Gwynnever - Queen of Camelot

Chapter 45

Then Arthur stopped, he froze completely thinking about the words she said. "I love you" She had said. That was the first time she ever blurted those words to him and he failed to notice because of a stupid argument. He kept repeating the words in his mind, that whole quote she last expressed before going out.

He felt light as he moved to the previous room Gwen was in before they married and opened it without knock.

"Go away." She growled whilst undoing her corset. She looked tired and had dark circles around her eyes. He never saw her like this.

"You said you love me?" he repeated as if he was in a dream and she stopped her hands. She didn't realize either until Arthur presented her with the phrase.

After a brief moment of shock, Gwen preceded to undress and slit into her vest but she didn't tie it. She left it open as if even that small action could be painful. Why was she so exhausted?

"I might have." She then started and managed to bend and add some wood to the fireplace. "I didn't mean it though." She lied and Arthur felt his feet move before he could stop. Gwen sensed him so she raised an arm to keep him away.

"You never said it to me." He explained and she held his gaze, her eyes looked like a raging sea made of liquid gold.

"Well, I never said it to anyone really. And now I told you, the least person I wanted to."

"But you did and cannot take it back." She shrugged, still with her hand forward.

"Would it be too much, if I ask you to repeat it, say it for scientific porpoises?" a laugh escaped Gwen's lips and he could see the ice melt inside her heart. He had won, somehow.

He liked this, not the fighting but the fact that he could made her crumble even when she was livid. It meant they could work on anything and never part, like most reagents did because after all the arguing got tired of trying.

There was still something haunting his thoughts. He kept playing the last sentence in his mind and then dared to ask.

"What did you mean when you said you had a thing to protect now?" Gwen eyes shot open in disbelief and she took a step back as if Arthur had blurted the most hurtful of things.

"I meant the kingdom. Is it so hard to believe that I care about these people?" it wasn't. Arthur kept looking at her as if she was about to admit something else but she silenced.

"Gwynnever?"

"Uh?" she walked to the bed and sat, crossing her legs. She then moved her hands back so that she could lean into her arms, her head looking at the canopy curtains.

"I leave you to rest. Probably the long ride and everything else wore you down. But please, consider sleeping in our bed? It's more comfortable."

"Probably." She repeated.

Arthur left but his mind was constantly working as to find a flaw in what was going on.

"Where is the Queen?" asked Merlin watching Arthur walk inside the study alone.

"She is resting." Every head in the room shot up and glared at him.

"Resting? It's not even afternoon. Did you not apologize for your behavior? She's mad, isn't she?" Gawain stopped when he noticed Arthur had his brow up. He shouldn't be talking about the king like that and Arthur understood why Gwen didn't want to fight in front of people. It made them vulnerable, weak even.

"She was but we are good now. She looked very tired to me, probably the whole Lancelot thing was harder than I thought on her."

Again, the heads tilted together to the same side. It was like watching a bunch of dogs look at a bone.