Naira limped through the graveyard, her feet bare, mud clinging to her ankles. The wind was cold and sharp like Whispers made of knives.
Raghuveer floated beside her.
Yes, floated.
His feet didn't touch the ground. His shadow didn't follow him. And his umbrella didn't move with the wind.
"Can we start with the part where I'm dead? She asked. "That feels like a pretty big plot twist."
Raghuveer sipped his chai and offered her a thermos.
"You'll want this. Being half - dead makes you cold."
She took it out of sheer confusion. The chai was hot, sweet and spiced. Comforting, despite her current condition.
"You were poisoned at your wedding." Raghuveer said, as casually as someone reading from a grocery list. "The ceremony was half way through when you collapsed. Heart stopped. Tongue black. Classic betrayal."
"Who did it?"
" That's the function part,"he banned.
"You have to find out."
She stopped walking." Are you very?"
"Always, I'm a licensed afterlife matchmaker and part-time investigator of spiritual crimes. Think of me as your wedding therapist - slash - graveyard, life coach."
She groaned. " This is a dream. Or a coma or a really niche horror rom-com."
Raghuveer grinned. "Exactly."
Naira looked down at herself. Her once beautiful lehenga a was now torn and stained, crawling with ghostly lace that shimmered faintly in moonlight. She touched her face - cold pale, but no rot. Not yet.
" How long have I been dead?"
"Three days, two hours, seventeen minutes. Roughly."
Her mind span. " May family? The guests? My groom?"
"Still alive, well, most of them."
She narrowed her eyes. " Did he Aditya - poison me?"
Raghuveer's smile dimmed. " I can't tell you. Interference from agents of the afterlife is strictly forbidden. You need to figuyit out by midnight on the sevenyday."
She crossed her arms. "And if I don't?"
He pointed behind her.
She turned.
The grave she crawled out of now had a fresh marble headstone. Her name was carved into it
NAIRA RAIKHWAR- CHATTERJEE 1997?
The death date glitched.
Raghuveer's voice was soft now. "You'll become permanent property of the veiled Realm. Your soul will be recycled into a bride spirit."
She shuddered. " Bride spirit?"
He nodded gravely. "The land of lost Brides. It's.... not repeat forever."
A ghost of wind blew, and for a moment, Naira sword she heard the faint strains of a sangeet song on reverse.
She cleaned her fists.
"No, I'm not ending up in some cursed wedding Limbo. I want answers I want my life back."
"But I don't have powers. Or a baby."
"You have both, he corrected.
"Sort of. You're in a transition state. You can be seen by the living - if you choose. You can move things - if you focus. Think of yourself as a glitch in the system."
."And what do I do first?"
He tossed her a shimmering card. It read :
RULE ONE: Trust No One
RULE TWO : Nothing Is What It Seems.
RULE THREE : Love May Be The Key or the curse.
Beneath it, handwriting in ink:
Start where your heart died.
Return to the wedding house
Naira looked up, eyes blazing with new fire.
"Take me back to my in-y."
Raghuveer smirked. " Now you're acting like a proper ghost bride.