A frown on his lined face, Uday Singh watched the two troubled souls who had entered the room minutes ago.

Of the two, Prithvi was the one who was clearly in a great amount of pain and was barely aware of his actions. Yet, he was tending to his mother as if she was the one who needed care, giving her a glass of water and asking the maids to bring coffee and refreshments for her.

Priyamvada was accepting her son's ministrations quietly.

When the maids had left the room, Uday glanced at Prithvi. The young man was sinking into a chair near his mother with a sudden weariness.

Uday couldn't hold back his questions any longer. "Nandini has left?" he asked

"Yes," Prithvi muttered, gazing at the floor with clouded eyes.

"For the reason you mentioned? Something about her father?" Uday asked in consternation.

"She didn't leave because of that," Prithvi replied evenly, not looking at his mother

Priyamvada clutched her son's hand. "Prithvi, please believe me. I did not say or do anything that could make Nandini want to leave," she said pleadingly. "I did not want her to go away. I wanted her to stay with us."

The sincerity of that last sentence made Prithvi glance at his mother with unconsciously sharp eyes. "Why? Why did you want her to stay with us?"

Wrong-footed, Priyamvada took a few seconds to come up with a response. "Nandini brought you to me at the exhibition," she said weakly. "She's lucky for us. I want her to return. She must come back to us. She has to..."

Priyamvada stopped speaking. She'd been trying to remain calm but now the horrors of her actions and the surely calamitous impact it was going to have on her family swooped down on her.

Nandini had been hurt – physically and mentally – and she had left in anger. That anger was going to destroy everything again..

Uday Singh let out a startled sound as Priyamvada's eyes rolled back.

Prithvi moved swiftly to hold his mother before she toppled off her seat.

The subsequent minutes were a blur for him.

Later, he would only have vague recollections that he had carried his mother to her suite while shouting at someone to call a doctor. That he had placed her gently on the bed and sat by her side. And that he had held her cold hand, and as if reciting a prayer, he had repeatedly whispered, "Maa.."

What he would remember forever was the paralyzing fear that he had lost his mother again. And the staggering relief when her eyes had opened slowly and focussed on him. Just a few minutes had elapsed between both the emotions. But that time was sufficient to give him a radically fresh viewpoint on everything that had happened from the moment he had seen his mother sitting on the ground behind a stall at an exhibition...

After some time, while they were waiting for the doctor to come out of Priyamvada's suite, Uday Singh comfortingly said, "Your mother will be fine, Prithvi. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"I should have known...I should have been more careful with her," Prithvi derided himself bitterly, his fair face glazed with tension.

"But the normalcy of her behaviour could have deceived anyone," Uday Singh insisted "When I was talking to her, it was difficult to remember that she - she had gone through so much. She's undernourished and weak, but she seemed fine otherwise. I suppose it will take a long time for her to achieve some normalcy," he sighed. "We will have to take good care of her."

His great-nephew glanced at him then, and the emotion in those young eyes startled him.

"I'll do whatever it takes," Prithvi said quietly, "but I won't let anything happen to her again."

***********************

As Priyamvada emerged from the bathroom, the young nurse hastened to her side and grasped her hand gently.

Priyamvada regarded her coldly. "I'm quite sure I told you I don't need help."

The nurse withdrew compliantly.

Priyamvada walked to the bed and lay down her head on the pillow, drawing up the light coverlet. She was ashamed of the weakness that had caused her to faint, and the lingering tiredness that made her want to sleep for the rest of the day. Since last evening, she had worked so hard to create the image of an extraordinarily strong woman. But the effort had gone to waste.

"My son must be talking to the doctor right outside this room. Request him to come in," she told the nurse flatly.

The nurse hurried to obey.

After a few moments, Priyamvada smiled as her son strode into the room and raised a thin hand.

Smiling back, Prithvi caught her frail fingers and sat down near her. "How are you feeling now, Maa?"

"Fit and fine," Priyamvada lied firmly, then hastening to the most urgent issue at hand, she determinedly said, "Prithvi, I have to meet Nandini immediately. I need to apologise in person. She was our guest...and my actions were unforgivable."

