BLOODLINES | THE SPANISH PRINCESS

15

"Why?" Joanna asked, letting out a large scoff, "You're not at fault for what he does. You barely know him."

"He is my brother, though. We are of the same blood," Marie replied in a soft tone.

"In Flanders, at his father's court, your brother took his seventh lover of our marriage, closest lady of my chamber," Joanna informed Marie, a sad smile on her face, "He said I imagined it, so I cut off all her hair. He raged. He wouldn't speak to me..." She trailed off, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "So I had my ladies put love potions in his wine, because my heart is in a noose. But he caught them. He dismissed them, and he locked me in my room."

Joanna took a moment to contain her angry tears before she began to walk closer to Marie. "Now, he's writing to my father, saying he will rule instead of me. He means to have coins minted with his own face next to mine, to try to be the king himself, and now my father does the same and also tries to steal my kingdom."

"They can't do that," Marie argued, a look of disbelief on her face, "You are the queen. You are the one with the God-given right to rule Castile, not them," She explained and Joanna scoffed as she turned her back to Marie, "Your mother's crown was passed on to you, not them. They have no right to take it from you."

"They have every right. They are men and I am a mere woman," Joanna complained as she turned to face Marie once more, "All they see is power that they want and they will take. You must know the feeling. They do the same to you here. We're just chicken bones they squabble over, not a wife," She paused, beginning to laugh, "Not a daughter."

Joanna turned to face Marie, a stern look on her face. "Never marry, Marie. Men are pigs, and marriage is a trap. You're lucky you're free."

"I am not free," Marie confessed, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "I never was free and I never will be."

"You are," Joanna insisted in a stern tone, "You have the chance to be like that mother of yours. Nora of Lancaster. Women like us of royal blood could only wish to be as great and as powerful as her in our own right, not just because of some foolish man we are forced to marry."

Joanna began to walk away, only to be cut off when Phillip stormed over to them, beginning to yell at Joanna in French.

Marie stood off to the side, watching as Phillip angrily slapped his wife while shouting at her.

   Phillip slowly turned to Marie, a furious look on his face. "My wife is...delirious," He told Marie, speaking French in the last part of his sentence, "I cannot even see a woman before she's so certain I'm making love with her. And now, she's roped you, my own sister, into believing it as well," He ranted and Marie turned to glance at Joanna, who was looking down at the ground in shame, "You see what I must live with?"

"I see that she is deeply unhappy and I also see the cause of it," Marie responded with an attitude as she stared at her brother in disgust, "You. You treat her like shit and expect obedience in return. It doesn't work like that, brother. Especially when she is the one with the true power in the marriage. Father understood that when he married Mother when they married. It is a pity you haven't done the same."

Without a care in the world, Phillip began to laugh in Marie's face. "Little sister..." He trailed off, smiling as he spoke to her in French, "Wife of no one."

"Well, at least I'm not allowing myself to be some chest piece in someone else's game. I control the game," Marie snapped at her brother without a care in the world.

"You've become so much like Nora that you are too far gone to ever be saved," Phillip continued on as he finally stopped laughing, "You're an English woman. Through and through. No wonder why Father has made no attempt to come save you. You're aren't ours anymore."