Hi everyone!

Here is a nice long chapter for you to enjoy! I will be back to updating on a weekly basis going forward, so I hope you look forward to that!

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Love, Luckycharms!!!

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In my weakened state, I think I had caught something bad. I had become horribly ill and I was practically bed ridden because of it. To make matters worse, since I was legitimately ill, the Maharani refused to let me see Aathavan, saying that I could make him ill too.

Though, for the first time, I thought she was right, it did not make me any better. In fact, I think it made me worse.

On top of that, Aaryan had returned, and he had pushed aside plenty of his responsibilities to take care of me.

I tried to get better. I swear I did. But no matter how hard I tried, I would still find myself crying without even realizing it. My heart was hurting so much, and it was never ending.

I wanted my baby back.

A lot of time had passed... though I wasn't too sure exactly what day it was. I think maybe a month had passed, though it really felt like much longer. In the time that I had not seen Aathi, I wondered if maybe he had already grown a little bigger.

I wondered if maybe he was already starting to forget me.

And then my heart would hurt and I would cry again.

The more I thought about how all these people who knew nothing about me wanted so badly for me to not have a role in my son's life, the more horrible I felt.

And I think that maybe I had ruined my relationship with the Maharajah for acting this way. He seemed unhappy with my being upset. Though he was outwardly kind to me, despite the harsh words I had said to him that day when they took Aathavan away, I could see the frustration on his face. Especially when he would tell me that I need to hurry and get better because I had duties to uphold.

It made me angry to think that to him, these mundane duties were more important than my god-given duty to be a mother.

Who knows... maybe without even knowing it, or intending it, my body was protesting. Maybe I was hoping that my pain and stubbornness would convince the royals to give me back my baby.

Whatever the case, it did not seem to be working.

Aaryan, on the other hand, was extremely patient with me. I knew my sadness hurt him but I couldn't help it.

Thankfully, Aaryan got to see Aathavan everyday, while I was sick, and that made me feel a little better. At least Aathavan had one of us.

But when Aaryan was not with Aathavan, he was with me.

Sometimes he would talk to me, sometimes he would lay by my side in complete silence. I never knew what he was thinking, except that he was sad too. I knew he was more understanding to what happened though. He grew up in this world and so I knew his sadness really stemmed from the fact that I was sad. I wondered then if, when he sat in complete silence, he was just tired. Tired of all the drama that came with being my husband.

It was really only for him that I tried to be better. Even if he was patient for me, I didn't want him to be sad or tired because of me.

So I forced myself to begin to accept it, and in a few more days, I forced myself to get up. That didn't mean, of course, that I was okay with it, I just knew I had to. For Aaryan.

Another part of the reason was because I had received a letter from my father.

He had, of course, heard the news. News spreads out of the capital as fast as wildfire, Aaryan had once told me. So in his letter, he too seemed sad, but he urged me to be strong. He told me that my son would not be proud of a mother who could let something hurt her so much. He reminded me that I was now the mother of a future Warrior King. I had to be strong.

As always is the case with my father, his words affected me, and I knew he was right.

He was right. I would not want my son to see me like this... especially when I did not have much time with him. So I forced myself to be better. I forced myself better and decided to get back to work.

However... when I finally left my room, I noticed something.

Everyone was watching me.

Everyone.

They were looking at me as if they were waiting for me to do something... what it was that they expected me to do, I had no idea. Whatever the case, I tried to ignore the gazes, though I also tried to remind myself that I was always going to be the one that was watched. That was a part of my life now.

For the next few days, my maid friends accompanied me everywhere I went, mostly because they were scared to leave me alone, seeing as I was still quite weak.

But it was as I was sitting in the garden with them pretending to be okay, that Aayu showed up suddenly. "You need to come with me to the throne room," he said.

We had not seen each other in a little while, so I was surprised when he didn't even say hello, and he didn't look particularly happy to see me. This was strange, seeing as he almost always looked happy to see me, and he almost always looked happy around me, especially these days, when he was trying to make me feel better.

