The Princess & The Untamed

Hyderabad, 1857.

The palace of Nawab Ziyad Ali Khan Bahadur gleamed with marble floors and jeweled arches, but within its grandeur brewed unrest. Servants whispered in corridors, courtiers muttered behind silk screens, and the streets outside burned with quiet resentment.

The reason?

A marriage promise that had shaken the kingdom.

Princess Ameena Noor Jahan, the Nawab's last daughter, had been promised to a British officer-a foreigner, an outsider, a Christian. To the people, it was betrayal. To the religious leaders, it was sacrilege. And to Ameena herself, it was nothing less than a gilded cage.

She carried herself with the grace of royalty, but in her silence, she knew she was a prisoner of her crown. Around her neck rested the family heirloom necklace, its ruby pendant catching the faint glow of the lamp. Some called it cursed. Others believed it was proof that she was bound-to her bloodline, to her throne, and now, to a man she neither knew nor wanted.

Yet Ameena's heart refused to bow.

She dreamed of escape, of tearing the necklace from her throat, of running into the night and never looking back.

But destiny gave no mercy. Between the crown and the curse, her heart was forced onto a battlefield of its own.