Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) (36 page)

“I’ll help Princess Marie dress, why don’t you go bring us something to drink, please?”

“Yes, of course. Anything you’d prefer, Princesses?”

“Anything would be fine, thank you,” I said.

“Surprise us,” Janna grinned, despite the sadness that I could easily see in her eyes.

“I’ll be right back.”

Once Mona had left the closet, Janna’s face cleared of any grin or smile; she turned from her cheerful mood into a serious one in the blink of an eye. The next thing I knew she was pulling me by the hand to the furthest corner of the closet and then standing in front of me, as close as she could get.

“Marie, listen to me carefully,” she started and for some reason, my heart started thumping rapidly in my chest just hearing those five words, “We won’t be going to see Rosanna. I’ve prepared everything for you to get you to the US by morning.”

Her words took a second to settle in. My mind couldn’t comprehend it right away. But then, when I finally did understand her words, I couldn’t help the joy and the relief that consumed my heart at the sound of them.

“Oh, my God!” I gushed. “Are you serious?”

“Shhhh!” Janna hushed me, looking behind her where the closed door was. “Yes, I’m serious, if everything goes as planned, you’ll be on the jet that will get you to the States within two hours. If not–” she paused, “I don’t even want to think about it.”

Huh!

“Two hours from now? That soon?” It was really beyond my expectations that Janna would find me the way out, just twenty-four hours after I’d told her I craved one. I thought it’d take months or at least weeks, but one day? Yes, I wasn’t hardly able to believe it myself, as all of the relief and excitement to be back in my own country again filled my heart and mind.

“Today is the perfect day. I’ve planned everything, don’t worry about it,” she assured me. “You’re getting on the jet that’s supposed to take
me
to the US. You’ll be wearing a
niqab
–” at the frown on my face she explained, “A face cover.”
Oh!
“So anyone who sees you will think you are me. We just need to be very smart about everything we do starting now, and a hell lot of luck.”

Head spinning and heartbeats speeding up. “I’ll go back to my country?” Disbelief laced my voice.

“Yes, Marie, you will,” Janna smiled reassuringly, her eyes gray with all of the troubles that were filling them. She reached for my hand, squeezing it, as if to emphasize the security her words wanted me to feel.

I nodded, paused for a second or two while looking at the floor, and when I looked up at her again, I had to ask, “What about Joseph?”

Her smile was gone the second his name left my mouth, and her eyes shone with what I knew to be unshed tears–it was such a sad sight to watch. “Yoseph made it to New York hours ago, Marie,” she replied.

My throat tightened and I had to swallow a few times. “He did?” came my whispered question.

He left?

He left me?

“Yes, he did. He went in your private jet. I was supposed to go with him, but I told him I needed a day by myself and that I’d be right behind him. It wasn’t an easy task–my step-mother and all–but...I managed.”

He left…

That jet was still in the airport for
me
. It was supposed to take
me
back home three days after the wedding like I had planned from the start.
I wanted to correct her, but I couldn’t find the heart to do so. My heart was too hurt by the fact that my brother actually did leave me in the kingdom, despite everything.

I slowly nodded, finding it unnecessary to keep obsessing over the broken, hurt side. It wouldn’t be right to dwell on the fact that my brother was a complete jerk now. It was not wise. I had far more important things to think about. Things that needed my full attention and needed it now.

“Okay,” I said, more quietly than I would’ve liked. “I guess I have to dress quickly.”

“Yes,” Janna said. “But I need you to stay calm. Don’t let anyone sense that something is going on. You’ll have to contain yourself
very
well in front of Mazen: he’s too smart and
will
notice if anything seems off.”

Mazen…

The tightening in my throat got a companion in the ache in my heart when I heard his name. The realization of what would happen when I leave the kingdom–the fact that I’d be leaving
him
as well–hit me hard on the chest and started hurting everywhere I could ever feel the hurt.

Maybe my thoughts had affected my looks, maybe my face changed, or my expression told of the worry and odd feelings that decided to visit me when I was finally aware that I’d be leaving the prince for good in just a short time, possibly a little over an hour, because Janna asked, “Hey, are you okay?”

I had to be okay. Of course I was okay. I was finally getting what I had wanted more than anything over the past few days. I was finally getting my freedom. Of course I was okay. So, I told her just that, “Yes. Yes, of course.”

Once again, Mona chose that moment to come in with two glasses of juice on a small tray in her hands, then she asked where we would like to drink them. Janna said she needed to go to ask her maid to bring her something I could wear over my clothes, and without further explanation, she was gone.

“Are you okay, Princess?” Mona asked, setting the tray on one of the three small tables that were placed in the corner I was standing near.

“Um, yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You seem a little distant,” she said. “Is there anything you’d like for me to do or get for you?”

“No, no, I’m fine. I just need to get dressed.” I thought that if Mona was able to tell that something was off with me so easily, the prince would be able to tell even easier, and that wouldn’t be good. I had to get it together.

The prince…

The thought of getting out of here was more pleasant than I could ever say. Something I’d wanted from the very same second I’d stepped foot in this kingdom. Heck, I didn’t even want to be here in the first place. But now, thinking about what I’d be leaving behind–or to be clearer,
who
I was leaving behind–the thought just wasn’t as great as I’d thought it would be. Which was disgustingly crazy.
I
was being crazy. I knew I was.

Mona helped me out of the yellow dress, that I’d only worn to meet with Janna since ‘
it wasn’t appropriate to meet her in the pajamas I’d been wearing
,’ Mona had said, and then into the jeans and the dark red blouse.

