" Are you disappointed?” I asked coldly.
Amar slipped his arms around my waist. “I always believed in you. It is the world outside who needed convincing.”
“Liar,” I hissed, stepping out of the ring of his arms.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“You humiliated me. You left me to them like carrion before vultures. And like vultures, they devoured me.”
My voice was hoarse and brittle. I hated him. I hated him for abandoning me. I hated him for needing him.
Amar stepped back, his jaw clenched. “I did it to quell dissent. To keep you safe. I was ashamed that I had to ask you to undergo the agni pariksha.”
“So ashamed you distanced yourself from me the moment you demanded that trial?”
Amar looked stunned. “I am the Dharma Raja for a reason. I would not have my own impartiality questioned by favoring you. Surely, you knew this.”
“What would you have done if I failed?”
“You couldn’t fail,” said Amar. “That’s why I did not worry. You were meant to be the queen of these lands. We were meant to rule together. For all of eternity. "

― Roshani Chokshi , The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1)