“Auntie Marie, this is the guy who’s been so eager to meet you.”
Marie’s fiancé bowed his head in greeting. He was such a handsome young man and his smile was heartwarming.
“Your Grace, I’m very pleased to meet you.”
He smiled widely and I smiled back, feeling something strange as I looked into his eyes.
“The pleasure is all mine,” I said, then I asked awkwardly, “Have we met before? You look familiar.”
His smile turned into a grin. “We did, Your Grace. I thought you wouldn’t remember me since it was a long time ago. I was only three, but I couldn’t count my age on my hand. I was your inspiration to open a new school, and I got to receive my education in it, just like you had wished. I was the first in my class and made it my life’s goal to become the best person I could be, to honor you.”
I gasped, “Mazen?” My eyes started to fill up with tears.
“That’s right, Your Grace. It’s me – Mazen. The little boy who sold you all his gum.” He smiled.
“Oh, Lord!” I covered my mouth and nose with both hands and kept gaping at him, not knowing what to say. “I’m so happy that I finally got to meet you again, and I’m so proud of you!”
“Thank you, Your Grace. I would’ve been nowhere if it wasn’t for your kindness.”
“Welcome to the family, Mazen. You’ll take a good care of our Marie, won’t you?”
Mazen looked at Marie with so much passion in his eyes before replying, “I’ll honor and love her until my last breath.”
I smiled as I looked at the two of them, praying with my whole heart that they would get to live a long and happy life.
A new love story was born in the Kingdom, that of Mazen and Marie’s.
“What is it about the atmosphere in this wing that has me wanting to touch you day and night while we’re here? Old memories?” Mazen asked in a whisper, his hot breaths on my neck were sending chills down my spine.
“Like it has ever been about the atmosphere. You always want to touch me day and night, regardless of where we are,” I teased, my eyes rolling back in my head as he swept his tongue on that spot where my neck met my shoulder.
“Can’t argue with that,” Mazen chuckled lightly, before getting back to his assault on my neck.
“We need to get back to the party,” I told him half-heartedly.
“They can last an hour without us,” he whispered, his hand slowly going up my thigh, making me lose my breath as I waited for him to finally reach where I wanted him the most.
“An hour is too long to change my shoes.”
That was what the excuse I used to go up to our wing, but Mazen followed me and I couldn’t escape his hands since I stepped foot in our old bedroom.
Not that I wanted to.
“I’ll come up with another excuse,” he insisted.
“You’re not going to use your knowledge of psychology, will you?”
His studies and research over the past few years made him an expert on how to make people change the way they were thinking, and use it for their own good. He helped numerous patients out of depression and managed many other mental illnesses without the use of chemicals. It was with the same way he used to get over his PTSD.
That was what he’d always wanted to do with his life, to help people in other ways than being their ruler. He did it all for charity; he never charged for his services. His theories and methods were taught in colleges for the past seven years.
It was all good until he would use it for his own benefit, like when he would distract me and magically make me think of things other than what he didn’t want me to think about – like that time he taught Adam how to shoot when our son was only nine years old. I almost lost my mind.
Ten years later, he was still able to distract me every time I wanted to bite his head off about it. It was lame.
“Maybe.”
He finally covered the delicate area between my legs with his hand and pressed, making me moan and forget all about whatever we’d been talking about. His hand and tongue took me to a different place, and I didn’t even think about leaving anytime soon.
Actually, an hour suddenly sounded too short.
My mother-in-law looked as if she’d aged a few years since the last time I visited with her a couple of months ago. I couldn’t deny that I always felt guilty about how she was so far away from her grandchildren, but she’d rejected our offer of coming to live with us in London, just like Mona had. Queen Mother Shams would visit us from time to time and spend a few weeks with us, but that was all. I knew it wasn’t enough.
Adam and the twins loved her dearly, and she loved them like no other in the whole world. However, her step-grandchildren were a good distraction while we were away. They were a handful and loved her no less than my own kids did.
We were all gathered in her quarters. It was so comfortable and easy. This was one of the few times when I felt we were just another ordinary family. Everyone was so happy. It didn’t mean there weren’t troubles here and there every once in a while; however, that was the beauty in it, the normalcy.
“Have you guys seen your brother?” I asked Faris and Fahd, who were busy arguing with their cousin about soccer. It had been over half an hour since I’d seen Adam.
“He’s praying, I believe,” Faris replied.
“Hmm.” I pursed my lips to the side; it had been too long for a prayer. “Did you two offer your prayers?” I had to ask, because they constantly needed a reminder.
“I did,” Faris said, but Fahd didn’t reply.
“Fahd?” I asked with knowing eyes.
“Um …”
“Go. Now!” I said, pointing my arm towards the door. “Football discussions can wait; prayers won’t.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” he said. I couldn’t tell if he was mocking me, so I didn’t know if I should show appreciation for his politeness or thwack his butt. Those boys were driving me insane.
I shook my head as my thoughts went to the day when I’d called my priest, asking him if he would perform my marriage ceremony, and he’d objected. I remembered the awful panic attack I’d had when he told me that Muslim men only had Muslim children. I couldn’t imagine my kids practicing a faith other than mine. I had a panic attack right then and there.
But all that had changed; my children were Muslims, but they didn’t disrespect my religion in any way. They believed in God and they loved Jesus. They respected my beliefs and I helped them with learning theirs, because that was my duty as a loving mother and a caring wife.
