Chapter 33-The Seventh Child
"You had six older siblings."
Vinaya glanced up.
Vikram had appeared again.
No document.
No excuse.
She noticed.
"You are making a habit of this."
"What?"
"Arriving with nothing."
"I can bring something tomorrow."
"That would ruin the experiment."
He smiled faintly.
Then sat.
They were in the garden this time.
Not Ganga's garden.
Not yet.
A smaller courtyard behind Vinaya's chambers.
She was embroidering badly.
Vikram watched for several moments.
"You are terrible at that."
Vinaya looked offended.
"I am adequate."
"No."
She laughed under her breath.
"Priya embroidered beautifully."
The sentence came out automatically.
Vikram froze.
So did Vinaya.
There it was.
The comparison.
Again.
He looked at the cloth.
Then at Vinaya.
"I am sorry."
She shrugged.
"It is true."
"That doesn't mean I needed to say it."
"No."
He hated how calmly she accepted it.
"How often did people compare you?"
Vinaya looked at him.
"To Priya?"
"To anyone."
Something changed in her expression.
"Why?"
"Because you never seem surprised by it."
She looked back at the embroidery.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then:
"Always."
Vikram waited.
Vinaya smiled faintly.
"Kalidas was the heir."
"Of course."
"Devyani was beautiful."
"I have met her."
"Everyone has noticed."
"Kaveri?"
"Music."
"Shailaja?"
"Everything."
Vikram raised an eyebrow.
"Everything?"
"She was exhausting."
That made him laugh.
"Uma?"
"Charm."
"Abhimanyu?"
"Trouble."
"Not an accomplishment."
"He made it one."
Vikram smiled.
Then his expression softened.
"And you?"
Vinaya's needle stopped.
"There was no 'and me.'"
He frowned.
"What does that mean?"
She shrugged.
"It means everyone already had something."
"That is not how people work."
"It is when you are seven."
Vikram said nothing.
Vinaya looked toward the fountain.
"When I was little, I tried everything."
"Singing?"
"Kaveri was better."
"Dancing?"
"Uma."
"Debate?"
"Shailaja destroyed me at twelve."
Vikram almost smiled.
Vinaya continued.
"I tried riding."
"Abhimanyu?"
"He fell off twice and still looked more impressive than I did."
That did make Vikram laugh.
Vinaya smiled.
Then it faded.
"Eventually I stopped trying to be noticed."
"Why?"
"Because I was tired."
Her voice changed.
Softer.
"Do you know what it feels like to walk into a room and already know you are the least interesting person there?"
Vikram stared at her.
"No."
Vinaya looked at him.
"Of course you don't."
There was no cruelty in it.
Only truth.
"You were Crown Prince from birth."
"Yes."
"People noticed when you entered."
"I suppose."
"They rarely noticed when I left."
The words cut deeper than Vikram expected.
Vinaya traced the embroidery.
"I don't think my family meant to make me feel small."
"I know."
"I loved them."
"I know."
"But when everyone you love is extraordinary, eventually ordinary starts feeling like failure."
Vikram looked at her.
Ordinary.
The word angered him.
"You are not ordinary."
Vinaya gave him a tired look.
"Please don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Decide I am secretly extraordinary now because you feel guilty."
He went still.
She looked away.
Vikram swallowed.
"I do feel guilty."
"I know."
"But that is not why I said it."
Vinaya said nothing.
He thought of the trade ledgers.
The quiet observations.
The way she had held Ganga.
The way she had stood against him when he told her the cruelest thing he had ever said.
The way she had survived him.
"You notice things everyone else misses."
Vinaya's eyes lifted.
"You understand people."
She looked uncomfortable.
"You are kind without being foolish."
"Vikram—"
"You are braver than you think."
Her lips parted.
He stopped.
Then something terrible occurred to him.
She had spent twenty years thinking she was the forgettable child.
And then she had married him.
A man who barely looked at her.
A man who called her another woman's name.
A man who made her feel invisible in her own marriage.
His voice dropped.
"I made it worse."
Vinaya went still.
"I did not know what you had spent your whole life believing about yourself."
She looked down.
"But I proved it to you."
Her eyes filled.
Vikram's throat tightened.
"I am sorry."
For once, she did not tell him apologies changed nothing.
She simply nodded.
He sat beside her for a long time.
Then, very quietly, Vikram asked:
"What else don't I know about you?"