Bride to the King by Barbara Cartland

as you are.”
    “Why am I – wrong?”
    There was something almost pathetic in the question and the Regent said hastily,
    “But you are not wrong! You are right , absolutely right in every way. It is just that this situation is something you should never have been involved in. I cannot understand why I did not realise it – but then, I had never seen you!”
    “What did you not – realise?” Zosina asked. “That you would be sensitive, vulnerable and far too intelligent.”
    Zosina’s eyes widened.
    “H-how do you – know I am – that?”
    “You forget we have talked together,” the Regent replied. “Then if you – think I am all – those things – why am I – wrong?”
    She thought for a moment he would not answer. Then he said almost abruptly,
    “I thought you would be like your mother!”
    Zosina drew in her breath.
    “The King said that – everybody knew that – Mama ruled Lützelstein and it was a – petticoat Government.” The Regent’s lips tightened.
    “He had no right to say such a thing.”
    “But it is – what you – think?”
    “I have not said so.”
    “Is it true? I had no idea. Papa always seems so overpowering to me and my sisters that I imagined he overwhelmed – everybody else in Lützelstein.”
    Even as she spoke, it struck Zosina that perhaps the reason why her father was so disagreeable and overbearing to her and her sisters, was that outside the Palace it was his wife who forced him into making the decisions she wanted.
    But even now, she could hardly believe that the King had not talked nonsense.
    Then she asked herself helplessly how, sitting in the schoolroom, could she possibly know what went on in the Council Chambers and what decisions her father made on the many problems that were brought to the Palace day after day by members of the Government?
    For the first time it struck her that her mother always seemed to have an opinion on everything.
    Because she and her sisters were frightened of her and of their father they seldom, if ever, voiced an opinion of their own in the presence of their parents.
    She thought now that was what the Regent wanted to happen in Dórsia and the King was right.
    He had chosen her because he thought she would be strong and determined and would force the King into doing things he did not want to do and against which he was obviously rebellious.
    “I cannot do – anything like – that,” she said in a whisper.
    She felt as she spoke that the Regent had been following her thoughts and understood exactly what she was saying. “I know that now,” he said. “But it’s too late.”
    “Why?”
    “Because the Prime Minister and the Cabinet have agreed that you should marry the King. The Councillors, who have met you already, are simply delighted with you. They see you as somebody very beautiful, very compassionate, someone whom the country will love, which is very important.”
    “What – about the – King?”
    It was difficult to say the words, and yet they were said. “I will make the King behave himself,” the Regent replied and his voice was hard.
    “No, no – please!” Zosina cried. “Do not antagonise him! He hates me – he resents me. If he learns I have complained to you, it will only make things – worse.”
    “Then what can I do?”
    She thought that he felt as helpless as she did.
    “It would be – better to do – nothing,” she said. “I will try – really try – to make him trust me – and then perhaps things will be – different.”
    She thought as she spoke that the King was almost like a wild animal she had to tame. The first thing she must do was to prevent him shying away at her approach, suspecting that she was trying to capture and imprison him.
    Then she remembered that the King was not an animal but a man and she was very ignorant about men.
    Every instinct in her body shrank from having anything to do with one who swore and jeered at her. The things the King had said made her wince even to