Shreya sat back down with the fantasy book, immersing herself in the world of magicians and sorcerers chanting spells beyond human comprehension, and she felt herself get sucked into the pages of the tome as all the other worries were pushed to the back of her mind. Especially those concerning a certain prince and his sister. However, she couldn't continue being so indifferent to their woes when she discerned how the sunrays were receding outside the windows. Her gaze went to her phone. Aryan had called her a couple of times while she was engaged in a heated discussion with Aarush, and she was itching to ring him back, but Aarush hadn't returned yet and Adya was still not home. Concern gnawed at her heart for both, and she checked her phone again. It was nearly six.

One and a half hours had passed since Aarush promised to return early, but as there were no signs of him in her vicinity, she was not sure if she should do anything about it or not. She didn't have any of the siblings' phone numbers either to contact them, but probably Balwant Singh stationed outside the manor—palace as she mentally corrected herself—might be of some help to her restive heart.

With that thought in her mind, she picked up the cup of green tea that one of the servers had offered to her ten minutes ago, and she crossed the length of the entry chamber beyond which lay the ornate wooden door to the mansion. She had only just pushed the door ajar when she saw Balwant Singh hobbling up the steps after perceiving her shadows on the stairs.

He bowed deep and kept his head down. "Do you need something, madam?"

Her lips had parted. She was never used to these overt displays of curtsy and respect. "Uh..." She licked her lips. "Do you know where Aarush or Adya are? They aren't back yet."

"I am afraid I am not aware of their whereabouts."

She heaved a sigh. "Thanks, Mr. Singh."

He flashed her a toothy grin. "I should be the one thanking you, madam. You saved me from His Highness's ire this morning. Forever grateful."

She had only just opened her mouth to tell him it was not a big deal when the crunching of gravel beneath cruising tyres and the faint revving of an engine fell on her ears before the whooshing of a vehicle. A swanky white rare-edition Audi rolled into her line of vision, halting under the portico. The engine was killed a moment later, and Aarush clambered out of the car. The shades were still on him, and the moment he stepped foot at the bottom of the staircase, Shreya could feel another bunch of tingles rushing down her spine. She knew he was a handsome man, but damn did he look good with those black shades on!

Balwant Singh was terrified once Aarush cast a glance at him, and he kept his head down, slinking back to the extreme end of the step he was on. His form shook, and he sniffled once in a while.

Aarush didn't take his eyes off the quivering man. His lips thinned into a line. "Why are you limping?"

Balwant Singh allowed a feeble smile on his face. "I met with an accident when returning from Rampur this morning. The motorbike skidded in my haste."

Aarush breathed in exasperation. "Did you at least visit the hospital?"

Balwant Singh responded with a meagre shake of his head.

Aarush heaved a sigh and started ascending the stairs, but instead of entering the house past the young girl at the door, he made a beeline towards the guard.

Balwant Singh looked up for a moment before training his gaze on his feet again.

"You did good, Balwant Singh," Aarush said. "I overreacted. I shouldn't have. The curse on the princesses of Suryagarh is a personal problem. It's not your fault that he died."

Another fluttering in her heart. Another somersault inside her tummy. Shreya was smiling like a fool and blushing like a blossom in full bloom. The solicitude the prince was expressing, apologizing in his own slightly haughty manner, accepting his mistake maturely—there was much more than what met the eye. Inhumane and cruel? Probably yes. Arrogant but a gentleman? Definitely yes. A soft heart bubbling with sensitive sentiments beneath the facade of cold detachment. Yes! A hundred times yes!

Balwant Singh folded his palms in front of the prince. "It's not a personal problem solely limited to you and your family, Prince. My ancestors have served the throne for over eight centuries. I am fiercely loyal to you and the royal family. If needed, I will serve my head on a silver platter for you and our Princess Adya."

Aarush chortled and shook his head. "It's all because of people like you that I can hope to save my sister."

"And not to forget," Balwant Singh smiled weakly, "the other girls who disappear regularly from our city. Every three months to be precise."

Aarush patted the man's shoulders again. "I am not going to lie to you. She is not coming back, but I can assure you that it will never happen again with anyone else. We will catch him, and we will bring him to justice."

