Prithvi... [Vol 2]

Chapter 43

Huddled behind one of the massive columns, the palace maids gazed at the men leaving the dinner table. There were women of all ages and sizes in the motley group. They had been cleaning and scrubbing the palace for the past two days in anticipation of this visit. There had been mutinous murmurs among the younger maids, but now they appeared to have forgotten all their aches and pains as they stared avidly at the handsome young man who hadn't spared them a glance all through dinner.

"He'll be our guest only for three days?" one of the young girls asked in abject disappointment.

"I wish he would stay here forever," another girl said longingly, and she and the others lapsed into giggles.

The matronly woman who was in charge of them sternly said, "All of you will make sure that our guests don't lack for anything. If I get any complaints about anyone, I will throw you out instantly. Did you hear me, Bindiya?" she asked pointedly, nodding at an extremely attractive young woman.

Bindiya, who was resting an arm on the carved plinth around the column to stare comfortably, looked at the old woman.

"I don't chase men, they chase after me," she sniffed, but she smiled subtly as she looked at the retreating back of the youngest male in the group. 

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Prithvi paced the lushly carpeted floor in angry impatience, pausing only to glower at the buzzing mobile flung on the enormous bed covered with sheets of white silk. It seemed as though every annoying person on earth was hell bent on conversing with him. Except for the one voice that he –

He blocked the thought instantly. No, he wasn't that keen to talk to anyone. And Mochi could go to hell with his suggestions that he should serenade her across the distance with the help of nauseating prose and poetry. He'd have to be born again to act like that. If she didn't want to talk, that was fine by him. He had never yielded to any stupid compulsion, no matter how strong. And he wasn't going to start now.

He looked at the clock. Sumer baba would have dropped off to sleep. It was time to prowl, he thought and grinned. He walked to the door, opened it and only narrowly avoided banging into a heavily-scented mass with glittering eyes and tonnes of silver jewellery.

Prithvi frowned at the maid who was artfully preening in front of him in the corridor lit up with soft lights. "What do you want?" he snapped.

Bindiya smiled and looked up at him coyly through kohl-laden eyes, and in an instinctive flash, the intention behind this encounter became clear.

"Your highness, I wanted to know if you are comfortable in your room. Guests are equal to Gods, and we hope you will not have grievances about any lack of hospitality on our part," she murmured, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Yes, waiting outside guests' rooms and ambushing them in the middle of the night is the most important rule of good hospitality" Prithvi said seriously, getting quietly entertained by the woman's almost theatrical act.

Flustered by the response, Bindiya tried to regroup with fresh tactics. If she could gain entry into the room, the rest would be easy.

"Your room's arrangements were entrusted to a younger maid and I could not ensure if she has done a good job," she said regretfully, attempting to move towards one side to enter the bedroom.

"Sadly, I didn't give my room permission to participate in tonight's beauty contest. So it is fine the way it is," Prithvi said pleasantly, shifting slightly to block her entrance. 

Bindiya pouted with practiced sensuality. "Ohhh….but if you need anything….anything at all…..please let me know," she said suggestively, increasingly intrigued. Men usually pursued her. This was first time she had been so interested in a male, and he wasn't responding to any of her wiles. It was bewildering.