Chapter 9-The Woman Everyone Pities
Vinaya made it back to her chambers before she cried.
That counted as a victory.
A small one.
She closed the doors.
Dismissed her attendants.
Then stood alone in the center of the room.
The prince's unwanted wife.
It was accurate.
That was what made it unbearable.
She sat at her writing desk.
There was a letter from Samudrapuri waiting to be answered.
Her mother had written:
Are you happy?
Vinaya had been avoiding that sentence for two days.
She dipped her pen in ink.
Dear Mother,
Krishnagiri is beautiful.
She stopped.
Tore the page.
Started again.
Dear Mother,
Everyone has been very kind.
Another lie.
Not everyone.
She tore that page too.
Eventually, Vinaya wrote nothing.
How could she tell her family?
Devyani would arrive with murder in her eyes.
Abhimanyu might actually attempt to duel Vikram.
Her father would demand she come home.
And perhaps that should have comforted her.
Instead, shame kept her silent.
She had chosen this.
Hadn't she?
The next morning, Ranveer found her in the library.
"You missed breakfast."
"I wasn't hungry."
"You are becoming disturbingly similar to my brother."
Vinaya looked up.
"That was unnecessarily cruel."
He smiled.
Then noticed her eyes.
"Who?"
Vinaya closed the book.
"What?"
"Who upset you?"
"No one."
"Vinaya."
She sighed.
"Do all of you suffer from an inability to accept simple answers?"
"Yes."
He sat opposite her.
For several moments, she resisted.
Then quietly:
"Do people pity me?"
Ranveer's expression changed.
"Who said something?"
"That is not an answer."
He looked down.
Vinaya laughed without humour.
"Everyone does."
"No."
"Most."
"Vinaya—"
"It's all right."
"It isn't."
"What would you have them think?"
Ranveer had no response.
"I married your brother almost a month ago. He has never visited my room. Half the palace knows we haven't..."
She stopped, embarrassed.
Ranveer mercifully finished the thought only in silence.
Vinaya looked at the shelves.
"I knew he didn't love me."
"That doesn't mean he gets to humiliate you."
"He isn't doing it deliberately."
Ranveer's expression hardened.
"Sometimes my brother's greatest talent is causing pain without bothering to notice he's doing it."
Vinaya looked at him.
There was affection in Ranveer's anger.
And disappointment.
"You love him."
"He raised half of us."
That surprised her.
"Really?"
"Father was king. Always busy. Vikram taught Balram to ride. He sat outside Parvati's room for two nights when she had fever because she was afraid to sleep. He once carried Kalyani halfway across the palace after she hurt her ankle."
Vinaya tried to reconcile that man with her husband.
"What happened to him?"
Ranveer looked toward the window.
"Priya died."
Three words.
Enough.
That afternoon, Parvati and Kalyani invaded Vinaya's chamber with fabric samples.
"You need winter clothes," Parvati announced.
"I own clothes."
"Samudrapuri clothes."
"They cover the same parts."
Kalyani burst out laughing.
Vinaya looked pleased with herself.
Parvati pointed at her.
"That. More of that."
"More of what?"
"You."
Vinaya's smile faltered.
Parvati sat beside her.
"Do you know what I remember most about Priya?"
Vinaya stiffened.
Then hated herself for doing so.
"What?"
"She never tried to be liked."
Kalyani nodded.
"It was actually exhausting."
Parvati smiled.
"She argued with everyone."
"Especially Vikram."
"Especially Vikram."
Vinaya looked down.
Parvati touched her arm.
"You don't have to be her."
"I know."
"No. I mean you don't have to become louder. Or reckless. Or anything else."
Vinaya met her eyes.
Parvati smiled.
"We like you."
Something warm and painful filled Vinaya's chest.
Kalyani added, "Balram likes you too much. He says your sweets are better than ours."
"That is because they are."
Parvati gasped.
"Traitor."
For the next hour, Vinaya laughed.
Really laughed.
It felt strange.
Almost disloyal to her own unhappiness.
Later that evening, she walked alone through the western wing.
She rarely came here now.
Priya's chambers were nearby.
Vinaya usually avoided them.
Tonight she had taken a wrong staircase.
Again.
She stopped when she recognized the corridor.
The carved doors stood at the far end.
Closed.
Vinaya should turn around.
She did.
Then she heard something.
A man's voice.
She froze.
Vikram.
He was speaking inside Priya's room.
Vinaya couldn't make out the words.
Then another sound came.
Laughter.
Vikram's laughter.
Not the restrained amusement she occasionally heard at family dinners.
This was warmer.
Young.
Almost carefree.
Vinaya stared at the closed door.
Who was in there?
Her heartbeat quickened.
She knew she should leave.
This was private.
None of her concern.
Then Vikram laughed again.
And a woman's voice followed.
Vinaya stopped breathing.
For one impossible moment, the dead woman's chambers sounded alive.
She stepped toward the door.
One step.
Then another.
Her hand hovered inches from the carved wood.
And from the other side came Vikram's voice, softer than she had ever heard it with his living wife.
"Priya..."
Vinaya went cold.