"You can meet her, but not today," Prithvi said calmly. "Not for some time. The doctor said your blood pressure is high. She has prescribed medicines and suggested a few tests -"

"No, no. I don't need any medicines or tests. It was just stress," Priyamvada insisted. She hated doctors. However, Prithvi had been so worried for her that she'd not had the heart to prevent him from calling a doctor and installing the idiotic nurse in her suite. But she couldn't put up with any more medical attention.

"I need to know for sure, Maa," Prithvi replied soberly. "But whatever the results say, I want you to take as much rest as possible for the next three months. There will be a doctor and nurse just for you from this day onwards. You need to listen to whatever the doctor says, and the nurse will be with you at all times."

The doubts that had tormented him about his mother's innate nature had lost all meaning the instant he had seen her lose consciousness. His only goal now was to restore her to full health. The doctor and nurse tending to Priyamvada had been borrowed temporarily from Indrajit's medical team. He would hire new permanent staff for his mother. He had mentioned a period of three months to make it easier for her, but his vigil on his mother's health was going to be permanent.

Starting to be annoyed, Priyamvada severely said, "Prithvi, I am not an invalid and I will not be treated like one."

"You're not an invalid but you're also not as healthy as you should be," Prithvi responded patiently. "You have to do this for me, Maa. When we were in Devgarh, I wanted to do everything that was humanly possible to help you feel better. But I couldn't. That's not the case now. I can do everything for you. I want to do everything for you," he said emphatically. "Please let me take care of your health. I won't ask you to do anything else for me."

Astounded, Priyamvada gazed at him tearfully and squeezed his hand. She didn't want to postpone her meeting with Nandini. However, how could any mother be strong in the face of what her son had said. But there was a way of turning this situation to her advantage.

"Alright, I'll do as you say," she said hoarsely. "But I need something in return."

"Anything you want, Maa" Prithvi replied without hesitation.

Priyamvada patted her son's cheek adoringly, and then pensively said, "Prithvi, when I'd left Devgarh thirteen years ago, I had left behind many incomplete...tasks. Because of that, countless regrets tortured me every day, and I had thought I would die with those regrets."

An unsteady smile spread on her face. "But now, I have received a new lease of life....and I need to use this opportunity to the fullest. The things I need to do are not connected to you in any way, but I'm telling you this because my actions might often seem strange and confusing to you in the coming times. If and when that happens, you must not question me about anything I say or do. And you must accept everything I say as the truth," she stipulated gravely. "Because my main goal will always be our family's wellbeing, and everything that I do, no matter how it might seem on the outside, will be for the sake of our family's happiness and peace. So...if you can accept my conditions, I will comply with every health-related instruction given by you and the doctors," she pledged.

Prithvi gazed at his mother wordlessly for a minute.

The absence of any reaction along with the silence started to alarm Priyamvada. But then her son impassively said, "Fine, Maa. I will not question you about anything apart from health matters for the next three months."

"Three months?" Priyamvada repeated, confounded. "No - no, Prithvi. I didn't mean it for a specific period," she clarified sharply.

"Six months it is then," Prithvi said casually.

Although the unexpected negotiating infuriated her, there was an unfamiliar shade in her son's attitude that convinced Priyamvada to give up the dispute. Anyways, by the end of six months, Prithvi was going to be firmly under her thumb.

"What about Indrajit?" she recalled. "I have to -"

"I will take care of him," Prithvi assured unemotionally.

"I also want to see my Dai maa – Haimavati. She was more capable than a hundred nurses put together," Priyamvada said wryly. "Could you bring her to the palace?"

The request caught Prithvi off guard, and then flooded him with guilt. In the insanity that had overturned his life, he had forgotten about the old woman because of whom he had commenced the search for his mother.

"She's the one who told your father that you were alive," he murmured, observing his mother carefully.

Priyamvada nodded without any change of expression.

Not pursuing the topic, Prithvi started to assure her that he would bring Haimavati to the palace soon...then hesitated. He had to forewarn his mother about the possible consequences of this particular wish.

"I'll get in touch with her, but she will inform your father that you're here even if I tell her not to," he said tentatively.

