━━ ⦗the swan princess! ⦘
❝ you're beautiful!
thank you, but what else?
... what else is there? ... ❞
███████████ 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝
the courageous odette teaches the
once and future king a less...
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chapter forty-three! 043. nightmares of the witch
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THEY DIDnot know how it happened.
A fire had started in the Lady Morgana's chambers last night, and if Guinevere had not been in the antechamber, the King's Ward might not have survived. It was most absurd. The flames had engulfed the curtains at the window, which was now shattered out into the courtyard below. It was easy to deduce that the fire had started from the burnt candle at the table beside the ashen curtains ... but Guinevere had blown out that candle. She vividly remembered doing so.
Merlin helped Guinevere and Odette clean up Morgana's rooms. He had a troubled frown on his face, sweeping up ash and pieces of burnt fabric▬and unable to get the smell out of his nose. It burned his senses, as if the fire was still going; lingering in the air even hours after it had been put out. Morgana was with Gaius▬she had been since yesterday late evening. Merlin woke up to Arthur shouting and the warning bells and it took them and three guards to put the fire out.
It bothered him, as he hovered by the burnt curtains and the shattered window. He glanced out and down to the courtyard, where the glass had scattered in shards that glinted in the morning sun.
"Merlin," Odette whispered, grabbing his attention▬very careful with the King in the same room. He was not in a good mood. He scowled at every burn mark and everything that had been damaged with a livid set of his jaw.
The Prince's manservant glanced back at her, and she subtly gestured for him to get back to work. He did as she advised, none wanting to test the King's anger▬especially when Guinevere was currently under his suspicious gaze.
Troubled and his mind wandering, Merlin brought the ash and burnt pieces of the curtain over to the bucket and tipped them into it. He didn't consider how slowly he should have done it and winced amongst his cough when the ash billowed up slightly into Odette's face. She made a face and stifled her cough, waving the smell away.
Sorry, Merlin mouthed to her sheepishly.
Prince Arthur crossed his arms and sent the two servants warning glances. Merlin sent him a sheepish smile, too, while Odette frowned at the ash that coated the tip of her nose. She wiped it off, refusing to meet Arthur's gaze.
"I came back in with some extra blankets," meanwhile, Guinevere was explaining to the King. "There was a candle, but I put it out."
The King turned to her with a steel gaze. "Are you sure?"
She nodded quickly. "Yes. Yes. I blew it out, Your Majesty. I swear."
Lord Ronyn glanced away from the damage he was examining to nod at the King. Following in his father's footsteps▬whether by choice or not▬, Ronyn was starting to be at the King's side more whenever requested to provide advice and counsel. Though it was quite obvious the advice and the counsel were reluctant on his tongue. Merlin knew that Ronyn was at Arthur's side than more anybody else. Still, he was determined to provide advice this time in Guinevere's favour:
