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I was glad because I had no time to bicker with His Grumpiness.
“Did you tell Dheer about what happened last night?” he whispered in my ear.
I bit back a moan when his warm breath tickled the sensitive skin beneath my ear. At this rate, I was going to melt into a puddle of need right here.
“No! And don’t you say anything now, either. I’ll speak to him after all this is done,” I whispered back, moving away from him.
“What are two of you whispering about?” asked Diya suspiciously.
“Umm…”
I couldn’t think of a reply that wouldn’t worry her in her condition, but Veer swung into action.
“I was just commenting that you look exhausted, Diya. Do you want to come home with us for the weekend? It might give you a bit of a break from all your house guests,” said Veer, leaning forward to talk to his sister.
He froze when his shoulder brushed against my chest, and we stared at each other for a breathless moment before I leaned away from him very obviously. I didn’t want any part of me touching the heartless bastard.
“I have to stay for the reading of Dadi Sa’s will. To support this idiot, if nothing else,” grumbled Diya, with a nod in my direction.
“I’m thirty-one years old, babe. It’s not idiotic to want to be independent,” I said mildly.
“Look around you, sweetie. You live in a fucking palace. The place is so huge that we can all co-exist peacefully without setting eyes on each other for weeks if we don’t want to. You don’t have to move out of the house to be independent,” she argued.
Veer shot me a surprised glance.
“Where are you going?”
“If you believe your sister, I’m moving to outer space. But all I’m doing is moving into my uncle’s haveli on the other side of the city. Don’t lose your head now, Diya. If you don’t get with the program, I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of convincing Ma and Bhai Sa to let me live on my own.”
I had to be the most sheltered princess this side of the Aravalli mountains because I had spent my whole life under the watchful gaze of my mother right here in Trikhera Palace. I hadn’t even held a job in my life because my brother gave me a very generous allowance. All that was about to change now. As soon as Dadi Sa’s will was read.
Most of the family’s jewellery was held in trust for the Maharaja and Maharani anyway, and I didn’t care about any of Dadi Sa’s personal collection of jewels. All I cared about was the only un-entailed property she owned - Gulab Mahal.
Dadi Sa had promised me the house, so I knew she wouldn’t have willed it to my brother. But since I knew that woman was as trustworthy as a snake, I wouldn’t be at peace until the will was read and I knew that Gulab Mahal was mine at last.
Because I had plans for the house.
This was the start of the rest of my life. I loved my family, but it was time I moved out of my childhood home. Until now, the Trikhera princesses had only left their maternal homes in a doli to go to their husbands’ homes. This princess had different ideas, though. I wanted to be free.
I had no plans to get married anytime soon because I refused to settle for anything less than true love, and after deluding myself for years, I had finally made peace with the fact that true love wasn’t in my destiny. I was destined to be alone forever. And if that was the case, I was going to do it in style. On my terms. In Gulab Mahal.
When all the long-winded speeches were finally over, I bowed my head and greeted all the esteemed guests politely as they passed by me, wishing I could slam the heavy doors of the palace shut on them. Instead, I took a deep breath and told myself I could hold on for a few more minutes.
I was aware of Veer’s thoughtful gaze on me as I walked into Bhai Sa’s study for the will reading, but I refused to look at him because I didn’t want to give him a glimpse of the desperation I knew was written on my face. That was personal. Far too personal to share with a man who lived to make me miserable.
My family was waiting for me in the study. I slunk into the room quietly, avoiding Ma’s reproachful gaze. She knew I’d been waiting for this moment and was doing her best to guilt me into giving up my plans. But I was determined to have my way. I was moving out of the palace as soon as I got the keys to Gulab Mahal.
Our family lawyer read out the terms of Dadi Sa’s will, and as expected, it was fairly straightforward. I held my breath when he came to the section about Gulab Mahal.
He shot me a quick glance over his gold-rimmed spectacles, and my heart began to pound and my palms started to sweat. This was it! The beginning of the rest of my life, I thought triumphantly. If only the old geezer would get on with it.
The lawyer hemmed and hawwed until I could bear it no more, but before I could pick up the crystal paperweight on Bhai Sa’s desk and lob it at his head out of frustration, he began to speak.
“As for the smaller property named Gulab Mahal, I will it to my granddaughter, Yuvarajkumari Isha Shekhawat…”
I beamed at the little man, and he flushed and cleared his throat before he went on.
“… under the following condition...”
