Page 177 of A King's Oath

“Av! Ehh! Aveh!” Harsh ran around and barred her path without touching her, hands outstretched, eyes pleading. He folded his hands together and gestured for her to leave.

“Please, Harsh, please, I need to see him. I need to talk to him. Please…” she broke into a sob. His face crumpled. “Ok, you go, Go and tell him…” she stopped, pushing tears off her face. Her eyes filled again and she kept swallowing what little pride gurgled up her throat — “Tell him he made a promise to metoo. Tell him he promised me that he would eat sev on poha all his life. Tell him — at least remember your own words. Please, Harsh. Just once. Please, go.”

He shook his head, his eyes screwing small.

“I cannot go away without telling him…”

“Raje?” Avantika whirled at the sound of that moniker from a familiar voice. Giriaj Hukum was striding down the alley, in a sombre white shirt, face screwed in concern.

“What are you doing here like this?”

Harsh panicked and began to gesture for her to come away but she saw the opening — “Hukum, I am here to meet Samarth.”

“Of course, then go in. He will be in the dining room.”

“Can you guide me…”

“Ehh, hea…” Harsh made quick hand gestures to Hukum. His panic was rising. Hukum’s eyebrows furrowed. He listened to Harsh’s full rant, and then his eyes fell to her.

“Raje,” his features relaxed. “You cannot stand here like this. Come with me, I’ll seat you in Chandi Haveli. Wait there.”

She followed Hukum into a spacious hall made of silver accents. He seated her there, then gestured Harsh to the door.

“I will get Samarth for you. Ok?” Hukum reassured her.

Avantika tried to find a smile for him as she nodded. He turned on his heels and disappeared, Harsh behind him. Seconds passed. Minutes. Longer minutes. She wiped her face clean of tears and adjusted her duppatta. Now that she was seated here like a princess, she would have to right her haggard appearance to look like one.

When longer minutes passed and there was no sign of anybody coming, Avantika stood to her feet. She walked out of the hall, looking left, then right. The guard outside the hall saw her but did not question her. Probably because she had Hukum’s seal of approval. Avantika set her chin high and walked out into the alley.

“Where is the dining room?” She inquired.

“Straight from here, then take a left, madam.”

“Thank you.”

She went down the alley, her footsteps light even as she held her princess gait. Murmurs made her feet stall. Male murmurs. Harsh was standing by the door but it was open. No guards or citizens around. Nobody. Avantika went closer, hoping Harsh would not be alerted to her footsteps.

“…and if this is your reasoning then, pardon my language, Samarth, it is — bullshit,” Hukum bellowed quietly.

“I have decided this, Hukum.”

“And what about that girl waiting there? Did you ask her? You went and took decisions of your life, involved her in them, made promises. And now? One storm and you alienate her?”

“I will be on the wrong side of her life. I’ll take that.”

“Don’t do this.”

“I cannot give her anything. No marriage, no home, no kingdom, no children.”

“Cannot or will not?”

Silence.

“Which debts are you still paying? Samarth, beta, what are you still trying to prove and to whom?”

“I am fulfilling the promises I made.”

“I will talk to Tara. I will talk to Tara’s parents. You go talk to Ava…”

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