Ellie and the Prince (Faraway Castle #1)(29)
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.
King Aryn sat in a comfortable chair, one ankle crossed over his knee, while his queen gracefully reclined on a sofa beneath a huge picture window overlooking the lake. Rafiq watched over all from a doorway.
Omar looked at the drawing and felt his stomach turn over. It was a brightly colored and highly detailed drawing of a smiling, yellow-haired Ellie holding a glass cage containing a smiling cinder sprite in one hand . . . and Omar’s hand in the other. He was colored brown, with black hair and a huge white smile. Pink and red hearts floated above their heads. Additional furry cinder sprites cavorted around their feet; two were tiny balls of fire with red eyes. Squiggles of smoke rose from a black blot on the ground. “My baby sprite,” Rita said, pointing at the blot.
“That’s really great, Yasmine,” Omar said, trying to sound appreciative.
He folded it, but too late. Their mother reached out both hands. “Come and tell me about your picture, Yasmine.”
The little girl eagerly reclaimed her artwork. Nestled against her mother’s side, she explained each detail. “This is Miss Ellie after she saved us from the cinder sprites. These are the sprites, see? One is in the cage, and these two went ember, and Ellie already sprayed this one. And . . . and we all wish she would marry Omar, because she is so kind and pretty.”
“And she herds cinder sprites!” Karim added from his current position, head-down on the rug with his feet on the sofa.
Rafiq, better attuned to the current parental wavelength, groaned softly.
Queen Sofia looked from the drawing to Omar to her husband in visible dismay.
King Aryn cleared his throat. “Children, please return to your nanny. Mama and I wish to speak with Omar alone now.”
“Awww, we always have to go to Nanny at the interesting time,” Karim whined, but scrammed at a glance from his father.
Omar lowered Rita to the floor, and she caught his shirt, stood on tiptoe, and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. With another beaming smile, she trotted away.
All too soon, Omar stood alone before the King and Queen. All three looked intensely uncomfortable until his father spoke quietly. “Tell us the truth about this young woman, Omar. I hope you did not lie to us.”
Omar drew a deep breath. “Everything I have told you is the truth, but not the whole story. Ellie Calmer has never stalked or annoyed me in any way. I am the one who has, for the past few days, tried to be wherever she was working.”