“Nothing, just the letter exchanges,” he informed.
We rode toward the famous Mehrangarh brothel. The night before, Eklavya had sent me a letter saying the head commander of Mehrangarh would arrive the following night. I had already sent a few of my spies there.
“Agastya,” Eklavya said, catching my attention,“I don’t understand why she’s marrying you. If she loves someone else, why can’t she be with him?”
“Because she has no options. She can’t tell anyone about her condition, and with men, she can’t trust anyone. However, she feels safe with me,” I answered.
He furrowed his brows.“What is her condition?”
I shook my head.“I promised her I wouldn’t tell anyone,”
“So, she knows you’re plotting against her kingdom?” he asked.
“No,” I answered.“She thinks I’m helping her with good intentions.”
He inhaled deeply.“You’re going to break a heart,”
I gulped, the old memories silently washing over me.
“This world is cruel,” I said.“It only cares about when you will break someone’s heart. No one cares when they’re tearing you to pieces,”
He raised his eyebrows and replied,“But I genuinely hope you provide her with something more meaningful than just a hollow relationship as a wife.”
I chuckled and glanced at him.“We can marry only once. There’s no chance.”
“You’re a gone game,” he laughed at me, and after a few moments of silence, he said,“You know, sometimes I think you went to kill her husband.”
I immediately looked in his direction.“Are you mad?” I asked, and he laughed slightly.
But God knew.
“She’s actually sweet,” I said, and he smiled.
“What else?”
I smiled, thinking about her.“She’s strong. Doesn’t care I’m a prince. If she has something to say, she’ll say it,”
“Oh,” he teased.“Strong, huh? Let’s see how strong she’ll be after learning your dirty games,”
My smile vanished.“She’ll never accept me, Eklavya,” I exclaimed.“She already sees me as disloyal, a playboy, and I know that if she ever finds out what things I’ve done, she’ll be disgusted by me.”
We both entered the forest.
“Don’t tell her then,” he suggested.
I shook my head.“I don’t know. I’m messed up and confused. At some point, everyone will find out about us, and I know that after this thing with Mehrangarh, Rashmika will back out. But I don’t want her to feel trapped with me just because we are bound. For that, she has to know what she wants. I’m just waiting for the right moment,” I explained.
“Agastya, ensure the right time arrives before you both fall hard for each other,” he warned.“Otherwise, it will hurt her immensely.”
“I know,”
The day ended as we talked about her and Mehrangarh, and we were just a few miles away from where we both needed to be.
“Do you know who he is?” I asked, looking at Eklavya.
He nodded.“But he might have seen me at Mehrangarh, so we both must stay away from him,”
I nodded.“Let’s stop here,” I said, pointing at a tree. We both dismounted our horses. After tying them up, we changed into plain black kurtas with Pathani26bottoms and wrapped turbans around our heads, using the free ends to cover our faces, so they’d think we’re foreigners.
