until he is settled.”
“I appreciate that.”
She knew her parents didn’t understand why she sometimes preferred to be a regular person rather than a princess, but they respected her wishes. As her father had never been anything but a Crown Prince and then King, he didn’t know any differently, but she did. Despite her occasional appearance in gossip magazines, she was a relative unknown and preferred to keep it that way. Rather than use her before-being-a-princess-real-last-name, she went with an alias to avoid being found on the internet. Plain Beth Smith could move easily through life, unnoticed by all. Princess Bethany of El Bahar took up a lot more room on the stage.
It was like her job at the royal stables. Had she even hinted she was interested, her father would have given her some lofty position, simply because she was his daughter. But Bethany preferred to earn her place, so she was a (somewhat) lowly groom, assigned to a few horses at a time. Rida being one of them.
“You’ll be back by Christmas?” her mother asked anxiously. “You have to be.”
“Mom, I promise. Rida will need a few weeks to get settled. I’ll know long before Christmas if I can leave him or not. Either way I’ll be home.”
Her parents hugged her. As they held her close, she felt more like she was six rather than twenty-six, and leaving home for the first time ever. It was always like this, she thought to herself. The palace had become her haven and traveling outside its protective walls meant risking far too much. But Rida needed her and she would be there for him, no matter how much leaving home cost her this time.
* * *
BETHANY MIGHT HAVE a few complaints about her princess lifestyle but how she traveled on official business was not one of them. She arrived at the private airport before Rida, then inspected the large stall that had been set up in her father’s Boeing 757. A luxurious seating area and private cabins took up the front of the plane, but the rear had been converted to the aviation equivalent of a horse stable.
Thick mats under a generous layer of wood pellets would provide cushioned comfort for the horse. The water trough would sway with any movement, keeping splashing to a minimum. She had a couple of rubber trash cans with lids and the equipment she needed to take care of any bathroom issues.
Although the 757 offered every comfort imaginable, Bethany would stay in the back with her horse. She had a comfortable chair and her e-reader, which were all she needed. Rida had been taken on a couple of short flights to get him used to the experience, but he’d never been in the air as long as he would be today. Her job was to keep him calm and safe. As she’d been a part of his life since the day he was born, just having her around quieted him.
She walked down the long ramp and waited for the entourage that would signal Rida’s arrival. She’d already checked that everything necessary for his move to the States was on board. She was bringing her own hay, straw, pellets, blankets. The list went on. His new home would be unfamiliar, but everything that surrounded him would be known. She’d even arranged for fifty gallons of El Baharian water to accompany them so he could get used to the new California water slowly.
She supposed there were those who would say she was being ridiculous—that he was just a horse and would be fine. But he was more than that to her. Not only was it her job to take care of him, she loved him and she would miss him when he was gone.
A truck and horse trailer pulled up to the plane and behind it, a gleaming black Rolls-Royce with royal flags flying. Bethany might adore her equine charge, but she also understood her place in the world order. She walked over to the car and waited while her father stepped out.
“I thought we’d said our goodbyes at the palace,” she told him. “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you once again.”
King Malik smiled. “I could not bear for the daughter of my heart to leave without us having a few more minutes together.”
“And?”
“I’m checking on you. I sense something is wrong. Tell me what it is.”
Every now and then her father surprised her by being emotionally perceptive. Not a traditional characteristic in a male ruling monarch. Imperious, yes. Decisive, sure. But aware of the ebb and flow of his daughter’s emotions? Why now?
“Dad, I’m totally fine.”
“Of course you are. Would you prefer someone else to go with Rida in your place?”
“What? And leave him in the hands of a stranger? I don’t think so.”
“I doubt any of the groomsmen at the royal stable would be considered strangers,” her father said gently. “Is it that you will miss your brothers?”
Of course she would miss her brothers. They were sixteen, fourteen and twelve, and she adored them. Being a big sister was a lot more fun than she would have thought.
“I will miss all my family,” she murmured, glancing at the horse trailer. “Dad, we really have to get going.”
Her father stayed where he was. “They’ll wait.”
Right. Because, hey, it was his plane.
“Daughter of my heart, I know there have been difficulties as you have found your way to adulthood,” King Malik began. “Unexpected pitfalls.”
Bethany stifled a groan. She so didn’t want to have this conversation. Not now. Not again.
The unexpected pitfalls, as he’d called them, had been a series of hideous events that had left her feeling exposed and incredibly betrayed.
At fourteen, Bethany had been sent to a Swiss boarding school populated by the daughters of presidents, prime ministers and kings. She’d loved her studies and had made plenty of friends. Missing her family had been a drag, but she’d handled it.
At a coed dance with a neighboring school, she’d met a boy. It had been an innocent flirtation, completely age appropriate, and the night had ended with her first kiss. Only a frenemy had found out and had written all about it in an underground school blog. Someone leaked the blog to the European press and the story had grown into a scandal of sex parties and drugs.
Bethany had been humiliated. Her parents had offered her the chance to return to El Bahar and she’d taken it. Private tutors and her love of learning had meant she’d finished high school only two years later. She’d gone to college in Tennessee. Older and wiser, she’d been exceptionally careful about dating.
She’d fallen for a sweet guy—a slightly nerdy engineering major. They’d taken things slow. When they’d finally become lovers, he’d secretly taken pictures and sold them to a tabloid. While there hadn’t been actual frontal nudity, there’d been no confusing what—and who—was in the pictures. The headline—I Deflowered a Princess—had added to the clarity of the moment.
Once again a devastated Bethany had retreated to the safety of the palace walls. Her father had threatened to hunt down the young man in question and throw him in the dungeon while deciding which of several horrible ways to punish him. Her normally even-tempered mother had agreed. When Bethany surfaced from the shame, she’d been more concerned about what she was doing wrong.
Other people managed to grow up in the limelight without so much as a misstep. Was it because she was just some kid from Riverside, California? Was there
