AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Beta, things are going to get worse when Veer starts campaigning for the elections,” said his father worriedly.
“I’ll be fine, Uncle. I’ll deal with it. The first thing I’m going to do is hand my social media profiles over to Veer’s campaign team. What I don’t read won’t have the power to hurt me,” I said firmly.
“That’s my girl,” said Veer proudly.
We stayed at the palace for the next two days and I was relieved to return to Gulab Mahal after we visited the kuldevta temple.
“We need to plan a honeymoon,” said Veer, as he carried me up the stairs.
“I want to stay here,” I whined, winding my arms around his neck. “Can we just ban visitors and have a small staycation in our own home?”
I didn’t want to travel anywhere because all eyes would be on us and I didn’t want any random photograph to destroy the fragile peace I had won after a hard fight with my insecurities.
“Anything my princess desires,” he promised, setting me on our bed gently.
He was true to his word. The next ten days were better than any honeymoon we could have planned. The days and nights melded into one another as Veer and I spent every minute getting to know one another. He played join the dots with every mole on my body using his tongue. Meanwhile, I got to know his dreams for his people in great detail. And every day, I prayed to Goddess Bhawani to make his dreams come true.
We explored every corner of Gulab Banna’s house, including the attic. I found a trunk full of old papers and sat down to sort through them one lazy afternoon. Veer lay on the swing on the porch, while I sat on the floor, working my way through the boxful of papers.
“Look at this! This is a document tracing the history of the people of this region. Gulab Banna hired a historian working at the local university to trace the histories of all the big families going backwards to their places of origin,” I exclaimed.
“Anything interesting?” he asked sleepily.
“This document says that the Goels are descendants of one of the most feared bandits of this region - Jagga Gujjar. He terrorised all the villages in this area during the early 1800s, and the Maharajas of Trikhera, Jadhwal and Mirpur joined forces to catch him.”
Veer almost fell off the swing in surprise.
“What?”
“It gets even more interesting,” I said, with a laugh. “He infiltrated the task force they had created for the job, and one evening, when the Maharajas returned from shikaar, he broke into the tent where they had gathered for dinner and attacked them. All three of them fired at him and he died on the spot.”
“Moron,” said Veer, shaking his head. “Imagine doing something so stupid.”
“But that explains the animosity his descendants have for all of us,” I said, with a sigh.
I had been waiting uneasily for Sapna Goel to act on her promise. Diya was still on bed rest and I was worried the Goels would find some way to hurt her, but they had been suspiciously quiet. Maybe it was all hot air, I thought hopefully.
Our staycation got over far too soon, and it was time to start working on Veer’s campaign. RV’s team had worked wonders with his PR, highlighting the work he had been doing for years. Chandel Sahab had already announced his candidature, and the team had lined up meetings with all the prominent royal families over the next couple of weeks to secure their support.
Meanwhile, we needed to get out and about together because the people needed to see us as a couple. I was scheduled to sponsor and inaugurate a creche in the village so that women were empowered to go out and earn a living without worrying about their babies. I had already signed the cheque, which was all that was expected from me, but I wanted to be involved in the project.
I was emailing an agency asking them to send us some trained nurses for the medical room in the creche when Ranvijay barged into my office.
“Isha, we have a problem,” he announced.
I shut the laptop and turned to him anxiously.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ask Veer to join us. Things are about to go ape-shit,” he said grimly.
I called Veer on the intercom, and he was with us in less than a minute.
“Someone’s been playing dirty,” said RV. “Chandel Sahab just called me to say he couldn’t endorse you for the CM’s post after all. He’s even talking about kicking you out of the party.”
“But why?” I demanded. “Veer is his best hope for a majority win this year.”
Ranvijay shook his head regretfully.
