Reign of Silk and Ashes

Chapter 1: Ashes of the Past

The fire crackled and roared in the distance, consuming the Mahajan estate in a storm of crimson and gold. Smoke curled like serpents into the midnight sky, choking the stars as they tried to bear witness to the night’s injustice.

Aadhya Mahajan stumbled down the marble stairs, the hem of her silk lehenga tattered and blackened, her bare feet bleeding on the jagged edges of shattered glass. The once-celebrated daughter of the Mahajan textile empire—paraded before society like a prized gem—was now nothing more than an unwanted impostor, betrayed by the family that once called her their own.

“Get her out of here! She was never one of us!” screamed Indira Mahajan, the matriarch, her diamond-studded bangles gleaming like fangs under the firelight.

Aadhya had always suspected she wasn’t truly their blood. The sideways glances, the subtle humiliations, the denial of...