Dear Readers,
I've decided to start the Till series again. It's a historical fiction series but it's mostly desi historical fiction and honestly there is so less Indian and South Asian representation in Historical Fiction is why I had started this series in the first place.
Now with this story we're beginning the story of a new generation. Their parents' already have their stories. So you don't need to read the three books prior to this.
Please please give Till Destiny your love too. If you like the prologue then please do add it to your library and vote and comment.
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Summers were hot in the Great Empire. Too hot in fact. Ruia sat by the pool with her attendants. Her trusted eunuch and nanny, Dulari was beside her, fanning a peacock feathered fan.
Ruia had smeared sandalwood paste on her forehead, cheeks and her arms, as to not suffer from a sunburn. Much to Dulari's contempt, she hated staying indoors, her rooms felt stuffy and cloying. So, she bore the heat and stayed outside.
Here, in secret she reviewed the accounts of her club which also was acted as a women's shelter for fallen women. She had gotten the idea from Fatima who managed the club on her behalf and acted as a owner.
A hot breeze blew over the terrace. And the velvet umbrella swayed.
"Insolent! Adjust the umbrella properly! Would you take responsibility if our shehzaadi was hurt?" Dulari snapped at the attendant and at once, she adjusted the umbrella.
"That's fine, Dulari." Ruia muttered.
Dulari had been with her since her birth. Ruia never understood the eunuch's affections over her, but she was eternally grateful for her loyalty and love which was
so scarce in the palace.
At once there was chaos, disturbing her peace. She shoved away her books to Dulari who hid it under her dress.
And she was doused in water as someone splashed in the pool, and then another time as someone else splashed again.
She kept her eyes closed as she felt anger rising, she knew who splashed in the pool. She focused on her breathing, as Razia and Zahir bantered back and forth. Then the empress and the emperor joined in. And then, the empress took notice of her.
"Why can't you be more graceful like Ruia?" Empress Ruh said.
It was naught but a fake appreciation. No one loved her in this palace and no one knew her, no one took notice of her. They called Razia and Zahir the sun and the moon of the empire, the prince and princess born to light a new path for the empire, strong as the sun and as beautiful as the moon, everyone adored them.
But her? They didn't know her. That was perhaps more insulting.
Razia always captured everyone's attention but Ruia never did, despite of being close to Razia's age. She knew the reason behind it too.
Ruia wasn't the daughter of Empress Ruh. Her mother was a traitor. A servant who acted as Empress Ruh's imposter and seduced his majesty, the emperor. Ruia had her hair and her eyes, a servant's uninteresting hair and a servant's uninteresting eyes, her skin dusky, a stark comparison to Razia's blue eyes and golden brown hair, her pale miky skin. And Zahir who looked like the emperor except for his hazel eyes.
She walked over to the small group and bowed before them, "Greetings your majesties."
The Emperor was her father, but he never acknowledged her as he did Razia or Zahir. He waved to her to rise, and turned to look with fatherly affection towards Razia and Zahir.
No one had told her of her birth, she was to be raised as the emperor's and empress' own child, like Razia and Ruia perhaps, but she was teased ruthlessly by the other children in the harem. That was when she begged Dilara to tell of her mother. Dilara recounted her the tale in brief.
Ruia felt ashamed of her blood and her face and her ancestry. Dilara told her to excel in her studies and skills, maybe that might make the emperor happy but that had never happened.
Perhaps, it was her face. So much her mother's reflection, maybe he hated being reminded of the time he had betrayed his greatest love, - the empress. She was physical proof of it, his weakness.
"You're of marriageable age, my dear. It doesn't suit you to act like this." The emperor said to Razia. Who was still in the pool splashing water towards Zahir.
"But baba! He-"
"That's enough, Razia. You are a subject first, daughter later. Remember that. Don't address the emperor so casually." The Empress chided her but her tone was loving.
"It's fine. I'll allow it. It's only a few years and they'll fly off to wherever they're destined. That's the fate of daughters."
"You spoil her, your majesty. No one will wish to marry this spoiled princess if this goes on."
They continued their chatter forgetting she was even there. She was always an outcast here.
Always.
She would do well to remember that. And she waited for the day to fly off from this suffocating cage. She excuses herself to go to her chambers.
***
A/N: please add Till Destiny Bind Us Together in your library. And give it lots of love.