“Loyal subject of mine,” Princess Beatrice explained. “Turned up to rescue me. Rather awkward, actually. We had to disguise him.”

Sophie swept Abdullah and Princess Beatrice aside. “Let me get at him!” she said.

Chapter Nineteen

IN WHICH A SOLDIER, A COOK, AND A CARPET SELLER ALL STATE THEIR PRICE

There was a brief time of noise so loud that it drowned Princess Valeria completely. Most of it came from Sophie, who started with mild words like thief and liar and worked up to screaming accusations at the soldier of crimes Abdullah had never heard of and perhaps even the soldier had never thought to commit. Listening, Abdullah thought the metal pulley noise Sophie used to make as Midnight was actually nicer than the noise she was making now. But some of the noise came from the soldier, who had one knee up and both hands in front of his face and was bellowing, louder and louder, “Midnight—I mean, madam! Let me explain, Midnight—er—madam!”

To this Princess Beatrice kept adding raspingly, “No, let me explain!”

And various princesses added to the clamor by crying out, “Oh, please be quiet or the djinns will hear!”

Abdullah tried to stop Sophie by shaking imploringly at her arm. But probably nothing would have stopped her had not Morgan taken his mouth from the bottle, gazed around in distress, and started to cry, too. Sophie shut her mouth with a snap then and then opened it to say, “All right, then. Explain.”

In the comparative quiet the tiny princess hushed Morgan, and he went back to feeding again.

“I didn’t mean to bring the baby,” said the soldier.

“What?” said Sophie. “You were going to desert my—”

“No, no,” said the soldier. “I told the genie to put him where someone would look after him and take me after the Princess of Ingary. I won’t deny I was after a reward.” He appealed to Abdullah. “But you know what that genie’s like, don’t you? Next thing I knew, we were both here.”

Abdullah held the genie bottle up and looked at it. “He got his wish,” the genie said sulkily from inside.

“And the infant was yelling blue murder,” said Princess Beatrice. “Dalzel sent Hasruel to find out what the noise was, and all I could think of to say was that Princess Valeria was having a tantrum. Then, of course, we had to get Valeria to scream. That was when Flower here started to make plans.”

She turned to Flower-in-the-Night, who was obviously thinking of something else—and that something else had nothing to do with Abdullah, Abdullah noted dismally. She was staring across the room. “Beatrice, I think the cook is here with the dog,” she said.

“Oh, good!” said Beatrice. “Come along, all of you.” She strode toward the middle of the room.