Just a reminder that this story is set in the future and in a very different society.

⇜⚕⇝

"Ĭ AM APPOINTING someone else in your position," Ash unrelentingly revealed as a wave of satisfaction hit him to see Naira alarmed and agitated.

"What?"

His smirk plastered firmer on his face as he sauntered to the door and let his new guard in after announcing, "He will be the new high patrol guard."

He chuckled as he saw Naira glaring daggers at the man before her and his new guard, Jay, squinted under her heated gaze of absolute malice. Ash saw Jay shift in his position, uncomfortable in facing Naira's wrath which caused Ash to indicate him to exit the room. Ash had never seen Jay happier than to leave the room in the ten years he worked with him. Naira's gaze was sure enough to get people to spill their information without a second thought.

"Why? I can very well conduct the duties of the high patrol guard with utmost perfection. There is no need for you to appoint someone else," she snapped jarringly.

"From here on, you will act more like a leader and help me find the gem than goof around for some petty issues," Ash snapped back in an equally heated voice, both of them unconsciously moving closer.

"Those were not petty issues I dealt with. I went to intensify guards and security so that more rumors don't spread around, in fact, I know more about this entire nation than you do," Naira challenged him.

"If you do then you are going to find that gem for me."

"You don't even trust me. How can you expect me to work with you?" she barked with exasperation.

He stared at her howling figure before grabbing the truth serum from the control board behind him as he muttered sturdily,"Everything will be sorted after this."

"Why do you trust every other person but me?" she asked him vexed as she darted backward from the serum.

"You tell me. Two Days. Just two days after entering the palace, you lead the entire nation to complete chaos," he replied garishly.

"We can't keep doing this every time,"she seethed as Ash continued to lean towards her, aiming to grab her hands to inject the serum.

"We will if we have to."

"We need to be able to learn to trust each other if we want to do this."

He stared at her for a good moment, his brain registering her words and finding a way he could trust her, "Let your guard down."

"I already-" she started to reason, her eyes broadening with indignation.

"Take the mask off," he declared more acutely and he raised an eyebrow at her incredulous look.

"What will that prove?" she incredulously asked, confidence still alive in her voice.

"Your submission."

"Look, we could-" she duly countered his ever so marvelous idea but Ash had his patience running low.

He yanked her hand and smashed her to his chest while his fingers traveled down her lower back, massaging her back for any signs of weapons. He felt her stiffen underneath his touch and her hands dug into his biceps for release.

"You are not armed," he proclaimed nonchalantly with a grim smirk forming on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Your point is?" Naira enquired as she took a step back while her eyes were trained on Ash's grey orbs, glowing rather brightly to her liking, indicating the presence of a crafty scheme.

In Nirag, people were trained for fighting with weapons and tricks to defeat the enemy. Physical power was not something that was needed or tested due to the complete use of weaponry. As she was not strong in physical strength compared to Ash, she had no chance but to obey him when she was not armed.

"I can just rip the mask off your face," he stated the obvious and Naira cringed inwardly at his words. She was expecting him to say that the very minute he checked whether she was armed or not.

"What is stopping you?"

"It is more fun to watch you take down your pride."

"What makes you think I will?"

"You are not a high patrol guard, sweetheart, you don't have any other choice but to agree with me."

"Or maybe I am the leader and I give myself the authority to dodge the attack."

"Take it down, sweetheart."

"Never."

"Too sad that I don't allow opposition at any cost."

Naira opened her mouth to scoff at his words but in a blur, Ash passed the needle of the serum into her mask and ripped it open. Her jaw dropped when the black cloth fell down, the weight of the mask vanishing from her face and she eyed Ash who had a mocking glint in his eyes, "There we go."

"Everything will always happen my way. Everything." His eyes continued to roam throughout her face, recording her beauty.

As he expected, her milky white skin radiated an aura of richness, she had a high cheekbone, sharp nose and every detail he remembered. There was something more to that than just that, there was something about luring him towards her, he didn't know if it was seeing her entire figure at once or it was the fact that her head was still held high in the air with pride.

"My pride lies in my freedom, it lies in my willpower and it lies in my beauty. How will the world know about my exceptional beauty if they don't see it?" she surprised him by twisting the tables around, tilting her head and continued by pointing at his face, "And this face of mesmerization is what boosts my pride."

⇜⚕⇝

Ash discreetly walked through the hallways, the bright dawn sunlight pungent through the palace acting as the alarm clock for the world. He heard some shuffling in his work room, indicating the attendance of whom he wanted to see. He flung open the door to see the rigid Naira seated on the floor with papers stacks of papers encompassing her. He rolled his eyes in pique as he saw the black cloth masking her face yet again. After yesterday's events, he had assumed that she would have taken down the cloth permanently but she amused him by her antics.

