chapter 9

Chapter EightThe Queen Moves FirstRani Singh had grown up learning how to breathe in silence.Not the quiet of peace, but the stillness that comes just before something breaks — bone, truth, or trust.Tonight, that stillness was all around her.She sat at the center of the throne room—not for ceremony, not for power. Just solitude. The lights were dimmed low, the windows open to the faint scent of mogra and smoke.She held a small, weathered box in her lap. Locked.Old.It hadn’t been opened in years.Her mother’s.Rani ran her fingers along the ridged edge. The brass latch hadn’t rusted. Of course it hadn’t. Her mother never allowed anything close to her to fall apart.Except people.Except herself.A soft knock broke the silence.Rani didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.The door opened.Maya.Her shadow. Her sword. And tonight, maybe her mirror.“You sent for me?” Maya asked carefully.Rani nodded once. Still didn’t look up.“You saw him,” she said. “You touched him.”Maya tensed. Just slightly. “I did.”“And?”Maya stepped forward, slow. “He didn’t flinch. Didn’t fall. But he watched me like he expected betrayal.”Rani finally looked up.“There’s something in him,” she said. “Something dangerous.”“Then let me finish it,” Maya said. “Quiet. Clean.”Rani’s gaze turned to steel. “No. Not yet.”“Why?”Rani stood, walking toward the arched windows. The moon was full tonight. Too bright.“Because I want to see what he’ll do next,” she said.Maya hesitated. Then: “You’re not falling for him, are you?”Rani turned sharply.The slap didn’t come.But the threat of it did.“No one falls here,” she said coldly. “Not without permission.”Maya said nothing more.Rani turned back to the moonlight, her fingers clutching the old box tighter.Later that night.The box finally opened.Inside: two photographs, folded letters, and a torn passport cover burned at the edge. Jaya Singh’s handwriting on the back of a postcard.One line:“Not every man who touches you wants your body. Some want your name. Some, your crown.”Rani stared at the words.She didn’t tremble.Didn’t cry.She simply folded it back, gently. As if preserving a weapon.Elsewhere in the Haveli, Dev walked the outer corridor. Hands in his pockets. The air still hummed with Maya’s perfume and warnings.But his mind was somewhere else.On her.Rani.The way she moved. The way she didn’t speak until she’d already won the conversation. The way she had everybody’s loyalty……and nobody’s trust.He stopped at the hallway corner.The lights flickered.And for the first time in weeks—He saw her.Rani.Standing barefoot in the center of her courtyard. Drenched in moonlight. Alone. Her black hair loose. Her silk robe barely moving in the breeze.Dev didn’t speak.He didn’t dare to move.She stood like a question he wasn’t ready to answer.A woman shaped by fire, dressed in quiet, and sealed in myth.Rani turned slowly. Met his eyes.She didn’t look surprised to see him.She looked… amused.Like she knew he’d come.“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked.“No.”“Guilt does that.”He stepped closer. Not too close.“I’ve done worse things than lie.”“And yet,” she said, voice low, “this one matters.”Silence again.Then—“I saw Maya,” she added, eyes unreadable. “I know what she tried.”Dev didn’t defend himself.“Do you want me gone?” he asked somehow.“No.”“Why not?”She took a slow step toward him. Her eyes didn’t blink.“Because you're the only man in this place who doesn’t want to survive me.”Dev inhaled sharply. “Maybe I just haven’t tried yet.”Rani tilted her head.“Then don’t.”She turned and walked away, leaving him frozen under the moonlight. Dev looked at her. Her hair is untied now. They were dark black and smelt like Lavender. Dev found a hair of Rani's in his shirt. He took it in his hand.. Back in her room, Rani closed the door behind her. Her heartbeat was calm, but her mind raced.She wasn’t playing anymore.She was baiting.Because when you can’t see the enemy’s hand…You force them to show it.And Dev Raichand? He was about to make his first real mistake. The real mistake One she'd be ready for.(Nxt)