Aarya stood in the glow of the archive, the weight of revelation pressing into her chest. Veer had always been there—watching, guiding, but never fully revealing himself. Now, she knew why.
She turned to him, searching his expression for answers he had long kept hidden.
“You knew my mother,” she whispered, voice unsteady. “You were part of this.”
Veer held her gaze, something flickering in his storm-dark eyes. “I was more than just a part of it, Aarya. I was meant to protect you.”
Her breath caught. “Protect me from what?”
“The ones who tried to erase your family’s legacy.”
Aarya’s pulse quickened. The truth she had uncovered in the archive—the erased stories, the trials her mother endured—it had all been leading to this moment.
Veer stepped closer, his voice lower now, like he was peeling back his own history one word at a time. “Your mother and I were bound by an oath—to safeguard the truth hidden in these paintings. But I failed her. The night she disappeared, I wasn’t strong enough to stop it.”
Aarya’s throat tightened. “You were there.”
Veer’s jaw clenched. “I tried to save her. But she didn’t let me.”
The weight of his confession filled the space between them, heavy and unspoken.
Aarya turned to Rhea, who watched them both carefully. “And you? What was your role in this?”
Rhea sighed, her eyes darker than before. “I was the last apprentice. The one meant to take her place if anything happened.”
Aarya exhaled, shaking her head. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Because the trials were the only way you could uncover the truth,” Veer said, voice firm. “You had to see it for yourself.”
Aarya’s pulse raced. The world around her blurred for a moment, caught between past and present.
She had spent her entire life feeling lost—adrift in a legacy she didn’t understand.
Now, she knew.
Veer had been protecting her from the beginning. Rhea had been waiting for her to return. Her mother had ensured she would find this place when the time was right.
Everything had led to this moment.
Aarya swallowed hard, the weight of destiny settling in her bones.
“What happens now?” she asked.
Veer’s expression softened, but there was something unreadable in his gaze. “Now, you decide if you’re ready to finish what your mother started.”
Aarya took a deep breath.
She had no doubts.
She was ready.
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