Tears of Queens

10 - Tala

Kamran was my brother's friend. I had known him since I was around four, but I knew very little about him. Neither Nabil nor I had ever been to his house, and I'd only met his parents once or twice. He was a very mysterious person, but I was just now realizing that it was very intentional. He had met Wyatt many years ago, and was probably collecting information on us or something.

He led us down beautiful white halls, adorned with white and gold banners, and my feet were starting to hurt when we got to our rooms.

"Tala, this is your room," he gestured to the room we had stopped in front of at the end of the hall, "and boys, those two are yours." he pointed to two rooms on opposite sides of the hall, on either side of my room. "I'll leave you now. Tala and Leo, I'll be back tomorrow morning promptly at nine to get you." With that, he walked down the hall and disappeared around a corner.

I went to open my door, but it was locked. "Uh, Kamran!" I called out. He forgot to give us keys. He came back around the corner, smiling to himself.

"You need keys don't you?" he asked, to which we all nodded. He handed each of us a small, golden key. "Protect these with your lives," he told us with mock sincerity, and walked away again.

I stuck my key into the keyhole and, to my surprise, it turned itself! I put it in and it just turned by itself! The door swung open and revealed the biggest bedroom I had ever seen. Directly across from the door was a floor-to-ceiling window leading out onto a balcony, overlooking the vast palace gardens. To the left of the window was a king-sized four-poster bed with silky white bedding. It had thick white curtains hanging from the posts to block out the world. On either side of the bed were small nightstands, made from a strange white stone I couldn't recognize. At the foot of the bed was a plush white bench, topped with white pillows.

Across from the bed was a sitting area, complete with a built-in white stone fireplace and white-and-gold armchairs and couch. The coffee table was just a large slab of white stone, and sitting on it was a box wrapped in gold paper. I approached the box and hesitantly picked it up, careful not to drop it, not knowing what was inside. I carried it over to the bench and sat down to unwrap it, revealing a simple brown box. I looked inside and my eyes widened. On a small, white, plush cushion sat a gorgeous jeweled crown. It was golden, adorned with opals of every color imaginable. I picked it up and took it over to the mirror in the closet by the bed and placed it carefully on my head.

"Woah," I whispered. As soon as the crown touched my head, my hair changed from dark brown to platinum blonde. I took it off, expecting it to change back, but it didn't. I kept putting it back on and taking it off, but nothing happened. "Wyatt!" I yelled, needing someone to help me comprehend this.

"What? What happened?" he and Leo ran into my closet, concerned, but they stopped dead in my tracks when they saw my hair. Wyatt came up to me and took a lock of hair in his hand, apparently inspecting it.

"Wyatt."

"Yeah?"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Why are you blonde?" he was rightfully confused.

"I dunno! I found this crown in a box on my coffee table, and my hair just did this when I put it on. It won't go back, I've tried!" Leo took the crown out of my hands. "You try it! See what happens!" I told Leo, who did exactly what I said and set the crown on top of his head. Nothing happened. Wyatt took it from him and tried it as well, but nothing happened for him, either.

"I think it only works for you," Leo pointed out, Wyatt handing the crown back to me. I put it back on, and this time, a gold cloud swirled around me, finding its way back into the crown as I hurriedly took it off and ran to put it back in the box.

"Yo, Tala, come see this!" Leo called out from the closet. I made my way over to him and, for the first time, I noticed everything hanging in it. Leo, however, was standing in front of a tall, open cabinet filled with all the crowns and tiaras you could possibly imagine, all shapes and sizes, colors and styles.

"Woah," I gasped, Wyatt coming to stand behind me. His jaw dropped.

"Is this all yours?" Wyatt asked, incredulous. I nodded hesitantly.

"I... I think so," I couldn't believe it. It was all mine! All the crowns, the dresses, the shoes, everything. Before I could even begin to process it, we heard a sort of doorbell ring. We looked at each other confused. I went to the door and looked out the little peephole to see a tall, gorgeous, black woman with long, dark braids and big blue eyes. I opened the door.

"Can I help you?" I asked her.

"Yes, I need you to look over these training schedules for tomorrow," she had an accent that sounded like a mix of Egyptian and Greek. She handed me a small stack of papers and waited.

"Oh, you mean now?"

"Yes. I need approval."

"Oh. Okay then. Come in, please." I led her to the sitting area and sat on the couch, gesturing for her to sit in one of the armchairs. I looked over the papers, not knowing what I was supposed to be approving. I noticed a few names at the top of the papers, including mine and Leo's. Underneath our names was the name Nubia Atieno, accompanied by the letters "RT".

"Who's that?" I asked, pointing to the unfamiliar name.

"That's me. I'm your Royal Trainer,"

"Oh. Cool! It looks good, I think." I handed the papers back to her and she stood up, bowed to me, and left.

"Oh my god, she was so hot," Wyatt stated as soon as the door closed behind her.

"I know! Did you hear what she said though? She's our freaking trainer!" I exclaimed, gesturing between Leo and I.

"Ugh, lucky." Wyatt scoffed.