"Get out," he pensively said as he flipped a few pages through his folder on his desk, waiting to hear the door shut so he could call the officials in.

"If you need my help then learn to be less curt," she briskly responded.

"I don't give anybody the opportunity to waste my time. Let's discuss this when you have some solid evidence, till then get out," Ash steely said, rotating in an angle where he could see Naira and his work.

"I did find some interesting details but seems like you are too arrogant to hear them out," she snorted with gratification.

"And you are not just blurting it out because?" Ash asked her with his eyebrow raising, expecting her to ask for something.

"I demand complete power of being a leader," she evasively notified and crossed her arms over her chest in an imperious manner.

"I thought you were not interested in being one of the high authorities."

"I thought you were not interested in my opinions."

"Touché. Fine, I'll give you all the authorities and power of being the leader. Now spill."

He saw her sigh with infuriation before lifting a stack of papers and firmly presenting, "I was going through all the investigation reports and all the fingerprints on the necklace are mine. This person must have clearly hidden their fingerprints very wisely for the radar to not detect them showing that I was the only one with the necklace. If you see the footprints, you see a completely different story. Underneath mine, if you look closely, you can see small traces of dark blue. According to the legend, these dark blue footprints are showing another foot which has minor prints compared to mine which is purple for major."

She paused for a minute to show Ash the footprints on a blue sheet of paper which were covered with purple footmarks but did have a few dark blue marks at several locations and some light ones at others. Ash glanced at her, highly impressed by her findings, and took the rest of the sheets for an intricate analysis.

"I got them to trail these prints through the entire hallway to see the starting point but due to so many people constantly working in the hallways, it is highly impossible to detect his under so many others. When I went to the defense squad today, I got the assigned locations of the guards on duty in the palace. This tells me that, not only were there hardly three guards by the foyer balcony but that there is a five-minute interval between the two batches on duty. The first guards go to the second shift at the defense gates if they want to reach there on time meaning that the guards coming from the gates take longer, leaving the five-minute difference. I have a high feeling that whoever this person is, broke into the palace from that balcony," she concluded, her eyes glowing with passion, as she illuminated an opaque scene.

"I need ten guards to surround the foyer balcony and increase the security near the vault too," Ash instantly ordered guards by the erudition Naira provided him.

"Where did you find all these?" he asked her skeptically at the huge chunk of information she provided him.

"I dig out the information unlike you, who waits for the information to be dug,"she swanked with pride before ordering herself in her Bluetooth, "I need team four in the palace this instant."

"Out," Ash commanded briskly once she was done.

Naira raised her eyebrow in confusion at his spill of words and Ash repeated gravely,"Your work I am assuming is done so get out."

⇜⚕⇝

"That's not possible," Ash refused for the millionth time which caused Naira to groan heavily.

It was midnight when she heard shuffling in the room next to hers and she immediately got the guards to scour the room. After scrutiny, a trail of green liquid and a few unconscious guards came into view. Her being a light sleeper, was easily able to pick the sound up, but Ash was being a jerk not accepting the fact that someone broke into the room. From the past half hour, he had been denying all evidence and kept stressing the fact that the guards were just fooling around.

"Sir, we saw the man fleeing away," the guard, the sole witness to the event, patiently answered.

"Why isn't he caught then?" Ash interjected while Naira slapped her head in vexation. She saw Tanya drift back to the glass walls in the hallway, Rey stared amazed at the happenings and Divit try to convince Ash while Ajax was still inside the room with the investigators.

"He poured this liquid from a test tube which led to all of the slipping and whichever parts made contact with the liquid were infected," the guard retold the same story for the millionth time.

Naira began to think that he refused to believe in all the evidence due to male pride. Ash didn't accept because he couldn't face the fact that he had slept through the entire thing and Naira was the one to realize the happenings.

"Is the doctor here?"Ash smoothly diverted the topic.

"He is on the way," Rey drawled out as he let out a sleepy yawn.

"You should call Neil instead," Naira commented flatly, not knowing how they could trust another man with this secret.

She frowned profusely when she saw Ash's leached face and the haunting look flooding his eyes as he grimly stated, his pursed lips in a thin line, "Did I ask you what I should do?"

"Which is why I am telling you what to do," Naira shot back and instructed the guard, "Call Neil."

"What will your brother do here?" Ash growled back in a heavy displeased tone, matching the look on his face.

"He is in the health department and has been working with medicines. It will ensure that this news doesn't get spilled to the public."

