She is Guinevere
...my father would never understand."
As he says the words his gaze lands somewhere over her shoulder. Moments ago in the Great Hall he had sent her smoldering looks that had her blushing and her heart racing. Now his face is flat and unreadable.
She feels hollow, as if one could drop a stone down her mouth that would bounce against the empty shell of her. So the moment has come. The moment when she is cast aside, discarded like the half-eaten platers of food when the Prince has had his fill. She knew this moment would come. She would have been naïve to think there was a happily ever after ringing with wedding bells in their future. With both mother and father buried Gwen was anything but naïve.
Still the rejection smarts. It feels far to soon. Could he not have continued the charade for just a little longer? Could they not have snuck away to a dark alcove beyond the corridor? Could he not have held her hand and whisper sweet, empty promises in her ear? She feels deprived that she will have none of that, even as the sham it would have been. The single kiss shared in her dingy cottage seems far too little now. She wants more from him.
And yet his words echo between them. An end to something that never begun.
"Guenivere... what happened when I was staying with you... my father would never understand."
She understands. He wants no more of her. The knowledge of it sears her as surly as the iron lance that hours earlier cut through his flesh. She also feels stupid, like one of the silly maids who dream of princes on white steeds to rescue them from their lives of hardship. She needs no rescuing. She is Gwen. She is strong and resilient. She is the daughter of a blacksmith. If he expects her to cry or beg him not to leave her then he will be disappointed. She will do neither.
"You don't have to explain..."
As the words leave her mouth she realizes she does want him to explain. For all his talk of equality and being treated as any man he is still nothing more than his fathers lap dog. What she says next is meant to remind him of that.
"Perhaps, when you are King, things will be different."
The words are meant to mock and rile him. She wants the words to bite and sting and hurt him as he has hurt her. She wants to throw the words in his face and surely as he is throwing her away. But despite herself the words sound gentle, soft, and to her mortification half wistful. Because despite all of it, NO... in spite it all, she still wants him.
And as his eyes meet hers and the beginning of a smile curves on his lips she can almost believe he wants her back.
Then his father calls his name and he turns. She is left alone in the corridor.
But she is strong and resilient. This will not break her. She has hands calloused with work and clothes worn. She is commoner by birth and a servant by rank. She is the daughter of a blacksmith.
She is Guinevere.
My take on the last minute or so of season 2 episode 2 "The Once and Future Queen".
So what did you think? Reviews would be wonderful.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Common did anyone here really think I did? Hands anyone? Yep I didn't think so.