Bad Blood

Chapter 31: A broken heart

"Do you need more tea?" Carl asked as he and Chandler were cleaning the table.

"No," Louisa looked at Alden then. "I think we'll go for a walk instead, won't we?"

Alden slowly nodded. "Can you two prepare dinner and serve it around 7 tonight?"

Carl and Chandler nodded.

"Good," Louisa then got up. "Let's go, honey."

Alden got up as well, following his wife to the hallway. But when they opened the door, they stopped. "Felicity and Amelia, what can we do for you?"

Felicity looked at Amelia before she looked at her parents. "We'd like to talk to you two about something."

"Not now, Fe," Louisa tried passing them, but to no avail. "Your father and I are going for a walk."

"Not now," Felicity then motioned to the table. "Take a seat."

Louisa wanted to fight back, but Alden stopped her. "Let's listen to them." He said and took his wife to the table. They both sat down.

"You two can stand behind them," Felicity said to Carl and Chandler. "This also concerns you two."

Carl and Chandler hesitantly went to stand behind Louisa and Alden. Carl suspected he knew what this talk was going to be about, but he kept hoping it'd be about something else.

"Thank you for your attention." Felicity looked at Amelia, handing her the spotlight.

Amelia looked from Felicity to Louisa, Alden, Carl and Chandler. "I first want to apologize for invading your privacy, it wasn't my intention to do that. It won't happen again."

Louisa and Alden nodded, accepting the apology, but both also wondered what was still to follow.

Amelia gulped before looking down at the portraits she was holding underneath the table. "I uhm..." She looked up at them. "I need answers," She gulped again. "I know you're all hiding something from me, from us," She looked at Felicity who, in return, wrapped her arm around Amelia for support. "But we need to know the truth."

"Amelia," Louisa started, preventing the others to open their mouths. "What are you talking about?"

Amelia once again looked at the portraits. "I've found secret portraits," She then showed them to everyone. "I need to know why my mother was here so often in the past and what James's relationship was to my mother."

Felicity looked from Amelia to her parents and the butlers, and she noticed immediately how their facial expressions changed. This was clearly a difficult subject and one they didn't want to discuss.

"I need to know." Amelia insisted.

"Amelia, your mother - "

"Quiet, Carl!" Louisa raised her voice. She then looked at Amelia. "Your mother was here a lot, but that's because we were trying to maintain peace between our kingdoms."

Amelia nodded, not believing a single word she was hearing. "And what about James and my mom?"

"James was a butler here, he was chosen to keep visitors safe and happy. So he spent a lot of time with your mother for that reason."

"Exactly." Alden nodded.

Amelia looked at Felicity, who was looking at Amelia with the same expression: they both knew they were being lied to. Felicity sat up, leaning closer. "Mom and dad, we love you and we respect you. We always try to be honest with you, which is why it hurts us to see you lie to our faces."

"We're not lying, Fe." Louisa insisted.

"Neither are we," Felicity then took the portraits from Amelia, showing everyone she was holding them. "And I bet everyone out there would love to see these."

Right then, Louisa sat up, panicked. "You can't do that," She gulped, trying to hide her worries. "It's none of their concerns."

"But it is to us," Amelia then said, gaining everyone's attention. "I need to know why my mom was here so often."

Louisa looked away, as if that'd help her get out of the conversation. Alden looked at the portraits, trying to figure out a way to get them back. While the butlers just stood there, not allowed to open their mouths.

"I know she was here a lot," Felicity then said. "I remember her being here all the time."

Louisa and Alden looked at her.

"Auntie Cassie, I believe was the name I used," Felicity smiled at the memory before looking at her parents. "She was here a lot and spent a lot of time with me too. The last few moments she was here, she had a baby."

Alden and Louisa sighed, they knew they were trapped. But they kept quiet.

Felicity glared at her parents, she couldn't understand why they wouldn't just say it. Why was it so difficult to be honest?

Amelia then looked at the butlers, and knew they knew more. "Carl, Chandler," She started, gaining everyone's attention. "What do you know?"

"They know nothing," Louisa insisted, a bit too harshly. "They're just butlers."

Amelia ignored Louisa and kept looking at the butlers. "I'm listening."

Chandler looked at Carl, giving him the opportunity to talk. "Your mother was here a lot, Amelia."

"Carl, keep quiet!" Alden now insisted.

"No!" Carl said, walking away from Louisa and Alden. He made his way to the side of the table so he could look them in the eyes. "I understand that you want to protect Cassandra but this isn't the right way. Surely she would've wanted Amelia to know the truth."

Louisa huffed. "If that was the case, don't you think she would've told Amelia herself?"

Carl then looked down, realizing Cassandra indeed never told Amelia about her time here.

Louisa looked at Amelia. "Your mother was here a lot because we were great friends, she and I were the best of friends. We spent so much time together, playing with Fe, talking about our kingdoms, about our personal lives..." She smiled, but it faded pretty fast. "Everything changed when she told us she was pregnant."

"We had never met her lover, or her fiancee," Alden continued. "We knew she needed to be married for the child to be a real royal."

"Turns out she had been having a secret relationship," Louisa sighed. "With one of our butlers."

Amelia looked down at the portrait of her mother and James. "James."

"Yes," Louisa nodded. "James was one of our butlers, who had been chosen to serve Cassandra when she was here."

"They found each other and were deeply in love," Alden smiled a bit. "When Cassandra told us, we were surprised but very happy for her and James."

"They were going to get married before you were born, so there wouldn't be any problem with you and your worth as a royal," Louisa said but then looked down. "One day, James died. We believe he had fallen to his death in the Middledes Woods."

"He was on his way to get Cassandra, but he had an accident on his way over there," Alden sighed. "After that, Cassandra visited us a few more times before never returning again."

"The close friendship she and I had, vanished. When we saw her, it was strictly professional. And she wouldn't talk about James or about you," Louisa then reached for Amelia's hands. "I believe she was in too much pain and that seeing us, confronted her with the life she once had dreamed about having."

Amelia gulped and looked down. "She was unhappy?"

"She was heartbroken," Louisa said, quieter this time. "And I believe her heart never healed."