Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,59
really important to my mother; she doesn’t like it when things get off track.” His quiet voice was now closed with sadness, even more than before.
“She shouldn’t have said that to you. It wasn’t nice,” I said, trying with what little assurance I had to let him know I wasn’t happy with what she’d told him, because it–truly–wasn’t fair.
“It’s fine,” he said after a pause. “She’s always known when I was lying.” He shook his head.
“Yeah?”
He nodded.
“She believed you eventually.”
“Because I never say God’s name with a lie, ever. I’ve always been known for that; I never swear while lying, I never break a promise and I never cry.”
Huh!
“It’s the only thing that’s bothering me,” he huffed. “I hate that I lied with God’s name.”
He wasn’t just saying it; pain was written all over his face. He really didn’t like what he had said.
And he said it–he did it–for me…
“But you didn’t lie with God’s name,” I whispered.
“What?”
“I– uh…I’m a virgin.” I looked down, blushing deeply.
“Uh…what?”
“You heard me.” He was embarrassing me more than I was already.
“Oh, yes, I heard. Yes. It’s just–I mean…what?”
“I’m a virgin, okay? Virgin. I’ve never had sex before!”
“Wow!”
“Why is it so hard to believe?”
“Uh, it’s not…I just–I never thought you would be, even when your brother said you were.”
“And why is that?”
“Because you’re so beautiful, you’re smart and intelligent, and you’re twenty-two. I read somewhere that most of Americans lose their virginity before the age of twenty, even without marriage.”
Because you’re so beautiful…
“Well, thank you, but...don’t believe everything you read,” I told him. “Is that why you called me a filthy American who spreads her legs for a meal?”
He looked regretful. “Uh, I apolo-”
“You already apologized for that; there is no need for more.” And I kind of deserved it. “Maybe most Americans do or do not lose their virginity as teenagers, but I take the rules and laws of my religion seriously. I’m Catholic, I believe that sex should be only after marriage, that your body is sacred and you should never share it with anyone but your spouse. Lots of Americans think the same, not just Catholics.”
“I really didn’t know that.” Embarrassment shone in his eyes.
I smiled. “Someone told me before not to judge without knowledge.”
The prince grinned. “Sounds like a very wise man.”
“Yeah, but I’ve just started to think he’s arrogant, as well,” I giggled.
The prince let out a small chuckle. “He’s not, I promise, just a terrible liar,”
I giggled again.
“That’s a very nice sound,” he said, his eyes watching me and his hand squeezing mine. “You should do it more often.”
My blush deepened and I bit down on my bottom lip. “Yeah,” was all I managed to say.
We lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few moments before the prince sighed and spoke again. “I wish my sister had believed in everything you just said; lots of things would’ve been different if she had.”
Tingle. In my chest. I didn’t know where it came from or why. Didn’t know if it was a sad or happy one. I just felt it. My chest...it tingled.
“We all make mistakes, we are not angels, nobody is,” I defended the girl I didn’t even know.
“I do know that, but without rules and laws–the world would be nothing but a huge ball of chaos, don’t you think, Princess?”
“I agree, but nothing ever justifies killing another human being just because of a moment of weakness,” I told him.
“That doesn’t work in every case.” He pressed his lips into a tight line as he shook his head.
I frowned.
“If that worked, then there should never be a law that allows people to put others in an electric chair and kill them just because in a moment of weakness–like you put it–they killed another.”
“It’s not the same thing,” I said.
“Maybe not the same thing, but it’s a law. Laws are what keep us in line.”
“Yeah, well, some laws are just stupid,” I said in frustration.
The prince shook his head. “Some laws are unfair, but that’s only in the eyes of people who break them. Sometimes, no matter what you do and no matter how great the power you have in your hands, you could never change them, so you just do your best to avoid breaking them, because that’s all you can do.”
It took me a moment to take his words in, and when I understood it–as much as I could–I nodded. They were their laws, stupid or not, fair or not–they were laws. They couldn’t just break, deny or change