The Stars|| King George III

1

"FATHER?" Amelia asked as she walked into her father's office, "You called for me" she said approaching his desk, her hands behind her back.

"Yes, there is something that I need to tell you" he said looking up from his sheets of paper, Amelia nodded, "Yes, father."

"You are to marry the King of England, you will bord a ship in the next few days" Amelia was shocked, stunned, "What?"

"You heard me."

"I do not wish to get married. I do not wish to be with a man I know even know. In a country I've never been!" she yelled at her father but he only sighed, "Amelia, he is the King. You will be Queen, you don't have to like him, just bare his children and look pretty."

"I will not."

"I already signed the betrothal contract, you will do this."

Tears threatened to fall from Amelia's eye's and yet she had no insult to tell him. Thomas looked up from his papers, "Why are you still standing here, pack your things, chop chop. Your cousin, Peter will join you for the travels."

Wiping away a stray tear, Amelia stormed out of the office, running straight for her bedroom.

****

After a month boat trip, Amelia and Peter sat in the carriage, riding to Amelia's nightmare. The entire journey she didn't talk to anyone, mostly cried or wrote in her journal.

She sat opposite her cousin, who had tried countless times to talk to her, "You have the appearance of a statue" Peter joked about.

"Statues are works of art. Art is beautiful" she said stilling looked out to the moving trees, deep inside her mind, she counted the minutes, hours, seconds she had to marry someone she never met.

"Art is beautiful to gaze upon. You are ridiculous to the eye" Peter joked again, turning to her cousin she huffed, "Is there a point, cousin?"

"You have not moved an inche in the past few days we've been traveling" Peter told her, gesturing to her stillness, "Father told me to impress the royal family. I am wearing Lyonnaise silk, encrusted with indian sapphires, working with two hundred years old lace."

"Apparently too much movement can cause the sapphires to shred the lace. If that is not enough the gown sits atop a bespoke underpinning made if whalebone"

"Whalebone?" Peter said raising an eyebrow not believing her, "Yes, whalebone, cousin. The bones of whales, whales die so I can look like this. All the finest corsets are whalebone, you'd know that if you knew anything. If you ever paid attention you would also know that the problem with whalebone is that is it rather delicate and very, very, very sharp. And of course I'm in the height of fashion so this corset is quite snug. So I give the appearance of a statue, ridiculous to the eye but that is because I cannot move. And because I must arrive on display, I am forced into a hideous gown, so stylish that if I move too much, I might be sliced and stabbed to death by my own undergarments. How joyful it is to be a woman and married off at seventeen."

"You are upset" Peter said realizing how emotional Amelia must be, "This entire journey, from America to London, I have thought about moving so much that my corset breaks and I am impaled. We have what? Three, four hours to get to London. I believe that if I'm diligent with my movement, I can most certainly bleed to death before we arrive."

"Like I said, you are upset" Peter said, thinking he understands, "Upset is an understatement to what I am feeling. I am furious, terrified, scared and I cannot breath, and this is all thanks to my stupid father."

"Amelia, you were chosen, this is a great honor" Amelia narrowed her eyes at him, "Oh how difficult it is to be chosen, someone who can make babies, who can read. Yet I do not have any royal bloodline. They could've chosen someone else, someone who wanted it."

Peter sighed, "They wanted you, Amelia" this made Amelia even more angry, "Why? They could have had anyone, anyone! Why travel all the way to America, for a girl with no titles and a business that's not even thriving."

Amelia went back to looking out the window, "You are special" Peter whispered but Amelia only let out a dry chuckle, "I am a stranger to them and they are strangers to us, they will surely treat me differently."

Peter placed him hand on her knee, "Just be happy you'll be a Queen and not wife to some fat country Lord" Peter whispered to her and Amelia let out a low chuckle.