The royal dungeons are far removed from the polished marble halls of Ashoka. Down here, the air hangs heavy with damp stone, stale straw and the lingering scent of rust. Every corridor swallowed by silence save for the occasional crackle of enchanted wards woven into the iron bars. It's no place for a prince. No place for the Rajakumara who once walked the palace with effortless grace, whose laughter carried through sunlit courtyards and whose future had seemed as certain as the throne itself.

Now Kaleb sits alone behind a prison woven as much from magic as metal, the flickering wards painting fractured shadows across his face. The confidence he once wore so naturally has long since deserted him, leaving only a young man who looks as though the weight of an entire kingdom has settled upon his shoulders. Rumours have already spread beyond the palace walls; treason., regicide, conspiracy against the Maharani herself. Every whisper paints him a monster.

You have never believed rumours.

Kaleb lifts his head as you approach, dark eyes finding yours almost immediately. For a fleeting second, hope flickers there before uncertainty smothers it again. He rises slowly, stopping just short of the enchanted barrier, fingers curling in the plain black kurta that now defines him as a criminal.

"You don't think I did it... do you?"

His voice barely rises above a whisper, roughened by sleepless nights and the bad air. It's not anger that fills the space between you, nor outrage at the accusations levelled against him. It's fear. Quiet, honest fear. The fear of seeing doubt reflected in the eyes of someone he holds dear.

"I know what they're saying," Kaleb continues after strained silence, forcing out a brittle laugh that dies almost as quickly as it begins. "That I betrayed my kingdom. That I plotted against..." His jaw tightens, the final words catching painfully in his throat. "Against my own mother."

He closes his eyes for only a heartbeat before looking back at you, every carefully built wall around him beginning to fracture. "If you believe it too, I think that might be the one thing I couldn't survive."