Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,38

here, you won’t,” he reassured me, his hand touching my arm softly, his touch barely there as if he was still afraid I’d push it away. “You won’t break the rules if you meet with your brother in any room that is connected to this room. Don’t worry about it, Princess, don’t worry about it.”

I was grateful. It meant so much to me that I wouldn’t have Joseph here in the same place where he’d destroyed me with his words and his actions, and killed a part of my soul along with it. I attempted to smile at the prince, but it came out more like a grimace. I kept avoiding his gaze; I couldn’t bear his look of sympathy that I knew would be there. I looked pathetic, I sounded pathetic, and I really was pathetic.

I nodded a few times, wiping my tears and whispering a “Thank you.”

“Call Mona whenever you’re ready and tell her that you’ll meet him in any room you choose, okay?”

Another nod and a deep breath.

He squeezed my arms tenderly in reassurance and smiled sadly at me before he left to the sunroom, closing the mirror-door behind him.

I was supposed to call Mona to tell her in which room I’d be meeting Joseph, but I just stood still, frozen in place, not doing anything. Just the thought of the two of us alone in a room freaked the heck out of me. I found myself staring at the main door of the room, then glancing at the sunroom’s door and staring at it as well, only to go back to staring at the main door, and doing it all over again. It was seriously frustrating.

With heavy steps, I made my way to the door I knew would help me ease my anxiety and cool it down a notch. What I didn’t know was the reason why my heart had decided that the prince’s company would help me kick the worry away.

I held my fisted hand up, and my knuckles knocked twice, as softly as I could, while biting down on my bottom lip. I felt like a little girl, going to her parents’ room in hopes that her parents would agree to her request to let her spend the night with them, or even come to her room and sleep beside her so she could go safely back to sleep knowing that they’d protect her from the boogieman.

He said a word in Arabic, I assumed he was thinking that it was Mona who was knocking, and I didn’t know if the word meant that it was okay to come in, or if it was requesting me to stay out, so…I knocked again.

When he opened the door, there was a frown on his face, and then a look of confusion in his eyes appeared when he saw me, an easily readable expression of worry covering his features.

“I can’t do it alone,” I blurted out, my voice breaking.

Another sad smile tugged on his lips, and a nod was his only response. He stepped out of the room and offered me his hand. I took it. He walked me a few steps closer to the main door and then called Mona. No questions asked.

The troubled feelings inside of me prevented me from admiring the beauty of the room we were now standing in. Simply, it was ridiculously big, with more than two sets of matching armchairs along with their matching couches and small coffee tables. It was filled with beautiful decorations and curtains that surrounded the whole place. There was a huge flat screen dominating one of the walls, and thick carpets that my heels kept digging into covering most of the marble floor.

In a different time, I would’ve gaped at the beauty of the room for hours and hours, but that wouldn’t happen now. If my brother was coming here to take me home like I hoped, it would never happen at all.

I couldn’t sit down while we waited for Joseph, like the prince had advised me to do. I just stood there, fumbling with my hands while my eyes fixed somewhere on the floor, and sometimes on the wall opposite me.

“It’s going to be okay,” the prince’s voice startled me and I jumped slightly.

He was right in front of me in a second, looking straight into my eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Princess,” he reassured me, the beautiful garden of his eyes forcing me to believe him. They were just really honest, and only inches