I looked up at him from my seat on the bench. "Why?" Is something wrong?" I had not been in the throne room since they took my baby from me. Maybe another one of my protests, of sorts.

"It's urgent," Aayu said, he took my arm, pulling me up before linking his with mine and guiding me towards the throne room. I felt nervousness rush through me just at the thought of going there. I knew that no matter what, everyone would be looking at me. Everyone would be analyzing me. And surely, everyone would be criticizing me for not accepting things to go their way. "What's going on?" I asked. "Do I have to-"

"You're going to have to make a decision," he said. "Are you going to be a queen who follows old traditions, or are you going to be one that changes our world?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused. I didn't want to be any sort of queen. I just wanted to be left alone. I just wanted to be with Aaryan and my child. Was that really so much to ask for?

"I will not say much," Aayu continued. "I don't want to influence your decision in any way."

I was getting a little annoyed with him, wondering why he was being so confusing, but when I looked up at his face, I saw that his jaw was clenched. He looked tense, like something was wrong. I looked back at the direction we were walking, more nervousness rushing through me. Aayu almost never looked tense.

Something was certainly wrong.

So instead of arguing with him and insisting that he expand, I tried to calm myself down, but it was as I was doing that that we entered the halls of the palace and I noticed that for the first time ever, since I had arrived, at least, the halls were practically empty. "What..."

Usually, the halls were filled with servants and guards and nobles walking around, managing their own affairs or the affairs of others, but right now, the halls were silent, echoey, even. Only a handful of guards and servants were in their usual posts, but that was about it.

When we arrived at the throne room, the doors had to be opened by Aayu because the usual guards were not there, and when he pulled the heavy doors open, my jaw dropped.

The throne room was packed with hundreds of people sitting on their knees- guards and servants alike -facing the royal family.

The king was shouting something, though he cut himself off at the sight of us. Aaryan too looked surprised and concerned when he noticed us from where he was standing next to his father.

But before I noticed any of that, I noticed that the queen was holding my baby in her arms. I felt a tinge of frustration, annoyed that she would bring my child to such chaotic environments so early on in his life. He didn't need to be here.

After my heart squeezed at the sight of my child, I looked down at all the seated men and women. They were all looking at me, watching me, as they had been for the past few days. Again, it seemed like they were watching me because they wanted me to do something.

Do what?

"Aayuraavanan," the Maharajah called, sounding rather stern. "What is this?"

What is this? I thought, knowing he was referring to my presence. Afterall, Aayu had done nothing but bring me here.

Aayu shrugged. "I thought I should bring her here. Do you not think that she should hear about what's going on?"

The Maharajah frowned, "No, I do not."

Aayu's head tilted to a side. "Hmm," he said. "Strange, since it is concerning her."

Concerning me?

I looked over at Aaryan, who seemed quite stressed out. He was looking at Aayu with an expression I wasn't too familiar with... all I could really see was stress.

"What's going on, Aayu?" I asked as I stepped towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Aayu looked over at the large audience we had, all of which were still seated on their knees, except for the nobles and the royals of course. I had to admit, it felt strange to be standing while all of these people were on their knees. It felt like I was... bigger... than them.

I did not like feeling that way.

One of the men who were sitting close to the very front, garbed completely in his military garments as if he were getting ready to go off to battle, stood. "If you will allow me to explain on behalf of the lot of us?"

The Maharajah's head shot towards him with a glare. "General Sivakasi-"

"Please," Aayu continued. "He is allowed to speak, father."

General? I thought. What an odd sight... the sight of a General on his knees, mixed in with servants and other soldiers.

The General waited, and when Aayu nodded his head once more, seeing that the fuming Maharajah wasn't going to say anything else, he began speaking. "We have come to protest the treatment of the Princess."

My eyes widened.

Me?

