Page 166 of A King's Oath

Samarth absorbed the reality in breaks of hours. In gulps of water pushed his way by someone or the other between calls or reports. His own phone had not stopped ringing and he had, after checking every time if it was Papa or an international number, handed the thing over to Harsh.

“Where is Sharan?” He asked now as the day fell to night and the calls from Ushuaia were still on.

Harsh mimed eating.

“Does he know?”

Harsh shook his head.

“Maarani is in her chambers?”

He nodded.

Samarth took a deep breath, then began to stride towards the dining room.

“Samarth!” He glanced up from the shadows of his footsteps to Indranil Kaka. Papa’s first cousin. His mother was Dada Sarkar’s older sister and ever since the Women’s Inheritance Bill a decade ago, had been hovering around the administration and the court to try and weasel in. Her son was worse, but Papa had fought a final appeal in the Supreme Court immediately after Dada Sarkar’s passing and secured the line from their petty attempts.

“I heard and came running,” he embraced him, squeezing his shoulders. “Beta, you are not alone. Sharan is not alone. We are all here.”

Samarth nodded, patting weakly and pulling away.

“Now you will not take the throne, so get Sharan ready. I will stand behind him and serve this throne of Nawanagar with all that is left in me. Don’t worry. You both are young, but I am here. Siddharth hasn’t left you both without a roof over your head.” He patted his head. Samarth folded his hands, on autopilot.

“Where is Tara?”

“Maarani will not be taking any visitors.”

He nodded. “I understand. Mummy will be coming to meet her when she is ready. Where are you going? To durbar?”

“It’s night now. Everybody is tired. Thank you for coming, Kaka. But everybody is disbanding. Come, have dinner.”

As Samarth had expected, his face fell. But he patted his shoulder — “I ate. You go and eat. In the meantime, I’ll go find out if we can retrieve Rawal’s body.”

He began to walk down the palace alley like he owned it. Samarth looked at Harsh, flicked his eyes, and Harsh quietly turned and fell in step behind his uncle. He would know how to keep Indranil Kaka away from where the action was.

Samarth changed tracks and went to Maarani’s chambers. A whole day had passed. He hoped she was well enough to talk the most important matter.

He knocked, two knocks followed by a single one.

“Kon?”

“Samarth.”

“Come in, Samarth.”

He pushed the door open and found her sitting on the sofa, her face impassive. The room was plunged into darkness, nothing but a small lamp lit in the corner.

“The confirmation came?” She asked, sounding just as lifeless as he felt inside. Hopeless too now.

“It’s coming in trickles. Two more search operations have failed. Everybody keeps hoping the answer will change in the next hour, but it is still the same.”

“What about the… is anything found?”

“Only that which was found in the morning.”

She nodded.

“We need to tell Sharan.”

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