Page 33 of A Royal Deception

“None of this would have happened if you had only listened to me in the first place,” grumbled Ma. “I told you Kavya was not the right woman for you.”

“You were the one who introduced me to her in the first place,” I snapped in disbelief. How like my mother to forget that she was the one who set us on this disastrous path!

“Well, I hadn’t even met the girl! In theory, she seemed like the perfect wife for you. And I only requested you to meet her to see if she was your type.”

“Requested? You nagged me until I agreed to meet the woman,” I pointed out acidly.

“Yes, I nagged you to meet her. But I didn’t tell you to ask her to marry you on your very first meeting. That was all your doing,” she retorted. “Even after I begged you not to because she was nothing like the wife I had envisioned for you.”

I groaned and rubbed my eyes wearily. She was right. I had only myself to blame.

I hadn’t agreed to marry Kavya because I fell in love with her at first sight. I agreed to marry her because our very first meeting had convinced me that she’d make me the perfect wife. Because there was no way I could come to love a woman as cold and calculating as her. And that’s exactly what I was looking for - a loveless marriage.

After my last nightmarish marriage to Devika, I had no intention of falling in love ever again. Romantic love was a commercial construct, a marketing tool. And I wasn’t getting fooled again. But I did need an heir, which meant I needed a wife. This time around, I was determined to be wiser. This marriage was going to be a purely business arrangement. It was going so well, too. Until my fiancée tricked me into marryingthe wrong woman. The one who made me feel things I had no business feeling.

“This isn’t the time to point fingers at each other, Ma. We need to find a solution. I’ve sent Raksha to find out what Kavya has been up to. If anyone can dig out the truth, it’s her. Meanwhile, I’m going to keep an eye on the woman upstairs because I don’t trust her one inch,” I replied as I walked towards the stairs.

“Ranvijay, be kind,” Ma called out as I ran up the stairs.

As if she needed to say that, I thought angrily. I was always kind. Even when people didn’t deserve it.

But when I walked into my bedroom, I found Shivina whispering on the phone to someone, and all thoughts of kindness flew out of my mind.

Sannata went pale at the sight of me, but I put a finger to my lips before she could alert Shivina to my presence. It was funny how someone I had trusted blindly had turned traitor within five minutes of meeting this woman. I had explicitly banned everybody from giving her a phone, and yet, here we were.

I wanted to hear what she was saying. Was she conspiring with the Dodiyas to blow my palace down? What did these people even want, I wondered.

But Shivina seemed to be talking to someone she loved. And from what she was saying, it seemed to be a man.

I’ll come to you tonight.

Like hell she would, I decided as I snatched the phone out of her hand with a snarl.

Her eyes widened in horror, and she backed away as I advanced on her.

“Hukum,” began Sannata placatingly, but I interrupted her.

“Leave us,” I said, but to my surprise, Sannata stood her ground.

“Not until you hear me out, Hukum,” she said stubbornly.

I could have staked my palace on Sannata’s loyalty to my family, so it infuriated me to see her defending the woman who had deceived me.

“Out,” I growled in a tone that brooked no argument, and she scurried from the room.

“That was rude and unnecessary,” said Shivina, and I was amazed at the audacity of the woman.

She tricked me into marrying her, turned my loyal staff against me, and had the gall to defend said staff after I caught her making plans to meet her lover.

“Are you delusional?” I asked conversationally.

She frowned even as she continued to back away because my whole body radiated fury, even if my tone didn’t. When her back hit a wall, she froze in place because she had nowhere to escape. And still, she raised her chin and frowned down her nose at me.

“Excuse me?”

“If I were in your place, I’d be on my knees begging for forgiveness,” I said softly. “And yet, all you do is talk back to me. You’ve been sniping at me since I discovered your deception, and I just don’t get it. If you think sassing me is going to stop me from throwing you in jail, you’ve got to be delusional.”

Shivina laughed bleakly.

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