Chapter 14
The ride back to the palace was tense.
Francis, for his part, was worried about Archie. He had no idea what the injury was, nor how serious. Francis blamed himself for putting Archie in this position; he should’ve been the one competing, not Archie.
Even with all of this at the front of his mind, Francis was also thinking about Hasim and his offer. How could he not? Yet he felt guilty for not focusing totally on Archie. His mind flipped back and forth between worry over his dear friend, and turning over what Hasim had confessed.
I feel alive again.
I will be in no one’s bed but yours, if it pleases you.
Yes, it would please Francis very much, and it did soothe some of his concern to hear Hasim promise that. Francis had absolutely no problem with people doing as they pleased and sharing bed partners, but when it came to himself, if he truly cared for someone, he would prefer not to share.
If that made him selfish, so be it.
He’d only known Hasim a few days, and his logical mind told him that it was far too early to know someone, judge them, or even promise anything…but his heart said otherwise. His heart said, this one.
This one.
Francis glanced over at Hasim beside him, who was gazing out at the streets and appeared to be lost in his own thoughts.
Yes, they would have to talk.
Later.
First, he had to see to Archie.
They had to ride the tram to the palace, and for once Francis wished it would go faster than its leisurely pace.
The sun had already set, turning the sky hot pink. Finally, they arrived at the secluded servants’ entrance, and Francis was all set to storm the palace, but Hasim caught his sleeve and gestured for him to follow.
“This way,” he urged. “Royal infirmary.”
They bypassed the entrance, dashing on soft slippered feet through the gardens instead, passing orange trees and waking a group of cats that had been asleep on a bench.
Francis sent up a quick prayer to whoever was listening, please let Archie be all right.
Hasim led the way, cutting through a courtyard with geometric tiles and a cherry blossom tree, to an unassuming side entrance. They entered, both puffing slightly from the run, and walked at a brisk pace down a marbled hallway.
Not much decoration here, only the occasional potted plant by itself, and the smell of disinfectant, all signalled they were approaching the royal infirmary.
When they reached a closed door, Francis stopped Hasim from opening it.
“I can go in alone,” he said. “Thank you for showing me where it is.”
Hasim looked horrified at the suggestion. “No, I must come with you,” he insisted.
“It’s truly not necessary,” Francis tried, but this felt like a losing battle.
“I must,” Hasim repeated.
Francis drew in a breath and steeled himself. No time to waste.
“Then, Hasim,” he said, as evenly as he could muster, “I must tell you something first.” His voice wavered, and he swallowed before his confession.
“What?” Hasim asked, concern in his eyes.
“I…This isn’t how I wanted to tell you, but we are pressed for time so tell you I must,” Francis said. “I’m Francis. My equerry and dear friend, Archie, was competing today in my stead.”
Hasim’s face was blank, and Francis wondered if he’d understood.
But there was no time.
“I’m Francis,” he repeated, and reached for the door handle. “May we talk later? I’m sorry, I must check on Archie.”
He entered the infirmary, emotions bubbling to the surface and threatening to boil over. When Francis spotted Archie in one of the beds, sitting upright among plump cushions, relief washed over him.
Maddie, Christian, Gustav, and a small group of medical staff were gathered around him.
“Archie! Thank heavens.” Francis strode over there, assessing the damage.
Archie appeared all right, and the only apparent injury was to Archie’s good eye; a young man wearing white robes was holding a cloth-wrapped ice pack to his face.
“Francis, old boy!” Archie responded. “Is that you? I can’t see a damn thing.”
“Francis, where have you been?” Maddie scolded. “We’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours! Christian and Gustav have been running all over the palace looking for you.”
“I wasn’t in the palace,” Francis replied, approaching the bed. “Archie are you all right?”
“Oh, I’ll be fine,” Archie said blithely. “I’ve seen five doctors already, and two of them were women! Well, they sounded like women. I can’t see a thing at the moment.”
The young man, Francis assumed had to be a nurse, gently removed the ice pack from Archie’s face to reveal a swollen black eye.
Francis had seen Archie with worse in the past, but that was when he had a second working eye.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Blasted Montferrat, Wittensbach, and Pertengo tag teamed me between rounds of boxing,” Archie explained. “Should’ve seen that one coming. Don’t worry, though! I gave as good as I got.”
“I’d say more than that,” Christian said gravely.
