Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
RANVIJAY
K issing Shivina had seemed like a good idea to start with.
I had been desperate to shut her up. I didn’t want the chauffeur listening to any more of our argument than he’d already heard before I put up the privacy screen. I needed Shivina to shut up and let me think because I didn’t really have a plan.
I had no idea what I was going to do with her once I took her to my palace. Carrying her away had been a knee-jerk reaction to the vilest trick destiny could have played on me. It was a gesture. But I had no idea what came after that.
I needed to think it through and have a plan ready when I faced my family, who had no idea what was happening. I tried intimidating her into shutting up, but she wasn’t scared of me. At all. Which was a little stupid considering she was in the company of a very angry man. I had two choices. I could either strangle her into silence, or I could kiss her.
And maddening as she was, and as angry as I was, there was never really a choice. I kissed her.
I poured all my fury into the kiss, but she melted into my arms as if she was always meant to be there. When she wound her arms around my neck and kissed me back, I was almost relieved I had married her and not Kavya. When that thought registered in my lust-addled brain, I realised I’d made a big mistake. I pushed her away hastily and growled at her. But Shivina just wasn’t backing down.
She met me barb for barb, threat for threat. And that’s when I made my second mistake. I kissed her again. And I promised to keep kissing her until she stopped talking.
I should have been relieved when Shivina finally deigned to shut up but fuck me, I was disappointed. I needed my head examined!
That woman had just scammed me in front of all our guests. Sure, she was just a paid hand, standing in for Kavya. And I knew that the real culprits were the Dodiyas, but the fact that Shivina, of all people, had helped to fool me stuck in my craw like last night’s fishbone. Her betrayal cut the sharpest because I thought she was different.
I mean, I’d expect Kavya to pull off something shady because that’s the kind of woman she was. But I had believed Shivina to be different. She had honest eyes. And she didn’t set off the internal radar that had protected me from avaricious women ever since Devika died. I guess that radar had finally gone to pieces, and the sad part was I didn’t think it could ever be fixed after this disaster.
And considering that she had turned out to be as bad as my first wife, I really had no business kissing her at all. Let alone being disappointed that I couldn’t do it again.
Every cell in my body demanded that I grab her by the shoulders and shake her hard until she explained what she meant by this betrayal. But was it even a betrayal if I meant nothing to her?
In my head, I had felt some sort of connection with Shivina. A deep pull that took me into her path again and again. But what if that wasn’t real? What if I had imagined it because I was attracted to her? Which I was, no matter how much I denied it. Those sizzling kisses had laid that bit of denial to rest.
But clearly, Shivina felt no such pull. If she had, she’d have thought of the consequences of her actions. All she had thought of was the money.
“How much did they pay you?” I asked gruffly; the words dragged out of me quite against my will.
What I meant was, what price had she put on my feelings when I discovered the deception? How much money did it take to overcome any scruples she had about deceiving me?
She flinched a bit and then straightened her spine and turned to look down her nose at me. Amazing! The sheer… audacity … of looking down at her victim! Simply amazing, I thought viciously.
“Five lakhs,” she replied.
Wow! I wasn’t worth much, apparently.
“You should have asked for at least triple that amount,” I said dryly.
Shivina shrugged before she turned to look out the window again.
“Eh, I didn’t want to be greedy,” she said softly.
I wanted to slam my fist into the screen that separated us from the front seat. I wanted to roar my anger and disillusionment until the noise shattered the windshield. I wanted to burn down Sajjangarh Palace and every single fucking Dodiya who lived there. Instead, I laughed.
A harsh, bitter, vicious sound that made Shivina flinch again. She turned to stare at me fearfully as if I had lost my mind, and maybe I had. But it was all I could do right now. I could only laugh at the irony of our situation.
Even in her greed, Shivina had some scruples, while Kavya and her family clearly had none. Even in their time of desperate need, they had haggled like Banias and scored a good deal for themselves. Five lakhs was a very small price to pay for the title of Maharani of Mirpur.
“Stop laughing,” she said, looking mighty grumpy for a woman who had just made the biggest mistake of her life.
It only made me laugh more.
I was still laughing when we drove through the palace gates.
“We’re home,” I said curtly, and she hastily pulled down her veil to cover her face.
The courtyard was bustling with my household staff, all of whom were eager to see their new Rani Sa. Sannata stood proudly at the forefront, with the pooja thali and her army of helpers behind her, holding trays of rose petals and mithai. The nagada, dhol and tutari players stood at attention, ready to break out into music as soon as we stepped out of the car.
I turned to Shivina and took her hand gently as a valet rushed to open my door.
“Welcome to hell, Rani Sa,” I murmured as the dhol struck up a merry beat and the tutari played a welcome tune.
Her hand tensed in mine, but she followed me out of the car without a fight. There was a long red carpet stretched out from the parking lot to where our welcome committee awaited us. And more staff showered us with rose petals from the upper storeys of the palace as we made our way to the door.
Ma and Kaki Sa straightened their limbs from the long car ride and got ready to welcome the new Maharani into Mirpur Palace. I wondered how they’d react when they discovered the deception. Ma was probably going to say I told you so because she hadn’t liked Kavya in the first place.
