Prologue

All I've ever wanted was to be wanted - to be desired by someone, to be essential to someone. However, all my life, I have been a no one. When I entered the world, my mother left it, leaving me behind with my drunken father. I don't know if he has always been that way. As far as I knew him, he was always a drunk, wasting money on booze. That caused him to get into trouble, leading to big trouble. He took loans from people so that he could buy more booze, as I would hide some of his earnings for food. But my father would only borrow more and more money, putting him into debt. He was under a huge debt and he was being threatened to pay back. Having no money, he didn't know what to do.

Then I revealed to him the money I had hidden from him. It only earned me a beating and he simply wasted it on more booze. The man lived off of it, his mind only thinking of when he could have his next drink. It was the reason why he became known as the town drunk. But my father didn't care. He only thought of alcohol and getting money for his alcohol. He would do whatever it took for him to get money in his hands - pick-pocketing, begging.

Even selling his own daughter.

At the age of seven, my father sold me to Ichchha Baai. She was the owner of the only brothel in our town. The woman held power, people moving out of the way when they saw her palki. With the number of girls she had, she made as much money as the wealthy, even more than some. When my father had discovered this, he had ran over to her home and begged for money. The woman had denied him though, saying that she would never give money away to a drunkard like him.

And that was when he offered me.

My father sold me and I became hers. All relations were broken off and I was no longer his daughter. I now belonged to her, my Malkeen.

For years, she and her fellow ladies raised me. What once seemed a palace to me became known as my home. As I grew, I learned to sing and dance. My ankles would always be adorned with anklets, be it the bells I wore for when I danced, or the anklets Malkeen would gift to me.

As the years passed, I forgot about my father. Malkeen and Rita Baai were the closest things I knew to a mother. Payal, Seema, and Sheetal were the closest things I had to friends. As children, we were the best of friends, but as we got older, invisible walls formed between us. Though we would act as friends, it was clear that everyone was jealous of each other. At first, I wouldn't understand. I had always been nice to the girls, yet they would act behind my back.

But as I got older, I understood.

Payal was the best dancer, true to her name as her payals would clink. Seema mastered the art of seduction, surely to catch any man's attention. And Sheetal carried a lovely tune, her voice catching men, them floating to our doors to hear more.

And I knew nothing.

Rita Baai told me numerous times that I was wrong because I was a master of all three. But I never believed it. That's because when we turned eighteen and began our lessons, Malkeen allowed Payal, Seema, and Sheetal to perform starting their nineteenth birthday. However, I would have to wait until I was twenty one.

I was jealous. I would watch from above, watching the girls perform and taking men up to the rooms. Every time I would pass them, the girls would always ask me to do one of their chores, as they were too busy. It seemed like I had become a maid!

Which is why as my twenty first birthday comes nearer and nearer, I am getting more and more excited. Maybe once I begin performing, I'll be wanted by my audience. And maybe some day, I will be whisked away from here by my white knight in shining armor.

But what did I know that a white knight wasn't waiting for me, but a black one.