Black Keys Chapter 7

(SM) owns Twilight.

(CozItRunsInMyBlood) owns the plot.

(RobzBeanie) is a lifesaver and she beta this.

(GrandeDame) is my soul-mate and per-reader.

Chapter 7

Isabella Marie

"What on earth am I going to do in this room for seven days? I'm going to be bored out of my mind!" I groaned in frustration.

"Sex," the prince said.

EXCUSE ME?!

"Excuse me?!" I asked with wide eyes, disbelief filling my voice. I wondered if he was out of his mind himself or had suddenly gone crazy. I mean, he’d seemed okay just a minute ago and was talking somewhat reasonably. But now? Not so much.

Oh, my God! I thought … I thought we’d made it clear we are not interested in each other. I thought we'd be starting our faking now. He really didn't think we'd go that far in faking!

"Sexy days," he replied.

"Sexy days? What do you mean by 'sexy days'? We can't have sex. I won't have sex with you. I thought we just talked about how this was all a mistake! I can't do that, I can't have sex with you! Please, tell me you don't think we should!"

Oh, my God! He really doesn't think we should start working on that heir he needs, does he?!

The prince stared at me while I panicked and spoke hysterically, a frown on his face and a confused expression.

"What does 'sexy days' even mean?" I asked in a whisper as I saw him take a step in my direction. My vision blurred with tears though I had no idea why they were there at all.

All of the thoughts from last night and the ones I had just had two hours ago came rushing back to me – the fear, the terror … I hated it.

The prince paused after the one step, then looked at me with something I couldn't read once again – he was so hard to read.  He then took the few steps left between us and stopped only when our bodies were almost touching.

My breath was caught in my throat when he bent his head down and brought his face so close to mine. I closed my eyes, causing a sad, lonely tear to fall down my cheek when I felt his breath on my neck as he spoke near my ear.

"Six days, Princess. We have six days left, not seven. Six. S. I. X." he said in a very soft voice.

Wha- … Oh.

Oh!

He had a small smirk on his lips when he backed away a little to look into my eyes that I had opened once the realization of what he’d actually meant settled in. It looked as if he was trying to contain his smirk and hide it from me. It fell right away though, once he noticed the tear that had ended its path beside the corner of my lips.

He stared into my eyes for a moment; something strange was filling his green eyes. It was sort of sadness, mixed with sorrow, but it mostly just looked like sympathy, and then he looked away.

I hated it.

It upset me that I had earned that kind of look from him; I hated that I looked pity-worthy. And I blamed it all on my brother – the feelings I had, the terror, the fear and the shame. I was ashamed of myself for looking so weak and venerable.

But who was I kidding? I didn't only look weak and venerable, I actually was. I was completely alone, in this room, with this perfect stranger. I was supposed to be his wife; I was his wife. He could kill me, or worse, he could rape me, and I wouldn't be able to stop him. I might say 'no', I might scream, might fight, but I'd always lose. He was built, taller, and much stronger than me; I had no chance with him.

"Ahem,'' he cleared his throat. I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand, removing the sign of my misery. "You should eat something, you haven't eaten since yesterday," he said. "There is lots of food in here, and I think you might like it." He pointed to the big, round tray that Mona had left on the table that was in the middle of the room.

It was only when he said that that I noticed I was actually famished. I offered him a small smile but didn't make any move, only bit my lip and looked around the room nervously. It felt awkward to be eating with him for some reason. I mean, wouldn't it be so weird to just eat together like that without talking? I wouldn't know what to talk with him about. I didn't want to make small talk with him, anyway.

"Uh, would you like to eat in the sunroom?" he asked.

"Sunroom?" I asked in confusion. "I can leave the room?" Hope wrapped my voice.

"Uh, technically you wouldn't leave the room if you went to the sunroom," he told me.

"But, there is no sunroom here!"

He frowned. "Yes, there is. Hasn't your brother shown you aroun-" He stopped mid-sentence, then looked down and shook his head, a bitter smile on his face. "Of course, he hasn't."

No. He was too busy pointing a gun to my head, I thought sadly.

"Come," he motioned for me to follow him as he walked toward the huge mirror that was next to the bed. I stood beside him and waited for whatever he wanted to show me in that mirror. I only saw our reflections.

"Uh-" Before I could say anything, the prince flipped a button that was on the wall beside the mirror, which made the line in the middle of it spread open to reveal a big room behind it.

