Black Keys

by Rose B Mashal

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again after Mona left.

  I was just going to nod once again, but… “Janna is just a minor,” I blurted out.

  He stared at me for a moment, looks of hurt, sadness and anger flashed in his eyes before he looked away.

  “She’s young,” he nodded.

  “Is it even legal for her to get married this young?” I wondered.

  “Yes. Sixteen is the legal age for marriage, so…”

  It was still not right.

  Oh, Joseph! What is wrong with you? Who are you, and what have you done to my brother?

  The tears welled up in my eyes, and I couldn’t stop them from falling.

  His hand touched mine, that was resting on my lap, and he patted it in an attempt to soothe me before taking it back to rest on his own lap. Like his closeness did this morning, his hand did too; I still found it comforting. His closeness, it comforted me. It was really strange.

  He said nothing, and neither did I. I just sat there on the bed, my back resting on the pillows which Mona had fixed for me. The prince stayed there, sitting on the side of the bed, facing me with his body, but his gaze was fixed on the window.

  We stayed like that for a while, until my tears dried and my sobs were gone. The prince excused himself and then went to the bathroom, coming out in just a few moments with slightly damp hair before heading to the walk-in closet. He stayed there for another few minutes then came back, still dressed the same. It was the second time he’d done that, and I didn’t get it.

  What was he doing in there?

  I sighed, deciding not to think much of it.

  Just as the prince walked out of the closet, we heard a knock on the door. He replied with a word in Arabic before Mona came in and started telling him something. They spoke back and forth for a minute, and it was really disturbing that I didn’t get what they were saying, especially since the prince’s tone sounded like frustration.

  Finally Mona left the room, closing the door behind her, and I watched as the prince ran his hand through his hair, as he stared at the door before rubbing his temple and then turning around to face me.

  “The third day at noon, family members are supposed to visit the newlyweds. I’ve already told Mona to inform them that you were sick and won’t be able to meet them, but…my grandmother is already here and–I can’t just send her back,” he huffed. “Would you, please, let me have her in?” he asked.

  His mother’s mother?

  She could be as mean as her daughter, or maybe worse.

  But, his mother had already come in here without them asking me if I agreed, so what was the big deal now?

  “What’s the big deal?”

  It seemed like I had offended the prince again, because that was how he looked–offended. I didn’t get it; I hadn’t said anything offensive!

  “Uh, she’s in a wheelchair, and came all the way from the other half of the palace, the fifth floor,” he said in a low voice, somehow pleading.

  Oh!

  Hello, garbage feeling! It seems like you enjoy my company today.

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” I started. “I meant that yesterday your mom just came in here, without anyone asking me if I was okay with it or not,” I explained, even though I knew now that he didn’t want her to go back only because of her huge effort to visit with us.

  “Oh! I see.” He seemed a bit relieved. “It’s tradition for the mothers to come here yesterday, and the rest of the families today. They would’ve still come, but I didn’t want you going through anything that might bother you, especially while you aren’t feeling well…I just don’t want you to have to deal with pretending along with a troubled stomach, so I’m asking if you’d forgive me for allowing my grandmother in here,” he explained.

  “Of course, let her in,” I told him, getting out of bed and adjusting my clothes.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m fine,” I assured him.

  “Thank you.” The relieved smile found his lips and rested there.

  Mona arrived, after the prince called her name, and helped me with my hair then brought all of the jewelry that was gifted to me on the night of the wedding before me, asking me to choose some. When I asked, she said I had to wear at least half of it or the Queen Mother would think I didn’t like it. I didn’t argue and just went with it.

  When I was finished putting on too much jewelry, Mona left, and I stood near the set of elegant armchairs and couch waiting for our visitor to come in. A noise caught my attention and I glanced back to see that the bed was disappearing behind a moving wall that managed to hide all of the section of the room that held the bed, nightstands, window and the sunroom inside it, making it seem like a completely different room, starting with the round table that used to be in the middle of the room.

