Sisters

Amie felt herself being aggressively shaken. She could hear a voice in the distance, "Amie! Wake up! Where have you been? Amie!"

The voice sounded so familiar. Amie asked while still half-asleep, "Julia?"

The voice confirmed, "Yes, Amie! Now wake up already!"

Amie suddenly felt a pillow slap her in the face. The shock was enough to snap her into being fully alert. She shot up in her bed and looked for the culprit. It didn't take long to find the guilty party. Jacques was standing next to the bed, hovering above her, still clutching the pillow.

Jacques smirked when he saw Amie glaring at him. She started to say something, but he cut her off, "Good morning Princess! Care to tell us where you've been?"

Amie felt indignant when she heard the question, "Where have I been? Are you serious right now? Where have either of you two been? I haven't seen either one of you in days!"

Julia piped up, "Why don't you ask Jacques? He's the one who told me not to bother you! He told me he was taking care of you!"

Amie was not surprised by Jacques' actions, but she was irritated at Julia's naivety. She looked at Julia first, "And you believed him!?" Then her eyes switched focus to Jacques, "And you! You better start explaining!"

Jacques' smirk turned into a wicked smile, "Why, my love? did you miss me?"

Amie's face turned beat red when she realized that the last time she saw him, he was sleeping next to her, "You scoundrel! Explain yourself right now! Why did you tell Julia to not come to my room and why did you think it was appropriate to sleep in the same bed as me, especially while I was recovering from a head injury!?"

Jacques rolled his eyes, "Oh come on! I was making sure you were alright but then I got tired. Why can't I sleep in a bed when I'm tired?"

Amie growled through gritted teeth, "Because it's MY bed."

Jacques pretended to huff in indignation, "How could you treat me like this? I thought we were friends. Don't you remember who saved your life?"

Amie muttered, "Actually, as a matter of fact, I don't."

Jacques' playful attitude quickly switched off, "Watch it, witch."

Julia's whole body straightened at the accusation. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at Amie. Amie played her best poker face to conceal the truth of his words. She rolled her eyes just like Jacques did a moment ago and told him, "If I was a witch, you'd have been turned into a toad by now."

Jacques' grin slowly crept back onto his face, "Haven't you ever heard of the tale of the princess and the frog, Princess?"

Amie was quick to retort, "Yes, the frog. Not the toad."

Jacques huffed once again, "Why do you have to be so cruel, Amie?"

Amie rolled her eyes again, "Are you going to tell me why you kept Julia away now?"

Jacques had no intentions of revealing his game, "Anyways, we've been looking for you for the last few days now. You weren't in bed when I went to check on you the other day, and Julia said you weren't in bed last night either. We were starting to worry Father had successfully disposed of you."

Julia smacked Jacques in the arm, "Don't' be so heartless! 'Disposed of?' really?"

Jacques asked, "How is that heartless? It's just the truth."

Amie interrupted their feud, "Alright, stop the bickering please! I'm here now and I'm okay, so let's move on from this." Amie was secretly relieved they cared about her after all. If she hadn't seen them today, she would have been severely doubting if they actually cared about her. She was happy to realize they did try to see her, just at the wrong time.

While Amie wished to put the conversation behind them, Julia wasn't satisfied, "You still haven't told us where you've been the last few days."

Amie gave a look to Jacques. Jacques shook his head 'no' just before Julia could turn around to see it. Julia scrutinized Jacques' face. Before Julia could say anything, Amie spoke up to try to distract her, "It was nothing, don't worry about me. There were some important matters I had to attend to in regards to the visit to Prince Peter. You probably just missed me when you checked on me. I was sent back to my room immediately after handling the matters."

Julia replied, "So you're still room-bound?"

Amie nodded, "I was only allowed out for a very specific problem that needed to be solved, that's all. It's been resolved now, though, so I'll be stuck in my room again until the punishment is over."

Julia appeared to be thinking for a moment before answering, "Okay, so you want me to believe the king who wants you dead allowed you to leave your room?"

Amie knew Julia saw past her excuse but tried to double down, "Whether you believe me or not, it's the truth."

Julia nodded her head, "Mhm, okay." She then started speaking to both Jacques and Amie "I don't know what's going on between the two of you, but you need to stop."

Julia turned to Jacques, "Amie has only one chance left to get married, and it's to Prince Peter. If you actually care about her, you'll leave her alone. If you don't leave her alone and the two of you get caught, Amie will be executed. Whether you like it or not, Amie cannot ever be with you and you need to accept that."

Julia then turned to Amie, "I don't know what's gotten in your head, but Jacques is not a good person, and probably doesn't care about you. He won't flinch at the thought of you being executed, he won't care, he won't be there for you. I have no idea why you are willing to lose such a great chance with Prince Peter, but he is your only hope to living happily. I shouldn't have to remind you of this, but it wasn't long ago you were completely smitten by him. Stop acting like such a tramp!"

Amie gasped at the last word, "How dare you say that to me! You don't know anything about what's going on!"

Julia clapped back, "How can I know what's going on when you're spending all of your time with this pig! You don't ever talk to me anymore, you act weird when Jacques is around. For crying out loud, you let him sleep in your bed! I'm your sister and you completely forgot about me the moment Jacques started coming around! You're ruining your life and for what reason? Love? You were supposed to be in love with Prince Peter, but the second Jacques showed affection, you're in love with him! That's not love, that's lust! You-"

Amie cut her off, "You're accusing me of lusting after Jacques because I decided to keep him as a friend? A friend, Julia, a friend! You're just jealous because you're not the only person I talk to anymore! And for sleeping next to me in my bed, you know all too well that I was concussed. Perhaps YOU should have done a better job at being my sister and kept Jacques from being a weirdo!"

Jacques interrupted the fight, "Excuse me? Weirdo?"

Julia and Amie both shouted at him, "BE QUIET!"

Jacques stood in silence while Julia got her final dig in, "Stop being so selfish Amie. You don't even care that your decisions affect not just you, but everybody around you. Stupid whore!" Before Amie could retaliate, Julia stormed off.

Jacques stood still for a moment before awkwardly saying, "Well... that could have gone worse..."

Amie rolled her eyes, "Why are you still here?"

Jacques responded, "I'm going to ignore the part just a moment ago where you called me a weirdo. Amie, I assume you've been inside the other palace. What exactly have you been up to lately?"

Amie was growing frustrated, "No, I actually haven't made my way back down to the palace. All I want right now is to be left alone, Jacques. You've been bringing me a lot of trouble since we became friends."

Jacques was uncharacteristically being patient and empathetic with Amie, "I understand that you just got into a big fight with the closest thing you have to a sister, but I promise you that you two will work it out. She's calling you names, but that's not in the same way my brother calls me names. She cares about you and is worried about you, and she doesn't know what's going on. Just give her some time to cool off. Try to talk to her though before we leave for Navarre."

Amie was caught off guard by Jacques' empathy, "Thank you, Jacques. I appreciate your caring."

Jacques nodded. He was silent for a moment before immediately changing the subject in excitement, "So anyways, now that you're awake, we're going back into the palace!"

Amie couldn't believe the words that just came out of his mouth, "Are you insane!?"