Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,8

I heard the word ‘Ameera’ more than one time. It seemed like it was her name from the way she was saying it and Huda was responding.

When the girl left, Huda informed me that she should go get ready for the wedding and see if Janna needed her to do anything.

“Sure,” I nodded. “Wait, I wanted to ask,” I paused and Huda smiled, “Is your name really Huda?”

“Yes, of course, Miss Marie,” she replied. “But, if I may ask, why are you asking that?”

“Well, nothing. It’s just that I heard that girl calling you ‘Ameera’ more than once, so I thought it was your name. I think I was mistaken.”

“Oh, it’s all right. Ameera is my title, though.”

Title?

I think Huda was able to see the confusion on my face because she explained, “Ameera means princess, Miss Marie.”

My eyes widened at her words. Princess? Huda was a princess? She just helped me dress, for God’s sake! I thought she was, er, the help or something.

“Uh…You’re a princess?” I asked in a low voice.

“Yes.” She smiled.

“Wow!”

“Uh, why is that so hard to believe?”

“Um, I’m sorry, it’s just that-” what to say? “I thought that I still hadn’t met any of the royal family yet, is all.” Good escape, Marie.

Confusion appeared on Huda’s face as she frowned. “No one met you at the airport?” she asked in a shock.

“No, there were about ten or fifteen guys there waiting for us,” I told her.

“Oh, you scared me for a second,” she sighed a sigh of relief, and I frowned. “All of those were princes, Miss Marie, so you’ve already met a lot of the royal family.”

My eyes widened even more and my eyebrows shot up. All of those men were princes? And they were waiting for us? The beautiful guy is a prince? Of course he is. He’s too handsome not to be.

And he gave me roses…

I blushed at the memory, and I think I was dazed as well for a moment, but another question came to my mind that I had to ask.

“All of those men were your brothers?”

There were over ten!

“Oh, no, they were my cousins. I only have three brothers and they are studying abroad.”

“They won’t attend their sister’s wedding?”

“Janna? Janna is not our sister, she’s our cousin.”

“But I thought you said you’re a princess, and so are they!”

“Anyone in the whole kingdom with my last name is a prince or a princess, Miss Marie. That is, if they are not the king or his wife,” she explained.

“Oh!” I went silent as it registered in my mind what she’d just said. “It was – nice of them. And you too, Huda, helping me and all,” I said awkwardly.

“It’s our pleasure, Miss Marie.”

“Please, call me Marie.”

“Sure,” she smiled. “I’ll be calling you Ameera soon anyway.” With a wink and her confusing words, Huda left me before I could ask what she’d meant by that.

More princesses came to entertain me before the ceremony started. They were as nice as Huda, and tried so hard to make small talk, which I tried to keep going so as not to be rude. But I would never forget the looks on their faces when they saw the dress I was wearing. They tried to hide it, but I was always able to read people, and those weren’t so hard to read.

They made me feel as if my dress wasn’t good enough just by their confused and disapproving looks.

Their dresses were really pretty and I was sure they were very expensive, but mine was no less pretty – or cheap; I’d paid over twelve grand for the thing. But honestly, I didn’t care; they just had to live with it, like Huda did. They were wearing colored dresses, not wedding dresses like they wanted me to wear – why should I be any different?

When it was time to start the ceremony, I was sent to a different room with the girls. They then put some kind of robe over me that was white and covered with pearls and golden decorations. There was a hood attached to it that they put on my head as well. I was worried about it messing up my hair but they assured me it wouldn’t. I was convinced when they put on robes as well, but theirs were black with no decorations on them, and completely covered them – their faces as well.

I hated that I didn’t know what was going to happen after that, as we waited for what, I didn’t