All the men and women on their knees let out a synchronized, "yes!" that was loud enough to make the throneroom rumble.

"We have never protested the treatment of anyone in the past but feel the need to express our distress now because we find it sinful for one to keep a child away from their loving mother simply because she is a peasant-"

"This has nothing to do with her being a peasant," the King snapped. "This is tradition."

"What tradition?" General Sivakasi questioned. "The tradition of the Rudraraja clan? The clan named after Lord Shivan himself? The clan that devotes themselves to the King of Gods? Whose sons are named after Lord Ravana, the demon who revered Shivan after being punished for his misdeeds, as a reminder of who they serve?"

I hesitated.

I had never thought about that.

I had never thought about the meaning of Aaryan's full name. His full name was his royal name, after all. The name that people who were below him used, or people who did not know him well used, or his father used when he was angry, or trying to be firm.

To me he had always just been Aaryan.

But to the rest of the world he was Aaryaraavanan.

Aaryan meant well known, noble and respected. My father had said that to me all that time ago.

But Raavanan.

Raavanan, or Ravana, was a raging demon.

Raavanan was the demon that grew so enraged at the gods at some point that he challenged Lord Shivan, who punished him for his outburst by imprisoning him with a simple tap of his foot. After years of repenting, Lord Shivan finally forgave him and set him free and Raavanan, reveering the power and strength of the King of Gods, became his greatest devotee.

Then he proceeded to kidnap the beloved bride of Lord Rama... who my father named me after.

Seetha.

My father had named me after her because she is the epitome of the strength of a female mind. When my father told me her story, he would say how she lived a life filled with challenges. She was won by her husband as a prize, but loved him nonetheless. And when her husband faced troubles, she sacrificed everything for him to be by his side and to support him. Then when she was kidnapped by Raavanan, she was strong willed and never gave up hope. He tried to win her over with luxuries and promises and everything she could ever want, but she never fell for any of it. And when he raged after her refusal, she never feared the demon, in fact, she challenged him, known in her stories for being quick witted and highly intelligent.

Finally, when she was rescued after years and years of imprisonment, her beloved husband abandoned her, succumbing to the pressures of his court, who could not believe that she had remained loyal to him while she was imprisoned.

They did not believe that she was as strong in mind and heart as she really was.

So she was banished, while pregnant with her twin sons. But despite her suffering, despite having all the reasons to hate her husband and her life and all the people who hurt her, she remained true to herself. She raised her babies herself, with help from no one, devoting herself to them because that's what mothers do.

"There is no woman in our history who was so maltreated as Lady Seetha was," my father would say. "Yet there is also no woman in our history who, despite all her struggles, died feeling satisfied because she was always true to herself."

She made no mistakes.

She always did what she thought was right... and even when all her dreams came crumbling down, she moved on and did the next thing that she thought was right.

My father used to say that names were important. He would say that names do not determine what a person will truly be like, but a person can determine what they wish to make of their names.

He had hoped that knowing that I was named after Lady Seetha, the epitome of the strength of a woman's mind, that I would always be true to myself. That I would want to be like my namesake.

What did that mean for Aaryan?

What did that mean for his family?

The men of which were named after a raging demon?

And what did that mean for us?

In the stories, Raavanan ruined Seetha's life.

He wanted to love her but he ruined her life.

What could that mean for us?

What did that mean for me?

"Lord Sivakasi," Aaryan began, his voice snapping me out of my thoughts. "You are beginning to cross a line." I heard the frustration in his voice, and it made me more uncomfortable than it ever had before.

"All I wish to say is that our King of Gods, whom we devote ourselves to, would never have separated a mother from her child. His bride, Parvathi, raised her children. In fact, the stories show that she had all the say in how she raised her children. Lord Shiva was at her mercy in that regard-"

"Parvathi was a princess," Aaryan's mother hissed.

"She was," he emphasized. "She gave up her royalty to be with her husband, who later became the King of Gods. You must know that, I'm sure, my Queen."

