Following Hearts

Blame Game

"Tell me what happened." Amelia finally broke the silence and stared into her sister's eyes as continued to wrap Rose's wrist. The redheaded princess had sent Ginger away to fetch some pain medication for Rose as soon as they walked into her room. Then, she fumbled through Rose's bathroom cabinet until she found some medical wrap, and got started to bandaging her sister's wrist. Unfortunately, as good a leader Amelia was, she was a horrid nurse. She had tangled Rose's bandage three times already, and each time she got more frustrated than the last.

Luckily, this time the wrapping seemed to be going well, although Amelia's eyebrows were still furrowed in concentration.

"You saw what happened." Rose avoided her sister's eyes, pretending to be engrossed with the tiling on the floor. She wanted to tell her sister what had happened. She knew Amelia needed to know the full extent of what Felix tried to do to her, but in order to explain that, she'd have to spill the whole truth of her year-long secret relationship, and she wasn't sure that was something she was ready to do.

    "No, I only saw the end of it," Amelia stated slowly, as if she was explaining to a child. "What happened?" Rose swallowed and let an uncomfortable silence stretch between them for a few moments before answering.

    "He attacked me." Her words were barely louder than a whisper.

    "Why?" Amelia's eyes bored into Rose's soul, her pupils wide and dark in the low light.

    "Cause he's crazy, that's why," Rose said too quickly, her eyes flitting towards the floor.

    "Rose," Amelia said. Rose looked at her. "I'm your sister. I know when you're lying. Tell me why." Amelia finished wrapping Rose's wrist and the younger sister pulled her hand away. "Please." Amelia's voice softened and she leaned her head down to maintain eye contact. Rose continued to look at the ground but started to speak.

    "Felix and I... we were together. For a year. Since last May, actually. It was good-at first. But then..." Rose paused, unsure how to proceed.

    "Then what?" Amelia laid her hand on Rose's, ushering her to continue her story.

    "Then he got, I don't know, controlling? Jealous? I didn't even realize until after we were over, but he kept pulling me away from everyone else in my life. He said that we shouldn't tell anyone about us. I mean, a stableboy and a princess? It's not... normal. At first, I just thought he was being sweet, trying to protect my reputation and status, but now... I think maybe he wanted it to be kept secret for his own reasons."

    "Why would he do that?" Amelia's face was genuine.

    "To isolate me? So he could keep seeing other people? I don't know. But then, when Timothy came, he was all... jealous. Even though I told him he had no reason to be. He convinced me that Timothy, I don't know, liked me? In a more-than-friendly way? So, when he asked me to stop talking with him, I listened. And then he acted the same way with Baltha-" Rose stopped herself. She realized that she would have to confess to her sister that she never originally intended to marry Balthazar.

    "Balthazar?" Amelia asked.

    "You know I was apprehensive about... marrying him." Amelia nodded. "Felix is the reason why."

    "You were still with him," Amelia stated, no obvious expression on her face. Rose nodded.

"I never told you, because I didn't want to hurt you, or disappoint you but... I never intended to marry Balthazar. In fact, I spent most of our time together trying to figure out a way to get out of this marriage plot. And I told that to Felix, but he still was jealous of Balthazar."

"But you announced to the entire country that you and Balthazar were to be engaged? Was that after-"

    "I only did that because I thought I saw Felix with someone else at the Coronation Ball. I told Felix as much, but he insisted that he was just helping her stand. I believed him. I shouldn't have." She took a breath. "I saw him and the girl in the stables. Together. So I told Balthazar we were going through with the marriage after all. And I... avoided Felix. Until tonight."

    "And tonight he..."

    "He followed me up the stairs. He told me he wanted to be with me, and when I told him that was never going to happen, he..."

    "Attacked you?" Amelia finished her sister's statement, storm clouds forming behind her eyes. Rose nodded.

"I should've told you," Rose said quietly, a single tear falling from her eye.

"Yes, you should've," Amelia said. Rose finally looked up at her sister, expecting a reprimanding expression on her face, but there was none. Instead, she looked hurt. Concerned. "I could've helped you."

"I'm so sorry," Rose croaked. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked towards the ground as she began to sob.

"Rose. Rose look at me." Amelia titled Rose's chin up to face her. "I'm not mad. Look at my face. I'm not. I just... I just wish you trusted me enough to tell me things like this. I get that I'm not the warmest person. I get that we fight and sometimes I ask too much of you. But I love you. And if you need something from me, if you need me to be there for you, I will be there. Every Time." Amelia wiped a few of Rose's tears away. "You don't need to lie to protect me. It's not your job to protect me. It's my job to protect you." Amelia's voice got soft. "And I failed. I should've known something was wrong, I should've been there for you."

"But you didn't know or-" Rose began to protest but Amelia cut her off.

"But I should've known. Even if you didn't ask for my help, I should've seen how you were struggling. It doesn't matter that you didn't tell me because I should've asked."

Suddenly, Rose started to chuckle. It was so soft at first that Amelia thought it was just her sister crying, but when Rose looked up Amelia saw the smile that had stretched over her face.

"What?" Amelia asked, slightly annoyed. "What's so funny?"

"You're just like dad." Rose shook her head, smile still on her face.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You're just like him. Taking the weight of the world on your shoulders." Rose pointed at her sister accusingly. "You don't get to take responsibility for everything that happens to everyone. God knows you already do enough of that." At this, Amelia cracked a smile. "How could you have known something was wrong when I actively tried to hide it from you? This isn't your fault, it's mine. I'm the only one to blame for this."

"You're right," Amelia admitted. "I'm just like dad. But so are you."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are miss 'I'm the only one to blame for this.'" The two sisters shared a smile before Amelia continued talking. "How about this? How about we both stop blaming ourselves and start blaming the bastard who's really at fault here?"

"Agreed." Rose held out her hand and Amelia shook it.