Ellie and the Prince (Faraway Castle Book 1)

by J. M. Stengl

  “If we don’t spread it, my little brothers will.” Grinning, he said, “The children will be beyond delighted to have you in the family, Ellie! We do need to return to the ballroom and let everyone know.”

  She smoothed the back of his hair and sighed. “I know, but it was lovely to stretch out this time together, just the two of us.”

  “The first of many times,” he said with manifest satisfaction.

  Ellie ran to fix her hair and makeup, donned the glass slippers, then returned in a rush to take Omar’s arm and walk back to the castle. They entered the lobby through the main doors, and their entrance caused a stir. Rafiq, Yasmine, Karim, and Rita rushed to surround them before they were halfway to the ballroom door.

  “We heard the news! Ellie is a princess!” “You two can get married now, right?” “Ellie will be our sister!” “Did you kiss her yet?” All four Zeidans talked at once, and not until Ellie bent to kiss each one in turn did they settle down.

  “Yes, darlings, we are going to get married, and you are the first to officially know,” she told them quietly. “And you will be my brothers and sisters forever and ever.”

  Rita and Karim hopped around, squealing and waving their arms. Yasmine clasped her hands beneath her chin and beamed for joy, bouncing on her toes. Rafiq shuffled his feet, his expression shifting from a smile to a frown to a smile with dizzying rapidity until it finally settled into satisfied lines and remained. “Good going, Omar. You finally got her.”

  Ellie took Rita and Karim by the hands, and the six of them entered the ballroom together, all glowing with happiness.

  King Aryn and Queen Sofia hurried forward to meet them. The king glanced back and forth between their faces and smiled. “It is settled, then.”

  Omar’s mother faced Ellie squarely. “I hope you may someday forgive our behavior toward you, my dear. We gladly welcome you into our family and our hearts, and I only wish we had revealed our change of heart before your heritage was made known to us. May we”—she glanced from Ellie to Omar and back—“announce your betrothal tonight?

  Ellie let go of the children’s hands and reached both hands to the Queen, who grasped them quickly. “I forgive you freely, Your Majesties, and you have my permission to tell the whole world!”

  Any remaining fear or resentment slipped away when she saw the genuine joy in Omar’s face, as well as the relief and pleasure so evident in his parents’ smiles. Word was sent to the band, which interrupted its song and played a flourish to demand attention.

  Then King Arryn and Queen Sophia stood on the platform together, smiling from ear to ear—a very handsome couple, Ellie thought once again—and the King proclaimed: “Tonight we ask you all to share our joy in announcing the betrothal of our son Omar Jibran Tazim Zeidan, Prince of Khenifra, to Marielle Yvette Toulouse, Crown Princess of Auvers.”

  A great cheer arose, for the capricious crowd delighted in the tale of a lost princess found and had already forgotten its condemnation of an hour before. First to congratulate them was Prince Briar, who embraced his sister and spoke into her ear: “He will spoil you with kindness, but as your brother I am bound to keep you humble and cross.”

  “Like old times,” Ellie said, and kissed his cheek. “I remember more about your peskiness now and promise to screech insults at you regularly.”

  He gazed fondly into her eyes. “Some things never change.”

  She hugged him again. “Thank you, Briar. For everything.” Then she remembered. “But . . . the throne? Do you mind very much?”

  He laughed softly. “Marielle, why do you think I have searched for you so diligently all these years? Aside from the minor fact that I missed you, I mean. Becoming heir apparent to the throne was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I have no desire whatsoever to be king.”

  Ellie had to laugh. “And you think I want to be queen? All because I was born a few minutes before you? You are soooo lucky Auvers doesn’t demand a male heir to the throne.”

  “If it did, neither of us would be heir, since our mother wouldn’t be queen.”

  “There is that,” Ellie agreed. “I suppose I’ll just have to accept my role, which won’t be so bad with Omar at my side.” She looked proudly at her fiancé, who was now a few paces away, accepting congratulations from a crowd of friends.

