Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,55

a complaint; it was a concerned call.

I took a step back and looked away, listening to Janna as she gagged and apologized with a faint ‘Sorry.’ The prince hushed her with soothing promises of how ‘Everything will be okay,’ and ‘You’ll feel better now.’

“Mona!”

I thought she would come out of the sunroom since I hadn’t seen her leave it, but she came in through the main bedroom door, informing me silently and without me asking that the sunroom had another door.

Too. Many. Doors. I groaned internally.

The prince went to the bathroom and I went to my now-favorite spot in front of the window as Mona took care of Janna.

When he came out, he was shirtless.

I swallowed thickly.

All of the thoughts I’d had about him not too long ago came back full force, wondering and admiring. And all of the thoughts about forgetting said thoughts were actually that–forgotten.

He looked mesmerizing.

“Are they still in there?” He pointed to the closet with the now closed door.

“Yeah, I guess Janna is changing or something,” I told him.

I guess you’ll have to stay shirtless for a while… Hmm…

He nodded, moved a hand through his hair and cleared his throat. “Uh…” His words were interrupted by the sound of the closet door opening.

Janna came out without Mona and closed the door behind her. “They are going to clean the floor,” she said with embarrassed eyes.

“They?”

“Mona and Nora – my maid. She brought me my clothes,” Janna said.

Her maid? Where the heck did she come from?

“I’m so sorry, Marie.”

“Hey, Janna, it’s really ok–” I was cut off mid-sentence with the sound of the main bedroom door being opened abruptly and with such force that it jerked back with a loud noise as it hit the wall.

The queen came running in our direction, and the rage in her eyes made me shiver. She was up to no good.

“Mother,” the prince said in greeting, his voice careful and his pose strong but humble.

The queen started screaming in Arabic–yelling words I didn’t think would be nice in anyway. Janna was trembling and tears filled her eyes as she looked down, fear seeping out of her in strong waves.

What’s going on?

“She was just coming to say goodbye with her husband,” the prince said.

The queen started yelling again, her hands flying in the air, her voice laced with venom and anger.

“Mother, she threw up and that was what delayed her. Everything is fine, she’ll go now.”

“I’m not going anywhere with him,” Janna blurted out with a shaky voice.

If I’d thought that the queen’s eyes were filled with rage before, I now thought they were filled with fire, hateful fire. Scary fire.

“Sagtah!” the queen yelled, her hand rising up in the air, ready to strike Janna on the face. I watched with terror as Janna flinched but didn’t move away–as if this was something she was used to, something that happened on a daily basis.

It broke my heart.

She was royal, a princess, the daughter of the king. She was supposed to be spoiled rotten and treated as if she were made of glass–not insulted, humiliated and abused. And even if she weren’t royal, nobody deserved to be treated this way. It was really sad to watch, especially knowing you could do nothing about it. I had to squeeze my eyes shut and turn my head away, because it was the only thing I could do.

The noise that followed wasn’t one coming from a slap, like I had expected; it was the prince’s deep voice, “I told you she was leaving.”

I opened my eyes to find him holding her hand up, just an inch away from Janna’s scared, pained face.

They stayed frozen in this state for several moments, the queen shooting him deadly looks and the prince holding her stare until she put her hand down.

She asked him something and he glanced my way for a second before looking back at her, which made her turn her face in my direction and sneer.

“Mona!” the prince called. “Have Nora take Princess Janna to her wing, and tell her to come to me if anything happens,” he said when Mona entered the room, his eyes not leaving his mother’s. It didn’t take a genius to realize that his words held a warning to…the queen.

Wow!

Janna left, using the living room door. I assumed her maid would be following or something, though she didn’t enter the bedroom.

The queen started yelling again, causing the prince to huff and then clench his teeth, replying by shaking his head every once