"The doctor is my dad's cousin. He will also ensure that the news doesn't get spilled to the public. Don't get Neil."

Naira rolled her eyes at his statement while the others proceeded back to the guards, awaiting the doctor's arrival. Naira shot Ash a blistering look before swiftly walking by when she saw him walk to the other end of the room. Unable to contain her curiosity, she fastened her pace behind him to see him picking up a locket from the window and his back stiffening at the sight. His hawk eyes examining the object in his scaffold hold.

"What is that?" Rey enquired from behind, throwing both of them an amused glance.

"Nothing. Is the doctor here?" Ash mumbled as he stuffed the locket in his pocket.

"Naira, are you coming too?" Rey nudged the frozen Naira who was still shocked at the sight.

It was a locket, a wooden locket, presumably used for a while due to all the cracks at the edges, but what startled her was the letter 'D' engraved on it.

She gave them a curt nod, absentmindedly following the rest to the location of the doctor. Naira observed that he was a tall man, probably in his late fifties with the wrinkles smeared on his face, dark rim glasses seated on his nose, his lips pulled into a warm smile, a short beard marked his chin and an affectionate sensation appearing from him. He gave them all a brief nod of acknowledgment before slipping his hands into a glove. When the white glove was tightly stuck to his hand like another skin, he touched the substance, gently dropping them into his silver pod.

After shaking it several times, he finally stood up, speaking in a gentle tone, "The liquid is made from a mixture of a few cleaning detergents and rubber alcohol. When this mixture gets on the skin, it causes irritation and rashes but fortunately it is not severe and will not cause any sort of vital disease."

"How did he come in?" Naira asked the guard who was trembling with fear.

"He just ran from the stairs," he muttered as he pointed to the stairs by the room which led to the kitchen of the palace.

Naira sucked in a sharp breath with all the new found information and averted her gaze to Ash. His eyes locked with her, without any exchange of words or actions, they both knew exactly what the other was thinking as if the eyes were having their own private conversation. By the end, they both knew exactly what had happened.

The intruder was already in the building.

⇜⚕⇝

Naina strolled through the halls of the glass palace, taking in every moment to adore the beauty surrounding her. A big smile lit her face as she remembered how she received the invitation to come to the palace to meet Naira. She did find it a little suspicious that Naira would send her an invitation to come here instead of a call or stopping by herself, but she quickly dismissed the thoughts after reviving that Naira is now the other leader of Nirag. She must be having more important problems to take care of than personally inviting her. After all, the thought is what counts. Naina gasped as she saw the balcony in between the hallway overseeing the court area, without a second thought, she ran for the balcony and in the process smacked into a hard chest.

"A lady shouldn't fall without her prince charming there to catch her," a soft, husky voice greeted her in her ear as she shut her eyes, awaiting her body to kiss the floor.

Her eyes hastily snapped open to meet with another pair of dark brown eyes, similar to hers, but held amusement in them which caused her to burn with humiliation yet blurt out in a mocking tone,"That sounded like something straight out of Shakspeare."

"It's quite sad he only writes tragedies," she saw her prince charming, as he called himself, snicker with a wink.

Naina let out a short laugh as she continued to examine his face, a tanned face stared back at her with a boyish grin and gelled hair standing stiffly on his head. She gulped hard as a warm tingling sensation hit her as his hands ran through her arm, aiding her to stand on her own feet.

"Thanks."

"But we could change that together," he continued in a flirty tone as he wiggled his eyebrows.

Naina couldn't contain her laughter and burst her bomb, exploding with laughter for his crazy words. She heard him sigh at her laughter before shifting his body closer to whisper, "I wish your laughter could heal the problems of the nation just like it healed to mine."

"Where are you getting all these from?"she asked curiously as her eyes glistened from the laughing. Naina was a person who could laugh at almost anything, may it be a bad joke or a great joke, she was always the first one to crack up.

"From here," he hoarsely said, pointing to his head with his boyish grin stretching over his face.

"Yeah right. Anyways, I'm Naina. Naina Shah," she introduced politely with a gentle smile playing on her face as she tried hard to keep herself from bursting into laughter in witnessing him drop his jaw. Literally.

"You must be kidding," he mumbled, finally regaining his composure as he stared into her eyes, searching for any signs of humor.

"About my identity? Of course not!" she chirped away in her usual jovialness.

"It can't be. Your sister is so.." he trailed off with a reluctant voice, unable to complete the sentence.

"Bossy? Fierce? Heartless? Stern? I know but hey, I never said she was my twin right?"

