The Crown in the Storm ✔️

And it all fell down...

I massaged my head as we drove back to the castle. The trip to the cancer hospital had emotionally drained me. Watching children fight their way through such a deadly disease had me questioning my own strength. I looked to my left to see Zaroon ruffling through some papers, his eyes fixed on the pages in front of him.

Ammi Jaan was supposed to join me for this trip since the castle paid a percentage of the hospital's expenditure but she had opted out at the last minute. I closed my eyes trying not to let it get to me. The visit had shaken me more than any of the others I had done so far.

"You okay?" Zaroon muttered. I nodded, my eyes still closed. "It was a lot to take in"

"That's their reality" I whispered. He sighed and turned to look at me.

"I keep forgetting this is new to you but Elena, you can't take everything like this... it'll break you"

"Like what?"

"To heart" I whipped my head to give him an incredulous look.

"I can't turn it off Zaroon"

"And that's what we want. That's great, but you can not torture yourself. You have to learn to contain it"

"I saw children who might be dying..."

"And there's nothing you can do about it. Can you? We're lucky... lots of people are not" I huffed. "Think of the ones who are not. Remember the kids you met yesterday"

"You want me to use this as motivation?"

"What else can you do? You can not masochistic about this. Otherwise, it'll tear you apart" a loud ping distracted me from the conversation. I unlocked my phone to see 2 messages, one from Maryam and the other from Rania.

I opened Maryam's message first. After our first meeting at Izzy's wedding,  I had thought about asking her to draft a new tax system for the city. Now that Feroze, was hopefully, going to be Prime Minister, I had the chance of getting the tax plan implemented. I had contacted her a week ago and now she had sent me the initial tax proposal for the city that would then be applied to the rest of the province. I looked over it, satisfied. Putting it on my list of things to discuss with Feroze, I opened Rania's message.

'Come home'

Worried, I checked the time stamp. It had been sent a minute ago.

"Rania wants us to come home?"

"Hmm... does she say why?" I shook my head and he frowned taking his phone out. "I got her message too..." he trailed off as we both stared outside our windows. We were driving up the main driveway only to be blocked by hundreds of people standing in front of the gate holding different banners.

"Release the New Revolutionaries"

"Freedom of political association"

"Down with the Elites"

"What is going on?" Zaroon asked over the phone. "Would we need an escort? How many...? Okay" I stared at him, waiting for his answer.

"They're... mixed. The New Revolutionaries plus people who found out about Uncle Ehsan."

"He's on bail though. He went to court"

"Exactly, normal people stay in jails..." I flashbacked to the sign I had seen outside. The elites, I shuddered to think about what this new storm would do to us.

"Feroze is back, he's in the castle" I sighed in relief. At least that was one problem I did not have to worry about. The car crawled towards the castle and I typed out texts to Feroze and Sameer. Things would have to move fast. We did not have enough time.

"I don't have a plan" Feroze growled. We were seated in the main library. Ammi Jaan and Uncle EJ were fielding calls from our allies upstairs. Rania and I were tasked with the joyful job of making sure Feroze did not freak out. I glared at him. He stared back his shoulders tense.

"What are you campaigning on?" Rania asked, her voice hard.

"Changing the country for the better. And every time I come up with that, a reporter asks, well what about your Uncle Ehsan?"

"You know his case is in court"

"I know that. They know that... but it's not enough. I could lose seats, potential allies"

"You won't. The seats are locked. The main question, however, is about the angry crowd that wants my head. Why are the New Revolutionaries here?" I demanded of Naila. She shrunk back. I saw Feroze's astonished expression and bit back a smile.

"Daddy said... he said that we didn't need political instability. It's not him Elena. He would never jeopardize the election, not so close"

"Then who is it?" I nearly screamed out from frustration. She shook her head.

"What about your plan to weasel the guy out?" Feroze asked.

I shook my head and he collapsed on the chair. A knock sounded on the door. We fixed our expressions as Uncle Azhar and Danial walked in.

"Begum Sahiba is expecting you," Uncle Azhar said his face blank. Oh no... Ammi Jaan was not going to be happy. Dejected, I nodded and got up. Feroze gave me a sympathetic smile and turned to talk to Danial.

I walked beside Uncle Azhar, quiet.

"How was your holiday?" I asked after a while. He was my future father-in-law, the least I could do was be polite.

"It was good. I needed the break" I nodded distractedly. "Are you okay Begum Sahiba?"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking"

"Zaroon told me you could not take the stress and fainted yesterday" could not take the stress? Why would Zaroon word it like that? "It's not easy being a leader... " Was he insulting me?

"Of course not, the position comes with immense responsibility"

"You're right. It's so strange, I have seen you grow up, away from the limelight, yet you seem to be a natural"

"Ah, that means a lot from someone like you. You've been an invaluable asset to this family, Uncle Azhar. Abba always spoke very highly of you"

"Which is why, with great regret, I have to do this...." I turned around to face him.

"What do you mean...?" I felt a pinch on my arm and I gasped. Slowly, my legs started to buckle under my weight and I crashed down on the floor. My eyes widened in fear when I realized that I could not control any of my limbs. I could not move but I was conscious. My mouth would not move. I could not form any words. Betrayal rushed through my body. Tears of frustration seeped from the corner of my eyes. I had no control over my body. I was helpless.

"I'm sorry, but you've caused enough trouble... it's time to end this now"

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