  I gave the prince, who was standing near me with his hand on another hidden button, a questioning look. He only shrugged in response.

  I’d learned that when Mona was expected, she only knocked once before she let herself in; but other times, she waited for the prince or myself to give her permission before she stepped into the room. Since she was expected this time, she knocked and opened the door before wheeling our visitor in.

  I believed I was going to be met with another mean queen, but once I saw the wide smile on the old lady’s lips, as Mona pushed her chair towards us, I felt warmth crawling into my heart and filling my insides.

  She had one of the most genuine smiles I’d ever seen in my life, and I couldn’t help but smile back at her, no less genuinely.

  The prince said one word that sounded like a greeting of some sort, before hurrying to her and taking her hand in his to kiss the back of it, before placing the spot he’d kissed on his forehead as he bowed. He then kissed her head and hugged it to his chest, a beautiful grin lighting his entire face when she kissed both of his cheeks.

  They spoke for a few moments in Arabic and I waited there awkwardly, not knowing what to do with myself, until they finally looked at me. The Queen Mother reached for me with both of her hands to come to her.

  I offered her my hand just to shake it, but she pulled me slightly and kissed both of my cheeks like she had with the prince, before she patted them while speaking words I didn’t understand.

  I blushed deeply and smiled at her, nodding my head even if I didn’t know what I was nodding to. She could be asking me if I thought I was as fat as a cow, for all I knew.

  She was sending waves of sweetness over me in a way I couldn’t explain. She just seemed so nice and kind, and even though I hadn’t spoken one word to her, I thought of her as a good person, nonetheless.

  The prince wheeled her next to one of the armchairs, and she patted it while looking at me in invitation to sit down, which I did happily. Don’t ask me why.

  She said a few words to me, and I felt so bad that I couldn’t understand her. But before I could dwell on it, the prince spoke.

  “She’s congratulating you on the wedding and wishing you the best of luck,” he told me.

  I blushed even more and smiled at her, nodding my head this time while knowing why I was nodding before I thanked her.

  The prince then spoke to her, and I assumed that he was translating what I’d said, because she then patted my hand that was resting on the arm of my chair and kept it there.

  The prince’s grandmother seemed very nice, she was just the kind of person who made you smile when they were around, even if they didn’t speak to you.

  “Is she your mother’s mother?” I asked him.

  It was the first time since the wedding that I’d seen the prince this happy, all smiley and just...well, happy.

  “No, she’s my father’s mother,” he said.

  Huh! I knew that mother-in-law could never be this nice lady’s daughter; it just couldn’t be.

  They went back to talking again, and it seemed that the prince hung on her every word, chuckling sometimes and grinning widely at others, while she
did the same. I became really frustrated with the fact that I couldn’t understand anything or know what they were talking about.

  The prince’s eyes glanced my way a time or two but he didn’t say anything, just went on with talking to his granny. I had a strong urge to huff and stand up to leave to go…somewhere, but that would’ve been very rude, so I didn’t.

  Oh, and I was stuck, too.

  The Queen Mother looked at me as she spoke more words, but looked at the prince when she finished. He then locked his eyes with mine for a moment before smiling beautifully and nodding.

  I knew they were talking about me, and it made me even more annoyed that I didn’t know what they were saying.

  So, I asked, “What did she say?”

  “Um, she says that you’re the most beautiful girl she’s ever seen.”

  Do you know what redder than a tomato looks like? Yeah, I was even redder than that.

  And, he had nodded to that…

  I smiled at her and looked down in shyness, feeling as if the heat of my blush would burn my skin at any moment.

  The Queen Mother patted my head gently and moved her hand down my hair several times, while whispering some words in a quiet voice to herself. I looked at the prince to see him looking at what was going on with a smile in his eyes, asking him with my own eyes what she was doing.

