Chapter 23
I nearly cry (again) in relief as I wake up to the sun's rays gently pouring over the bed. As soon as my mind registers consciousness, I shove the sheets off my legs, tapping my bare feet along the floor until I fell my forehead pressed up against the glass of the window.
It's early morning, the sun barely peeking over the trees, but still morning and I want to start work again as soon as possible. Return to the routine. Familiarity.
Changing into the dress I brought up with me, I place my feet in the shoes and prepare myself for the day ahead. A soft tap at my door – one so elegant which can only belong to Esmerelda – echoes into my room. I open the door wide and step aside to let her in.
"I had a feeling you would be up early," she sings. "Like you said, I wasn't sure what the time was when I awoke but the grate let me know it was late enough for light."
"I'm sure I can speak with Arthur on your behalf and we can change your room to something more appropriate soon enough," I say, feeling slightly guilty but the pleasure of my old chambers outweighs it. Esme smiles, soft dimples showing on her cheeks.
"It's no bother. As I said, I don't spend much time in them anyways. Shall we swap our things?" she suggests. I nod, moving aside to let her into her wardrobe. I help her, gathering her chest of shoes, stocking a small pile of her books on top of it.
We leave to make our first trip back down to her new chambers. Her trunk is wide and clunky, my arms spread wide to hold it and the books were a mistake, as I have to play a balancing game on top of that. Esme's arms are full as well, only with all her dresses. Her entire wardrobe it seems.
"Are you alright?" she chuckles. "I'm sorry, I should've brought a servant. I don't use them much except for help getting dressed some days."
"I'm alright," I grunt with a smile but as she looks back forward my face drops into pain, not daring drop the chest even though my arms are bursting. To alleviate some of the pain (or so I tell myself that it works) I silently yell profanities into the air as Esme walks on oblivious.
I nearly trip down the stairs as I awkwardly manoeuvre down them, one step at a time. I glare at some passing servants that pretend to take no notice to avoid offering assistance. I round the corner of the spiral staircase, watching my feet to not trip over when the weight of the chest shifts. At first, I think I've overbalanced one way or another, but it doesn't fall down, and it is taken from my hands completely, letting them drop down to my sides.
As the chest moves away, I see arms encircling, covered in a brown jacket and a cheeky smile pops up from behind.
"Merlin!" I exclaim with relief, a small laugh escaping.
"You looked like you were about to fall over so I thought I might help you," he says, beaming like a puppy. I nod, still smiling.
"Thank you it was a lot more difficult to carry than I thought it would be," I admit. "We're going to my chambers. Well, old chambers now."
"Old chambers?" he wonders.
"Oh, yes. Lady Esmerelda was kind enough to let me have my old chambers back. The one I have been living in is a bit to… cell-like and I didn't care too much before, but…" I trail off. Merlin seems to pick up the hint, his smile dropping a little.
"Right," he says. "Well, at least your room is going to be a lot nicer again. No offence but the one you've been staying in is creepy."
"I'll be the first to admit it," I agree, crinkling my nose in remembrance. Merlin shuffles the chest in his arms.
"Can we ah, start moving. This thing is heavy," he admits shyly.
"Yes, of course," I jump. "Sorry."
I lead Merlin with a hand on his elbow, so he doesn't waste energy trying to look around and we catch up to Esme who is already in her new chambers. Merlin places the trunk at the foot of the bed.
"Oh, thank you," Esme thanks in surprise at the new face. Merlin looks at her, bowing slightly.
"I'm Merlin, Elena's friend," he greets.
"Oh, you're Arthur's manservant. Elena has talked quite a bit about you," she says, smiling kindly at the warlock. Merlin blushes, whether at the fact that I've talked about him or that he's in the presence of a gorgeous woman I don't know but I hold my giggle to not further his embarrassment.
"I would say only good things, but I would be leaving out all the best parts," I joke, now laughing freely with Esme at Merlin's expense. The boy sucks his lips, not sure how to take the situation. "I'm only teasing, Merlin. There's nothing bad to say about you anyways."
The boy, although still blushing, smiles bashfully.
"Do you need any more help?" he questions quietly. I glance at Esmerelda, but she shakes her head.
"No, I think we're ok, thank you though. I'm sure I would have fallen over sooner or later," I tell him, and he nods, removing himself from the room rather quickly. Esme laughs at the warlock's antics.
"He is rather adorable," she says, referencing an earlier conversation we had in the gardens one day.
"Like a puppy," I add with a happy sigh. "He's a good friend."
"I can see," she muses, giving me a slight smirk as we begin removing the items from the room to take them up to my new one.
The process takes a little over an hour but finally, our rooms are completely swapped, and my current chambers look almost the same as it did when I first resided here. The sun is well up, so I begin working on mending some of the knight's shirts that have piled up over the last week. Being kidnapped doesn't warrant getting time off work apparently.
I don't even notice the time pass as I sit against the window frame, my feet resting on the desk. It almost feels like old times, when there was no reoccurring threat on Camelot every few weeks or so. My biggest worries were my friends getting hurt in a harmless tournament.
I hum to myself, a habit that Gwaine pushed me into when he wanted something to fill the empty sound of the forest at night. He pestered me relentlessly to sing but I seldom gave into the request, instead, compromising on the humming of both familiar and unknown tunes to his ears. I used this time to remember old songs, one's that never really left your head after all these years.
A rapid and rather obnoxious knocking at my door shocks me out of thought. I huff, placing the clothes down on the table and plopping back onto the ground. I frown as I begin to open the door, wondering who on earth would be so grumpy to knock like this but my face morphs into surprise as Leon is the one standing in the corridor.
