XLIX

                                    

                                          
Upon the dismissal of Noor's impromptu court session, Prem personally escorted her over to the room where she was to meet with Sevak and Nihal to catch up on everything she missed. They arrived well before the meeting time so Prem decided to wait with her, taking a seat on the velvet couch next to her.
They were silent for a while, staring at the floor over their hectic thoughts. Prem eventually reached for Noor's hand and took it in his warm hold.
Noor gave his hand an immensely affectionate squeeze.
"It ended a little too soon, didn't it?" Prem spoke up. "I was just starting to enjoy being the Queen's husband."
Noor smiled. "It always does end too soon for us." She whispered, looking up at him. "But thank you..."
"For what?" Prem asked in a similar lowered tone.
Noor shrugged. "For everything. For taking care of me so diligently after the accident, for being so...accommodating. For becoming my husband and putting up with all of my advances." Her eyes filled to the brim as she said the next words, "for turning your nephew into my son. Thank you."
Prem looked into her eyes. "Noor..." he brought his free hand to grab Noor's other hand as well and brought them both to his lips. Laying a tender kiss on her hands, he closed his eyes and whispered a prayer asking the universe to help him as he voices the next sentence. "Zorawar...is not my nephew."
Noor furrowed her eyebrows.
"He is...our son. YOUR son. The one you gave birth to five years ago." He whispered gently.
Noor's eyes widened and she stared at him shell shocked. An image of the burning hut in the dark ominous night flashed through her mind and she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Her mind replayed scenes of the bloody battlefield against Dara and then her marriage to Sher. Suddenly, she had trouble taking in air and throat felt like it was closing up. Her chest began moving in and out and her mouth panted to fight the shortness of breath. Within moments, darkness began to surround her field of vision.
Tears built up in Prem's eyes as he eagerly begged Noor stay with him. Connecting their foreheads, he cupped her face, requesting her softly to breathe. "Please baby, you can't do this all over again. Breathe." He pleaded, caressing the sides of her face, and changing the rhythm of his own breathing to become long and deep so she could follow along. "Breathe. I'm right here. I'm with you. You're safe. Our baby is safe. We're together. Just breathe."
Focusing her entire attention on Prem's calming words, Noor allowed the chaos of her panicking mind to be interrupted by his soothing voice. His determined caresses at her cheeks grounded her and she found light reentering her eyes. Opening her mouth, she heaved deeply to let her lungs get air again. She was unsuccessful. But Prem was relentless. He placed a hand onto her chest and looked into her eyes. "Slow...slow." He instructed softly. "On the count of three, breathe in with me." He requested tenderly. "One, two, three...breathe in." 
Noor took in a sharp inhale and air finally made it to her chest, swelling up her lungs. Prem sighed a breath of relief. "There you go." He spoke encouragingly, "now slowly let it out." Noor obeyed.
He continued guiding her through the next few breaths until she seemed to have regained control over her breathing again. Tears flooded down her cheeks as she processed his words prior to her panic attack and spoke up again, "Zora is mine...h...how is that even possible?" She stuttered.
"Sahiba bhuaji kept him hidden all these years. Rajjo raised him. That night they lied to you about his death. They were able to save him but making you Queen was more important, so they chose to hide him." Prem explained, wiping her cheeks clean of the tears that had slipped out.