Arthur had barely made it through the double doors to his chambers when yet another knock disturbed his peace. Hearing a scuffle on the other side of the doors and sensing danger, he hastened to open it. He got a surprise when the doors where opened, and he could plainly see the cause of the commotion.

"Let me go!" Spat Morgana, writhing around and trying to break free from the arms that were restraining her. "Let me go you brainless dimwits! Let go of me!" Gwen, who was likewise being held back, took the slightly politer approach, merely trying to shake her arm out of her captor's grip and scowling when his hold remained strong.

"Sire." Came the out-of-breath voice of the guard who was holding onto Morgana. "I'm sorry sire. They insisted on seeing you. They nearly barged right through your door. We thought it best to hold them back until you were ready to talk to them." The guard broke off to scowl at Morgana as she stamped down on his foot in an attempt to free herself, but his pincer-like grip did not so much as loosen. Arthur sighed, rolling his eyes, before deciding that things had gone far enough.

"Release them." He smirked, not bothering to hide his amusement at Morgana's undignified appearance as she was released. Gesturing to the two women to follow him, he swept back through the doors and into his chambers, wondering at the reason for the fury, bordering on hate, in Morgana's fiery eyes and fierce expression. The doors had barely been shut before Morgana started yelling at him.

"You should be ashamed of yourself Arthur Pendragon!" Morgana declared in the over-dramatic way that she always adopted when wishing to manipulate. "Merlin's supposed to be your friend! And you just gave him up to your father like that! Have you no spine at all Arthur?"

"Oh…" Arthur sighed, as he realised why he'd been receiving such poisonous looks from the two women since he'd signed his men over to his father. "You think that I gave to please my father." He could hear a bite of underlying anger coursing through his voice. Did they really think he was such a coward?

"What?" Asked Morgana mockingly, seeing the hurt and broken pride on his face. "Hurt, are you? Well, you should be after what you've done!"

"Morgana-" He began, but he was interrupted by Gwen's gentle voice as she questioned him.

"Arthur." She said, the pain of having to yell at him clear in her face. "Why did you do it?"

But Arthur was saved the trouble of having to answer by the third knock of the day sounding on his door. "Come in!" He said, too stressed to make the short journey to the door and open it himself.

"Hi Prince Arthur!" Came an excited voice, and Arthur looked to see Jessica's tiny figure in the doorway, beaming at him.

"Jessica, hi!" He said, smiling back at her. "And please, it's Arthur."

"Okay Arthur. And please, it's Jess." Said Jess, sticking her tongue out and him and grinning widely.

"Jess it is." He said, returning her grin and pulling a face at her stuck out tongue. From the corner of his eye, he could see Morgana and Gwen exchanging stunned looks. Jess however, took no notice. "I brought a flower for you to say thank you for saving my life." She said, beaming and holding up a single sprig of lavender. "And my mummy and daddy are going to come and say thanks in a minute."

"Great." He said, smiling at the girl, and taking the lavender from her outstretched hand. As he turned to find some water to put it in, he realised that Gwen and Morgana were staring at him in shock. Chuckling at their expressions, he made the necessary introductions.

"Jess, this is Morgana, my father's ward, and Gwenivere, her maid. Gwen, Morgana, this is Jess. Her father owns a farm near the outskirts."

Jess smiled brightly at the women, bouncing over to give them each a quick hug. "Arthur saved my life." She said, in a tone that suggested she was remarking on an everyday occurrence. "His daddy told me that if he didn't give him some men then he would kill me." Her smile faded and she began to tremble at the thought. "I don't like his daddy. He's not very nice." Arthur's smile became rather fixed as Jess frowned and shivered. He could feel Gwen and Morgana's gazes fixed on him intently, but he couldn't meet either of their eyes.

"I don't think anyone likes my father." Said Arthur gravely as another knock interrupted their conversation. "Come in!" He called, then smiled as he heard Jess shriek happily at the two people standing in the doorframe.

"Mummy! Daddy!"

…

After a long time of Jess's mother crying gratefully into Arthur's shoulder and her father repeatedly shaking his hand, they finally announced that they had to leave and, taking Jess with them, they made their way out of his chambers and back to their farm-house, leaving Arthur alone in the room with Gwen and Morgana. An uncomfortable silence settled over them before Gwenivere spoke.

"Is it true? That you had to sacrifice Merlin to save Jess?"

Arthur shot her a disbelieving look before replying. "Of course it's true. What reason would she have to lie?" The women exchanged an uncomfortable glance before turning back to him, their faces apologetic and slightly horrified. "Arthur…" Said Morgana, biting her lip. "I'm so sorry."

"That's fine." Said Arthur with a twisted smile. "They won't find him anyway."

"I meant-"

"I know." He smiled, then sighed. "I'm a little tired. Do you mind-"

"No, of course not!" Said Gwen quickly, curtsying to him hurriedly and excusing herself. Morgana merely stood there staring at him for a few more moments before shaking herself out of her reverie and shooting him one more heart-breaking-ly apologetic look before scurrying out of Arthur's room like a frightened little mouse after her maid. Arthur sighed and stared into space for a bit as he relived the events of the night he had saved Jess's life before lowering himself fully clothed onto his bed, and settling into a troubled sleep.

Thanks for reading! I've just added a bit more to this chapter so that I could move on to something different in the next one! Please keep reading :)