Cittaja || Indian Historical Romance

9.

Valli remained indifferent in her expression towards him. The farce she put on for people around. The Princess was a wonderful actress. He eyed her from top to bottom and found the mark of his assault on her. Red and burning.

Her face had a sweet princessy smile. The demeanor remained dangerously like that of a typical Princess. Polite, submissive, unopinionated, and easy to capture. Her eyes, on the other hand, were a whole different story. Fire and Blood in them.

She knew who he was and she was clear that she regretted her miss.
'Perhaps, Pragvamsa won't be as boring as I thought.' He wondered.

"Welcome to Pragvamsa, Yuvraj Shakrajit. Hope our outskirts were polite to you. I hear of bandits around there."

He chuckled, "I did encounter the bandits. Surely I gave them a show of my strength. They seem like amateurs." Shakra returned it with a grin. Her eyes stayed on him.

He gave a namaskaram. The girl was an actress when she gave a shy smile. It intrigued Shakra.

"Yuvraj, have some rest. We can then meet in a while." Maharaj Kartik suggested. Shakra had gotten all the information he needed from Karma about the family.

The reason Shakra chose Karma as his assistant was her innate ability to get out any information he needed. She was an extraordinary spy when he needed it. Especially within the palace walls. No information can escape her senses. Hence, he quickly chose to secure her loyalty before anyone else in the palace could.

Karma followed him dutifully and quickly gave out orders needed to be given to the maids given to serve him.
First thing he needed was a hot bath. Karma didn't need specifically being told this. That was her job and she did it wonderfully.

Shakra walked to the indoor bath and discarded his dhoti. He wore the wrapping cloth which covered a little above his mid thighs. When he sat in the kund, Karma brought in the bathing paste and rubbed over him.

"Yuvraj, I have confirmed all the people we can potentially use to our advantage here. Pragvamsa is at the brink of rebellion. A lot of people are unhappy with their Crown Prince Aaditya. They do not deem him to be the right heir. Maharaj Kartik does have five sons but they are hardly much different. Quite the womanizers and pleasure seekers. We can twist them into our wishes but just one tiny problem exists." She said in whispers.

"Rajkumari Valli." Shakra answered with a grin.

"Yuvraj is accurate. Although she does not hold any political titles in this country, she does have some influence over the public and the ministers for her intellect. She has a great sense of politics. I assume that Maharaj holds his throne for this long because she is standing behind him. The eldest son Aaditya wouldn't think a lot before upsurping the throne."

"Hmmm... Pragvamsa is going to an interesting place." Shakra decided.
Karma applied the bathing paste over Shakra and walked out for a moment. He closed his eyes and felt a presence in the room.

No. It wasn't the maids. Too silent for them. Cautious in their approach. A soft clinking of some jewellery. There was a soft smell of roses and ambers. The soft hint of kasturi.

His senses heightened when he felt the presence get closer to him.

"Rajkumari, didn't your Guru tell you about me? I am Shakrajit. Even a butterfly cannot fly its wings around me without me knowing. You, little butterfly, tried your catch and failed last time." Shakra said.

Shakra anticipated another try although she was caught. She lunged at him. At that moment, he grabbed her arm that had a knife and pulled her in the water. He grabbed her head and pushed it in the water. Valli wasn't going to take defeat so easily. She stopped struggling and grabbed him. The two wrestled in the waters until she was within his grasp completely. She had no way to escape.