The winter sun was bright but the air inside the grand Haveli remained cold and quiet. Veer stood on the high stone balcony of his private study looking down at the massive courtyard below. As the thirty-one-year-old Thakur Zamindar his mornings always started very early. He had already finished his prayers and his mind was completely focused on the heavy responsibilities of ruling the vast lands.

Down in the courtyard his three-year-old son Kabir was playing in the soft winter sunlight. The little boy was the absolute center of Veer’s hidden world. Kabir was running around a small flower bed laughing as he tried to catch a colorful butterfly. He looked so small against the ancient towering walls of the estate. Veer watched his son silently from above his stern face softening for just a brief moment. He remembered his late wife and the heavy promise he made to protect this child from the harsh realities of the village and his political enemies.