‘It happened on December the twenty-third, 1912. I’ll never forget the date because he was sitting on an elephant following immediately behind the Viceroy at the head of a procession. My mother and I were so proud. Delhi was going to take over from Calcutta as the centre of British Government, and this was the day the Viceroy made his ceremonial state entry into the city.’
Jay was looking at her very intently and his eyes had darkened. ‘Go on.’
She prepared to answer calmly. ‘Somebody threw a bomb. My mother and I were standing on our balcony watching. I saw my father slump over and when I ran down to the street, I found out that the bomb had killed him.’ She paused and he reached out a hand to her.
‘It was my fault. I’d asked him to stop and wave at me. If I hadn’t done that … Anyway, I went to him and threw my arms around him. I told him I loved him. For many years I pretended to myself he had heard me. Somebody helped me up, but my new white dress was red with his blood.’
‘Eliza, this may seem an odd question, but do you believe in destiny?’
‘I’m not sure if I really know what it means,’ she said.
‘We believe you can alter your own destiny but there are some things that seem to be meant to be. That they have no option but to happen.’
‘Like what?’
He looked as if he was judging whether to say something serious but in the end had decided not to.
He smiled, then waved his hand about dismissively. ‘It means different things to different people, I suppose. I just wondered what it meant to you.’
A little later Jay led her through the garden to some stables at the rear of the palace. She wondered why they weren’t setting off back home and asked him why not.
‘Do you ride?’ he asked with his face to the sun.
‘I’m a bit rusty.’
He glanced down at her. ‘I thought we might take a short trip off the beaten track.’
A stable boy greeted him and Jay returned the greeting affectionately, then the boy brought out two horses. Meanwhile Eliza was still fretting about destiny and why he had asked her about her beliefs. She resolved to question him later.
‘Desert horses,’ he said, unaware of her train of thought.
Eliza was astonished by the magnificent heads that rose from thick arched necks, and the beautiful curved ears rising inwards to a point, but what really caught her attention was the long lashes and gorgeous flaring nostrils.
‘The desert horse was originally sired from Arab horses.’
‘Actually, could we do this another time? I need to get back to the castle to get my film developed before it goes off. Do you mind?’
‘Just a short ride? Don’t worry, yours is very docile.’
She felt torn between wanting to spend more time with him and anxiety about her horse-riding skills. ‘I’ll hold you back.’
When he just smiled she could see refusal was pointless and nodded her nervous acceptance. The last time she’d ridden had been when she was a teenager, but as she was beginning to feel he might be somebody she could really trust in this alien world, she couldn’t resist the chance to spend a little longer in his company.
‘Shall we try bareback? If you haven’t experienced it before you’ll find it quite wonderful. It will help you get over the awful memory of what happened yesterday.’
She didn’t say, but thought nothing could ever erase that.
‘You form a much greater bond with the animal. Willing to give it a go? You won’t be able to go side-saddle.’
Eliza just looked at him but didn’t speak. He took her silence for acceptance and went on to help her up on to the horse, where she sat with her heart pounding.
‘Watch me,’ he said as he mounted. ‘You need to sit a bit more forward on the horse and rest your legs more forward too, and don’t squeeze your heels or lower legs into the horse’s sides when slowing or stopping. Don’t be nervous.’
But Eliza didn’t want to put her life into the hands of the animal.
‘It will be fine. Trust the horse. If you don’t he will feel your fear. Just relax and enjoy the ride.’
Before they moved she glanced across at him. ‘What do you mean by destiny?’