Balwant Singh had a rivulet of tears jogging down his cheeks. "I want justice for her, Your Highness. He needs to pay for his sins, for he has been left unchecked for far too long."

Aarush took a sharp breath in. "That entire family will pay." His voice quivered with sheer and unadulterated fury. "And that's a promise." Sighing, he said, "Good job taking care of Miss Awasthy."

Balwant Singh grinned wide. "Madam is too nice to a servant like me. She saved me in the morning and was even thanking me for answering such a small question she had."

Shreya fiddled with the thread tied to the teabag floating inside the mug in her hands.

Aarush glanced at her again. "And what question did she have?"

"She wished to learn of your and Princess's whereabouts."

Aarush chuckled. "Go to the hospital. Get yourself treated."

"I..." Balwant Singh kept his eyes on his feet. "I have taken a painkiller, Your Highness. I should be fine soon." Aarush was about to walk off when he said, "Prince, he... Dharamraj... was lying in a pool of blood. House ravaged. No pulse. There was no pulse, Prince."

Aarush respired deeply. "Forget it. Take rest."

Once Balwant Singh shuffled away, limping throughout, a lazy gait from Aarush and the teasing grin on his face caused enough annoyance to Shreya. She tucked her hair behind her ears and sipped from her cup of tea. He was nearly at the top of the stairs, only a couple of feet away from her, but she could tell his intense gaze was latched to her. However, much to her chagrin, when she peeked at him, he was busy scrolling through his phone. A frown developed on her face. She didn't really understand what this new device or even the godforsaken newspapers had in them that even a beauty like Shreya Awasthy, who had garnered attention all her life, was unable to beat.

She huffed and peered at the dying sun, going back to taking small sips from her cup.

"Heard you were looking for me," he said.

When she craned her neck sideward, he was at the door, standing parallel to her and keeping his eyes trained on the entrance chamber instead of her. "I was looking for Adya. Where is she?"

"On her way."

She went back to watching the sun set beyond the horizon.

He didn't move an inch from his spot, his hands tucked inside the pockets of his trousers.

"Do you want to say something to me?" she said without looking at him.

He didn't look at her either. "I assumed you would have your usual long list of questions ready at the tip of your tongue to bombard me with. I was only making my life easier by being present at your service. As promised."

She repressed the urge to giggle in joy. "Thank you."

"For?"

"For apologizing to Balwant Singh. Sounds like Princey took my pep talk seriously."

He rolled his eyes. "If I pay attention to any of the blabbering that comes out of the garbage can you call a mouth..."

She was instantly infuriated by the half-spoken sentence, not discerning how he trailed at the end and how he sucked in the air, how his gaze was darting back and forth between the walls of the foyer without taking note of his surroundings, and how he was perplexed, puzzled, distressed at the moment.

Scowling, she groaned. "Garbage can! My mouth?" she squealed and flailed her arms. "The second I think you are nice and will only have good things to say to me, profusely thank me for being the best person in the world, and sing praises extolling my generous heart," she screamed, "you prove me wrong. You are just the worst, Princey!"

Clicking her shoes, she went off, leaving him in a state of confusion.

He rolled his lips inward and took his shades off. "Snap out of it, Aarush Chauhan. She is not Meera. She can never be."

***

Extremely irked she was after her pointless altercation with the crowned prince, and she back to sulking and grumbling, very certain of the fact that Aarush Chauhan was a heartless man with no emotions or sentiments in him and the facade of detachment was not a facade. It was the real man—just plain mean.

"Hmph!" She crossed her arms in front of her as she paced the length of her room with a massive scowl on her face. "Hmph!" She stood in front of the mirror to take a good look at her reflection, twirling at the spot to check herself from every angle. "Hmph! Aarush Chauhan has to be blind and deaf. My mouth is not a garbage can, you mean Princey!" she screeched.

Clicking her tongue a few times, she strolled out of the room to go to the intricately decorated attached balcony, and the moment she leaned her tummy against the balustrade fashioned out of sandstone, she saw a series of black SUVs rolling up to the portico two floors below. Men clad in impeccable black suits with ammunition in their hands alighted the five vehicles perceptible to her, and as they took their positions across the lawn in front of the building, another white sedan cruised into the premises, halting near the portico. Adya disembarked the vehicle with a frown on her face, casting furtive glances at all the men surrounding her and huffing once in a while as they didn't leave her side until her head full of black wavy hair disappeared once she commenced ascending the stairs.

