Bharat didn’t say anything.
He and his brothers were raised not to display affection openly. Not to lean into each other casually. They were men shaped by legacy, empire, and responsibility.
But if any one of them was threatened, the others would not hesitate.
Samar had considered Yamini a threat. Now he didn’t.
Across the garden, Yamini glanced up.
Something tightened in his chest as her smile widened. Her smile held a whole range of emotions. Happiness. Attraction. Excitement. And underneath it all, trust.
His grip on the railing tightened slightly.
He knew he could keep her safe from almost anything. From threats, from politics, from the world outside.
But he knew he wouldn’t be able to protect her from himself.
From the truth.
She didn't know everything yet.
And once she did, he didn't know if she would look at him the way she looked at him right now.
She thought this was the beginning. She wasn't wrong about what they'd built. She just didn't know what was coming next.
As he watched her, lit up by the afternoon sun, for the first time in a long time, he wasn't thinking about how to come out ahead.
He was thinking about what it would cost him when she found out everything.
CHAPTER 46
Night had settled deep over Jogra Palace.
Outside the tall windows, the snow-capped mountains glowed softly under the moonlight.
Inside the bedroom, it was warm.
Yamini lay half across Bharat, her cheek resting on his chest, her leg tangled with his beneath the sheets. His arm was draped around her waist, heavy and steady, his palm resting low on her back like he intended to keep her there.
The bed was no longer perfectly made. The symmetry that seemed to rule his life had been disturbed—pillows shifted, the sheet twisted, the blanket folded wrong.
Her eyes fell on the scarf on the chair. She realized she had left it there two weeks ago. But it hadn’t been moved. Just like the rest of her things, she left on his bathroom counters and dresser.
She had expected him to correct them immediately. But he never said a word.
He simply accepted her mess as if it belonged in his orderly life.
Yamini shifted, pressing her cheek more firmly to his chest. Under her palm, his heartbeat was steady. Not racing. Not uncontrolled. Like everything else about him, it felt steady.
He was lying on his back, the line of his jaw sharp even in the soft light. His hair was slightly disordered because she had pulled it moments ago during passion.
“Sanjana told me a secret this afternoon,” she said.
Bharat didn't ask what.
She knew he wouldn’t. Only because he knew she would tell him anyway.
She smiled.