I stepped inside unconsciously, noticing that it was a freakily huge, enclosed sunroom.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. The room was a wide space. There was a nice table in the corner with two chairs, on the other side there was a set with a metal couch and two arm chairs, and at the far end there was a gorgeous swing that looked so very comfortable that for a moment, I imagined myself sitting there and having a good read.

"This is beautiful," I said to no one, admiring the plants and roses that surrounded the place. The sunroom had windows all over it, floor to ceiling. It was brightly lit, the soft sunlight was making it even more beautiful if that was possible. It was such a sight.

"Yes, it is," the prince said, getting my attention back to him and making me realize that I wasn't alone. "It's my favorite spot in the whole palace."

Oh!

"Was that your room before, uh-…" The thought crossed my mind, and I had to ask.

He smiled lightly. "No," was how he started his respond. "This is new to me, too."

I nodded, then gazed out of one of the windows after I took a few steps forward.

"I'll go call Mona to bring breakfast in here," he said before leaving.

Out of the windows, the view was as gorgeous as the inside of the place I was standing in. I could see a very large garden that I supposed surrounded the palace. There was a road that led to a huge gate at the end, but it seemed like a quite long walk to get there.

I sighed.

I had no idea how I was going to get out of here, but I wasn't going to back down without even trying. Soon, I should try, once I get the chance.

"The food is getting cold." The prince's voice brought me once again from my clouded-with-thoughts mind. I didn't even realize that Mona had already placed the tray on the table and left, or even that he was back and waiting.

"Yeah," I said and made my way to the table. Everything looked delicious. The plates alone looked so good that I would've eaten them if I could.

"I'm going to go and take a quick shower, if you need anything, just call Mona," he told me.

''Won't you eat something?" I found myself asking.

A small smile. "No, I'm fine," and he left.

I huffed, suddenly not feeling so hungry, but I knew I had to eat something or I was going to faint.

The food was amazing. I didn't know what half of the plates contained, but it was so wonderfully good, I thought I'd never get enough.

A while later, my eyes widened as a guy entered the room; I had no idea who he was. And for a moment, I panicked. I was only comforted back once the bright green of his eyes met my blues.

The prince offered me one of his small smiles, but I just sat there gaping at him. He was dressed in black sweatpants and a short-sleeved white shirt. His brown hair was a mess on top of his head, but looked unbelievably organized at the same time. He looked so different than when he was wearing his gelbab, like he wasn't the same person, and to be honest, both versions were incredibly beautiful.

I was taken aback by the fact that seeing it was him comforted me. I mean, I'd just met the guy not two days ago, and a few hours earlier, I'd held a weapon intending to hurt him.

He was still scary to me, nonetheless.

I frowned in confusion when he came to the table and dipped his yet-to-be-used fork into the honey bowl then put it down on his yet-to-be-touched plate, messing his napkin that had lain neatly on the table in front of his chair. My confusion was gone once I saw Mona stepping back into the sunroom and clearing the table after asking us if we needed something to drink. He made it look like he had eaten with me. I went for coffee and the prince asked for tea. We didn't even have the liking-the-same-drink thing in common. Pathetic.

"Was the food okay?" he asked once Mona left after bringing our drinks. I figured he was trying to make small talk. I wished he wouldn't. It made me want to believe that he was a nice person. I couldn't do that. I couldn't believe it. It was impossible for him to be nice. He was raised to be rude and tough, I was sure of it. But pretending was something he'd been taught as well. He just did it with his servant – he pretended. Maybe that's why he was acting like that. Maybe …

"Uh, yeah, it was really good, actually. Mona seems to be a great cook," I replied.

"I'm glad," he said. "Mona didn't make it, though. It was my mother."

I choked on my coffee when he said that and coughed a few times. If I’d known it was his mother who’d cooked, I think I would've thought twice about eating it. She could’ve poisoned the food or spit on it or something. I still worried she’d actually done that, but then thought that she wouldn't do it since her son was supposed to eat with me. Or so I hoped.

"Your mother? The Queen?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

 "Wow!" I said. "You don't, uh, hire cooks?" I couldn't imagine the Queen having nothing better to do.

"What? Oh, no, of course we hire cooks, but it's a tradition for the mother-in-law to cook for the bride, for a week," he explained.

Oh!

"Even the Queen?"

"I've told you before, Princess. We don't make up the rules or traditions, we only obey them."

I nodded, taking what he’d just said in. "Is that only for the royal family?"

"No, for everyone," he said. "The bride is – how do you put it? – um, spoiled rotten during her first week of marriage. They serve her – her whole family and friends – even if she was a servant herself."

