Aksh stood by the window, fingers resting idly against the cold glass, his reflection fractured by the fading light outside. The discussion behind him dissolved into a distant murmur. He had done what he came here to do. The rest of it, the dates, the guest lists, the rituals, he was more than happy to let others take over.

Two weeks. That was the timeline they had settled on. Two weeks, and the engagement would be announced from the palace itself. Cameras would line the gates. Headlines would bloom overnight. Whispers would harden into declarations. In fourteen days, everything nonexistent between him and Malvika would no longer belong to them alone.