Amelia would have ignored Annabelle the moment she arrived if only she had left her mother alone. Her mother was never one to enjoy conflict which could have been avoided. It was Annabelle who wanted to rub the fact she was sleeping with the king like it was some sort of accomplishment to broadcast to Anne.
"I have been trying to be kind to you although I shouldn't because you and my child will be enemies in the future. I have a soft spot for a girl like you trying to get attention from her father. You remind me a lot of my younger self."
"Oh please," Amelia stopped Annabelle right in her tracks. "I don't want sleeping with a married man to be in my future. You and I are nothing alike other than the fact that we are occasionally made to sit and pretend like we enjoy each other's company."
Annabelle rubbed her stomach tenderly as she did from the day she found out she had been blessed with a child. "Your father's love for me grows with each new day and now that I am potentially carrying a prince, he gives me whatever I want. Keep up this attitude and you'll have no one to vouch for you in the future."
"Love," Amelia chuckled because the love Annabelle spoke of was pretty much one-sided. Her father loved no one other than himself and the sooner everyone realized that the better. "Am I the only one seeing what is happening between you and my father? After years of living with him, I can read him like the back of a book."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Annabelle questioned finding Amelia's words to be confusing.
"My father does not love you. Are you aware that there have been many women before you-"
"I don't care about whoever your father spent his time with in the past. I am here in the present which is what matters," Annabelle quickly replied. It was no secret that the king had countless women. Even when his wife was still alive.
Amelia sighed, disliking being interrupted when she had not gotten to the best part. "Well, something I noticed about these women he brought to get a rise out of my mother was their resemblance to her in some way."
"Some of them physically resembled her or acted the way she did. He wasn't getting my mother's attention as he expected so he made copies of her and over time grew dissatisfied with the results. You heard the songs from the village folks, haven't you? No one compares to queen Anne," Amelia sang as she taunted Annabelle.
"What does that have to do with me?" Annabelle questioned as she didn't see any resemblance between her and the late queen.
"Are you serious? Anne and Annabelle? When you arrived here you showed your straightened hair every day and then it changed to curly like my mother's hair. What a tiring routine you must go through each morning. Your clothing choices changed and don't tell me it's because of your new status. No one cares too much about what the king's mistress wears. They talk more of how you took them off for a man who was married," said Amelia.
She continued to say, "Don't feel insulted by my words. I blame my father's whoring ways for what we have today. I hope you won't mind that I am not in the mood to sit here and have breakfast with you. I must hurry to the temple to pray for your unborn child."
Annabelle became cautious of Amelia's words. "It would be evil of you to pray for the death of a child."
Amelia was baffled Annabelle thought that was what she was going to do at the temple. "I would never hurt a child. Are you crazy?"
This made Annabelle more suspicious about Amelia's visit to the temple. "Then what on earth are you going there for it not to wish for harm to my child."
"I am going to pray for a healthy baby of course. I am going to pray that on a wonderful sunny day, the castle will become busy preparing for the arrival of a beautiful little princess. I have always wanted a sister," Amelia smirked because her father so desperately wanted a prince. "As you said Annabelle, the life of a princess is hard so make sure you send the little one to her sister for advice."
"You," Annabelle clenched her fist out of sight from anyone to see. Having the king's child would guarantee her a lifetime of wealth but she did not want a daughter. To secure her future, the baby growing in her stomach needed to be a prince. If she were to give Richard a princess, he might toss her to the side and get a younger girl with better chances for a prince. "I have tried being nice to you. Remember that this is the day you made an enemy."
"Wow, did I just start your villain arc? I should pat myself on the back," Amelia smiled standing up to dismiss herself from the table. Her appetite was long ruined and there was no use staying to talk with Annabelle about trivial things. "Gina. Cyrus," she called to the sidelines.
"Yes princess," Gina responded, keeping her head down to not offend Annabelle. The woman liked to believe she was queen and punished the workers she thought offended her.
Cyrus on the other hand walked with his head held high as Amelia instructed him to do.
"Be mindful to have your dog watch where he points his eyes. People of the north are nothing more than savages and if you keep him around for too long, who knows what he'll do as retaliation in the privacy of your own room. Get rid of him," Annabelle advised Amelia but it sounded much more like an order.
Amelia's shoulders shook from laughter because the woman thought she would listen to her words. "Let me tell you a secret Annabelle," Amelia placed her hands behind her back and leaned over the table for Annabelle to hear her clearly. "You should be more scared of me than the people of the north."