Bella has lost track of the days she has been in that dungeon. "I should've marked them.", she thinks, as she sits on the floor, playing with a piece of straw, when she is startled by the door of the dungeon slamming against the wall.
She watches as Amara storms through the dungeon until she stops in front of her cell, dismissing the guard, Bella tilting her head to the side at the woman.
-"Has the war begun already?"
-"This is all your fault."
-"What the hell did I do now? I've been stuck down here in this cell for the last few days."
-"If you had never left Tidaholm, nothing like this would ever happen. It's all your fault that we are now going to war, putting our people in its path and my son's life in danger."
-"There it is. This isn't about the war or your people. This is about your child. That's the only reason why you're even here, talking to me." - Bella stands and walks over to the cell's bars. -"I wish no harm to come to my brother. I will talk to Josh to spare Ethan when all this is over, if that's why you're here."
-"Logan should've killed you when he had the chance the first time. If he doesn't now, then I will."
-"I'm sorry. Is that threat meant to be taken seriously? You won't even hurt a fly, Amara, let alone another human being." - Bella laughs.
-"You put my child in danger. Just like any mother, I will stop at nothing to protect my son. Something you know nothing about."
-"I know exactly what that is. I have a child of my own." - The look of surprise in Amara's face doesn't escape Bella. -"The past fourteen years were all about my child, making sure they knew just how much they were loved and protected. My father took away the chance of my child growing up with her own father. There's nothing I won't do for them and giving my father a slow death is something I have promised them ever since they were but a babe."
"And yet, despite all of that, if there's one thing I would never do is put someone else's child in danger just for the sake of revenge. The only way for you to keep Ethan safe is for my father to let me go. If that happens, I will tell Josh to keep you and Ethan alive and safe."
"Believe it or not, I don't want to see Ethan hurt. Not just because he's a child, but because he's my brother and I would never harm him."
Amara looks at her, seeing the sincerity in her eyes, and falters for a moment, wondering if maybe she is wrong and Bella isn't the one to blame for all of this.
-"Do you really mean that? About Ethan?"
-"I do. No matter what my father might have told you, I don't hate Ethan, specially considering that I only found out about him yesterday."
-"You expect me to believe that no one in Josh's Court told you about him?"
-"In the early days of me mourning and grieving the death of my husband, I asked not to be told anything about my father's Court and Kingdom. They knew how hurt I was, so they all agreed to it."
Amara nods and starts walking away, but before she gets too far, there's one more thing she needs to know.
-"Did you really do all of it for the love of a man?"
-"I guess that's what my father told you as well?" - Amara nods at her question. -"No, it wasn't for the love of a man. That love came later. I did it for the sake of both Kingdoms and I would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant it could change the course of a war."
-"All that Logan says since that day is that you betrayed him for a man and turned against your own family."
-"No one turned me against my father other than himself. But this is where we are now and we all have a choice to make."
Amara nods once again and resumes her walk out of the dungeon, thinking that Bella is right. She really does have a choice to make.