The Queen has no…
By Marista
Storyline: Guinevere is the Queen, perfect and proper in every way, except one. And it's all Arthur's fault.
S/N: This story is an alternate timeline. It takes place shortly after Uther's death in season 4.
A/N: The first paragraph is when the wedding should have happened, in my opinion.
Time was moving by at a whirlwind. Morgana was defeated, Uther was dead. Arthur became King and within days he was married to Guinevere.
It wasn't too much of an issue in the beginning. Some of the nobles complained that their Queen wore peasant's clothing. But Arthur didn't care. All he cared about was that she was his wife at last. The rest would follow in due course.
Guinevere didn't want to alternate between peasant and noble dresses. She decided that when she made the transition to the clothing of the nobility it would be permanent. It took the seamstress and her assistants nearly a month. It would have been faster if she had helped with the sewing, but Arthur did not want her to help sew her own clothes.
The day she had seven completed dresses in her possession she took her old peasant ones and gave them to her new maid Vala. She was about the same size, although slightly taller.
The only issue is that there was a key difference between her peasant dresses and her noble dresses. Something that she had never considered. And it caused an issue that no one could have predicted.
That day Guinevere and Arthur made love as they did every morning. After he left for practice she tried to put on her new golden gown with the ivory lace trim and the ribboned corset. She had no idea what sadistic person came up with this design. She couldn't fasten the dress alone. Once the dress was on her, it took two maids almost an hour to carefully weave the ribbon in and out of the loops properly to practically seal her in the dress like a cocoon.
She walked out of the chambers with her new gown, jewels, etc. She caught the attention of each passerby. Not because she was Queen, but because she looked like a dream. She went to the council meeting and she noticed that the nobles there seemed to have more respect for her when she was dressed up.
After the meeting she decided to walk down to the practice field and see if Arthur and the knights were still there. Arthur was close to ending the practice anyway. When he saw her walk up, he turned the rest of the drills over to Sir Leon. He left his men on the practice field. Sir Leon smirked when he saw Arthur walk away and head straight for Guinevere, almost like he was on a tether.
He kissed her hand and then indicated for her to walk with him. She had to walk very quickly to match his long strides. Arthur was in a rush, that was for certain. At the door to their chambers he shooed everyone away. As soon as they were alone he was on her before she knew what hit her. He kissed her deeply, taking her in like a drowning man needs a drink of water. His hands were everywhere and yet separated from her skin by all that damn fabric.
He began to tug at the bodice. She turned around and instructed him to pull the golden ribbons through each of the eyelets until she was freed. She felt slightly less constriction when he began to pull the ribbon through as instructed. The she heard him grunt in frustration. The grunt was followed by a harsh sound. The sound as the entire row of fastenings were literally ripped out of the dress.
"Arthur!"
"What? It was taking too long." She started to protest and was silenced by his kiss. She didn't remember to be angry at him until she was thoroughly sated and watching his retreating form as he returned to his duties.
Vala returned a little while later. She was surprised to find her Queen behind the partition with a blue dress that was on, but not fastened. For the 2nd time that day Vala had to find help and together they helped Guinevere get dressed again.
Vala bent over to pick up the golden gown "I thought you liked this…" he voice trailed off when she saw the rip in the bodice.
"I do like it. Just give it back to the seamstress and tell her to repair it as quick as she can."
"Yes your highness."
And that was the first casualty. Her seamstress had to drop the work on her newest gown to repair the golden one. And Vala dropped the rest of her chores to make up the bed – again. Although that had already been an almost daily occurrence.
Within four days all seven of Guinevere's dresses were ruined. Guinevere sat on the couch in a robe. She was frustrated, although not sexually.
Vala came in. "My Queen, the seamstress is working as fast as she can. She also has both of her assistants working. They hope to have one of your dresses repaired by dinner. She asked if perhaps you could temper the king? After this dress is repaired the next one will take at least another two days until it's ready to wear."
"I'll do my best. But tell her that going forward any new garments need to not only look regal, but also be easy to remove. I don't know how she's going to accomplish it, but tell her she has to figure it out… and fast."
"Yes your highness. I'll…"
At that moment Merlin burst into the chambers breathing hard and then froze as he realized his mistake. "Sorry I didn't knock."
"It's alright Merlin. What happened, did Arthur send you to fetch something?"
"Yes, you."
"What?"
"There's been an incident and court is convening. He needs you by his side."
