The Cursed Princess of Suryagarh: Book 1

29. Under attack

Adya was in a state of bafflement as she peered out the windows of the room. White-painted walls, the dulcet beeping of machines, the strong effluvium of disinfectants, and the high priest gaping at her wordlessly for the last four hours were enough for her as it was. But the more time passed, the more the realization sank in. Her overly solicitous brother's words from the previous night flitted across her mind over and over again, each phrase scurrying to find one corner of her heart to conceal itself so that she would gloss over it and never bother. However, she was unable to not be troubled since her hyperactive brain was hell-bent on conjuring additional strings of worry for her.

"The princesses of the kingdom are cursed, Adya."

You are cursed, Adya.

"I didn't want you to panic or be morose about the future, Adya."

You have no future, Adya.

She had rolled her eyes when he first broached the topic, but the solemnity on his facade and the hints of moisture in his eyes conveyed how grave the situation was, how she was protected from the weight of the truth all her life, and how she was indeed the cursed princess of Suryagarh. All those idiotic fables about her town, all those preposterous anecdotes that fell on her ears—how true they were!

"We had an aunt. Papa's sister. Janhvi Chauhan. She passed away two months before her twenty-first birthday, Adya."

You are going to die, Adya. Just like Janhvi Chauhan did. Trampled by a speeding truck.

Now she knew why her entire palace had no portraits of princesses of the estate. She was always told Princess Adya was the first daughter born to the Chauhans in over three centuries. But those were lies. Sheer lies.

You are going to die, Adya.

Your brother will be left alone, Adya.

You are going to die, Adya.

Your brother will be left alone, Adya.

"Adya?"

She blinked the tears in her eyes when she heard her brother. "Hmmm?"

"Let's go home." He kissed the top of her hair. "The doctor said you are fine now. It was just a minor panic attack you were suffering from."

She sucked in the air and nodded.

"We are going to break the curse, Adya," he murmured.

"I don't fear dying," she muttered. Glimpsing up to find the melancholy and the anticipation in his eyes, she frowned. "I am not scared of death. I just can't leave you all by yourself." Her gaze hardened. So did her resolve. "And I am going to fight it out till my last breath."

***

The security had been tightened, both physically and magically. Reinforcements from the police and private security firms had arrived, and they were standing sentry around the fort, guarding every entry and exit point. The magical forms of security were strung together over the course of the afternoon by the high priest himself as he mumbled mantras and chanted spells from the confines of the old temple at the rear end of the fort. He was quite confident of the magical gates he had put up, and even if the immortal were to breach those, they were certainly going to break the curse and render him a pile of mud.

The tourists and the citizens had been requested to stay within the safety of the resort because there was going to be a townwide curfew due to the possibility of a potential serial killer on the loose. Well, that was the news propagated just to keep the populace and the guests out of harm's way. The employees had been warned to steer clear of the rest of the fort for the evening, and the shops and stores were rattled shut by dusk. In a state of semi-curfew, Suryagarh was immersed in the mellow radiance of the moon.