A minor stumble was the only indication that his question disconcerted her.
“My maid’s son. Why do you ask?”
“He seems very familiar with you,” he said, testing waters.
“Kalpana is more than a maid to me. I consider her to be my friend. She has been with me since childhood and I’ve known Sarun since he was a baby, so naturally he is close to me.” There was nothing odd about what she was saying, and yet his instincts said she was hiding something.
“What about the father? Does Kalpana not live with her husband?” he asked, persisting with this line of questioning that had no bearing on what he had come here for.
“He is not in the picture,” she said in a clipped voice.
“Ahh…she isn’t married to the father, is she?” guessed Veer. “Sarun is a bastard.”
She whirled around and fixed him with a glare. “You will stop referring to him as such if you want our conversation to go forward.”
“It still doesn’t explain why you were afraid to see him with me,” he asked, carefully gauging her reaction.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “It was nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to seeing a child in the company of a dangerous enemy.”
“But I’ve never given any indication that I would hurt children, Princess. I’d wager there is more to it than that. Something you’re not telling me.”
Her expression went blank, her mouth firming obstinately, telling him without words that she had no intention of satisfying his curiosity.
“Very well,” he said. “Tell me what a princess of the land was doing roaming with a group of men in the dead of night?”
“It’s Amaravathi’s business and has nothing to do with you,” she said with forced nonchalance.
“I won’t have my wife mixed up in anything unsavory that reflects poorly on my family and Rajgarh,” he said, with a hint of warning.
“You should’ve kept a closer eye on me then,” she retorted.
“Are you complaining about my abandonment, Princess?” he asked, baring his teeth in a smile that they both knew was false. “I didn’t realize you were pining for my company. You killed my best friend. On the evening of our wedding, no less. If anything, I’ve been lenient letting you live when I would’ve preferred to throttle you to death with my bare hands.”
“Careful, Prince Veer,” she said, her eyes flashing. “Statements like that are not going to help your cause. And you need all the help you can get to convince people I am safe with you, after the little stunt you pulled the other day. And I can deal with my own problems. I’ve been handling them ever since you left me here after our marriage.”
A brief silence fell as they pitted their wills against each other. “Very well, Princess,” he said softly. “Keep your secrets and may they serve you well. However, be warned, I won’t be sympathetic when whatever you are hiding comes to light.”
Chandra shrugged and walked away once more, continuing on their journey to…Veer glanced around and realized they hadleft the ordered harmony of the gardens and entered the chaos of the surrounding woods.
“This is far enough,” said Veer. “We’ll talk here.”
Chandra halted. “But there is a spot just ahead. This area is still part of the forest. Wild animals are not restricted.”
“Here, Princess,” he said. “Who knows what you have planned for me there? A group of assassins, maybe?”
Chandra raised an eyebrow at him and Veer ignored that reaction, aware of how paranoid he sounded. “Very well. Here it is. What did you want to talk about?” she asked, giving him her undivided attention.
“I heard your mother had some objections in sending you with me?” he began his well-rehearsed speech.
“Shouldn’t you be discussing this with my mother, then?” she asked, mouth pursed.
“How exactly am I supposed to do that when she refuses to speak to me? And before you ask, yes, she refused to converse with the writing tablet and in sign language with Billadev.” He paused. “She was very polite about it.”
Chandra shrugged once again. “My mother is stubborn. What do you want me to do about it?” She hesitated, as if she realized something. “Your friend can understand sign language? Our sign language?”
“Billadev has a knack for picking up languages. It’s his specialty. You saw him earlier. He can get by adequately. He is annoying, but has his uses.”
“Our sign language is quite difficult to master. It took me an entire year just to learn the basics,” she said with a trace of envy.
