But he knew the answer to that. No, she wasn’t. If she felt even an iota of the pain he did, she would never have been able to do what she had. He was dispensable to her, just like he’d been to his father. There must be something inherently wrong with Grey’s makeup that made people react to him that way. Was it the curse? Or had he been born this way? Gripping the edges of his desk, Grey turned his eyes back to his book and stared unseeingly at its pages.

Jaya

Once the bell tinkled, signaling the end of class, Jaya watched Grey get up abruptly from his desk and cut his way through the crowd of students to the door, not looking back at her once. The entire class period, she’d held herself so stiffly, feeling his gaze on her skin as if it were his touch. She wanted so badly to turn to him, to take his hand, to place her ear against his chest and listen to the thudding of his heart. To ask him if his world, too, was soaked in tears and going up in flames.

She picked up her phone and looked at the email her father had sent her that morning. It was the copy of the engagement ceremony announcement that would run in the Mysuru papers that weekend.

Maharaja Adip Rao and Maharani Parvati Rao announce with pleasure the upcoming engagement of their eldest daughter, Rajkumari Jaya Rao, to the heir of the Hegde house, Kiran Hegde, son of Maharaja Dilip Hegde and Maharani Aruna Hegde. The engagement ceremony will take place at the Rao palace in June, on an auspicious date to be determined by the palace astrologer. There will be a grand feast for all the people in the districts governed by the Raos and the Hegdes. Arrangements for the propitious event will begin soon.

This was it; this was what she needed to do. Even though her world was on fire, Jaya felt an innate sense of calmness, that she was doing what her obligations and responsibilities dictated she must. This would show her people once more that the Raos were fit to govern them. This would save the Rao estate, one that had been managed so painstakingly, so lovingly, for many generations before her. This would ensure generations after hers would still know the joy of taking care of their beloved city. She would save her family, her dynasty, and her name in one fell swoop. She would make it right again.

Jaya got up slowly from her desk, putting her phone and her books back into her bag. She was at the beginning of a long, endless tunnel, with nowhere to go but forward.

Jaya