"Have you discovered anything in the outlying villages?" I demanded of Sir Leon, who had only just returned to Camelot from a three week long search of the outlying villages. Morgause's abduction of Morgana was a cloud that hung over the castle and it was impossible for anyone to lift it. Uther had refused to see anyone lest they wished to lose their heads and I had found myself very nearly reaching the end of his tether with all the pressures that he was under. He had to find Morgana but not because his father had ordered him to or because her absence was noted within the court and news had spread throughout the kingdom. No, I needed to find Morgana before it killed me from her absence.

It was true, I supposed. Absence did indeed make the heart grow fonder but it had not been the sort of thing that I had expected. I had been blinded by what I believed that I had felt for Guinevere. I did love her, I certainly felt very attached to her but as soon as Morgana was taken away from me, it felt a part of me go with her. Morgause had taken what she had wanted to protect but had wounded myself in doing so. The Lady Morgana meant more to me than I had realised and it had taken her being abducted by an enchantress for me to realise it. Dragon attacks, near death experiences, Merlin being an imbecilic idiot on a daily basis were things that I had discovered that I was easily able to overcome. But this? This was impossible to defeat. Morgana dwelt in my mind, haunting me in my dreams. I willed myself to think of Guinevere, of the woman I believed I loved and who loved me but I could not drive her from my mind. She was just always there. The mysterious Lady Morgana.

"No, my lord." came Sir Leon's answer and I quickly realised that I had not been listening to a word that he had been saying. I sighed in frustration and waved my hand dismissively and the knights turned and left, leaving me in the throne room alone. At least, I was until the familiar sound of clumsy footsteps reached my ears and I closed my eyes in resignation as I heard my feeble excuse for a manservant bumble his way into the room. "Merlin, why is it that even placing one foot in front of the other is s-"

I stopped dead in my tracks as I finished turning around because there, before me, was not Merlin at all. The wooden doors slammed closed and I reached for my sword drawing it and pointing it menacingly at the blonde woman who now stood in the room. How had she entered the castle undetected?! The woman smiled, her blonde locks falling about her shoulder and red dress serenely as her mouth opened. Her voice was soft, I remembered it from all those months ago. When she had shown me my mother. Lies, it had all been trickery and lies. Filthy, abhorrent magic.

"How did you get into the castle?!" I yelled at her, my sword still raised. She smiled again as she walked closer to him and placed her finger on the end of the blade. The temptation to ram it into her face visited me but if I murdered her then I was never going to be able to locate Morgana. Vengeance could wait. My sword shivered at her touch before glowing orange. Heat rushed through my hands and I dropped the sword in pain and panic. She moved closer to me but she did not touch. She knew she was in control here and I hated that. Filthy enchantress.

"You had little qualms of how I managed to get out last time," she said simply. "Arthur, you must know why I am here."

I would know why she was here?! How was I supposed to know why Morgause herself had entered Camelot knowing the bounty that was placed upon her head? Why would she think that I would know her mind? I was Crown Prince of Camelot. She was some perverse sorceress. How could I know what her motivations were?!

"You need to leave," I hissed through my teeth, "Before I come to my senses and run you through with this blade."

"Is that what you think Morgana would desire?"

Morgana.

The name echoed in my head like a bell chime. Back and forth, back and forth. Those three syllables were all I could hear. Morgana. The Lady Morgana, my lady. I shook my head. No, Morgana was not my lady. My feelings were solely for Guinevere, that was all that I could accept. However, Morgana's absence had pained me more than Guinevere's had. When I had ventured into Hengis' realm to rescue Guinevere, I had done so willingly but what had I discovered? Lancelot. Guinevere had been more saddened by his departure than she had been by any of the times I had left without knowing if I would return. Lancelot was always going to be a barrier I could not cross. I shook my head again as I looked back at Morgause who, once again, seemed to be very pleased with herself. As she had predicted, she was still alive but not because I wished it. But because Morgana had done so.

"Speak not of the Lady Morgana." I ordered of her but Morgause simply sauntered towards me, her hand held in front of her. "You know nothing of her."

"I know she craves your presence."

I felt my entire body turn to metal as if I was wearing my armour again. My feet felt welded to the ground and my chest weighed on my back and shoulders. I looked over at her, my breath hitching in my throat, as she spoke those words. Morgana craved my presence. She wished for me to be at her side but I could not understand why that was. Why would she be thinking of me whilst Morgause was doing who knows what to her? Had she been subject to magic and enchantments? Was Morgana to be turned into a vessel for Morgause's evil trickery once more?! My blue eyes locked onto hers as she spoke and, before I knew it, my rage had taken me over. I lunged with my arm to strike her but the blow never landed.

Morgause muttered something and her eyes glowed as a powerful force threw me backward into the wall. The wind was knocked out of me as I collided with the wall and then slid to the ground. "Sire!" came the worried sounds of the knights approaching. Morgause was immediately at my side and her hand on my forehead. It felt cold and I tried to shake it off. "Do you wish to see Morgana?" she snapped at me quickly and I barely registered her question. "Do would wish to see her?!"

I stared at the door and then up into Morgause's striking emerald eyes.

"I do."

