Black Keys Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Isabella Marie

I felt my chest swelling at the thought, not sure if it was in happiness or sadness, and that alone was enough to confuse the heck out of me. "Home? Tonight?"

He nodded.

"But what about our deal? We agreed I'll stay for six months, for Alice's sake," I reminded him, though doubting he’d forgotten about that.

"I came up with something; don't worry yourself about that, Beautiful Princess," he tried to smile. "We will leave once you're ready." He got up, but before he could go anywhere, I got out of the bed and stopped him, noticing that I was back in my sweatpants, though I had no idea how I’d gotten them back on, but not really caring.

"You'll come with me?" I asked, after all – he’d said 'We.'

"Yes, Princess, I'll accompany you to the airport," he replied, not turning back to look at me.

Oh!

"That's all?" I whispered my question. Was he really going to send me back home that way? Just like that? That simple? He came up with something and that was it?

"If there's anything you need, just say the word, Princess," he said.

You.

I need you.

"So, you're just shipping me back home only six days after the wedding, and you're saying that you came up with something, and not to worry myself – what could I possibly need?" I said with hurt in my voice. "You have everything set," my voice cracked.

"Isn't that what you want, Princess?"

"How could you even ask that?" My eyes welled up with tears. "After yesterday and the wonderful time we spent together, how could you think I’d still want to leave?"

I heard him sucking in a breath. "Because after what happened this afternoon, you couldn't possibly still want to stay, if ever."

"But I'm fine," I argued. "Something bad was going to happen but it didn't, and you saved me. It's over – why are you dwelling on it?"

"Because I won't always be by your side, Princess," he said. "You're safer in your own country."

But I'm safer with you.

"Yeah," I said, my tears already falling all over again, "But did you even stop to think about what I would feel about it?"

He didn't reply, and after a pause of silence, I nodded to myself. "Maybe you're right, maybe I should go home. I'm just sorry it's so easy for you to send me back home like that after yesterday. I thought it meant something to you, but I was truly mistaken."

It was then he turned to face me, and in a split second he was right in front of me, his hands hugging my face and his eyes locked with mine. "Don't," he whispered, his face all pain, hurt and sadness. "Don't go there, Beautiful Princess." He shook his head. "It meant to me more that you could ever imagine."

"Then why?" I whispered back, my tears blurring my vision. "Why are you sending me off? Why?"

"You're not safe here, you have to go home."

"I'm fine," I insisted.

"You're far from it," he said. "Just look at you, look at what’s happened to you since you came here. You’ve lost weight, you’ve cried every single day – several times – you were insulted and pushed around, you’ve had two death threats and you almost faced something they call 'Common Deflowering' while I call it 'Gang Rape'." He pressed on his lips hard. "Do you have any idea how all of this is hurting me? It's killing me, Princess, killing me!"

I put my hands over his wrists while he still had his hugging my face. "Then let me stay, let everything go as planned," I told him. "I'll spend those six months here, and it's going to be okay."

"You can't know that, Princess," he said. "I told you – royalty is a dirty game, everyone is lusting after the thorn and searching for ways to make them closer – it's sickening. 

I've had my food poisoned twice and my brother has been shot just an inch from his heart, my father faced a homicide attempt against him, and my mother has gone crazy with her obsession to make my life perfect, to be the perfect King for decades to come. And don't let me even start on my uncle and cousin." His eyes begged me to understand.

"I can't risk anyone hurting you anymore to get to me or my father like Jasem did. He only made a scene thinking the shock would kill my father with his weak heart and bad condition, and I thank God it turned out okay, but I don't know what will happen in the future. I'm not willing to wait and see, only to end up with something even worse happening to you in those six months."

His words were convincing, but – there must be some way. "It couldn't go worse," I tried.

"Stop it, Princess," he said softly. "You don't understand. This–" his thumbs brushed away my tears, "is hurting me more than I can explain; your tears are too precious to me." He whispered, "Do you have any idea how I felt when the first time I heard those beautiful lips calling my name was in terror and fear, crying for help?" He touched his forehead to mine. "It gutted me, Beautiful Princess. Gutted me."

