“Queen Maria?”
“Yes, Queen Maria,” Francis corrected. “And we will encourage my brother to accept your offer, so I might return to you immediately.”
“You are certain?”
“Hasim, Granny is the one who insisted I come here,” Francis said. “She will be thrilled.”
“Very well,” Hasim said. “And when you return here, it will be as my consort.”
“What’s the official title?” Francis asked. “Do we know yet?”
“Fatima will think of something suitable,” Hasim said. “An ambassador or…foreign affairs, I think she said.”
“Sounds perfect,” Francis replied. “Wait, did your wife pick all the contenders herself?”
“With Yusuf, yes, she did.”
“So you never actually saw my portrait before meeting me?” Francis asked.
“No.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Francis said. “Granny sent a terrible one.”
“Now I want to see it,” Hasim said with a laugh.
“No, please. Better off burning it.” Francis laughed. “I suppose I should thank Fatima.”
“You can do that when you meet her tonight,” Hasim said. “She wants to throw you a welcome supper.”
“I can’t wait,” Francis said gladly. “We had better make the most of our alone time now, then.”
Chapter 16
Three days later, Francis set sail for home, in Stormburg.
He didn’t want to think of it as goodbye to Istanbul and to Hasim, but only farewell for now. Francis fully intended to return.
Archie’s eye was healing well, and he could see again. Just about.
Gustav joined their party on the return journey, which meant that finally Maddie had a worthy opponent at cards.
The ship’s hold was stacked full of gifts from King Omar, arranged by Hasim’s wife, Queen Fatima, who’d turned out to be rather lovely, in fact, and very enthusiastic about Francis returning one day soon as Hasim’s consort.
Francis missed Hasim, the cats, and Istanbul already. He didn’t miss the sun, but it would be warm in Stormburg soon, so he couldn’t escape that.
The voyage home passed uneventfully, aside from a few dolphins, and Francis spent the days thinking of Hasim. Maddie and Archie pointed out several times that Francis had a smirk on his face.
At last, they arrived in Croatia, then they had the awful job of riding in the bumpy carriages all the way back to Stormburg. Not Francis’s favourite part.
He was eager to send Archie and Maddie home to their spouses and children, so separate carriages were arranged for the two of them at the Stormburg border to take them straight home.
Francis thanked them both profusely, promising to see them again soon.
“So proud of you, dear Francis,” Maddie said, air kissing his cheeks before she got into the carriage.
“Well done, sir!” Archie said, clapping Francis on theshoulder. “Finally, you came first in something!”
“Yes, thank you, Archie,” Francis said. “Safe journey.”
