mad queen » reign cw

vi.

( fact six! )
king henry's dying wish was
that his eldest daughter, isabelle,
would name her first born son
after him.

—

the table was silent as the royal family, duke arthur, and alessandra de medici sat, eating their breakfast.

"we will be departing in four days. i think its an appropriate time to tell the people that i am leaving francis and sebastian in charge of the country." isabelle said, breaking the silence.

catherine dropped her utensil, still angered with her daughter.
"do you think they will respond well?" francis asked, looking up towards his sister.

"yes, mostly because the french hate seeing a woman on the throne." belle commented, taking a sharp inhale. it was not secret of how sexist france was. even though belle brought goodness and hope to the country, people did not like that a valois woman was sitting on the throne.

"what if they get too comfortable with francis on the throne? have you thought of that, isabelle?" catherine outbursted.
"francis and i." sebastian commented in.

"then i will have to make it aware that i am france's ruler. mother, i am done talking about this with you." isabelle glared at catherine.

alessandra and arthur sat at the dinner table, uncomfortable as they witnessed the dispute between the royal family. alessandra's eyes glanced up towards arthur, whom was already staring at her.

"is it always this....." alessandra trailed off, trying to find a word for the situation.
"tense? yes. always. somedays its between james and i, or catherine and sebastian, or james and belle." arthur nodded.

"you and james?" alessandra questioned, becoming intrigued. arthur let out a light laugh, looking down at his plate.

"it's an incredibly long story." arthur brushed off alessandra's curiosity. alessandra rolled her eyes. she was tired of everyone brushing off interesting stories with 'it's a long story.'

she lightly kicked him under the table, resulting in arthur's eyes to widen.
"ouch!" he hissed.

"oh don't be such a wimp, arthur. we shall excuse ourselves and then you can tell me the story. there is no where that i have to be." alessandra explained.

the royal advisor sighed, not wanting to infuriate isabelle, but there was something about alessandra that he was drawn to.

"belle!" alessandra called out, earning the attention of her now overwhelmed cousin.
"what is it?" belle questioned.

"i want to go look around the castle, and arthur has agreed to show me around. if that's all right with you." alessandra said, looking up towards arthur.

"go on. arthur, i have to speak with you later." belle shooed the two off. arthur stared at belle in disbelief. never had she ever just dismissed him without a second thought.

"come on!" alessandra de medici instructed, tugging on arthur's arm as the two left the intense atmosphere.

when the two left out of the room, they entered the long hallways of french court.
"i cannot believe belle would dismiss me like that!" arthur reflected upon what had happened moments before.

"she does that. belle makes you feel like you're her best friend and then she dismisses you. it happened to us." alessandra shrugged.

arthur looked down at the royal, raising an eyebrow.
"that's not belle's side of the story." he commented. alessandra looked at arthur, curious of what belle had told him.

"and what is her side of the story, then?" she asked. duke arthur walked next to alessandra, waiting to see her reaction.
"well for one, she called you selfish and she said that you always take what you want." he revealed.

"well, it's not entirely false." alessandra shrugged, waiting for more.
"and she says that you are sex-obsessed. that you experiment with both men and women." duke arthur pointed out.

alessandra stopped in her tracks, causing arthur to do the same.
"i am not sex obsessed! and it is perfectly fine to fall in love with both men and women. i think it's quite interesting." alessandra defended herself.

"interesting is an understatement." arthur stated. alessandra rolled her eyes, but then remembered what she wanted to know.

"perhaps you should stop talking about my life and tell me more about you and james. are you secret lovers, hm?" alessandra questioned.

arthur scoffed at her accusation.
"no, i hate the man with a burning passion." arthur shook his head.
"why?" alessandra inquired, wanting to know more.

"it started five, almost six years ago. my wife, sorry, ex-wife, and i made a trip to scottish court. this is when belle was newly pregnant with eden. my ex-wife was a very unfaithful woman, and to my knowledge, james was an unfaithful man. however, the two bedded each other almost immediately and belle found out. she was originally going to divorce james, but she decided against it. she knew that people would question eden's legitimacy to the scottish throne. i was heartbroken over the whole thing. i loved marlene with my whole heart. james granted us a divorce and that was it." arthur revealed.

alessandra narrowed her eyes at arthur.
"so you hate james because your wife bedded him?" she pointed out. arthur rolled his eyes at the royal that was trying to turn his words against him.

"oh, i despise marlene too. she led me to believe that she had fertility issues and that we could never be a family, but the truth is that she never wanted to be one initially." arthur explained.

alessandra nodded, finally beginning to understand.
"and are the rumors true?" she questioned as her and the duke made their way outside.

"which rumors? there's plenty." arthur smirked at the royal.
"that belle fired bash because she was in love with you." alessandra teased.

alessandra knew that if she were belle, she would have a hard time choosing between arthur and james. both were highly attractive.

"absolutely not! quite the opposite actually. belle and i were friends because of the incident that had happened. i, stupidly may i add, fell in love with her. there was a ball for belle's first year of her reign and i had a little too much to drink. she walked with me outside, to help settle me. and i kissed her, foolishly. servants saw and spread rumors about us throughout the castle." arthur explained.

alessandra's hazel eyes widened.
"did james know?" she asked.

the two made their way over to the stone benches. they took a seat next to each other, continuing their conversation.

"of course he knew. we fought, he broke my nose, i broke his. it was a bloody day in the castle. belle visited me in the infirmary, she told me that she didn't love me. she couldn't love me, but she could offer me a title and i could stay in france—away from marlene, away from scotland." arthur concluded.

alessandra picked up a stone, tossing it into the fountain.
"do you still love her?" alessandra asked.

"i don't know. i know that i'm not supposed to. i know that she won't ever love me. there's a tip for you, alessandra. never fall in love with a royal." duke arthur smiled softly.