Page 170 of A King's Oath

“Sharan!” Samarth yelled. Sharan’s crying intensified. Samarth reached down and physically pulled him to his feet kicking and crying.

“No bhai, no!” Sharan sobbed. “I want Papa! I want Papa.”

“What did Papa say about being a Kshatriya?”

“That…” Sharan hiccuped. “We… we are always ready.”

“And are you ready?”

“Samarth bhai…”

Samarth softened his stance but kept his voice steady — “Come with me. All you have to do is sit there. Ok?”

Sharan’s big eyes, gone bigger in his gaunt face pleaded with him. Samarth grabbed a napkin from the counter and wiped his nose for him. He blew, then hiccuped. Taking his hand, Samarth positioned him in front of him — “Walk.”

They walked out to the sitting area to the group frozen to their spots.

“What do you want?” Giriraj Hukum asked Maarani.

“What do you mean?”

“Wait, Samarth,” Hukum commanded. He stopped, as did Sharan in front of him.

“Maarani Tara Sinh Solanki,” Hukum announced. “Do you want Nawanagar to be under a child or under a man who has already proved his worth?”

“Siddharth had agreed…”

“We all know why he had agreed. He is not here now. You have to decide.”

The room was plunged into silence.

“All those red waves, white waves, dusky waves,” Hukum pointed to her ring. “All waves in human mind. All kinds of waves. All humans have them — small or big, rich or poor, king or commoner. You know what sets the king apart from the commoner?”

Samarth didn’t like where this was going.

“A king will get over their basest thoughts, even at the cost of their own interest. And choose the greater good. The power to pull yourself out of yourself and think about others is what makes a human a leader.”

Samarth began to reach for Sharan’s shoulder to nudge him forward but his name stopped him.

“Samarth will assume the duties of running the kingdom, Maarani Tara. But should he assume them as your son’s minister or as the King of Nawanagar?”

“Hukum,” he interrupted. “I have sworn off the throne of Nawanagar. Sharan will sit on it, and I will be his protector until he grows up and becomes independent.”

“I am talking to the Maarani of Nawanagar, Kunwar,” Hukum’s stern voice put him in his place.

Maarani was frozen in her place, looking from one face to the other, lost. He hated this. She didn’t deserve to be put in this position when everything that was her safety net had been snatched away.

“Decide. You have to decide now, Maarani Tara,” Hukum pressured her. That was it. Samarth wasn’t Rawal of Nawanagar but he was the protector of his father’s wife. He began to open his mouth when Maarani’s solid voice echoed again.

“Samarth will be the next Rawal.”

“Tara…” her mother began but she went on — “Samarth will become Rawal.”

“Maarani,” Samarth stepped up to her, “I cannot accept your decision.”

She stared at him. He tried to convey to her to not cower, to not bow down to pressure. That he would fight alongside her on this.

“Come with me.”

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