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Was this a dream too, I wondered. Once I would have given my left arm to have Dheer care for me like this. Now it just felt surreal. Like something out of a Lewis Carroll book. Six impossible things before breakfast. Or dinner, in my case. I had witnessed a murder, been chased across the desert at dusk by men who wanted to kill me, and I had killed someone in self-defence. If all of that was possible, then why was it so strange that Dheer would turn up to rescue me, or that he’d carry me off to his palace and care for me so tenderly?
The fates really had it in for me, it seemed. They had decided to fuck my life spectacularly. I hadn’t set eyes on Dheer in nine years, and suddenly he was everywhere. I mean, did he really have to witness the darkest moment of my life? Sure, he had rescued me from certain death, but he had also carried me off to his palace, and I had a feeling a violent death might have been less painful than the moment when he carried me over his threshold.
I had dreamt of that moment for years. Even after he betrayed me so brutally, I’d wake up convinced that it was all a ghastly nightmare and that Dheer would be waiting for me when I went downstairs. But he never came to me. Not until today, when he rode up to my rescue in the middle of nowhere.
I didn’t even know this Dheer. He wasn’t the same boy who brought me sweet bundi made by his khansama or smuggled in the steamy romance novels my mother had banned me from reading. It was as if all that sweetness had been replaced by rage. And power.
He had presence.
I had noticed that last night at the party when he had heads turning wherever he walked. And those shoulders… uff! If I didn’t know any better, I’d dream of holding onto those shoulders as he piledrove me into oblivion. But I did know better, and I had still dreamed of him at night.
Maybe that was why I gave in to my mother’s nagging and agreed to visit Ayush Goel’s ancestral home in Trikhera. Because I wanted a distraction. Something to take my mind off the fact that even nine years later, all other men paled in comparison to Dheer.
“Because I couldn’t take my mother’s nagging anymore,” I said, replying to his earlier question.
Dheer washed his hands and splashed some water over his face, clearly waiting for me to explain. But I couldn’t stop staring at the droplets of water that ran down his perfectly chiselled face.
“Diya! Keep talking,” he snapped, and I wondered if my feet could take the pain of kicking the rude bastard in the shins.
“My mother thought Ayush Goel would make me a good husband, and insisted I give him a fair chance. His mother invited me to spend the weekend at their mansion, and I gave in because it was easier to give in than stand my ground,” I said, picking up my glass and shaking it over my open mouth to catch any leftover brandy.
He grabbed the glass from my hand and set it on the floor. I sighed and went on with my story, feeling surprisingly chatty for a woman who had just murdered someone. It was definitely the brandy.
“Well, I reached Goel House this evening…”
“All alone?” he broke in to ask.
“Yes, that was my first mistake. I should have insisted on taking my mother with me. My second mistake was that I went wandering around their property on my own to escape Ayush’s overbearing mother. Have you seen their house?”
Dheer shook his head.
“It’s exactly like those haunted havelis you see in movies,” I explained. “There is a central courtyard like in a typical haveli, and wings built around it. The central wing is his parents’ part of the house. Ayush’s wing is on the right, and there’s another wing to the left which is the guest wing. I was given a room in the guest wing, and I set off to explore the house because there was still some time for dinner, and I was sick of listening to his mother droning on about their illustrious family. I was admiring some paintings in their art gallery when I heard the sound of screaming and a woman came running down the stairs on the right side. That was Ayush’s side of the house, so naturally, I was curious to see what was happening.”
Dheer handed me a glass of water and I drained it, just because I needed something to do as I forced myself to remember those awful moments.
“Did you speak to her?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“I called out to her, but she didn’t hear me. I think she was trying to get out of the house, but before she could get too far, some of his men found her and dragged her up the stairs again. Obviously, I was furious to see them treating a woman like that and I followed them to give them a piece of my mind. They took her up to the roof. To my horror, Ayush was holding court there. Like literally! He was sitting on a big gadda, and his men were sitting around him. The guards brought the woman to him, and he accused her of stealing something.”
“Stealing what?” asked Dheer with interest.
“I don’t know. Some maal, he said. She swore she didn’t steal it. But he said she had betrayed him and she had to pay for it, and before I could do anything, he stood up and backhanded her. She fell back against the edge of the roof and he smiled at her before he tipped her over the edge,” I said, clutching the edge of the vanity counter hard as I remembered his cruel smile. He had enjoyed the woman’s shriek as she fell to her death. “She hit the ground with a sickening thud, and I started screaming. I couldn’t stop screaming until Ayush slapped me.”
A muscle jumped in Dheer’s jaw as he listened to my story and I noticed that his fists were clenched.
“What happened after that?”
“He told me to stop my caterwauling and forget what I’d seen. So… I told him I was calling the police. That was my third mistake. I should have just left and called the cops later.”
Dheer shook his head.
“He wouldn’t have let you go, Diya. Not after you’d witnessed a murder. What did he do when you threatened to call the cops?”
“He locked me in my room while he and his mother argued over my fate. They even took my phone away so I couldn’t call my family. I decided to run away and climbed out of my window. There was a tree next to my window. I climbed down it and took off, but his guards spotted me and they chased me into the desert. If you hadn’t shown up, they would have killed me,” I said, with a shudder.
“Well, I did. And you’re safe now,” replied Dheer, setting me on my bandaged feet carefully.