"I am still shocked," she heard him say with disbelief evident in his voice as he stared at her, his face completely frozen and his eyes widened drastically.

"Snap out of it, prince charming," she mocked, snapping her fingers before his face.

"I am trying, my lady."

"Can you show me where my sister is-," Naina started to address her cause for her unexpected presence.

"Rey," she was interrupted by a voice from behind making the prince charming turnaround.

"You're Rey too?"

"Is there another one here?"

"Of course there is. You know the one-"

"Naina!" she was yet again cut off by the same voice, only to see Tara running over, engulfing her into a grisly hug.

"So good to see you too!"

"Ash told me you are coming."

"My sister invited me but I can't find her. Do you know where she is?"

"Ash said that she is near the garden."

"I know where that is. I will see you guys a little while later," Naina quickly sent her goodbyes with a bright smile on her face. 

⇜⚕⇝

Naira held her breath as she waited for her compact to load the data. Her compact, size of a phone was the device that held all the information about the security of the country which could only be accessed with her fingerprints and a secret code. She had been seeking for all any guards or officials in the palace with the last name or first name of 'D'. For the past hour, she had spent the time classifying them based on their position. None of the guards with the last name 'D' had access to the kitchen stairs and she found that there was no guard with the first name 'D' in the palace. The only person she knew who could have had such a locket was Divit, but that was highly impossible. How much ever she attempted to persuade herself to the fact that it was not Divit, somewhere in her brain, she knew that all the evidence were pointing to him.

"Your sister is in the palace," Ian broke her from her chain of thoughts with a mischievous smirk dwelling on his face.

"What?" she asked with irritation, clearly not paying attention to his talks.

"Naina is here," he droned profusely as if talking to a little child.

"She never called in to tell me she is coming. Where is she?"

"By the garden," he grimly stated as she walked right past him, without even paying a glance of acknowledgment.

Naira smirked in triumph as she briskly removed the black cloth from her face, shaking her head so that her hair lands on either side of her shoulder. She walked through the hallway to the garden when she saw some people in white coats gathered in the room next Ash's study. "What is all this?"

"Sir asked us to launch the rocket from the garden," they informed her as she stole a quick glance at the screen.

Garden? Who launches a rocket from the garden and then it hit her. Naina was in the garden. "Oh, crap."

Naira ran towards the other end of the palace in a speed she thought she would never be able to, zipping past through everyone in the hallway to get Naina out of the way.

"Move out of the way," she screamed at Naina when she saw her through the glass walls but as she expected Naina couldn't hear her.

Naira raised her speed, dashing out to the garden yelling, "Naina, move out of the way."

She let out a sigh of relief, calming her racing heart and slowing down when she saw Naina and slowing her speed down. She heard Naina gasp as the rocket launched behind them and with stentorian noises brewed the sky.

"Why are you here?" Naira asked in between her panty breaths as she shook Naina's shoulders.

"Ash said that you were here."

"What?" Naira demanded confound.

"Never mind. I am so happy to see you again! How is it living in the palace like?"

"You stopped by to ask me that?"

Naina let out a short, sweet laugh before blurting out, "I stopped by because of your invitation."

"Invitation?" she deadpanned, the fury rising in her eyes as the puzzle solved in her brain.

⇜⚕⇝

"What is my sister doing here?" Ash's face lit into a smirk as he glanced at Naira, who stormed into his study, her face drenched in belligerent heat and her eyes stewed with ferocity. He was expecting her to barge into his office like a raging bull which is why he avoided all the tasks for the hour.

"Is that your way to thank me for organizing a sister reunion?" he sneered in fake hurt voice, his eyes dancing around her fuming face in pleasure.

"Why did you send her an invitation to come here?"

"Because you asked me to,"he remarked, sagging back into his leather chair with his smirk growing.

"I never asked you to invite her here."

He let out a bitter chuckle before the madness swirled into his eyes,"You did ask me to try to control you, didn't you? Give me one reason of hesitation, one reason of betrayal, one reason to think that you are going to hurt anyone and I are going to end your sister's destiny. Right then and there."

⇜⚕⇝

Long time no see right?! Now that everyone is there in the palace, let the story start!

Aren't Naina and Rey cute? Which pair do you like? Will Naira agree to let Naina stay in the palace? What about the locket with the 'D'?

So many questions and the answer is KEEP GUESSING AND READING!

Also, I did update the summary of the story because the one before was written in an haste. The new summary will give you a much better idea of how the story is going to proceed. Take a minute to check that out.

Do VOTE, COMMENT AND SHARE! It literally take hardly two seconds to click the star and it will be like a reward for all my efforts.