  Briar gave her his usual wry smile. “You two are a great match. Confronting Mother is not my favorite thing, but I promise to stand with you during your transition. And I’m one-hundred percent behind Omar. It’s a good thing you two are officially betrothed.”

  “You think Mother will object?”

  His amused expression told her much. “I merely advise you to prepare for the worst. Only you have the right to choose your husband, and you have chosen well. Omar may not have magic, but he has a strong backbone. He’ll handle the pressure. You’re the one I worry about, soft-hearted as you are. Mother will use that and your sense of obligation against you.”

  Ellie appreciated her brother’s honesty. He didn’t even try to soothe her with magic, which she appreciated. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for everything, Briar.”

  He accepted her quick hug with a brief smile. “Yeah, yeah. I’m doing it for myself too. You’ll notice, the director discreetly disappeared, poor old thing. And your magical friends are gathered to celebrate with you. Now go dance with your fiancé.”

  The band began to play a romantic song, and several couples took to the floor. Omar turned, caught Ellie’s gaze, and raised his brows. She hurried to take his hand, and they joined the dancers, moving cheek to cheek. Ellie was tickled to see, moments later, the King and Queen of Khenifra dancing nearby.

  Even as she relaxed into Omar’s arms, Ellie noticed faces in the crowd surrounding the dance floor. Four dwarfs, her particular friends Chuck, Tasha, Sten, and Nillie, all wearing their glamours, stood at the edge of the dance floor and smiled their approval.

  “It’s a wonderful party,” Ellie told Nillie, the resort’s event-planner, as she and Omar danced past, and all four dwarfs gave her two thumbs-ups.

  Sira and other brownies had worked their way to the front of the throng and waved to her and Omar with evident delight despite their mournful faces. Even Geraldo perched on the edge of the band platform and glowered at her, his twiggy arms crossed over his chest. She winked at him, and he rolled his eyes, which made her smile.

  Ellie could only imagine how pleased her cinder sprite friends would be to hear her news, and the Gamekeeper, who had orchestrated this entire evening, she appreciated most of all.

  “Omar, I do not see how I could ever be happier!” she murmured into his ear.

  His arms around her tightened briefly, and she heard a smile in his voice as he replied, “Oh, I think we’ll find a way.”

  But wait! What about Tor and his siren? Whatever happened to those two?

  Find out in J.M. Stengl’s upcoming novel—

  COMING MAY 2018

  Turn the page to read Chapter One!

  What is happening to me?

  Sunlight fell in beams through the roiling green water around me, bubbles rising to the surface as I flailed about. I was in my own lake, but frightened and confused and . . . My tail! Oh, such pain—as if someone took a knife and split me from my tail fins upward. I screamed, but there was no sound. There was no one around to hear me anyway, not even any fish. No one came to help me. I thrashed and fought, but there was no one to fight.

  “Mother!” I cried. I thought I sensed her near, but I heard no answer.

  My familiar surroundings seemed blurred and foreign. Then I tried to breathe and choked on water. Wait, what? Why couldn’t I breathe like always?

  My body had changed; I knew it now. My tail was no longer a tail, and it felt different. The lake water against my skin felt cold because I had no scales anymore. I had bare skin on my lower half too, like a human, and something wrapped around my hips. But these changes were minor.

  Not being able to breathe, now that was a pro
blem! Pulling with my arms and kicking a little with my new legs, which didn’t go very well, I reached the surface and coughed until I could suck in a long breath without choking. It had never felt so good to breathe air before, and the blue sky above was a comfort after the cold, threatening green depths of . . . my home.

  Oh, this was so not good. And I had no idea whatsoever why it was happening to me.

  Paddling with my arms and hands, I turned to locate myself. I floated in a northeast bay of Faraway Lake, still within sight of the castle, but far enough away that the people on the beach and docks looked like grains of sand. A ski boat approached slowly; I saw three human faces staring directly at me. That was a shock, since humans can’t usually see me unless I speak to them. Staff members at the castle can see magical beings like me, since they have a little magic of their own. But the guests? Almost never.

  I couldn’t truly be human, could I? I mean, I was born a siren, and everything I knew about life was from my merfolk perspective.

