Page 21 of A Royal Deception

I put my hands up and helped Diggi Mausi lift the veil only a little.

“Push it back,” ordered His Highness gruffly, and a shiver ran up my spine at the sound of his voice.

Maybe somewhere in an alternate universe, he was lifting my veil with his own hands and anointing my forehead lovingly. But in this cursed life, he was content to believe Rani Sa and the priest when they said I couldn’t show my face until the mooh-dikhai ritual.

He slipped one hand under the veil as we held it up, and his fingers found my maang tikka. He sprinkled some sindoor along its edges and pulled his hand out. If he was so disinterested in his bride, why was he even getting married, I wondered. Which bridegroom behaved like this?

And would Kavya Baisa have put up with this level of indifference? Knowing her, she would have had a meltdown in front of all the wedding guests if he hadn’t at least pretended to be happy for the wedding pictures.

“Now, fasten the mangalsutra around the bride’s neck,” intoned the pandit.

It wasn’t an easy feat to fasten the little mangalsutra with the diamond pendant with the veil obscuring most of my face and neck, but His Highness did it with minimal hesitation.

“Oho! What kind of rivaaj is this, Pandit Ji?” complained someone I couldn’t recognise. “Please allow her to push the veil back a little. What if he can’t fasten the mangalsutra fully? It will mean bad luck for the rest of their lives if it falls off.”

“It’s done, Kaki Sa,” replied His Highness curtly.

In a way, I was glad he wasn’t going to my husband for long. A real wife would be really upset at his indifference. I mean, the man didn’t even try to peek under my veil!

But as soon as I dropped the veil back in place, I felt His Highness take my hand. I gasped in surprise at the sudden touch. Ohmigod! This felt worse than his indifference. This was affection meant for another woman. It made my stomach turn even as my pulse leapt in response to his touch.

Rani Sa coughed loudly, and His Highness dropped my hand as if scalded. There was laughter from the people around us, and I was thankful for the veil which hid my bright red face.

“Pandit Ji, can the bride change into her bidaai clothes now?” asked Rani Sa.

When the priest agreed, she helped me rise and led me out of the mandap. I felt a wrench as I left my husband behind, knowing I would never see him again.

CHAPTER 9

RANVIJAY

If we lived in different times, nobody would blink an eye if I pulled out my sword and laid waste to this whole palace. It would be expected of me since that’s exactly what a Rajput was expected to do when faced with a deception of this proportion. Because that’s what this wedding had turned out to be. A right royal deception.

I didn’t know who the woman in the bridal outfit was, but I knew for sure that she was not Kavya. She was not the woman I was supposed to marry. I didn’t know where Kavya was or why the woman had taken her place, but I had realised too late that I had married the wrong woman. I might not have noticed a lot about Kavya, but she had bombarded me with her mehendi pics, along with the typical cheesy drivel about how she’d asked the artist to hide the letters of my name within the design. I had rolled my eyes and sent her a thumbs-up reaction. I mean, what else was I supposed to do? I had no intention of playing Where’s Waldo with her mehendi on my wedding night. From what I’dobserved about her, the less we conversed with each other, the higher our chances of marital happiness.

But the point was that my bride’s arms should have been covered in mehendi. The woman I married today had no mehendi on her hands. Not a trace. If that wasn’t a giveaway, I didn’t know what was.

And now she’d gone to change her outfit. What did she expect? That I was going to accept this bride switch so easily? Did I have idiot written across my face?

I beckoned my friends closer. Isha took one look at my face and began to edge everyone else away.

“Let’s give the bridegroom some space, please. It’s already very hot in here. Kaki Sa, would you like some juice? Raksha will take you to your seat.”

Between Isha and Raksha, they cleared the mandap until only Veer and I were left. Isha soon joined us with a worried look on her face.

“What’s wrong? I can tell something’s seriously wrong. You look like you’re one step away from declaring war on all these people.”

I leaned forward, and so did they.

“That was not Kavya,” I whispered.

Isha’s eyes flew wide open in surprise. She cast a quick look at the staircase that led upstairs.

“Who was it, then?”

“I don’t know, but I want to find out. The bride didn’t have any mehendi on her hands,” I explained, and that was enough for both of them to understand what had happened.

“Fucking hell,” breathed Veer. “What do you think happened to Kavya?”

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