And Sangram was probably going to wet himself in fear and jealousy when he discovered whom I had married. I glared at him as I walked past him, and he gave me a weak smile in response. The cowardly little rodent!
Isha jumped out of her car before Veer could stop her and ran to my side.
“What the fuck are you doing, RV?” she whispered.
“Stay out of it, shortcake,” I growled.
“No, I won’t,” she argued. “You’ve terrified this poor girl enough. Now let her go before this little farce takes on operatic proportions.”
“I agree,” chimed in my dear wife from my other side. “Yuvarani Sa is right. You should let me go.”
“Tough titties,” I said crudely. “I’m never letting you go, Rani Sa.”
“Language,” hissed Isha. “Don’t make me bring out my Basanti, RV.”
Shivina leaned across me and raised her veil as she asked with interest, “Who’s Basanti?”
“My gun,” replied Isha, with a smile.
She was such a traitor! The only person she should have threatened was the woman who duped me. Was there no justice in this world, I wondered angrily.
Shivina cast me a quick glance.
“Do you lend this Basanti out to the public? You know… under special circumstances… for personal protection?” she asked Isha.
“You won’t need any gun while I’m around you,” I said, offended that she would even suggest such a thing.
“That’s exactly why I need protection,” she said angrily. “I have no idea what you’re going to do to me in that big mausoleum of yours. I wouldn’t put it past you to throw me to the gharial in your moat.”
“This is Rajasthan,” I pointed, my tone oozing sarcasm. “There’s no water in the moat, let alone a gharial. I could throw you to Isha’s hyenas, though.”
“You have hyenas?” asked Shivina, wide-eyed. And Isha nodded.
“But I won’t let them anywhere near you,” she promised.
“Beta, we’re waiting to welcome our bahu,” Ma called out in exasperation. “You can all talk later.”
“Enough chitchat,” I growled, speeding up until the mad women on either side of me were forced to hurry to keep up with my stride.
“Slow down, Hukum. We’re wearing heavy lehngas,” grumbled Shivina.
I threw her a menacing glare. How many times did I have to remind her that she was never to call me Hukum? She was not my staff. She was my fucking wife!
“I could throw you over my shoulder again, Rani Sa. Think of the grand entrance you’ll make upside down over your new husband’s shoulder,” I threatened, and she picked up speed with a glare nasty enough to match mine.
I grabbed her hand and led her firmly down the red carpet as Veer finally caught up with his demented wife.
“I’ve got Basanti in the car,” she called out. “Give me a shout if you need her.”
For fuck’s sake!
As we walked down the red carpet, and I saw Ma and Kaki Sa’s expectant faces waiting for us at the other end, the reality of what I had done began to sink in. I had brought home the wrong wife! How on earth was I going to explain my actions?
Shivina’s hand began to tremble in mine, and I remembered that if I was in trouble, so was she. And she was terrified. Good, I thought viciously. She deserved it. And yet, quite against my better judgment, I squeezed her hand in support. And turned her palm to face mine as I wound my fingers around hers.
She exhaled sharply but did stop shaking.
“I’m putting an end to this farce,” she whispered, pulling her hand out of mine.
Kumudini Kaki Sa was preparing to do the traditional aarti, but before she could begin, Shivina raised her hands and folded her veil back. My aunt gasped in surprise.
“Haye haye, who’s this?” she asked.
“This is my wife, Shivina,” I replied, bracing myself for the shitstorm that was to follow.
“Ranvijay, explain yourself at once,” said Ma sharply.
“It’s all my fault, Rani Ma,” said Shivina before I could speak. “His Highness had nothing to do with it. I stood in for Kavya Baisa at the wedding.”
“But why?” asked Ma.
For money, I opened my mouth to say snidely. But what came out was completely different.
“Because the bride was held up with something more important. And this is the Dodiyas’ idea of honour. They preferred to scam us instead of owning up to the truth.”
Still snide, but not against Shivina. What the hell was wrong with me? I wanted to make her squirm and suffer and pay for her sins, didn’t I? Then I had no business heading the uncomfortable questions away from her.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” exclaimed Kaki Sa.
“He married the wrong woman, Mom,” said Sangram with a smirk.
Immediately, there was a buzz of whispers around the courtyard. I could see my relatives and the staff casting judgmental looks at Shivina. She stood with her head bowed and her shoulders braced. As if she knew she deserved all the judgment and hate she was about to receive for deceiving me and my family.
It should have given me a lot of pleasure to see her punished for her actions. Yet, for some reason, it didn’t.
All I could think of was that she was all alone in a strange palace, and every member of the household was about to turn against her because my people were nothing if not loyal. If they turned on her before she even entered the palace, they’d make her life very difficult. And I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t stand that.
She had wronged me . Only me. Which meant that only I had the right to punish her.
Maybe that’s why I said what I said. And maybe it had something to do with the slimy way Sangram was looking at the woman I had just married. I wanted to pluck his fucking eyes out and stuff them down his throat.
I drew myself to my full height and stared him down until he looked away uneasily.
Then I held my hand up until there was complete silence in the courtyard before I spoke loud and clear.
“You’re wrong, Sangram Singh. Through a strange stroke of fate, I actually married the right woman. Rani Ma, may I present the new Maharani of Mirpur? Her Highness Shivina Singh Rathore. ”