Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) (9 page)

“Wow! This is for me?”

“I’ve already said it is.”

“Uh, thank you.”

“Put it on.”

I didn’t feel like putting it on while she stood there, but didn’t want to get into an argument with her. I thought it wouldn’t really hurt me if I did as she requested, so I did.

“I think it’d look better if you removed that...thing.” She pointed with her finger and a disgusted look to my necklace.

My hand flew to my cross, holding it in my hand protectively. It felt like she was going to take it away from me, even though I was so sure she wouldn’t dare do so. But then again, I didn’t know her and knew nothing of her personality. I only knew that what I had seen so far was very unlikable.

“Uh, I don’t
ever
take it off,” I said matter-of-factly.

“Hmm,” she hummed. “Listen,
Yabent
,” she started with a cold gaze and an undeniable sneer, “Mazen is a very good man; he’s kindhearted and more than nice. He deserves the best, and even more.” She eyed my hand that was still holding my cross with disgust before looking back into my eyes. “I’ll do anything in my power to prevent that kind heart from being hurt. Anything.”

I gazed at her with shock. Her words weren’t hurtful, per se, but it didn’t mean that those words weren’t full of what seemed like a warning.

“I would’ve really loved for my
only
child to marry someone who knows how to treat her husband well, someone who knows her duties towards her husband, his rights over her and how to make him happy,” she paused. “Someone who’s a Muslim.”

Wow!

Now it wasn’t only a warning that laced her words, it was also hatred. Plain and simple.

“But, we can’t really always have what we want, can we?” she said with a shake of her head. “However, we do know how to accept what fate has forced on us.”

Is she speaking about me or herself?

Hello! I was the one forced into this here!

“If you ever hurt Mazen in
any way
, I’ll make sure to make you regret it.”

And then she left. Leaving me standing right where I was, too shocked to speak or even move.

Guess my queen/mother-in-law doesn’t like me, after all.

How much I would like to tell her that the feeling is so mutual. To her and everyone else in this stupid kingdom.

God!

I put the box with the other boxes from yesterday, determined to leave them behind when I
finally
leave this hell-hole and never look back. It was really nice, but all of those diamonds didn’t belong to me. I wasn’t the prince’s bride, nor would I ever be.

Mona came in after a few minutes with breakfast, and the prince arrived before she’d left the room. He told her something in Arabic, which she responded to with a nod and left the room.

I gazed at the prince as he stood beside the door. His angry stare was no longer there; it was replaced by a blank expression, so I couldn’t read him – yet again.

For some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. It was like I was waiting for something, only I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t wonder for long, since my thoughts were interrupted the second his soft voice filled the silence.

“We need to talk.”

I held my breath at his words. I had no idea what he would tell me, ask from me, or what that would be about. I didn’t know anything. I dreamed of him letting me go. But I knew he wouldn’t. He’d probably keep me in here and torture me to death. His kind could be sadistic like that – no surprise.

I eyed him for a moment, trying to discover his hidden intentions, to hear his silent thoughts, to see the future. But nothing worked; I couldn’t read his mind.

I won’t lie, I was scared, so scared. Not knowing anything was not very pleasant.

I felt so lonely, in a country that wasn’t my own, with people who didn’t speak my language, and believed in a religion that wasn’t mine. No family, no friends, nobody I knew. My only family had betrayed me, then went on with his life like nothing had happened. I didn’t have any clue if he was still anywhere around. I didn’t know anything. At all.

My nose tingled as the threat of tears falling down my face came to me. I fought it, but my vision blurred, and I knew he could see the shining in my eyes. I hated it, I didn’t want him to see me weak. I
wasn’t
weak. But I was helpless. I didn’t know if that was a weakness. I didn’t know anything. At all.

He motioned for me to sit on the couch, and I hesitantly did. He then sat in the same chair his mother had just left. I folded my arms in front of my chest protectively, my eyes lowered, looking anywhere but into his eyes, waiting for what he would say. My heart was pounding in my chest violently, and the fear inside me left my mouth drier than a fallen leaf in autumn.

I heard him sighing, and I had to look up; he seemed bitter, depressed, and sad. But he wasn’t angry or mad, and for that, I was grateful. I only hoped that it wasn’t an act.

“Before anything,” he started, “I need to– … What I said earlier, I shouldn’t have said it. It was uncalled for.”

My eyes widened slightly at what he said; I hadn’t expected him to apologize to me. His voice sounded genuine, and he seemed to be honest in what he was saying, but … it was hard to believe. My mind was telling me that he couldn’t be.