She just stood there. She had no formal dress to wear for court.
"Your highness, shall I run home and fetch one of the dresses you gave me?"
"No. I have an idea…"
ooOooOooOoo
Arthur and the rest of the court sat there waiting for their Queen. The doors swung open and you could hear the whispers. Gwen couldn't make out what they were saying, but she was sure the words 'scandalous' and 'inappropriate' were said.
She hoped that when Arthur saw her he would get the message to stop ripping off her clothing. But he didn't look shocked, surprised or even disappointed. Arthur's only reaction was that his nostrils flared.
One of his advisors looked at his king and wrongly assumed his flared nostrils were flared in anger. But Guinevere was quite familiar with his unbridled lust that was always teeming right below the surface. Of this she was certain… Arthur liked what he saw.
She held her head up and simply strode forward as if she were wearing her best gown. She was donned in riding boots and the last article of clothing in her closet, a pair of form fitting riding pants. She coupled that with one of Arthur's shirts. She had the oversized shirt cinched at the waist with a thin leather belt. The ill fitting shirt hung low and came down almost to her knees. The shoulders ended down her forearms and the long sleeves were rolled up.
But the thing that excited Arthur the most was the neckline. She had pulled the ties down the front of the shirt tightly, but the garment was so big that the start of the neckline still gave a generous view of her breasts. As she walked forward he studied her and he could see glimpses of even more of that flesh through the ties at the front of the shirt. Arthur felt his body light on fire.
"My Lord" she said as she took her seat.
He nodded to her "My Lady" he said in a throaty voice. He cleared his throat and then he didn't look her way again while the court was in session.
They brought in the accused and there he was on his knees before the court. The whole thing turned out to be nothing but a misunderstanding.
During the proceedings Guinevere paid careful attention to the proceedings. And she also kept a keen eye on her husband. She saw the tension in his body. She could hear the undertones of lust in his voice as he spoke. He would want to make love as soon as the court was dismissed. And she smiled inwardly in anticipation because she wanted the same thing.
But Arthur had no patience. If she didn't do something differently she would lose the last outfit that would allow her to walk around in public. She began to formulate a plan, but she would have only a precious few moments to put it in place.
When court was adjourned the room came alive with movement. She knew there would be little matters that the nobles or knights would want to discuss with their king. She would make good use of that time. As Arthur was surrounded she started to make her way out of the room instead of standing with him as was custom.
What she did not count on was that there were some who wanted to speak with her as well. Her route to the door was blocked by three noble women who wanted to chat with her. The real truth is they were digging to see if there was a story behind her inappropriate attire.
She made up a story about being on her way to go riding. When they inquired why her riding shirt was clearly too large for her, she again made up a tale. This time she blamed it on an incompetent servant.
As she made it to the front door, she saw that Arthur was done with those he was speaking to. He was going to leave the room almost the same time she did. She turned and walked as quickly out of the room as she could without drawing attention. When she was out of the eye line of the attendees she took off at a dead run.
After a minute she heard it, the sound of heavy footfalls, coming up fast behind her. She turned her head, Arthur was also running. He gave her a lusty smile as he pursued her to their quarters.
She should have realized he would view this as some game. The running would only fuel his fire, not give her the extra time she needed.
She reached their chambers and thankfully it was empty. She ran to the bed chamber and immediately started fiddling with the leather belt around her waist. The ties were too intricate, she could not get them undone quick enough. And then she head the sound of her husband throwing open the door.
He smiled at her lustily. She looked up at him and in spite of herself got lost in him. She made one last failed tug at her belt when she felt his arms around her.
"I enjoyed our run. We should do it more often."
She forgot her objective and smiled at him. He kissed her deeply allowing his hands to roam.
She felt him tug at the oversized collar of the shirt, that was firmly held in place by the leather belt. When it didn't move she felt him grab the collar.
"Don't" she said. Remembering why she had to run from him in the first place.
"But I need you. Don't you want to…"
"I do. But you can't rip my clothes off."
"I don't want to rip your clothes, I just need to get to you. I need to feel you."
"Ok, then let's take it slow. Let me take them off. It's my last outfit. If you rip this outfit I'll have to walk around naked."
"Naked" he said in an awe filled whisper. And the next sound she heard was her borrowed shirt ripping in half.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading. I hope you found it a fun little distraction. I put down the main story I was working on to bang this out. Your comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.