"You know this." She told him.
He turned his face away.
"It’s not the same thing, Rose." He said. "We were meant to be together. Whether or not she would have become Queen, we would still have found a way to be together. It was fate."
"So if she was Queen, how would you have felt knowing she had exiled me?" Rose said. "The same way we’ve exiled her."
Roland turned away and pressed his fingers to his temple as he breathed exasperation.
"You are too kind." He said. "Can’t you see that she is taking advantage of you? Do you not see that all she does is manipulate you into doing what she wants."
"The last thing you would ever call me is good or even say too good. You know what I can do, and you do not want to see my dark side." She said to him as she turned away.
"Cherry is my flesh and blood. She is my only sister, the only thing I have closest to my immediate family. Corral has been distant from me no matter what I tried, Belle is her mother’s daughter and I’ve felt lonely. Cherry needs me as I need her." Queen Rose expressed.
"Cherry was exiled for a good reason. My God! You know this!" He snapped. "Cherry is the reason why Xaden hates us. She is the reason why his entire family and pack were murdered. She got word from his father, yet she sat on it and did nothing. None of this would have happened if she had told us as expected. I have a very, very angry wolf who will not stop. Holding on to Xaden is like trying to cool a forever-burning fire. Of course, he does not know this piece of information himself. Rather, he believes I turned my eyes away from the attack."
Roland sighed heavily. "If Cherry had not done this, we wouldn’t be here in the first place. Not a day goes by that I do not regret what happened! That I do not regret what I could have prevented."
"She is sorry," Rose said.
"Sorry?" Roland laughed. "Did she tell you with her very own lips that she is sorry?"
Rose bit her lip. "No, b-but she-
"Of course." Roland waved.
"I know she is sorry. She tells me that she wants to return home. It’s her right. Believe me, I wish I had done something too. I wish she had never done what she did, but she explained to me that it was the fault of her men. Not her."
"Cherry would never for once own up to her mistakes!" Roland pointed angrily. "And that is why she best be kept far away from us! Far away from you!"
Rose got up angrily. "I was friends with Lilian. She was my friend. You so easily forget. But it hurts me that she died. It hurts me that Bale killed her and left her boy alone while we had no absolute idea. We hadn’t even discovered that he was alive all this while until he came up only a few years ago. I would never wish to make Lilian be in harm’s way."
She turned her face away and said, "But we can not keep up letting the past take over us when we have a future ahead." She said, "Cherry is sorry for what she has done."
"Cherry will not be allowed into the castle." He countered in anger at his wife. "Nothing you say will change that. She will not be welcomed by me."
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