ENG|HIN🆕rewritten- 5|| LETHAL LIONESS

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CHAPTER 5
LETHAL LIONESS
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Tia woke up from her peaceful slumber and went to the balcony attached to her room which overlooked the entire Goenka estate. 

Stretching her arms out and resting them over the railings, she inhaled the fresh morning air and glanced down at the lawn.

On one side of the lawn, Arjun, Praneet and Uday were chatting over a cup of tea and coffee. She had learnt it to be the trio's daily morning routine. 

At a distance from the trio, Gayatri was strolling with an unknown man of Arjun's age. She was giggling to her heart's content and he was lovingly watching her do so.

Tia watched them for a while and then went back into the room.

â– 

By the time Tia reached downstairs, everyone was already settled in the dining hall for breakfast. 

But today, the empty seat between Gayatri and Praneet was occupied. Even though she was facing the backs of Gayatri, Praneet and the unknown man, she had recognized him to the same person with whom Gayatri was strolling in the lawn.

Tia panicked. She wanted to run back to her room but Uday had already acknowledged her presence.

"Tia beta, we were waiting for you only."

She tried to form a smile but her lips betrayed her. With small steps, she rounded the table and came face-to-face with the new joinee.

"Tia, this is my future son-in-law, Jai. Rana Jai Pratap Chauhan," Uday proudly introduced to which Jai grinned while Gayatri blushed.

She didn't realize when had Arjun left his seat to hold hers until he nudged her to bring her back to reality. He raised his eyebrows, questioning her about her sudden zone out.

"Sorry," she muttered and took a deep breath. "Saath-sri-akal," she gave Jai a closed-lip smile, taking her seat.

"Saath…" Jai paused when realization dawned upon him, "How did you know that I am Punjabi?" 

His question made her realize that everyone was staring at her in confusion.

"By...all these food," she quickly answered, swaying her hand at all the Punjabi delicacies like- Aloo Paratha, Paneer Masala, Dal Makhani and Lassi, served alongside the Rajasthani delicacies.

"Oh…" Jai believed her and continued his introduction, "By the way, I am your to-be husband, Yuvraj Arjun's childhood friend as well. I know all his dark secrets! If you want to know anything about him, you can ask me." He pretended to be whispering to her, which made everyone laugh.

She nodded with a fake smile. Soon she sensed Arjun's eyes on her. She turned towards him and as she had presumed, he was staring at her intently.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Have you... Have you fallen in love with me?" She whispered sarcastically.

He was quick to change his gaze from her to the meal served on his plate. 

But he had found enough reason to arouse curiosity in his mind.

â– 

After breakfast, Tia was taking a tour of the palace with a female attendant, assigned to help her with anything and everything. 

While enjoying the antiquity of the palace, she came across Praneet, who was engrossed in a conversation with an employee. She thought for a moment and decided to approach him.

"Praneet," she interrupted his conversation.

"Tia, hi!" He greeted her with a smile.

"Hi. Are you busy? I needed to speak to you about something," she requested.

"Okay… Sure," he gave the employee some instruction before dismissing him and Tia's attendant.

"I am sorry to interrupt your work," she apologized.

"No, it's fine. It sounded more important. And nonetheless, you are the next Rani-sa. Nothing comes before you."

She nodded, understandably.

"Let's walk and talk," he gestured her to walk ahead.

"It's... I just…" she hesitated, "I just want to know about this family and its people. If I asked Arjun, he wouldn't..."

"It's okay. I know, he is like that. But you don't worry because I am here. Whenever you need to know about something, do not hesitate to ask me. Okay?" He gave an assuring smile.

"Thank you. Arjun is very lucky to have a friend like you. Such friends are very rare these days."

"Not rare, it's extinct actually. Because God has stopped making such breed after me," he laughed at his own joke.

Tia laughed as well. "Are you Arjun's childhood friend?"

"Yes, we literally grew up together. Well, my father was Baba-sa's security chief and my mother was Rani Kadambari's assistant. We have always been together. After finishing our studies, Yuvraj took up the responsibilities of the estate and their family business while I became his assistant. But! We play this Yuvraj-assistant role only in office or in public. Other than that it's a family," he said with adoration. 

She understood the bond Praneet shared with the royals of Jaipur, which was indeed lovely.

"And… What about Rana Jai?" She further enquired.

