The next morning seemed different to Maisha. She was woken up by a little shuffling nearby, as if someone was near her, in her bedroom. She shot up to find solitude and the quaint flame of oil lamp placed on its usual place on the foyer near the entrance of her chambers. Getting out of her bed, she inspected her surroundings to find a set of army clothes arranged in a neat pile stacked on her dresser.

She clearly remembered that it wasn't there when she went to sleep that night. It was almost day break now. She picked up those clothes ; they were her size. On the top of the pile was a ring with a huge emerald in the middle surrounded by smaller diamonds. The ring seemed awfully familiar to her but she couldn't put her finger on it. She had seen it somewhere, but where?

On the inner side of the ring were the words engraved in Hindi, ' Sankalp (determination), Sangharsh (struggle) and Nishtha (trust).' The three pillars of Chaulakyian Dynasty. And it dinged!

It was an insignia. Royal Insignia worn only by the Ruler, the Queen in particular. She had seen this ring in the portrait of Queen Sulekha, Aditya's mother. But what was this ring doing here? On her dresser. Something told her that Aditya had something to do with it. She hurriedly changed to those clothes but decided against wearing the ring. Stuffing the ring in her pocket, she sneaked out of her chambers and hurried towards his. 

His chambers were empty. No sign of him. Her nerves began shooting up at the uncertainty and mystery of everything. What the hell was going on? Why was he keeping her in the dark? She found a note lying carelessly on the shaiya, it was penned in English.

I seek you where all the secrets shall be unraveled, where all the secrets were and  have always been unraveled.

Where does Chitra want to meet me now?  She thought.

She paced up and down the room trying to figure out the puzzle as another thought struck her. Why would she leave the note so carelessly in Aditya's room? Whatever fishy it was, she knew she had to be careful now. Very careful. There must be a reason why he is not telling me. 

"Where all the secrets have always been unraveled," she muttered to herself as the idea hit her.

"The underground Repository!" She exclaimed hurrying towards the carved tiger in the panelling. After few tries and intensive recalling, she managed to repeat the three steps and finally pulled down the lever in the tiger's mouth as the secret passage opened up. Grabbing a wooden torch, she headed down the familiar dark part closing the door behind her.

After a minute or two of careful steps, she opened the second door to the secret library. She found a shadow creeping about in the dark room. Before she could let out an involuntary scream of fear and surprise, the perpetrator silenced her by putting a hand around her mouth and pulling her in and shutting the door behind.

Her muffled cries came to a halt as soon as she breathed in that familiar woody and minty scent. He loosened his grip around her and she turned around sharply illuminating his face with the flame in her hand.

His eyes were bloodshot but his face held an unwaivering resolve, about what, she was yet to know.

"Listen to me very carefully love," he held her hands like it was the last time.

"Have you been crying? Aditya, tell me! What the heck is going on? That note. Did you write it?" Maisha cried almost helpless at his obstinacy, caressing his face as a panic stricken tear left her eye on seeing his disheveled state.

"Yes, it was me. I learnt. Now listen to me. We don't have time, love. Please listen to me. You have to stay here. No matter what! Just stay here. It's not safe outside. Once it's over, I'll explain everything to you," he practically begged as she nodded, another tear escaped.

"Is it the end?" Maisha almost broke down sobbing as the horrid possibility crossed her mind. But everything seemed alright! The Roman affair was sorted out. Now what!? Who?

"I don't know, maybe." He kissed away her tears not hiding another truth from her. At least, she deserved to know this.

He kissed her forehead and said for one last time, "Trust no one. You have all you need," and with that he went out, shutting the door behind.

_____________

Coming out of the tunnel, he safely kept the pocket watch in his sherwani pocket and went out of a normal day at the training pits. It was only after two hours, Maisha's absence was noted from the Palace.

The guests had all arrived as Chitra and Dev made best effort to find the lost Queen before the feast tonight.

"That is not like her. Where did she go?" Chitra exclaimed in exasperation pacing up and down the room.

"We had an argument last night," Aditya admitted sheepishly as both Chitra and Dev's heads shot up to this remark.

"It got a bit passionate," Aditya elaborated a bit but not any further.

"I don't understand why are you so adamant on sending her away and look now! She has gone missing." Dev almost let out a frustrated groan at the childishness of the couple. 

"She doesn't belong to our time. Its only fair that she goes after the gala," Aditya pinched the bridge of her nose trying to explain.

"And you are killing yourself, distancing from her like this." Chitra said trying to knock some sense into the hopeless lover.

"What are your orders, Your Majesty?" Dev bowed as Aditya shook his head.

"Nothing. If she wishes some alone time, she might as well have it. The feast will begin at it's scheduled time. Just send a search party at the training grounds or the capital markets. She couldn't have gone so far. Tell your men to just make sure if she's safe and keep an eye on her from afar."

"Roger!" Dev exclaimed moving out to carry out the orders.

______________

"How's the plan going?" She asked shooing away the maidservant who was putting maatha patti on her forehead.

"The Queen has gone missing," said the informant as she stood up rather annoyed. "You can't even handle a stray cat! Are you sure he doesn't have any clue?" She asked pinching the bridge of her nose.

"He has sent a search party. The pair got into a bad fight last night," confirmed the footman of Aditya's chambers.

