Page 208 of A King's Oath

“Were you having a nightmare again?” Rajmata asked.

“No. Why?”

“You look scared.”

“I don’t get scared of nightmares,” he smirked. Her mouth quirked up — “If you say so.”

Samarth swallowed the bitter memory of that nightmare. Delirium. Hallucination. Whatever that was.

“Samarth?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you against going on a vacation because you think who will take care of things here or you genuinely don’t want to go?”

He thought for a moment, his eyes going to the dark window, then to the ceiling where the swimming pool’s reflection danced.

“I wouldn’t know what to do on a vacation.”

“You used to travel all the time.”

“Yeah,” he scoffed. “That was a lifetime ago.”

“Are you happy, Samarth?”

He looked at her — “Why do you ask suddenly?”

“I don’t know if you remember this. When Papa came back and announced that you would continue to be Rawal, you looked unhappy for a while. I asked you then as well. But I wasn’t in a position to pester that answer out of you.”

He smiled.Today she was.

“Why did you pull out of the Indian team?”

He shrugged — “It was time. I had played my share.”

“And your duties here kept multiplying.”

“No, no. You know Papa was always there to take it off if it got too overwhelming. Rajmata, my duties here had nothing to do with me cutting down on polo. I just wasn’t too sold onjet-setting around anymore. That was twenties, this is thirties. Priorities change.”

“Hmm. I get it. But you don’t play for Gir Zephyrs very often either.”

“That’s because I am expanding it. The women’s team has been settled. Now I want to create a mixed team.”

“Mixed as in men and women in one team? Can they compete together?”

“Not in other sports. But in polo, they can. Horses don’t bow to muscle or gender. They bow to leadership. We are sorting through some rules and once that is done…”

“Samarth?”

“Hmm?”

“You are a player first, manager later.”

He swallowed.

“This year it’s been slow but it’ll pick up again,” he went on without a hitch. “I am overseeing their growth for now. I’ll start playing again soon.”

Her eyes narrowed on him. Like he had her mapped out in the dark after all these nights of sickness, he figured she had him mapped out inside out by now.

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