"I cannot avoid meeting your grandfather forever, can I?" Priyamvada asked softly. "And if I'm to be perfectly honest, I believe the sooner the better...for all of us."

She'd originally planned to make her father wait for a long time before permitting him to visit her. However, she hadn't counted on feeling so powerless and afraid before she'd even begun the second phase of her life. Now she needed the support of people who knew her inside out and with whom she didn't have to pretend to be a different person. And before she'd met Adityaraj, her biggest source of strength and wisdom had been her father. She would give him the opportunity to make up for his past mistakes and to beg for forgiveness. She would magnanimously grant it. And then she could make use of his counsel and support whenever she needed for the rest of his life.

Priyamvada saw some powerful emotion cloud her son's face but it was gone before she could identify it.

Prithvi gently said, "Haimavati will be here soon. But until she arrives, the nurse will be with you."

To his relief, she nodded in acceptance of the compromise, albeit reluctantly.

"Thank you, Maa," he said warmly. "Now I've asked for food to be brought to this room. I want you to have everything on the plate."

While he gently overruled her objections, the detached, analytical part of his brain coldly listed out the disastrous repercussions of his promise for the second time.

The most devastating repercussion revolved around a single word that encompassed his love, his happiness, his peace, and his sanity. Nandini.

But there were several responsibilities that required his complete attention. So, he shunted the name to the back of his mind with superhuman effort. For today at least, he couldn't dwell upon her or the ferocious agony that was devouring him slowly on the inside...

*****************************

"There were red marks on her face? Dear God," Uday muttered agitatedly.

He had not been able to talk to Prithvi about Nandini since the shaken young man had carried Priyamvada out of the room. He'd been too befuddled to be of use during the emergency, but Prithvi had not needed any help. Like his father, he had handled the crisis with complete outward calmness. Only the anguished black eyes revealed that they belonged to a human being whose world was collapsing.

"Yes, Your Highness," Sumer Singh said sadly. Then he glanced worriedly at the door. He was upset about Nandini, but his mind was focussed on Prithvi and the queen now. He was especially worried about the prince and had wanted to wait outside the queen's suite. However, Uday Singh had wanted to know what exactly had happened with Nandini and had summoned him to this hall.

When Uday Singh didn't raise the obvious question about the cause of those injuries, he diffidently volunteered, "She insists she fell down."

He didn't add that Nandini had cried silently all the way to Mrs Bhargava's house. Once the door had been opened by a maid, he'd prepared to leave. Then Nandini had touched his feet. The respectful gesture had alarmed him for some reason but he had blessed her nonetheless. Feeling upset, he had turned to sit in the car when Nandini had requested him to wait and had quickly opened her bag. She had taken out something and given it to him. It was a cotton bag that had been folded into a small square, and seemed to contain some papers. In a wobbly voice, she had asked him to give it to Prithvi. Then she had offered a watery smile and hurried into the house...

"Oh, that's unfortunate," Uday Singh said vaguely. No one outside the family needed to know what had happened between Priyamvada and Nandini. "She must be furious," he added after a moment.

"Nandini? Oh not at all, she wasn't –

"Not her, I'm talking about Ja - Mrs Bhargava," Uday Singh grumbled. "She was against Nandini staying with us in the first place. Now she will assume that Nandini was beaten up by one of us, and I won't put it past her to register a complaint with the police. I'll have to do something about this situation before it escalates." He looked up at Sumer Singh. "Sumer, go and check on Prithvi. I'm more worried about him than Priyamvada."

"Yes, Your Highness," Sumer Singh murmured, and left the room swiftly.

Uday Singh thought about his old friend. Janki was a shrewd woman. She was not going to accept Nandini's lie easily, and Nandini wouldn't be able to withstand Janki's cross-examination. A vitriolic outburst by Janki was on its way. He was sure of it. It would be wiser for him to make a peremptory phone call to her and calm her down with some explanations. He couldn't allow Prithvi to be bothered by any nuisance from that quarter. The unfortunate boy was suffering enough as it was..

*********************

Sumer Singh stood to attention as the door to the queen's suite opened. Then he hastened forward, anxiously saying, "My Lord, I heard about what happened. How is the queen?"

