Serves as a sequel to "The Blazing Heiress" The Desais were a cemetery of secrets. Viransh Malik had always known this. But he couldn't believe the buried sins of his own family twisted tighter than he could abide. They don't quench his thirst for truth; instead, they harden his resolve to tear open the secrets of those near him cradled in their bones. Avni was finally content. Marriage had crowned her. It had placed her at the centre of the board. But power has its own hunger, and soon, it bites into the hands of those who dare to hold it. Around her, the pieces stir. Allies beat like bishops. Enemies strike like rooks. Pawns are willing to cross for survival. Viransh, the Knight, stands beside her, sworn to guard her even as he gallops his own path across the board. When the past collides with the future, when old ruses awaken, when the masks finally drop - each move steers them closer to a dangerous endgame. And the King survives only if the Knight unveils the lies before checkmate.

"𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖" ••• People meet by accident, People fall in love by accident, But people surely don't become someone's baby daddy accidentally, or do they? What started as an innocent lie, trapped them into a marriage, entwining their fates with unexpected partners. But here's the catch, the marriage won't last forever, the holy bond wasn't so holy, a contractual bond emerged, benefitted them both and bound them together, at least for a while. Falling in love was thrown out of the window the moment she signed the contract, she wasn't going to fall in love with an egoistic, arrogant and self-centred-asshole of a lawyer anyways. ••• "No love drama, right?" "I'd rather die."

What are the odds of a love happening between a man with failed parents and a woman who is a failed parent? In a normal setting, none. However, there's was no normal setting. When the second-in-line Prince of Jaigarh starts receiving death threats from a patient's husband he recently operated on, the royal palace goes into chaos. He's immediately appointed a bodyguard, who much to his chagrin, happens to be his brother's closest loyal. They don't see eye to eye. And they cannot stand each other. But bound to his brother's words, he accepts the woman, on a condition that she stays at least five feet behind him. And it was supposed to stay that way. Before he comes face to face with someone from the past, someone who had told him he'd die single. As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. Which is how he ends up introducing his bodyguard as his new girlfriend who he's so besotted by. In a nutshell, it's a set-up. So what could go wrong? Turns out, when feelings get involved, everything. cover credit: @mystwhizzpuzz on IG