A King’s Oath by Bhavini K. Desai

When the Prince of Nawanagar — Samarth Sinh Solanki first meets Avantika Kumari Raje, he is twelve, a polo prodigy, and already carrying the weight of a crown. She, in contrast, is sunshine in sneakers — a Gwalior princess who bats like a dream and chatters like the wind. Thrown together by fate and a rather stern english teacher, they spend their golden years trading secrets, snacks, and silent glances across schoolyards and stables. Somewhere between shared benches and boundary lines, their childhood friendship flowers into a first love so fierce, it feels fated.

But kingdoms do not run on love alone. When duty comes calling, Samarth takes an oath that will tear them apart. He leaves without warning, without stopping — without knowing that he’s left behind more than just a broken heart.
But life isn’t done throwing its googlies. Continents stretch between them, they cross them. Promises pull them apart, they end up swimming across. In polo fields in Paris and twilight trysts in Tuscany — their hearts know before their minds catch up. But love, once tested, is now tormented. And when tragedy strikes again, Samarth walks away for good. Only, he doesn’t know he has left behind a legacy — not in a palace, but in a quiet cottage tucked away in a valley. A living echo of a promise once made in whispers.

Will the prince-turned-king rise above his silence and reclaim the life that was once his for the taking? Or will the story that began with two teenagers on a wooden bench end with a dynasty lost to its own delusions of duty?

A DUAL POV, GRUMPY X SUNSHINE, COMING OF AGE, SINGLE MOM, SPORTS, ROYAL ROMANCE by the author of ‘BEYOND THIS HEAVEN’ and ‘THE QUEEN OF HEARTS.’

Tropes: Indian royalty, grumpy X sunshine, coming of age, sigma hero, strong heroine, friends to lovers, sports, angsty romance