But Yamini still couldn’t understand why Bharat married her.
And so far, everything she predicted about him had been wrong.
She glanced at him as they walked. His gaze was straight, and there was a slight distance between them that he controlled.
She was sure he sensed her gaze. But he didn’t bother looking at her.
The rituals continued in the courtyard.
Yamini was guided to stand beside Bharat.
She was intensely aware of him. She noticed the slight distance he continued to maintain and the stillness of his hands at his sides. He didn't shift or look around the way most people did when standing in the center of attention. He simply stood, composed and unreadable, as though the ritual was something to be completed rather than experienced.
Why did he marry me?
She had no answer ready. No theory was left that she fully believed. Just the unsettling awareness that she had married a man she couldn’t predict or understand.
Much later, after all the rituals were completed and a small feast had followed, Bharat finally spoke.
“We’re leaving for the Jogra Palace,” he announced.
Yamini’s heart raced.
She had no idea what would happen next with Bharat Singh Jogra.
That thought was more unsettling than anything else that had happened today.
CHAPTER 12
The helicopter lifted off with a low thrum, carrying them away from Rewa Palace and back into the mountains. Yamini sat opposite Bharat, her hands folded tightly in her lap, her spine stiff against the leather seat.
Married.
The word kept echoing in her mind, unreal and heavy all at once. She was married to Bharat Jogra.
He sat across from her exactly as he had after the ceremony, straight-backed and composed with his sunglasses firmly in place despite the fading daylight. He hadn’t spoken since announcing their departure. He hadn’t looked at her either.
The silence stretched, thick and suffocating. Yamini told herself to breathe. She watched the white peaks slide past the windows, the snow catching the dying sun, glowing faintly pink and gold. The beauty was overwhelming, but it did nothing to calm the tight knot in her chest.
She was flying toward the Jogra Palace as Bharat’s wife.
Her husband.
The helicopter began its descent, and Yamini leaned closer to the window despite herself. The Jogra Palace came into view. It was vast and imposing, built into the mountainside, its towers rising in perfect symmetry against the sky, as though disorder had never been permitted by the Jogra ancestors who built it centuries ago.
Her heart started to race.
This is going to be my home for some time.
Until I have a child.
The thought made her stomach flutter nervously.
The helicopter touched down smoothly, the rotors slowing as guards in heavy coats moved into position. The doors opened, and icy air rushed in, sharp enough to steal her breath.
Bharat stood first, stepping out with ease, his long coat snapping lightly in the wind. She stepped out behind him.
But the moment her boots hit the snow-dusted stone, her foot slipped.
