“Yes, tomorrow.”
“Then why make me stay here tonight?” she asked in bewilderment. “If you plan to let me go?”
“To teach you a lesson,” he said as he got up.
She set her teeth and called him choice names under her breath as he walked away.
But he paused and grinned at her over his shoulder. “You’ll have to up your game, Princess, I’ve been called worse.” Her breath caught at his smile. There was no malice there, but rather an invitation to join in the mirth. She got the feeling he enjoyed his notoriety.
The grove, surrounded by old trees, was quite beautiful, and welcomingly cool under the shade. A small shrine was built at one end. The idol housed inside, was a simple arched rock, liberally anointed with turmeric andkumkumthat it had lost all definition. It was nearing dusk, and the group of men were retiring for the night, eating their evening meal.
Chandra leaned back against a tree, finishing off her own meal. She had completed a shortpujaand prepared the offering, which was a simple dish of rice cooked with tamarind, turmeric, and other spices.
One of Veer’s close friends, Virat, peppered her with a lot of questions about the Nature Spirits. He was so charming and seemed genuinely interested in the legend that she almost forgot that he was ordered to keep an eye on her, to make sure she didn’t tamper with their food.
Most of the soldiers had left after Veer gave them the option to wait out tonight elsewhere. But quite a few of them stayed behind. They were scrupulously polite when she offered them the meal she had cooked and were effusive in both their praise and thanks.
She washed her hands and felt a prickling along her back and knew Veer was watching her. He had been busy all afternoon, giving orders and organizing his men, but toward the evening he sat at the trunk of a dead tree, hands tucked behind his head.
His eyes were closed to slits, but she felt intuitively that he wasn’t asleep or as relaxed as he pretended to be. Several times, she sensed his gaze on her, or perhaps she was just mistaken because he drew her eye, and she had found herself watching him discreetly.
She filled a shallow bowl made of stitched leaves with the prepared rice dish and went toward him. He sat up, confirming that he wasn’t asleep. She cleared her throat when she was in front of him. “I have the offering if you would like to partake of it too.”
Veer waited, making no move to accept it. Her eyebrows began to pleat in vexation.
“It occurs to me, Princess,” he spoke in a soft voice, “that maybe I was foolish in letting an enemy cook for us.”
Her mouth dropped in outrage. “Your friend watched while I was cooking the entire time, and I ate the same thing I gave your men.”
“But you could still have found a way to say…lace a sleeping draught into the offering. You wouldn’t die of it so you might have no problem taking it. And there might be Amaravathi’s soldiers waiting for us to fall asleep so they can rescue you.”
“And when might I have had the time to think up and relay my grand scheme to Amaravathi?” she asked, exasperated. “Are you always this suspicious and paranoid?”
Veer gave her a slow smile that made her stomach flutter. “Only when I come across a princess who fights like a warrior.” But he cupped his hands to receive the offering.
He ate in silence and then said, “Earlier, I’d offered my men the option to wait this night out of the grove. I am offering you the same choice. A fewkosasaway, I have another camp set up. You can wait there tonight. I’ll have a few men accompany you there, if you wish.”
“But…you’re staying in this place?”
“Yes. Virat isn’t the only one interested in witnessing this event. What do you say, Princess?”
“I…I want to stay.” At his raised eyebrows, she clarified. “Because for one, I don’t know what you are planning here and I would prefer to keep an eye on you, and for another, I’d rather be with the devil I know.”
“Keep an eye on us?” A supercilious brow went up. “Are you forgetting you are still a prisoner, Princess?”
They whiled away the hours of the night; the soldiers sat around a campfire and exchanged stories. They had given her a blanket, and she tried to get some sleep but had instead listened to the conversation with interest. The soldiers had some great anecdotes—some funny, some sad, some nostalgic, some ribald; although, they had tried to keep those to a minimum—in deference to her presence.
She came to the slow realization that these people from Rajgarh were not so different from their peers in Amaravathi.
She thought about her sisters and wondered how they were faring and if they were worried about her.
Veer, too, had sat a little removed, listening with a smile. Occasionally their eyes would meet, and she would look away, too disconcerted by his gaze that seemed to see more than she was willing to show. Why did this man, out of all others, make her so unsettled? She was baffled by her reaction to him.
A sudden noise, like the fluttering of wings, began. It seemed to come from every direction and all at once. His men stood to attention, weapons drawn at the unknown enemy, faces fearful.
She threw off the blanket to sit up, unsheathing her dagger, forgetting that she had intended to keep it hidden until the right moment, but a glance toward the prince showed he was aware and merely nodded at her. She took it to mean he was all right with her having a weapon in her hand.
Overhead, the moon slipped behind the clouds, enveloping them in darkness. The trees creaked a long nameless sound, even though there was no wind.
