Black Keys (The Colorblind Trilogy #1) (48 page)

A moment or two passed before I found the will to tell him, “That kiss I gave you before I left? It was real.” For some reason, I begged with everything in me for him to believe me. Even if I wasn’t able to believe what I was saying myself, or found it hard to admit it, I still wanted him to believe me.

The prince kept his eyes locked with mine for a few seconds before his lips drew a soft smile and then he leaned down and pressed those beautiful lips of his to my forehead, kissing it softly before pulling back the slightest to look closely into my eyes.

“I know that very well,” he whispered. “Sleep now, My Princess.”

At that moment, I found that of all the words he’d used before;
‘My’
was the best word he’d ever chosen to put prior my title.

The smile I had on my lips as I fell asleep was still present when I woke up a few hours later.

Light was still shining from outside the window, telling me that I hadn’t slept that long, but I didn’t feel the need to go back to sleep. I sat up on the bed and looked around, finding the room to be completely empty.

I stretched in bed, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, then called, “Mona!”

Less than a minute later, she was knocking and then opening the door.

“Good afternoon, Princess,” she smiled. “Can I get you anything?”

“Where’s the prince?” I asked, covering my mouth with the back of my hand as I yawned.

“He’s in the living room, Princess,” she answered. “I’ll go call him if you wish.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll do it in a few minutes,” I told her and she smiled. “I’ll use the bathroom and freshen up a bit. Could you please bring me one of those beautiful dresses I saw in the closet?”

“Yes, of course,” she said, “Right away.” She disappeared into the closet and I got off the bed and went into the bathroom, doing my thing. Mona helped me into a dress similar to the ones I’d worn the past few days, but this one had a ridiculously big sweetheart neckline that showed a heck of lot of cleavage. It fitted above the waist, and the rest was a loose, silky, floor-length skirt covered with another layer of chiffon, colored the same shade of mauve as the rest of the dress. It had wide sleeves that gave the whole dress an even more elegant look to it. I liked it a lot.

Mona brushed my hair for me as we made small talk about the incense she was going to use for the day. I couldn’t tell what most of the scents she named were, so I asked her to stick with what she’d used the past two days.

She then told me that food would be ready soon and I thanked her before she left the room, closing the door behind her.

I checked myself in the mirror, being very aware that that dress definitely made my breasts look bigger. My diamond cross necklace just looked perfect with anything I wore. Smiling, I went to the secret door into the living room and opened it, stepping inside.

The prince was sitting in the same armchair he’d been sitting in earlier, his head leaning back as he breathed evenly with his eyes closed, seeming to have slept while sitting there.

He looked...adorable, a term that I was pretty sure this powerful man in front of me wouldn’t like to hear me saying out loud about his looks.

I found myself smiling sweetly as I studied his beautiful face. His jaw was simply perfect, and his cheekbones still called to me to touch them, kiss them even. They just looked so soft and...touchable.

On his lap lay a few papers that had things on them I couldn’t understand, scripts and patterns I didn’t know what they meant. I briefly wondered if he was writing in his diary or something, but they were papers, not a notebook. The blue ink pen was still in his hand, his knuckles had a light shade of blue bruises on them and I wanted to kiss it away.

I reached to take the pen from his hand, but just an inch before my hand touched the pen, the prince’s hand caught mine and he grabbed it hard, holding it in place. I yelped when his grip on it tightened, as he jerked his body up in a split second to stand fully on his feet.

His already wide eyes, that were staring at my equally wide ones, grew even larger when he realized it was me he was holding by the hand. He let out a word that sounded like a curse before he instantly loosened his grip on my hand, but didn’t completely let it go.

“Princess!” he said, taking my hand and bringing it to his mouth to kiss the back of it. “I’m sorry.” He kissed the inside of it, “I’m so sorry,” before rubbing my wrist where he had gripped.

My shock was replaced with the warmth that his kiss sent straight to my heart, and the calmness that washed over my every sense. I smiled at him, reassuring him that I was fine. “I’m sorry I startled you,” I apologized with a soft voice.

“No, it’s okay, I don’t know how that happened,” he said, cracking his neck on both sides.

I smiled. “You’re human; humans tend to sleep every now and then, you know?”

His smile was kind when he returned mine, and then he brought the back of my hand to his lips and kissed it again, rubbing it one more time before letting it go. He got down on one knee and collected the papers off of the floor, then went to do the same thing he’d done to the papers when he taught me about the secret passageways: burn them in a trash can.

When he was done, he said, “I wonder what time it is.” I replied that it was almost three, for it was two-thirty before I came into the living room.

“You should get some sleep,” I told him.

