Page 67 of A Royal Deception

“You cheated, and you know it,” he said sternly. “You had Isha and Diya spying on my cards.”

“Not at all! I had your mother and Sannata Mausi spying on your cards,” I confessed brazenly.

“I’ll deal with those traitors later. First, I need to beat you at fencing,” he growled. “Are you up for a match?”

“Always,” I murmured, turning around to face him. “Prepare to be touched, Your Highness.”

“Oh, you can touch me anytime you like. Too bad you won’t be able to touch me with your sword,” he replied cockily.

I kissed the living daylights out of him just to put him off balance, but he kissed me right back, and I had a feeling I was the one who was thrown off balance in this situation. After he beat me hands down, Ranvijay spent an hour correcting my form.

By the time I showered, dressed and headed for my fitting at Diya’s studio, every part of me was sore and aching. She grumbled that I had lost weight, so all the clothes had to be taken in a few inches.

Despite all the struggles that came with a new baby, Diya had debuted the new ready-to-wear collection at Diwali, and to my surprise, the collection sold out right away.

“I told you it was a good idea for Ranvijay to release the Diwali party pictures online. You’re an instant hit,” she crowed as I played with her baby, Kuhu.

I was nothing of the sort. My so-called social success was the result of a carefully orchestrated PR exercise by Ranvijay’s firm. They had begun by releasing our wedding pics, and whenthe Dodiyas had countered that by releasing a few blind pieces wondering how Kavya’s fiancé had dumped her so heartlessly, they had fired another salvo of blind pieces mentioning the events at her bachelorette party. That had silenced the Dodiyas and moved the public sentiment in our favour so that our Diwali party pictures went viral, and we got a lot of positive press.

“Babe, Delhi Fashion Week starts soon. I want you to be the showstopper for my show,” said Diya as she adjusted the fall of an embroidered silk lehenga.

“You’re mad.” I declared. “I can’t catwalk on the runway.”

“Of course, you can,” insisted Isha as she worked on her store’s website.

She had recently opened Gulab, a vintage clothing and furniture store on the ground floor of Gulab Mahal. Apart from that, she also had a furniture staging business. These women were such an inspiration. Meanwhile, here I was, terrified of every new change.

“I’ve never done it before, guys.”

“Meanwhile, I’ve been doing it for years. I’ll teach you all you need to know,” said Diya calmly.

“Ugh! Don’t blame me if I trip and fall on my face,” I grumbled.

Just then, we heard a crash downstairs. Kuhu cried out in surprise. Diya went to see what was happening, but I held up a hand.

“I’ll check it out,” I ordered. “You stay with Kuhu.”

Hesitantly, I peered over the edge of the balcony.

“Ma’am, someone broke the window,” called out Bina, Diya’s assistant and Isha went downstairs to investigate before we could stop her.

The next minute, she came running upstairs in a panic.

“Guys, someone’s throwing petrol bombs through the hole in the window,” she cried.

Diya gasped in fear, but before we could react, our world exploded.

CHAPTER 25

RANVIJAY

Ma called me to give me a heads-up about an unexpected situation.

“Beta, Devika’s parents are upset we didn’t invite them to your second wedding,” she said.

“Why should we? They cut off all contact with us when their daughter died,” I said bluntly.

“Yes, but now they regret it. And they feel it was rude of you to dislodge their daughter’s memory without informing them.”

---