The Fortune of Magadh

In all her nineteen years of life, Rajkumari Saudamini had learned one thing with absolute certainty:

certainty itself was survival.

And why would it not be?

Certainty built empires. Certainty stabilized kingdoms. It was the closest companion of a diplomat capable of negotiating alliances that could alter Aryavarta itself, and the greatest ally of the finance minister of Magadh - the unconquered empire ruled by her grandfather, Jarasandha.

After the death of her father, certainty became her refuge.

First, it was her grandfather.

Then it was supposed to be Prince Rukmi of Vidarbha.

And when that certainty shattered, she built another.

And another.

Until she became very good at surviving broken futures.

Unfortunately for her, every single time life finally began settling into something safe...

he returned.

Krishna.

The great problem of her life.

The dark cowherd who walked into kingdoms smiling and left them transformed beyond recognition.

Others called him divine. Beloved. The protector of dharma.

Saudamini thought otherwise.

To her, Vasudev Krishna was uncertainty incarnate - the question mark carved into her life when she was seven years old. The man who arrived in Mathura and left her father dead. The man whose existence shattered alliances, broke betrothals, unraveled political stability, and turned carefully laid plans into ash.

So truly, she wants nothing to do with him.

Which becomes rather inconvenient when fate - with all its terrible humor - keeps placing him directly in her path again.

And again.

And again.

But what is one supposed to do when the greatest uncertainty of their life slowly begins feeling like the only certainty left?

Especially when she is no ordinary princess.

She is Vasumati Saudamini: the lost princess of Mathura, the beloved Rajnandini of Magadh, and perhaps the only person in Aryavarta stubborn enough to look Krishna in the eye and call him a curse.