My eyelids drooped as my vision blurred as a violent wind rushed through my hair as the doors opened and Morgause used her magic to disappear from the room and I fell limply onto the ground, my head lolling to the side as unconsciousness slipped over me. I barely saw the knights rushing over to me.

****

"Arthur?"

My name made my eyes open and I found that I was no longer laying on the ground of the throne room but upon a stone floor strewn with ivy. I looked up and I saw a stone altar before me and upon it sat a raven haired woman. She was dressed in the same green dress that she had been taken in, her emerald pendant still perfectly around her neck. Morgana. I rushed to my feet and over to the altar but she held her hand up to stop me and I skidded to a halt just before her. "Wait."

I had not realised it until she had commented but my arms had been open as if to embrace the woman as soon as I saw her. My heart was pounding frantically in my chest as I looked upon her. She looked unharmed but where was I? How had I come to be here? Had Morgause abducted me also in her war against my father?! I lowered my arms and I looked at Morgana, trying to gauge how she had been treated. If Morgause had so much as harmed a hair on her head then I would have no qualms about ending her now. I had found Morgana, I could get her to return to Camelot with me right now.

"Where are we?! What has Morgause done to you?!" I asked, no longer able to hold it in any longer.

"Morgause has helped me. She did not kidnap me, she rescued me."

"Rescued?!" I repeated incredulously. "From what?"

"From Uther."

I looked up at her, stunned by her words. My father had been nothing by kind and protective to Morgana so why was she now claiming that she needed rescuing from him? I sighed as I realised, deep down that I was more annoyed that someone had rescued Morgana. And it had not been me. That hurt me more than realising that I had lost Morgana in the first place. Someone else had gotten there first. First Lancelot got to Guinevere and now Morgause was saving Morgana before I even realised she was in peril. I was the Prince of Camelot! I should have seen these things!

"You are still in Camelot," Morgana stated and I looked around suddenly, trying to locate the area, "But your mind is with me. Has it been with me before now?"

"I…" I stammered, unsure of how to proceed. She was my father's ward and we had always had much of a sibling relationship but I could not lie to her. Morgana was far too perceptive to believe any deceit I fed her. "You've been my only thought."

"And you mine."

She slid off of the altar and stood before me. My heart pounded again so loudly that I could barely hear anything but the rhythmic thumping in my ears. She took a step towards me and her hand rested on my shoulder. Our eyes connected for a few seconds and I felt myself lost in her gaze. Her touch made me shiver internally. I turned so that I was facing her properly and I looked deep into her face. I had to rescue her. But what was I rescuing her from? From her rescuer or from that whom she believed to be her rescuer? "Morgana, the whole of Camelot is seeking you."

"I know," she said forlornly. She sounded saddened by this but she had to at least have suspected it. Look at what had happened when she had been kidnapped by the druids. "They will not find me and you must not either."

"Morgana! I can't just leave you here."

"You must!" she ordered with such a ferocity that it silenced me. I had heard her bicker with me before but that…that had been dark and malicious and I had not been prepared for it. "There is one thing you can do for me."

"Anything."

I answered instinctively, not thinking that through at all. I was afraid of what she was going to ask me to do but whatever it was, I would do as she asked. I was a man of honour. It could not be anything dangerous, I was sure. Would Morgana have asked Morgause to use her abilities to bring my mind over scores of leagues if she just wished to see me die?

"Hold me. Just for a few moments. Just…hold me."

I looked over at her and smiled at her. She reciprocated it and I moved towards her, my arm wrapping around her slender form. Her own hands moved to my back as I held her, her jet black hair running over my fingers, her own fingers dancing lightly on the back of my shirt. My eyes welled with tears of desperation. I wanted to save her now that I held her in my arms. To be the champion that she needed. So she could be my lady again. "Morgana…" I started but she merely shushed me into silence.

"I know, Arthur. I know and you know that I feel the same. In another time, perhaps."

"No, Morga-" I started to protest as she stepped back, slipping out of my grasp. She looked at me and shook her head before she spoke. The words were not what I had hoped to hear at all.

"You have to go." No! I did not want to leave her here with Morgause with now way of finding her again! As soon as I thought Morgause's name, the blonde sorceress was behind Morgana and she looked solemn but I believed none of her emotions. Her eyes glowed a bright orange as a fierce wind assaulted me as the darkness shrouded my vision again and the blackness consumed me.

***

"Morgana…" I whimpered as I moved side to side. The ground beneath me was soft now and I felt the feather pillows of my bed beneath my head as I came to. My vision cleared and my eyes landed on two people at the end of my bed; my father, King Uther Pendragon and my foolish manservant, Merlin. I was getting tired of coming to and finding Merlin there. It usually meant he had been exceptionally imbecilic.

"My son," Uther said as he moved to my side. He always said that when I was hurt as if I had forgotten the fact. "Are you all right?"

"Yes…"

"Double the efforts for Morgana. And triple the bounty on Morgause's head."

Merlin looked troubled but nodded and hastened out of the room to do the king's bidding and I fell back against my mattress. I heard my father speaking again but I had stopped listening. All I could think of now was Morgana; in her green dress, wrapped tightly in my arms. She was alive. She was not back in Camelot but she was at least alive. And that was comfort enough for now.

Enough for now. Now that my heart no longer belonged to Guinevere but instead to her mistress.

To the fair and beautiful Lady Morgana.