He waved them off, while Christian and Gustav remained, joining him in the royal carriage to Queen Maria’s estate.
Christian had his sketches to show her, and Gustav had the official offer from King Omar’s court. Francis trusted Granny to handle everything, and he didn’t want to waste any time in speaking to her as soon as possible.
The sooner he did, the sooner he could arrange his return to Istanbul.
Granny received the three of them in her private dining room, and supper was a rather uninspiring dish of basic venison and boiled potatoes. Francis missed the food in Istanbul already.
After recounting events for her benefit, Granny dabbed her mouth delicately with a napkin and eyed Francis closely.
“So,” she began. “You have assured me that you emerged triumphant in winning the king’s affections, securing an official offer not only to be his consort, but also to open engineering trade?”
“Yes, Granny,” Francis answered.
“Then, my only question is, Francis, dear…” She fixed him with a quizzical look. “What on Earth are you doing back so soon?”
“I…?” Francis looked at Gustav and Christian across the table, but both of them were avoiding eye contact. Francis was on his own.
“I thought it was expected?” he answered. “The protocol? Gustav has the formal offer. As soon as everyone else is happy, the sooner I can arrange passage back.”
“I would have covered for you,” she said, tutting at him. “But now you are here, you may have to wait for the details to be finalised.”
“That is fine,” Francis said. “Truthfully, I wanted to makesure that everything was all right on our end, and,” he added with a smile, “I wanted to see you again, Granny.”
She softened instantly and returned his smile with glistening eyes.
“Oh, you sentimental so-and-so,” she teased, and reached for his hand. “I shall miss you dearly, Francis. But I will be most happy knowing thatyouare happy.” She squeezed his hand firmly as she spoke. “If for any reason you are not happy, promise me you will come straight home to me. Understand?”
Francis smiled, blinking back happy tears. “Yes, Granny. I promise.”
Chapter 17
The weeks waiting to depart again were torture. After some minor delays with correspondence, finally things had been set in motion and Francis had the all clear from his brother the king’s court to be the Stormburg royal ambassador to King Omar.
Granny had told him that as far as they were all aware, Francis would be overseeing the engineering trade between Stormburg and Türkiye.
Meanwhile the real ambassadors would do all the work, leaving Francis free to consort with King Omar, Hasim, to his heart’s content.
A deal Francis was more than happy with.
When his date to depart finally arrived, Francis had never been so pleased to be back on a ship in his life, sailing toward his new home: Istanbul.
The journey this time seemed to pass far too slowly, and without his friends’ company, though they had promised to visit. Gustav was his only companion, holed up in the royal suite with him as they both read as much as they could. Some evenings Captain Lenaert joined them for a game of cards, and Francis lost many hands, distracted as he was.
All he wanted was to see Hasim again.
And the cats, of course. But most of all Hasim.
After an excruciatingly slow voyage, with many hours spent in longing, when the crew finally called out sight of their destination, Francis risked the wrath of the noon day sun to rush up on deck and see for himself.
They had finally arrived. The coast of Türkiye was now faint in the distance, with Greece on their left. Captain Lenaert reminded Francis they still had a way to go before they left the Mediterranean Sea and passed through the Dardanelles and intothe Sea of Marmara, then onto Istanbul.
“Just a few short hours, sir,” Lenaert said. “We’ll arrive in no time at all.”
“And just when it’s hottest,” Francis said, glancing at the clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight.
“If I may, sir?” Gustav said. “I took the liberty of procuring a new wardrobe for your arrival. In fact, the clothes are gifts from his majesty, King Omar.”
“Oh?” Francis was delighted to hear this. “I do hope it is those nice breezy linens. I rather liked those.”