"She's resting, Baba," Prithvi replied. "A nurse is with her. Her blood pressure had shot up. The doctor has asked for a complete body check-up. I've decided to keep a full-time doctor and nurse for her for the next three months at least."

"I will take care of it," Sumer Singh said immediately. "But how did this happen, My Lord? She had seemed fine in the morning."

"I'll tell you later," Prithvi said wearily, then he hesitantly asked, "You dropped Nandini to the house?"

"Right to the door, My Lord," Sumer Singh assured while taking out a small item from the left pocket of his kurta. "She asked me to give this to you."

From Nandini's demeanour, he had not harboured any hope that Prithvi would be happy to see the cotton bag, and the expression on the prince's face confirmed his doubts.

With a crease on his forehead, Prithvi stared at the folded bag in Sumer Singh's hands. From the shape, he was fairly certain that it contained Rajyavardhan's letter. He didn't want to even touch the paper and fleetingly considered asking the older man to dispose of the foul object.

But there had to be a reason Nandini had wanted to give it to him.

He thought about the promise he had given his mother, and her viewpoint regarding her father. Rajyavardhan's presence was going to contaminate Aadyabhoomi very soon. If there was anything...anything at all in the letter that could help control his rage towards the bastard...

Prithvi took the bag reluctantly. "Baba, you need to do a few things for me."

"Of course, My Lord," Sumer Singh said zealously. He listened attentively to Prithvi's instructions and only interrupted when he heard the final order.

"Haimavati...her Dai maa?" he asked warily. "But she might tell your grandfather?"

"She will," Prithvi said casually. "Maa is fine with letting him know...and meeting him. I think he will land at the doors before the day ends."

Sumer Singh gaped at Prithvi in shock, and then an acute anxiety and sadness suffused his lined face.

Prithvi gave him a brief smile. "Whatever happens...I'll be okay," he said with a quiet reassurance. "You know that better than anyone else."

That elicited a small smile of affectionate pride from Sumer Singh. He touched the side of Prithvi's face tenderly and then left before the moisture in his eyes became apparent.

With his features turning subdued again, Prithvi strolled to the hall. He would give Uday Singh an update on his mother's health and then he would go to his room to take his laptop. The nurse's presence was reassuring but he would still work in the sitting room of his mother's suite for today.

Prithvi paused at the doorway on seeing that Uday Singh was on the phone, having a serious discussion with someone in a low voice.

He retreated silently and headed to his room, still intensely conflicted about the letter in his hand. He just had to get it over with somehow.

On entering his room, Prithvi closed the door. He walked to the trash can in the corner of the room and picked it up. He brought it to the foot of the bed and then sat down on the mattress. He studied the bag that had known her touch for some moments, then he slammed down the lid on his emotions and determinedly put it away.

Some moments later, struggling with a sense of revulsion, he was holding together the pieces of the first page.

Prithvi started to read reluctantly, and his face darkened as his eyes flew over the matter. It was filled with the stinking drivel he'd expected.

"Dearest Prithvi"... "done great wrong to you"..."curse myself every day"...."not worthy of your forgiveness"...

Repulsed, Prithvi tore up the two halves of the paper into tiny pieces and threw them violently into the empty bin. It was going die of food-poisoning by the time he finished reading, he thought with disgust.

He unwillingly picked up the pieces of the second page. The initial three lines were also manipulative garbage.

Then there was a sudden shift in the content, and the grooves on his forehead decreased slightly.

"....writing this letter to you because I want you to know the entire truth about the events that led to the painful experiences you endured as a child. You can choose to disbelieve me, but you will see as you read that I don't intend to hide my crimes and my intention is not to reduce your hatred towards me.

I'll begin with the time before your mother's birth. When I learnt that your grandmother was expecting a third child, I wasn't particularly pleased or displeased. I was content with my two sons, but didn't mind the thought of having yet another male heir. Then we learnt that your grandmother was carrying twins. However, one of them perished in the womb in the fifth month. The day Priyamvada was born was one of the most disappointing ones I'd faced until then. I had not wanted a daughter, and my bitterness only increased when my wife passed away soon after Priyamvada's birth, leaving me with the responsibility of raising three children.