“No, it’s a good thing you woke me up, I should pray before I miss it,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll be right back.” I nodded, smiling, wondering if he’d noticed my dress or was going to comment on it–something in me wanted to hear a compliment from him, which was
so
unlike me. It was never something I’d wanted. I knew I was beautiful, and I never fished for compliments from anyone to prove to myself that I really was–but it was different with him.

Sighing, I went to the window and gazed out of it, my thoughts worrying me a bit. I wanted to follow the prince and watch him while he prayed–because I liked doing that so much–but I stopped myself. Something was changing inside of me, my feelings and...my views.

It was like I wanted him to stay close, very close. I didn’t want him to be in one room while I was in the other–a fact that I was a little bit aware of even before I’d tried to escape. Even then, I’d known that I was keeping the pain I was feeling, at the thought of never seeing him again, blocked away until I got back home where I could think clearly, and cry freely.

It was like I wanted him to always look at me that way he looked at me: kindly, smiling, and even admiring, as I liked to think. Because when his eyes held other emotions than that, it felt like I would do anything in my power to make him like me again.

It was like I wanted to hear him calling me
Beautiful Princess
more than calling me just Princess, and I actually wanted him to call me
his
princess more than calling me anything at all.

I was developing feelings for him–of that I’d become very aware–and the thought was very worrying. Not because of what he was, or who he was, but because I’d never allowed anyone to have that kind of power over my heart, over
me
.

I’d liked someone before, and had admired another, was maybe head over heels for yet someone else, but for the prince? It was something stronger,
much
stronger. That wasn’t only worrisome, it was actually scary. Because if that ended, I wouldn’t handle the heartache very well. I had never been able to, and I knew that with him, it’d be even harder, almost impossible to get over.

Oh, God! Did I just say ‘if that ended’ and not ‘when it ends’? That’s not good.

“Princess?” The prince’s voice brought me back from my thoughts, and I turned to see him standing beside me, a smile on his lips and warmth in his eyes. “Welcome back to Earth.”

I returned his smile. “Yeah, I didn’t hear you coming.”

“What were you thinking about?” His smile remained as he asked me the question softly, the sun’s rays shining from the window and into his eyes, causing them to sweetly narrow a bit, and for the green in them to brighten even more.

You.

I shrugged one shoulder, because the answer to that question wasn’t something I wanted to say. Then I asked, “Any news about Janna?”

“Yeah, they stopped for fuel a few hours ago,” he said. “She’ll land in an hour or so.”

I nodded, pursing my lips, and then fidgeted with the sleeve of my dress as I gazed out the window. I wanted to know about her condition so badly, but I knew I couldn’t ask him that. I figured I’d just ask Mona later when the chance arose.

“Why didn’t you wear something more comfortable, Princess?” he asked. “No one is visiting us today.”

“Um…I–uh, I just thought it looked nice.” I twisted my lips to the side and looked away, hoping the embarrassed blush would go unnoticed.

“You look stunning in anything you wear, Princess,” he said. My embarrassed blush turned into a shy one, deepening even more and causing me to look down while smiling bashfully. But then, the prince’s hand touched mine and he held it, causing me to look up at his face. “But I have to admit that this–” he brought our hands up and made me spin in my place, showing off my whole dress to him with a grin plastered on my face, “makes you look exquisite.”

I giggled softly and bit my bottom lip, and his hand pulled me closer to him.

He put his other hand on the middle of my back, then kissed my hair. I closed my eyes and sighed, wishing he’d leave me there for a few moments–or a long while, because I liked his closeness so much, more than I liked to admit.

I didn’t get my wishes answered, though, because we heard a knock on the door the next second, and the prince pulled his head away slightly. “Come in,” the prince called.

Mona entered, and her smile grew, then she looked down, the smile still on her face as she spoke. “The food is ready; where should I put it, Your Highnesses?”

“Wherever the princess prefers,” he said, smiling down at me as he spoke.

I smiled back. “Here would be fine. Thank you, Mona.”

“My pleasure, Princess,” she nodded before leaving the room.

“You seem distant,” I told the prince. The whole time we ate, he smiled and would comment now and then on this or that, ask me if I liked the food and so on, but then he would space out and it was like he wasn’t even in the room.

“Yeah, sorry about it,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, then relaxing back into the armchair he was sitting in.

“What is it?” I asked him, folding my legs underneath me as I adjusted myself on the couch right next to him.

“It’s just...lots of things are on my mind,” he sighed.

I wanted him to tell me, to talk to me, but didn’t know how to tell him that. I didn’t know if he trusted me–not after what had happened, anyway. “What were you writing on those papers?” I tried to circle around the idea, hoping that he’d tell me what was occupying his thoughts this way on his own.

“I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I don’t mind.” he said, and the words “my thoughts” were his answer.

“Your thoughts?”

“Yes.”