Silence grated the once joyous atmosphere. The music stopped as females focused more on the troubled whispers emitting from the big hall. Their minds jump from one conclusion to another. None of them were positive. Kishan Singh squirmed under the onslaught of judgmental looks. Wiping the sweat beads from his forehead for the nth time, he stares at the door where a doctor just disappeared.

They found her in a terrible condition. His daughter. When she didn't return or respond to any of her mother's calls, a troubled Rukmani rushed to him. The bathroom door was locked from inside. He tried to break it, but alas, it didn't budge as if was glued to the wall. Banging the door with his fists, he has shouted Gauri's name catching the attention of guests. Sumitra arrived at the site with three bulky guards and using all their strength, they threw themselves against the door, still, it didn't move. It is when Rukmani started crying. Sumitra encouraged the guards to go again, worry lines made her look frailer. But the door didn't open.

The family was shocked and terrified to the core.

"I told you, forcing her into this relation isn't going to bring any good. What if my daughter hurt herself? Kishan, if something happens to Gauri, I will never forgive you!" the mother exclaimed angrily, unable to find a solution for this sudden chaos that tackled the happiness. Kishan could only gulp and squeeze his chest to soothe a buckling heart. His knees felt weak at the thought of his little girl getting hurt. All of them were contemplating ways of breaking the door open when the knob twisted on its own from inside and a swaying Gauri steps out. No one spoke. No one moved. The perspiration coating her skin like a glove and disheveled hair punctuated a different tale. White as a ghost, she stepped out of the bathroom on unsteady feet. Her lips trembled like a leaf on a wintry night. Her head was too heavy to stand straight on the shuddering spine. When Rukmani touched her elbows, flinched. She was burning.

Guiding Gauri towards the bed, Rukmani covers her with a quilt. A frozen audience scrunches their nose at the rotten smell that wafted from the bathroom heavily. Sumitra gagged, her hold on the wooden cane tightening. The experienced eyes of the old woman scanned the interior of the polished bathroom thoroughly, finding nothing out of place until her eyes fell on the cracked mirror.

Despite Kishan's protests, she steps inside to gauge the cause. The mirror was intact an hour ago, she knew. She was here to freshen up while the girls were enjoying the ceremony. The bathroom didn't reek with awful stench before. From the talks of old, she reached a dangerous conclusion. To test her theories further, she exhaled heavily, and as suspected transparent fog accumulated near her mouth.

Gritting her teeth at the lies of the palace, she walks out and asks Rukmani to call for a doctor. Taking Gauri's hand in hers, she watched the henna. The color was dull. Impossible.

She has witnessed how Gauri's friends teased her about the dark shade of brown appearing at her fingertips. It was as if someone stole the whole color rendering her painted hands a blank canvas of unfathomable future. Again, it wasn't possible considering how the artists mix special oils to bring color to their beautiful designs.

The news of the future queen of the palace fainting spread like wildfire.

When the doctor arrived, Kishan excused himself and waited in the hall with everybody else, leaving only Sumitra and Rukmani inside.

Soon, Vasundhara Devi entered the premises with a dutiful Ambika following behind. Noticing Kishan in the crowd, Vasundhara inquired about the scenario. Her stiff body was hidden beneath the inborn arrogance.

"Your highness, she must have fainted out of exhaustion. It's nothing serious." He mumbled with lowered head. Vasundhara wasn't a fool. The uncertainty was immediately detected. Flaring her nostrils with undisguised rage, she asked Ambika to stay put while she goes inside to check on the bride-to-be. Though reluctant to leave the Queen alone, Ambika obliged, not wanting to pull an argument in front of the guests. She didn't trust this peasant family from day one.

Her black saree and cruel features showed her disapproval clear as daylight. If she wanted, she could have dressed in a different color for the festivities but the stoic woman followed her code.

When Vasundhara steps into the room, the sight in the front makes her heave in disbelief. The façade of bravery slipped, bringing a vulnerable woman into the light.