My tears flew in silence, not knowing what to say to him; I was choking. So much I wanted to say, and at the same time I had no idea how to put my feelings into words. I had no idea what to say.

"Mazen," I whispered.

"Princess. My beautiful princess," he whispered, his lips touching my forehead for a moment too long and too short at the same time. When I looked into his eyes, I saw the tears rolling down from them.

"You're crying," I choked out, reaching to touch his tears, just learning at that moment what precious tears really meant as I saw his.

"How could I not, Beautiful Princess?" He asked, "Do you feel this?" He took my hand that was touching his face and put it over his chest, right above where his heart was. 

"It's bleeding," he told me, his teary eyes looking deep into my matching ones before he pulled my head to his chest, my ear replacing where my hand was just a moment ago. "Do you hear it?" he asked. "It's breaking," he told me, and I couldn't control myself as I hugged him and cried for the loss of someone that wasn't even mine.

"It's not even slightly easy on me, Princess, but I have to let you go."

No, no! Please, no! Let me stay, let me!

We hugged until our legs almost gave out, we cried until there was no place on our faces that tears didn't stain, and we hated our fates until there was no way to hate them even more.

"Can't you come with me?"

Please, please, please!

"I wish I could," he said sincerely, "But I have a duty here, responsibilities I can't get away from."

I nodded in understanding, but not in acceptance.

"I wish you could," I told him honestly, hot tears wetting my cheeks, a pleading look in my eyes.

"Maybe in another life, Princess," he smiled sadly, "When it wouldn't be too dangerous to be with me, and only safer away from me." His voice broke.

I hugged him tightly. "I've never been safer than when I'm with you."

"But I can't always be by your side," he reminded me of the same words again. Words I hated so much, it wasn't describable. 

"So, that's it?" I asked. "We get a divorce now?"

"We were never married in the first place, Princess," he stated.

I pulled away and looked at him with a frown and tearful eyes. "What?"

"On paper, yes, but not in front of God," he said. "You were forced, and in my religion – that's a deal breaker."

I looked at him for a moment, trying to understand.

"But just to make sure," he said, looking at me for a moment, then said two words in Arabic, sounding as if it stung his tongue to say them. "You're divorced, Princess." Tears glistened in his eyes again.

I smiled sadly through my tears and nodded. "You can stop calling me Princess now."

He shook his head. "I never called you 'Princess' because it was your title, Princess."

And that caused more tears to come. His lips kissed my tears away, and then he pressed his cheek to mine and whispered, "I’ve never yelled at my mother until she wanted to hurt you. I’ve never wanted to kill anyone until someone treated you with disrespect. I never knew what falling for someone truly is until you came into my life."

 "Falling?" I gasped.

"So hard, Princess," he said, pulling back the slightest bit to look into my eyes. "Can't you tell?"

I replied to him with pressing my lips to his. I kissed him hard. I kissed him 'don't let go.' I kissed him 'Let me stay.' And I kissed him 'Please, understand.'

He kissed me back, just as hard, just as passionately, but he kissed me 'I'm sorry.' And he kissed me 'I have to go.'

We kissed 'Goodbye.' Because it was our only option. Our forced-upon-us choice.

~BK~

Saying Goodbye to Mona was more emotional than I’d expected. And when I asked to visit the Mother Queen before I left, I was welcomed with open arms, kisses and more prayers that though I couldn't understand – warmed my heart to the top point.

Prince Emmad was waiting by the main entrance of the palace. He wished me a safe flight, and I asked him to take good care of Hope and Faith. He then assured me that he'll have the best people looking after the branch office until I decide what I’m going to do with it, telling me that Princess Kareen has been taking care of it for the past two weeks and would do it for as long as I wished. I didn't even know she was doing that, though I was grateful.

I sent the King my Goodbyes and best wishes with Prince Emmad, wishing I could tell him so myself, but too afraid because I didn't know if I would meet the Queen there or not. She certainly wasn't someone I wanted to see. Ever again.

"Are you ready, Princess?" Mazen asked softly.

Not at all.

I nodded, despite myself, and Mazen put his hand behind my thighs and the other on my back, carrying me bridal style, and then walked us out the door as I buried my head into his chest and breathed him in.