  He replied in a low voice as if not to disturb her, “She’s saying some verses of the Quran, our holy book, to protect you from envious eyes,” he explained. “She believes the girls and women in the kingdom will be jealous of your beauty and will envy you, so she’s protecting you from them, afraid something bad will happen to you.”

  Oh! How nice of her!

  “Something bad like what?”

  “Sickness, troubles, sadness,” he shrugged.

  “It’s really kind of her.”

  “She likes you a lot,” he smiled, and I mirrored his smile.

  When the prince’s grandmother was finished, she handed me another thin, square box that was a lot slimmer than the many boxes I’d gotten over the past couple of days. I opened it with another ‘thank you’.

  Oh, my God!

  I was so mesmerized by the sight in front of me that I didn’t pay attention to his granny as she spoke. What finally got my attention was the prince asking me if he could take the box.

  I didn’t want to give it to him for some reason. I wanted to hug it and sleep beside it at night, but figured it’d make the prince wonder about my sanity. I didn’t want that, so–despite myself–I nodded.

  He took the piece of wonderfulness out of the box and stood beside me. I knew immediately that he was going to put it on me, and it made me smile.

  If I hadn’t seen the two white gold hairpins attached to the sides of the jewel, I would’ve mistaken it for a necklace. It was some sort of a crown, but it wasn’t the hard material kind that stood two feet above the head. No, it was soft and shaped like a bandanna, only it was decorated with white gold and diamonds all over it. When the prince put it above my head, a few parts of it dangled, resting on my forehead like gold-and-diamond bangs, and the rest of it rested above my hair and ended at the middle of my back.

  I had diamond bangs on my forehead, people!

  The prince secured it in place, taking his sweet time as he adjusted locks of my hair above the pins to cover them. I felt his knuckles touching the back of my neck softly as he dragged his right hand down it, sending shivers down my spine and more warmth to fill my heart.

  I found myself wishing he wouldn’t move his hand away.

  While still wearing my sort-of-crown, I only had soup for lunch: no salad, and none of the other delicious-looking food that was calling to me. Doctor’s orders. I couldn’t complain.

  “Does it bother you when we speak in Arabic in your presence?” the prince asked out of nowhere.

  I was taken aback by the fact that he noticed my annoyance with the subject, and I went with the truth. “A lot,” I nodded.

  “I won’t do it again, and neither will Mona. I promise.”

  I was grateful. Very grateful, to be honest. But I couldn’t believe he would be that–nice. Could he?

  Games.

  Traps.

  I shrugged the voices in my head away, and politely thanked him, then took another spoonful of my soup as the prince ate whatever was on his plate.

  A knock on the door echoed into the silence.

  “Come in.” The prince smiled at me, earning a smile back.

  If I didn’t already know that she was Mona at the door, I wouldn’t have recognized her. She had a black face cover on, I had no idea why. She was about to say something, but the prince interrupted her. “Speak only in English from now on in the princess’ presence, please,” he ordered gently.

  “Yes, Prince Mazen,” Mona said. It made me smile. It had felt like I was in the dark, and someone finally turned on the light. The fact that I would now be able to understand what they said to each other and not just the words that were directed to me made me feel somewhat safer.

  But my smile faded right away, and I wished she would’ve kept speaking in Arabic instead. Because, then, I would’ve never understood her next words, and it would’ve been a blessing.

  “Mr. Yoseph wants to speak alone with Princess Marie.”

  I swallowed thickly.

  I wasn’t expecting that–at all. I hadn’t expected to see him again so soon. Upon reflection, I really hadn’t thought about seeing him again. Not like I thought I’d never see him ever again; I knew he was around somewhere, but I didn’t think about what would happen when we met.

  And now that it had happened, and he wanted to meet with me…my blood ran cold just thinking about it. Something that just a few days ago, had someone told me I’d feel that way about seeing my own brother, I would’ve found foolish.

