Page 20 of A Royal Deception

The wedding guests milled around happily, unaware of the terrible trick being played on the bridegroom. Some of Kavya Baisa’s cousins rushed over to us, cooing over the gorgeous wedding joda, but Rani Sa firmly and politely sent them off on various tasks before they could raise my veil.

I clasped the wedding garland so hard that some of the petals fell off. I watched them float to the ground from under the veil, praying at every step for someone to stop me. Where the hellwas the bride? Did she know that another woman was taking her place, even temporarily?

Rani Sa took my arm and led me up the steps to the mandap, with Diggi Mausi holding up the skirts of my red lehenga.

“Keep your head down,” Rani Sa reminded me, and I nodded in reply.

They had wound the ends of the dupatta around my forearms so that my bare arms were hidden from the crowd. But I had a feeling discovery was imminent because Kavya Baisa’s friends were sure to notice I had no mehendi on my palms. After all, Baisa had taken so many pictures with her elaborate bridal mehendi.

The atmosphere in the mandap was very grave and formal. The head priest had requested both the bride and groom to keep their feet on the ground during the Jai Mala so there was none of the usual madness where the groom’s friends lifted him in the air to dodge the bride’s garland, and her friends responded by lifting her even higher.

I couldn’t see what I was doing anyway because of the thick veil. I just raised my garland in his direction, and His Highness must have bent his head because it fell around his neck like it was supposed to. My fingers skimmed the back of his neck as I placed the garland, and I almost called it off right then because it felt far too real all of a sudden. This was a real man with real hopes for his marriage, and I was helping to cheat him horribly.

I wanted to throw off my veil and denounce them all, but it was too late for that. I was an equal party to the deception now, and I just had to go along with it.

He placed his garland around my neck, and it felt like a noose tightening in place slowly. There was no backing out now. I began to hyperventilate under the veil and wished I could push it back a little, but even as I raised my hands, Rani Sa pushed themback down gently. I remembered that I had to keep my hands out of sight, even if I suffocated to death under the veil.

“Is Kavya able to breathe under the veil?” asked someone in concern. “Can she push it back a little?”

I recognised the voice to be that of the Yuvarani of Jadhwal.

Why was she being so kind?Her kindness could ruin everything!

“She’s fine, beta. Kavya would prefer to keep the veil on until the mooh-dikhai. It’s a family tradition of ours, and my daughter is nothing if not traditional,” replied Rani Sa firmly.

I wondered how she and Raja Sa could be so coldbloodedly calm right now. Their daughter was still not home! Was she even okay? I knew they were getting regular updates from the people who had gone to pick Baisa up from the desert. Still, weren’t they worried about her? Or was putting up a show in front of their guests more important than their daughter’s safety?

I sat down on the gaddi next to His Highness as the priests chanted their stotras loudly, wondering how he’d react if he found out it was I under this veil instead of the woman he wanted to marry. What a lovely way to repay his kindness, I thought bitterly. And yet, under all the self-recrimination, a part of me wondered if this was how it felt when your dreams came true.

I finally understood why they said to be careful what you wish for, lest it actually come true. I might have fallen for His Highness the minute I set eyes on him, but I had buried those feelings deep down and out of sight. So, how did the universe smoke them out? And was it such a crime to have feelings for a man who was so out of your reach? Did the universe have to punish me for it by making my most secret dream come true in such a terrible, twisted way?

Rani Sa reached between us to tie the end of my dupatta to his shawl, and my heart skipped a beat. Why did it feel like she was tying my destiny to his?

It’s not real. It’s not real… I chanted to myself. But this fake marriage felt all too real.

How often did a woman find herself married to the man of her dreams? The tragic part was that he would never know it was me he had married, even for a few minutes. Strange hands grabbed mine and helped me rise for the pheras, and I resisted the urge to run out of the mandap, screaming at the top of my voice. Life would never be the same. At the end of these seven turns around the agni, I would be His Highness’s wife in the eyes of God. His Maharani. Whether he recognised it or not.

What future did I have after that? Sure, I had the money to give my sister a good schooling.But what about me?Was I supposed to shed this secret along with the wedding joda? Would I stop being married to him just because he took another woman home?

My feet froze as the enormity of this deception and its consequences struck me. If His Highness took Kavya Baisa home and went through with the registered court procedure as planned, he would be committing bigamy. And if, at some point in the future, I found another man to spend my life with, how could I explain to him that I was already married to a man who knew nothing about it?

Ohmigod!Any children he had with Baisa after this would be illegitimate!I had to find a way to stop this wedding!

But His Highness began walking around the agni, and I was forced to follow, each step weaving an intricate web of lies from which there was no escape.

At no point during this farce of a wedding had my bridegroom said a word to me. He hadn’t even held my hand. Which was a blessing, I told myself. So why did it feel like acurse? I was marrying the man of my dreams, even if it was only temporary. But I had no chance to make any memories to sustain me through the lonely nights ahead. I might as well have been a betel nut kept in Kavya Baisa’s seat on the gaddi, I thought as hysterical laughter welled up in my throat.

I pushed it down and took a deep breath. This veil felt even more suffocating than the full-body PPE we had worn during the pandemic.

All too soon, the pandit asked us to sit down again. It was done. I had married His Highness under false pretences. But my ordeal was far from over. Diggi Mausi came up to me under the guise of adjusting my lehenga.

“It’s over, beta. Baisa is back in the palace,” she whispered.

I sagged against the back of the gaddi and felt faint. All I had to do was to get off this mandap without anyone discovering the deception. But why the devil could she not have returned sooner? A loud wail made its way up my throat, and I stifled it as hard as I could, but a soft moan still escaped me.

“The joda is very heavy, Jamai Sa. I think the sooner we take Kavya Baisa to change into the bidaai outfit, the better it will be,” said Diggi Mausi loudly.

“Just a few minutes more,” replied the pandit. “Please lift her veil for the sindoor rasm.”

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