My mother-in-law was not pleased, though I certainly was.

This Lord Sivakasi, who I had never met, was right.

He was defending me, and he was right.

"If our King of Gods would agree that a mother gets to decide how to raise her children, then who are we to question that?" he asked. "It is not our place, and myself, as well as my brothers and sisters of this kingdom have chosen to fall on the side of the gods and protect the rights of the Princess, who wishes to mother her child."

My heart skipped a beat.

And when I looked at Aaryan, I saw that he still had his firm, unimpressed expression on his face.

Was he not happy?

"This young prince will one day be our leader. We will be working for him, fighting for him and living for him. And we want, more than anyone else in this world, for this young man to grow up to be both powerful and kind. Both feared and loved," Lord Sivakasi continued. "Just as Lord Muruga and Lord Ganesha are... both of whom were raised by their mother, Parvathi. Not by a wet nurse, or maids, or her mother-in-law."

The group shouted their agreements, and I realized then that my hands were shaking.

I didn't know why, but they were.

"We see a light in the Princess that we want to see passed down to her son," he said, looking over at me. "Not only do we not want to see that light fade, but we also want to see it passed down to her son... something I cannot imagine being done unless she gets to raise him herself."

I smiled at the man.

I didn't know how much this mattered. I didn't know if his words would work. But I did know that his words filled me with joy.

I wasn't crazy.

I wasn't the only one who felt like I was wronged.

Even these people, who spent a much longer time in the palace, believed that I was right. I was meant to raise my son.

"And so," General Sivakasi said, turning to face the Maharajah before getting back on his knees. "My brothers and sisters and I have chosen to not work until we can be assured that the future of our great nation is protected. We want to be confident that our future king will be healthy in both mind and body. For that, we ask that you let our Princess take charge of the life of her blood."

"You are challenging the decisions of the throne, Sivakasi," the Maharajah said, sternly and angrily. "Your actions are treasonous, do you realize that?"

"I swore to protect the throne for the rest of my life," he responded. "Maharajah, with all due respect, it seems that you are forgetting that the throne does not end with you. Or even our Prince Aaryaraavanan-"

"I forget nothing!" The King snapped, making me jump. For the first time since I met him, I was seeing him act more like Aaryan than not. "You believe my family to be so weak that we need to be suckled by our mothers? We are warriors. We are the greatest warriors there are-"

"Every child needs to be suckled by a mother," Lady Suhanya suddenly said.

The King looked at her with shock.

She was standing at the base of the dias, where she often stood, her eyes on General Sivakasi. "A man should not be belittled by his need to have a mother, Maharajah," she said. She looked frustrated and annoyed. And knowing what I did about her relationship with the King, maybe she was also disappointed. "It is a sin to downplay the significance of a mother to her child."

"I did not ask you to speak, Suhanya-"

Her head tilted a little as she looked at him incredulously. "I did not know I needed to be asked to speak."

The two looked at each other with a tension that maybe only I sensed. Maybe myself and a few of the older nobles within the throne room who knew of their history.

And when the King did not respond to her statement, Lady Suhanya let out a short huff. "Maatha, Pitha, Guru, Thaivam," she said, sternly.

Mother, Father, Teacher, God. I thought. We all learn that. Princes, Princesses and Peasants alike.

My father would repeat it to my brothers and I whenever we were naughty.

"It is in our teachings that Mother's come first. Before father's, before teachers and even before the Gods," he said. "For you to disrespect a mother, to downplay her significance, to put your throne before her, is the equivalent of downplaying, disrespecting and putting your throne before the Gods themselves. A sin."

"Suhanya-"

"Maharajah, I can stand behind you as you follow traditions and laws and all of the sort that a King must do," she started as she walked over to General Sivakasi's side. She then surprised everyone when she got on her knees next to him, and audible gasp passing through the court. "But I cannot stand behind you if all of this means abandoning the teachings of our gods."

