Prologue

16 YEARS AGO

LOCATION - THE PALACE OF RATHORE

TIME - 10:47 PM

THIRD PERSON POV

The palace of Rajasthan shimmered that night, bathed in silver moonlight and the roaring gold of celebration.

Trumpets blared. Roses rained from the sky. The people danced in the streets, drunk on joy, on love, on the magic of a newborn princess — Aradhya Rathore, the heartbeat of a kingdom finally born.

Inside the gilded halls, the royal family circled her crib, a constellation of protectors around a sleeping star.

Raghuvanshi and Geeta Rathore was admiring Aradhya's innocence,Their Rajkumari.

Rajveer and Drishti Rathore hovered close, their hearts stitched to every breath their daughter took,Their Guddiya.

Rajesh and Ishita were making funny faces to make Aradhya laugh,Their Mithu.

Even the princes — tiny, mischievous boys back then — crowded around, swearing silent oaths they were far too young to understand: Protect her. Love her. Die for her,Their Choti.

And then—

The darkness split.

A scream.

A crash.

Steel kissing steel.

Blood staining silk.

The palace gates, unbreachable for centuries, crumbled under a shadow army nobody saw coming. Black masks. Ruthless hands. Fire in their wake.

They didn’t want the gold.

They didn’t want the crown.

They wanted her.

Aradhya.

Tiny, soft, barely breathing — and yet somehow the most precious thing in the world.

Rajveer swung his sword like a devil uncaged.

Raghuvanshi roared orders that shook the chandeliers.

Rajesh trying to stop the attackers.

Geeta wept prayers between her war cries.

Servants fell. Guards were butchered. The marble floors of the palace turned red.

In the chaos, in the smoke, the baby's cradle tipped—

And the hands of a demon cloaked in black scooped her up.

“GUDDIYA!” Drishti’s scream cracked the night open.

Ishita tries to keep Drishti from falling unconscious while crying herself.

Rajveer lunged.

Aarav, screamed his baby lungs out.

Arnav tried to chase after her, tripping, falling, sobbing with tiny fists pounding the ground.

But the shadow was faster.

The shadow slipped through cracks they hadn’t known existed.

The shadow stole their princess — their sun — their soul — and melted into the night, leaving only screams and blood and a hollow, broken kingdom behind.

And the stars —

The traitorous, silent stars —

Did nothing but watch.

***

The silence after the storm was deafening.

No more music.

No more laughter.

No more heartbeat.

Just the heavy, choking absence of her.

Raghuvanshi Rathore stood frozen, fists trembling, eyes wide with horror.

The man who had crushed enemies under his boots for decades — now looked like an old, broken statue.

He fell to his knees on the bloodied marble, letting out a guttural, animalistic roar that shook the heavens.

"BRING HER BACK,BRING MY RAJKUMARI BACK!!!"

But the walls didn’t answer.

Only the shadows laughed.

Geeta Rathore collapsed beside him, her golden saree soaked in blood and tears.

Her hands clawed the empty cradle, as if she could still pull Aradhya back from the void.

"My Rajkumari..... give her back to me..."

She rocked the cradle with empty arms, singing lullabies to the ghosts.

Rajveer Rathore tore the royal robe from his body, roaring like a beast, his crown clattering uselessly across the floor.

"I AM HER FATHER! FIND HER! I SWEAR I WILL BURN THE WORLD IF I HAVE TO,FIND MY GUDDIYA!"

Soldiers fled from his wrath. Ministers cowered.

But none dared to meet his wild, haunted eyes.

Drishti was deathly silent.

Too silent.

She sank to the ground, her saree pooling around her like a fallen flower, clutching the little sock Aradhya had kicked off earlier.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she didn't sob.

She just whispered Guddiya — over and over — like a prayer that was already too late.

Rajesh and Ishita Rathore stormed into the night, swords and guns in hand, swearing on their blood they would find her.

"We will not rest! WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL WE FOUND OUR MITHU!"

But the night swallowed them too.

And Aradhya did not return.

Tiny hearts break wide open.

Aarav tried to chase the shadow even with his chubby legs, but tripped and screamed, his knees scraped bloody.

Arnav clung to the empty crib, howling Aradhya’s name until his voice went raw.

Ahaan sobbed so hard, little fists banging the ground in fury.

Even the smallest ones, Ayaan, Abhay, Arjun — too young to understand — cried because the world suddenly smelled wrong.

The princes knew their Choti was gone.

Because their sun had been stolen.

That night, a vow was written in blood on every tongue:

We will find her.

We will destroy the world if we must.

And when we do... we will never let her go again.

But years passed.

And no matter how many kingdoms they burned, how many monsters they hunted —

Aradhya remained a ghost.

And the Rathore family?

They became monsters themselves.

Grumpy, cold, ruthless kings of blood and empire —

Their hearts froze around the memory of a baby girl with a innocent spark in her eyes...

A girl who would one day return.

A girl who would turn their broken love into something far, far darker than fate had ever intended.