Arthur was feeling quite pleased with himself. The note from Guinevere had given him the push he needed to move on to the next step of courtship. After all, the book stated that as long as he received a favourable response, he could consider moving on. At this rate, he'd be married to Gwen within the year.
And just this morning, he had thought up a brilliant plan. After flowers, the next step as listed in the book, was to dedicate the winning of a competition to your love which was convenient. With Lord Cheswick around, there had to be celebrations so what better way than to have a tournament? This would give him a chance to both honour Lord Cheswick's visit and more importantly, take the next step in courting Gwen.
He was still grinning to himself when Merlin turned up.
"I don't suppose you want a jousting tournament? Those are the people's favourite."
Arthur glared at Merlin. If he had his way, Camelot would never have a jousting tournament again. "Jousting is expensive. Just a simple melee tournament will do. Not too many rounds so it can done within a day."
"Not planning to flaunt Camelot's strength and riches?"
Tempted to throw something at Merlin's too-innocent face, Arthur simply clenched his fists and huffed. "No. You know full well that we can't afford such frivolities."
"I suppose you are entering?"
"Of course."
His brilliant plan lost its shine when Lord Cheswick asked to speak with him privately after a meeting about the treaty.
"My lord. I understand that there will be a small tournament tomorrow for our entertainment."
Arthur nodded, his mind on other things, such as the note he had yet to write Gwen this evening. Certainly he couldn't go back to just signing his name. Yet it didn't seem right to complain about his life again. Perhaps he could ask how she has been coping instead. That seemed more -
"I appreciate your generosity. I have a delicate matter to bring up to you."
"Oh," Arthur was startled out of this thoughts and turned to Lord Cheswick. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure if you noticed, but my daughter has developed some sort of attraction to you."
That stopped Arthur in his tracks. He really didn't need this right now and he started searching for what to say to let Lord Cheswick down gently.
"I heard about your two botched weddings. To be honest, I am not keen on any relationship between you and my daughter. It's obvious you have issues and Clara is too young. Still, she would be thrilled if, should you win the tournament, you dedicated the win to her."
"What?" On one hand, he was relieved that he wasn't going to be beating off another attempted marriage. On the other, it stung a little that Lord Cheswick thought that he wasn't good enough for his daughter. Then it dawned upon him what Lord Cheswick was suggesting. "I don't want to give your daughter the wrong impression!"
"No, don't worry. Just humour her this trip. We will be out of your kingdom soon enough and chances are, she will never see you again." Lord Cheswick paused and looked meaningfully at Arthur. "Of course, I will also be more inclined to be less fussy over our negotiations if my daughter is happy."
"Right." Arthur's heart sank even as he agreed.
Lord Cheswick clapped him on the shoulder. "I trust you will do the right thing."
Arthur nodded half-heartedly as he walked away. Sometimes it felt like the whole world didn't want him and Gwen to make it.
Despite being up against Gwaine in the final round, Arthur won the tournament with relative ease. It might have been the fact that Gwaine had been in the tavern the night before.
Leon held up Arthur's arm in triumph as applause thundered around the stands. Reluctantly, Arthur made his way to the royal box. The crowd roared when he walked over to a blushing Lady Clara and offered her the winning token. As custom, he brushed a chaste kiss on her cheek and she cooed and fussed over token, watched by a doting Lord Cheswick.
Till this point, Arthur was actually enjoying the tournament, especially when he noticed Gwen cheering for him from the stands during every round. He managed to catch her eye a few times and warmth flooded him when she acknowledged him with a nod and a slight smile. For a moment, it was almost like the past. Almost. When Arthur looked up after passing the token to Lady Clara, Gwen was no longer in the stands and his heart sank. Was she upset that he had not given the token to her? Did she think him indecisive, easily turned by another? Had he lost whatever ground he'd made with the notes and flowers?
As the cheering crowd cleared and the servants arrived to clean up the area, Arthur trudged back to his tent, wondering if he should have risked Lord Cheswick's wrath and given the token to Guinevere like he had planned instead. His mood took a turn for the worse the more he pondered his decision, and by the time he was near his tent, he was ready to take it out on Merlin.
