Clouds of dust rose into air as the horses marched towards the Nizam's Palace, the sound of their hooves hitting the dry dirt and the rattle of the carts and carriages made sure that the Hyderabadi's moved out of the way of their nawab's convoy.

Jahnvi watched out of the tiny window cut in the wooden carriage she was in, she watched landscapes change, she watched time pass by, she watched her freedom fleet. 

She closed her eyes rested her head against the wooden frame of the carriage taking in a deep breath.
The memories were flooding back, she wanted to open her eyes, to let the light destroy the images of the day her mind had framed and stored, but nothing could erase the dark future her own blood had written for her.

Jahnvi heard commotion outside and could feel the carriage slow down, the noises grew louder and more clear. This new land felt different, smelled different. Gone was the smell of sweet pine and nettle, the cool calming breeze replaced by harsh warm winds, everything had changed.

She closed her eyes back again and leaned on the wooden frame, she assumed she had finally reached the end of her book, this would be the place where Jahnvi Razdan would come to an end.

The carriage which had been towing her for the past month from her home in Kashmir to now Hyderabad had come to a final halt. She could hear the charioteer jump down and the horses neigh in grateful and pleasure of being back home, commotion grew louder and she tried to silence the outset noise with the inner peace of whatever was left of it in her.

Her eyes flew open in terror. It was this moment that she realised that she was miles from home and there was no going back, ever.

•••

The thumping on her carriage made her open her eyes. Jahnvi pulled down her veil and covered her face, a head poked into the carriage and looked at her.

"You are to step out of the carriage and head inside." The man said but Jahnvi remained silent and still. "Now." He said loudly making her jump.

Jahnvi pulled the veil down till her chest and stepped out of the carriage.

"Welcome to the kingdom of the nizam's." The man said in a polite voice this time. "My name is Javed Ali Mirza and I serve the nawab as his chief of staff."

Jahnvi nodded from under her veil not uttering a word.

"Please come with me." He said and Jahnvi followed.

She lifted her veil to see they were what looked to be the back entrance of the palace. Looking ahead she saw a tall man with broad shoulders marching ahead, the man she was supposed to follow.

He turned around to see her peaking through her veil, a small glimpse of her was enough for Javed to know why his king Hasan Shahbaz Ali had taken months out of his schedule to plan and plot to get to her and get her here.

"Keep walking princess, please." Javed said and Jahnvi followed.

The man who called himself Javed was a decent looking man, he had no hair but had a full face of groomed beard and moustache, his face was stoic but looked peaceful. She would have placed him to be around 36 or 37 years of age a good 16 years older to her.

Jahnvi lifted her lehnga up and took steps towards the cage one of her own had pushed her into. A cage which was beautiful, made of limestone and solid rocks, a place she would have called pretty had she been there on her own accords but nothing could make her heart happy, not the carved walls, the high ceilings or the marbled floor.

"You are the west wing of the palace. It is the nawab's harem." Javed informed her. "All ladies of the family and the kings concubine have their rooms here and nobody is allowed to enter accept the king and a few trusted men." He said as they walked through the corridors.

Random women stopped and greeted the man in front of him, some giggled looking at him and the rest cowered away.

The section Jahnvi noticed was made of limestone and parts of the walls were pained with indigo and studded with sapphire. Yellow and red drapes flew in the air which were meant to separate the outer section where they stood to the inner one.

"Come." Javed said and walked inside, two eunuchs stood their guarding the entrance to the room.

"Sirat." The man called looking around. "Come here for a second Sirat." He said.

Jahnvi pulled her veil up and placed it on top of her head, she looked around to find herself in a beautiful chamber, the outer living space was meant to keep visitors away from the living quarter, cushioned platform was made for people to sit comfortably and talk, plants and fresh flowers were scattered around making the chamber welcoming.

"Sirat..Sirat kyu chilla rahe hai bhaijaan, ab konsi kayamat tut padi hai." (Why are you calling out for me ? What hat reason is the world ending today ?) Jahnvi heard a sweet voice, she turned around to see the curtains part and a woman walk out wearing an orange kurta and sharara with her Dupatta placed loosely on her head. Her curly hair spilled out framing her heart shape face perfectly, her big for eye were lined with surma and her dusky skin was made to look flushed with the pink powder on her cheeks.

The woman in front of her looked different to the ones back in her kingdom, different than her but she was dead drop gorgeous.

"Mashallah kayamat guzar gayi hai kya ? Kyuki itni khoobsurat surat toh kisi hoor ki he ho sakti hai." (I think the world has already come to an end, because this face belongs to an angel, I'm surely in heaven.) She said as soon as her eyes fell on Jahnvi. She walked towards Jahnvi and looked at her closely tilting her head, her eyes running down every feature of the princess.

"Salam karain sirat, Kashmir ki shehzadi hai, Jahnvi Razdan." Javed said introducing her.

"Salam Shehzadi, I'm Sirat Mirza, Javed's sister and the King's first cousin." She said.

"Jahnvi." Jahnvi replied folding her hand in front of her paying respect.

"I want you to take care of the Shehzadi, currently we haven't prepared any room for her so you'll have to house her in with you, I'm trusting you with this responsibility sirat, don't disappoint." Javed said patting his sister lovingly on her head.

"Never bhaijaan." Sirat replied beaming at her brother.

Jahnvi watched the siblings interact and her eyes filled with tears. She quickly averted her eyes and looked at the floor.

Javed turned towards her and said, "Sirat will make you feel at home shehzaadi, anything you need let us know." He said and left as Jahnvi didn't reply.

"Come with me shehzadi I'll show you.."

"Please don't call me that." Jahnvi said breaking her silence. She looked up to meet Sirat's eyes. "I'm not a princess anymore."

"I don't understand." Sirat looked confused.

"I gave up on my title the moment I left, I have no title, no family, no home. I just have a name and you can call me by that." She said quickly wiping away the line tear that slid down her cheek.

"I don't know what went wrong Jahnvi but if it makes you happy I'll only use your name to address you henceforth." Sirat said and Jahnvi nodded giving her a tight lipped smile.

"Now come with me."

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