I did not have the time or desire to fulfil that responsibility, so I entrusted my children to the care of a handful of old and trusted maids while I set about expanding my business empire. My sons were obedient and hardly ever caused any major trouble for me. I spent very little time with them but they didn't raise any fuss. I spared even lesser time for Priyamvada because I saw her only as a burden that needed to be handed to another man at some point in the future. I was mostly indifferent to her existence.

However, right from the time she was a toddler, Priyamvada refused to accept my emotional distance. Whether I was at the palace or at one of my offices, she would throw tantrums and have screaming fits until she was brought to me and placed in my lap. At all times, she wanted my full attention to be on only her, not her brothers or my work.

With time, my heart began to thaw. Priyamvada was a lively, brilliant and beautiful child. Her extremely stubborn nature was initially a source of headaches for me. Then I realised she had more of my qualities than either of my sons. Before she had turned four, she had become the greatest joy of my life, and my pride in her increased multifold as she grew to become an extremely graceful, confident and strong young lady. She was also very witty, sharp and perceptive, and could enliven the drabbest social events with her humour and conversational skills. For all those who met her, she was the story book princess who had come to life.

She could effortlessly charm everyone she met, from high ranking nobles to ordinary villagers. Those who considered themselves to be our superiors believed she looked upon them as being divine beings, those who thought they were our equals believed she considered them to be superior, and those beneath us believed she did not differentiate between the classes. The poor, with whom she engaged frequently for charitable activities, thought she was the epitome of compassion and generosity. They were all wrong.

Priyamvada's thoughts and beliefs were a reflection of my own, and she did not believe that anyone could be superior or equal to us. Every person was beneath her. But unlike me, she could conceal her emotions so well that it was impossible to know what was going on in her mind. Priyamvada's most admirable skill, though, was that she could easily see through people and situations, and she could manipulate anyone into doing her bidding.

With all these qualities, I'm sure you can understand why your mother was my favourite child. Yashvardhan was brilliant and highly capable, but he was burdened with integrity. Harshvardhan was average in all ways and did not have any remarkable qualities. Priyamvada was beyond perfect in all ways. I gave her the freedom to do whatever she wanted. I even permitted her to travel to other countries whenever she wanted. I fulfilled every single one of her wishes, and never allowed sadness to linger on her face.

Marriage proposals from some of the richest and most prominent families began to pour in for Priyamvada even before she had turned eighteen, but I did not give them any attention. I did not intend to get Priyamvada married until she was ready, and there was also a part of me that wanted a groom who wouldn't mind staying in Devgarh itself, so that I wouldn't have to live without my daughter.

The number of proposals grew in number as Priyamvada neared the age of twenty, and that was also the time that I first heard the name that I grew to hate with all my heart.

Adityaraj Singh Rathod, who was not only a divorced man with a child but also the son of a family that I'd loathed from infancy. Over the period of centuries, gruesome battles between our two royal houses had turned into petty skirmishes. The hatred, though, had remained intact.

Rumours spread that Adityaraj was pursuing Priyamvada relentlessly, and gifts from him started to arrive in Devgarh on a daily basis. I was enraged to the point that I was prepared to shoot him dead in full view of society. My sons and I met Adityaraj on several occasions and warned him. He merely laughed at our threats and dared me to take action against him. He even had the gall to send a letter that asked me to get Priyamvada married to him. I once almost set out to kill him. It was Priyamvada who talked me out of it. She asked me to ignore all the rumours, and assured me that she was fully capable of dealing with Adityaraj. Then she told me she had chosen a groom for herself. It was a man named Vikrant. He was from a reputed family but was not financially well off. And I didn't have a good opinion about him. To me, he seemed devoid of any good qualities and I believed he was completely unworthy of Priyamvada

But she was determined to marry only Vikrant and threatened to give up food and drink till I consented to their marriage. I had to give in. And then came the worst day of my life until then. I received news that Aditaraj had kidnapped my daughter and married her by force

I nearly went mad with shock, rage and grief. I couldn't endure the idea of my beloved child being tied to a monstrous man like Adityaraj. My sons and I commenced a frantic search for her and used every tactic possible to discover her whereabouts. Fights broke out between the men of the two houses, and more than a few lives were lost. But I still couldn't find my daughter. Your father was always several steps ahead of me. Adityaraj moved continuously from one state to the other, and from one country to the other, to keep Priyamvada away from us. Every one of my strategies failed. Far from being able to rescue my daughter, I couldn't find a scrap of useful news about her. All I heard was that she was unhappy and petrified of your father. My suffering during that period resulted in an insomnia that plagues me often to this day.

