Wizard's Wish - (Kinda) Yandere SGE x reader

Chapter 124: Pride and Princess

____

"Are you sure Agatha should be your advisor? Because she seems like a crackpot," Hort's manwolf growled, pacing in the dark forest.
Tedros ignored him as he tried to rock baby Merlin to sleep.

"Consider the evidence," Hort went on. "First she and Sophie, and we both know Sophie's a blithering idiot, says Robin Hood left her a message in magic dust at the arrow. A message no one else saw. The she says Merlin appeared to her and told her to come to Putsi. Both sounds pretty crackpot to me. I still think the best plan would have been to break into Camelot when Japeth is gone and take Y/n while we can. I mean, look what a mess all of this is now."
Through the thicket, Tedros glimpsed the wizard tree in the distance, rising high over the land. Movement flickered in its branches, but they were too far away to see more. Putsi was a well-armed city: the shock of a wizard tree bursting out of the bank would bring the bank's guards and the Empress's flying minions. Tedros' stomach knotted, the baby fussing with his shirt. He should have broken into Camelot instead, despite all logic.

"You're worrying if she's wrong? I'm worried if she's right," the prince returned, so focused on the tree he didn't notice Merlin squiggling out of his arms. "What if the answer was in Putsi all along? But Agatha was right about Y/n. It would have been safest to leave her at Camelot. She's too precious for Japeth to hurt her, and that way she won't get hurt in battle. How should I have known she would manage to escape."
"That should have been your first assumption. Of course she would figure out a way, against all odds," Hort said, rescuing Merlin into his paws before the baby slipped. "But you better hope we then find it before the Snake, if the beard is here. Whoever wins the first test gets a head start for the second. And if the Snake gets too far ahead..."

Wind axed through the trees, finishing Hort's thought. Tedros watched him cradle Merlin into his dark fur, the baby's eyes starting to close. How could I be so stupid? Tedros thought. His dad wouldn't expect him to track down the wizard in his old age and lop off his beard. Especially after Arthur and Merlin had gone their separate ways. For all his father knew, Merlin would have been long dead. And yet, Tedros had done what he'd always done: made assumptions without thinking.

Agatha was right.
Ugh, he could only dread how Sophie would throw it in his face later.
The beard was here in Putsi.
Only he'd come to this realization too late.
Which meant his first test was no longer up to him.
Now it was up to Agatha and Sophie.
The two girls who were fighting for him right now.
And here Tedros was, twiddling his thumbs, just like he had at Camelot when Y/n and Agatha usurped his quest the first time. Long before there was a King Rhian or King Japeth, there was a masked attacker, daring Tedros to come fight him. But it had been Y/n who answered the call instead of Tedros, the prince willing to stay behind.
The mistake that started it all.
But he'd learned from that, Tedros thought angrily. He was different now. He was ready to be a king. If only his princess stayed out of the way, safe at the castle. It's why he'd agreed to Agatha's plan, even if both Sophie and Hort opposed it.

Tedros' blood simmered, his father's ring cold on his hand.
He thought of his princess, her perfect face, beautiful body, her gentleness, her understanding, her patience, her chivalry, her bravery. Her... everything. He would always carry that bitter jealousy against Agatha and Sophie, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, though these days he mostly took it out on Sophie. The jealousy over the fact those two would know Y/n like he never would. Because their bond was deeper, stronger. He'd never truly compete. Maybe, if Y/n had grown up like she should have, in Maidenvale, a future sorcerer, maybe he would have met her sooner. Maybe things would have been different. Then again, if things had been different, would she still be the same person?