Disclaimer: All characters in this story are 18 or older.
*****
"Dad, what's the name of that thing on his head?" The ice-blue eyed beauty asked while looking at the passengers descend from the private plane.
"It's called a keffiyeh. Please don't ask that sort of thing in front of our guests."
"That's why I'm asking now... isn't his wife younger than me!?"
"Daughter..."
"I know, that's why I'm asking now!"
Of course, the king's bodyguards came down first, creating a ring around him and his (fourth) wife. The king looked to be in excellent shape, moving with the security and strength of a man that was both used to be in charge, and had multiple personal trainers and doctors to make sure he was in the best possible condition for his age. His wife smiled at him, then reattached her veil over her, quite honestly, stunningly beautiful face, and demurely followed a step behind him over the red carpet that had been stretched all the way from the plane to the Russian businessman and his daughter, both of which were waiting by the open limousine's door.
"Your Highness." The ice-blue eyed man greeted the king politely. "It has been too long."
"Alexi, you can still call me Omar, you know!?" The king smiled broadly, and pulled his college friend into a hug. "And this young lioness must be the Veronika you are so proud of. Truly, God must be worried, for he seems to have misplaced one of his angels."
"Hm. You're still full of it. And don't let her looks fool you, she's a little devil, this one."
A step behind the king, his wife tensed up, shocked beyond words at the casual way in which her husband was being spoken to, but the king gave up a huge grin and nodded, gripped his old friend's shoulder, and laughed merrily.
"This is France, the sunlight in my life." His Majesty introduced his wife,
"As beautiful as you bragged." It was Alexi's turn to smile. "Welcome to Russia."
"T-thank you. You are. Most Kind." The milky-skinned redhead replied in fumbling russian.
"France's russian is still shaky, but she speaks sixteen languages, so you'll have to excuse her lack of mastery over yours, I fear."
"Better than my daughter's arabic."
"Hm. Let them mingle and get to work on it while we catch up and talk about the boring business of men."
Alexi invited his old friend into the limousine, and the vehicle rolled away into the city. Somewhat later, he was sitting across the table from his old friend in his own manor's drawing room, with the relative privacy afforded by each man's well-trained, professional bodyguards and assistants.
"France, was it? She does seem younger than my daughter... Omar, surrounding yourself with girls old enough to be your daughter or grand daughter is a great way to show your age, you know?"
"Well, there's a story I wouldn't mind telling."
The friends spoke until dinner, while Veronika showed France's to her and the king's accommodations and tried to make the redhead comfortable in her home.
"I... am grateful for you kindly." France said calmly, her accent hard to place.
"It is the least I can do... your majesty? I am afraid, I do not know the proper way to address you?"
"Not majesty!" France corrected Veronika in a hurry. "Officially, His Majesty's fourth wife. Reality, Master's slave. France is good way to address me, miss Ivanov."
"Slave!?"
"It is. Long story. Very happy long story." The redhead smile under the veil was full of mirth.
She turned around and dismissed the lone (female) bodyguard, whom promptly retreated to stand against the wall next to the door.
"Father found her in the slave market." Explained His Highness to Alexi. "Her parents had been killed during a terrorist attack, and the last thing her mother taught her was how to say 'Not America. I am France' in arabic. The woman must have hoped that by making it clear that she was not american, she would be spared from the anti-american feelings running high at the time."
"Pretty girl without a guardian in such a environment, I think her mother was being naive." Replied Alexi, gravely.
"Optimistic. Hopeful, maybe. She was white, nobody cared. Would have been sold to a brothel and dead within a week, but father bought her and brought her home. He gave her to me, and since we had no way to know if she had anyone to contact, I kept her around as a house pet until one morning she ran into my room and told me she wanted to marry me."