chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-TwoThe Mother, the Mask, the MonsterRani couldn’t move.Not even a step.Her mouth opened—but no sound came out. Her heart, always so well-armored, slammed violently against her ribs. A child’s heartbeat.The child she had buried.Rukmini Singh stood in front of her.Older.Paler.But her.Same eyes.Same voice.Same perfume—faint sandalwood and jasmine.“You… died,” Rani whispered. “I lit your pyre. I watched it burn.”Rukmini tilted her head. “No, Rani. You watched someone else burn.”The cell door hissed closed behind them. Dev didn’t lower his gun. Neither did Maya.The silence was heavy, like it didn’t belong in this time. As if it had been waiting years just for this room.Rukmini stepped forward.“I had to disappear. For your sake. For the throne’s.”“You let me grieve you,” Rani hissed. “You let me become this without a mother.”Rukmini didn’t blink.“And yet, you became it.”The truth came out like shrapnel.Veer’s rebellion? Not his.Bhairav’s betrayal? Not alone.The war?Scripted.By Rukmini.She had orchestrated it all.To force Rani to become absolute.To eliminate the softer, uncertain loyalties.To make her ruthless.Untouchable.Unshakeable.“You were always meant to rule,” Rukmini said. “But you were too much your father’s daughter. Always looking for love.”“So you made me bleed?” Rani’s voice cracked.“I made you survive.”Dev stepped forward. “You manipulated everyone. You almost killed Maya. You destroyed Bhairav—”“Bhairav offered himself,” Rukmini cut in. “He owed me his life.”“And Veer?” Rani asked. “He’s your weapon, too?”“No.” Rukmini’s face tightened. “Veer was the storm I couldn’t control. I needed him silenced. You did that for me.”Maya looked sick.“You turned your daughter into an executioner.”“No,” Rukmini said. “I turned her into a queen.”Then came the final blow.Rukmini pulled a key from her pocket.“This unlocks the last vault. The truth your father buried before his death. The real reason I vanished. You want to understand why I made you cruel, Rani?”She held out the key.“Read what’s inside.”Back in the private archive, Rani unlocked the vault.Inside: a single, ancient diary. Her father's.She opened it.And read.“Rukmini knows too much. She found out about the desert facility.”“The assassinations. The drug trades disguised as trade routes. She knows the truth.”“If I don’t silence her, she will destroy us all.”“But she’s my wife. My Rukmini.”“So I will fake her death. Say it was an illness. Send her away.”“And if she ever comes back, it will be to finish what I started.”Rani sat down. Slowly.Eyes hollow.All these years—she thought her father was the monster, her mother the martyr.But they were both the architects of a kingdom built on shadows.Dev crouched beside her.“What now?”Rani looked up.Voice like steel and ash.“Now we end it. All of it.”“No more lies. No more ghosts.”Elsewhere…Veer regained consciousness.His side was stitched.His hands cuffed.But his eyes…His eyes were wild.He whispered, again and again:“You don’t see her, do you?”“She’s the one who wins.”Rani entered his holding cell. Alone.He looked up, broken. Bleeding.But still grinning.“She told you, didn’t she?” he rasped.Rani didn’t speak.“She was always better than me,” he said. “Colder. Sharper.”“And I still loved her.”Rani walked closer.Knelt.“You think this was love?”Veer nodded. “The kind that burns kingdoms.”Rani pressed the muzzle of her pistol against his forehead.“You had the wrong queen.”She pulled the trigger.In the chamber above, Dev heard the shot.But didn’t move.He simply waited by the window.And when Rani returned…Blood on her sleeve.Eyes like fire.He stood.Held out a hand.She didn’t hesitate.That night, the birds sang again.And in the east,The first star rose.(Nxt)