"He's from Pathankot. Baba-sa and Jai's Tau-ji, Maharana Viren Pratap Chauhan were friends actually. If you go more into history… Chauhans and Goenkas used to be rivals once because once upon a time a Goenka Rajkumar had betrayed a Chauhan Rajkumari."

"What?" She was astonished by the new information. "But aren't Gayatri and Jai betrothed to each other?"

"Yes. The relationship improved when Baba-sa met his future wife in Maharana Viren's reception party as she was Maharani Meerabai's childhood friend. So the childhood friendship of Rani Kadambari with Maharani Meerabai created the foundation of improving Chauhans and Goenkas relationship. And later they decided to strengthen their bond even more by turning their friendship into kinship.

"Kinship?" She raised an eyebrow, "How?"

"They decided to marry off Rajkumari Gayatri and Yuvraj Arjun to the Chauhan cous…" He abruptly stopped walking.

"That means... Gayatri's marriage with Rana Jai and Arjun's with..." she trailed off to look beside her for answers but couldn't find Praneet.

She turned back and found him a little behind her, "Arjun's marriage with whom?"

"These… It's all in the past now," he tried to brush off the topic as if he had accidentally blurted out something he shouldn't have. "Arjun is going to marry you... It's the only reality now!"

"But it's important for me to know!" She retorted as she wasn't going to drop the topic until knowing the truth. "What if his ex-bride to-be comes back someday?" She argued.

"She won't ever come back!" He said strongly. "Even if she does… No one, not even Arjun, will choose her over you. So, you don't have to worry about her."

She understood there was more to the matter than he was letting on and it was a very serious matter.

"So…" she decided to divert the topic, "It seems like Jai became the ruler at a very young age."

"Yes. After the death of the then Maharana Viren, his younger brother and Jai's father had become the ruler. But that was for a year only. He got paralyzed and Jai had to take over the estate at the tender age of 20."

While walking they had reached the courtyard where Arjun and Jai were engrossed in Talwarbaazi.

"Talwarbaazi?" Tia exclaimed with a chuckle.

"Yes, it's not required but traditionally it's a must for every royal to learn it. Later, it becomes one of their sources of entertainment or may come handy when they are in trouble."

"Hmm... Let us get entertained as well," she smirked before stepping into the courtyard. 

Praneet was confused but followed her. 

Meanwhile, Jai fell down and tasted dust along with his sword while Arjun stood victorious. 

"No one can beat you even today," Jai said taking Arjun's hand to stand back on his feet. 

"Wow! Yuvraj, you proved your royalty," Tia clapping proudly with a hint of taunt. "But I would have loved to watch you use these skills somewhere else…"

Only Praneet and Arjun could understand what she where she was referring to by "somewhere else." They recalled their first meeting where they might have looked like "dudes in distress" while the damsel i.e. Tia had to come to their rescue. 

Praneet suppressed his laughter over the thought while Arjun decided to ignore her completely.

"Anyways, good luck with your practice. I will get going."

She had turned to leave but Arjun blocked her way with his sword. 

"Would you like to try a hand in talwarbaazi?"

"Arjun, how would she know that?" Praneet protested.

"You know, this skill could be useful when I land in trouble and you have to come to my rescue…again," he whispered the last word only for her to hear.

She glanced from the sword to him smirking. "Sure," she said reflecting his smirk.

He tossed his sword to her, which she caught effortlessly, while he got a new one brought by a helper.

After a few moments of intense challenging with their swords and eyes, Tia had her sword pointed towards Arjun while that of his lay on the ground at a distance.

Praneet clapped appreciably, "Wow, Tia. You truly are no less than any Rajkumari. Where did you learn this from?"

"I am sure, Arjun lost deliberately! You are his to-be-wife after all. Husbands always lose to their wives," Jai argued scornfully.

"And who else would know that better than you, Jai?" Praneet joked as an attempt to avoid the upcoming war of words he could predict.

But it was a failed attempt as it took one glance from Jai for Praneet's awkward laughter to die down.

"Try to beat me," Jai challenged her.

"No, no, no, no," Praneet stood between Jai and Tia to avoid the impending war of swords which would be more dangerous than the war of words he had previously predicted. "Enough of talwarbaazi for today. Everyone, let's get back to the palace."

"Relax, Praneet," Arjun wound a hand around his neck, "Let them have a match. Let's see who wins," he was smirking at Tia as if challenging her.

"Sure!" She proudly accepted both the royals' challenges from Jai to Arjun.

