All three girls stared at him. “You’re going to build a bridge?” Nadine asked.

“No. I have given my approval and told them what to do. Now they will do it.”

“Cool,” Dana breathed. “What else can you tell people to do?”

“Can you throw them in the dungeon?” Pepper asked. “Can I see the dungeon?”

“One day.”

Her eyes widened. “There’s a real one? Here? In the palace?”

“Yes, and sometimes children who do not behave are sent to it.”

They all went silent.

He chuckled. “So, Kayleen, what was your one good thing for today?”

This, Kayleen thought as she tried not to stare at the handsome man at the head of the table. This dinner, this moment, with the girls having fun and As’ad acting like they were all part of the same family.

It wasn’t real-she knew that. But all her life she’d wanted to be a part of something special, and here it was.

Still, she had to say something. “There are stables nearby,” she told the girls. “I found them when I was out walking.”

All three of them turned to him. “Horses? You have horses?” Dana asked.

“We love horses,” Nadine told him.

“I can ride.” Pepper paused, as if waiting for As’ad to be impressed. “I’ve had lessons.”

He turned to Kayleen. “At the orphanage?”

“A former student left several horses to the school, along with the money to pay for them. Many of the children ride.”

“Do you?”

There was something about his dark eyes, she thought, knowing she could stare into them for hours and never grow tired of the effect of the changing light.

“Badly,” she admitted. “The horse and I never figured out how to talk to each other.”

“That’s because horses don’t talk,” Pepper told her, then turned to As’ad. “Kayleen falls off a lot. I try not to laugh, because I don’t want her to hurt herself, but it’s kinda funny.”