Page 291 of A King's Oath

Siddharth ended the call and ventured back into his room. The Queen’s Chambers. His solace, his haven, his happy place. He glanced around and slid in beside Brahmi, Tara already emitting quiet snores.

“Moon, give me… my eclair…”

He laughed quietly. His granddaughter didn’t talk sappy stuff with her moon. She fought for eclairs with him. He pressed a kiss into her hair and lay down. His heart’s deepest desire had taken its own sweet time but it had ripened well. So well.

48. Balcony

— AVANTIKA —

The water was heavenly, as were the tiny jets in the jacuzzi set installed in the antique round tub. Avantika didn’t remember the last time she had spent longer than ten minutes under/ inside hot water. Even when her mother or Kresha had come visiting or she brought Brahmi to Delhi to her parents, the days were stuffed with things to do. No time to soak in a tub.

In this moment, as her head lay back on the rim of the tub with a towel cushioning it, bubbles floating around her and a glass of wine half-finished in her hand, she realised she had not had a night like this since becoming a mother. Brahmi had never been a clingy child but she had been a multi-tasking mother, forgetting what spas and hot tubs and pampering did to a woman. Her mind had wired into a whole different league, like while playing cricket — all you saw was the ball. After a certain number of overs, it started to look as big as football to you, that’s how focused you became on it. For her, Brahmi and her upbringing became as big as a football and she would see nothing beyond that.

Avantika brought the glass of wine to her lips and took a long sip. It was sparkly wine, perfect and bubbly for a night like this. A whisper of a shutter startled her. She sat up. Silence. Maybe it was her imagination. She pushed back, the water making the best rippling sound around her as she did so. And again a thud.

Her chest thumped. Anxious, she set her glass back, got out of the tub soaking wet and pulled her bathrobe around her, tightening the knot. She grabbed her mobile, swiping it up to keep Samarth’s number under her thumb and tiptoed out of the bathroom, her hand trying to find something to grab as self-defence.

“Oh, shit,” somebody groaned from the balcony. “Fu…” Samarth cursed. Avantika ran across the room and unlocked the balcony shutters, getting knocked in the face with cool winds and a doubled-over Samarth.

“What are you doing here?” She whispered. His head popped up, half pain half amusement.

“What does it look like? Sneaking into your balcony.”

“Where did you get hurt?” She pushed to the parapet and glanced down. No ladder. “How did you climb up?”

“That banyan tree…” he rubbed his back, straightening to his full height. “Shit… this used to be easier in school.”

“You were also a teenager in school,” Avantika chided, grabbing his arm and helping him inside. “Your security is downstairs. Are you mad?”

“They are not on this side for the next three minutes,” he grinned.

“Oh my gawwwd! You did research?”

“Had to.”

“Might as well have come through the main door.”

“The security there is 24X7.”

Avantika huffed, turning him to the sitting area before he grabbed her arm and pulled her to himself. His hand came to her neck, trailing down the soaking skin — “You’re wet.”

“I was in the tub and ran.”

Samarth’s eyes trailed down her face, her open neck, to the floor where she was dripping water despite the soaking material of her robe. She squealed as he bent down and picked her up in his arms.

“Samarth!”

He laughed, carrying her into the bathroom and setting her on the mat outside the tub. His gaze took in her private little party and his hands went to the knot of her robe.

“Hoye,” she grabbed his hands before they could pull it open. “Apparently your Rajmata has set some rules.”

“Nobody knows I am here. Her concern is to not set tongues wagging,” he slapped her hand away.

She slapped it back on his — “What about your Sati Savitri rules?”

He tugged the knot open in one swoop and held the lapels of her robe in both hands — “I never said anything about not looking.”

“What if you look and jog your memory?”

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