The world outside Kiara's car was a blur. Her mind wasn't on the road, but lost in a whirlwind of dark eyes, a confident smirk, and the memory of a whispered promise in a library. A flutter of anticipation for the upcoming gala made her grip the steering wheel tighter, a small, unconscious smile playing on her lips.
The smile vanished as a figure suddenly stepped onto the crosswalk directly in front of her. Kiara slammed the brakes, her car lurching to a stop just inches from Bhoomi.
Her heart hammering with adrenaline, Kiara rushed out of the car. "Auntie! Are you alright? I'm so sorry!"
Bhoomi looked dazed and disoriented. Her eyes, though kind, held a distant, unfocused quality. "I... I'm fine, beta," she murmured, patting Kiara's arm absently. "I just... I need to get to the temple. I have to pray for my Yuvi. But I think... I think I'm lost."
In that moment, Kiara recognized the signs—the vague confusion, the gentle but fragmented speech. This woman was not well. A surge of compassion washed over her, pushing all thoughts of Yuvaan aside.
"Please, don't worry, Auntie," Kiara said, her voice soft and reassuring. She gently took Bhoomi's arm. "Let me help you. I can drop you at the temple. It's no trouble at all."
Gratefully, Bhoomi allowed Kiara to guide her into the passenger seat. As Kiara got back in the car and pulled back into traffic, her mysterious, all-consuming crush felt a million miles away. In the seat beside her was a tangible need, a mother's love so strong it compelled her to wander lost through the city just to pray for her son.
Neither of them knew it, but destiny had just placed the two most important women in Yuvaan Pratap Singh's life in the same car, hurtling toward an unknown future.
---
Yuvaan strode into the Pratap Singh mansion, the quiet opulence of the foyer doing nothing to soothe the restless energy that had hummed within him since leaving Kiara. His first instinct, as always, was to check on his mother. He climbed the stairs to her wing, a small, private sanctuary away from the venom of the rest of the household.
He pushed the door open. "Mom?"
The room was empty. The silence was wrong. It was too still.
A cold knot of dread tightened in his stomach. "Mom!" he called out again, his voice sharper, echoing through the vacant space. He turned and stormed back downstairs, his calm facade cracking.
"Where is she?" he demanded, his voice a low, dangerous thrum that gathered the attention of the nearby staff. A young maid flinched, her eyes wide with fear.
"B-Bhoomi Ma'am... she... we were busy with the downstairs cleaning, we... we didn't see her leave..." the maid stammered, wringing her hands.
The dread in Yuvaan's gut turned to icy fury. Before he could speak, a snide voice cut through the tension.
"Lost the madwoman, have we?" Susheela stood at the top of the staircase, Vinod beside her, a look of smug disdain on her face. "Perhaps it's for the best. The house is so much more peaceful without her—"
"SHUT UP!"
Yuvaan didn't just yell. The command erupted from him, raw and primal, laced with a power that was anything but human. As the words left his lips, the large glass window in the foyer shattered, exploding inward in a cascade of a thousand glittering shards.
The maids screamed. Susheela and Vinod stared, dumbfounded, their faces pale with a shock that was rapidly turning into terror. The glass lay scattered around Yuvaan's feet, but he stood untouched, his chest heaving, his eyes blazing with an otherworldly light. No one could comprehend what had just happened, but the cause was terrifyingly clear.
Without another word, Yuvaan turned on his heel and stormed out of the mansion, the shattered window a testament to the storm raging within him. His mother was out there, alone and vulnerable. And the city had just become the hunting ground of a terrified, furious Warlock King.
---
Back in the mansion foyer, Susheela stood trembling amidst the glittering shards of glass. "What... what was that?" she stammered, her voice a thin whisper of terror. She looked at her husband, whose face was ashen. "Vinod? Did you see that?"
Vinod could only shake his head, his mind reeling, unable to form a logical explanation for the window exploding at the sheer force of Yuvaan's voice. A deep, primal fear began to root itself in their hearts.
---
At the ancient temple, Kiara helped Bhoomi up the weathered stone steps. "Auntie, wait," Kiara said gently, realizing the problem. "I'm in English wear. I can't go inside the sanctum like this."
Bhoomi, though confused, understood the reverence. With a motherly smile, she unfolded the soft, new shawl she had brought as an offering. "Here, beta. Use this. It is for the gods, and you are helping me. They will not mind."
Touched, Kiara draped the shawl over her shoulders, and they entered the temple together. The air was thick with the scent of flowers, incense, and centuries of devotion. An elderly priest, his eyes wise and perceptive, watched them enter. His gaze lingered on Kiara, and a knowing, almost reverent smile touched his lips. He felt a divine presence emanating from her, a pure, powerful light, but he simply bowed his head in warm welcome, saying nothing.
Bhoomi, holding Kiara's arm tightly, confessed in a small voice, "Beta, I am scared of the fire. But I must pray for my Yuvi. Will you help me perform the aarti?"
"Of course, Auntie," Kiara agreed softly.
Together, they stood before the sacred idols of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Kiara carefully lit the lamp and, guiding Bhoomi's hand, began to circle the akhand jyot—the eternal flame—around the deities. As they moved in unison, a sacred rhythm in the flickering light, something stirred within Kiara. Unseen by her, hidden beneath her clothes and the gifted shawl, the intricate Trident tattoo on her back began to glow with a soft, golden light, resonating with the divine energy of the temple.
---
Meanwhile, Yuvaan's car screeched to a halt on a busy street. His eyes were closed, his knuckles white on the steering wheel as he cast his consciousness out into the city, searching for the unique, fragile signature of his mother's soul.
Nothing.
It was as if she had vanished from the face of the earth. A cold frustration gripped him. He could not sense her. He could not sense anything within the hallowed grounds of the temple—a sanctuary where his dark powers could not reach, and where the two halves of his soul had unknowingly found refuge together.