made her leave the room, and the queen started yelling again–but now in shock more than anger.
The prince ignored her and bent down to pick up the lavender sheets that were on the floor. He put them over my body and even wrapped me with them, securing the sheets around me up to my chin. His eyes didn’t meet mine, but his scent was able to calm me just the slightest.
I saw four women entering the room, covered all in black, and the green badges on their right arms told me they were female guards. The prince ordered them to do something that had the queen putting her hands on her hips in challenge. When the guards looked at each other and didn’t move, he yelled at them. Two of them moved right away, and started taking the queen outside, guiding her with their hands, moving her as she yelled and constantly shouted at them like a mad woman.
The two other guards helped the Queen Mother get back into the wheelchair while Mona held the chair still. When she was seated, she gave me a sympathetic look with tears still wetting her face, before she said something to the prince, who was standing tall with his hands folded behind his back. He nodded without saying anything, then Mona wheeled her out of the room and closed the door behind her, her cheek swelling and her eyes crying with silent tears.
The door closed, then so did the distance between Mazen and me. He took me into his arms, hugged me tight, and I cried, only for him to hug me tighter. He rocked us gently, holding me as if I was going to disappear into thin air. He kissed my hair repeatedly, and I managed to get my hand out of the sheets to clutch at his clothes, pulling him even closer to me.
He didn’t speak at all. He didn’t say a word, letting his arms and his heart do all of the talking for a while. My gasps quieted, but my tears never dried. Once I was able to breathe evenly again, I found myself saying, “Sh–she wanted to…” It was all I said before I started crying the ugly sobs again, realizing that this was why Mazen hadn’t said anything and had let me be.
He hugged me even tighter, soothing me with quiet whispers, leaving tender kisses on my forehead, and sweet calmness infusing my heart.
My lips were swelling and my nose was tingling from so much crying, my throat hurt from all of the screaming, and my body was so tired, heavy and aching from all of the struggling. Just the thought of what could’ve happened put my mind into a horrible frenzy.
After what felt like hours, my tears were nothing but slow, lonely ones, few and far between. I was still in his arms, still clutching his clothes over his chest with a death grip, still wanting his closeness like never before.
“I was so scared,” I whispered, then pressed my lips together to muffle the cries that were threatening to come out of them.
“I know,” Mazen breathed. I could sense how he was boiling on the inside just from his tone; his control over his feelings still amazed me beyond words. “She has always respected the rules and the law, and she will be punished for her actions, because she had broken those rules and laws,” he added hardheartedly.
I looked up at him in disbelief, and if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought that the glistening in his eyes was unshed tears. “Punished? The queen?”
“Shhh, don’t think about anything right now, Princess,” he whispered, kissing my forehead.
“I thought that… Oh, God!” I started crying all over again, but this time I went hysterical just thinking of all of the possibilities and all of the ‘what ifs.’ Mazen tried his best, pulling my hand away from his clothes and putting it over my chest, over my cross, giving me any and every way he knew would help calm me down.
“It’s okay, Princess, it’s okay,” Mazen shushed me. “You’re okay now. I’ve got you. I’ll keep you safe. Always.”
I held my cross, but with the same hand, I clutched his clothes again. I was simply not capable of letting him go, not even an inch. Mazen started whispering things in my ear, soft words that I think rhymed with each other but wasn’t really sure, as they were in Arabic. It reminded me of the words the