Vaidehi | ✎

[8]

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Vaidehi's POV

One second I am standing in the entrance of the royal garden and the next second I am tripping over a overgrown creeper branch. My lehenga swishes with a whoosh, I desperately try to grab onto anything but my hands catch nothing but air. I close my eyes, bracing myself for the impact but it never comes.

Two arms grab my waist preventing my fall. When I open my eyes, I find Angad, my half brother, holding me in place.
"Careful, sister." He chides, helping me back on my feet.

My throat closes up at his choice of words. "Yeah sorry I wasn't looking down....uh....umm, thank you."

He shrugs. "What are you doing here, don't you have your mehendi to attend?" Bending down and gently pushing the creeper's branch to the side, he asks.

"There was still two hours to that and well, I just wanted to get some air. And since I hadn't got a proper chance to look around the garden I thought I'll drop by."  I explain, and as I do so I realise with a start I sound nervous. No surprise there, I haven't had a proper conversation with Angad before, he is the more broody of the two brothers and because the last conversation I had with Devrat last night was not very pleasant, I assumed Angad also doesn't like me just like his mother and brother so I didn't try to put in too much of an effort to talk to him.

He nods, "Do you like it?" He looks around the greenspace with a half smile.

"Ofcourse. It's very pretty. Easily one of the prettiest parts of the palace. Except Radhika though, because she obviously takes the first place." The last bit is light hearted but I honestly do mean it, my half sister is stunning. She clearly hasn't taken after her mother.

That gets a low laugh from him. "I suppose I can't deny that. But don't tell her that, she doesn't need any more elevation to her neverending ego."

"Hey!" I come to Radhika's defence, "she doesn't have any ego. She has to be the sweetest soul I've come across over here."

"Oh please, she is a little monster. Wait till you get to know her better, she is as stubborn at they come and so annoying. Always gets her way."

I roll my eyes at him good naturedly, "Being stubborn could be a good trait at times, anyways let's agree to disagree."

My older half-brother and the future King of Saanchi, chuckles. "I suppose we could."

An awkward pause ensues. I am the one to break it, "What are you doing here?"

He rubs his eyes and lets a yawn slip out. "Excuse me, I just had a long night yesterday. Had to catch up on some work, so I didn't get enough sleep and I was a bit moodier than usual, and well this the one place that always manages to lift my mood so I decided to come by."

"Ahhh....royal duties." I nod seriously. He takes one look at my face and chuckles.

"You're going to be a future King's wife by the end of this week, you should prepare yourself for those "royal duties" too."

I acknowledge him with a forced smile. He manages to see through it, which surprises me to no end. This guy has a way of staring at you like he actually sees you. Just like Pitaji.

"I take it the marriage is still a sore subject for you?"

I shrug. "Can you blame me." It's a statement more than a question.

"I guess I can't." He shakes his head, "but I am definitely surprised Raghav hasn't managed to win you over yet. He tends to have that effect on people."