"The armor and sword need polishing. And I want them so shiny that I can -" Arthur flung the drapes of his tent open and entered, only to stop and stare when instead of Merlin, Guinevere stood waiting for him.
"I'm afraid that I'm not very good at polishing." There was a shy smile on her face and affection in her eyes. His heart leapt. She didn't look angry. Perhaps she'd missed him giving Lady Clara the token.
"Guinevere!" A shiver ran down his spine when she went up to him to help him remove his armor. "Why are you here?"
Her movements were calm and efficient. "I wanted to thank you for the flowers this morning. They are beautiful." Her voice dropped a little and he imagined that she might be blushing. Pleasure curled in his stomach.
"It's no trouble."
Moving to his front, she took his arm to help him with the vambrace. Her hair tickled his throat and it took a great deal of self-control not to bury his face in it. His arm trembled and she looked up.
"Tired?" Concern tinged her voice. "You were great out there. I forget how well you fight." The blush that stained her cheek deepened.
Mutely, he shook his head. If he opened his mouth, he suspected he was going to start begging her to love him. He missed her so much and having her in such close quarters was both exhilarating and painful. "Why are you here? Merlin should be doing this."
Looking back down at his vambrace, she continued to unfasten it. "I heard some gossip from the servants this morning. It seems that Lord Cheswick's daughter has taken a fancy to you."
Panic gripped him. He had to explain. "Guinevere-"
"Let me finish please. Then someone said that perhaps this would be the third time lucky for you. And then, they looked at me and stopped talking."
"Oh." He had no idea what to say to that. "I have no interest in Lady Clara. You know that Guinevere."
"I do. I imagine you did it to maintain a good relationship with Lord Cheswick" Gwen removed both vambraces and placed them on the table.
Arthur smiled at her insight. "I did. Lord Cheswick has no intention of marrying his daughter to me at any rate."
But it was as if Guinevere wasn't listening to him. Her fingers were nimble, quickly divesting him of his armour. The confidence with which she removed his armour was absent in her voice. "Arthur. Your two weddings - they were to me, weren't they?"
"Yes." The word came out as a whisper. He stared at her, trying to gauge her response.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It didn't seem right and -" He swallowed. "I didn't want to pressure you. It is difficult enough going through 5 years of changes in a few weeks." His voice dropped. "And you didn't feel the same way about me."
She stepped forward, so close Arthur could see every single freckle on her cheek. "I loved you."
For some reason, Arthur's throat seemed to have dried up so all he did was nod.
Lifting a hand, Guinevere cupped his face, an action that was so familiar yet so strange. "You are not the prince I knew 5 years ago." A smile played on her face. "For one thing, you're king."
His returning smile was bittersweet. "I like to think that I am a " Curling his fingers around her wrist, he held her hand to his face, reveling in the feel of her warmth. "What does this mean for us? The last time we spoke, you made it quite clear your heart belonged somewhere else."
She lowered her eyes and pulled her hand away. "I was so sure of that a week ago. But recently, everytime I think of the man -"
"Merlin. I know."
" - of Merlin, for some reason, he always turns into you and I find myself looking at your notes and thinking of you instead. When I sat in the stands earlier, I had the strangest feeling that I've done it many times, cheering for you, being proud of you. And when you looked at me and nodded, something stirred in my heart." She laughed, "how silly do I sound?"
Her cheeks were deep pink and she kept her eyes focused on his chest. He wondered if she could see his heart trying to burst out.
"What are you saying Gwen?" Hope was blossoming in him but there was still a fear he might have completely misunderstood her.
Gwen kept silent and his fear grew. "Guinevere? Are you saying that I might have a chance?"
She looked up at him. "I think we owe it to ourselves to try."
Joy bubbled in him and he took a deep breath. "Then maybe you'll have dinner with me, just the two of us, one evening?"
"Tomorrow?"
He could no longer mask his happiness and he grinned. "Perfect."
She grinned back at him.
"Can I kiss you?"
Mischief sparkled in her eyes as she whispered, "I remember quite enjoying the last one we had."
