Golden Chains (The Colorblind Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  “Holy Mo–!” I gasped, my hand flying to my diamond cross. If Sameera didn’t burn me to death someday, she would eventually give me a heart attack. I had no clue how long she’d been watching and waiting for me to wake up, or how she’d even known I was awake.

  “Jeez, Sameera! Well … good morning?”

  “Good morning,” she said in a rush. “Do you want me to prepare the bath for you?”

  “No, I’ll be fine. Thank you,” I said, my heart was still pounding.

  “Okay, I’ll go prepare breakfast,” she stated before fleeing out the door, which allowed me to say a small prayer. I didn’t want to die by drowning either. I didn’t know how her breakfast preparation might cause the yacht to sink, but with Sameera, you never knew.

  The clock beside me read 10:36 AM. I had overslept.

  Getting out of bed carefully, I stood up and found my balance, then I took a quick shower before I went out in search for Mazen.

  I wore a light pink, bare-shouldered sundress over my white bathing suit, leaving my hair loose and flow down my back, enjoying the sensation of the ends tickling my bare skin freely.

  I wanted to ask Sameera if she knew where he was, but I was almost sure she had no idea. By the door stood Mo’taz and when he saw me, he offered me a smile.

  “Good morning, Your Majesty.”

  The crashing of the waves assaulted my ears, and I inhaled the smell of the salty ocean. It was freeing.

  “Good morning, Mo’taz. Where’s Brad?” He wasn’t in his usual place on the other side of my door.

  “King Mazen ordered him to stay with the maid as she makes breakfast. She went to the kitchen fifteen minutes ago. That’s where he is.”

  I lightly scowled at him. “The maid has a name, Mo’taz. It’s Sameera.”

  Mo’taz drew a tight smile on his lips and nodded. “Sameera.”

  “Do you know where His Majesty is?”

  “Officer Fawaz reported earlier that His Majesty was taking a swim. You can see him from the other side of the boat, Your Majesty.”

  “Okay, I’ll go there. You can stay here and take a rest, maybe? Brad will be with me shortly, and Fawaz is already there.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” Mo’taz said. “May I accompany you there, at least?”

  “I’ll be fine, really. Thank you.” I smiled and left, making my way down the stairs to the first deck where I would find Mazen.

  Of course, the prime royal guard could sense me even though I was being really careful as I crossed the deck so as not to fall down and hurt myself. I was barely making any noise.

  Fawaz turned his head toward me and greeted me with a smile.

  “Good morning, Your Majesty.”

  “Good morning, Fawaz, how are you?”

  “I’m fine ―as long as you and His Majesty are, Your Majesty. Thank you for asking.”

  “Where is he?” I asked, my eyes roaming the area around us.

  “Right here, Your Majesty,” Fawaz pointed, and I followed his hand until I was able to spot Mazen in the middle of the ocean.

  “Oh! Isn’t that quite far? We’re already very far from the shore!”

  “We’re not that far, Your Majesty, the shore is right there,” Fawaz pointed again, in the other direction this time. I nodded, my worry settling down a bit. Mazen was a fantastic swimmer after all.

  “I guess I shouldn’t worry about him while you’re around, huh?” I smiled.

  Fawaz’s grin was sweet. “You can, Your Majesty, but I wish you wouldn’t.”

  I nodded. We both watched Mazen as he dove under the water then came up only to dive again. After a pause, I asked, “How’s Sofia?”

  “She’s doing well, Your Majesty, and sends her regards.”

  Finally, Mazen was able to see me as I waved trying to get his attention, and he swam straight to the yacht.

  “You still won’t take a break?” I asked Fawaz.

  He grinned. “Not anytime soon, Your Majesty. His Majesty’s safety is much more important than anything else in the world.”

  I smiled. “You’re a good guy, Faris. I really wish you the best.”

  “I appreciate that Your Majesty,” Fawaz nodded, his smile present for a few moments longer, making me think yet again of how loyal he was to his King. It was heartwarming.

