Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,102

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The fear of the unknown, and my mind wondering what would happen to me now, or what would happen to Janna, were so heavy that all I wanted to do was to scream my head off. The idea of throwing myself out of the car sounded so nice, compared to the thoughts and the pictures I imagined of what was to come my way when I got there.

When I was able to see the palace again from the passenger seat, my knees started shaking and my lips started trembling–to the point I thought I wouldn’t be able to walk one step or voice one word if I had to.

I couldn’t believe that I was already back at the palace when the car stopped right outside one of the doors that lead inside. I had been gone no longer than half an hour, if not far less. I couldn’t believe I was brought back that easily. Very easily and too fast.

Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Arabic. Arabic. Arabic everywhere around me. I couldn’t understand anything. It wasn’t as frustrating as it was scary. The fact that I didn’t know what the guy was saying to the others was very scary. They were giving me strange looks, shocked and disbelieving ones. It was too scary– I was scared out of my skin.

Give me, give me the strength.

The familiar smell of the palace, the heavy scent of ambergris and sandalwood reminded me of all of the nice times I’d had inside this place rather than the terrifying moments, and I found myself regretting what had happened. My regret caused more confusion between me and myself; I couldn’t even understand what I was thinking now, or what I’d been thinking then. I just thought that maybe if I hadn’t gone along with Janna’s plan, things wouldn’t have been this way. I wouldn’t be this terrified, breaking into a cold sweat, shaking and being gripped, pulled and shoved constantly while getting odd looks from all of the guards around me–the same ones who were ordered not to look at women or whatever. But something in me told me they wanted to help, as if they wanted to stop him, but couldn’t. I felt as if they were scared of him, and to be honest, I didn’t blame them. He was pure evil to me, and I didn’t even know his name or know him longer than a few minutes.

A great wooden door was at the end of a huge lobby that I was being dragged to, and there were even more guards on both sides than any other spot I’d seen in the palace. It lead me to think that, true to his word, he was taking me to the king.

He didn’t wait for permission to open that great door. He just shoved one of the guards away with his free hand then kicked the door wide open.

Inside, it was a great room, an atrium maybe or something bigger. The way it was decorated and the open and huge spaces told me that I was indeed in the king’s living quarters, whether it was his wing or whatever they called where he lived inside the palace. Another long lobby led to another door, that the guy kicked open yet again, and I found myself standing inside a bedroom.

There were lots of women, or maybe just girls, who ran away from their spots the second they saw us entering. Then they took the scarves that were on their shoulders and put them over their heads and faces like a huge veil. You couldn’t see any part of them anymore other than their hands, and their dresses, similar to the ones I’d worn around the wing the past few days. They moved to stand on the side once they were covered.

The huge bed that dominated a big part of the room had a half-seated man on it, and beside him was one of the only two women who didn’t move an inch when we entered the room. It was a girl no older than twenty, or maybe she was my age, I couldn’t tell. She had pitch black long hair that sat behind her on the bed and covered all of her back like a thick curtain. Her eyes were a light green that looked oddly familiar, and her beauty was mesmerizing to