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Craning her neck, Effie took a final lingering look at the palace as the helicopter lifted her into the late afternoon sky

It was her first helicopter ride, and Effie knew she should be nervous, except she was too terrified at what lay ahead to worry about flying The whole afternoon, in fact, had been like a wild roller-coaster ride

It had started hispers that Christobel—King Zakari’s personal housekeeper—had, while the King was in the desert, run off with her latest boyfriend

Christobel was always getting into trouble In the two years Effie had been at the palace, it had always a’s personal housekeeper When the staff had first heard that she’d run off, it had been h that Christobel was expected today to join the King on his retreat in the desert A frantic search had ensued to find a suitable replacement, which had proved harder than usual Two of the senior palace donant, another had children sick, until finally, to her absolute shock, Effie had been hastily considered for the position With her mother dead and no other family to speak of, there was no reason she had to stay in Calista; the only blight had been her lack of experience with the actual royals Effie was one of the lowliest palaceto the eneral areas of the palace

‘Nothing can be too !’ Stavroula said ‘For your tiht…’

‘Of course!’

‘The King has asked for no contact with the palace or his aides—he has demanded complete isolation Christobel would have been the only one ould have assisted hi after his first week there With all the troubles, he wants tiht now’ Stavroula ran a worried hand over her brow

‘There is just so much trouble at the moment, Effie…’

There was

Since King Aegeus’s death, scandal abounded on the neighbouring island of Aristo, but Calista wasn’t without its share of dra Zakari’s betrothed bride, Kalila, had, to everyone’s shock, er brother, Sheikh Kaliq, had recently irl

Oh, Stavroula was right, Effie knew that much—with soto think about

‘He demands complete solitude,’ Stavroula explained ‘He has insisted there be no contact with the palace, so you cannot change your mind once you are there’

‘What if the King were taken ill?’

‘HeZakari, better than most, knows the test and deht now—and what the King wants, the King gets…’ Stavroula gave a pale s Zakari ‘A helicopter is booked to bring you back next week Until then it will be just you and the King’

‘I’ll work hard’ Effie nodded eagerly

‘None of your chatter!’ Stavroula sternly warned

‘He won’t even know that I’m there,’ Effie said earnestly

Looking up at Effie’s kind, plain, eager face, her dancing black curls and honest bright blue eyes, Stavroula relented a touch, because she knew that Effie would do everything possible for the King ‘These are turbulent ti to re tois not troubled, if we can soothe his way, then he can coht decisions

‘Co her hands, Stavroula stood up ‘There is no time to waste Christobel was supposed to leave ’

‘I need to pack’

‘There isn’t tih the palace and dragging Christobel’s pale blue suitcase behind her ‘You’ll just have to s’

Which would be fine, Effie thought, except Christobel was about half her size, but Stavroula brushed off her protests ‘The wind is picking up’ They were dashing across thechopper ‘If the helicopter doesn’t leave now, therecannot be kept waiting!’

The green lawns alone were a testae of the desert The rear rooazing out to the desert as she worked, but seeing it fro the palace fade into the distance, it wasn’t just nerves that danced in her stomach, but a flicker of excitement too

Of all the royals that she had glimpsed, of all the princes and cousins and sheikhs that peppered her re existence, it had always been Zakari who had enthralled her the most