  “Princess,” Mazen’s breathy call took me out of my thoughts. I smiled brightly as I saw him using the last step of the ladder to hop on board.

  I could see Fawaz put his wrist close to his mouth from the corner of my eye and spoke a few words before turning his back to us. Mazen greeted me with the sweetest salty kiss on my lips.

  “Hey, angel,” I smiled as I looked into his beautiful, smiling eyes that had water dripping from his long lashes. Mazen didn’t reply to me, but instead, he knelt down and rubbed my baby bump – which was now much more obvious than before –and then gave it three light kisses.

  “Hey there, buddy!” he spoke to my stomach. “I can’t wait until I can take you for a swim.”

  “You’ll teach him to swim as well as you do?” I asked once he got up.

  “No,” he shook his head, causing some drops of water to fall from his hair. “Prince Adam will be much better than me, you’ll see. Isn’t that right, little prince?”

  I was pretty sure that Adam would be smiling if he could understand what his daddy was saying.

  Against all of the protocols, I was going to give birth to Adam in Al’ameria, in the hospital that I had built to help others.

  Someone had started the rumor that since it was built in a matter of six months, it might not be as good as we’d claimed. Giving birth at the hospital was the best way to prove to the people how good the hospital was. Not that many people believed that, but I intended to quash the rumor once and for all.

  Mazen didn’t object, but he also didn’t agree right away. It took him a whole day to give me his answer. I believe he was making sure the facility was suitable for our child’s birth and for me.

  We decided not to tell anyone about our decision until I started the third trimester of my pregnancy since it wasn’t necessary to do that now.

  On the day we made that decision, Mazen told me that he needed to talk to me about something important. Just this simple request, no matter how calm he looked, made me anxious.

  “What is it?”

  “I’ve thought so much about whether I should share my thoughts or not with you. I wasn’t sure if I should.”

  “You can talk to me about anything, angel. You know that,” I said, putting my hand over his and giving it a squeeze in encouragement.

  Mazen’s smile was light. “I know that,” he said, then let out a long sigh. “Every time we’ve hidden something from each other for fear of causing undue worry – it has ended badly. I don’t want that to happen again. I thought I’d share my concerns with you, and I have a strong faith that you will understand. If not, we’ll figure it out together.”

  “We will. We always do.” I smiled, my blood running cold as worry filled me, my curiosity having reached its peak.

  “Well, it’s about what happened to Hope, Faith, and Salma.” he started, and I gulped. “We’ve already established that they were poisoned on purpose.”

  I nodded, frowning as the sadness consumed me at the thought of our poor baby horses.

  “Despite all of our efforts, we still haven’t found out who did it. The poison was injected into the food packs in a place located at quite a distance from the palace. It was most likely done by someone who knows the palace grounds, the schedule – the feeding schedule. In other words, this was done by someone who knew the ins and outs of the palace,” Mazen said, his eyes watching me carefully, looking for any sign of a reaction, and I was like an open book to him in that second.

  I started breathing heavily. I was scared, and he knew it.

  “Marie, I’m here, remember that.” He held my hand in both of his.

  “I’m fine. Go on,” I told him in a choked voice.

/>   Mazen drew soothing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. “We’ve come to the conclusion that whoever did it – it was to send us a message.”

  “What?” I gasped. “What kind of message?”

  “Well, think about it – the youngest of our pets were poisoned. Only ours. Only the young ones were targeted. There were other animals in the stables, but only ours were killed.”

  I looked at Mazen, not understanding.

  “They killed them like Tal–” Mazen squeezed his eyes shut before completing the sentence, “Like they killed our unborn child.” His voice cracked at the end; his wound – just like mine – was forever fresh.

  “Mazen, you’re scaring me. You can’t mean what I think you mean!” My hand flew to my mouth, and my tears started falling down my cheeks.

  Mazen knelt on the floor in front of me, touching my cheeks with both of his hands. “I will never, ever let anyone hurt either of you. You and Adam are the most important people to me on this planet. I would die before anyone gets to touch one hair on either of your heads, do you understand? Do you understand me, Marie?”

