But she looked bitterly resigned. Tony bent over to her. She turned her face away. He whispered urgently:
“Damn it! Go through with it! I’ll divorce you before we leave this hall. As I understand it, all that’s necessary is for me to say ‘I divorce you’ three times and the trick’s done!”
She jerked her head about to look at him, her eyes wide. Then she flushed.
“Your hands?” said the Queen briskly. “The cadi is here. He will marry you now. At once. Immediately.”
A venerable figure pushed his way forward. The ceremony began. Ghail was very quiet, but her voice was firm. The formula was strange to Tony, and he did not know when it was finished.
But suddenly it was—and the Queen was laughing delightedly!
“Now, then! Majesty, the people of Barkut have been told only since my return that I am not their real queen! When I was kidnapped by the King of the Djinns he believed me the queen, and Ghail yonder was but a child. I am actually Ghail’s aunt, and it seemed best to pose as the ruler of Barkut lest I be strangled and Ghail herself kidnapped and subjected to the djinn king’s demands. A child might have been frightened into obedience. I—was otherwise.
“And so, while I posed as a captive Queen, Ghail remained among her people in disguise, learning the duties of queenship and also coming to know her people as few rulers do. The Council of Regency took its commands from her. And now that the King of the Djinns is also our friend and moreover a human being, it is right and fitting and proper that she return to her throne. And the kingdom of the djinns and the human kingdom of Barkut is now one nation, and there is now no reason for battle or anything but peace and joy.”
Cannon began to boom outside. There was uproar. The audience hall itself filled with noise. And as Tony stood utterly stupefied, the erstwhile Queen stood up and beckoned to Ghail. And Ghail held Tony’s hand fast and pulled him after her as she mounted to her throne. She pulled him firmly down beside her on it. It was a close fit, though not quite as close as the fit in the camel cabin, and it felt very pleasant.
The noise still continued. Presently Tony, still dazed, whispered into Ghail’s ear: