Profound Bond

Chapter 10- The Ball ( part 2)

In the next couple of days, representatives from each participating kingdom arrived in Camelot. Follett's kingdom was the last one to arrive. King Follett had brought along his daughter, Violet.

Bella had a bad feeling about this girl. She was beautiful, with long, dark hair, similar to Morgana's. But the thing that freaked her out the most was the way Arthur looked at her. 

Bella tried to forget Arthur and to focus on preparing for the ball, but it was really hard to do so, especially when she would always see him and Violet laughing and smiling together all the time.

In fact, the thought of Arthur being with Violet aggravated Bella so much, that she actually came to forgive Gwen for kissing him. In the past few days, Guinevere had been apologising profusely to Bella for her actions. Bella finally accepted her apologies, and her and Gwen were soon great friends again. 

That same day that King Follett and Princess Violet arrived, Bella went out and bought some fabrics to make her dress for the ball. Seeing as money was scarce, the material wasn't the best of quality, but with a little bit of help from Gwen, Bella was sure it would turn out beautifully.

That afternoon, during their lunch break, Gwen and Bella sat in Gaius's place designing their dresses together.  Merlin glanced curiously over at the girls, and they showed him their designs. 

"If you two pull these off, you’ll be the most beautiful people there," he smiled, handing back the designs.

“Well, we'd better get them started then," Bella said to Gwen.

Since he had nothing else to do, Merlin stayed and talked with his friends. About an hour later, there was a knock at the door. Merlin went over to answer it.

“Is Bella here?" Arthur, who was standing in the doorway, asked. Merlin stepped out of the way and pointed to the red-headed girl. Bella walked over to the door.

“Bella, would you mind being Violet's maidservant?" The prince asked.

“Why can’t you find someone else?” Bella asked, leaning on the door frame with her arms crossed, "There are plenty of other maidservants."

“Well because…" Arthur said, rubbing the back of his head, looking slightly uncomfortable. He gestured to Guinevere and said, "Gwen is looking after Morgana, and you're no longer filling in for Merlin. It just seemed easier for you to be her maid than to have to find someone else."

"I can do it if you like," Gwen spoke from where she sat.

“No, no," Bella said, shaking her head and smiling at Gwen, "I'll do it. But you owe me, Arthur." She was about to close the door but Arthur spoke.

“Bella," he said, "How about a dance at the ball?” He had a hopeful yet smug look on his face.

“How about no," she replied, slamming the door in his face. Merlin and Gwen looked at Bella like she was crazy.

“What!?” Bella asked looking at them innocently.

“Did you just slam the door on Arthur?” Merlin asked, a look of disbelieve on his face.

“Yes," said Bella, quite happily, "Yes, I did."

~~~~

The next day when Bella woke up, she realised that she had to attend to Princess Violet. She walked over to Violet’s guest room in a grump. She wasn't looking forward to looking after this obnoxious princess. 

When she knocked on the door, Violet's voice said, "Come in."

As Bella walked in, she was surprised to find that Princess Violet was not alone. Arthur was in there finishing breakfast with her.