That's why Mona seemed offended that I did my hair by myself, I thought.

We went silent for a few moments as we both gazed out of the windows. I watched the bright sun as it filled everywhere I could see from my spot in the chair I sat on, while the prince stood right in front of the biggest glass window and sipped his tea.

The sight was mesmerizing, there was no doubt, but I didn’t think I'd ever seen anything prettier than the birds that were flying together in the baby blue sky. It seemed like they were dancing, like they were surfing waves, going up and down, separating and then uniting once again to draw the same shape or an even better one than they had made not moments ago.

"This is so beautiful," I repeated the same words I had said a few times earlier. My voice was full of amazement at the magical sight in fronts of me.

The price looked at me over his shoulder and smiled, a small one like the rest of his smiles, and nodded when I pointed with a shrug of my chin to what I was looking at.

"I'm going to give you a tour once Mona goes to sleep, but we'll have to be very quiet since she practically lives here for the week," he told me. "If you're up to it, of course."

My eyes widened. "The whole palace?" I couldn't believe it; it would make my escape plan a tiny bit easier if I knew of the directions and where was what.

"No, I've already told you we can't leave," he said. "I meant a tour of what will be your home for a while. Our place."

My shoulders hunched forward. It was very disappointing. I really wanted to see around the palace and see if there was an easy way out, but alas … or, could I convince him?

"But you left this morning," I tried.

"Yes, but that's the only time the groom can leave his bride, so her family can see if she needs anything after her fir- … you know." He waved his hand that wasn't holding the cup.

"So, you won't leave the room again for the rest of the week?" I asked.

"No. Not unless it’s an emergency."

I sighed when he said that. If he wasn't going to leave my side, it meant that I'd have to wait for the whole week to end before I could get the chance to escape.

But, I knew I'd figure it out, I always did.

"Do you want to go inside?" His question came when I put my empty cup on the table and yawned, sleepiness poking its head and waving at me.

"No, I'd like to stay in here for a while. You can go ahead, though," I told him.

"Oh! You want to stay alone?"

"Yeah," I replied. His company made me have alien feelings – some things like unease, discomfort, I didn't know. I only knew that I wanted him far away. "Would Mona frown upon it?"

Would she go and run her tongue all over the kingdom? The question stayed in.

"Not really, I’ve already asked her not to come unless one of us calls."

"Good." I sat back comfortably in my chair as he put his mug beside mine on the table. But he didn't leave. He just stood there awkwardly, not looking at me.

"I mean," he finally said, "It might get really cold in here."

"I'll be okay," I told him, wishing he'd just leave.

He did.

~BK~

Everything after that was a haze, and I remembered how sleepy I was. It had been over twenty-eight hours since the last time I’d slept. The events of the day before, the emotions, the hurt, the confusion … it all got the best of me. I felt so tired and my eyelids grew heavy. I fell fast asleep in my chair, right there in the sunroom, surrounded by green and blue, just like the prince's eyes and mine, staring at a leaf and thinking how it was the exact shade of his eyes as my last thought.

My head was pounding at some point. I felt as if my body was drowning in heat, burning my skin, and covering me with cold sweat.

I felt myself shaking, I felt myself talking, but I didn't know why I was shaking or what I was saying. I only felt so tired.

I heard voices, people were speaking – two of them, maybe three, but their language was foreign to me. I tried opening my eyes, but I couldn't. I tried moving my hand, but it was a lost cause. So tired.

I saw things behind my closed eyelids, shadows of things I'd already seen, though some were new to me. It was like a dream. I saw my brother, he was hurting me, the prince, too. I begged them to stop it, but they didn't.

I felt a tear falling, it burned. I felt a hand brushing it away, it soothed.

The hand was a stranger to me, but I came to like its touch more and even more every time it touched my face. It felt like I wanted to feel it on me to no end.

The throbbing in my head was fading away slowly. The pain was easing. The heat was waning. And when my eyelids felt lighter, I opened them.

I wasn't in the sunroom anymore, I was in a bed I'd never slept in before. It was a bit dark in the room, and pitch black outside the window.

On the other side of me there wasn't a window, but there was a shockingly beautiful sight. The shocking part wasn't related to the beauty, I'd already known of that, nor was it the fact that the prince was lying in the bed beside me – sleeping. What shocked me was the fact that I found myself comforted by his closeness, and that deep down inside me I wondered what it'd feel like to wake up to this face every morning. Forever.

~BK~