I was twenty years old when Hamida Bano, the Padshah Begum, supreme wife of the Emperor, entrusted her infant prince to my arms before fleeing across the Thar desert. Her opium-addled husband, steeped in the luxury of his harem, had no defense against Sher Shah Suri’s advancing armies, which squeezed Agra like a coal between tongs. The Sur Empire then settled its traitorous haunches on North India, and Hamida Bano, trailing her husband’s camel, trekked across the blistering desert, while I, still a young concubine, nursed the boy who would inherit the throne. | Copyright 2021 by Kehkashan Khalid. Narrated by Justine Eyre.
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Kehkashan Khalid | The Petticoat Government | FANTASY MAGAZINE - Fantasy Story Podcast (Audiobook | Short Stories) - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
