Chandrika was stupefied. The situation was uncomfortable enough as it was. Now this invitation. What was she to do? Refusing him would be rude and he might find it insulting. But she didn’t want to be alone with him. Madhumita accompanying them would have been the best. But she was not much of a horse-rider and it was definitely not safe in her current situation. Oh Lord! Just before she had resigned to her fate, an idea struck her.

“I will ask my friends to get ready.”

“Do they ride?” he raised his eyebrows.

“Many of them do.” With her own entourage, she could be comfortable.

She had wanted to meet Madhumita before leaving, but was informed that she had gone for a walk in the garden. He couldn’t make Bhumimitra wait until Madhu could be called back. So, reluctantly, she left with him.

But once inside the jungle, she lost all sense of caution and propriety. She was in the open wilderness after long. She rode so carelessly and so fast that nobody other than Bhumimitra was able to keep pace with her. Finally fearing that everyone would get lost, he asked her friends to wait at a marked place. While doing that, he also lost track of her for a while. But he re-located her soon.

“Chandrika!” he shouted after her, “Stop and get down. Right at this moment. Now!”

Him addressing her angrily by her first name sent tremors down her body. Scared to the core, she stopped and got down as he had ordered. He caught up with her and continued in the same tone. “What do you think you are doing? Where are you going without a care in the world? How would you have come back?”

“I… I was… marking the trees. I… would know… how to come back,” she stuttered her response.

He frowned, “Marking the trees? You mean like the jungle-dwellers do?”

She nodded. She had those skills too! If he had not been so angry, he would really have been impressed. But right now his mood didn’t allow him to be indulgent.

“You had come with your friends, right? What about them? Do they also know this voodoo of marking the trees? Who was responsible for them?”

This complain was genuine. She was ashamed and stood with bowed head. She had completely disregarded others in savoring her delight of the jungle.

“Come back with me now,” he ordered and she followed him meekly.

—

“Madhu!” she ran to her sister and put her head in her lap. Then she started crying.

“What… What happened, Chanda? You were with Maharaj, right? Riding?”

“Keep me away from him, Madhu. Send me back to Chandranagar. Or lock me up in a room.”

“Don’t scare me like this, my sister. Tell me. What has happened? Why are you crying?”

Through her tears and hiccups, she somehow managed to tell Madhu about how Bhumimitra knew about her jungle sojourns in Chandranagar. And also what happened during the ride that day.

Before Madhu could react or assure her, Bhumimitra was announced. Chandrika jumped out of the bed and made to leave as she always did when he came to her sister’s room. But before she could leave, he had already come in. He looked relieved on finding her there and stopped her. “Please do not leave, Princess.”

Chandrika froze right where she was. She kept her eyes downcast. Madhumita could not bear to see her sister like that. She did have motherly instincts for her.

“It’s all right, Chanda. You made a mistake. Everybody does. Just apologize. He will forgive you, won’t you Maharaj?”

“She has apologized already. She doesn’t need to,” Bhumimitra lied. She had been too stunned with his angry reproof to open her mouth even to apologize and had ridden back in silence beside him. He repented being so stern on seeing how miserable she was, “It was I who wanted to apologize. I was very rude to you, Princess. I had no business scolding you like that. I am sorry.”

Chandrika stood still, neither uttering a word, nor showing any change in her countenance.

Madhumita was flustered at her reaction, or the lack of it. She should have been quick to say that he needn’t apologize and as the head of the family it was his right to reprimand her if she made a mistake. But she was just standing there like a statue.

“Chanda. That’s so rude. Say something,” she prodded her sister.

“Let her be, Rani Madhumita. You can go, Princess.” As soon as the permission was uttered, she ran away from there.

“I apologize on her behalf, Swami,” she addressed him not as Maharaj but as her husband in private, “She isn’t the most tactful woman you would see. She has grown up motherless and is…”

“It’s all right, Madhu, it really is. It wasn’t her fault. I also know what she is like. I should have been more careful in chaperoning her. Don’t badger her about it. I hate to see her distressed. And you too. Don’t stress yourself in your current situation. Had Vaidyaraj come to see you today?”

“Yes. He had,” she replied and looked gratefully at her husband. He was a kind and generous man. It was possible to fall in love with him. Not just out of duty, but because of his persona.

“I am going to see Maharani Padmaja,” he said, “Will you please check up on Princess and assure her that she need not be distressed.”

“I will do that, Swami. Don’t worry about her.”

—

Chandrika’s maid informed Madhu that she had already gone to the bed.

“So early?” This was another peculiarity of Chandrika. She was a night owl. She often painted or read till late into the night.

“She said she wasn’t feeling well.”

“Is she unwell? What happened?”

“I checked her forehead and pulse. There were no signs of fever. I think she might be tired after the jungle excursion. She rode too fast. Maharaj had to go after her to bring her back.”

“Hmm…” Madhumita went in to check for herself.  There were indeed no signs of fever. But she probably wanted to sleep her moroseness out. So, Madhumita decided not to wake her up and came back to her room.

—

To be continued