"The third day after the wedding my whole family came to visit you as the traditions say," Mazen had told me when I asked what had he come up with to explain my departure from the kingdom to his people. "I told them you couldn't meet with them because you were sick. Now I'll tell them you got even sicker when you left the wing after we thought you’d gotten better, and since then we've been trying different medications with you but nothing has helped, so we had to go visit your doctor in the States."

A few months later he would say it didn't work out and we had to get a divorce and go our separate ways, like we had planned since the start.

It broke my heart all over again just hearing those last words.

Outside, there was a huge gathering of black cars, one ambulance and four police cars. Once we stepped outside, the sounds of fireworks rang one after another and then flashed in the sky enough to light the whole place. The sky actually brightened with the amount of fireworks they set off.

Too bad I was too heartbroken to even smile at the sight that had always made me grin big and scream cheerfully.

"Why are they doing that?" I whispered my question to Mazen.

"Because this is how a princess leaves, Princess," he smiled softly down at me, even if his eyes held a fire of sadness that was even bigger than the sky above us.

When we got into the car, Mazen didn't let go of me. I stayed on his lap all the way to the airport, the same road I’d taken just two nights ago. The same road I’d thought to be too long, and now seemed to be too short. The same road I never knew I'd take while starting to make my way to my homeland – and be depressed about it.

The hum of expensive cars that surrounded ours was quiet and soothing, but nothing even compared to the sound of Mazen's heartbeats underneath my ear.

He kissed my forehead repeatedly all the way to the airport, and I kissed his chest right above his heart in return, my tears never drying, nor my chest willing to stop swelling.

The car slowed down and my heartbeat raced, and I could swear I felt Mazen's hand tightening over me a bit more. I heard the guard who was driving us asking, "Forgive me, your highness, is it the first or second jet?"

"First." Mazen replied. When the car stopped, and the doors opened – none of us seemed to want to make a move out of it.

The silence that surrounded us spoke volumes of how brokenhearted and miserable we both were, that even our silence was sad enough to put me in tears that seemed to have sworn to never leave me for the night.

We got out of the car when we both knew that we couldn't stay any longer. It wouldn't do any of us any good, we realized. When Mazen put me down on my feet, I threw myself into his arms, hugging him and then saying, "I'm going to miss you, Mazen."

I miss you already.

He sucked in a deep breath. "I'm never going to forget you, Princes." he replied. When we pulled back to look into each other’s eyes, I saw through my tears his bloodshot ones, announcing how hard he was trying to keep from letting his tears out. It broke my heart even more.

We kissed once, twice – and the third one was only a peck. I took a step away from him with my hand still tangled with his, and with another step, our hands let go of each other. I believe I felt a knife cutting through my chest and straight to my heart just at the loss of his touch.

I waved him a final 'Goodbye' when I reached the last step of the ladder to the plane, and when I got inside – I fought really hard not to collapse to the floor and curl into a ball.

I found my laptop and cellphone on the table in front of where I was seated, but shockingly – I found no interest in them at all. All of my attention was focused on the window where I could see Mazen still standing with his hands folded behind his back, but his head was not held as high as he'd always kept it. He was looking down at the floor as if he couldn't move his gaze up and watch me leaving.

I touched the glass of the window with my hand and cried some more for the man I never thought I'd be crying over, or even shedding one tear for. I cried for the man who had shown me more love and protection than any other man had ever shown me. I cried for the man who handled me with care, and taught me things with patience. I cried for the man who asked me to stay with him for six months to save his sister's life and her reputation, only to have me fall for him in six days, no less. I cried for the man whose race and beliefs I’d loathed most of my life, only to end up falling in love with him, utterly and unconditionally.

The plane moved, and then took off, and I left the kingdom. Left Mazen. And left my heart with him.

~BK~

Only one chapter left . It's breaking my heart. I really love Mazen and Marie. :(

Don't forget to join my FB group for updates about my stories:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1396836610544818/

I just started a new story yesterday on FF, check it out:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11107690/1/Please-be-Mine

If you don't have a FB and would like to contact me, feel free to send me an e-mail on:

CozItRusInMyBlood@gmail.com

I'll try my best and reply you ASAP.

I love you all. Thank you so much for reading.