The irritation in Shreya's mind went poof, and she was jubilant that the princess was back. Though her interaction with the girl had been limited, within a short span of time, Shreya could tell Adya was an affable, amiable young girl. At least much better than the cold-hearted brother of hers.

So, Shreya covered the gigantic distance between her room and the living area with a skip in her step, but she couldn't find Adya anywhere. The servants told her the princess had retired to her room to freshen up and would be coming down in just a few short minutes. So, Shreya used the time at her hand to admire the living area and the entrance chamber leading up to the hall all over again. Despite the numerous times she had marvelled over the detailed architecture, she could swear there was at least one thing she missed.

And she was absolutely right, for she had most certainly overlooked the multiple portraits hanging on the walls above the mantelpiece in the entrance chamber. As she began pacing the length of the wall under the well-lit dome, her gaze went to the paintings of the kings, queens, and princes of the kingdom. Surprisingly enough—ironically too—none of the princesses found their place on the walls.

She was reading the names and the two sentences on the plaques beneath the portraits that told her more about Aarush's ancestors, which he wouldn't, and as she edged towards the end of the series closer to the hall, she came across the vibrant full-length live picture of an enigmatic old man. A head full of white hair, a long white beard, quite fit, adorned in a blue suit, perched on a highchair, his eyes blazing with wisdom and knowledge—the man might have been in his early 80s. Her gaze went to the plaque beneath the picture.

"His Majesty King Devendra Singh Chauhan," she murmured.

"My grandfather."

Shreya turned and beamed. "Adya!"

The reinvigorated and grinning princess, adorned in a fresh kurti and blue jeans with a small but highly decorative purse in her hands, ambled down the living area and came to stand next to Shreya. Peering up at her grandfather's picture with reverence and adoration, she sighed, the small smile tugging at the corner of her lips as her shimmering orbs didn't waver. "Our grandfather, the erstwhile king of Suryagarh."

Shreya shuffled her feet out of awkwardness. "Where... where is he?"

"He passed away a couple of years ago," Adya said, smiling briefly.

Shreya discreetly bit her tongue. "I am so sorry."

"He had grown old, and he was suffering from age-related ailments. He had lost the will to live after the bout of pneumonia that hit him a year prior to his passing."

Shreya bobbed her head. "But he was your last living relative?"

"He was the only family we ever knew." Adya chuckled humorlessly. "At least I did. If truth be told, I don't remember my parents at all. I was barely a week old when they were killed. When I was a year old, my grandmother passed away. She couldn't take the shock of the demise of her son. And although Aaursh Bhai is now close to our mother's side of the family, I don't share a good rapport with them. I don't like them much. They don't like me either."

Shreya frowned. "What? Why?"

Adya shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Who cares about them! But," she grinned, "my grandfather was my favourite person in the world, and I was his. I was the apple of his eye, and he brought me and my brother up single-handedly, pampering us, teaching us values, giving us all the love and all the discipline a parent does, providing us with all the warmth and all the adoration a grandparent does. As I said, I was the apple of his eye, and he loved me a bit too much." She giggled. "And that made Bhai so jealous."

Shreya's ears perked at that. "I can't imagine Aarush showing any emotion except anger."

Adya tittered and shook her head. "You don't know him that well, Shreya. He is... he is reticent. He doesn't show emotions, but that doesn't mean he is heartless. In fact, deep down, he is a very sensitive man."

Shreya tucked her hair behind her ears. "Jealousy too?"

"Oh, yes!" Adya laughed. "He is very possessive and very territorial."

All the earlier annoyance at her mouth being called a garbage can went poof, and her heart was again a gooey, molten mess of that giddiness she had been experiencing since the previous afternoon. "If so, I might tease him."

Adya snickered behind her palms. "And he will pout like a child."

Shreya's brows shot up, and her eyes twinkled with amusement. She peeked around to check if Aarush could be seen, but he was nowhere to be found. "So, the high and mighty prince of Suryagarh is a child at heart."