Arjun dragged Praneet to the shed and sat on the recliners to watch the match unfold.

"Have you gone crazy? What if Jai hurts her?" Praneet tried to knock some sense into the future King of Jaipur.

"Nothing will happen. Just enjoy," Arjun said wiping the sweat off his forehead with eyes glued to the courtyard. 

Praneet shook his head sideways in disbelief and shifted his worried gaze to the courtyard as well.

The beginning was nothing uncommon but slowly she overpowered him. After a while, she hit Jai's sword with hers and he watched his sword fly out of his hand and fall on dust. She held her sword very close to his throat which made him gulp hard.

Keeping the sword in position, she neared him, "You might have won once, but I promise it won't always be the same... Rana Jai Pratap Chauhan!" she stressed more on his name with gritted teeth. 

While she enjoyed the horrified look on Jai's face, she missed out on the sceptical look on Arjun's face.

â– 

All were present in the private hall as Uday had summoned them for an important discussion.

The couples were sitting on two separate sofas while Uday was on the recliner by the fireplace and Praneet took a separate sofa.

"This is about Tia and Arjun's wedding," Uday began in a serious tone. "I have decided to postpone their wedding until she completes her graduation." His eyes were stuck on Arjun, who shook his head sideways in disappointment looking in a different direction.

He turned his eyes to Tia, "But I wish to get you two engaged on Gayatri's birthday. Is that okay with you, Tia?"

She opened her mouth to answer but paused to take a glance at Arjun, who seemed pissed by his father's decision.

"I don't have any problems with anything. Whatever Arjun decides, I will comply," she answered.

"And he will comply by whatever I decide. Right, Yuvraj?"

"Of course, Baba-sa," Arjun agreed rather forcibly.

The meeting was supposed to end then and there but Jai had something to lengthen the meeting.

"What is this, Arjun? Firstly, you are marrying a commoner. Moreover, you haven't taught her the royal mannerisms?" Jai sneered with contempt. "Ms. Tia, you can't call him by name. He is the Yuvraj of Jaipur and..."

"And my future husband!" Tia retorted his irrelevant opinion with a piercing glare. "When neither he nor my would-be in-laws have any problem with what I call him, then why are you getting so bothered, Rana-ji?"

No one spoke as all eyes were fixed on her. Unaware of the shock she had given to everyone, she maintained her glare at Jai.

"And anyways, we are at home. So there is no need to be formal," she concluded.

When the silence lasted longer than usual, realization dawned upon her that it wasn't just her and Jai in the room. She had spoken rudely to the Rana of Pathankot, who also happened to be the future son-in-law of her future in-laws, that too in front of Uday. 

She immediately looked at Uday, apologetically. She breathed a sigh of relief when he gave her an assured smile. She smiled victorious when she saw Jai stupefied with the corner of her eyes. 

Next she found Arjun staring at her with raised eyebrows in curiosity, trying to identify the reason of her sudden and weird outburst with Jai.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Have you... Have you fallen in love with me?" She whispered with chuckled only for Arjun to hear.

His expression relaxed as he whispered back, "Fortunately, not yet. I just saw the glimpse of my lioness. This time a lethal one."

She had gone numb at his casual statement. He had called her 'his lioness'. But he didn't seem to be aware of what he had accidentally said because he was immediately engrossed in a fun banter with the others. She smiled at him.

From that day onwards, there was nothing but progress in whatever relation they were sharing. She could only hope it to get better with time and again.

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â–Ş GLOSSARY â–Ş
2. Rana - King
1. beta - dear
3. Saath-sri-akaal - Greeting in Punjabu culture
4. Aloo Paratha, Paneer Masala, Dal Makhani and Lassi - Punjabi delicacies

7. Baba-sa - "Baba" means father and "sa" is a suffix used in Rajasthani culture to show respect
8. Rani|Maharani - Queen

11. Rajkumari - Princess
12. Rajkumar - Prince

5. Yuvraj - Crown Prince

6. Rani-sa - "Rani" means Queen and "sa" is a suffix used in Rajasthani culture to show respect
9. Tau-ji - "Tau" means father's older brother and "ji" is used to show respect
10. Maharana - King of Kings
13. Talwarbaazi - sword-fighting
14. Rana-ji - "Rana" means King and "ji" is used to show respect

▪ REPUBLISHED ON  Sep'19 ▪

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