Page 92 of Her Royal Houseguest

How she wanted that. So she turned her efforts to accomplishing what she could on his behalf without compromising herself.

As it turned out, she could accomplish a lot.

She began with Lord Patrick. She accepted an invitation to walk with him in Hyde Park. She knew he wanted more information on the Siamese and she wanted to know if the East India Company was as exploitive as Deva had claimed.

Sadly, the company was worse. Lord Patrick bragged about how he had taken advantage of the foreign people. How the company had its own private army to enforce their terms and their taxes. And their taxes were incredibly high.

‘But isn’t that cruel?’ she challenged. ‘Taking what they have just because we have guns and they don’t?’

He laughed at her for such naivete. ‘They’re savages. If it weren’t for us, they’d mismanage their things.’

‘But it’s theirs to mismanage.’

He’d patted her hand and used an all-too-common phrase. ‘It’s commerce, my dear. All perfectly legal.’

As if legal was relevant when negotiating at gunpoint. English guns, foreign victims.

Next, she turned to her father, begging him to negotiate on behalf of the Siamese. Or at least advise Deva on what he could do.

‘Why would I help anyone against my own country?’

‘Because the negotiation isn’t fair. He can’t even talk to Prinny. It’s all with the East India Company.’

Her father chuckled. ‘That’s the whole point. We can dictate whatever terms we want, be as harsh as we want, and the Crown doesn’t have to admit to anything.’

‘But that’s unfair. And immoral!’

Her father shook her head. ‘It’s commerce, my dear. And Prinny approves of it.’

That was his final word on the subject, which put Anna in a terrible quandary. If Prinny approved of what was happening to the Siamese delegation, then what could she do to change any of it?

The answer was as obvious as it was difficult to manage. There was only one person, other than the mad king, who could potentially influence the negotiation on Siam’s behalf. It was a long shot but it was the only chance she had to help.

She arranged for a visit to the queen. That took some manoeuvring but she was the daughter of a duke. And though she’d been a quiet member of society for much of her life, she now discovered something shocking.

When she had nothing important to do, she obsessed about how she looked, how she acted and where she failed.

When she had something important on her mind—something other than finding a husband—then she didn’t care so much about looking awkward or doing something wrong. She kept within the bounds of propriety but all those little fears faded away under the weight of her task.

She was going to talk to the queen and that meant pulling in favours that people didn’t want to acknowledge. It meant threatening to not support someone’s come out. It meant being forceful when she really wanted to disappear into the background.

It worked. But it took for ever.

And all the while, the two princes were growing more frustrated. The East India Company, led by Lord Patrick, gave nothing but platitudes. And Prinny completely ignored the entire thing.

It was an impasse. Until the morning that Anna would see the queen.

She arrived at breakfast, disappointed to see her father there. The man had been disgustingly early every morning as he escorted the princes to negotiations at the East India House. They could go on their own but Anna believed her father loved being a witness to the proceedings and secretly tried to influence the princes to go along with what was being offered. She’d heard him suggest that every country agreed to the British terms. That the princes shouldn’t be offended by one thing or another. That this was all business as usual.

The princes hadn’t believed it. Neither had Anna but it wasn’t her place to say anything and so she’d kept quiet. Until now.

She wanted Prince Deva with her. He could more adequately plead his case with the queen than she could. But if her father found out what she was doing, he would insist on joining them. And that would defeat the entire purpose.

Besides, Anna was already pushing it to bring the prince. This was supposed to be a private discussion between her and the queen.

‘Good morning, Prince Deva. Father,’ she said as she entered the breakfast room. Prince Vaji was nowhere to be seen. He’d taken to his civilian status quite happily, often sleeping past dawn and enthusiastically enjoying his evening meals.

Her father didn’t even glance up from his food but Prince Deva had learned the English custom of rising as a lady entered. He smiled a greeting to her making her heart and womb react in predictable ways. What would she give up to see that smile everything morning for the rest of her life?