Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,82

asked her where he was, but then thought better of it. She didn’t deserve to have my anger taken out on her. Again. So instead I said, “He could’ve told me he needed the bathroom first. I didn’t take that long, did I?”

“It’s not like that, Princess,” she said as she moved the brush down my hair. “He didn’t want to bother you, he wanted you to take all the time you needed. He was just afraid he would miss the prayer, is all.”

“How would he miss it?” It was the second time I’d heard the words ‘missing the prayer’ and I didn’t understand what that meant.

“This prayer time ends at sunrise, Princess,” Mona explained, but before I could ask her any further questions, the prince walked into the room, smiling softly when our eyes met. I looked away. When I saw my reflection in the mirror again, I still called myself a cheater, because though I looked away and didn’t smile and my acts were cold to him, there was warmth inside of me when I looked at him that I couldn’t deny I was feeling.

“Thank you,” I said politely when Mona was finished with my hair.

“It’s my pleasure, Princess Marie.” She smiled brightly and I smiled in return, getting up when she left and heading to bed.

“Uh, Princess?” the prince called when I reached the side of the bed.

“Yes?” I said without looking, then felt him coming closer.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“Not now, I want to go to sleep, I’m exhausted,” I replied, reaching for the bed covers and starting to pull them back. I’d only slept for three or four hours in the past day.

“Only for a few minutes.”

“I’m not in the mood for talking,”

“Please, Princess.”

I sighed. I really didn’t want to talk, I just wanted this day to be over already. Still, I went to the living area and sat on the couch, crossing my legs, then my arms in front of my chest.

I wasn’t feeling very comfortable when the prince chose to sit next to me on the couch.

“What happened earlier–”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I interrupted him.

I heard the prince sighing. “I meant the panic attack not the ki–”

“I don’t want to talk about that, either.”

“Princess, please,” he pleaded in a quiet voice. “Nothing works fine when we block things out and shut down. Please, just talk to me, I need to make sure you’re okay.”

My heart hurt and mind fogged with thoughts and memories. “I’m okay,” came out the whispered reply.

There was silence for a minute before the prince spoke again, “Has that happened to you before?”

I didn’t want to reply, but I found myself nodding anyway.

“How long ago?”

“Almost fourteen years.” My throat started closing, and I swallowed a few times to let it go.

There was concern in his voice and a hint of sorrow–which I hated–when he asked, “What prompted it the first time?”

I couldn’t talk about that, not at all, and not to him of all people. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I shook my head.

“You can tell me anything, Princess. I’m not a bad person, I promise, maybe I can help.”

“No, I can’t tell you anything, I can’t tell you a lot of things. I don’t know you, I shouldn’t be telling you my secrets, and I sure-as-heck shouldn’t have kissed you,” I exclaimed, leaning forward and holding my head in my hands, my frustration with myself taking its toll on me as I started showing how angry and ashamed I was–with myself, that is. That in itself bothered me to no end because I didn’t want to show him my vulnerability any more than I already had.

“But I thought…” the prince started then paused before speaking again. “I thought we said we would try to get to know each other, Princess. Why are you pulling away now? Why are you changing your mind? What happened?”

“You know what happened,” I snapped, head still between my hands.

His sigh was more like a huff this time. “Listen, Princess,” he said, and I didn’t move an inch to let him know that I was listening, “I know this has all started out wrong–very wrong–but, maybe, something good could come out of it, just try to see that.”

“Something good like what? We fall in love with each other and then live happily ever after? It’s never going to happen.” I shook my trapped head.

The silence that came after that statement was deafening. My words–for some stupid reason that I didn’t