chapter 17

Chapter SixteenThe Game BeginsBy morning, the palace had returned to routine — on the surface.Servants scrubbed steps, guards rotated posts, Maya snapped orders with her usual cold precision. But underneath all of it, something buzzed.War had begun.Not with guns. Not yet.But in whispers.In intel intercepts.In absence.Because Sircar had gone quiet.Too quiet.---In the war room, Rani stood over the table like it was a chessboard.Maya laid out the latest."Two of our storage convoys were rerouted last night," she said. "No violence. No breach. Just… emptied."“Inside job?” Dev asked from beside Rani.Maya nodded. “Likely. Someone who knew the exact pathing. Our own trackers were disabled six minutes before the detour.”Rani’s lips pressed into a line.Sircar didn’t need to strike loud. He’d found something worse: precision.She looked up at Dev. “We have a leak.”“I’ll handle it,” he said.“You’re not healed.”“I’m not dead.”Her eyes lingered on his face. A pause that said: Don’t make me lose you because you’re trying to prove something.He caught the silence and softened.“I’ll take Maya.”“I’ll allow it,” Rani said, turning back to the table. “But if either of you vanishes…”“You’ll burn the desert down,” Maya finished, dry. “We know.”Rani smiled. Just barely.---Hours later.Dev and Maya took the southern route toward the detour zone.Rani watched them leave from the palace steps. Her arms folded. Her expression unreadable.But her fingers wouldn’t stop tapping against her hip.Worry, dressed up as poise.Behind her, Bhairav approached.“Should I trail them?”“No,” she said. “Not yet.”“But if Sircar’s men are watching—”“Let them watch. Let them wonder.”Bhairav hesitated. “And if Sircar makes his next move tonight?”Rani’s jaw tensed. “Then he plays on my board.”---Meanwhile.Dev leaned back in the jeep, fingers drumming against the side door.Maya, at the wheel, didn’t speak for a long while.Then: “You’ve changed.”He glanced at her.“You used to be all fire and flirt,” she said. “Now you look at her like she’s the sun you’re afraid to touch.”Dev smirked. “Still the palace gossip?”“Always.”She looked at him for a heartbeat. “Does she know?”He didn’t answer.Maya nodded to herself.“You’re in love with a woman who doesn’t believe in love.”Dev exhaled. “She doesn’t have to believe. I’ll believe for both of us.”---Back at the palace, just as the sun began to dip—A message arrived.One of Sircar’s men.Dead.Stuffed into a crate at the front gates.No note.Only one thing carved into his chest:“This is not a warning.”Rani stared at the body.Then turned to Bhairav.> “Get the extraction plan ready,” she said. “The next hit won’t be subtle. And we won't play defense anymore.”She paused.> “And send word to Dev. I need him back. Now.”---At midnight, they returned.No injuries. No leads. Just frustration and dust.Rani was waiting in the hall.Dev’s eyes met hers instantly — relief flickered through her for half a second, then vanished under her usual steel.She didn’t speak.Just turned.Walked.He followed her to the garden near the rear terrace. Jasmine, again. And moonlight.They stood there. Still. Wordless.Then Rani turned.Her voice was barely above a breath.> “I thought about what it would feel like if you didn’t come back.”Dev didn’t say anything.> “And I didn’t like it.”Still quiet.She took a step forward. Close now. Closer than she allowed anyone.Her voice trembled once — not with fear, but with honesty.> “I don’t know what this is between us. I only know I don’t want it to break.”He stepped into the space between them.“No one touches what’s mine,” he said.She raised an eyebrow. “Mine?”He grinned, soft. “Yours.”And she — Rani Singh, Saheb, Queen of stone and steel — did something no one in the palace had ever seen.She stepped into his arms.And hugged him.Not stiff. Not strategic.Just real.Her head tucked under his chin.His hand cradling the back of her neck.The garden breathed around them. And neither spoke.Because for once, there was nothing left to say.---Far away, in a desert camp lined with radios and stolen maps, Veer watched the satellite feed.Watched them hold each other.And smiled.> “Good,” he said. “Let them fall deeper. Makes breaking them easier.”(Nxt)