Harsh gave up after some time but Yash continued to search for your mother. He had adored Priyamvada and had wanted to rescue her at any cost. He only stopped when he met with a brutal accident that debilitated him permanently. But I did not accept defeat and continued to look for my daughter. When I heard rumours that Priyamvada was in the family way, I prayed for the death of the child and the father.

Then one day, I got the news that my prayers had been partly answered. I received a phone call from a woman who said that Adityaraj had died and she also told me where I could find Priyamvada and her newborn son.

I will never forget day I saw my daughter again. She was lying on the bed in a catatonic state. And you were in a cradle next to her. I ran to Priyamvada and spoke to her lovingly. She did not respond and just lay motionless, her eyes blank. I remember moving from the bed and walking to your cradle. You were awake. I picked up your tiny body and took you to the window. I wanted to throw you out and watch you die. I stood at that window for a long time, with you squirming in my hands. Then, despising my weakness, I placed you back in the cradle.

I brought Priyamvada and you to Devgarh. I left you to the mercy of the servants but ensured that Priyamvada was surrounded by the best of luxuries. The greatest doctors in the world were flown in to treat her. Although she recovered slowly, she didn't show any real interest in taking care of you. I was sure it was because of her loathing for Adityaraj. And I assumed that she would not recover completely till a reminder of Adityaraj continued to exist in her life. I decided that you had to die for Priyamvada to be healed fully and to be able to move on with her life.

Most people believe I tried to kill you once. The truth is that I tried to do it several times. I was reluctant to do it myself but my trusted servants made many attempts on your life. Each time, something or someone would thwart my plans. Tired of being defeated, I arranged to give you a poison that should have killed a grown man. I waited in a nearby room to hear the news of your death. But it was Priyamvada's screams that made me rush to her room. She had come into the room seconds after the poison had been given, and the sight of your blue body in the cradle had almost unhinged her.

I realised then that I had underestimated the strength of a mother's instinctive love. I couldn't bear to see Priyamvada's devastated state so I immediately arranged for her doctors to treat you. The treatment should not have succeeded. Yet, against the fiercest of odds, you came back to life. It made me wonder if you were a human being or a demon.

Priyamvada's treatment continued for about three years. And during that period, I would sit with her for hours at times, talking to her normally and trying to bring back life into her eyes. Harsh made a few half-hearted attempts to help her. Yash did not show any interest in Priyamvada's recovery and actually did his best to stay away from her. I was saddened by his behaviour but I wasn't surprised because the accident had shattered Yash mentally and had caused drastic changes in his personality.

I gave Priyamvada three chauffeur-driven cars for her personal use and allowed her to travel freely to any place of her choice. My only condition was that loyal and trustworthy maids, qualified nurses, and two guards should accompany her at all times. My faith in her was so strong that I didn't even keep a tab on where she was going. She would stay away for days at times but I never questioned her. I just wanted my old Priyamvada back somehow.

The psychologists told me that they were finding it tough to get her to speak about her marriage to Adityaraj. Until then, I had avoided talking those times with Priyamvada because I had not wanted to cause her more pain. But the words of the doctors made me think I had to try to get her to speak about that dark phase. However, my hate for Adityaraj made it impossible for me to speak of him calmly, and during the first conversation itself, I began to get angry as I thought about that evil man and I started to deride and abuse him ferociously in front of Priyamvada.

Your mother's reaction shocked me. She broke down for the first time since I had brought her to Devgarh. She shrieked in pain again and again and tried to destroy everything in the room. When I tried to calm her down, she turned on me like a rabid animal and cursed me for speaking ill of Adityaraj. Then it was as if a dam had broken inside her, and she could no longer bear the weight of lies on her soul.