  I nodded slowly, and he swept my tears away with his thumbs, then kissed my forehead.

  “You think they want to poison our–”

  “Shhh, no one will dare to do anything to you as long as I live. Never doubt that,” he assured me, and I nodded again.

  “What do you want to do?” I asked him, my arms hugging my stomach protectively.

  Mazen’s hands followed mine, putting them over our baby inside of me. “We will assign more guards to you. Unfortunately, we can’t trust many people.”

  “More guards?”

  “Yes, princess. Fewer visits and fewer conferences for you. You’ll do most of your job from your home office, okay? After all, you’re pregnant and need your rest.”

  “Okay.”

  “There’s just one thing more, and I’m not sure if you’ll accept, but it’s literally the only thing that we can do.”

  “What is it? Please, tell me. I’ll do anything to protect our baby.”

  “My …” he hesitated, then huffed. “The food you eat, we have to be perfectly sure that it’s clean. We can’t risk that. And, the new maid, I just…”

  “What is it, Mazen? Tell me!”

  “There’s only one person I can trust to ensure the food is not going to hurt you.”

  “Who?”

  “My mother.”

  I couldn’t be more shocked.

  My mind knew a way or two to reply to what he was saying. My tongue just wanted to scream many questions, all along the lines of ‘What?’ and ‘Are you out of your mind?’

  My heart was a mess of fear and confusion and maybe even some loathing, but the dominant feeling was – love. The love I had for my child and the love I had for the man kneeling in front of me; his concerned, pleading eyes were telling me a thousand words that described a caring father and devoted husband.

  He wanted us safe, there was no doubt.

  I couldn’t deny that I thought it was insane that we would choose my mother-in-law to prepare all our food and drinks. However, I knew that if Mazen suggested it, it was probably the best option.

  Being queen showed me the importance of controlling my emotions, an important lesson I used when dealing with the Bedouins. Mazen taught me to never jump to conclusions, think things through, talk it out, and try to understand.

  Being completely in love with my husband made me trust him like no other. So, after a long minute of silence, I asked him, “Do you think she will agree?”

  Mazen was obviously shocked, but he recovered quickly. “I’m sure she will. After all, it’s her grandson’s safety we’re talking about.”

  Mazen said the most convincing words without beating around the bush – it was the most truthful thing. Even if my mother-in-law didn’t care about my well-being, she cared about her only son’s baby inside of me: her grandson. There was no doubt; she would never hurt him.

  “True,” I said. “Okay, then.”

  “What? You agree to that?” Mazen asked, almost voicing the real question, ‘You won’t argue with me?’

  “Yes, Mazen, I agree. You trust your mother, and I trust you. I’ve told you I will do anything to protect our son.”

  Mazen’s smile was sad. He kissed my hair once again and looked into my eyes. “I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, beautiful princess,” he said in a low voice. “But you won’t regret this, I promise.”

  “I know,” I whispered back. Having her around, right here in my wing, might bring back bad memories. I didn’t want to feel uneasy and awkward, but for the sake of my baby, I will tolerate it. This extra precaution was necessary.

  I wished Mona could take that role. She was certainly someone that both Mazen and I trusted, but Rodina had been very ill as of late and needed constant and continuous attention. It would be very selfish of me to ask Mona to leave her only daughter to prepare me a meal.

  Having my mother-in-law do everything food-related for me was our only option, whether I liked it or not. I only hoped that it was the right choice.

  I’d neglected to tell Mazen about the day I encountered his mother in the library, and how her glare made me feel. He’d been away when it happened and by the time he got back, I’d put it in the back of my mind.

  The day after the library incident, I’d met with her again to gain legal advice, and she was very kind and sweet. She asked about my health, prayed for me, and gave me her best wishes.

  On the day of the public gender reveal, she gave away hundreds of gold coins from her personal funds. The expression on her face was genuine delight and joy. She was thrilled that we were having a boy ― almost as much as Mazen and I were.

