Chapter 40

"I hope the person Cyrus is looking for is still alive. Once she is found, Cyrus will want to leave and I will help them safely make it out of the kingdom if he does not want to stay. It is my fault he cannot return to the north," Amelia sadly became reminded that Cyrus had pledged his loyalty to her in front of the northern king.

She considered Cyrus more of a friend than her bodyguard and wished to have him stay nearby.

"Cyrus cannot leave the two of us when he finds the woman he is searching for. What kind of friend would that make him?" Gina found him hard to speak to but they were still friends. She would miss not having Cyrus nearby just as much as she would miss Amelia.

The three of them created a strong bond over the years that should never be severed even when they had to move on to their own paths.

"Let's not think too deeply about it. Grandmother has gone to rest her legs for a little while so we can walk around to see what has changed in the meantime. It feels nice to get out of the castle," Amelia relaxed her shoulder. "There isn't anyone hiding in the shadows watching to see what they can report to my father."

"We also do not have to see Annabelle. Please take me wherever you go, Amelia. Even if it is on a battlefield. It was torture standing in front of Annabelle and her clique of servants while she tried to bribe me to go against you," Gina cried on the inside as she remembered the pain she felt. "I do wish to be thrown into the battle between the two of you."

"I am not in a battle with Annabelle. It is her who has been obsessed with being my replacement mother and now she wants to be my enemy now that she is pregnant. I can only hope my father sends her away to somewhere quiet because he fears for her safety now that Killian is on our land. If only the Gods would answer my prayers to kill both of them."

"Amelia!" Gina whined. "It is not right to wish for someone to die. The Gods would punish you for it."

Amelia looked at Gina not feeling fearful of what the Gods would do about her request. "Not every God in the temple loves peace. I have been praying to the ones who enjoy chaos. Unfortunately, none of them have been listening to me."

"That is a good thing," Gina sighed in relief. "The priest would scold you if he ever found out that is what you do when you pray. He told me that he looks forward to having a conversation with you soon. That man has gained a lot of power over the years."

Amelia agreed with Gina. The priest had become like a king in the church and had a group of powerful people who could go against the actions of the king. Amelia used him whenever she wanted to stop her father from doing something but she didn't wish to personally get too involved with him.

"When I am with my grandmother, do not mention anything about the castle. We have made a bet that the first person who talks about anything concerning the castle is the loser. She is determined to make me have fun and that is what I planned to do to make her happy. Forget about venturing around, I have a task for you, Gina."

"What is it?" Gina asked with excitement as she was happy she could be useful to Amelia just like Cyrus was.

"Mix around with the servants here to learn what my grandmother has been up to. She won't be completely honest with me when it comes to my question. I want to know if Killian Bune has tried to contact her and I want to know about any other suspicious activity. Do not make it obvious that you are praying for information. Come back to me when it is time to leave for the festival," Amelia ordered Gina.

If you wished to know something about a household you simply needed to ask the servants. They worked on every inch of the property and one of them was bound to see something odd happening.

Amelia rarely visited her grandmother and Margaret was not the type to update her about anything that might be dangerous so Amelia had to fish for information while she was there. It was also important to do this now when Margaret had been mentioning death a while ago.

"What should I do to pass time?" Amelia looked around the interior of Margaret's house for something that would catch her eye. "When was the last time we did a family portrait?" She asked herself as her eyes laid on an old portrait of herself and Margaret.

It was when she had been a little girl and back then, the castle was much more chaotic than it was now.

"We need to have an updated one before it is too late. Can't life as a royal be easier? There is so much to do that I hardly get to see people I care about. Should I truly give up on desiring the throne that my father wishes to give to someone else? What will I do if I am not trying to become queen? Simply be a wife? No," Amelia shook her head disliking the idea.

With Killian right at their door and other candidates showing up to be the new ruler of the Blackwell kingdom after her father, Amelia had to consider an option for what she would do if she could never reach her girl to sit on the throne. She could never picture herself running away to see someone else as a throne and she could never live quietly as someone's wife.

She only saw becoming queen as her only path in life. Amelia viewed herself as the only person to fix the uses her father created in their kingdom.

"Should I find Killian and offer to work together? He puts me on the throne after he gets my father's head?" Amelia started to contemplate it as her last resort should her father name someone else as his heir.