Je T'aime.

XLVII. Moments Alone

*NSFW Content*

I stared down at my knotted hands in my lap. "I'm sorry, Mama," I pledged again. "It was just a reaction. I didn't mean to do it."

My mother let out another irritated sigh. "It doesn't matter if you meant to do it or not. You still did it. You still threw a glass of wine over royal guests!"

"Well, maybe they should watch their royal mouths and not call my best friend a whore!"

"Maria Christina!"

"Sorry! But it's the truth." The events of yesterday played in my head over and over again. What they said, my fury, those men's ugly faces when the wine landed on them. And me running away.

"Look at me," Hesitantly, I lifted my gaze upwards towards my mother, who stood above me commandingly. "I understand that you wanted to defend Isabella. What they said about her was terrible and completely untrue. But that doesn't mean that you can reply with such fiscality. Because that has repercussions."

I already understood where my mother was going with this. "If I knew those two men were Prince Benedetto's uncles, I would have never thought of doing that. And they shouldn't have said that. They started it."

"But you didn't have to finish it. Good Archduchesses turn the other cheek. And your actions, whether you meant it or not, reflected back on me and on your sister. Those men came to see if Liesl was the proper bride for Benedetto or not. Now, while you threw the wine on them and not Liesl, it gives them a poor image of your sister, that she may be temperamental. And now, I don't know if they'll agree to the marriage or not."

"Liesl's pretty, Mama, they'll take her."

Annoyance rose in my mother's tone. "Even if they do, a reputation will follow her to Turin, and it will be much harder for her to be accepted by Sardinians. Your lack of judgement made everything much, much harder for everyone."

I couldn't argue anymore. I just stared down into my lap. "I'm sorry."

My mother's expression softened as she reached for the doorknob. "I'm not angry. Just disappointed." The door clicked behind her, and she was gone. 

I sank down into my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Everything had gone to shit. Everything was going so well, then so suddenly began slipping between my fingers like a handful of sand. I heard the door open, but I didn't look up. "Go away," I grumbled. 

"Christina." Her sweet voice yanked me out of my stupor. I rocketed up to a seated position. There Isabella stood in the doorway, both hands on the doorframe. Her lips were slightly parted like she wanted to speak but couldn't. 

I slid out of bed, quickly crossing the floor towards her. Without a second thought I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into me. Then, at her silence, I released her from my grasp, gazing deep into her eyes to find some kind of meaning. She closed the door behind her, locking it. "Are you angry with me?" I finally pleaded, Isabella gliding towards the windows. 

She grasped the curtains and looked over her shoulder at me with a smile. "No, I could never be," She closed the curtain, casting the room into half-darkness. "Light some candles, would you dear?" I obliged, filling my bedchamber with an amber glow. She closed the other curtain. Noticing the puzzled look on my face, she grinned. "Joseph is out on the hunt all day." 

"Is he now?" 

"Yes," Isabella said, watching me light the candles. "It's delightful."

I laughed nervously. "Why'd you come here?" 

Isabella chuckled. She sat down on the bed, leaning backwards on her hip, and looked up at me with glimmering, expectant eyes. "To see you. Why else?" She grasped my wrist, pulling me down onto the bed beside her. "I've been so desperately lonely, stuck up in my room all of the time."