Page 34 of A Royal Deception

“You think I’m sassing you? No, Your Highness. This is just me trying to survive in a world of entitled, self-centred royals who think the whole world revolves around them.”

“Bull shit,” I roared. “You seem to forget, little miss holier-than-thou, thatyouscammedme.For money! So don’t make this about entitled royals.I’mthe victim here. Not you.”

“Sure, you’re the victim,” she said sarcastically. “Tell me, Your Highness, what did you do when you discovered that you married the wrong woman? Did you speak to your fiancée to find out where she was? Did you askherwhy she didn’t show up to marry you?Did you even fucking care?No! You shouldhave been heartbroken when you discovered the deception. But all I saw was anger. And all you cared about was carrying me off to prove a point. What about Kavya Baisa and the future you’d planned together? That didn’t seem to matter to either of you.”

She made valid points, but they did not change the fact that she was as much to blame here as Kavya. If she hadn’t agreed to stand in for her, I wouldn’t be married to the wrong woman!

“Well, look how that worked out for you. You’re a Maharani now,” I drawled.

“You think I wanted this?” she asked angrily. “I only agreed to stand in for Baisa at the wedding. I didn’t agree to be your wife.”

“Yes, I’m sure you’d have charged a lot more if you knew that was a possibility. Kavya was supposed to give me an heir. How much would you charge for that, Shivina?”

For a minute, I thought Shivina was about to launch herself at me. She looked furious enough to try and rip my face off. She clenched her fists tightly, and her body shook with the force of her anger.

I braced myself for impact and realised that I quite looked forward to being attacked. Mainly because it would give me an excuse to touch her again. But she drew herself up and shot me a scathing look instead.

“How’s the view from that ivory tower, Hukum?” she asked bleakly.

“Excuse me?” I couldn’t believe she had the audacity to sass me again.

“Okay, let me put it another way. Have you ever been homeless? Have you ever been responsible for a life other than yours? For a child?”

“Get to the point, Rani Sa,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Thatismy point. You’re far too privileged to know what it feels like to be kicked out onto the street in the middle of thenight and have nowhere to go. You’ve never had to deal with the fear of keeping a little girl safe when you have no roof over your head. Yes, I helped the Dodiyas deceive you for money, but I did it for my sister’s sake. If it hadn’t been for her, I’d have stood by with a box of popcorn and clapped when you and Kavya Baisa found your perfect worlds imploding from the force of your entitlement. And if that’s too sassy for you, I have plenty more where that came from. Because I’mfuckingsickof being the only person who’s being punished for this mess. The Dodiyas were the ones who actually deceived you, and yet, they are safe at home while my sister and I have to pay for their sins! So throw me in jail if you want to and be done with it,” she raged.

“Oh, but if I do that, how will you meet your lover tonight? Or did you forget your grand plan to be reunited with him, no matter what?” I asked snidely.

Shivina looked stricken at the reminder.

“You have to let me go,” she whispered, tears running down her face.

“Over my dead body,” I said, grabbing her by the shoulders.

“Please, I beg you,” she replied, shaking her head. The tears were flowing freely now, and Shivina was sobbing.

It only made me angrier that she was crying over some other man.

“Where was he when you married me? What kind of man allows the woman he loves to marry someone else, even temporarily?” I asked with disgust.

“You don’t understand,” she began to say, but I didn’t allow her to finish.

“I don’t even want to understand. You will stay here until I’m ready to let you go,” I snapped before I turned to leave the room.

She was right. I didn’t understand why the thought of her being with another man made me furious enough to want to punch a hole in the wall. Shivina was nothing to me. I barelyknew the woman. So why did I go feral at the thought of the other man?

“It wasn’t a man! I was speaking to my sister,” she cried out, and I froze in my tracks. “The Dodiyas have held her hostage, and I have to go rescue her. Please let me go!”

CHAPTER 14

SHIVINA

His Highness turned around slowly and stared at me with disbelief.

“Explain,” he barked.

I wiped my tears and took a few deep breaths to calm down before I spoke. I wouldn’t be of any help to Zarna if I was hysterical. And much as I wanted to keep fighting with the man who was the reason we were in this mess, I was forced to admit that I needed him right now. He was my only hope for getting to my sister.

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