-• until we meet again •-

The Rajawat Estate is settled in the west of Rajgarh, where the sun sets, and the night falls. The darkness comes home here, scary, menacing, slithering past the shiny chandeliers, crawling over the smooth carpeted corridors, thrumming like the beat of your heart within those empty walls, eating up the shadows, concealing the faces and watching from the corners, grinning creepily at everyone that intends to bring the light in there. You can't trust lights to survive in places where even the magnanimous sun sinks.

The winds have always howled the loudest around the centuries old palace of Rajgarh, an alarm of a warning or a veil to hide the chaos going on within, people wouldn't know, they never tried to find out.

Unlike the bustling city of Jaigarh, Rajgarh always sleeps early. After seven, children are ushered home, at eight thirty, shutters of local shops rattle close, and around ten, the last local bus runs across the city, picking and dropping off the inhabitants their home.

The political influence of the Rajawats over their city's goverment have always been the strongest. On the throne where money wears the crown, knowledge serves. And that has been the case for Rajgarh even after monarchy ended.

The sixty two year old Abhimanyu Singh Rajwat, infamously called the Chairman, have ruled Rajgarh from the moment he was coronated, and the independence of the country only served him with a stronger inner control around the city. He has turned this dust settled town into a thriving, money making, affluent, metropolitan city, using methods both moral and immoral to wipe off the remainings of poverty. But his greed doesn't end there. He has a purpose. A purpose he's breathing, existing, and waiting for since the last twenty five years. He's going to bring a revolution and change the world's outlook of India when it comes to medicine and health. And he'll make it possible.

On the other hand, his son, Virendra Pratap Singh Rajawat, doesn't give a damn. If the Chairman rules the money, money rules his son.

Oh, and temper.

So when I'm hit on the cheek so hard that my brain turns fuzzy, and body crashes to the floor, it is nothing I didn't expect from him before. In his eyes, I made a mistake, and violence is his way of reminding me who's in control. Brainy moves aren't his strongest pursuit, so he relies on his physical strength, royal status, and daddy's money to assert his dominance.

I stop myself from spitting out the blood in my mouth.

I resist a wince when he bends down to fist my hair in his hand, jerking my head to meet his eyes. The light brown eyes stare down at me in disgust and abhorrence, as if he can't believe he's making efforts to talk to a low life like me, oh, and did I mention, he's the one keeping me alive?

"If you're fond of that bastard girl, fuck her and get her out of your system. But if I see you risking your life again for that Jaigarh princess, I'll chop you to pieces and feed you to my dogs. You see them right!?" He yanks my face to the side, and my body trembles at the sight of his two German Shepherds growling at me, snapping their sharp canines, as if they would be digging into my flesh and ripping it apart if not for the chains holding them back. "Do you want them to chomp on your body, my boy!?" He shakes my head like I'm a rag doll.

"N-no." I whisper.

"That's right." He taps my cheek and releases my hair, standing straight as he removes his handkerchief from the pocket and wipes off his hand to it. It makes me feel like a dirt, one that I grew in, one that clings to my body, and reeks from my soul.

"Give him a shot," he says to the nurse standing at the doorstep.

She nods and walks in, crouching to my level, setting the metal tray on the floor before tearing open the wrapper and plucking the syringe out of it. She fills it with that pale yellow liquid, one that puts me to the kind of sleep that feels like death, but isn't. It's worse. Because you're alive and vulnerable, and when you wake up, you remember nothing, the fresh scars on your body are more like a puzzle than a memory.

I've woken up with too many like that. One where I was cut at my thighs, one where I found cigarette burns all across my torso, and one where, where I couldn't walk. No, my legs weren't hurt, I had no new scar on my body to prove that. But I know, while I was dead asleep, unmoving, unflinching, the eleven year old me was used for someone's fleeting pleasure.

What's worse than being raped? Not remembering you were raped, but your soul feels it, your body knows it, and it reminds you everytime you look at yourself in the reflection.

"Let's go," he commands his entourage.

"Close the door, please." I beg the nurse.

She looks up at me with soft eyes and nods. I sit hugging my knees, my chin laid on my crossed arms. A heavy thump resonates across the empty walls when the iron door falls close.

I never knew the time in this room. I never knew the difference between day and night. Here, it's always dark. Time has no label here. Just like me. I'm nameless.

But I go by Rudra for convenience.

The Crown Prince of Jaigarh gave me this name. He says it's powerful enough within itself, it doesn't need a surname, or a materialistic strength shielding it.

I've been living in this cell- room, for the last eighteen years now. I got out just recently. I saw my first sunrise when I turned twelve. Apparently, Virendra Pratap believes his father is going to run their business into the drain because of his craze for that hospital, and he's determined to prevent that. I was his puppet until I crossed paths with Yuvraaj Singh Chauhan.