The Maharajah was fuming. "Suhanya, you work for-"

"I live for my Gods," she said. "I do what is right by them, which, ultimately, is what is right by our mundane selves. And after hearing your arguments I have decided that what would be right by the gods would be to stand by Seetha. Let her have her child. It is her god given right."

The King was struck, shocked by her words.

I was in tears.

Aaryan surprised me at that moment by walking down the steps of the dias. "Stand, Lady Suhanya, you have no reason to get down on your knees," he said as he walked to her.

"Then tell everyone else in this room to stand as well, son," she said, firmly, making Aaryan slow down in his tracks. He hesitated. "They show their protest because these people care for your wife. Does that not mean anything to you?"

Aaryan looked at me.

He looked... concerned.

More than that, he looked... tired.

He sighed. "Lady Suhanya-"

"That's enough," the Maharajah ordered. "Who organized this? Say it now, or face the consequences."

"I ask that you hand the child over to the Princess and then you to imprison me, my Maharajah," General Sivakasi said, surprising me. "And then I ask the princess to remember me. I ask her to raise her son well and when he is king I ask that he decide whether this protest did him well... whether he is happy that his mother raised him. If he is, I ask that he be the one to release me."

"Lock him up," the Maharajah ordered, turning to his throne. He sat down, massaging his temples with his thumb and index. "And get rid of everyone. We have work to do."

I swallowed back my panic, assuming chaos was about to start, but his order was met with silence.

I looked around and saw the soldiers look at each other in hesitation.

When the king looked up, he narrowed his eyes. "Well?" He snapped.

I saw Aaryan close his eyes tightly. Tired.

"Damnit!" The king shouted, standing up. "Aaryaraavanan, seize the man! Do I need to say it again?"

Aaryan glowered at the floor before letting out a breath and continuing to walk over towards the General.

I held my breath, feeling powerless and scared.

He mumbled what sounded like an apology before grabbing the general's arm, pulling him with only some aggression until he was standing.

"You have not agreed to my request," the man simply said.

"You are in no place to be making requests," the Queen said, a smirk on her face.

Aaryan pulled him forward, and I felt my throat tighten as the crowd began to voice their disapproval, the anger growing among the folk.

I felt instantly, a mass of thoughts fly through my head. The thought that this was all happening because of me. The thought that these people will be punished because of me. The thought that Aaryan was once again going to have to face the brunt of the anger and disapproval because of me.

I was certain that no one else could see what I saw on his face.

Exhaustion.

And then I realized, in that moment, that yes... Raavanan did ruin Seetha's life. But Seetha also ruined his.

In fact, he had only kidnapped her to right a wrong that her husband committed. To get revenge after a history of unhappiness between the men. He had not truly intended on ever hurting her. Some versions of the story, my father's version included, even say that he respected her for her intelligence, devotion and strong will, which was why he never really hurt her.

And then she ruined his life.

Not directly, of course... but she played a role, nonetheless.

And though Seetha's story ends with her being able to take charge of her life and in turn, live the rest of her life in peace, Raavanan's story ends with him dead.

Murdered by the man who saved Seetha, claiming to want to protect her... only to abandon her a short while later.

I blinked, letting out a breath as angry servants and guards began to stand and raise their voices.

"Wait!" I shouted, knowing I only had seconds to let my voice be heard before the chaos.

I was shocked by how instantly the throne room silenced. It baffled me to think that my voice could have that kind of power.

"Please," I said. "Stop. Aaryan, let him go.."

Aaryan looked at me, looking... torn. He hesitated, turning his head towards his father before stopping half way, and then he sighed. He then let General Sivakasi go.

"Aaryaraavanan," his mother called sternly, "are you forgetting who you are?"

"No, mother," Aaryan said, finally sounding like he had had enough. "I am not. I am fighting a war in my mind as I try to justify the need to punish someone for wishing the best for my child and my wife, and try not to oppose my father's orders at the same time. The problem is, in fact, that I know exactly who I am."

