked.
“Well, your snapping and snarling didn’t scare me half as much as your cousin’s soft laugh did,” she explained reluctantly.
Fuck me. She really knew how to gut a man using just her words.
I wanted to rip Sangram apart limb to limb and feed him to the hyenas in the desert for what he had done to this fierce woman. I wanted to do something… anything… to make her feel better. But before I could even move, she swayed in place.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” she said, but I knew she was lying because she looked pale.
I reached out my hand to steady her but stopped before I could touch her. I didn’t want to make her feel even more uncomfortable. Instead, I pulled a chair closer and placed it next to her. She sank into it gratefully.
“I’m fine, Your Highness. It’s just the reaction hitting me,” she said shakily.
“Do you want some water?”
I looked around, but there was no water anywhere in the room. What kind of palace were we running, I wondered wrathfully. My eyes landed on the trays of sweets covered with some sort of fancy, gauzy cloth. I ripped one off and grabbed a motichoor laddoo.
“Here, eat this,” I ordered.
Shivina’s eyes widened in horror, and she shook her head violently.
“That’s for the guests,” she exclaimed. “I can’t eat that.”
For fuck’s sake! Guests… staff…weren’t we all human? Weren’t we all the same? Why was she worrying about such crap right now, I wanted to roar. But I knew this thinking had been ingrained in her for years, and I couldn’t undo it with one roar. So, I decided to be sneaky.
“I’m hungry, Shivina. But obviously, I can’t eat all by myself,” I improvised. “You’ll be doing me a big favour if you eat a laddoo with me.”
She stared at me in disbelief.
“It’s your palace, Your Highness. You can eat the full tray of sweets if you like. Who’s going to stop you?” she asked drily.
“Have you met my mother?” I asked with a shudder. “She’ll be very upset if she sees me being greedy. And trust me, you don’t want my mother to get upset.”
“She sounds like an ogre,” she replied, a small, enchanting smile tipping up the corners of her mouth.
I cleared my throat and forced my gaze away from the tiny dimples that peeked out when she smiled.
“I can feel my blood sugar dropping,” I said theatrically. “If I faint, you’ll have to call for help. And I’m not sure I can trust you to do something so important. So just take the damn laddoo and let me eat mine in peace.”
This time, when I thrust a laddoo at her, she took it gingerly. I picked another one and took a large bite, gesturing at her to start eating. She had just taken a small, dainty bite when I heard Veer calling out to me.
Shivina’s eyes flew to mine in a panic. I knew how it would look to anyone who saw us like this. I was about to get engaged to another woman in a few minutes, which meant I shouldn’t be sitting with Shivina in an empty bedroom at all.
I pulled out my phone and called Veer.
“Hold onto your panties, Lajwanti. I’ll be there in a minute,” I said as soon as he answered.
“Only my wife calls me that! And where the hell did you go? The Pandit Ji is getting impatient. He doesn’t hold truck with taking so many pictures. Get out here before he doubles the price of the dakshina,” he ordered.
“Hold him off for just a minute. I’m on my way,” I lied.
When I hung up, Shivina was staring at the laddoo in her hand.
“I’m needed out there. Will you be alright? Listen, I’ll support you if you want to press charges against Sangram,” I promised.
She shook her head.
With one last look at her downcast head, I began to walk away, but her words stopped me in my tracks before I got too far.
“How did you know we were in this room?” she asked.
“I was passing by and heard you threaten to scream the place down,” I lied.
She stared at me thoughtfully, and I wondered if she believed me. If she didn’t, she didn’t show it.
“Thank you, your Highness,” she said softly.
“Finish your laddoo,” I said gruffly before I turned around and left the room.
I wondered what she’d do if she knew that I hadn’t stumbled upon them by accident. I had followed them here. Hell, I’d practically leapt off the dais as soon as I saw Sangram lead her off the terrace. I had been held up for a couple of minutes by one of Ma’s cronies, which was why Sangram even got as far as he did. I couldn’t toss the poor old lady out of my way without attracting attention. But now, I was done.
Shivina was safe. And it was time I went back to Ramya… no! Kavya! It was time I went back to Kavya.