Francis looked between his friends for answer. Maddie indicated with her eyes, and Francis realised there were more patients in the infirmary. He looked across to the other beds to see Montferrat with what appeared to be his leg in a splint, and Wittensbach with a broken arm and jaw.
Medical staff, a mix of men and women, were tending to their needs. Everything seemed to be in hand now, but the carnage of the day was evident.
“Good God, Archie,” Francis muttered, turning back to his friends. “I hope this won’t cause an international problem.”
“It’s unlikely, sir,” Gustav said quietly. “As open as things are here, most other courts will want to keep the, er, particulars of this event under wraps.”
“They might still hold a grudge, though,” Maddie said, then looked behind Francis. “Who’s your friend?”
“Oh!” Francis had forgotten his manners in the chaos of the moment. “This is Hasim,” he said, glancing back at his companion.
Hasim’s face was still blank with shock, yet he bowed politely to Francis’s friends. “If you will excuse me a moment,” he said, then moved away to speak with the doctors in Turkish.
“He speaks German?” Christian said, at the same time Maddie hissed, “Who is he?”
“I, uh, yes, he does,” Francis said, feeling his cheeks grow pink under the scrutiny. “I believe he is the cat caretaker, or possibly royal family member.”
“Possibly?” Maddie squeaked, as Christian raised his eyebrows.
“Who?” Archie demanded, unable to see with his purple eye.
“Francis,” Maddie said with a sigh. “We didn’t come all this way for you to cavort with any old fellow. You’re supposed to be gaining the attention of King Omar.”
“Um…?” Gustav said, looking between them and Hasim with a stricken expression on his face. “Francis?”
“One moment,” Francis said to Gustav, before he replied to Maddie. “We came all this way for several reasons, actually,” he corrected her. “And I’ve been making myself useful. Making contacts, buttering up the right people. It isn’t all about being a consort, you know.”
“You’ve buttered up a cat caretaker?” Christian asked, confused, as Archie and Maddie laughed.
“No.” Francis harrumphed. “Maybe, yes. But I think he is part of the family, he knows people. He has sway here. I’ve met some engineers today and had a very interesting conversation about the conversion of solar energy.”
“Oh, the thing that makes the tram go,” Maddie said excitedly. “Did you see the solar energy?”
“Yes, I did,” Francis replied. “I saw a solar farm. The engineer is a woman, actually. Sanay.”
“Can we see it, then?” Maddie asked. “And meet the engineer?”
“I can’t see anything right now,” Archie piped up.
“Prince Francis!” Gustav hissed under his breath to get his attention. “Sir, if I may…”
“Yes, what it is?” Francis asked but was immediately distracted by Hasim and a woman doctor approaching them. “Hasim?”
“The eye doctor assured me that your friend’s eyeball is undamaged, and the swelling will go down in a few days.” He nodded at the young man tending to Archie. “The nurses here will keep it on ice.”
“Oh, that’s a relief,” Maddie said. “Did you hear that, Archie?”
“Yes, I can hear just fine,” Archie replied tartly. “My eye is swollen, not my ears.”
Francis shared a look with Hasim, trying to gauge how the other man was feeling. Still a blank face, hard to read.
“The doctors also say,” Hasim added, “the injuries your friend inflicted upon the other men are clear breaks, have already been set, and will heal in a few months. They foresee no problems.”
“Thank you, Hasim,” Francis said. “I must thank the doctors, too, and, uh…apologise to Montferrat and Wittensbach.”
“You will not!” Archie cut in, but Francis shushed him.
Hasim almost smiled and looked at Francis now with a hopeful gleam in his eye. “Prince Francis…may we speak?” he gestured with his hand.
Francis nodded, and said to his friends, “I’ll be back in a moment. Try not to injure anyone else while I’m gone.”
“No promises,” Archie taunted.
Francis sighed deeply, then followed Hasim to the door so they could speak in the hallway alone. “Hasim, I…I’m awfully sorry about all this.” He let out a nervous laugh. “What you must think of me now, I don’t know.”
Finally, Hasim smiled. “Now? I think, ‘what loyal friends you have, and how much they must care for you.’”
“Oh, yes, very much,” Francis said, his cheeks growing hot once again.
“I love them all dearly. Well, not so much Gustav, he’s the ambassador, we don’t know each other like that.
I’m a third son, you see. I’m the one nobody really bothers about, but Granny insisted I come here, and they came with me. ”
He was rambling now, nervous.
