The torches along the passage hissed in the wind. She turned from him, the rustle of her silk echoing louder than any sword-drawn threat he had ever faced. He did not move at first. Her steps echoed down the corridor, every sound a declaration that she would not turn back. Then his hand found hers-only for a heartbeat, but it was enough. The air between them stilled, thick with the pull neither of them had words for. She drew in a breath to speak, to command distance again, but he moved closer instead, the space narrowing until the cold marble at her back caught the edge of her veil. His voice dropped, not harsh but heavy with the weight of what he had never learned to say. "हमें क्षमा कर दीजिए," he said, each word measured. "नफ़रत निभाना आसान था... मगर यह खामोशी-यह हमें अंदर से तोड़ रही है।" He who had never knelt to kings or storms now found himself humbled before the woman he once called enemy.
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