The scent of jasmine was supposed to bring peace, but tonight, it only reminded Meera of everything she had lost.

The village of Sitapur was usually asleep by this hour, nestled quietly on the outer borders of the great kingdom of Samundrgadh. It was a simple place, filled with simple people who lived by the changing of the seasons and the mercy of the gods. But in the small, mud-brick home at the edge of the woods, there was no peace. There was only a suffocating, heavy silence.