She confessed that she was the one who had pursued Adityaraj, and she told me about the cruel charade she and your father had devised to fool us. She also revealed that Yash had not been in any accident but had been incapacitated because of the sadistic beating he had received from Adityaraj. Yash had come upon them by chance when they were in Europe and had seen that she was perfectly happy with your father. And then he found out that she had made a mockery of our love. Angered, he had raised his hand to hit Priyamvada, and the action had enraged your father so severely that he had almost beaten Yash to death. My dear son had kept the secret from me because he had known that the truth would break me.

I couldn't believe Priyamvada's story. It had seemed too vicious and far-fetched. So, I questioned her about her reluctance to look at you, leave alone look after you, if she had loved your father so much.

By then, Priyamvada had calmed down a little. But she did not give any reply to my question for some time. Then she finally admitted that, very shortly after Aditya's demise, she'd heard two maids whisper to each other that some children were inauspicious for their families, and their births brought about deaths and disasters. And they had declared that it was obvious from the short gap between your birth and Adityaraj's death that you were one of those inauspicious children and had caused the tragedy. In her ruined emotional state, those daft comments made by illiterate women made a profound impression on your mother and became an unquestionable truth. After that, though her love for you remained the same, she couldn't look at you without wondering if you were indeed her husband's murderer

Please do not think that I am trying to turn you against your mother before you even find her again. Priyamvada loved you immensely. You must never doubt that. But her love for your father was so great that it overshadowed her affection for everyone else.

If I were to describe my emotions on hearing her confessions, this letter will run into several more pages, and I do not wish to test your patience. Suffice to say that it crushed me completely to find out that the daughter over whose supposedly dire plight I had agonised and lost sleep for months had not spared a second to think about the horrors she had unleashed on me and her brothers. I was never a kind person, and I have never wanted to be one either, but the little goodness that I did have perished that day

My hate and rage had been focused on you and your father till that day. But from that day onwards, Priyamvada became the primary object of my loathing. I couldn't tolerate to look at her except with disgust and fury. As for you, I had initially detested you because you were Adityaraj's son. Then I began despising you because you were Priyamvada's child too. I dismissed the doctors who were bringing her back to normalcy and put an end to her excursions. I took away every comfort and privilege from her and left her to rot in a corner of the palace. The rest you know.

Prithvi, I know in my heart that you will succeed in finding your mother. And when you do, I beg you to allow me to meet her. She is my only surviving child and...

Prithvi stopped reading each line and skimmed through the remaining one page. The contents had gone back to gibberish territory again. He cast the final pieces of the letter into the wastebasket.

He gazed expressionlessly at the discarded pages for close to ten minutes. Then he rose from the bed and walked to the antique wooden cabinet that was near the door. It had four small drawers. The third one he opened contained a match box along with five long candles.

Prithvi took the match box and walked back to the trash can. He opened the box and lit up a match stick and dropped it gently into the small pile of papers. He saw images in the flames that were burning up the pages.

Images of Devgarh...his mother's haggard features...his father's smiling face...Rajyavardhan's hate-filled glares...the pale, unsmiling visage of Yashvardhan, the young man who had never shown him any affection but had also appeared to be uneasy about the maltreatment meted out to him.

The pictures swivelled with dizzying speed in his mind, fanning the flames of an icy fire...making it grow in strength with every passing moment...

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Varsha opened the door of the door and walked into the small yard. She looked around anxiously, then hastened to the back of the house. There, she found the person she was looking for.

Oblivious to the oppressive heat and humidity, Nandini was standing before a bunch of flowering plants, gazing at them with such a preoccupied air that Varsha felt she was interrupting a conversation.

She called out to Nandini twice but did not receive a response. She walked to the girl and touched her lightly on the shoulder, saying "Babyji?"

Startled, Nandini spun to her.

"Memsaab is looking for you, Babyji," Varsha said apologetically. "Your grandfather had called her just now. He is on his way to Vishranti Nagar and will reach in about an hour."

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