He let out a war cry and rode through the desert to find Nandini.
CHAPTER 36
Nandini woke up to the sounds of conversation.
Immediately, she knew she wasn’t in her tent at the Kabali encampment because everything felt different.
Her head throbbed in pain.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. The sun was just setting, and she was lying on the sand under the shade of a hill.
Breathing in slowly, she tried to control her headache and listen to the language. It was similar to that spoken in the Thakvar clan and many parts of Singoor.
“Given a chance, I would have had my fill with the Thakvar heiress. But Mr. Tantra said no one should touch her, and nothing should happen to her.”
Nandini recognized the voice as the man who ordered her veil to be removed and said he would hand her over to someone named Tantra.
“Why do you think Mr. Tantra wants her, sir?” another man asked.
“I don’t know exactly, but he wants the Kabali heir dead and the Thakvars to wage war on the Kabali clan. All I care about is the money Mr. Tantra is offering me to hand the Thakvar heiress to him. And I also want to do it because that bastard Rishab Thakvar stole the woman I was supposed to marry. So, stealing his sister is the rightful revenge.”
“Do you think the Thakvar clan will suspect us, sir?”
“No. There is no proof that our clan is involved.”
Nandini’s heart thudded. She realized the man must be an heir to a Singoor clan if he considered marrying her sister-in-law Gauri, an heiress to the Bhil clan.
She didn’t know who the man named Tantra was or why he wanted her to be kidnapped. But the fact that Tantra wanted Rudra dead made a chill pass through her. She desperately hoped Tantra’s plan didn’t work and her brothers wouldn’t harm Rudra or get attacked in return while she went missing.
Oh God. I shouldn’t have escaped.
She prayed that she would get out without the people she cared about getting hurt.
Taking a deep breath, she groaned loudly.
“The Thakvar heiress must have gained consciousness,” the man said. “We will resume our journey as soon as we finish our meal. We have to cross the Singoor border before sunrise.”
She heard the approaching footsteps in the sand and slowly got up. Turning towards the man, she blinked as though she had just gained consciousness.
“Drink water and eat,” the man said. “We have a long journey.”
She nodded and took the water pouch from him. She only took a small sip as the water might be drugged.
A cloth pouch with dried food was handed to her. She ate a few nuts.
“You are my savior,” she said with a slight tremble in her voice.
The man looked at her with a frown. “What do you mean?”
She wrapped her arms around her body and widened her eyes. “Rudra Kabali kidnapped me and forcibly married me. But I didn’t accept him as my husband. Now, I am finally free from that savage demon because of you.”
The man continued to frown.
“Are you going to marry me?” she asked.
The man looked shocked at the question. “What?”
She looked at him. “I know my marriage is important for the fourth alliance required for the goddess Shakti statue commissioning. I want to marry, but it has to be with someone who isn’t from a savage clan like the Kabalis. Any other clan would do.”