“I’m sorry,” Shoban said, heading back to the door, “I just needed some air. I didn’t know there was anyone here. And please, it’s okay.” She pointed at the hand her sister-in-law—what on earth was her name?—was holding behind her back. “I won’t tell anyone.”

The woman, who was ridiculously beautiful and still in the bright blue-and-gold sari she had worn to the wedding, smiled, and moved her hand from behind her, exposing the slim cigarette between her fingers.

“I’m Mina,” she said kindly, holding up the cigarette before taking a deep puff. “I do it only occasionally.” She waved the cigarette with the elegance of a . . . well . . . a film star. “The palace stresses me out. It’s a lot, isn’t it?”

“I’d say,” Shoban said, turning around. “How do you deal with it?”

Mina laughed and raised the cigarette again. “Reinforcements. You want a puff?”

“I . . . I don’t know how.”

“You put it in your mouth like this, like a whistle, and you breathe gently. You don’t have to. I don’t want to be a bad influence.”

Shoban took the offering and placed it between her lips. It was slightly wet, and she felt completely surreal standing in the bright moonlight with a cigarette between her lips. But if anything was going to take the edge off how she was feeling, she was going for it. She inhaled, then, afraid of bursting into a coughing fit, exhaled quickly.

“Wow, you sure you’ve never done this before?”

“Should I have pretended to cough, to make sure you believed I was a good girl?”

Mina—the name suited her—laughed. “Pro tip: a ‘good girl’ would not have taken the ciggie in the first place. She’d have said, ‘No, thank you.’” She said that last part in a high-pitched falsetto while blinking vapidly.

For the first time in days Shoban heard her own laugh. “And she would have stared down at her toes.” Shoban stared at her toes coyly, making Mina laugh. She took the “ciggie” back and took another puff.

Mina lit another one.

“What if we get caught?” Shoban asked.

“Shree is standing guard downstairs. He won’t let anyone up. This is the Secret Balcony of Sin. Apparently, our husbands used it to get into all sorts of mischief.”

Our husbands. Shoban sucked the smoke all the way into her lungs this time and did break into a cough, but she also felt light-headed, which felt good right about now.

Mina thumped her back.

“Shree doesn’t mind?” Shoban asked to avoid the curious gaze Mina was giving her.

“He does. He’s a doctor. So he isn’t a fan of the risk factors. But it’s my body and I only do it a few times a year.”

“He sounds like he’s really nice.” Suddenly she missed Omar so much she squeezed her arms around herself.