The Reincarnated King (ManxManxMan)

Chapter Sixteen: A Normal Morning

~Chapter Sixteen: A Normal Morning~

"To Arthur and Gwenhwyfar!"

The cheer is echoed throughout the feasting hall, and I raise my cup to the toast, though it is half-hearted at best. To my left, Gwenhwyfar, daughter of Gwythyr ap Greidawl, seems to be in a similar mind, but I have known her for scarcely a few days; perhaps she is always low of spirit.

Gwythyr has spoken little of his daughter - I was not even aware that he has a daughter until an eight-day ago, when I arrived in Gwythyr's land - so I know very little beyond her name, other than that she is now my wife.

Perhaps I could have spoken with her before the ceremony, outside the formal greetings we have exchanged, or even before accepting Gwythyr's offer of this joining, but this alliance is one we are sorely in need of, and Gwythyr has proven himself in the past to be a valuable ally. I would have been foolish to attempt to know her, only to find her wanting, as I surely would.

For she is no man.

She may yet prove to be someone I could love, even if she is not truly what or who I want, but she seems to lack the fire and spirit that I know to be within those I respect and love - as brothers, sisters, or lovers. Gwythyr, for all his battle prowess and lust for living, seems to have raised a truly mild-mannered daughter.

Though, maybe I judge her too harshly; we have only just met.

Besides, even if she is not the partner I want, she is one I need, and for that, I cannot break our marriage. Should she choose to dissolve it, I will respect her wishes, but I suspect she agreed to this marriage for the same reason as I did - to form strong ally bonds - and will not back out from it either. More than likely, she will join another in their bed or have another join ours, should this union not go well, as is her right.

She may not need to, however, if she appreciates the next partner offered to me as part of a marriage alliance. After all, once the allies who I have weaker ties to hear of this marriage, as I am sure they already have, they will likely begin visiting with their own daughters.

"To a grand union!"

I sigh and raise my cup once more as the echoing cries ring through the hall.

- - - - - - -

My blood is pumped full of nervous energy as I take the elevator down to the lobby, but it is not a gut-churning, concerned kind of anxiety; it is more like the butterflies-in-the-stomach anxiety that has more to do with anticipation than dread. After all, I actually want to go on this last date, sad though it is, and I want to take my mind off the flight that I have in a few hours.

I might be eager to get home, but I am not looking forward to long flights and even longer layovers, especially since I won't be spending them with Tom aside from a single hour of overlapping layovers in New York. It is one of the downsides of changing the flights at the last minute, even if there was no helping it - Tom and I are heading out separately and staying separate since we are not even flying to the same state destination because I still need to go back to Ohio first for my car while he is just heading straight for Michigan.

That has always been the plan, but our original flights at least matched up until the final plane switch. Instead, I get to be lonely for the next day and a half. At least until I land in Ohio, where it will be hard to be lonely when I am going to be surrounded by family when I arrive on Friday.

In the meantime, though, I have a date, and it is with an insanely attractive guy, who I am definitely going to give my email address to at the end.

It was honestly not my idea, but Tom pointed out last night that there is no reason I should have to give up talking to him, even if just as a friend. I will...just need to work up the courage to do that. And figure out how I want to explain it so I don't seem desperate or, worse, demanding.