NightJasmine
Swara, a modern girl, loves losing herself in old novels. One night, she finds a rare ancient book - a sweeping tale of how the Brahmin Empire rose when a foolish king failed his people. Hidden in its pages is a fleeting mention of an arrogant young princess who fell for a Brahmin, lost her kingdom, and lived the rest of her life behind prison walls.
Swara shut the book, unsettled. If I were her, I would never fall so blindly. I would change everything.
But fate heard.
The next morning, she awoke not in her room - but inside that forgotten world, no longer Swara but the fourteen-year-old princess, the queen's most beloved child.
At first, she believed this was her chance to alter destiny. To live differently. To win against the story. Yet she never expected how her own heart would betray her... how the sound of Vedic chants in a temple, the sight of lotus eyes too divine to be mortal, would shake her more deeply than the book ever hinted.
She swore she would not repeat the old princess's mistakes. She swore she would not fall.
But the tale was already shifting - not to her favor, not to her control. Even when she chose a political marriage to secure her kingdom, even when she tried to walk another path, the fire still came. The palace still burned.
And there he stood in the flames. Robes torn, body drenched in red, yet his face glowed like a god's. His sword fell with a clang as he reached for her, his hand - a hand that had never touched a woman before - cupped her trembling face.
"Princess," his voice was soft, breaking, "I swore to the Gods to build a wise empire. For that, I need you. I cannot let you go."
Swara realized, too late, that destiny had never been hers to rewrite.
And She Also knows he never needs her