Aaryawati's (Veerti's) POV

"Aaryawati? What are you doing here? You were supposed to be at your maiden home right?" asked Her Majesty, Kamaladevi, who was also my Mother in law.

"Mother... I..." I stammered to provide her an explanation as she somehow magically produced keys to my prison and unlocked the door.

"Dare you people! If you dare to come out, I will slit your throat now!" I had to reluctantly shout at the prisoners who raised their hands up as defeat while I got out of the prison hurriedly and snatched the keys from my Mother In Law, Queen Kamaladevi and shut the prison.

I turned around to see her shocked expressions. Obviously, in the span of the last three years of my married life, she had never seen me getting angry or threatening three life sized dangerous prisoners or even raising my voice.

She then looked at my flat tummy and I knew it was the time for the explanation. But then I looked at the fourth opening and then looked at her questioningly. She looked at the floor sheepishly.

"If any of your told anyone about this tunnel, your families will be no more. Trust me." I threatened the three criminals and they simply nodded their heads in fear.

I grabbed the hand of my mother in law and we both went inside the tunnel, shutting the opening.

We both descended from the narrow stairs, me following her. She was guided by the steep stairs through her lantern that Sakhibhai had managed to arrange before closing the lid of the tunnel.

"Now now now.. I need explanation." Her eyes glowed under the tinge of yellow light, under the umbrella of blackness.

"Actually... I... " I tried to form coherent words, for a moment forgetting about the grave danger our kingdom was in. I was answerable to my mother in law.

"I know. You were a spy before your marriage and were trying to defend our fort, as Veerti." She simple declared the fact.

And I didn't know what happened next. My eyes released the waterworks that I had been holding for days. The guilt of cheating and lying to my family had burdened me but I had stored it somewhere back of my mind. And now, confronting it had made me vulnerable. I didn't speak anything but the tears betrayed me.

"Why do think I had insisted on my son marrying you, a plain looking woman whereas I could have fixed his alliance to a Princess belonging to more wealthy kingdom or better looks? Or why did you think that I had intentionally put the map in the old library, all out in the open for you to discover it?" She questioned.

And everything fell into pieces. She already knew about my true identity before I got married to her son. She made it convenient for me to discover the map and explore the palace so that I could overhear the Court and be an indirect part of it.

"I also knew that your pregnancy was fake. The Royal physician had been tending me for years. What made you think that she would lie to me?" Her eyes continued to stare at me while I fidgeted under the partial darkness.

"I was furious at first. You were already acting like a naive innocent woman since the day of your marriage. And then you had the audacity to lie about your pregnancy." She spoke up, her eyes spitting fire.

"I... I.. apologi... actually I did all that to save .." I tried to explain it to her.

"Save my son?" She cut me in between. "I knew that. That's why I acted upon all your lies. Because I knew that your intentions were pure. But your lies weren't." She looked disappointed.

"I am sorry." I looked down, ashamed, tears still dripping from my eyes.

"I am not angry. I am disappointed. I treated you like my daughter. I waited for years for you to come out in open and spill your secrets. But you didn't. " she took a deep breath amid accusations.

"I am sorry. I was a coward. I thought that if I tell about my past, you will never accept me. Powerful women are not considered as ideal in the society. So I decided to start my life from fresh... after the marriage. I tried my best to get dissolved into the quiet life of a non controversial, non threatening Queen. ". I tried to explain.

"And you failed miserably." My mother in law completed the statement and I nodded.

"Anyways, I was scared when you had raised the fake pregnancy alarm. For a split of a second, various unpleasant thoughts ran into my head. About such a need to lie while the whole kingdom was fighting for its safety. And then I had assure my heart that my daughter might lie on my face but she would never ever let me down." She said as she put her assuring hand on my head.

"When I saw you here, covered in veil, I knew my daughter had the best interest for the kingdom. I am proud to find the most courageous, talented and strong woman for my son. " she hugged me.

