Chapter 23-Exiled
"You have lost your mind."
Lakshmidevi rarely shouted.
Tonight she did.
Vikram stood before his parents.
Ranveer and Balram were there too.
Every face condemned him.
"There is a royal residence in Devagarh," Vikram said.
"Two days away," Ranveer snapped.
"It is comfortable."
Balram laughed bitterly.
"How generous."
"Enough."
"No," Lakshmidevi said. "Not enough."
Her eyes burned.
"You rejected your wife. You rejected your daughter. And now you want them out of your sight because their existence makes you uncomfortable?"
Vikram flinched.
"That isn't what I said."
"It is exactly what you said."
Amarendra spoke quietly.
"Why?"
Vikram looked away.
Because seeing Ganga hurt.
Because seeing Vinaya love her made him remember Priya.
Because every smile made him feel guilty.
Because every breath his daughter took reminded him that his son had never taken one.
"I need distance."
Lakshmidevi stared at him in disbelief.
"They are your family."
"I know."
"No," she whispered. "I don't think you do."
Vinaya received the order the following morning.
She did not cry.
That surprised everyone.
She simply listened.
"When?"
The steward hesitated.
"Tomorrow, Your Highness."
Vinaya nodded.
Parvati burst into tears.
"This is wrong."
"I know."
"You can refuse."
"No."
"Why not?"
Vinaya looked down at Ganga sleeping in her arms.
"Because I will not raise her in a palace where her father wishes she were somewhere else."
Parvati's face crumpled.
Vinaya kissed Ganga's head.
"I will not beg him."
Vikram came to the courtyard when they left.
He had not intended to.
Yet there he stood.
Vinaya entered the carriage holding Ganga.
She looked at him once.
No anger.
No plea.
Nothing.
Ganga was awake.
Vikram could see her round face through the open carriage window.
For one second, he considered approaching.
Holding her.
Kissing her.
Saying something.
Anything.
Then pride, guilt and fear held him still.
The carriage moved.
Ganga looked out through the window.
Her tiny hand slapped against the frame.
Vikram watched until the carriage disappeared beyond the gate.
He did not know it yet.
But that was the last time he would ever see his daughter alive.