When she brought me the shoes, I didn’t want to wear them, not after what had happened last night with the sandals I was wearing, and not after knowing that I’d be in a situation soon where broken stuff wouldn’t be much of a help. No matter that the shoes were designed to be worn inside or outside or how expensive they were, I just didn’t trust them anymore. I wanted my own.

“Do you happen to have the heels I wore on the night of the wedding?” I asked Mona.

“The silver ones?” she asked and I nodded. “Yes, do you want me to get them?”

“Yes, please,” I said, and it took her only two minutes to come back to me with the heels in her hands. I decided to wear them once I was finished with my hair, so I walked barefoot to one of the two dressers that were placed in the middle of the closet.

It was so foolish of me to question if I was doing the right thing by leaving like that. I mean, what the heck did I want more than this? Why was I having such strange feelings that made me doubt if what I was doing was the best thing for myself at this point? Why was I trying to cover worry and uncertainly, when what I
should
be trying to hide were my happiness and the joy and the excitement I should be feeling at the thought of leaving this place? Why?

I couldn’t understand myself.

“I’m surprised the queen agreed to breaking a rule so easily,” I thought with a loud voice.

“Queen Shams would go way too far to make her nieces happy,” Mona smiled. “But I’m also sure that Princess Janna was convincing enough to make her agree.”

Hmm!

“Princess Rosanna lives on the same floor, right?” I asked Mona.

“Yes, Princess. Though her wing is separated from yours completely.”

“Yeah, the prince told me,” I replied. “Why didn’t she come to the wedding?”

“Princess Rosanna is on bed rest as her doctor has ordered; she’s in the first trimester of her sixth pregnancy, and hardly ever leaves the bed,” Mona explained, moving the brush through my hair.

“Sixth pregnancy?” I asked in shock.

“Yes, the poor young lady has lost all of her unborn babies every time she’s gotten pregnant,” she replied in sorrow.

“Oh, God! That is horrible!” I commented.

“It is,” she said. “We all pray from our hearts for God to give them as many healthy children as they might desire one day.”

“Amen,” I found myself saying. I didn’t even think twice about it. My one-word comment earned me a warm smile from Mona, which she delivered to me through the dresser mirror’s reflection.

Another minute passed before I asked another question, “If she has a boy, will he be the heir of the king?” I wondered if she was already pregnant, wouldn’t that mean that the prince’s chances of becoming king were already blown? Maybe I wanted to believe that so I wouldn’t feel so guilty about him not marrying the right woman to help him take his place on his father’s throne, as he was supposed to.

“No, Princess. It’s only if–God forbid–the king dies before Prince Mazen has an heir of his own.”

Oh!

“What if neither of them has one?” The guilt banged in my heart once again–though it was very silly of me to even feel like that, I knew.

“Then the position will go to the king’s brother, Princess Rosanna’s father.”

Oh!

But–wait…

“I thought you said that she was the queen’s niece?”

“Yes, Princess, she’s both the queen and the king’s niece.”

“How is that even possible?”

“Simple, Princess, two brothers married two sisters. Actually, three brothers married three sisters if you count our former king, God rest his soul.”

“Oh! That’s Huda’s father, right?” I remembered her telling me that her aunt took the title from her mother after her father died and her uncle became the king.

“That’s correct, Princess.”

“Do those things happen a lot here? My head is spinning just thinking about it. I have no idea how you guys keep up with knowing who is related to whom,” I chuckled half-heartedly, mastering my plan in pretending that I was not freaking out from the inside and keeping the small talk going.

“You can’t even imagine,” she grinned, finishing my hair and commenting on how beautiful I looked. I politely thanked her and got up to put my heels on.

As silly as it was, the feeling I got once I put my feet in those heels was something very strange. I felt a sense of familiarity, which lead to the longing I had already been feeling for what seemed like too long. I was finally wearing something of my own, and it just reminded me of all of the things that had been taken away from me since the day I got here.

Mona then excused herself to bring me the clothes that Janna had said her maid would be bringing me, leaving me to my thoughts for a few minutes. I pretended to be adjusting my clothes over my body, not like the thoughts in my head were about to knock me over on the floor or anything.

She came back a few minutes later with black clothes folded in her hands. When I gave her a questioning look, pretending I didn’t know what was in there, she said that I had to cover up so that no one would know that the new bride was roaming around in the palace before the first week had passed. Or, that was what Janna had told her.

The
abaya
I wore wasn’t like the one I’d worn last night, this one was heavier. Much heavier, and much, much bigger–I was
really
drowning in it. Also, unlike the one from yesterday, it barely had any decorations on it, though it still looked nice. To a point. The face cover was
not
an easy thing to wear, or to keep on for that matter. It gave me a headache and it wasn’t comfortable at all: I couldn’t breathe normally, let alone stand the heat I felt in it just a minute after putting it on. When I complained to Mona, wondering how on earth they were able to keep this thing on for
hours
, she just smiled big and told me, “You get used to it,” as if it was the easiest thing in the whole world.

With a deep breath then a long sigh, I stepped out of the closet through the same door I’d entered, the one that led to the living room where the prince was.

He was standing by the wall, which the flat screen dominated, looking at what I figured was a collection of CDs. When he felt my presence, he glanced over his shoulder at me then to the CD in his hand, paused for a moment, and then turned his head to look at me again only to turn fully to be facing me.