Morgana fiddled with the knobs on the wooden chair, unsure as to how to bring up the topic of Sophia. Arthur seemed so fond of her already that she was worried about saying anything that would upset him; she wanted him to listen to her and take what she had to say seriously, he had a habit of mocking her.
"You seem very fond of her," she observed quietly, looking up from the chair towards the young prince.
Arthur scoffed, taking off his belt before throwing it on the bed. "You say that as if it's a bad thing."
"Not necessarily. I've just never seen you fall under a woman's spell so quickly."
'If you're jealous, Morgana, it's okay to admit it,' he told her, unable to hide the smirk from his face or his voice.
'Pft! Don't flatter yourself!' she retorted harshly. This harsh tone didn't seem bother him though as he continued to laugh whilst taking off his over coat.
'Come on, it wouldn't be the first time, would it?' he reminded her, sitting on the bed to remove his boots. If Arthur had turned around at that moment, he'd seen anger cloud over the woman's face.
Morgana frowned, annoyed at the reminder of her behaviour almost three years ago.
XXX
She had never really considered herself a particularly jealous person before that time. She had never really had to, after all most of the men in and around Camelot watched her wherever she went. Most of them were less than subtle about it, even when the King was accompanying her. Not that she had ever returned or even wanted their affections it was just nice to be admired.
At least she had not considered herself a jealous person before Elisabeth of Nottingham arrived in Camelot. Morgana had always, always been the most beautiful woman in Camelot, and, not that she ever bragged about it, one of the most beautiful women in the surrounding kingdoms. When Elisabeth arrived, however, everyone's attentions went from Morgana to the new guest within the blink of an eye. Camelot's ward did not like that one little bit. What was even worse was the fact that Arthur too began to grow increasingly attached to the girl the longer she stayed as Uther's guest.
It had started off with sitting next to each other at the high table for meals, little touching of hands here and there, but then they'd started going for rides together alone. Morgana had debated telling Uther; after all, Arthur was not allowed to pick and choose his suitors, Uther was to do that for him. She couldn't though; that was like admitting to herself that she was jealous and she refused to let herself be that petty.
Eventually, she couldn't stop herself. She didn't tell Uther what had been going but she did warn the woman off him. Not that it had done much good; Elisabeth's only response was to tell Morgana that 'jealousy was an ugly trait in a woman', which only riled her more. It wasn't jealousy she was feeling it was… it was protection! That was it. She didn't want little Artie to get hurt.
Morgana had a particularly protective streak when it came to Arthur. Granted there was only a year between them, but they had always been so close, even before her father had died and she had moved to Camelot. Of course, her protective nature disappeared when they were practicing their swordplay; the she would happily stab at him until he was crying for Uther. When it came to other people hurting Arthur on the other hand, she would not stand for it. Especially when it came to women but that was not jealousy.
Jealousy was such an ugly emotion, not that she had ever felt it of course. It was just that Elisabeth had never been what she seemed. She came across as a king, gentle and rather shy young women, especially around Arthur but Morgana knew better. She had seen her in the stables with numerous knights before Arthur took her fancy.
So when she confronted Arthur about it, it took every controlling instinct in her body to keep herself calm. She tried to go about it delicately and Arthur did hear her out. However, when she'd finished telling him of her suspicions about Elisabeth, he'd rounded on her.
'Who are you to tell me what company I can keep, Morgana?' she remembered him shouting at her.
'I wasn't trying to… I just don't think she's good for you,' she tried to explain.
'Oh, she's not good enough for me?' he retorted. The way he'd placed his hands on his hips almost made her want to laugh.
'That's not what I said. I just meant that-' But he ignored her.
'So who is good enough for me then, Morgana, hmm? You maybe?' he asked. It wasn't really a question though and his voice was dripping with sarcasm.
'No! Not me, Arthur!' she screeched, trying to push the thought that maybe she was being too over-defensive out of her head. He was just being ridiculous now.
He scoffed, stepping closer. 'It's so obvious, Morgana.'
She glared up at him. 'What's obvious, Arthur?'
He smirked, his eyes creasing. 'You like me. You should just admit it already. I won't laugh.'
She laughed, pulling herself up to her full height, still a few inches shorter than he was. 'Don't flatter yourself, Arthur Pendragon.'
'I think someone's being rather over defensive, don't you?' He moved his arms from his hips to cross them over his chest, still smirking attractively at her.
'Of course I'm getting over defensive. Who would ever, no, who could ever find you attractive?' she yelled, not caring if anyone could hear them. She had to use every ounce of her being to stop herself slapping the stupid grin from his smug face.
'You. Clearly,' he stated through gritted teeth, still sneering at her. God he could be a pig when he put his small mind to it. He inched closer to her face, their noses almost touching, probably in an attempt to intimidate her. It didn't work though; she could handle Arthur; well, at least, she thought she could until then. Her breathing deepened, became heavier and audible and she was shaking, whether with fury or something else, she didn't quite know.
'I. Do. Not. Find. You. Attractive,' she hissed, grinding her teeth so hard she was surprised they hadn't been reduced to dust. 'Actually, if we're going to accuse anyone of being attracted to anyone,' she began, standing on her tiptoes, 'I think I am well within my rights to accuse you.'
