Prologue
Prologue
The mountains of Kashmir had never looked so unforgiving.
Snow fell silently, covering the ground in white, as flashing blue and red lights painted the valley with chaos.
Soldiers rushed in every direction.
Paramedics wheeled stretchers through the crowd.
Someone shouted for reinforcements.
Someone else screamed a name.
But neither of them heard anything.
They only saw each other.
He stood there in an olive-green combat uniform, streaked with dust and blood, his rifle hanging loosely by his side.
She stood a few feet away in a white doctor's coat, stained with crimson, her hands trembling almost imperceptibly.
For a long moment...
Neither moved.
Neither spoke.
It was as if seventeen years had collapsed into a single heartbeat.
His eyes searched her face.
There was something achingly familiar about the woman standing before him.
A memory.
A voice.
A pair of eyes he had seen only in dreams.
His lips parted.
"...Who are you?"
The question shattered whatever strength she had left.
She smiled.
Not because she was happy.
But because she had finally found someone she thought she never would.
A cold wind swept between them.
One heartbeat.
Two.
Three.
Something glistened in her eyes.
She closed them.
Took a slow breath.
And opened them again.
Whatever had threatened to escape...
Didn't.
She looked at him one last time.
"You really don't remember..."
Her voice was barely audible.
"...do you?"
Before he could answer...
An explosion echoed through the valley.
The ground trembled beneath their feet.
Gunfire erupted from somewhere in the distance.
"Major!"
A soldier's desperate shout cut through the air.
"We're under attack!"
Training took over.
Siddharth instinctively turned toward the sound.
Just for a second.
Only a second.
When he looked back...
She was gone.
Vanished into the sea of frightened civilians, medics, and soldiers.
As though she had never been there at all.
He stood frozen.
His heartbeat refusing to slow.
He didn't know why...
But for the first time in seventeen years...
The little girl from his dreams had a face.
And somewhere beyond the smoke...
A woman walked away, whispering words no one was close enough to hear.
The mountains kept her secret.
For now.