Sumitra was settled on a cushioned chair as the doctor checked the patient's pulse. Rukmani was silently shedding tears at the foot of the bed. It was the unconscious girl which melts Vasundhara's heart. The bride's condition was familiar except for the face. It was happening again. It has already started and she failed to stop it. Her palms cup the gasping mouth as panic overrides all other thoughts. Her son will never be cured. He will never be happy. The family of royals won't leave behind their legacy.

"Queen Vasundhara."

A firm hold of Sumitra stopped her from stumbling back. Her knees trembled in fear. She has been through this before. The signs are here again. Was she selfish enough to sacrifice this lively girl for uncertain outcomes? No! It won't happen again; she had vowed to her paralyzed husband.

"Please sit down."

Sumitra whispered as she guided the weak queen towards the chair. A beat of silence passed before the doctor pulls a bunch of medicines from his bag.

"The patient's blood pressure has lowered. She is suffering from bouts of coldness and high fever. If she takes these timely doses, she will be good as new within three days. Don't worry." He assured them before taking his leave. Rukmani stared at the medicines in her hand and decided to start the treatment right away. Lifting Gauri into a sitting position, she makes her take the medicine. Sumitra and Vasundhara watch with bated breath.

"Rukmani, cover her properly and attend to guests. It is rude to leave them like this and God knows what is circulating through their minds. Assure them that we are fine." A dubious Rukmani nodded, not wanting to leave her daughter alone now. Light on her worn-out feet, she leaves the room to face the world outside.

Now alone in the closed confines, in the presence of sleeping beauty, Sumitra decides to strike the topic. Her eyes shine with empathy as she gazes at the Queen. Her wrinkled hand squeezed the Queen's softer one in assurance. The lies won't be revealed so soon.

"She got locked in the bathroom and when three guards tried to break the petty door, it didn't budge. If it didn't concern my granddaughter's life, I would have asked about the material used to build such a barricade. But even a fool will notice the difference. I almost sensed that someone was forcing it shut from the other side and it wasn't Gauri."

Vasundhara gulped. The gears of her brain reeled.

"I don't understand." She pitifully divulged. Her head struggled to stay up under the weight of guilt. She has ruined this girl's life.

"I do. I didn't know what was happening before, but I get it now." Vasundhara stopped breathing and stared at Sumitra wide-eyed. "If I hadn't known that Gauri is going to live a long life, I would have dragged her back to my village barefoot than leaving her here, in this fort of monsters." She whispered with a distant look and Vasundhara tensed.

"When Gauri was born, Damodaran's father, who was my childhood friend, has recited how she won't live an ordinary fate. Born on Poornima of Rohini nakshatra, when the full moon is in the eye of the red bull, she will have a difficult journey. Born in the house of a poor farmer, she holds the stars of the universe in her hand. That one day, she'll become Queen of a King who will give her his heart. Blood is her destiny, not of her kin or future, but of the evil that obscures the light from brave hearts.

At that time, I didn't get what he meant, but I do now. My granddaughter was born for you- Queen Vasundhara. A solution to all your problems and this is why you didn't hesitate to send Damodaran into a household so poor and beneath your status to ask for her hand. I wouldn't enquire what is happening because that might weaken my resolve of leaving her here. I could only urge you not to burn in the guilt of dragging this girl into fires of life. She will learn. Soon enough, the darkness of your palaces and fort wouldn't scare her. She will learn to weave her way through it and bring you the joy you haven't felt in a long time.

Remember, there's always light at the end of the tunnel."

The dam she has been holding for so long finally burst. Vasundhara kneels in front of Sumitra and lays her head in her lap. Nobody has shown her compassion like this in a long time. Her own family showed her their back when they came to know about the evil battling inside these walls. And this old woman, who holds the key to her destiny has said so little but accurate, putting a salve on those wounds that refused to heal.

"I am so sorry." The queen whimpered, unable to calm the brewing storm of emotions. Sumitra caressed her hair.