'Of what?' Arthur asked, his voice becoming slightly high-pitched.
'Being attracted to me,' she told him. 'I've seen how you look at me when I dress up nicely, the way your eyes nearly pop out of your head. You really should learn to be more subtle, you know.' Morgana began to calm down a bit, knowing she now had the upper hand. Arthur stepped back, his eyes suddenly very wide. His mouth was hanging open but he didn't seem able to retaliate.
"I-I," Arthur trailed off, running a hand through his hair.
"You what, Arthur?" Morgana grinned, revelling in his clear discomfort. "You should just admit it already, I won't laugh," she repeated smugly, stepping closer to the now flustered prince.
"You're so witty, Morgana. Truly," Arthur snapped, moving backwards as she continued to advance on him.
"Oh, I know."
"About half as witty as Elisabeth, however, I'm afraid."
Morgana stopped in her tracks. "How dare you compare me to her?"
"I think you should be flattered."
"Flattered?" She repeated incredulously, shaking her head. "No. Don't you dare turn this round on me."
"Excuse me?"
"Arthur Pendragon, I have known you pretty much my entire life. I know when you are trying to change the subject because you're uncomfortable."
'I'm not uncomfortable. Why on earth should I be uncomfortable?' His words were flowing out now and he was practically red with anger. 'If anyone is changing the subject, Morgana, it's you. Accusing me of liking you like that,' he spat, as though disgusted she could suggest it.
'You haven't denied it,' she noticed.
'Whereas you've denied your own feelings in a manner all too over the top.' They both stopped mere centimetres from the other one's face and glared at each other, breathing hard. 'I hate you,' Arthur growled through bared teeth.
'I hate you too,' Morgana replied, her blue eyes glued to his. Arthur, clearly still angry, searched her face as though looking hard for something. And he found it. He crashed his lips onto hers with a passion so strong that, had he not grabbed her upper arms at the same time, would've knocked her backwards.
'Arthur – Oh!'
They broke apart, turning towards the voice that had interrupted them. Morgana tried her best not to look at him, unsure of how she felt about what had just transpired between them.
'Elisabeth!' Arthur gasped, jumping further away from Morgana, as if to eliminate all evidence against him. Morgana frowned, despite herself; did he really regret what had happened that much already?
'I – I was just coming to ask you if you wanted to go for a ride, Arthur. I'm sorry. I can see you're busy. Excuse me.' With a light blush forming on her cheeks, the other woman hurried from the room, not looking back once. Arthur half turned towards Morgana before thinking better of it and chasing after Elisabeth, calling out her name and insisting she didn't understand, it wasn't what she thought.
XXX
Elisabeth left not long afterwards, much to the disappointment of the entire male population of Camelot and to this day, the two of them had never discussed what had happened, making a silent, mutual agreement to forget it happened. So why was Arthur bringing it up now?
'You started it, you know,' she muttered quietly.
'No, you came looking for me that night, Morgana,' the prince replied, all the smugness now gone from his face.
'But you kissed me,' she insisted desperately, tears springing in her eyes.
Arthur sighed, casting his eyes to the floor before shutting them tightly. 'I'm sorry.'
'And Sophia?' Morgana asked tentatively, biting her lip; she didn't want to push it.
He looked up at her and she saw that he too had water forming in his bright blue eyes.
"I don't know, Morgana," he admitted, turning his head away and wiping the tears away with his thumb.
"Arthur, please," she whispered, reaching out for his arm. "Be careful, for me. She isn't what she seems."
The prince smiled, patting Morgana's pale hand with his own tanned one. "If I marry her, Morgana?"
"I didn't know your feelings for her were that strong already," Morgana admitted. "If you marry her, I think you'd be making a very dangerous mistake."
He laughed. "She's just a woman, Morgana. She's no more dangerous than you."
"I really wish you wouldn't compare me to women you have feelings for, Arthur," she sighed.
"Why?"
"Because I'm not the same as them," she told him.
He smiled sadly. "No you're not, are you?" Was he asking her? Morgana's face conveyed her confusion clearly. "You're special to me, Morgana," he explained, "in a way that no one else will ever be." His hand was still on hers and he gave it a small squeeze.
"What do you mean?"
Arthur hesitated for a minute, trying to find the right words. "You're like a sister to me," he informed her finally, letting her hand go and looking the other way.
A small piece of Morgana's heart sank at this information. "Right." She didn't want to ask about Sophia anymore. In fact, she was upset, not entirely sure why but she could tell she was about to burst into tears and she didn't want her 'brother' to see. "Sorry to have bothered you," she said somewhat coldly before turning on her heel. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught his confused, maybe hurt expression but she couldn't address it now. She left his chambers without a backwards glance.
THE END
A/N 'Ello! We are back. Did you miss us? In our defence we've had a lot going on recently, exams (not for Emily but that's a different story, one she probably wouldn't want me to share) etc. PLUS, my dear writing partner has FINALLY branched out on her own and started writing on her solo account. Go read! We're going to try to start a new story together at some point but I think I speak for both of us when I saw don't expect too much, revision, school work and university preparation is going to be taking up most of our time. Hopefully we'll be back soon. Please R&R in the meantime.