Chapter 46-The Falling Stone
Vinaya had discovered that being Crown Princess involved an unreasonable amount of mud.
No one had mentioned this before her marriage.
Royal portraits showed jewelled women beneath silk canopies. Court poets wrote about moonlit gardens, sandalwood, pearls and lotus ponds.
They never mentioned muddy roads.
"I have ruined another pair."
Vikram looked down from his horse.
"At least the mud has good taste."
Vinaya stared at him.
He pointed toward her slippers.
"It chose the expensive ones."
"You are very amusing."
"I've been told."
"By whom?"
"My mother."
"That doesn't count."
Vikram laughed.
It was a sound Vinaya had come to recognize from a distance.
She had also, although she would never admit it to him, learned how to cause it deliberately.
They were returning from a cluster of villages near Krishnagiri's northern hills. Vinaya had accompanied him to inspect a new irrigation channel and meet local merchants regarding grain prices.
Six months earlier, she would never have imagined herself sitting before village elders explaining trade levies.
Now she had spent half the morning arguing with a landholder twice her age.
And won.
Vikram had remained silent throughout.
Only afterward had he murmured, "Remind me never to negotiate with you."
Vinaya had secretly carried the compliment all afternoon.
The royal party followed a narrow mountain road on the return journey.
A cliff rose to their right. Dense forest fell away on their left.
Recent rains had softened the earth.
Vikram looked toward the sky.
"We should increase our pace."
Vinaya glanced upward.
"Storm?"
"Possibly."
Ranveer, riding several lengths behind them, called, "There is a shelter ahead."
Vikram nodded.
They continued.
Vinaya was telling him about the village school when Vikram suddenly stopped listening.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He looked upward.
Vinaya followed his gaze.
Pebbles were tumbling down the slope.
One struck the road.
Then another.
"Move."
Vinaya frowned.
"What—"
A cracking sound came from above.
Someone shouted.
"HIGHNESS!"
Vinaya looked up.
A boulder had broken loose.
Everything happened at once.
Horses screamed.
Guards scattered.
Vinaya's mare reared.
She lost her balance.
"Vinaya!"
Vikram was already moving.
He threw himself from his horse and reached her just as she fell.
His arms caught her.
They hit the ground.
"Vikram—"
"MOVE!"
He shoved her.
Hard.
Vinaya rolled across the road.
For one furious second she thought he had lost his mind.
Then she heard it.
The terrible grinding roar of stone.
She looked up.
"Vikram!"
He turned.
Too late.
The boulder struck the ground near him, splintering into smaller rock and debris. One heavy fragment slammed into Vikram's side and shoulder.
He disappeared beneath the cloud of dust.
"VIKRAM!"
Vinaya scrambled to her feet.
Someone grabbed her.
"Your Highness!"
"Let go!"
"The rocks—"
"LET ME GO!"
She tore free.
Dust filled her lungs.
"Vikram!"
No answer.
Ranveer reached him first.
"Brother!"
Vinaya dropped beside them.
Vikram lay on the road.
Still.
There was blood at his temple.
His shoulder was twisted unnaturally beneath him.
"Vikram?"
She touched his face.
Nothing.
Her heart stopped.
"No."
Ranveer pressed his fingers to Vikram's throat.
Vinaya could barely breathe.
"Ranveer?"
He said nothing.
"Ranveer!"
"I have it."
"What?"
"A pulse."
Vinaya nearly collapsed.
"Vikram."
She touched his cheek.
"Open your eyes."
Nothing.
The guards lifted the stone fragment away.
Someone shouted for a litter.
Someone else called for the physician traveling with the party.
Vinaya heard none of it properly.
All she could see was Vikram.
The man who had once made her wish she could disappear.
The man who had broken her.
The man who had spent months patiently putting pieces back together without ever demanding she forgive him for breaking them.
The man who had just thrown himself between her and a falling stone.
"Why did you do that?"
Her voice cracked.
She already knew the answer.
Because whatever else had once been true between them—
Vikram loved her.
She had spent so long doubting him that she had never considered what it would feel like to live in a world where he was suddenly gone.
Now she knew.
Unbearable.
"Vikram."
She squeezed his hand.
"Please."
Nothing.
Ranveer looked toward the physician.
The man's face was grim.
"We must get him back immediately."
"Will he wake?"
"I cannot promise—"
Vinaya grabbed the physician's arm.
"Will. He. Wake?"
"I don't know, Your Highness."
The world tilted.
They placed Vikram onto the litter.
His hand slipped from hers.
Vinaya caught it again.
She would not let go.
Not now.
Not after everything.
"I'm here."
His fingers remained limp.
Vinaya walked beside the litter all the way back.
And for the first time since she had become his wife, Vikram did not get up and follow her.