He walks in past me, brushing against my shoulder, leaving me standing at the door in disbelief. Shutting the door, I turn around and watch him sit down on my bed.
"Leon?" I question, slowly walking over to the man. His face is rigid, and I can tell he is had a rough day, I'm just not sure if he wants to tell me or escape from it.
"I went to your room – your old room and when I went in, it was somebody else's things," he says, looking down at his hand which are resting between his knees. I sit down silently next to him, waiting for him to continue. "I ask around if anybody has seen you and nobody had seen you since yesterday. I don't know where else to look so I wander through the city, the gardens, I even went to the guards down at the front gates, but they hadn't seen you."
My mouth opens slightly, realising that he had no idea that I had moved here, not to mention I haven't left the room since this morning.
"Leon," I sigh, "I'm sorry. I didn't even think about that. Esmerelda and I only decided last night, and we changed over this morning. But I don't see why you're so upset," I say hesitantly, not knowing what would push his buttons.
"Because last time you went missing, I wasn't sure if you were going to come back," he exclaims. "And that was only in the past week. Not the mention the other times when I can't find you and you're running off doing something. I didn't even know what to think when I couldn't even find your chambers. I thought you might've run away again."
My heart tears a little at the jab. Runaway? I mean, in a way that is what I did – but more in the metaphorical sense. I did tell everybody that I was leaving. I push aside the hurt though, now not really the time to argue.
I slide off the bed, kneeling down between his legs to I can look up at him.
"I'm sorry that you couldn't find me. But I would never run away. Not from you, Camelot, my home. It was just a miscommunication, that's all," I whisper, resting my hands on his knees. He nods, closing his eyes.
"I know, I just hate when you disappear. I don't know when you're going to come back," he admits.
"As long as I'm alive," I say as he opens his eyes. "I will always come back."
His hands move up, cupping my face, his thumbs tracing the apple of my cheeks. His eyes trace the outline of my face, taking in everything as I kneel there, staring right back at him.
"Are you going to kiss me or what?" I tease. Leon huffs playfully, leaning down to do as I ask. I lean up straighter so he doesn't have to bend down as far. His hands move from my face to my hair, tangling in them. On any other occasion, I would be mad at the thought of having to redo my hair but right now, I don't think about anything else besides his hands tugging at the strands.
I stand up so that now I lean down over him, and his hands move again down to my waist as my cup his neck. He begins to lean backwards, his hands dragging me down with him as he lays back down on the bed. My heart pounds, but in a good way and as one of my hand's trails lower along his chest, I can feel his beating in the same rhythm, using my legs on either side of his stomach to keep me up.
He flips us over, and I let out a small gasp as we do. He doesn't let our lips be apart for long, re-joining them in less than a second. Now above me, his forearms rest on either side of my head to hold himself as he presses against me.
His mouth trails off to the side of my mouth, wandering along my jaw and I close my eyes, taking this time to breathe and feel everything. Feel every part of me, and every part of him. His lips travel down my neck, onto my shoulder and into the soft part of my collarbone. I sigh in content, melting deeper into my bed.
I feel like fire and ice at the same time, pressing myself as close as I can get to him, feeling the amorous atmosphere in the fullest. He leans back into me in response.
His hands begin to wander into scandalous places, but our moment is broken at the door suddenly opening.
"Elena? There's a – Oh!" Merlin shrieks. His cheeks beat red instantaneously as he stammers to speak for a few seconds. Leon is glaring at the poor boy, moving off me. He sits in the bed, facing away from the door. I don't have to look to know his face is just as red. Although I'm sure mine is the same, I can't help but laugh at Merlin's shocked face.
Merlin makes a gesture to outside, silently walking back out, almost slamming the door behind him.
"What is it with everybody not knocking?" Leon grunts. He's almost angry, more so at the presumable embarrassment of our position than anything else.
"He's used to doing it to Arthur. Besides, I think this put enough fear in him to not to do it again," I giggle at his flushed cheeks. I lean over to him, closer to his ear. "At least we were dressed," I joke. Leon's eyes flicker to me, an unamused look on his face.
"If he or any other man besides myself see you in that position they would have to strip my title of knight," he growls, still unhappy and my attempted joke hasn't done the trick.
"I better see what Merlin wants," I mumble, rubbing his thigh before pushing off the bed. Leon stays sulking on the bed as I exit to see Merlin on the other side of the hallway, biting his lips.
"I'm so sorry," he cries as he sees me. I laugh, shaking my head to dismiss it.
"It's fine, I probably should have locked the door. What did you need anyway?" Merlin face lights in recognition, probably remembering why he came here in the first place.
"Oh, I just wanted to tell you that there's a knighting today and that we're expected to be present," he says. "It's in about an hour or so."
"Thank you. I'll see you there then?"
Merlin nods then scurries off back to his job and I turn back to my room. Leon hasn't moved from sitting on the edge of my bed. I crawl along the other side up behind him, wrapping my arms around his neck from behind. He sighs, leaning back into my chest. Our hearts and bodies have calmed down, enough that we were more relaxed than before we started.
"He just wanted to tell me that there was a knighting today," I inform him.
"That's what I was originally searching to tell you this morning, you know?" he mumbles. "And how come he knew but not me about your room change?"
"He caught me and Esme moving this morning and helped out."
"That boy always seems to find the spot of action," he muses. I scoff, resting my head against his shoulder.
"You have no idea," I drawl.