I started walking towards him, and without me asking, the servants and guards moved aside to make me a path to walk through. "They are not challenging the throne, Maharajah," I said, as I walked. "All of you may not be fond of me but you cannot deny that Aathavan is your blood too. Like Aaryan said, they are looking out for him. They are asking this because they care for your blood. How could that possibly be a challenge to the throne-"

"Seetha," the King called, sounding frustrated. "Please, I beg of you to not get involved. I do not need more reason to be upset-"

"I am already involved!" I said, stopping in the middle of the crowd, most of whom were not seated again. "I am the wife of the Crown Prince and the mother of a future King! When all is said and all is done, when the unfortunate truth that your life will end comes to pass, I will be Queen. I am involved. And don't get me started on the fact that this entire discussion is about my son. No one should be more involved than me!"

Whispers erupted in the throne room, mostly coming from the previously silent nobles who probably did not like my talking back to their King.

The King stood up again. "That is enough," he said, despite having said that multiple times before already. He began walking down the dias. "If none of you will do what law requires then I will," he hissed. "Organizing such a rally requires a sentence of death. It is treason-"

"I organized it!" Someone shouted from the back as they stood up. It was one of the maids... the one who would bring my sari's to me in the mornings.

"So did I!" another shouted.

Then a soldier stood up. "I did. It was me!"

And one by one, the crowd began to shout their claims that they were the ones who organized it.

The King, to my surprise, took a step back, shocked.

There was no one here to control these people... the ones who were meant to control them were chanting too... and though I knew for a fact that these people meant no harm to me or the people I love, I couldn't help but be a little scared.

And almost as if he too sensed the trouble in the air, Aathavan began to cry, his cries echoing loudly through the air.

The throne room erupted into angry and frustrated chants until I saw the King turn and look over at the handless Aarun. "Get the Elite Forces ready," he ordered. "Call Lakshmanan."

I hesitated.

The Elite forces?

My heart stopped, knowing this could not be good. "Stop!" I shouted. "Stop! Please!"

I didn't have time to be surprised by how quickly I was able to get them to settle down because as they did, I was rushing across the length of the throne room, through the rest of of the crowd, and when I finally reached, the now infuriated, Aaryan, I reached out and held his hand.

Aathavan was still crying, and the motherly instinct inside of me made it hard for me to focus on anything else while his shrieks filled my ears, but I looked at my husband. "You cannot let any of these people get hurt," I said. Maybe it was more of an order. Whatever it was, it surprised him, an eye twitching.

I turned to the dias, lifting my sari and climbing up the stairs.

I remembered Aayu telling me that I had to make a decision.

I had to decide if I was going to stand by old traditions, or if I was going to be a queen who brought forth change.

I had made my decision.

This was ridiculous. All of this is ridiculous. "It is unbelievable that men and women who devoted their lives to this kingdom have their safety threatened and their voices silenced simply because they disagree with 'traditions,'" I said, as I reached the top.

The Maharajah gave me an angry glare, the first of its kind directed at me. "Seetha-"

"They should be allowed to speak. And you are a good King. I was raised as your servant and I was raised, just like everyone in this room, to look at you as a good King. But a good King will listen to his people. He will hear them and he will respond fairly," I said.

The Queen looked at her husband with shock, as if she could not believe that he was permitting me to continue.

"You would never treat a nobleman with such indignity, would you?" I asked. "When nobles come and question your ways, which I know for certain happens on a daily basis, they do not need to band together and sit before you on their knees, do they?"

The sharp sounds of whispers came forward again, as unhappy nobles expressed their disapproval.

