Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) - Rose B. Mashal Page 0,94
marrying the right woman to help him take his place on his father’s throne, as he was supposed to.
“No, Princess. It’s only if–God forbid–the king dies before Prince Mazen has an heir of his own.”
Oh!
“What if neither of them has one?” The guilt banged in my heart once again–though it was very silly of me to even feel like that, I knew.
“Then the position will go to the king’s brother, Princess Rosanna’s father.”
Oh!
But–wait…
“I thought you said that she was the queen’s niece?”
“Yes, Princess, she’s both the queen and the king’s niece.”
“How is that even possible?”
“Simple, Princess, two brothers married two sisters. Actually, three brothers married three sisters if you count our former king, God rest his soul.”
“Oh! That’s Huda’s father, right?” I remembered her telling me that her aunt took the title from her mother after her father died and her uncle became the king.
“That’s correct, Princess.”
“Do those things happen a lot here? My head is spinning just thinking about it. I have no idea how you guys keep up with knowing who is related to whom,” I chuckled half-heartedly, mastering my plan in pretending that I was not freaking out from the inside and keeping the small talk going.
“You can’t even imagine,” she grinned, finishing my hair and commenting on how beautiful I looked. I politely thanked her and got up to put my heels on.
As silly as it was, the feeling I got once I put my feet in those heels was something very strange. I felt a sense of familiarity, which lead to the longing I had already been feeling for what seemed like too long. I was finally wearing something of my own, and it just reminded me of all of the things that had been taken away from me since the day I got here.
Mona then excused herself to bring me the clothes that Janna had said her maid would be bringing me, leaving me to my thoughts for a few minutes. I pretended to be adjusting my clothes over my body, not like the thoughts in my head were about to knock me over on the floor or anything.
She came back a few minutes later with black clothes folded in her hands. When I gave her a questioning look, pretending I didn’t know what was in there, she said that I had to cover up so that no one would know that the new bride was roaming around in the palace before the first week had passed. Or, that was what Janna had told her.
The abaya I wore wasn’t like the one I’d worn last night, this one was heavier. Much heavier, and much, much bigger–I was really drowning in it. Also, unlike the one from yesterday, it barely had any decorations on it, though it still looked nice. To a point. The face cover was not an easy thing to wear, or to keep on for that matter. It gave me a headache and it wasn’t comfortable at all: I couldn’t breathe normally, let alone stand the heat I felt in it just a minute after putting it on. When I complained to Mona, wondering how on earth they were able to keep this thing on for hours, she just smiled big and told me, “You get used to it,” as if it was the easiest thing in the whole world.
With a deep breath then a long sigh, I stepped out of the closet through the same door I’d entered, the one that led to the living room where the prince was.
He was standing by the wall, which the flat screen dominated, looking at what I figured was a collection of CDs. When he felt my presence, he glanced over his shoulder at me then to the CD in his hand, paused for a moment, and then turned his head to look at me again only to turn fully to be facing me.
His eyes narrowed and he cocked his head to the side, and when those narrowed eyes turned into shocked ones, I had to stifle a laugh at the expression on his face. Though he couldn’t see me, I knew he heard my soft snickers.
“Princess!” he said in surprise.
“Hey!” I smiled behind my niqab.
The prince walked over to where I was standing, and came close to me, stopping only when he was within touching distance. Or even closer.
I swallowed thickly.
His hands came up under my chin and near my chest where he took hold of the edges of the face cover with