✓ Fearless - Book 1 of The Rajkumari Trilogy

Chapter 29

Chapter 29
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A rich, fuzzy blend of colors swirled before her eyes. 

A palace slowly started to take shape, though smudged at first she could see clearly now. She walked past the lush green bushes and stepped into the quiet hallways. She swiveled her head to the sides. Not a soul in sight. That is strange. 

She peeked up and caught a glimpse of a shadow on the next platform. She hiked up her skirts, just enough so that she could move without falling face-first into the floor, and ran. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, with such force that she almost wondered whether she was keeping it captive behind the bars of her ribs.

She ran past the closed doors, climbed up the stairs, hurried down the corridor, and swung open a plain wooden door. Her frantic movements stilled as she let a curious foot meet cold marble. It led to a vast hall with arches and pillars, but she frowned. There was no sign of any furniture or materialistic items. But when she spun around once more, the details started to come into focus.

She could now see the gold glinting off the walls. Wait, this looks familiar. Aha! It was the courtroom but draped in much more beauty and decor. She turned towards her right. Carved pillars. Her head jerked up. Carved ceilings. She looked to her left to spot carved walls. There was a lot of carving today, did she have her sculptors redecorate the palace? And that too in the striking similar designs that she had seen somewhere else?

Everything was so intense and shimmering, it nearly blinded her. It was... as if she was in heaven. Everything seemed so bright, light, and... white! When she pivoted back- her breath caught in her throat when her gaze landed on him, covering his figure like a sheer, thin veil.

There he was. The man who occasionally dropped by in her dreams.

Why? She had no idea.

He smiled at her, his mouth parting open, as a single word spilled out of his lips, "Revati?" In a voice that sounded like a... a woman. Woman!? His face blurred as he called out again, but it was harsher this time and a more familiar voice. It seemed like her elder sister's.

She rubbed her eyes to see if she was imagining it but what she saw, was none other than Suruchi herself with a scowling face hovering over her sleeping frame calling - or rather yelling - out her name. What, when did she lie down? And when did the floor become that... soft and like a bed?

Because you just had a dream, Revati. Her brain butted in. Or should she say, brained in?

"Finally!" the exasperation in her tone was harsh to the groggy Queen's ears. "You. Are. Late. Nearly an hour late to the Raja Sabha!" Her 'royal trainer' thundered.

"What-oh, where? When, how?" Revati sputtered, head spinning in confusion, stumbling out of bed. The bedsheets draping her as she fell onto the floor letting out a shriek. Suruchi rolled her eyes. "Good lords, cease your dramatics, will you?"

Then she moved to pour a glass of water from the jug and hand it to her. Revati nearly snatched it from her hands, and the empty glass was down on the table in a matter of seconds. Revati wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist as she stood up on her feet.

Suruchi's serious face broke out into a smirk, a stone cracking to reveal the gemstone within. "Silly sister of mine, I've woken you up an hour early. When did you start doubting my waking-you-up skills?"

"Oh, thank god," she said, eyes closing in momentary relief. "I still haven't forgotten the jug-of-icy-cold-water incident!" she exclaimed but gasped a moment later. "They are coming today, are they not?!"