From destiny to fate

Chapter 3

                Light after dark

The palace mourned for days including the emperor who was shocked to the core . He was someone who took many lives ruthlessly in war field ,without any hesitation .

But the death of his child right in his arms shook him beyond imagination . He couldn't recover from the shock for months as a result he became more and more sensitive towards his only living son .

He overly pampered his son since then .That incident had impacted his brain to an extent, where other than his son's safety, none matters. Maid servants and eunuchs responsible lived in fear with their life on line everyday . Even a small scratch on the prince body and the entire harem was turned upside down by the emperor  .

Blinded by his son's love ,the emperor declared his one and only son as the crown prince and bestowed the title of Empress to his mother ,Begum zubaida . she regained the emperor's attention and status.

Begum zubaida rose to glory and wealth ever since she gave birth to mughal heir and now the extreme power in her hands made her haughty ,arrogant and cruel . The lady who had that charming innocence turned into a shrewd and cunning emoress . She treated everyone as minisule existence ,in return earning everyone's hatred . Her behaviour was going beyond tolerance, but when did lower got to oppose higher? The poor dasis and begums could just gulp the arrogance and humiliation that they were subjected to.

Begum zubaida was now the most influentional person in the entire harem .

The zenana was ruled by the empress while the once chief consort Begum Nadira was asked to assist her . The ones who were in good looks of the empress lead a peaceful life and were favoured by the king , rest were all ignored like a trash   .

Visits to Begum Nadira's chamber which were already 'occasional' , became rare now . The growing distance between her and the emperor gave birth to rumors like she was fallen out of favor and the emperor no longer loved her as she was childless  .

It was humiliating ,but she could say nothing but accept it as her fate . She was happy and contented that atleast she was the emperor's long favoured queen despite of not bearing children .

Days passed by , everyone busied themself in their own lives ,but time stood still for Begum sakeena . Her little treasure was cruelly taken away from her by the almighty giving her a lifetime gaping hole that would probably be incredibly hard to fill . The pain was undescribable and unbearable for the mother who barely enjoyed her motherhood . In her miserable days, it was Begum Nadira who was always by her side .

A day came when the Empress had to leave the capital to accompany her father for business trade , the entire harem's responsibility fell on Begum Nadira's shoulder ,momentarily and she took this oppurtunity to keep Begum sakeena busy .

She encouraged the heartbroken mother to do things that can keep her mind occupied and kept her always by her side while taking care of harem .

Slowly Begum sakeena  started taking interest in harem matters as a distraction and noticed strange things happening inside the four walls of Royal harem .

Recently , Harem bustled with hakim sahibas running back and forth in the palace . Harem was going through a lot of miscarriages and stillborns . As if this was not enough ,for some reason, Shahi begums and concubines kept suffering from regular and minor problems like headaches ,stomach upset , nauseaous and sometimes breast pain  too. Although it wasn't a big deal, as after medications, the relief was instant , but the sudden deterioration in their health bothered Begum sakeena making her suspicious of the happenings around her .