Merlin ushered us inside quickly, shutting the door gently behind us. Gaius was nowhere it be seen, probably off tending to those who needed his aid. Sitting at the table was a young man who had tan skin and dark curly hair. His face was adorned with a slight stubble. He was handsome, I'm not gonna lie. But that wasn't important. Plus my heart will belong to another.
"Lancelot this is the Lady Anastasia, princess of Willowstone and Prince Arthur's betrothed, and her lovely maid Mia. Their kingdom's customs are truly better than Camelots so they wish to help you," Merlin says introducing us and the man came over.
"It's a pleasure my ladies," he says taking my hand, placing a kiss upon my knuckles then did the same to Mia.
"Oh I'm not a lady," Mia corrected although she couldn't help but get flustered slightly. Not use to being called a lady, unless by my brother.
"All women are ladies in my eyes," he admits offering her a kind smile before turning to me "I saw you fighting earlier my lady, it was truely amusing to watch,"
"In my Kingdom women are allowed to learn to fight and those men who aren't Noble are allowed to become knights. Merlin says you're one hell of a fighter," I say making my way to sit at the table. Merlin pulled a chair out for me as well as one for Mia before taking the spot across from me. Lancelot sat beside him.
"He could best Arthur no doubt," Merlin says smiling at his new friend. One thing I admired most about Merlin is that he always saw the best in people or the worst. He knew who to trust and who not to. A trait that most likely was enhanced by his magical abilities.
"We'll ask Gwen to make arrangements for a fitting. You can find a way to get him into the training program, but Merlin be careful," I replied offering up my help.
The men thanked us before we took our leave. Having things to do before the day was over. Not that it was really late in the day. It was around mid day.
I made my way back to my chambers, wanting to write some letters to my parents and Josiah. However my plans were deterred upon entering the room. Arthur was sat on the edge of the bed shirtless, blood dripping down his arm as he tried cleaning a cut that was embedded into the skin.
I made my way over, carefully examining the wound. It didn't appear to be fatal, which was good news.
"What the hell happened to you?" I asked not caring that I cursed. Arthur never cared about it anyway so I was safe. I would never use such language in the presence of the king. I looked over at Mia and without even speaking she rushed off to get some warm water.
"There's this creature terrorizing the lower towns. We tried fighting it, but it seems no weapon can harm it," he explained wincing slightly as I put pressure on it to stop the bleeding.
"So you're thinking it might be of magical origins?" I asked trying to distract him from the pain. Not that he'd ever admit to being in pain. Arthur was stubborn that way.
"Seems that way, but there's nothing we can do. I need more knights," he says and Mia came back into the room with the water.
Gently soaking a cloth in it, she rang it out before handing it to me. She then said she'd go ask Gwen about the favour for Merlin. I nodded then went back to the task at hand. With the cloth I began cleaning the cut, seeing that it wasn't that deep and wouldn't need stitches, it might scar but that's alright. Scars make us more interesting, it gives us stories to tell on how we obtained them.
"You got lucky. Doesn't need to be stitched," I state once everything was cleaned up. I wrapped a bandage around it tieing it tight so it wouldn't bleed but still loose enough so he wouldn't lose circulation.
"Your vast knowledge for these types of things amuses me," he says tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
"And your never ending urge to launch yourself into a fight without thinking terrifies me," I admit looking up at him with saddened eyes "I know being the future king is alot of responsibility and you're expected to act this way but Camelot is not going to have another king if you die from fighting monsters without a plan,"
"It's nice to know you care about me Ana," he replies as he put his shirt back on. He needed to leave soon to test another potential knight.
"I've always cared even when you're not in danger," I state feeling my cheeks heat up as I realized what I said.
"I care about you too, which is way I'm going to stop this monster for the sake of our kingdom. You needn't worry about me love, I'll be fine," he says planting a kiss on my forehead, he smiled at me before leaving the room.
A million things ran through my mind in this very moment. Worry for the kingdom, if this monster was magical than the only one who could defeat it is Merlin. Who at the moment was trying to find a way to fool the king to make Lancelot a knight.
Hope that the future the kingdom will be vastly different from how it is now. A kingdom where any man could become a knight and there weren't really statuses for people. A place where anybody can marry who they want and not be shunned for it. Another place like Willowstone.
All these thoughts were strong in my mind. However there was one that seemed to overpower all of them, a sort of realization that had taken so long to come forth.
I was falling for Arthur......
Hey everyone sorry it's been a month since the last chapter, things were very busy for me the last month of the year and I took a break from writing. But I'm back now so I hope you liked this and thanks for reading.
Bailey
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Destined To Be Queen (Arthur Pendragon)
Fanfiction(On Hold) From the time that she was just an idea between her parents, Anastasia Carrington has been fated to wed the future king of Camelot. Same goes for Prince Arthur, ever since King Uther's son was introduced into the world, he made a pact with...
