Protecting the Desert Princess(24)

                ‘Are you nervous about today?’ Layla asked, but then the waiter handed her a menu. She looked at it for a moment and then handed it back to him. ‘I can’t read or write English,’ she said, and beamed.

                Mikael watched as Joel just about fell to the floor as she aimed her smile at him.

                ‘I’ll order,’ Mikael said, because Joel would clearly be only too happy to go through the entire menu for her. ‘Just fruit and pastries,’ Mikael said, ‘and two coffees—and two on sub. Actually, just a regular cappuccino for my guest,’ he said, because he always had an extra shot, and a high-on-caffeine Layla he wasn’t sure he could handle.

                ‘You drink a lot of coffee,’ she commented.

                ‘Because I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,’ he said, and then realised what she meant. He had ordered four coffees. ‘Two are on sub…’

                Mikael let out a breath as she frowned. Just one easy conversation where he didn’t have to explain everything would be welcome, but that wasn’t going to happen this century.

                ‘If someone needs a coffee and they don’t have any money then they can ask if there are any on sub.’

                She still looked bemused.

                ‘Do you have homeless people in Ishla?’

                ‘I believe so, but my father refuses to discuss those sort of issues with me.’

                Those sort of issues.

                Mikael was less than impressed when she wrinkled up her nose.

                ‘They’re people, Layla,’ Mikael said. He didn’t order those coffees without reason. How much easier would his life have been had he been able to get a warm drink or a sandwich just by asking. For a long while Mikael had scrimped or scavenged for every morsel. He remembered that every time he ordered food, and he did not take kindly to some pampered princess screwing up her nose.

                ‘Of course they are people,’ Layla said, ‘but it is an issue, no?’ She shrugged her shoulders, but not in a dismissive way. ‘I am not to worry about such things, apparently.’

                She looked over to him and Mikael realised that again he had misread her when she spoke on.

                ‘But I do.’

                The coffee was lovely, Layla declared, thanking Joel profusely for the shake of chocolate on the top of her frothy milk. ‘What an amazing combination,’ Layla said, as if Joel himself had invented cappuccino.

                ‘You didn’t answer me before,’ Layla said once Joel had gone. ‘Are you nervous about today?’

                ‘I’m never nervous,’ Mikael said.

                ‘Never?’

                ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m prepared for today.’

                ‘Good! So I will start my magical week listening to you in court. I’m looking forward to it so much.’

                She wasn’t being sarcastic, but Mikael took a second to realise it.

                ‘Layla—’ he started, because what had seemed the most sensible idea when he had fallen asleep in the small hours felt more than a touch uncomfortable now. ‘Some of the things that I say today…some of the things you might hear..’