My father had once invited a Chinese merchant into our home and told me to wear my most beautiful gown.
That was the first sign I was being sold.
Or perhaps it had begun even earlier, when my mother whispered that marriage should be about love, not politics.
To understand how I ended up here, betrayed and betrothed, you must return with me to my homeland.
To Bharat.
It was midnight when I awoke to a strange swaying beneath me, something not usual for my bed. I blinked, groggy, trying to make sense of the faint lanterns casting dim light around the pungent-smelling mattress. I was on a ship. How I came to be here, I didn't know.
Through a small window, I could see the moonlight dyeing the black sky a soft shade of indigo. I had always looked to the moon when I woke in the middle of the night.
Except this time, I was not at home.
Suddenly, the door creaked open. The same Chinese man who had stared at me earlier, the one my father had been so eager to introduce me to, stepped in.
"We are almost there," he said coldly. "Put these on. We are to be wed once we reach China."
China.
That's where we were going.
Far from my home. Far from my country.
My chest tightened, panic setting in like a noose. No. I cannot let this happen. I will not let this happen.
To be married off was my worst fear. But to be kidnapped for it?
My heart thudded louder with every second. I needed a plan. An escape.
I was still dressed in my saree from Bharat, too distinct, too easy to identify. The clothes he handed me were extravagant, meant to draw eyes. I had to find something else.
Then came a flicker of hope. A servant entered, he was a man. And I... I could use that.
Few women worked aboard such ships. If I dressed like him, maybe, just maybe, I could escape unnoticed.
As he bent over to pour water and arrange food, I acted.
Silently, I took part of my saree and wrapped it tightly around his neck. I didn't want to kill him. He was only a servant, a pawn like me. I held him just long enough for him to lose consciousness.
I undressed him, quickly pulling his clothes onto myself, then laid his limp body on the mattress, draped the blankets over him, and turned his face to the wall. From a glance, it would seem I was still there.
Now, to disguise myself. Assuming the entire crew was Chinese, I couldn't risk being recognized. I tore a strip of cloth and wrapped it around my face, leaving only my eyes visible. Then, I coughed, harsh and deliberate. If I pretended to be ill, no one would question the mask.
The sun had begun to rise. The once-distant shoreline was now so close I could make out individual trees. My time was running out.
I slipped out of the chamber and made my way above deck.
But fate wasn't done testing me.
He was there, the man who kidnapped me. The one who had dragged me into this nightmare.
"You useless scum!" he barked. "What are you doing up here? Get below and clean up before I throw you overboard to rot with the rats!"
His words stung, but I didn't falter.
"Master," I croaked, muffling my voice, "I am ill. I don't wish to infect the rest of the crew."
Then I coughed again. Loud, pitiful.
He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing more.
He believed me.
I walked off that ship and stepped onto solid ground, feeling, for the briefest of moments, free. Free from the men who tried to clip my wings and lock me in a cage.
But freedom, I would soon learn, was an illusion.
Because the land I had stepped into was only another prison, waiting patiently for me to fall into its trap.
The land called China.
And the second cage in my story.