Sands Of Time - a timeless love saga

Chapter 75

Both families announced the exchange of rings. Veer reached forward and picked up the ring box. The cameras and drones closed in as he opened it —

And suddenly topped.

His expression didn't change visibly. But his jaw tightened, and beneath the composed surface, something went very still.

Inside the box, there was no ring.

In its place sat the severed beak of a small bird. Barely the size of a thumbnail. Its blood had seeped quietly into the velvet lining.

Veer shut the box in one clean motion and swallowed.

Only Karan had caught a glimpse. He let out a barely audible intake of breath. Veer's eyes found him immediately, and the look alone was enough. Karan turned without a word and quietly signalled the team to redirect the drone camera and step the photographers back to give them a moment.

The room watched what was happening in the stage and Veer's action cautiously, a ripple of confusion beginning to stir.

Aastha had not missed it. The colour that had drained from his face. The split second of something he had almost let show.

He drew a long, slow breath. And then he looked at her, and every bit of what had just happened seemed to simply leave his face. What replaced it was something so open, so completely unguarded, that Aastha's breath caught before she could help it.

He reached up and signalled his team to switch on the wearable mic attached to his sherwani.

"Aastha," he began, his voice carrying now across the whole terrace. "We have known each other since childhood. Back then, we lost so much time living apart, in a world that felt confusing and unclear." He took a step toward her. "When I met you again, I knew something was different. Something had changed."

She watched him, unblinking.

"If I had known, from the very beginning, that my whole life was leading to you... I would not have wasted a single moment living it any other way."

And then, slowly, he went down on one knee.

A soft, disbelieving laugh escaped Aastha. He really had made a habit of this. "Veer—" she said softly.

"I love you, Aastha Pratap Singh."

He extended his hand. She noticed immediately, he wasn't holding any ring. She also noticed, in the same breath, exactly what he was doing. Keeping every eye in the room on him. On this. Away from the box.

As if reading the realisation crossing her face, Veer squeezed her hand.

"You are my destiny, Aastha. Only you. Always you." His voice was steady now, unhurried, every word deliberate. "My love may never look like the tales of Radha and Krishna. But I hope... I hope that you never have reason to wonder. That you are always certain: Veer belongs to Aastha. He always has. He always will. No one else's. Only hers."

The terrace was completely silent. Aastha stared at him, surprise and emotion and something she couldn't name all tangled together somewhere behind her ribs.

In one swift motion, Veer reached into his pocket and slipped something onto her finger.

It fit perfectly. As though it had always been meant to.

The cameras and drones caught the moment from every angle.

"This," Veer said, rising to his feet, "belonged to our ancestors. Princess Rohini Kumari of Umangiri, who ruled the kingdom that fought the British Raj, preserved a handful of artifacts that had belonged to her family. This ring was among them. It is said to have belonged to her brother." He paused. "Mohan Thakur Singh."