The night felt unusually still. The stars above the palace roof had scattered like a thousand watchful eyes, as though the heavens themselves knew this was my last night here. Tomorrow, I would be leaving this chamber, these walls, this very air that had come to feel like mine. Leaving him—though not forever, yet it felt no less cruel.

Rudra had returned from court not long ago, his face shadowed by the day’s weight, his movements deliberate yet restless. He had bathed, dined, and now we were here—just the two of us. Or at least, our bodies were. His mind, I could feel, was wandering elsewhere.