Page 12 of A Royal Deception

“So I get the slaps, and you get the compensation?” I asked, raising my eyebrows in disbelief.

She grinned widely and reached for some more, but I held the tray away.

“You’re such a buzzkill sometimes, Di,” she grumbled. “Anyway, I heard that Kavya Baisa is having a bachelorette party tonight in the desert. She and her friends are going on a desert safari, and none of the elders are invited.”

I stared at her in surprise.

The desert was a four-hour drive away from the palace because Sajjangarh Palace was situated on top of a hill.

“But the wedding is tomorrow morning. And the muhurat is at ten am. How the hell can she get back in time for the wedding?”

“I know, right?” asked Zarna gleefully. “She threw an awful fit when she heard there was no sangeet and cocktail party, and the only way to keep her from calling up His Highness andgiving him an earful was to agree to this bachelorette party. She’s promised to be home by five am. Or so I’ve heard. Di, what do you think would have happened if she’d called His Highness?”

I shuddered at the very thought. He didn’t look like the sort of man who’d put up with such treatment. But didn’t they discuss the wedding arrangements when they decided to get married? This was such a medieval way of going about things, I reflected.

Still, things seemed to be on track for the wedding, and the palace was in a state of high excitement. Until five am dawned, and Rani Sa realised that her precious daughter still hadn’t returned from her bachelorette party.

CHAPTER 5

SHIVINA

It felt like I had barely laid my head on the pillow before someone was shaking me awake.

“Di! Wake up! You’re missing all the fun!” squealed Zarna right in my ear.

I cracked open one eye and glared at her.

“Why are you up so early?” I croaked.

“Because it’s the wedding day… duh!”

I sat up with a groan.

“This obsession with someone else’s wedding is extremely unhealthy, Zarna. Especially seeing as how you’re not even invited,” I pointed out with a yawn.

“Uff! I don’t care about the actual wedding. The BTS itself is so entertaining,” she said gleefully.

A cold hand clutched my heart. My sister had a twisted sense of humour, and I was sure that if she found the situation entertaining, it had to be some sort of dire emergency.

“What’s going on?” I asked, jumping out of bed.

“The bride is missing,” declared Zarna.

“What? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, Di. I heard Rani Sa yelling at the staff because she went into Baisa’s room at five am and didn’t find her there. And she’s not even picking up the phone. None of her friends are answering their phones either.”

Baisa and her friends had gone into the desert for a hen night. From what I’d heard around the palace, one of her friends had arranged a party in the desert with tents, a DJ, food and drinks. I didn’t know why they couldn’t have done it in the palace itself. It’s not as if there wasn’t enough space here. But knowing Baisa and her friends, they were doing a lot more than just food and drinks, and there was no way they could all get high in the palace without Rani Sa knowing.

“I’m sure there’s someone they can reach,” I reasoned. “They wouldn’t send her out without a security team.”

Zarna snorted loudly.

“I heard Rani Sa saying that one of Baisa’s friends was supposed to provide the cars and security. They didn’t want the family involved at all. Di, I’m sure they were planning something really big for last night. Something that’s going to make the family go up in smoke when they find out exactly what happened.”

“I can’t believe Rani Sa would allow her precious daughter out of sight without a full security detail the night before her wedding,” I scoffed.

It just wasn’t possible.

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