Excalibur's Seven | ✓ [LGBT]

~ 40 ~

WITH EVERY DAY THAT passed, it got harder to keep up the act. Lord Herwerde didn't dare put Kit or the others in direct danger, and they needed a man on the inside if they had any hope of winning.

In order to do that, he had to lie. He had to betray them, small little pieces of information, because he knew the moment the King suspected a thing from him, their man on the inside would be just as out of the loop as they were.

But today, he was given an order he wished more than anything he could disobey.

"It is not the duty of a Knight to conduct executions of average civilians because they were too poor to pay their taxes," he told the Prince sternly. "You will have to find someone else for the job."

Connor's hand curled around his second-rate Excalibur like a threat. "We need the money, Herwerde, it's for their own good. They won't realize that it's life or death if they aren't made to believe that it's life or death."

Herwerde swallowed. "Is there not someone more suitable for the job? Like Sir Conan?"

Connor opened and closed his mouth, trying to figure out how to say his next words. "Lord Herwarde," he began. "We've heard rumors of magic in this village, and we don't believe Conan to be capable of dealing with such things yet. We are asking you as our most skilled guard."

"I--"

"And if you tell me no, then I will take my rightful place as the head of the Table, are we clear?"

Herwerde swallowed. "We're clear. I'll get my things and my men and we will be off by morning."

Connor patted his chest. "Very good, my Lord."

He did not feel very good.

* * *

Much to Kit's surprise, the Queen didn't send them to cold icebox rooms for them to shiver in all night. She let them sleep somewhere warm, insisting that dreams would not come if they couldn't even sleep. He was curious what taking their dreams meant, but he couldn't imagine it would be a good thing in the long run.

The warm, furnished rooms were the least of the surprises today, though. The biggest was Morgana, standing in the doorway of his room, fidgeting with his horrifyingly realistic wooden hand.

"I'm sleeping here tonight," he told him.

"I'll leave then," Kit replied, marching for the door. Morgana placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"I meant with you."

Kit froze and looked down at Morgana with a creased brow. His heart was drumming loudly and he wished it wasn't. "Did she not have another room for you?"

"She did, that's the problem." Morgana stepped through the door and wandered to the second bed, propping himself down on the mattress. Kit closed the door and listened as he continued. "She said she had a special place for me tonight, but I don't trust her any more than you trust me. I figured I'd say with the most paranoid one among us, at least then I'd know she won't take me in my sleep."

Kit felt an odd sense of pride in that, but he shoved it down. "Who's to say if she comes in here I won't throw you at her first?"

"If she comes, we both die. But I know that at least I'd be awake before I do so I can go down fighting," he said.

He supposed it was sound reasoning, as sound as reasoning could get on this bizarre quest, but he was still suspicious. Morgana was unchained, free to do as he pleased here. Kit didn't like that. If he hadn't made a deal with the Queen, he would've insisted on staying up all night. But he didn't dare resist the her will.