Meher took a slow breath as she stepped from the shaded arch into the courtyard's golden light. Her heart caught at the sight of him-Raunaksh Rajwar-standing by the havan, every line of his silhouette etched in sharp relief against flickering flames.

Her gaze traveled from the curve of his broad shoulders draped in ivory silk, down the length of his straigh­t-backed posture, to the sword at his side-an echo of the man she had come to know: unbending, unyielding, yet here, strangely vulnerable in his patience.