Page 57 of A Shimla Affair
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‘May I?’
He seemed determined, staring at me intensely, as if it would help him find out all my secrets, all that I had kept hidden since he had last seen me. I looked around the ballroom, and saw that most eyes followed the Viceroy, and accepted Charles’ hand. He pulled me up close, and we began moving to the soulful tunes of the next waltz.
He kept a respectable distance, his chin above my head, but the parts of me he did hold grazed under his touch, and I was afraid that even above all the music and noise, he would hear my cowardly heart.
‘I told you to not come back here again,’ I said softly, smiling but tilting my head up, so I could look into his eyes.
He ignored my insinuation. ‘What are you up to, Nalini? Do you have any idea how dangerously close you are to getting caught?’
He didn’t know, I was sure of that. He didn’t know about Beeson’s plan, or ours for that matter. But I still didn’t want him to be here and bear witness to all this, so I pleaded with him again: ‘Go back home, please. Just leave me alone.’
He looked at me urgently. ‘I found something—’
Guruji suddenly appeared with a tray, his head bowed.
‘Thank you,’ I said politely, ready to return to my conversation with Charles, waiting for Guruji to leave but Eliza turned up right at his heel. There was no more that I could say to Charles in the presence of these two, so I was about to excuse myself to look for my sisters but Eliza spoke up.
‘Wait,’ she turned to Guruji, ‘Nalini, your servant, he looks a bit familiar.’
Guruji continued looking at his feet, but I could see his fingers tense around the tray. I stole a look at Charles, who was also staring at him intensely. I wondered if I could somehow spill some of my drink on Eliza to distract her, but she was at a distance from me, and Charles would definitely notice any such deliberate action. She was still staring at Guruji with a perplexed look on her face, and just when I thought she would push away the matter, realization seemed to hit her.
‘I remember now! You were at Lady Sinclair’s house, weren’t you? You came to meet her servant girl, that’s when Lady Sinclair saw you! Is she your daughter, or your wife perhaps?’
‘Not at all!’ I burst out, trying not to let my panic show that Eliza had recognized Guruji in front of Charles. But my suspicions were confirmed: Guruji had met Bina. ‘That’s ridiculous! Why would his daughter live at Lady Sinclair’s house, away from her family? No, he has never been married, that’s why he works here!’
Seeing my offence, Eliza immediately backed off. ‘I apologize, I must have been mistaken—’
‘Yes,’ I replied coldly and dismissed Guruji. But the act seemed not to have worked on Charles, whose eyes followed Guruji’s retreat.
‘I must see to my guests,’ I announced before turning away. It was a stupid idea to let Guruji serve at the ball.
The Summer Jubilee Ball was in full swing, the colourful dresses swishing about on the floor and private conversations squeezed in the middle of the waltz as the women laughed and the men led. I tried to find Noor to tell her what had happened, but she found me first.
‘We’re going down,’ she whispered quickly.
‘Down wh—’
‘The bunkers! He wants it now. The guards will stay behind in the ballroom, Wagner is with him.’
I nodded, as she meant the opium.
‘See to Sinclair. Place her close to the bunkers. Ratan Babu and I alone will not be able to take on Wagner, she is the only person who can separate Wagner from him.’
With that, Noor left me.
Afreen and Ratan Babu were occupied with the Baron and Captain Ramsden, and I helped to excuse Ratan Babu so that he could follow the others to the bunkers. Then, I looked around the room for Lady Sinclair.
Panic descended on me when she was nowhere to be seen; the moment of reckoning was approaching and my target had evaded me because I failed to pay attention. The Viceroy’s wife sat at the table with pursed lips and a glass of wine she clung onto for dear life, her husband was already on his way to the bunkers. Lord Beeson’s tall, slimy figure from the other end of the room seemed to close in on me. I imagined his fingers thickening around our throats, choking me and my sisters to death as Charles laughed boomingly from the back.
I left the ballroom in a state of disarray, looking around the foyer. But there were only two or three people there, talking in low voices.
‘Sahiba, anything wrong?’ Khushilalji found me in my state of discomposure.
I looked at him helplessly. ‘Have you seen a woman wearing a blue dress, blonde hair, probably looking angry?’
‘There was a woman who left just now,’ he said, looking towards the door.
