Page 277 of A King's Oath

“Aao, Hira ben.”

Avantika pushed her hair behind her shoulders, running a hand down her silk kurta. It wasn’t a moment later that the old lady hobbled inside the house, her round stature slow but her eyes sharp and sparkly. Her eyes were on her Rawal.

“Tame kyaarthi Nawanagar maa darwaja thokwa mandya?[97]”

“Jyaarthi Rawal ni gurlfriend Nawanagar aavi.[98]”

Avantika had spent her childhood and then some youth with Samarth. She understood enough Gujarati by now to laugh out loud at that retort.

“Meet Rawal ni girlfriend, then,” Samarth ushered an arm out to her — “Avantika Kumari Raje of Gwalior. Ava, this is Hira ben.”

Avantika did not need any more formal introductions. She folded her hands together and covered the distance between them.

“What are you doing, Kumari?” Hira ben’s hands folded together. “Why are you…”

“I am meeting you for the first time but it’s like I know you since I was a child, Hira ben.” Avantika bent forward, ready to touch her feet when her arms came around her shoulders and she pulled her up, her eyes suddenly soft — “I have never heardabout you but I have always seen you in Rawal’s eyes. You were his longest bout of joy and you were his never-ending grief.”

Avantika lowered her eyes. To have Samarth tell her that was one thing. To have this woman, who had been the closest to a mother to him, tell her that, was quite another.

“What’s this Rawal ni girlfriend, Hira ben? You started it?”

“The moment you landed, it was wildfire. Even if you had smuggled them in the dark of the night it would have spread. You got them home in the light of the brightest Diwali day.”

“They deserved nothing less.”

“Where is our Nawanagar’s Kumari now?”

“Brahmi,” Samarth reiterated.

“Brahmi. Yes. Where is she?”

“Running around the garden. She loves flowers.”

“Like your Dadi Sarkar.”

“Yes,” Samarth mused, as if just realising that little fact.

“Look there’s a small bush of lavender flowers too!” Brahmi came dancing inside the house, some loose lavender periwinkles cradled like precious jewels in her cupped palms.

“It’s because they were hiding there especially for you.” Samarth opened his hand and Brahmi carefully laid her flowers in his big hand. He cradled them just as preciously and lay them on a table. “Do you want to get a small vase to fill with water and keep them in?”

Brahmi nodded, her eyes darting to Hira ben.

“This is Hira ben, she knows everything here. All the secret passageways too.”

Brahmi’s eyes widened. Avantika shut her eyes, praying Hira ben’s ears would be spared the inquisition coming her way. Samarth just knew how to push his daughter’s buttons in such a short span.

“I know secret passageways in my home in Loire,” Brahmi gasped, as if meeting a fellow cult member. Hira ben’s eyes widened to match hers — “Really? No way.”

“Yes, yes! I am not lying.”

“You look too young to know so many secrets.”

“But I am fast and always on the lookout for more. How do you know so many secrets?”

“I am old,” she pointed to her head full of grey hair. “I have lived here all my life.”

Brahmi’s eyebrows shot up.

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