Love.
At leastthey fought.At leastthey faced each other with flames.At leastthey had not preferred the darkness of indifference.
And it was with this knowledge that Gauri reached for his name. The paper melded to her fingers, turning into a necklace that she then strung around her neck. The enchantment of his name burned cold against her throat, and she welcomed it. For a moment, it was as if his hands were at her shoulders, her back pulled against his chest. She tilted her head to one side, and felt the ghost of his stubble against her neck, his cheek pressed to hers.
The memory of a fight that had not come to pass still burned. She still fizzed with anger even as she walked out of that grove, and indignation chased her footsteps. But she welcomed this.
She welcomed notknowingwhat would happen next.
She welcomed this because what she knew was worth any unknown.
Gauri looked around her. The grove was still teeming with people. Some of them grabbed at the names, refusing to look at the contents, before sprinting down the line of trees and disappearing into what could only be the exit of the gate. Others hung the names back onto the branches, though a touch mournfully. But most people just stood there. Frozen. Holding the contents of a future that seemed a warped reflection of the present, and weighing its worth.
She did not wait to see what they would decide.
The horse, Kamala, had promised that it would find her no matter which side she chose.
Gauri started walking. She walked past the shade of strange branches, and past the names that called out to her, some of them sullenly and some of them longingly:ManoshandIlavati, YasminandSavitri.
Eventually, the grove of names gave way to a barren expanse. There was no light, and yet it was not dark. Overhead, no constellations whispered of destiny. No clouds bore witness to the battlegrounds of her own heart. She left behind this gate with no ceremony and once more found herself staring at the edge of another hall.
At the entrance of the threshold, Gauri felt Vikram’s name burning at her throat.
It was as if this act—of taking his name regardless of what she had seen and carrying it over this threshold—worked a magic of its own. In her mind’s eye, a new scenario bloomed, one that had all the immediacy of just happening.
And in it, she saw the aftermath of their quarrel, and her heart broke.
***
The Garden of Swords and Sweets had been delicately uprooted and placed in a reclusive spiral far from the eyes of the courtiers. Vikram may not have verbally spoken to her in days, but the garden served as its own missive. Every day, fresh sweets dangled from the trees, painstakingly knitted in gossamer bags so as not to draw the attention of hungry insects or clever birds. A dagger with a jeweled hilt had “grown” near the foot of an acacia tree, and in a bramble of purple berries, Gauri found an arrow quiver ornamented in chased silver.
But he did not seek her out at night, even though the door to the bedroom was kept a demure width ajar. And he chose to take his meals alone. Even when they held court, he did not acknowledge her any more than he would a potted plant standing in his path. No longer did he furtively brush his thumb over her knuckles. He did not catch her eye and grin slyly until her thread of thought or conversation was entirely broken.
He was the picture of decorum and distance.
The very embodiment of what she had asked.
And Gauri hated it.
Every day she walked past the garden he had built her, and every day a new restlessness reared up to join the restlessness of the past. Vikram’s message was clear:
Your move.
Very well, she thought.
Gauri planned in secret. This plan made her skin itch. She did notdothings like this. She could barely bring herself to compliment her own reflection out loud, and yet she suspected that Vikram would not accept anything less than a raw piece of her heart.
Nearly a week of full silence between them had passed when she cornered him in the hall one evening. The moonlight danced through the cut stones of their residential quarters. He froze, looking this way and that before he realized it.
“Did… did you trap me?” he asked. He might be angry with her, but he couldn’t quite hide that he was reluctantly impressed.
“Yes.”
“Someone told me they had found an ancient scroll and strange light was pouring off the pages.”
“Someone answers to the bribery of royalty,” said Gauri, shrugging.
“Bribery?”repeated Vikram. “The oh-so-noble-my-own-shadow-refuses-to-fraternize-with-other-shadows queen resorted to cheap bribery?”
