Page 80 of A King's Oath

“January or February. We are not sure of the date yet.”

“I’ll be here by then after my final exams. I’ll get time to stay here until the semester in London starts in September!”

“Yes, you would have lots of time with it. Now go and take a shower. You are sitting with me on the Bird Sanctuary meeting in one hour.”

“Yes, Rawal.”

Excited, Samarth began to retreat. What would it be like? To have one person to be friends with, to be a brother to… he had only ever known Harsh who came close to an elder brother. Now… he would be the elder one.Yes!

“Samarth?” Papa called.

“Yes, Rawal?”

“How is Avantika?”

The happy screams inside him went silent.

“I haven’t heard you speak about her. You still talk to her?”

“On and off…” he said. It was not a lie, considering he had just ended a call with her.

“Why? It’s your vacation, you can invite her to the palace with your other friends. Plan something, it’s summer.”

“She is busy with her cricket practise.” This time he lied.

“She can do that here. Nawanagar has the best cricket facility in India.”

“Yes but… she might go for a holiday with her family… and it’s anyway benching.”

“What?” Papa’s face screwed up in confusion.

“Benching… like, on it’s way to ending. We don’t talk much.”

“Did you do something?”

“It was mutual.”

“Because of what’s going on in this family?”

“No, not at all!”

Lies, lies, lies. All lies.He knew his father knew it too. But now a new life was sealed. It was coming. Slowly they would forget all about the old one and move on. All of them.

“Alright. Go now. Shower and come back.”

Samarth took three steps back, opened the door and walked out of Rawal’s office. His new life goals were slowly falling into place. After months and weeks of haze, everything was again becoming clearer — a baby brother or sister, then college in London, Polo, coming back to work in the Nawanagar administration, pursuing Polo professionally and… Ava’s calls every birthday. He could live a life on those. Happily so.

PART II: THE PRINCESS

— AVANTIKA —

15. Bougainvillea

Avantika reached behind her to grab the pallu of her saree and circled it around her shoulder, walking down the richly carpeted floors of the palace alley. The soft pink of her saree complemented the line of bougainvillaea vines running the arches opening down the alley. The fuchsia flowers popping up were the best part of summer in Gwalior. She loved it when they bloomed, loved it even more when they carpeted the green grass.

She held the pallu of her flimsy Chanderi saree between her thumb and forefinger, the fabric feeling petal-soft on her skin. She pulled it tighter and continued to navigate the alleys in her heels. Heels in a saree. She had seen her mother and her Kaki navigate broken ground in heels higher than these, with saree pleats swishing in front of them. As a young girl, Avantika had always aspired to walk like that. Now, with years of wearing sarees and heels, separately and together, she could vouch for her flair to walk in them and elevate her entire posture as not only a princess of this dynasty but also a woman. At 25, she felt like the woman she had always aspired to be.

“Raje?” the PR executive called. “This way,” she pointed, leading her down to the grand Ballroom of Vijay Villas Palace. This was her home, she knew the ways. She could navigate them with her eyes closed after all the days and nights spent playing stop-and-party in its depths. And yet, on a formal engagement like this one, she had to go slow, with escorts and chaperones ahead and behind her.

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