  She was giving me whiplash, but I tried not to think too much about her. I knew for sure that she cared about the child inside of me, as any true loving grandmother would. Moreover, I hated to judge her for her past terrible behavior since she has been quite nice and pleasant recently, a demeanor that had started to become much more common.

  The first week with her in our quarters was the hardest for me, but I wore my big girl panties. Queen Mother Shams was very pleasant towards me, and cared a lot about my diet. She would arrive each morning with her maid, who’d carry the ingredients for whatever dish she was going to make. She’d go into the kitchen, prepare everything, and then put it in the fridge – she always locked it with a password – then she would come back at different times of the day to serve it to me. She made great food ― dishes that reminded me of my first stay in this wing. Surprisingly, only pleasant memories invaded my head.

  Mazen ate with me most of the time, and sometimes when his mother offered me a drink, she sat down and had a glass with me. It wasn’t difficult to see that it was her way of assuring me that I shouldn’t be worried, that I could trust her. However, she never voiced those matters.

  I had to admit, it was taking a lot of her energy; it was a stressful job and not fitting for her position as a Queen Mother. Nevertheless, she did it all with love.

  Incredibly, with time, I got used to her being in close proximity. I even started conversations and small talk sometimes. Things were getting a bit more comfortable, but my guard continued to stay up, and she knew that very well.

  She only used the secret doors and passages that connected our wing to her quarters, and only her maid knew of her daily visits to me – we didn’t want anyone to know. And I didn’t want to concern Rosanna with the possible threat to my baby. She already had enough things to stress about.

  One morning while I was meeting with the palace managers, a delicious scent hit my nose. It was so good that I actually stopped mid-sentence and inhaled deeply.

  I couldn’t wait for my stylist to finish with my hair already, and for the palace managers to leave so I could go into the kitchen and look for the source of the smell.

  The second they left, I made a beeline to the kitchen, remembering an episode of Tom and Jerry that
I’d watched as a kid, where one of them would fly with dazzled eyes as a scent of something cooking pulled them in like a magnet. It was exactly how I felt.

  The closer I got to the kitchen, the stronger the smell became, and I was already drooling. My hormones were making me crazy, when just a few weeks ago the scent of any kind of food, no matter how wonderful it was, made me nauseous.

  “Good morning!” I greeted my mother-in-law.

  “Oh, good morning, Your Majesty! I’m about finished with breakfast, sorry it took me longer today.”

  “No, no! It’s really fine. I really appreciate all you do for us,” I said sincerely. “Oh, my God! You baked?” I gushed.

  “Yes, just some pastries. I hope you like them.”

  I gasped. “Are those cinnamon rolls?”

  Queen Mother Shams chuckled, “I take it that you like those?”

  “I only liked them before, but given how much I’m dying to eat one right now – I believe that Adam loves them.”

  My mother-in-law’s smile dropped for a second before she smiled again, and told me that the pan would be ready in a minute.

  I thanked her and sat at the kitchen table, deciding that I would have breakfast here for a change. I wondered why the sudden change in the atmosphere – was it because cinnamon rolls weren’t actually a proper breakfast? I knew she was very careful with my food, and what kind of vitamins it contained, but then again – she baked them herself, so, I really didn’t know.

  The second her maid left the kitchen, I asked, “Did I say something wrong?”

  She sat down in front of me. “Not exactly, my child,” she said, looking down for a second before continuing, “You shouldn’t speak about His Highness without titles – not in front of the servants, at least.”

  I frowned. “His Highness?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty. Prince Adam Alfaidy.”

  My eyes widened. “My son? My unborn son? He doesn’t even know what we’re saying!” I was utterly confused.

  The Queen Mother gently shook her head. “You’re carrying the Crown Prince of our Kingdom, Your Majesty. It’s the only way he should be addressed, even by his parents. It doesn’t matter whether he can understand it or not, everyone else around him would. They understand his position and his worth. We can never say the first name of a royal family member in front of anyone outside the family without their titles. You already know that, Your Majesty.”