The Sultan's son

3. The Sultan

The King approached her with open arms. "Ooohhh, finally! I was looking forward to meeting you, dear child, to thank you properly for your brave actions! You saved my youngest's son life! I can't thank you enough"

She wasn't expecting this, and finally felt at ease. "It was nothing, Your Majesty, anybody would have done the same. Besides, your child is adorable"

"Ah yes, my little Joridey, that daredevil! He told me everything. You were very smart and very kind to him, despite a certain person... " And he looked sternly at his son, who didn't flinch. "As soon as I knew what happened, I asked Quarin to find you and invite you to our holiday house, so that I could thank you in person "

'Inviting isn't quite the right word,' she thought but smiled at the Sultan.

"We were lucky that you happened to be passing by our boat at just the right time!" he continued.

"Ha! Very lucky indeed." said ironically the Prince.

"Would you behave, Son? I'm sorry, dear, for his rudeness, He's usually very polite, I promise."

'Great, so he unleashes his worst behavior only with me, how pleasant,' she thought, giving the young man a sharp look.

"What's your name, darling?"

"I'm Regina, Your Majesty, Regina De Stefano."

"Ah, wonderful name. It means Queen, right? Very appropriate."

She blushed and bowed a little.

"Well my dear, I've prepared a gift for you. Please accept it, with all our gratitude."

He handed her an envelope, she took it and opened it. Upon seeing that there was a check inside, she didn’t even glance at the amount and placed the envelope on a table.

"No, Your Majesty, I cannot accept it, It was my pleasure to help a child, thank you for the offer but..."

"You don't need ten thousand dollars? I would be so pleased if you accepted it."

What? TEN THOUSAND? Her head was spinning. Of course, she needed the money. It was more than two years of her salary. She was tempted. Really, really tempted. But how could she accept it? It wasn't fair, she felt like she didn't earn it. Above all, if she would have taken the check, his arrogant son would have thought that he had been right all along, that she was after his father's money. Her pride forced her to refuse.

"Thank you, Your Highness, but your gratitude is more than enough."

"Are you sure, dear?"

"Yes, Sir."

He frowned a little.

"All right, then. At least let me invite you and your family to a little boat ride."

His son looked at his father like he had gone insane.

"We'll go through the east coast and visit some beaches, they are lovely in this season. We leave in three days. You can stay with us for a week then go back to your village. What do you think?"

She gulped. She didn't want to involve her family. She would have to explain the whole situation. Moreover, they weren't used to hanging out with royals, they would probably embarrass themselves. And what if the Sultan would bring up the check offer? They'd beat her with a hockey stick for not accepting.

"Thank you for your generous offer Sir, but we can't afford to miss work for a week, I thank you so much, though."

"I see. For one day, then? Don't you have a day off?"

"Y-yes, on Mondays."

"Perfect, Monday will be, then. I insist, I want to meet the people that raised this smart girl so well. Come on, don't make me work hard for it!"

Now she was on edge. She didn't want to seem ungrateful or impolite. Maybe her mother, who was a rather reserved person, would decline the invitation. She clung to this idea.

"I apologize, His Majesty, I can't speak for my family. It would be wonderful but I think that we all are swamped at this time of the year. The summer is the only season when we can work. If they accept we will gladly come, but it's hard to say. This doesn't mean that your proposal isn't appreciated, on the contrary, it's too much."

"Nonsense, it's my pleasure. So I hope I'll see you all at the port desks Monday morning. We leave at 10. You know the boat already, don't you? Besides, you can't miss it, it's the largest in the port and it's named Freya. I'll be waiting for you. If you decide to come, bring a swimsuit, we have the pool and we'll go swimming on a couple of beaches. The food will be on me, you don't have to worry about anything. We'll be back after dinner, a touch-and-go. How many in your family?"

She purposely missed mentioning her annoying cousins, aunts, and uncles. They would have loved to sneak around a luxury boat. Unfortunately, they were quite rude and she didn't want to be embarrassed about their attitude.

"We are four, milord, besides me there are my parents and my older brother Leone."

"Leone... Lion, right?"

"Yes, Sir"

"I'd like to meet him. If his name suits him, he's a brave and proud young man."

'If only you knew, Your Majesty...'

The King was kind, indeed. Even too much. Maybe his son was compensating for this kind of behavior. But it wouldn't be bad if they had split all this kindness between them.

"I apologize on behalf of my youngest son, he wanted to greet you personally, but I believe that at the age of 10, he needs to go to sleep at a decent hour, I would never allow him to stay up until two in the morning."

She looked at her watch and gasped.

"Oh my goodness, It's so late! I never come home past one p.m.!"

"Your parents are waiting for you to come?"