"I see. The Queen must be found! They have exactly three pahars. She must be found. I can't afford another mistake."

The informant bowed taking his leave as she mentally checked another item off her list. "Only few hours more and the victory will be mine."

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Twenty days ago ( after Chitra helping Sindhiya came to light) Around 10 days after the Coronation Anniversary

"I have made up my mind." Aditya said barging in the pit where Dev was practicing. Taking a sword from the sccabard and ushering away the soldier practicing Dev, he took his position opposite him while Dev gave him a questioning look.

"Maisha needs to go back."

"What!?" He said rather loudly.

"Yes, it's not meant to be. She doesn't belong here. So it's better that she leaves."

"Why are you doing this to yourself? And to her!? Don't you love her?"

"That doesn't make it legitimate or right. She will leave in a fortnight, after the feast held by Queen Mother. I don't care for the excuse, let's call it death by plague. It is already hard for me as it is, I'd like your support," Aditya said as a matter of fact. It was enough to silence him.

"I support you. I always have, but what you're doing is wrong."

"I have my reasons. Tell Chitra to find the suitable spot for the experiment. I'll keep that object safely with me till then. All of us, the four of us.... Tomorrow, we'll tell her. I will." He said unfazed as his face contorted in an unsaid agony.

"As you wish, Your Majesty," Dev whisked away rather nervously leaving Aditya with his own contemplations.

Now he had to wait for the enemy to make their move. As far as it was concerned, everything was on track. He might just save her and his people before it's too late.

( A/n : this was a day before Chitra explained the method of using the time travelling watch in front of all three in Aditya's chambers as written in chapter 20)
_______________

Around the same time

"Take these viles. They contain a deadly but slow acting poison. Introduce this into all the rivers and wells passing through the Capital. The symptoms will be produced within four weeks. Remember, use them wisely. We don't want people to die just yet. If the new developments are correct, we are behind, we may need to revise our plan." She said handing him a box of hundreds of viles.

"I'll get to it." He said walking away.

"This time, victory will be mine, Vikramaditya!"

She paced up and down the hall trying to figure out if it were the opponent's strategy when he came in.

"Have you packed up, for the feast I mean?" He smiled in admiration.

"Of course, let's go." She said nervously.

"Worry not, my dear. Everything will go as we planned," he pressed her hand reassuringly as they made their way outside to the caravan.

_______________

Present

Maisha was bored to death. It had been hours since she last saw him. The torch was flickering now and it was getting cold, not to mention that she was hungry. Grabbing the torch which was resting on its stand, she decided to explore the repository.

As if Aditya had already read her mind, there were a bunch of papers kept aside separately in the opposite and the most desolated corner of the room. There wasn't much dust on them so she assumed he had been reading those.

Opening the first page, to her surprise, it was written in Hindi. She heaved a sigh of relief and started reading what seemed like a journal of a girl named Sitaara.

After two hours of uninterrupted reading, she figured out two things.

One, Sitaara was Aditya's sister and the eldest of all and two, she's probably dead now. Other than that, she was fond of Chitra and Agastya ji, anyone would be. According to Maisha, they were pure souls. However, it evaded her as to why Aditya would keep these useless journals separately. They were just an account of a young girl's daily activities, nothing suspicious.

________________

The night of Coronation Anniversary

As Maisha slept peacefully beside him, negative thoughts seemed to take up his mind. It was true that she didn't belong to his time and she deserved a good life in her own world but he wasn't ready to let her go. The insecurity was eating him alive and what if a few years from now, she gets tired of him and they fall out of love. It's only natural that it would happen. And what's even more natural is that she'd want to go back. How would he he let her go then?

It would be even more impossible because no matter what she did, how weird she was he couldn't help but fall for her even more and this growing attachment was scaring the shit out of him. What if he ever faces the crossroads where he had to choose between his people and her? God forbid he loved her enough to let go of the empire he had worked so hard to build.

This wasn't right. This isn't right. It can never be right! He has to find a way to get out of this whirlwind. Shuffling once more, he got out of bed and once again, slid into the repository to read something unrealistic to calm his mind and get his thoughts straight, just like the old days.

Skimming through the top shelf to find something interesting to read, a bunch of tied papers fell down. He picked them up and dusted off the dirt resolving to read them tonight.

It was a personal account of a girl named Sitaara. His brows furrowed with confusion as he read the diary of the girl. He searched through the top shelf to find similar journals written in different years. The years, not so old. He found his name being mentioned, his elder brother's name being mentioned. So, the journals were bound to be recent. As he went through each and every word, he was sure of one thing, the descriptiveness of the journals were a testimony to the fact that this girl is a royal, perhaps her sister but what boggled him out of wits was the fact that he didn't have a single recollection of her.

She had successfully explained her daily routine, the love of his mother for her and the fact that she called Queen Sulekha, mother. But who was this girl? No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anyone going by the name Sitaara. Only one person could tell and he would find out if that girl was his sister, if he had one.

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A/n : Now, isn't the title apt?😏😏

Yes yes yes, I want to finish this book on fast track and I crave for votes and comments because they motivate me very much and practically make my day!!!

So I want to thank you guys for making my day and motivating me to write!!!

And also

Bear with me, it may sound confusing but the plot will straighten out in a chapter or two!!!

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