In a way, he saved me. But I wouldn't call him my saviour. He's a selfish, power hungry man, and except for the full control of the hospital, his lost wife and the defeat of the Chairman, he wants nothing else.

We help each other, because we need something from each other.

Bringing his sister into the equation wasn't my smartest move, I'd admit that. But I needed something in my control to one-up the motherfucker. Turns out, the unfeeling, cold monster does have a heart behind that icy barrier, and it worries only for the naive princess.

Taranya Singh Chauhan.

I sigh softly.

A beautiful name, for a beautiful face. She was a sweet surprise that I first saw three months ago in the Chauhan palace. The fear on her face, for me, felt nice. I didn't know I wanted to be feared so bad. It made me feel powerful. So I scared her off everytime we met. It was fun.

Lately, she has stopped fearing me openly, I know why. She has started feeling for me. Affection for a monster? Not really smart of her.

I wonder how she's doing right now. She was really surprised when I took the blame for her. Poor little thing, she thinks something like this can faze me. It was just my way to confuse her about her own feelings. When you become too sure about your emotions, you either accept them or avoid them. And knowing her, she wouldn't want to accept them. She knows better than disappointing the army of her brothers she carries everywhere. So confusing her was my only choice. She'll keep thinking of me. And I need her to keep thinking of me.

In future, she'll be the one to protect me.

I drag myself to rest against the wall. My arm has started to become numb and it isn't long before I feel it in my entire body. Removing my glasses from the pockets, I put them on and plug in my ear bud.

"Call my princess, Yara."

The call continues to ring, and I near about lose the hope that she'll answer, when she miraculously does.

I feel my head get heavier the more I talk to her. And I don't remember shit when I wake up.

It's still dark.

And my head throbs like someone shot me in the centre of it.

I remove my glasses and stuff them back in my pocket hearing the door unlock. It pushes open and one of Virendra Pratap's loyals stands at the threshold.

"I'm told to escort you back to your chamber, young master." He states.

I push myself on my feet and nearly crash back to the floor as my body sways. Plastering my hand on the wall, I hold myself up and drag myself out with the support of it.

He takes me to the third floor of the palace and opens the door of my room. I step inside, sighing when the door finally closes. I crack my neck to the side, strech my limbs and twist my torso, releasing all the built-in tension.

"You might want to check your blood pressure, Boss. Your heart rate is abnormal." Yara says through the speaker.

"I remember calling Taranya before I fell unconscious. Replay the phone call to me. I need to check what I blabbered to her." I groan as I sprawl down on the bed, staring at the shiny ceiling of my bedroom.

"But your blood pressure -"

"Shut up, Yara. Do as you're told."

"Okay." He replies.

He replays the phone conversation to me and by the end of it, I've this overwhelming urge to bury my face in my pillow out of embarrassment. What was I thinking saying all that to her? Was I drugged!?

Yes, you fucking were, Rudra.

I sit up with a grunt and rub a hand across my face. I need to shower and get ready to go meet her. I can't believe I promised something so ridiculous to her. I've lost it.

I walk into the closet and grab all black attire from the cupboard. Draping it across the glass display, I head inside the bathroom. I ignore my reflection the whole time I shower. Wrapping a towel around my torso, I step out and wear the clothes I selected.

That night when I sneaked out of the palace, I hadn't expected to come back soaked to the bone, with my lips tingling and thoughts jumbled up.

I just had my first kiss.

And it wasn't the most horrible experience of my life.

But I'm disappointed. Taranya was a good opportunity wasted.

I didn't get out of my room the next day, because I normally don't. So I stay cooped up, working on Yara until twelve in the afternoon.

Lunch is usually served in room in this palace. I found that out when I was finally taken out of the basement. Life in the light is very open, anyone can see you, anyone can hear you, I find it uncomfortable. I like the canopy of darkness, where I'm a secret, hidden away from every pair of naked eyes. They never expect it when I plunge a dagger into their back from behind.

I attack from behind.

If this was stil the era of monarchy, I'd have been the most condemned Rajput.

But I can't help it.

Backstabbing is easy. Especially when it's your enemy against you. Why would you be at the tip of his sword when you can just get rid of him from behind? He wouldn't even know who killed him. That's the most painful death. Dying like a warrior is prided upon on the soil of Rajasthan. But dying inconspicuously, not knowing who brought you to your end, as you bleed on the floor and choke out empty words of vengeance to the dark, leaving behind your loved ones that can be just easily preyed upon. That's my kind of war. That's what satisfies my thirst.

My burner phone vibrates on the desk. I suck in a deep breath and compose myself before answering the call.

"Yes?"

"I need you to get rid of Miss. Rose."

"Why? I thought you took care of her." I lean back on the chair.

