Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) (4 page)

I was on edge the whole frigging time, and again, I was pretty sure I’d lose my sanity if it wasn’t for Joseph hardly ever leaving my side.

In our suite, we were constantly offered a huge amount of food –enough to feed the armies of two or three countries. It seemed like a never-ending story of people entering our suite to drop off more food and take away hardly touched plates. It felt weird to see all of those men looking at the ground, like slaves. I hated it. It made me feel bad, so bad beyond words.

Joseph told me that they’d let us rest. We should be starting our day in the morning; they’d let us know exactly when. I hated that, too. Joseph and I were to be some kind of family to them soon, so why wouldn’t any of the royal family meet us now?
That
was disrespectful.

To be honest, when I put my head on the pillow and slept like a rock almost instantly, I was very grateful for the space they’d offered us. I really needed that rest after the long hours in the plane.

When the sun rose, Joseph woke me up, and I hugged him and wished him the best wishes I could think of. My heart was breaking for the fact that he was going to get married in a few hours without a father or a mother or even a friend, nothing but a sister that loved him more than the whole world.

I respected his wish of not telling any of our friends about the wedding, saying it was a sensitive matter given who his in-laws were. We would let the world know about it when they were ready. There was no one important to us besides each other anyway, so it wasn’t even worth telling.

Out of nowhere, Joseph started crying over my shoulder, whispering so many times that he loved me so much and that he only wanted the best for me, that he would never put me into any situation if he thought I’d be in danger even for a moment.

I didn’t know what to think about that, and it broke my heart some more to see him like that. I realized that maybe he was sorry for bringing me into a country he knew I hated to be in, where I was thinking I’d be in danger or fear for both of our lives.

I assured him that as long as we had each other, nothing else would matter.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he told me.

I offered him a smile as my chest tightened with a confusion that was uncalled for, a confusion some of his words had caused, a confusion I hid from him so well. Today was his wedding day, after all.

Only a few hours before the wedding, and I’d yet to meet the bride. I couldn’t wait to meet the girl who’d captured my brother’s heart and stole the sleep from his eyes. I had no picture or anything like that of her, only the perfect image Joseph had drawn in my head.

To say I almost danced when I heard a female’s voice would be an understatement. It turned out to be a lady that was to assist me to some kind of a spa inside of the hotel that was only for women. The lady was covered literally from head to toe with black, only thickly kohl-lined, brown eyes and pale hands were showing, and nothing more.

In the spa, the lady took off the dark, er,
robe?
she was wearing, and underneath it she was wearing jeans and a very stylish blouse; I thought she looked really pretty. I was greeted by the one who managed the place, and the lady who gave me her name as Huda told me with her thick accent that I could get whatever I wanted. It was a nice thing for them to offer, to be honest. I got a massage and my nails done as well as my hair.

I was then brought to a table that I knew very well was for something I didn’t like to do. Ever.

“Um, I’m not going to do this,” I told Huda.

“Uh, but it’s a tradition, Miss Marie,” she said.

Tradition? What on earth? Why should the soon-to-be-sister-in-law
wax
?
I wondered.

Weirdos!

“I’m sorry, but no, I don’t do it, and I won’t.”

Huda was really shocked by that; I didn’t know why. It looked as if she wanted to say something; however, she just smiled and nodded.

When I was done with everything, I thought it was time to put on my dress that I had bought just two days before we left. But when I told Huda, she told me that my dress was already waiting for me.

I didn’t want to sound ungrateful or anything, but I also didn’t like that someone had bought me something that I might not like. Though, I thought that maybe it had something to do with the way the bride wanted things, so I didn’t say anything.

Inside the room I was to get dressed in, I saw a very beautiful wedding dress on a hanger. It was brightly white with shining pearls and diamonds, and I assumed it was my brother’s fiancée’s. I thought she was really lucky to wear it; it was breathtaking.

“Where is my dress?” I asked.

“This one, Miss Marie.” She pointed to the wedding dress.

WHAT?

Why was I to wear a wedding dress?

“Uh, this is for me?” I asked Huda.

“Yes, Miss Marie,” she replied.

A frigging wedding dress?

“But...I...uh...I think it’s not appropriate for me to wear that.”

I mean, it’s supposed to be only the bride wearing something like that.

“Of course it is, Miss Marie. It’s a tradition.”

This word again!
It was really beginning to get on my nerves. I was seriously nearing the point where I’d consider telling her that I couldn’t care less about their stupid, meaningless traditions.

But after refusing the weird request of being waxed, I didn’t feel like refusing another tradition would be nice. After all, I’ve been met by nothing but kindness since I arrived here. Fake kindness, I knew, but still…

“Okay,” I sighed.

The dress needed a little work to fit properly, since it was a little loose in the waist and chest area, but other than that, it looked and felt perfect.

Looking at myself in the mirror–I just couldn’t take it. I looked like a bride, and I didn’t like it. It wasn’t my wedding, it was my brother’s. In my opinion, it wasn’t fair for me to be wearing this; only the bride was supposed to wear something as beautiful as this.

I wanted out of the dress. And that was what I did.

As hard as she tried to hide how displeased she was, I could still see it on Huda’s face that she wasn’t happy with me refusing to keep the dress on. It just felt wrong, and I had to do it. She just had to get over it.

I wore my silver dress that was brought to me from my room as I’d requested, and only then did I feel like I was wearing something appropriate.

Looking in the mirror, it felt right.

Huda was about to say something when we heard a knock. She said something loudly in Arabic that I supposed was directing the person to come in, because that was what happened shortly thereafter. A young girl entered and smiled at me, which I returned before she spoke with Huda. The conversation went back and forth and I didn’t like the fact that I wasn’t aware of what they were talking about, but I was pretty sure 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.