  Mother had done this—she turned me into a human. She must have. But why? What had I done to deserve having my tail chopped in half and being nearly drowned in my own home? I was terrified and angry and shivering with cold, and wet hair plastered my face and shoulders.

  “Are you all right?” The voice sounded feminine.

  “What happened to you?” another female asked.

  “Strange to see a girl out here alone in the lake.” That was a deep voice edged with amusement. “She doesn’t look like she’s drowning.”

  I flung hair out of my face and peered up at the boat. One of the females was driving, of course. Men were forbidden to drive any of the resort’s boats, and for good reason: My sisters loved to siren call any young man who got close to our island, smile and beckon to him, then send a whirlpool or wave to crash his boat or canoe against the rocks. They never harmed anyone, yet such activities were generally frowned upon. By the human women, anyway. Mother once told us that some humans talked about banning us, but everyone knew that the sirens at Faraway Lake attracted new young men to the resort every summer. Even though few of them ever caught a glimpse of us, there was always that chance.

  The boat drew near, and a large hand appeared in front of me. It had soft skin, like my hands, but there was black hair growing on the arm above it. How hideous! Why did male and female humans both have soft hands? A man should have webbed hands and feet, and scales on his arms and face. My sister Moselle often wondered aloud how humans tell the males from the females, and the rest of us always nodded in agreement.

  But now that I looked at a human male up close, he was obviously not female. He wore no clothing on his top half, and only baggy short trousers on his bottom half. That much seemed familiar: Mermen wear trousers and their chests are bare. But this human male’s chest and belly were hairy—not thick fur like a beaver’s, but it still creeped me out. I allowed him to grasp my arm and haul me up into the boat in one swift movement. He was strong, as a man should be, and his muscles were well defined. I tried not to notice this, but I couldn’t really help it.

  I turned away and looked at the females. “Thank you,” I panted. Not until I noticed their garments did it occur to me to wonder what I was wearing. I glanced down and saw, with a tremendous sense of relief, that I wore not only my usual traditional wrap-top decorated with paua-shell chips, but also a short pair of merman trousers of the same seaweed-filament fabric.

  Now that I was out of the water, wind blew on my skin and chilled me further. My clothing clung to my skin and strange bumps rose on my arms. As a siren I had never felt the cold, but I seemed to have lost that power along with my tail. “I’m freezing!” I said, and my chin quivered as I spoke.

  “Here, take my towel.” A young female who wore her black hair in a long braid wrapped me in a thick cloth and pushed me into a seat in the back of the boat. “How did you get out in the middle of the bay all by yourself? Were you trying to swim across the lake?”

  I shrugged and nodded. That seemed as good a reason as any.

  “Don’t talk nonsense, Eddi,” said the other female, who appeared to be around my age. She looked at me with perceptive eyes and smiled. “You’re a siren, aren’t you? Or rather, you were. And now you’re human. How exciting!”

  The younger girl’s mouth dropped open. “A siren? Like, a real mermaid?” Her bright eyes looked me up and down. “You’re right. She’s too gorgeous to be human.” She gave the young man a pointed look. “Like you, Mike.”

  He stood looking down at us, feet braced as the boat rocked, arms crossed over his broad chest. “I am not too gorgeous to be human, Eddi. I am simply the handsomest human you’ve ever seen.” He flashed her a smile. “You enjoyed watching me waterski.”

  Eddi blinked dreamy eyes. “You were rather amazing to watch.”

  Human girls found this sort of man attractive? I had never been more thankful to not be human. But wait. I was human. Oh dear.

  “My name is Beatrice. What’s yours?” the older girl asked as she sat sideways in the driver’s seat, still facing me.

  “Kamoana.”

  “What a pretty name!” She looked intrigued. “I’ve heard stories about merfolk taking human form, but I never in my life imagined I might meet one!”

  When I coughed and sneezed (another new experience that startled me), Beatrice’s smooth brow wrinkled. “Here I am, waiting to hear your life story, while you might need to see a doctor. Sit down, you two.”

