𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 ( arthur pendragon ) ¹

007. dreams speak memories

𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔪𝔰 𝔖𝔭𝔢𝔞𝔨 𝔐𝔢𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰

"WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?" ARTHUR asked as he watched Althea load the last of their things onto the horses. "You never did say."

Victoria sighed, feeling a sinking in her stomach because she knew that she was about to lie to her husband.

"I'm just homesick," she said, frowning and reached a hand up to stroke Arthur's cheek. "That's all. This is one of the longest times I've been away. I hope you can understand."

Arthur exhaled loudly. "Of course."

He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. Victoria flashed him a false smile before pulling herself up on the horse, taking the reigns and riding off with Althea.

They passed through the gates of Camelot and into the forest. There were no guards with them something that Victoria had to negotiate heavily with both Uther and her father. Victoria wanted to be alone during this time. Well, alone with Althea. Althea was always the exception, the person she could be herself around and not wear a mask.

Which is why, as soon as they were on the path to Merveilles, Victoria dropped her facade and allowed herself to frown. Althea caught onto it immediately, but made no attempt at conversation. It would be too challenging to keep her talking when she was stuck in her thoughts, and Victoria would be able to tell when Althea was trying to distract her.

Once they were well into the forest and Althea had gotten used to the silence, Victoria spoke.

"Do you ever miss the old days?" She said, glancing at Althea. "Find yourself thinking about them? I have since our last conversation. Oh, how I long to go back to that ocean."

"We can go there now, if you'd like," Althea suggested. "Once we get to Merveilles."

"Hmm. We can't tell my father though. He'd have a heart attack," Victoria joked.

"The amount of times we almost killed that man," chuckled Althea.

"And when we discovered that we could jump off the cliff and survive," recalled Victoria. "I'm surprised he hadn't died just from that."

"He almost did. When he saw you jump, he ran into the water."

"Crown and all," Victoria smiled at her friend.

"Well, he didn't want to lose his child," Althea said before realizing her mistake and covering her mouth with one hand. "Oh Gods, Victoria, I didn't mean—"

"It's quite alright, Althea," Victoria told her, frowning now. "You shouldn't have to walk on eggshells forever with me. That's what this time is for... me to recover."

"People will understand if you take more time," Althea told her solemnly.

"That's the thing, Althea," Victoria sighed. "No one can know why I really needed time away from Camelot! People will not know what happened. Gwen cannot tell anyone, you cannot tell anyone, and I had you instruct Gaius not to tell anyone!"

"You can't just deal with this on your own, Toria."

"I can and I will," Victoria stated, calming herself. "'Toria.' That's something I haven't heard in a long time."