It was unbelievable how much I had changed.
As I walked through my mother-in-law’s quarters, I got a bit worried when I couldn’t find Adam anywhere. I was about to call Bassel or Brad to ask if they knew his whereabouts, when I found a female royal guard and asked her instead.
“Have you seen Prince Adam?” I asked.
“I did, Your Grace. He went that way,” pointing to the opposite direction of where I was headed.
I thanked her and went to find my son. I frowned when I saw him standing in a corner with his back towards me, wondering what he was doing for a second before my eyes widened and my eyebrows shot to my hairline.
“Adam! What are you doing?” I whisper-yelled.
He spun on his heels and the blood drained from his face when he saw me. He looked like a kid who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Uh – nothing!”
I pushed him to the side to see what he was looking at, and I gasped when I realized he was looking inside one of the rooms through a tiny gap in the door.
“You’re spying on your cousin?” I was utterly shocked; it wasn’t at all like something Adam would do. If someone told me he’d done that, I wouldn’t have believed them, but I’d seen it with my own eyes.
“No! Ow! Ow!” He winced as I dragged him by his ear to the nearest room. I didn’t even know which room we went into, as I was too busy thinking of how unbelievable what he did was.
“Have you lost your mind? If His Majesty found out, he would feed you to his special collection of wild animals!”
“No, he won’t. My uncle loves me.”
“You were spying on his daughter!” I blamed. “How could you do that, Adam? That’s not how I raised you!”
“I’m sorry, Mom. It won’t happen again. I promise.” Adam looked guilty. He held his head down, looking sorrowful.
“Why did you do that? You know very well women should be respected.”
My voice was much calmer now, seeing that he’d apologized and admitted his mistake.
“I don’t disrespect her, Mom. I – uh, I just wanted to see her without her hijab for once. I wanted to see her hair. It’s been so long since I last saw it,” he said, without looking me in the eyes and I gaped at him for a long moment, trying to take in what he was saying.
“You have feelings for Julia?” I asked in a quiet voice, and after a pause, he nodded. “Oh, dear.” I didn’t know how to answer that.
“Please, don’t tell Dad I did that. He would be very disappointed in me,” my son begged.
“I won’t,” I told him, “but we’ll talk about it later. This conversation is not over.”
Adam gave me a light hug and left the room after I told him I’d be right behind him to re-join the family. I needed a moment to myself.
The second he closed the door, I let out another gasp as I heard, “What on earth just happened?”
I clutched the cross on my necklace to calm myself; she’d frightened me with her outburst.
“Rosanna! I didn’t know you were in here!”
“Well, you entered the room while I was in the middle of prayer; I couldn’t cover my ears.”
“I didn’t see you. I’m sorry,” I said, noticing that we were in one of the praying areas for women.
“It’s fine. Okay, so – what on earth just happened?” she asked again.
“Oh, please, don’t tell His Majesty. He’s just a kid and he promised not to do it again.”
“Adam has feelings for Julia?”
“Um, I’ll talk to him; he might just be confused.”
“Oh, my God, Marie! Do you know what that means?” Rosanna asked, her eyes wide.
“Um … no?”
“My daughter could become Queen one day!” Rosanna said excitedly.
“What?” I was very confused; there was no such a thing as a Crown Princess!
“If my son doesn’t have an heir by the time we need a new king, Adam is next in line. If he’s married to my daughter, that means she’ll get to be queen.” Rosanna sounded as if she was thinking with a loud voice.
“Oh, Lord! No, no, no! We’re not even going to think about that,” I said, opened the door and walked out of the room. I didn’t want to hear another word of what she was saying or listen to her suggestions.
“Just listen to me, Marie– …” Rosanna continued to talk as she trailed after me while I tried my best to run away from her. She kept on making up different scenarios about what it would mean if Adam and Julia ended up together.
Royalty was a big game, and I just realized that I might never see the end of it.
(Forbidden Fruit: Janna and Joseph Story):
“It’s just …. no one ever kissed me there before.”
Rose is a loved mother, wife, and a stay at home lawyer. Writing is her passion, and reading is her obsession. Music is her best friend and sarcasm is her speaking trend. One of her joys is bringing happiness to others and her biggest wish is that they stay true to one another. Through her stories, she wants to spread nothing except understanding, peace and love.
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Additional Works
Forbidden Fruit (Janna and Joseph Story) Coming 2018
Cold Fire (Mazen POV) Coming 2019
Thank you to the following individuals who, without their contributions and support, this book could not have been written:
To Sandra, for being the best friend and the best sister, I love you more than love.
To Sonia, my rock and guardian angel.
To Wennie, you make my words shine.
To Wendy, for always being there when I needed you the most.
To Jaana, forever in my heart and mind.
To Ann, my tougher side.
To Susan, for managing to stay sane after reading my stuff.
To Stella, for the constant support and the kind soul.
To Josephine, for wanting my best.
To Vanessa, for all night talks, I would've been a mess without you.
PS: You have the sweetest voice. ;)
To Carol, for saving my heart.
To Maheen, my sweet little sister.
To Sheri, Widad, Michelle, Candice, Isherna, and the wonderful Joan, for listening to all of my rants, and assuring me that 'It's going to be okay'. I love you girls more than I can explain, and I wouldn't know what I would've done without your constant help.
To my parents, my kids and my husband, for being my reasons for living.
Golden Chains (The Colorblind Trilogy Book 3) Page 36