Page 281 of A King's Oath

“I am sorry…” Avantika began but Bade Rawal cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“You are the last person to be sorry, Kumari. You are the reason my BP is going down despite that one and this one,” he pointed first to Samarth and then to his wife with his brows. In spite of herself she found her mouth spitting out a snort. She stopped, biting the insides of her cheeks.

“What are you doing tomorrow evening?” He asked, breaking a piece of his roti.

“Umm… nothing much…”

“Then would you like to come with me to our cricket club? We can take Brahmi and show her the stadium and Nawanagar’s cricket history.”

“Yes!” She exclaimed. “I mean, that would be fun for her.”

“I have called the jewellers to the palace,” Rajmata interjected. “No way, Sid. Hold your horses. Besides, the press release will have just gone out tomorrow morning…”

“So what? The rumours are already rife,” her husband argued. “They will see for themselves.”

She glared at him.

“Alright. We’ll go the day after then. Don’t call anybody, I am booking both Ava and Brahmi.”

“We have one month to prep for the wedding. There is no time. I am having the saree atelier here tomorrow, then the rangara, then angarkha for Samarth… did you speak to Kamal bhai?”

“I did.”

“Kamal bhai has worked ancestrally for us,” Samarth enlightened her. “His father, grandfather, great grandfather tailored angarkha and jamawar for us.”

“My Mummy wanted to go shopping to Indore and Benares,” Avantika added. “Brahmi and I will be going with them this weekend.”

“Alright then,” Rajmata decreed. “I’ll schedule all of Samarth’s trials on the weekend and finish it off. Ava, we can sit down tomorrow and go through the mockups that are being sent over for your wedding apparel. Do you want to do a pink theme for you both?”

“Oh…” she glanced at her. “I thought Gujaratis do white and red?”

“That’s right. White is the base of the paanetar that you wear when you leave your parent’s house, signifying that you are starting your life with a blank canvas. Red is the colour of the saree that your in-laws bring to the wedding when they bring thegroom. It’s wrapped over your white saree, to signify the colour of your new life. But since you like pink, we can bring a pink gharchola.”

“How do you know I like pink?”

Rajmata’s eyebrows shot up before her eyes pointed to the man sitting and eating quietly beside her.

“You like pink and Brahmi is apparently sold on white and lavender. But hers we’ll see after we lock yours.”

“Thank you,” Avantika smiled. “Yes, pink is a good start.”

“Good. All shades of pink or something specific?”

“Anything is fi…”

“Fuchsia,” Samarth’s voice sounded firm. “She is shy right now so she won’t say it. But call for stuff in fuchsia.”

Rajmata chuckled — “Ok.”

Their dinner was then a lively affair of more wedding conversation. Avantika was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which she gelled with them. She was even more surprised by how naturally Samarth talked with his stepmother, almost like she wasn’t his stepmother. They ribbed each other, joked, ganged up on his father and… sometimes acted like they had their own secrets going on.

Was this woman really this good or was it a nice act? Did she know Samarth was abandoning the throne after marrying her and moving away? Was that why she was behaving nice?

“Samarth, Ava,” Bade Rawal addressed them solemnly once dinner was over, their plates were cleared and the staff had retreated. From the jokester who had kept the table lively, his eyes suddenly turned impassive.

“Tomorrow the press release about your history will go out along with the wedding date. The rumours are already swirling and after the decade Nawanagar has spent waiting for their Rawal to marry, it’s being received positively. The final seal on this will be the DNA declaration of…”

“No.”

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