  Eddi sat beside me, and the man, Mike, dropped into another seat as Beatrice started the boat moving. His chair spun around until he faced me, and I felt his stare like a concentrated beam of sunlight, burning and uncomfortable. Foam and spray dashed up on either side of the boat as it accelerated.

  “You were coughing awfully hard. We thought you were drowning at first,” Eddi told me, shouting above the noise of engine, wind, and waves. “I’m Princess Edurne of Bilbao, but everyone calls me Eddi, so please do. Beatrice is my companion.”

  “Companion?”

  “A fancy name for a maid,” Beatrice called back over her shoulder. She must have excellent hearing, I thought.

  “More like a big sister,” Eddi amended. “She tries to keep me out of trouble. So, will you ever tell us why you’re here? I mean, as a human?”

  “Maybe,” I said, glancing from Eddi to Beatrice to the man. In truth, what little I could remember was fuzzy. But I did know one thing for certain: “I really need to see the resort director.”

  “We can take you to her,” Beatrice said, then called back over her shoulder, “Your Highness, do you wish to be introduced to Kamoana?”

  The man they called Mike had been observing me all this time, his elbows on his knees with those fleshy hands hanging down between. His eyes were the color of amber. Very pretty, I had to admit. He had thick, black eyelashes any girl would envy and thick, black brows no girl would want. His chin was dark, as if hair tried to grow there too. Even his legs were hairy. Were all human men that hairy? I tried to hide a shudder.

  Mike smiled as if he knew what I was thinking. Or, more likely, he thought I liked the way he looked. He was certainly quite pleased with himself. “I’ll introduce myself,” he answered Beatrice, his gaze never leaving my face. “I am Prince Michael of Dorintosh, a fabulous kingdom on the other side of the world in the Far North. I’m enjoying the sunshine and heat here.”

  “That’s nice.” I tried not to look at him again.

  We roared across the lake so fast that I felt as if I might fly out of the boat at any second. Wind whipped at my hair until it wrapped around my face. I clutched at the towel around my shoulders and hoped to live through the next few minutes. Surely the director of Faraway Castle Resort would be able to contact Mother and get me back to where I belonged. Back into my proper shape. I could hardly look down for the horror of seeing those legs where my tail should be.

  Princess Eddi leaned forward to ask, “Are you going to be human for good?”

  My eyes widened
. “I certainly hope not.”

  “How did you get turned human?”

  “I’m . . . not sure. Magic, of course, but I don’t remember why.”

  “Or who,” Eddi added, nodding sagely. “You’ve lost your memory. I bet there is some man you need to find and fall in love with to break the spell. That’s how these things usually work.”

  “A human man?” I must have sounded horrified, because Eddi laughed.

  “You don’t like human men? What about Mike?” She waved a hand toward the man lounging on his seat, his limbs splayed out, his head tipped back. He now wore dark glasses over his eyes. Merfolk don’t have vision problems, so I wondered how I knew the device was called “glasses,” but it didn’t seem to matter just then. More important questions existed.

  “I’m sure he is an excellent person,” I said. “But I don’t know him at all.”

  He lifted the glasses and smiled at me, raising one brow. “We can solve that problem easily enough, Kamoana. Want me to come and sit beside you?”

  I sat further into my corner. “No, thank you.”

  Eddi looked at me as if I were crazy. Beatrice appeared to focus on driving the boat, but even from behind I thought she might be laughing. “Kamoana,” she called over her shoulder. “Will you need help walking?”

  “I really don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ve never tried to do it before.”

  Mike laughed at this and sat upright again.

  “What is so funny about that?” I asked.

  Instead of answering, he said, “You are a gorgeous woman, Kamoana. But then, all sirens are gorgeous.”

  Eddi gazed at him in wonder. “Have you seen a siren, Prince Mike?”

  “I have. She spoke to me.” One dark brow twitched again. “Even sirens find me irresistible. But a human-siren match could never work out. I let her down gently.”

  Oh, gag me. If all humans were this inane, my time as a woman would be fraught with horror. I needed to find the director and get put back to normal, and fast!