The waterworks broke out like a raging waterfall and I was aware that I had drenched the saree of my mother in law.

"Now, your father in law doesn't know about your truth. Moreover we do not need to tell them about it." She said as she handed me her scarf which I tried around my face as a veil.

"Thank you, ma." I hugged her again and for the first time after my marriage, my conscious felt so light.

"My great great grandfather was the architect of this fort. My family had stories about how genius he was to create a tunnel inside the fort. After I got married, I started my hunt to find a tunnel. And guess what? After years of toil, I finally managed to find this." She pointed towards the ground.

"Imagine my excitement when I realised that my future daughter in law was a spy. I had my sources to do an extensive research on the woman who was getting married to my son. I had planned to share the secret with you. But you never revealed your identity. Meanwhile I found you sneaking into the old library every night. So I intentionally hid the map of the tunnel so that you would find it sooner or later. The day when you left the fort, on the pretext of your pregnancy, I discovered the map from your chamber. And realised that you might use this tunnel sooner or later." She explained.

"Why didn't you tell father in law about my truth? Or this tunnel?" I asked her.

"Because I don't think he is ready to accept it, yet. We will tell him, when the time is right. As for the tunnel, I use this tunnel for my own purposes." She grinned.

"Now, where do you want to go? I have memorised all the routes of the tunnel." She said.

I thought about it. If my plan was going into the full swing, I could expect some action in the kitchen.

"Okay, let's move towards the kitchen." She said as she guided me towards the route of the kitchen. I had explored the tunnel but not all the routes were clearly memorised. Thankfully my mother in law had known all the routes so she was effortless in recollecting them even in the pitch black darkness.

"Do you think that Father in law would have doubted my identity?" I asked her as she lead me into a narrower entrance.

"Nah. He is too worried about his kingdom right now. He prayed and prayed until he fell asleep along with Prashantji. Meanwhile I travelled the tunnel, all while faintly overhearing the conversation between various people. I heard Sanketsingh's rutuless voice muttering words like "guard, prison etc" and got alerted about the possible danger you could be in. So I came towards the fourth entrance and waited for the guards to leave the prison." She declared.

"Is my son, okay?" Her tone was filled with motherly concern.

"Yes he is." I assured her.

"Did he find your identity?" She asked me as we took turn towards the another route

"Yes. I admit it was difficult to keep my cover around him." I couldn't help but feel proud of my husband.

"That's my boy." She grinned.

Soon we reached towards the opening that seemed like that of the Old library, the third point of entry.

"It's closer to the kitchen." My mother in law explained .

"Okay. Ma, I have to go. If anything goes wrong, please save yourself and the family.I love you all." I said as I looked at the floor. I was still feeling guilty.

"I wish I could come with you. But then your father in law would wake up and panic." She offered explanation.

However she could never aid me with the war or spying. I mean, she was a layman in terms of the skills.

I looked at her face, studying me intently.

"I would love to offer you a piece of advice." Her eyes looked powerful and kind of... mysterious.

"Yes?" I gulped, fearing that she might have had read my mind and felt offended.

"From a fellow spy to another spy. Never ever underestimate anyone... and that applies to your allies too!" She iterated the word "allies"  and I was shocked to the core.

I shivered as I looked at her mysterious eyes from the last time as I climbed the narrow steps in dark (assisted by the light emitted out of the lantern held by my mother in law)  and opened the entrance.

"Good luck my daughter. Trust me when I say this, you have my back." She laughed at my shock state and while I bowed my head and bid her farewell.

As I came out to the land of light, I saw I was standing exactly at the entrance of the old library. I looked around to spot the sign of any rival soldier and decided to head straight towards the kitchen.

I closed the lid of third entrance for the last time. Clearly, the last few minutes had rendered me the shock of my life. I grinned at myself. The palace and the people housed a lot of secrets . Sleuthing would be fun again, once the war would be concluded.

I smiled as I moved towards the direction of the kitchen .