Francis paused before speaking again. “So, uh, no major problems at the moment. The situation is…not as dire as I’d feared. Archie can be a bit wild, and my mind feared the worst.”
“Yes, as did I,” Hasim replied.
Francis cleared his throat. “You mentioned that the, uh, tournament might be ending soon?”
“Yes,” Hasim said. “It will. It has gone on far too long already.”
Francis chuckled nervously. “I quite agree. That’s what I thought when I escaped from my window and into the gardens, that day I first met you. I was desperately trying to avoid it all.”
“Why?” Hasim asked.
“Well, I don’t know.” Francis almost laughed.
“It all felt rather…absurd, to compete for the favour of a man I’ve still not met, not laid eyes on.
I’m not fond of crowds, and less fond of loud group activities so, really, it was my idea of hell.
That’s why I sought a bit of peace in the gardens, and maybe to pet a cat or two. ”
Hasim grinned. “Yes, you think like me. The company of cats is always better.”
Francis nodded, smiling. “Yes, indeed.”
They were dancing around the main issue, around Francis’s confession. Francis fought the urge to apologise again, instead looking for a way to move forward.
“Hasim? May we speak later on? Or tomorrow, perhaps?” he asked. “I think there is much to talk about.”
Hasim nodded. “Spend the evening with your friends. I will arrange dinner for you in your salon. Your friend should be able to walk out of here soon, with assistance.”
“Yes, that’s probably for the best,” Francis replied. “Thank you. I will see you tomorrow, then? Assuming the tournament is over with, of course.”
“It is over,” Hasim said, holding out his hand. “I have already chosen.”
Francis assumed he wanted a handshake and went to shake Hasim’s hand. “You’ve what now?” he asked, confused and giddy when Hasim held onto his hand in both of his.
“My dear one,” Hasim said, looking Francis in the eyes. “Prince Francis.”
“No need for the formality, Hasim. Just Francis is fine, please,” Francis insisted.
Hasim smiled. “Francis. I have chosen. I am King Omar, and I want you.”
“You…?” Francis was sure he’d misheard. “You, what?”
“I am King Omar.”
“But you said your name is Hasim?”
“It is,” Hasim replied, squeezing Francis’s hand affectionately. “Always, my name has been Hasim. My friends and family call me this. But officially, the name chosen for me as ruler was Omar.”
“Oh,” Francis said. “I see.”
Of course, this was a standard practice. Plenty of Francis’s relatives who wore crowns had to take official names over their given names, too.
Hasim’s words slowly sank in, as Francis realised both of them had lied to the other, while all along the truth would’ve solved their problems.
“I see,” he repeated, stunned.
All he could think was, Granny will be thrilled. He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about all this just yet. He’d come here at her behest, under the notion that he never really stood a chance, and that it would just be a fun trip.
Francis had never banked on meeting Hasim like this, nor prepared for Hasim being the very king he was supposed to win the affections of.
“I see,” Francis said again, reeling. “Um…”
“Come to the garden tomorrow,” Hasim urged. “Feed the cats with me, eat lunch. We will just be ourselves. Nothing else matters.”
Francis nodded.
Yes, that was what he wanted, without question.
“Very well,” he said, managing a smile. He couldn’t see suddenly, his eyes welling up. “I should like that.”
“Good.” Hasim kissed the top of Francis’s hand, then withdrew.
He left without another word, and Francis returned to Archie’s bedside.
“Everything all right, Francis?” Maddie asked.
“Yes,” Francis said, in a daze.
“What does the cat caretaker have to say?” Christian asked, as Gustav sighed deeply.
Francis understood now what Gustav had wanted to tell him. He laughed to himself.
“What?” Archie demanded. “What are you laughing at, man?”
“He’s King Omar,” Francis said, laughter peeling out of him as tears streamed down his cheeks.
“Who is?” Maddie asked, her voice going up several notches.
“The fellow who just left!” Gustav sighed. “Francis was with the king.”
Maddie and Christian gasped open mouthed, to which Francis said, “I know. I’m as shocked as you are. He’s invited me to lunch tomorrow to talk. He also said he chooses me.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Maddie declared and hopped up to embrace Francis in delight.
“What?” Archie said, squinting at them through his purple eye. “So, we won?”
Francis could hardly speak, happy as he was, embracing his friends in turn.
“Yes,” Christian answered him. “I dare say Francis won.”
“We won! Hah! You hear that, you scoundrels?” Archie shouted across the infirmary. “We bloody won!”