I didn’t reply, I only chewed on my bottom lip, not even nodding in acceptance of his apology when he said: “So, I apologize.” And when I didn’t say anything, he went on.

“I was never in favor of this except for my sister,” he said. “Janna is too important to me, and the thought of her being killed was something I couldn’t accept – no matter what. Our traditions judge her to be killed, to pay for her mistake with her life, and any way to prevent that from happening – I was willing to take, even if it meant
me
paying with my own life for hers.”

My shoulders hunched forward.

To be honest, I was moved by his words. The love he had for his sister, and his willingness to do whatever it would take to save her life, was so touching. A wave of sadness washed over me at the realization of how the prince was a better brother than mine. He would’ve given up his life for his sister to save her, while my brother gave up
my
life to save his own along with his girlfriend’s.

My heart swelled and a tear escaped my eye. Fingertips got rid of it right away before it could be acknowledged by him. I still wanted to appear strong even though I knew that my body language said I was anything but. Broken would be more apt.

“Honestly, I have no idea what I would’ve done if your brother didn’t have a sister to offer, but I would’ve found a way to save my sister nonetheless,” he told me. “Had I known you were not accepting of this marriage, I would’ve never agreed to it.”

“You wouldn’t?” I whispered my question, shock lacing my voice.

“Of course I wouldn’t, it is unacceptable on so many levels.”

I looked down again – what I felt in that moment was too much. Too much. It was the moment that removed any doubt in my heart that my brother had done all of that because there was no other choice. I couldn’t deny that part of my heart, the heart that loved him with everything in it, wanted to believe that he was helpless and this was really his
only
choice. Maybe it really was his only choice, but if he’d worked on finding another – I was sure he would’ve found one. The prince said he would’ve found a way, so why couldn’t Joseph?

It killed me to know for sure that all of this really was my brother’s doing.

My tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t find it in me to brush them away; there was no need to. My firm determination to appear strong faded into thin air, along with my last hope of learning that my brother cared for me and that there was more to the story.

There was no more to the story. Joseph had sold me out. Simply. Just like that.

“I couldn’t believe that Yoseph’s sister would be willing to leave her country, her life, and her people to come and live a life she wasn’t familiar with, but he convinced me that you were even excited to be married to a prince,” he chuckled humorlessly.

I replied to him with more tears.

“Your brother fooled me.”

“That makes two of us,” I told him.

He looked at me for a moment before nodding, his lips forming a thin line as he pressed them together. He then got up and went to a nightstand that was beside the bed, coming back with a box of tissues and handing it to me, not saying anything when I took it from him before he sat back in his armchair.

It was then that it occurred to me that I still hadn’t offered the prince any sort of apology for what I’d said last night. After all, he only said what he’d said when I called him an animal and a filthy Arab. It was only fair that I said I was sorry as well. I did wound his pride –
that
was what was
uncalled
for. He didn’t know about me being forced into this, he had no hand in it, and so far, he was being nice – it was all an act, of course, but still …

However, before I was able to say anything a thought came to my mind, a hope to be more clear. I wondered if he would let me get a divorce now? I mean, that’s what was supposed to happen, right? I was forced into it, and he wasn’t into this except to save his sister, and now that she was married and no damage had been done – to her – there was no need for us to stay married.

“Will we get a divorce now?” I asked hopefully.

“Is that what you want?” A look I couldn’t decipher shone in his eyes.

Duh!

“Yes,” I replied. I wanted to say ‘Of course’ or ‘Are you kidding?’ but I didn’t want to offend him anymore than I already had.

He was silent for a moment, then he replied with a nod. “Eventually, yes.”

“Eventually?” I asked in confusion, not knowing what he meant by that.

“Yes,
eventually
,” he replied. “We can’t get a divorce now; it’d raise too many questions that we are better off without.”

“What kind of questions? Who would ask?”

“It’s hard to explain, you don’t know of our traditions.”

Traditions! Again!

“Try me.” I was losing my patience.

He sighed. “People will wonder why would you come from the other side of the world to marry me, only to be divorced the next day, don’t you think? We can’t let the rumors start. I’m a prince, and all of the royal family has to be held to a high standard. I can’t let anyone wonder if my family forced you into this. We’re already dealing with a lot since I had to cancel my own marriage for this one, and with my sister marrying a foreigner instead of keeping the royal bloodline going. If they knew you were forced, and given that Janna married your brother
so quickly
, it’d raise ugly questions about why there was such a hurry, and if their marriage had anything to do with your company offering prosperity to our country, like we let them think. It could lead to her death all over again, and that is
not
an option.”