Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,19

the door was opened again after a knock, though I hadn’t given permission to its owner to come in.

Mona entered the room with a little box in her hand. She took one look at me and gasped, “Princess! You didn’t have to wear your dress again, all you had to do was just call my name.”

Maybe I was still shocked into not speaking after what the prince had said and done, because I didn’t reply. After a moment of silence she spoke again, “I’ll prepare the bath for you.”

“Uh, why the water is brown?” I asked as I looked with disgust at the tub filled with unclear water and no soap in it at all, not even a few bubbles.

“It’s herbs, Princess. It’ll help you relax your muscles and remove any soreness you might be feeling,” she explained.

Soreness?

Why would she thinks I’m so-

Oh!

I hopped into the tub, not very comfortable that I was naked in front of a stranger, but I noticed that she was avoiding looking at me until my body was completely under the water.

True to her words, the tension was leaving my body more and more as the minutes passed. It was very relaxing, especially since the ugly-looking herbs, surprisingly, smelled really good.

After the bath, I found that Mona had set out clothes for me. It was some sort of a dress but not really a dress; the end of it reached the floor and it was decorated in a way that was really breathtaking. It was love at first sight between me and the dress, as the golden color lining the dark red was just perfect. However, I still asked for my own clothes. I wasn’t going to wear them since I really liked the dress, but I still wanted to know where they were and why I wasn’t to wear them or pick out my own clothes.

“Just for the week, Princess. It’s a tradition,” Mona replied.

Well, I’m not staying here for the week, my dear. I’m flying home really soon.

The cloth felt wonderful against my skin, so soft despite all of the decorations on the front and the back; it was amazing.

I had to convince Mona that I could do my hair by myself, because she made a big deal out of it, saying it’d be disrespectful of her to let me do it myself, whatever that meant.

“Queen Shams will be with you shortly, Princess.”

“Okay,” I replied. “Wait, what?”

“Uh, the queen? A very short visit,” she nodded.

“Why is she visiting me?”

The prince told her!

Oh, my God!

She knows the blood is not mine and she’s coming to kill me! God! Oh, God!

“Tradition, Princess.” And she was gone.

It was a tradition for the queen to kill the new princess the day after the wedding?

“How are you doing, Benty?” Queen Shams asked once she was seated in the arm chair.

“Uh, I’m doing fine, thank you,” I said hesitantly as I eyed the box beside her, wondering if it had a weapon inside it.

She speaks English after all …

I tried not to think about the fact that she didn’t talk to me last night at the wedding, or the fact that I didn’t like the way she was looking at me.

“Glad to hear it,” she said, her voice not really giving away the reassurance that her words were.

We went into a very awkward silence, which I didn’t like just as much as I didn’t like her stare. There was something about that woman I just couldn’t bear. She was sending me huge waves of negative energy that were too much for my liking.

Our minutes of silence were over the second she huffed and shook her head. I frowned at her behavior but still said nothing. She then reached for the box that she’d brought with her and laid on the table in front of us, the same table I had signed my misery on, and stood up.

“This is for you,” she said as she looked down at me, her face blank.

I stood up, carefully taking the square-shaped box from her hand.

“Uh, thank you, Queen Shams,” I said politely.

“Mother,” she said, and I frowned at what ‘Mother’ meant, confused as to why she’d said that, then realizing right away that she meant for me to call her that. My eyes widened slightly. I knew in my heart that I’d never call anyone other than my own mother that name, let alone that woman standing in front of me.

I forced a smile, but that was all she was getting from me