"Usually they don't, but sometimes my mother stays up a bit later to wait for me."

"You can call and reassure them that you are fine, and stay here to eat a snack, and drink something. Would you like some tea and biscuits? Or do you prefer something else?"

"I apologize, Milord, but I'm very eager to come back home."

"All right, then. Quarin, accompany this young lady to her home, and if her parents are still awake invite them on the boat Monday. I hope I'll see you then! Go, Son. The lady is getting antsy."

The Prince saluted his father and escorted Regina to the car, then clapped his hands.

"Very well played, little vixen. My father totally fell for it! I cannot disobey my father and I'll invite your family, but I strongly recommend you not to come, if you decide against my suggestion I'll be watching you and your family like a hawk, and if you try some trick you'll regret it!"

"Take me home. I don't look forward to seeing you again either, I assure you."

"Very well then. Guys, let's blindfold the lady. We're taking her home."

Again. At least now she was rather annoyed than scared.

They reached Regina’s home very late.

Strangely, the light in her house was still on. She got out of the car and greeted the men, then went to the door, but the Prince followed her.

"Wait, I'm coming with you."

"It's not needed. I can walk by myself, thank you."

"You forget that I have directives. Lead the way."

She huffed. What now?

She was about to insert the keys in the lock when the door opened. Her brother's tall frame appeared.

"Hey little sis, why so late? Oh, you have a companion... who is it?

"He's only a guy that escorted m..."

"Prince Quarin Kalahreen Ben Al Hassad, son of the Sultan Habir Kaleim Al Hassad. My father invites you and your family next Monday on our yacht, we'll take a tour of the East Coast. We hope you can come, all your family."

The girl gave him a pissed look with wide eyes. She hoped that the entire matter would go unnoticed, but from her brother's expression, which went from amazed to enthusiastic she knew she had failed.

"I have already told you, Prince, that my parents are not luxury excursion kind of people. Thanks anyway, goodnight and adieu!" And she closed slowly the door.

Her brother opened it again and kept greeting and thanking him, until her sister grabbed his shirt and literally dragged him inside.

"Are you dumb? What are you still doing there? We have already said goodbye, no need to embarrass ourselves! "

"You are the one who's dumb! That man, that Prince! He invited us to a mini-cruise on their yacht, the whole family, and you stand in the way? But how did you meet him and how did you manage to get invited? Don't tell me you bewitched him with your poor thing charm! " He laughed.

"Speaking of poor things, this morning I had 5€ in my purse and they disappeared! I bet you know why!"

"Ah, didn't I tell you that I took them? Sorry, it was an emergency, I'll refund you next week and with interest. Happy?"

"Happy? Really? You made me look like an i***t in a shop! Besides, I know your interests very well, they are negative! You have to give me a lot more than 5 €! That's enough! From now on I must hide my money from you."

"There! See? You spoke too loudly and woke up mum!"

"What's up with you guys? Why aren't you in bed? It's awfully late!"

"Oh Mommy, Regina has an interesting story to share, don't you, sis?"

There was no escape. With a sigh, Regina sat on the couch and told them that she had fished out the Sultan's younger son, and that his father, in return, had invited them into the boat. She skipped all the parts about the Prince's allegations and her been taken from the ice cream parlor, making her relatives believe that the Prince had approached her on leaving work to talk to her about the invitation and then accompanied her home.

"But we’re not going, are we, Mom? It's not necessary, Besides, the Sultan only invited us pro-forma, maybe he felt he had to do something to pay off, but it's nothing "

"Nothing? Lil sis, you rescued his son from certain death! He should gift you with a house, at least! I think that let us get on his yacht is a small reward! I want to see it! "

"Well Regina, my dear, let's talk about this with your father when he wakes up, maybe you can go with your brother, for not be impolite refusing such a kind invitation, but let's figure it out tomorrow."

"No mum," she retorted, "Look, his son has already hinted that they can't stand intruders and people who want to take advantage of them, and I too want to make him understand that we are not that kind of people!"

"What are you saying, little sister? Of course we are not, but they are wealthy, understand? Filthy rich! If they insist on rewarding you, it would be very offensive if you refused!"

She panicked, how could her brother have guessed what happened?

"That's enough! If you all want to go in the boat, go without me! I've already been there and I don't care anymore. And I prefer to earn money and not have it as a gift, as there is always some rip-off behind gifts.”

"Mom, but how did you manage to give birth to a cynical grumpy like her after making a masterpiece of vitality and good humor like me?"

"Ah, you sure are very different, Leone. Your sister did a good deed and I'm very proud of her. Come on, go to sleep you two, tomorrow morning we'll talk about this with your father."

She huffed. 'Dad is lazy, he surely won't feel like spending the whole day on a yacht, right?'