"Oh, yes!" Adya chuckled. "Definitely yes. I think I am more mature than him. He is almost nine years older than me, but you should see when he and I argue. It's so puerile and kiddish that you will be rolling on the floor with peals of laughter coming out of your mouth."

That tingling sensation at the back of her neck was again troubling Shreya as she rubbed the spot to soothe the skin prickling and poking her.

"And do you know, Shreya, my grandfather was a great seer too?"

Shreya creased her brows. "Seer? As in?"

"As in he could tell the future."

"For real?"

Adya chortled. "I think it's a bunch of baloney. No one can predict the future. Perhaps my grandfather only had a strong sixth sense, for he could never tell whether I was going to pass my exams or not, and he always foretold that Bhai was going to fall in love and get married before turning 23, but that also didn't happen, did it now?" She sniggered. "But the word was that the generous king could foretell things like a pro."

A barrage of questions popped one after the other in Shreya's mind, and they were almost at the tip of her tongue, threatening to come tumbling out of her mouth about Devendra, Aarush, and a whole string of related topics, but as a certain smug prince's horrible remarks crossed her mind, she shut her mouth. "Garbage can. Hmph!" she muttered under her breath, and the scowl returned to her face.

"Let's go out," Adya said, taking her gaze off Devendra Chauhan's picture. "I will show you the garden before it's completely dark."

As the girls egressed the main door and descended the stairs, Balwant Singh came back hobbling to them with his head bowed down. Shreya noticed how Adya's smile faltered upon catching sight of the trusted man and how she clicked her tongue when he didn't leave their side, letting them walk two steps ahead of him as the girls began sauntering towards the lush green lawns in the premises.

Shreya hadn't paid much attention to the splendid garden before, but it had so many kinds of flowers and ornamental plants spread far and wide that she was unable to keep track. Acres upon acres of greenery despite the sharp desert heat raining down upon them. Sunflowers, dahlias, zinnias, bougainvillaeas, marigolds, jasmine, roses—all of them swaying in the hot summer winds. There was no dearth of hues—red, yellow, purple, brown, pink, delicate shades of magenta, softer shades of azure. A few banyan, birch, and mango trees were also visible at the extreme end near the boundary walls.

Adya squealed and clapped her hands in ebullience as her gaze landed on a fresh blossom amidst the aisles of roses. "Look at that!" She rushed up to the shrub as her eyes glimmered with joy. "The black rose has finally bloomed. Bhai was so nettled because this variant wouldn't bloom. With this summer being a bit too harsh, he was distraught that this one might shrivel up and die. He will be so happy now."

A new thing about Aarush Chauhan that she learned. A softer side of his personality that she came to know of. That she came to like. "He likes flowers?" Shreya said.

"Nuh-uh! He loves gardening." Adya gestured at the lawns and the gardens encapsulating them. "Whatever you are seeing around us is the handiwork of my brother. He is a bit too passionate about plants and the vitality a new life brings to the world. He, along with his team of prolific gardeners, spend their weekends tending to these blooms." She went ahead to caress the soft-textured petals of the black rose, and a strange melancholy flitted across her features. "Isn't the rose beautiful?" she whispered. "Black... dark... It's an amazing colour. It can hide anything and everything under the garb of its hue. Without any hint of tarnishing itself. Over and over again. Without getting tainted. Ever..."

Shreya wasn't sure what had come over the cursed princess, for the girl was too enamoured by a single rose. The statement she was making sounded profound too, but Shreya was a tad bit uncomfortable due to the intensity of Adya's gaze on the petals. "Black is nice." She heaved a sigh. "My best friend likes black too."

Adya's brows knitted on their own, and she took her hands off the flower. "Pardon?"

"My best friend, Aryan, is very fond of black too."

Adya's eyes shimmered with mirth, and she winked at Shreya. "Sounds like he and I will make great friends."

***

Author's Note:

Phew! I am tired. I typed a lot today. I think I have some energy to type Chapter 13 as well. I might publish it today because won't be able to do the Wednesday update. Busy week ahead! But I am super stoked. We are going to be traversing uncharted territories now.