The Courtier

15

THE COURTIER
♡ Josephine ♡

Arabella and Serena wave their farewells to me after me having to escape their ranting and get back to work. Beth passed me in the hall, and witnessed the Queen and the Princess bidding me goodbye, she eyes their wrists which hold their bracelets that Ruth had gifted all of us.

I share a soft smile at my sister in hopes of earning one back. She was not amazed, no, she was deathly serious as her lips formed into a line, and I followed her when she ignores me and continued to take light steps down to the basement.

"The Queen and the Princess seem to adore you," Beth utters. I cannot see her face because she is walking ahead of me and I hold the bottom of my stomach in fear of her growing angry with me.

"They happen to be my friends," I share.

She scoffs, her laughter mocking my words. "Your friends? Be real, Josephine. They pity you."

My jaw clenches at her harsh words. She was never proud of me, never a smile sent my way, not even a shed of kindness spread to me. I was done with her anger towards me. I had done nothing wrong.

"Why are you so angry?" My voice is light, but I still try to somehow gain her attention.

She turns, one foot on the upper step above her. She grits her teeth. "You are what is wrong with me! I came here to gain a better life and you simply followed. Why? This is my life, find your own. When I try to escape from you, all you do is pop up everywhere and constantly remind me of how better you are than me."

"I am no better than you, much less anyone." With the shake of my head, I grow near her, stepping down the stairs to her.

"Mother liked you more, Nolan adored the steps you walked on. You succeeded in school much better than myself, and when I wish for a husband and ask you to help me, I do not get anything in return."

"I am trying, Beth. I really am. Ugene is not the romantic type, he will not just come running to you and you get whisked away happily ever after. You must speak to him as well." It was true. I could not just speak of Beth to Ugene, she needed to do more to gain his attention because as of right now, she was not in his line of vision nor his vocabulary.

And why did my chest hurt when thinking of the two speaking together?

"Do you dislike me, Beth?" I ask softly. It seemed as if my own sister did not like me, and all she could do was hang her head down as a way of an answer. No, she did not like me. "Why?"

"My own mother, my mother! As soon as you joined the family, it was all about you and you are not even hers," she whisper yells at me which has tears rooting the bottom of my eyes. She was truly hurting me with the way she spoke to me with such disgust, and her eyes did not hold the love a sister should have for their sibling. "Just because we share the same father does not mean that we are true siblings. He left, he is not here. It is because of you!" Tears are invading her vision, and her eyes look above my head and she gulps.

She twirls around running down the steps to find escape, and away from my being. My tiny hands fist themselves at my sides, and I turn with tears falling against my skin, layering over it. A being stands, and I correlate that they were standing behind me the whole time Beth and I were bickering. Looking up, I am met with Ugene whom's eyes soften at my tearful being and I move around him, too embarrassed to even be seen around him.

Had he been there the whole time? Including when we spoke of him?

It was true. Every word Beth had spoken to me was true. I was nothing but a burden to our mother. She took me in when father was too embarrassed when he had an affair with Beth's mother during their marriage and ended up with me. I've never met our mother, but it was clear that she did not wish for me either when my father had left the town along with her, leaving all of his children with his broken wife.