chapter 21

Chapter TwentyThe Judas Inside the Throne RoomThree hours after they resealed the chamber, the palace’s central power grid went dark.No flickering. No warning.Just black.Total.The emergency backup kicked in almost immediately, but not before half the security feeds glitched out and went offline.Dev, standing on the balcony just outside Rani’s chamber, moved the second it happened. Knife at his side, earpiece live.“Maya, talk to me.”Her voice snapped back. “I’m on the north wing. Systems were manually bypassed. This wasn’t Veer.”Dev stilled.“Then who?”“Someone inside.”In the war room, Rani stood alone before the giant display.The systems came back slowly.Line by line, data loaded. But one screen remained black: the west vault feed.A place no one had touched in years.Except now, it glowed red.Access granted.Biometric ID: Maya Singh.Rani didn’t move. Not at first.Then she picked up her pistol and walked out without a word.Dev intercepted her on the stairs.“She’s not the traitor,” he said, immediately, as if already defending Maya.“She opened the west vault.”“She’s your second-in-command.”“And he was mine once too.”They stood face to face.“Dev,” Rani said, low and certain. “If she’s been playing both sides, I need to know.”Dev didn’t argue again.He just followed.The vault was carved from stone and steel. Ten feet tall. Lined with reinforced titanium.Inside were three things:– Rani’s personal archive.– A backup of every strategic operation since her rule began.– And a case of old, locked letters — her father’s.When the door hissed open…Maya was already inside.But she didn’t reach for the files.She didn’t run.She turned.Her hands were up.“I didn’t betray you,” she said.Rani raised her gun. “Convince me.”Maya’s voice was steady, but her eyes were glass.“He contacted me six months ago. Veer.”“Said he’d kill Rafiq if I didn’t feed him crumbs. Just crumbs.”“So I gave him enough to keep my brother alive. Patrol logs. Storage unit rotations. Nothing major.”Rani’s jaw tightened.“And the tunnel?”“I didn’t tell him about that. Someone else did.”Dev took a step forward. “Who?”Maya turned to Rani.Said it so quietly, it landed like a hammer.“Bhairav.”Silence dropped like a blade.Rani blinked once. Slowly.Maya continued, “He was loyal to your father. Not you. You took the throne he was meant to protect.”“That man has saved my life five times.”“And maybe he’ll save it again,” Maya said. “But you never checked his ledger, did you? You never noticed that every time something vanished, Bhairav was on the opposite wing.”Dev’s voice was sharp. “Why say it now?”“Because I’m done lying for someone else’s war.”That night, Bhairav vanished.His uniform left on his bunk.His weapons gone.He’d cut the cameras leading out of the west wing and slipped through a narrow crack in the outer wall — a crack only someone who built the security system would know.Rani stood at the breach.Watching the sand whip in the wind.And for the first time in years…She looked hurt.Not angry.Not vengeful.Just deeply, silently wounded.Hours later, she sat with Dev in her chamber.Whisky untouched.Weapons untouched.Only the fire burning between them.“He was with me since I was twelve,” she said.Dev didn’t answer.“I let him hold the blade when I couldn’t. I let him carry decisions I should’ve made. And I never once asked him what he wanted in return.”“Maybe just your throne,” Dev said softly.She looked at him.“No. Not the throne.”“Then what?”Her voice broke in a single word:“My father.”In the darkness of a hidden desert base, Veer sat at a circular table.Bhairav knelt before him.Bloodied. Breathing hard. Alive.“You took your time,” Veer said.Bhairav spat red. “I waited until the right piece moved.”“Rani knows?”“She suspects. But she hasn’t said it yet.”Veer leaned back.Smiled.“Good. Because the next time we meet… she won’t have time to speak.”Back in the palace, Rani stood in front of the sealed throne chamber again.Alone.Her fingers hovered over the latch.But didn’t press it.Instead, she whispered:“Let him come.”“Let them all come.”“But I will never fall on my knees.”She turned and walked away.One queen.One war.One countdown to the end.(Nxt)