The Kingdom of Belmar

Chapter 20

"I tried talking to him after you ran off, I was convinced that if I did then he'd see the Margarite he was supposed to and fall in love with me just as he did in the book. But that didn't happen either. He rejected all of my advances and attempts of striking a conversation with him, he seemed too preoccupied with finding you even though you rejected him over and over again.

"I told him what you were. Not you, but the original Amalie: a spoiled brat that belongs to the Second Prince's faction and does anything Queen Rista says, but he snapped. He'd probably have me escorted from the premises if you didn't start screaming from the balcony over." Margarite gestures to her right at the platform where Viscount Mowry... I shudder at the thought.

"You want to be a knight but you acted like a damsel, make up your mind! Because of you, I lost my true love." Her eyes grow feral, like a wolf foaming at the mouth. "So I decided to approach Queen Rista personally. If I can't have Cole, why should you? I told her everything I could, and kept some secrets to myself. She saw me as an asset, she saw me as a threat, she saw me as a useful way to get Tristen on the throne. I said I'd elicit my resources if she'd make me the queen alongside him, a small price to pay to keep her bloodline in power. I didn't even scratch the surface before she agreed to my terms."

"I don't understand," I say to her, "If you were so in love with Cole, how could you turn your back on him so easily? How could you marry Tristen like nothing happened, and work with Queen Rista even though you know what she's like? Are your loyalties so flimsy that a simple heartbreak can ruin such a good life you could've had."

"You stole my prince!"

"He wasn't yours to begin with!" We both stare at each other, breathing heavily. She died from an illness, maybe she was too young and socially inept to see that her reasoning is so beyond flawed. "I was planning on giving him to you, I never tried to get romantically involved, it's not my fault if he couldn't manage to reciprocate your feelings."

"Well it's no matter anyway," she crosses her arms, "he won't be in the picture for much longer. I'm not wasting my second chance at life to be a poor Baron's daughter without the love of her life. I'll gain power, prestige, my second chance will be the real fairy tale, and there's not much you can do about it." She sounds like I do, changing the story for my own benefit because I didn't want to "waste my second chance." Maybe I'm just as toxic and selfish as she's being, maybe I never realized how changing the story could affect people like Margarite.

She crosses her arms as she makes her way to me, "We may have read the same book, but I've been here longer, I've been garnering connections for the last year. Prince Tristen will be king, and I will be his queen. Everything's already in motion, and a simple knight and her lackeys won't stop me."

I'm about to say something else, I'm about to scream at her that she's making a mistake and to not marry Tristen, I'm about to cry about how she could still join us, but the doors to the balcony swing open before I get the chance.

"Amalie, Margarite, are you ladies still speaking?" Prince Cole peeks his head in, and I can make the outline of Tristen standing behind him, averting his gaze.

"Not at all Your Highness. I fear I've stolen your partner for far longer than anticipated. My apologies, you must have missed her smiles dearly." Margarite offers Cole a warm smile, but I'm still shuddering from the icy persona she's hidden under a perfectly masked facade. Had she not just said what she said to me, I'd believe her performance as well.

Margarite leaves the balcony not turning to look behind her, dragging a hand seductively across Cole's shoulder as she goes. He tries not to pay her much mind as she rejoins Tristen in the ballroom, and the door separate us once again.