“If they did, no one has noticed a difference,” he answered.
Yasmine and Rita caught hold of his hands. “We were swimming and saw you riding on Ellie’s scooter. Did she rescue you again?” Yasmine inquired. “Wait until you see the picture I drew!”
“She did, and I look forward to the unveiling of your newest masterpiece.”
“I got a color book!” Rita shouted, and whacked him with her rather sandy treasure to draw his attention.
“Awesome! May I color a picture in it with you?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” She let go of his hand to dance a happy jig.
“Since Ellie’s rescued you three times now, do you get to marry her?” Karim asked. “Rita says you do. But Rafiq wants to marry her, if she will wait for him to grow up.”
With a gasp of inarticulate protest, Rafiq grabbed and quenched his little brother. Omar would have enjoyed this banter and roughhoused along with them had he not seen their parents approaching at a more measured pace. “Hush now,” he said, still grinning.
But when he looked up again, the Honorable Gillian and her parents had appeared behind his own. His grin froze and wilted. Premonition of trouble pinched his stomach, but he greeted the entire group politely.
The queen spoke first. “Children, go inside and find your nanny. Yasmine, watch Rita.”
Rafiq gave Omar a pitying look, gathered up his siblings, and escaped indoors. Then Queen Sofia turned her tender gaze upon her older son. “Omar, dear Gillian has told us of your very difficult situation, and we are resolved to approach the resort director to demand resolution.”
Omar looked to his father for an explanation, but the king, a man of few words, nodded agreement with his wife. “Let us move away from the doors here,” King Aryn suggested, and led the group toward a ring of benches surrounding a firepit near the covered boat landing.
Only Queen Sofia and the countess sat down. Gillian hovered behind her mother and tried to catch Omar’s gaze.
Omar had followed his parents, but he was in no mood to tolerate Gillian’s games. “May I ask what situation concerns you?” he asked, trying to catch his father’s eye.
“This must be terribly trying for you, Omar dear,” the countess said before the king could speak, “but it should be easily resolved.” Her face, as pink-and-white and lovely as Gillian’s, expressed sympathy.
Omar glanced from face to face and guessed they must be talking about Tor’s flight to the island. He propped one foot on the side of the firepit. “Actually, my part is over,” he said, “so there is no need of intervention. Madame Genevieve herself is even now resolving the problem, and I suffered no ill effect.”
“The resort director is involved?” the king asked with evident surprise.
“Yes, I saw her myself on her way to the island.”
“On her way to the island?” the countess said. “Why would she go to the island?”
“To resolve the problem, as I said.” Omar held out his arms to display his undamaged condition. “As you see, I escaped unscathed from the sirens, aside from a headache and wet clothes. How that happened I don’t quite understand, but I’m not complaining!”
“Sirens,” the queen said, looking puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
Omar met his mother’s gaze, equally puzzled. “This morning’s emergency. The difficult situation. My friend, Lord Magnussen, who ran away to the island? It’s all resolved now. He smashed my kayak and left me floating in the lake, but one of the staff members picked me up, and here I am. No harm done.”
Queen Sofia glanced at Gillian. “I had not heard of this trouble. Our concern is this servant girl who keeps throwing herself in your way. The situation, left unaddressed, could damage your reputation.”
“Servant girl?” he echoed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His gaze alighted on Gillian, who gave him a gooey smile. Realization arrived, with horror on its heels. Omar’s mouth dropped open.
The king spoke in his quiet way. “Your mother refers to the young woman known as Cinder Alice who follows you everywhere.”
“Ellie. Cinder Ellie,” Gillian corrected bluntly. “It is completely obvious that the girl is throwing herself at you, Omar, probably hoping for money. Everywhere you go, she shows up. At the lake, in the castle, at the stables—she is a stalker, and you’re too na?ve to see it.”
Omar laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Miss Ellie Calmer rescued our entire family from cinder sprites the morning after I arrived,” he told his parents. “Sunday, she pulled me out of the lake after the lake monster knocked me off my skis and then persuaded it to stop harassing me. Today, she pulled me out of a dangerous situation yet again.” His anger burned hotter with every word he spoke, yet he kept his voice down. “In the past few days she has rescued several other people, including Lord Magnussen. She has been doing her job, following the director’s orders.”
Now furious, he turned on Gillian. “Did you make up this story about Miss Ellie to try to get her fired? What reason can you possibly have for slandering a poor working girl? She didn’t make you look foolish yesterday on the riding trail; you did that to yourself.”
Gillian gaped, then gave a treble roar of rage. “Oooh! How dare you! I hate you!” Ending with a pitiful wail, she covered her mouth with one hand and ran under the portico and through the castle doors.
The countess rose to stand beside her husband. Drawing himself up to his full height, the earl took a step forward and addressed King Aryn and Queen Sofia. “All wedding plans are off until your son apologizes to our daughter.” Then, united in outrage, he and his wife followed Gillian into the castle lobby.
Knowing the worst was yet to come, Omar braced himself.
“Omar, how could you make such a scene?” his mother asked in a stage whisper. “Where are your manners? Where is your self-respect? Do you wish to cause an international incident?”
“I am not the one who shouted,” he pointed out firmly. “And if those people intend to start a war based on their daughter’s lies, they are unworthy of political leadership.”
His mother paused, blinking, her expression startled.
His father glanced around. “Rather than display our disagreements in public, we should retire to our suite. I do apologize for this unfortunate public confrontation. It was ill conceived.”
The apology softened Omar’s expression. He nodded and followed his parents into the castle and up to the royal suite, maintaining a polite distance as they talked quietly. His mother kept wiping tears from her face and shaking her head.
As soon as King Aryn opened the door to their rooms, Rita ran out, embraced the legs of each of her parents, then ran to Omar. He scooped her up into his arms, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. “I love Miss Ellie,” she confided in a stage whisper. “She herds cinder sprites. Do you love Miss Ellie?”
Grateful for the moral support of this small ally, he put his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Yes, but it’s our secret, okay?”
Bright-eyed and smiling, she nodded then giggled.
Carrying his baby sister, he followed their parents along the hall. Just as he entered the family sitting room, Yasmine rushed in, waving a paper which she handed to him with great pride. “See? It is you and Miss Ellie!”
Karim hovered behind her, jumping in excitement.