  My heartbeat sped up: something that had happened to me more times than I’d like to admit since I’d come here. And I didn’t like the feeling. Not for a second.

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. It didn’t work.

  I let it out, thinking that my heartbeat would slow down a bit. It didn’t work.

  I repeated it, again. Still, no use.

  “Sign the fucking papers, you selfish bitch!”

  “Princess?” I felt a hand brushing mine, and automatically I flinched away, holding my hand to my chest and staring at him with eyes that were tingling with uninvited tears, tears that were fighting with me to be shed.

  “Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice, his eyes pitying me; it was so obvious.

  I hated it.

  A tear falling was my answer.

  The prince got up, motioning to Mona with his head to leave, which she did after a nod of her head. Then he knelt in front of me, his green eyes full of concern and never-ending shades of sadness.

  It was the same pose my brother had taken when he pleaded with me to sign away my soul to the…prince.

  “You’re so fucking selfish, Marie. I can’t even find a word for your selfishness!”

  “Princess, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” the prince said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

  He knew what I was thinking. He knew the thoughts in my head were eating away at my soul. He knew I was disturbed by the request Mona had just delivered. He knew that it wasn’t something that I wanted to do.

  But, it needed to be done. I’d have to meet with him sooner or later. And I knew I’d better do it now.

  “It’s seems like it’s all I’ve been doing lately,” I told him, and he waited for me to continue, so I did. ‘‘Everything that I don’t want to do.”

  He hung his head, the tenderness that he had just been looking up at me with now gone. For some stupid reason, I wanted to move my hand through his hair, and remove that look I saw flashing in his eyes when I spoke, and the words along with it.

  I didn’t do it. I only wiped my tears away, held my head high and then I announced, “I�
�m going to meet with my brother.”

  The toughness with which I tried to fill my insides was nothing but a fake dream that I couldn’t force to come true, no matter how hard I tried.

  I was a shaking mess.

  Still, I knew I could do it. I just had to do it. Maybe he was here because he knew of his mistake and the wrong he had done me. Maybe he was here to offer me a way out. Maybe he was here to take me back home.

  I hoped.

  “I’ll be in the sunroom,” the prince informed me once I was ready to see my brother.

  I nodded hesitantly, but once he turned around to leave, I felt as if the room was spinning. I stopped him, “Wait!” and he did.

  “I, uh, I don’t want to meet with him in here,” I admitted. “Please, I know it’s too much to ask, but I c-can’t.” My voice was shaking and my lips were trembling, unshed tears tingling in my eyes and hitched breaths caught in my throat.

  I couldn’t imagine myself meeting with him here again. It brought back one the darkest memories in my whole life, the memory of my brother holding a gun–a gun that was pointed toward my head and ready to be used.

  I couldn’t breathe normally.

  “Hey, hey,” the prince whispered after he hurriedly took the two steps that parted us and stood right in front of me. It seemed like his hand was just about to caress my cheek, but he thought better of it and moved it away immediately, maybe thinking about how I had shrugged the very same hand away not ten minutes ago. Little did he know that I was desperate to feel anything a nice caress on the cheek would offer, any of the warmth and tenderness I knew that–strangely–his touch would make me feel, anything to replace the fear and panic that were filling my heart. Anything. Anything at all.

  “It’s not too much to ask, it’s not,” he told me. “You won’t see him here, you won’t,” he reassured me, his hand touching my arm softly, his touch barely there as if he was still afraid I’d push it away. “You won’t break the rules if you meet with your brother in any room that is connected to this room. Don’t worry about it, Princess, don’t worry about it.”

  I was grateful. It meant so much to me that I wouldn’t have Joseph here in the same place where he’d destroyed me with his words and his actions, and killed a part of my soul along with it. I attempted to smile at the prince, but it came out more like a grimace. I kept avoiding his gaze; I couldn’t bear his look of sympathy that I knew would be there. I looked pathetic, I sounded pathetic, and I really was pathetic.