"I can only fire her. For now, I've shut her up using money and her daughter's life, but I'm not too sure until when she'll keep her silence. It's good to rip off her from the roots."

I breathe out heavily. "Where is she right now?"

"At her apartment. I've some men keeping an eye on her. She hasn't come out since last night. We need to be quick."

"Take care of Virendra Pratap for me. He'll lose his temper if he finds out I sneaked out of the palace for another kill."

"Yeah, I'll give you the sign when I make sure he's out of your hair."

"Alright," I hang up and toss the phone on the desk, leaning in to focus on the screen. "Yara, track down Miss. Rose for me and find me the shortest route to her house, oh keep in mind it shouldn't be under surveillance." I tell him. He produces me results in less than a second. "Thanks, dost."

"My name is Yara."

"Same thing."

"Not really." He mumbles.

In thirty minutes, my burner phone vibrates with a text message from the Crown prince. I grab my leather jacket, bike keys and helmet before fleeing the high walls of the palace.

The apartment building is in the decent area of the city. But I'm glad it doesn't have too many CCTVs surveying the area. My eyes locate the men hanging around, trying to appear casual but miserably failing. What losers have Yuvraaj hired as his guards?

One of them is leaning against the street pole, smoking a cigarette when our eyes meet. He points to the building and splays five fingers at me. I nod and enter the building compound past the gates, fixing my cap low on my head, hiding my face as I take the stairs to the fifth floor.

I knock on the wooden door and it opens a minute later. The woman looks at me with a frown, altered like a rabit. And when I lift my head, her eyes go wide in shock. "You-Young Master-" I step inside the house, she stumbles back in fear. Before she can get another word out, my arm shoots out and grabs her around the throat. She chokes.

Her nails try to scratch at me like a kitten, her feet struggle to kick me. I throw her on the couch and straddle her, stretching my head away from her fighting attempts as I choke her until she is no longer resisting. She stops breathing in less than two minutes.

Getting off her, I kick her on the side of her head. She falls lifeless on her left, her eyes wide open, eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets. Death is such a grotesque thing. But it's the end.

"Rest in peace," I whisper to her body.

Shoving my hands in the pockets of my jacket, I look around the house and take a stroll. I find one of her sarees in her cupboard. Since I'm wearing gloves, I'm not bothered about the possibility of leaving my finger prints behind.

I tie the saree to her ceiling fan in the living room and create a loop that is the size of her head. Hauling her heavy body was the toughest step of the death scene. But after struggling for a while, I'm able to mask her death as a suicide. Dusting off my hands, I toss the stool beneath her feet and close the main door from inside, exiting her apartment through the balcony.

The man at the street pole raises a brow at me. I nod back and he immediately gathers around his team members before quickly getting into a black van and driving off. I reach where my bike is parked and put on my helmet, heading back to the palace.

Sneaking back inside my room, I shed off my outfit and replace it for the lighter colour clothes.

Just as I sit down at my desk, there's a knock on the door. "Come in," I rub my neck tiredly.

"We've prepared a car for you, Young Master."

I frown. "Am I going somewhere?" I turn to look at the maid.

"Yes. It's a surprise." She smiles politely.

Ignoring the panic I feel from inside, I ask her to wait outside for a moment. She nods and closes the door obediently. Stuffing my glasses, burner phone and earbuds in my backpack, I exit the room. She leads me downstairs and towards the car waiting for me at the porch.

I get in, wondering what is this all about. Virendra Pratap never tells me anything. And if this surprise has anything to do with him, then I don't want it.

Twenty minutes later, the car enters the executive airport Jaigarh before eventually stopping next to Chauhan's Private Jet. The valet steps out and opens the door for me. I exit the car, and slowly walk toward the group of people standing near the staircase of the jet.

She's the first one to notice me.

And she's the first one to alert everyone of my presence.

"Shourya," Her grin is as big as her optimism. "Hi!" She waves at me.

Yuvraaj stands at the distance by his car, not really happy with the exchange. I see Agastya swing his arm around the neck of his sister, so she doesn't try to erase the distance between us.

My smartphone chimes with a notification.

Grandpa: Enjoy your vacation, my grandson. Thank me later.

I clutch the phone tightly and lift my head, my eyes settling on Tara. She shrugs off Agastya's arm and chastises him, "Don't be rude." Before she comes over to welcome me.

"Hi, Bhai informed us last night that you'll be joining us for the vacation." She smiles, her lips lifting at the corners.

"I didn't know." I chuckle, pretending it weren't my lips she so sweetly kissed in the rain night before yesterday.

"Oh, so it was a surprise for you?"

Surprise?

I smirk.

I'd call it an opportunity.

Taranya Singh Chauhan.

My biggest opportunity in life. And I'm determined to ruin it for anyone else but me.

"Surprise, yes." I smile back at her.

- end of book one -