"And I am certain that they are rarely ever asking you for changes meant to be good for the Kingdom, let alone good for your family? Their changes must almost always be changes to suit their own needs-"

"You are out of line-"

"I have seen it myself. I have attended many of these meetings myself, afterall," I said. "In the time I have been here, there have been hundreds of requests, but I can count on my hand how many of them were meant to help the people you are meant to protect... and the kingdom you are meant to rule... yet despite this, they do not need to get down on their knees and beg."

"Seetha," Aaryan called from behind me.

It hurt me a little to hear the tone in his voice. Like he too wanted me to stop. He had promised me all that time ago that he would never silence me... I still wore the anklets he gave me to prove that promise around my ankles, even now.

"I do not have the kind of responsibility that you do, I understand," I continued. "But I love your son. And loving your son means bearing the burden of his responsibilities on my shoulders as well. One of those responsibilities being to protect these people, and to hear them. To hear their concerns, to hear their wishes, and to act on them. If none of you will do that now then I can promise you that when I am queen, I will."

The Maharani stood up. "Insolent child, you forget your place-"

"I am a peasant, yes," I said, looking at her. "But I am also a princess. I will also repeat, that I am the wife of the Crown Prince and the mother of the future king."

She scoffed.

I stepped towards her, looking at my son. "And I will be taking my son now," I said. "Because I am starting to realize that tradition was never really the issue. It was control. All of this was done so you could have control. I know that now because you make peasants and warriors, the heart and soul of this kingdom, sit on their knees and beg for what they want because you know you control them. The nobles don't need to do the same because they control you." I reached out to take Aathavan, who was no longer crying. He was, instead, looking at me, looking happy to see me. "I do not want my child to be raised thinking that anyone controls him. Anyone but the gods."

With that, I took my child from her, though she gave him to me reluctantly. I saw her eyes scan the crowd, taking note of the fact that she really couldn't hold back. She couldn't be sure of what would happen if she refused to give my son to me, so she reluctantly let go, looking istead at her husband to do the shouting.

I didn't really care though. I was just happy to have my son back in my arms.

The King was looking at me with an unfamiliar anger. "Seetha, I wanted to treat you like my daughter-"

"I don't see why that needs to change?" I said. "I have nothing but respect for you, Maharajah. Though I am upset, I love you like I would my father, so please think this through, carefully, and realize that no one here has truly done anything wrong. I know you advise my husband all the time to not let his anger get to him... maybe you should do the same."

"You expect me to not be upset when you disobey me?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Is that what this relationship is? Is that what a daughter is to you?" I asked. "My father was never angered if I questioned his decisions."

"You quite like to speak about your father."

"Because he is my father," I responded. "And he has made me who I am and though others may doubt me and dislike me, I love who I am... who my parents, both peasant, helped me become. So I ask that you trust me to raise my own son. I have a good foundation myself, I have faith in myself to do this, and it seems like most of the people in this kingdom agree with me."

The King just looked at me and then I sighed.

I made my way down towards Aaryan, not looking at his face.

I was a little scared. Scared that he would look upset, or disappointed... and I didn't want to see that look on his face. Instead, I walked over to General Sivakasi. "My son will not need to release you from prison because you will not be going to prison. Instead, I ask that you promise me that you will protect him and be a good role model to him. I want him to grow to have the kind of dedication to the throne that you do... and I want him to grow up to know how much people like you will rely on him."

"I am forever at your service, Princess," he said. General Sivakasi then surprised me by getting down on his knees and bowing low, and my heart stopped as everyone behind him did the same. My eyes widened as I stepped backwards, straight into Aaryan, who grabbed my shoulders.

I didn't know what to say, but when I looked up and caught the smile of Aayu, who was still standing at the back of the throne room. He looked proud, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath and letting it out. "Well," he said. "Now that that's all solved, I would like to announce that none of these folks arranged any of this. It was really me."

My eyes widened more, and my mouth dropped open as I looked at him, a panic filling me.

When I looked at Aaryan, I saw him look at his bother in disbelief.

Then I turned and looked at the King, whose face was filled with shock, until that shock transformed into pure anger.