𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐔𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

☽ 𝐀 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ☾

20 Years Ago

JODHPUR

A storm was coming.

Devyani Rathore stared at the full moon slowly getting engulfed by black clouds. "Oh god, please let my child be safe," she prayed. The worry in her chest was getting bigger as the seconds passed, coiling and thumping against her heart. A cold touch on her hand snapped her from her thoughts, the coiling ball of worry, halting when she looked down at her eldest.

"He's not stopping crying maa. I've tried rocking him as well." Devyani was glad that even though he was a young child, Hardik knew his responsibilities as an older brother but still the comfort of a mother was not something even he could provide. Devyani took Rudransh from his arms, coddling the toddler against her chest and his cries instantly came to a halt.

Hardik stared at his mother and younger brother in disbelief. Even though he tried hard to quell his brother, he wouldn't but now he rested in her mother's arms, quietened and sleeping. The younger one was an attention seeker, Hardik concluded. He just wanted their mother's attention.

"When will Papa get here maa? Isn't it late?" He was a mere child of seven, but he could grasp his mother's worry. Her fear. "Soon, my son. He'll be here soon. And with him, there will come your little si-" A loud cry echoed and Devyani paused, her features turning alarmed.

Wrapping the shawl around her shoulders firmly, she turned towards her son and caressed his cheek. "Go into the closet and you'll see a room in the back behind the coats. You know the password right? It's your birthdate. Stay there until I come back okay? And don't open the door unless you hear my voice," she told him, her breaths heavy in panic.

"Take your brother with you. Maa will come back soon," Devyani whispered, giving Rudransh to Hardik. His breath hitched in his throat when the situation settled in his head. Devyani's panicked breaths, the sound of gunshots and the screams of people. "Maa, are there bad men after us? Have they come again?" He asked and Devyani's eyes gleamed in pity for the young boy.

He couldn't understand why those men visited them again and again. He didn't like them coming. Because whenever they did, his mother would always be sad and so would the other family members. Their visits were not occasional either and Hardik didn't like to play the game of hide and seek when they came. He didn't like that he couldn't go play around like other kids, or that he couldn't go out with his parents like the others.

"Yes. And if you stay here like a good boy, maa will reward you okay?" Devyani replied and Hardik looked up, his ears perking up at the mention of rewards, the fear momentarily leaving his thoughts. He nodded and Devyani hugged him to her chest before she closed the door to the closet and ran out of her room.

Walking over to the twins' room, a loud gasp left her mouth when she saw two guards lying in a pool of blood in the corridor. Her fingers shook, her chest tightening at the thought of something happening to her son Rudraksh. Her phone shook in her hand and she quickly held it up, calling her husband as she ran towards the room.

A sob escaped from her mouth when Pratap didn't pick up her call even after several tries. The moment she entered the twins' room, the phone in her hand dropped to the ground with a thud due to the sight in front of her. Four guards, the ones she remembered to be guarding the room, now lay dead in front of her. Something between a sob and a scream exuded from her throat when she set her sights on her middle son held up in the arms of a man.

One hand held the toddler tightly while the other held a gun to his head. Devyani's eyes widened, her blood running cold when Rudraksh cried loudly in his arms. "Rudra, calm down beta. Look maa, is here." Devyani said in the calmest tone she could muster up in that situation. She stepped forward, only to pause when the man dug the gun against Rudraksh's temple.