Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,104

lacing her voice, as if it was not very agreeable to her to do so. “And where is he?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“He’s busy right now, but he will be with us shortly when he takes care of the matter at hand.” he replied sternly, without missing a beat. Though there were no orders in his words, they still sounded commanding, just like his brother when speaking to someone who…wasn’t me.

The ache. That ache in my heart…it burned even more. He was always so nice and very kind to me. No matter what happened, he was always so caring and very understanding. He was always so patient with me, and took everything I gave him with arms wide open. But now…now I doubted he would still be the Prince Charming he’d been since the day I met him. After all, I just broke a huge rule and–I lied to him. Big time. He wouldn’t be very tender anymore, I just knew it.

God! What did I do?

A tear fell down my face when I fully realized what my life would be like now. I was okay. Not very okay, but still. At least I could’ve lived the time I was supposed to stay here peacefully. Now? I’d blown it all by myself. They might kill me.

“He will be busy doing something else. I’ll make sure that he will be kept busy long enough to get you home.”

Janna’s words rang in my ears, the same words that I’d wondered about when she first spoke them just a little more than an hour ago but didn’t question what they meant. And now Prince Fahd was saying that he was busy taking care of something? What could it be?

Oh, my God! What if he was punishing Janna for helping me escape? Oh, God! It couldn’t be. It’d kill me if I was the reason for her punishment. And I didn’t even know what kind of punishment that would be.

But would he really punish his sister? He loved her so much. I really didn’t know if he would; I only knew that their rules were so important to them that they do kill for them.

Kill! No! Please, not that. Anything but that! Lord! Have mercy on us. Please!

“Now if you’ll excuse us,” Prince Fahd said, “I’ll be taking Princess Marie to a more decent room, if you’d allow me, Your Majesty.”

The queen still didn’t look very pleased, but the king nodded, waving us away.

To be honest, I didn’t know how I felt about leaving with Prince Fahd. I didn’t know him, and I started thinking that maybe he would take me somewhere I didn’t like. But then I thought that anywhere far from the queen or that monster called Jasem wouldn’t be as bad, not at all. So, I just followed him when he motioned with his hand, “This way, Princess.” Prince Fahd took me back through the door, where I’d first entered the room, and then to yet another long anteroom, then opened a door that lead into a great living room.

“Prince Mazen will come to escort you back to where things will be discussed, Princess. You can wait in here, no one is going to bother you, you have my word,” he assured me with a kind voice, yet avoiding eye contact with me–I had no idea why.

I only nodded, not even knowing if he could see it or not, but when he turned to move, I knew he had. I wanted to thank him, but somehow ‘Thank you for saving me from that monster, and also for Hope and Faith’–my wedding gift–didn’t sound like something I should say right now, so I didn’t.

When he was about to close the door behind him after stepping out of the room, I found my voice, “Wait, please.” It was low, shaking and choking, but audible enough for him to hear it, since he stopped. “I, uh…I don’t want to stay alone,” I told him, because though I wasn’t in a prison cell, I still felt like it. I wanted some company, even if it was him–I didn’t mind. At least, he could keep the monster away.

Prince Fahd paused for a moment before he asked, “What’s your servant’s name?” his hand still on the doorknob.

“Mona,” I replied, doubting she’d want anything to do with me anymore after all that had happened. It was the first time his eyes met mine, and they were full of surprise and kind of shocked. “Mona is your servant?”