"I am sorry too, that you have to face this, dear. The darkness might render us defenseless and weak. It might suck all our hope and aspirations, but it can't win against the one power which has made us. God is with you. You shouldn't be afraid."

Vasundhara nodded before kissing Sumitra's knuckles.

"It has happened before, you know. When Yagya's first wife arrived here for the ceremonies, she suffered the same."

"Then we have all the more reasons not to let the same happen with Gauri. We know all that would come and we have the power to prevent it. It would be foolish to stand back and watch history repeat itself. Taking innocent victims to please the corrupted mind. Remember, if you create peace with shadows, they never leave you. Everything has a price."

Grimly, she added at the end and looked at Gauri, who was stirring and mumbling something unintelligible.

"I know a saint in Nilgiri Hills. He is rumored as someone who has mastered all 8 occult powers and is a devotee of Mahadeva. Once done with the wedding, I think you must go and visit him..."

"I have already done that, Sumitra Ji. Whom do you think suggested this arrangement in the first place? Tired from all that destiny hurled our way, after Yagya's first wife's demise, I visited the Saint of Nilgiri Hills with Damodaran. On hearing my story, he asked to search for a bride compatible with Yagya's Vedic horoscope. A girl born in the hour of holy Pancha Kanya holds a chance to tame the evil. He said it was love that brought it on us and love will clear it away."

Sumitra hummed and looked at the setting sun from the window. A shadow of doubt flickers in her eyes.

"I haven't seen your son since I came here. Does he not agree with this arrangement? If so, you must talk to him. He may call it superstitious but wouldn't overlook the activities that once happened to his deceased wife." She whispered, looking in Vasundhara's vigilant eyes. The thought of confronting her son brought a sour taste. If he believed her words, he would call the wedding off and send them all back to the village.

"No, he can't know. Not now. Not before the wedding or the time when he gets to know Gauri personally. Otherwise, he will send her away and the curse on my family will continue."

"It is not a curse but a dirty soul leaching off you all."

Sumitra barked stunning Vasundhara.

"The stench made it clear. The bathroom was cold. The mirror was broken. The mirror only cracks on its own when it catches the sight of something heinous. There was somebody else other than Gauri in the bathroom."

"No, it can't be. You are saying that the fort is haunted. That's not the case."

"Then elaborate what you believe. I have seen numerous occurrences. My grandfather was a great saint who trapped ghost spirits that made lives of human hell. He has cured many possessed. Science may see it as a disease, which is true. A major proportion of such cases were of mentally unstable people, but a few were under alien influence. They were truly possessed.

Men, women, and children, all used to visit my grandfather. He treated them without asking for anything in return. He was blessed by God and gifted. I have seen him doing it and I know how the atmosphere fluctuates in the presence of a ghost spirit, Queen Vasundhara."

"But my son, he is different. He..."

"Is your son possessed?" Sumitra asked in shock.

"No. He is not. He is just different. He loses his temper on the nights of the full moon and disappears into the forest. I don't know what is wrong with him, he doesn't tell me anything. I didn't know my house was haunted. This is the first time someone has told me. What is happening?"

"You think your son is cursed?"

"Yes. And Gauri's stars might help to lighten its influence on him. He can become normal under her care. I hope so."

Sumitra sighed and shook her head. She didn't want to rattle the frightened woman more. It was a complex case. Everybody had a theory, a different one. Something clicks in her mind.

"When you went to visit the saint, did you only ask him about your son?" Vasundhara nodded but then froze.

"No, I inquired about both my son and my husband. My husband has been paralyzed for five years now. He couldn't move or talk." Sumitra truly pitied the woman now.

"It is alright, Queen Vasundhara. God will make a way. For now, let's pray that this marriage occurs without any hurdles and later, visit the saint together. I have some questions of my own to present in front of the holy man." Vasundhara nodded as she wiped her tears. Suddenly, feeling tired beyond her years.

"In the meantime, someone must stay with Gauri 24/7. A new bride attracts negative energy the most as she wears red and smells of henna and blessed turmeric."