Page 40 of Married in Deceit

Veda stayed silent, her chest heaving. Guruma walked forward coming to a stop in front of Veda, her gimlet eyes boring into her. Veda held it, her own gaze steady.

“Big lady you’ve become now?” Guruma taunted, her voice soft and silky. “Married to a big man and all. But that is not going to make you a big dancer. Practice, shraddha, and relentless discipline. Only that will. Understand?”

Veda stared at her, a strange sense of mutiny rising in her chest.

“Did you understand?” Guruma’s voice cracked like a whip. All around her, dancers startled. Veda stayed silent, steady as a rock.

Guruma’s lips thinned to a flat line with displeasure. “Everybody out.”

Veda moved towards the door, along with the others.

“Except you.”

Veda stilled. With one last, longing look at the door, she stayed back as the rest of the dancers filed out the door. Nobody looked back. She didn’t blame them.

“Do I need to replace you?” Guruma asked abruptly.

Veda’s eyes flew to her teacher’s. “W-w-what?” she stammered.

“Do I need to replace you?”

“Because of one practice?” Veda’s voice rose as agitation spiked within her. “Guruma, you know I deserve the lead. I’ve been learning Bharatnatyam from you since I was six years old. I’ve earned this spot.”

“Yes. Yes.” The older woman shook her head dismissively, the diamond nose studs in both her nostrils gleaming under the overhead lights. “And then you got married.”

Veda’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that the problem?” Or was whom she married the problem, she wondered. Why hadn’t she foreseen this? She’d been too busy weaving shaky castles in the air, that’s why, she thought derisively.

“The problem is that you married into a family that is going to expect you to produce soon.”

“Produce?”

“Don’t be an idiot, girl. You have to produce the next generation heir no? And soon.”

A sudden vision of herself pressed up against a glass window as Agastya pushed into her flashed through her mind and Veda flushed. She took a shaky step away from her Guru, wiping a hand across her sweaty face.

“That won’t happen,” she told the older woman. “We aren’t planning for a family right now.”

“Does he know that? Your husband?”

He did, didn’t he? She heard the crinkle of foil wrapper on their wedding night just before he pushed into her. He’d used protection and he hadn’t touched her since…so yeah, she was sure he knew that.

“Yes,” she answered. “He does.”

“Okay then let’s talk about focus.”

“Focus?” The sudden change in topic was disconcerting.

“Your focus.” Guruma walked over to the wall and switched a few lights off. The hall was blanketed in a welcome dimness, giving Veda’s flushed face an illusion of privacy. “Where is it? It’s definitely not on your craft.”

Veda stayed silent, the truth of that statement striking her conscience. She’d been so consumed by Agastya, by her wedding, and by her new reality, that she’d forgotten all about the one thing that had always brought her joy – dance.

“I’m sorry,” she said humbly, her gaze on her feet.

“You may have earned your spot, Veda,” Guruma said, ignoring her useless apology. “But you can lose it just as easily. We are performing before the Prime Minister of the country for Independence Day. It is the performance of a lifetime. Whether it’s your lifetime or Keerthana’s, that’s in your hands.”

“I’m a better dancer than Keerthana,” she protested.

“But she’s single and committed,” Guruma returned.

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