Chapter Twenty Eight

A/N: No reviewers.

Ever since she was a child, Uther had always looked at his ward with such love and affection, sometimes more affection than he showed to his own son. Arthur was the heir to the throne of Camelot, the most important boy in the kingdom since his very birth, and from almost that young he was expected to learn his duties, but Morgana had been different, a child he could love unconditionally without worrying about the example to set for her. It was a comfort that, despite the blazing arguments they would have, the warmth in his eyes made the girl certain that he would never cause her harm. Yet now those eyes were cold, and Morgana was not so certain anymore.

"I warned you not to come here." The man spoke. It was the voice of a king, the authoritative tone he had used to command armies into battle, to send scores of men to their deaths. The tone he had used to the axeman, before he lowered his leather-clad hand alongside the blade. Morgana wondered how long it would be before her time on the block would come.

Though the fear made her sick to the pit of her stomach, Morgana stood tall, her chin raised in defiance just as it had been so often. "I wanted to see Arthur. I see nothing wrong in that."

"I forbade you to contact him." Uther bit back. He seemed a little shocked, somehow, that Morgana had not bolted through the door and away from the citadel, never to return. It seemed in his ire, he had forgotten who she was.

Despite her fears, the young girl smirked. "Forgive me, my lord, but you are no longer my guardian. You have no right to forbid me anything."

"I may not be your guardian, but I am still your king!" Uther exclaimed, rage beginning to redden his face. He was becoming more frustrated with her by the instant; it was a dangerous line she was treading.

"But you're not." she replied, her own voice as quiet as his had been loud. "I am a witch, as you so simply put it. My allegiance is owed only to the Ministry of Magic, the governors of my people. I have no need of an ignorant king to command my fate, when he knows nothing of my true powers."

"I know enough to have you killed, girl." Uther's voice did not tremble, nor did his eyes leave hers. Morgana had always been such an emotional person, she could not imagine a person whose ideals could outweigh their own heart. She had thought that even the king was better than that.

"Father, please!" Arthur cried, stepping between Uther and Morgana, as if that gesture alone could save her life. "You've known Morgana since she was a baby, she doesn't have a hurtful bone in her body. Magic or none, she isn't dangerous, she would never hurt anyone. She's done nothing wrong, Father."

"I will not discuss this matter, Arthur, especially not with a slip of a boy who thinks he knows better than his father!" Uther's roar seemed to shake the walls, loud enough to be heard halfway across the castle. Not that that mattered much. The people lived in fear of Uther just as much as she did; the chances of them coming to the aid of a witch were non-existent.

But there was one boy, astonishing, who seemed to have no fear in the face of Uther's fury. Arthur tugged Morgana's arm, fulling her further behind him, and taking a step towards his father. His chin was held high, his chest pushed out; for all his youth, he looked just as much like a king as the monarch himself.

"I'm not going to let you hurt her." Arthur did not yell, nor even raise his voice. His eyes were fixed on his father's, his determination abundantly clear. "I don't care what she is, or what she has done wrong in your eyes, Morgana is my cousin, she is almost my sister. I trust her with my life and she's afforded me the same courtesy; I'm not going to betray that trust. So if you want to hurt her, you're going to have to get past me."

Uther was silent for a moment, his eyes narrowed, calculating. Then he sighed deeply, as if the weight of the entire world lay on his shoulders.

"Morgana, in the time you have lived under my care, I have to confess I came to love you like a daughter." Uther's voice was almost wistful, his eyes fixed on the fading light at the window, if only so he did not have to look at the children's faces. "It is for that love, along with the promise I gave your father, that I will allow you to leave this kingdom unharmed. You must be outside of Camelot's borders by dawn. After that, if you are ever sighted in the kingdom again, Camelot's guards will be under instruction to execute you on sight."

Uther swept out of the room when his final words were barely complete, leaving his once-children dumbstruck in his wake. After a few moments, Arthur turned back to Morgana, wrapping his arms tightly around his cousin, trying to push back the tears welling in his eyes.

"You're not dead." the boy breathed, reassuring them both of that small but important truth. "He's going to let you go."

"But I can still never see you again." Morgana whispered, feeling her heart crack in her chest. She hardly cared about her own survival, the fact that Uther had allowed her a small chance to escape. The fact was, she was stuck exactly where she began.

Arthur sighed a little, pulling them apart. "He won't be here forever. One day, I'll be king. Things will be different then."

Morgana knew that the boy was only trying to help, but somehow the words hurt her even more. It would be years, even decades before they would lay eyes on each other again. A couple of hours more together could never make up for that, she knew, but still she wrapped her arms around Arthur's neck again, as if making up for a lifetime of embraces they now would never have.

As the dawn sun rose over the city, Uther's boots were the only sound to be heard in the castle as he climbed the staircase to his son's chambers, his heart heavy beneath his chest. He was so desperate for Morgana's defiance to endure a final time, that he might have a chance to make amends.

But when he pushed open the chamber door, he was faced by Arthur alone, clinging to his pillow in an attempt to muffle his tears. Morgana had gone, Uther was too late, and a family had been torn apart forever, and for nothing.

A/N: Sorry there was no happy reunion, but this is Uther Pendragon! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review!