Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character names, save my own original creations. I do not wish to be compensated for this work, nor do I wish to infringe on any copyrights held by any stakeholders of the movie King Arthur. This work is an original creation, based on the legend of King Arthur and his knights.


Scribe Notes:

All: OK OK OK! AH! Cliff-hangers are fun, but wow, the responses I got to post the next one quick were quite adament. So, here it is. I think the title of the chapter kind of gives it away again but I think everyone will be pleased. On to comments:

Burnt Alice: Yes, steamy, hot. I will not disappoint, and may even post a warning. I did give this an M rating, but...

Calliann: You have my response to your dance chapter. Way to go! Yes, Lancelot seething is fun, but I wanted to make him a bit shocked with Cerys' statement, and make him think twice about pounding the Roman.

Sokorra Lewis: Hector is nice, and probably knows exactly what his father does with women. Wait no more, here it is!

Ailis-70: I read Prayer. that writer is something else. I told them so too.

Lancelot is quite comical this way. Men can be comical in their own emotional responses and I really enjoy giving him humbling thoughts. I think I see his eyes the most when writing his inner thoughts and turmoil. His eyes were such large windows into his soul for us.

But, I see softness in all of Ioan's characters, no matter how brutal they are. His innocence in Solomon, his duty-bound morale in Horatio... Just look at his cameo in Shooters as Freddy Guns! He has this softer, happy look as he is explaining the merits of the Glock that J buys off of him. He gestures with his fingers when he says "This little black number" and its precious! He plays a freak in the cameo role, but you see how passionate about guns his character is with that one movement. He captured that in a different way in King Arthur. I love giving him movements, facial expressions. Ioan in the movie plays Lancelot's emotions on his face on purpose, and that fueled me with him in a large way.

I am trying to find his BBC movie called Warriors (also called Peace Keepers) where he plays a British peacekeeper in Bosnia. He's apparently fab-u-lous in it.

Yes, I am aware I have become hopeless... (grin)

Here is the long-awaited chapter. I hope I captured the emotions well here for you!

bloodredcherry: Oh yes, surprised, but with the two of them together, what starts as one sided...

et cetera et cetera: AH! OK! You got my attention. Here you go! thank you for your enthusiasm in my story, despite your shouting, it made me quite happy (grin).

LovelyHeidi: I think you got it figured out. Thanks for your excitement! They both will go off the edge, its time. Here you go!


Chapter 36: Love: Admit One

Cerys turned as she heard him close the door. Suddenly she felt nervous. All evening he had watched her. All evening she had wanted to run to him, hold him. All evening she had debated with herself.

She had to tell him how she felt. She decided that she would tell him tonight. Tomorrow she could go for a gallop with her hawk and forget about all of this when he said no, and she had thrown everything away.

She completely forgot about his solstice gift.

Such decisions she was making! She wasn't quite sure where this confidence was coming from, but she liked it. She was tuned to Lancelot, standing just inside the door. She lit her table lantern and moved to stir up the fire. She fumbled with the iron poker before setting it back against the wall. She felt his eyes on her, stabbing.

"I suppose it is warmer in here." She mumbled, trying to fill the silence with something.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned. His eyes were soft, pleading. She felt the nerv­ousness around him. Oh Gods, she thought. She was going to come undone.

"Cerys..." He said, then stopped. He pressed his lips together. He was willing courage, she re­alized.

He brushed the hair back from her face. Her hand went to his wrist. He blinked, and she moved the palm to her lips and kissed it slowly.

It was now or never, she thought.

In the next instant, he had brought his other hand up behind her head and was kissing her, his hand locking into the back of her hair. Her eyes flew open, then closed as she gave into the de­sire.

She opened her lips and they moved closer to one another, melting, arms now reaching around. They held each other for what seemed like a long time, exploring each others mouths, his head down to her, her reaching up. He moaned softly, breaking to kiss her neck, catching his breath. She kinked her neck and caught his lips again. She could feel her insides heating, her abdomen tightening. Her heart was racing.

She thought that if he let go, she would fall to the floor. She had no strength in her legs anymore. She had to stop or she would collapse.

She broke the kiss and buried her head in his chest, her hands coming out to grasp at the leather tunic on his chest. She sighed raggedly.

"Lancelot, what does this mean?"

He made a sound from deep in his chest and tightened his grip around her.

"I... all I know is that I feel a need to be with you." He stammered, his hands coming to her arms and holding her away to look at her.

Cerys felt tears coming to her eyes. She looked up to him. "As do I. Lancelot, I..."

He shook his head. "No, please listen to me. We have known each other since childhood. I have no wish to hurt you. I need to know something."

"What?" She asked, her eyes growing concerned as she dashed at them with her hands.

Lancelot took a ragged breath, steadying himself. Cerys felt his hands slowly loose her, and he stood apart from her, his hands coming up to rake through his hair. He sighed in exasperation and turned away to begin pacing.

"If I were to tell you that I thought of you as more than friend, would you accept me?"

Cerys felt her heart break completely. She reached for his arm, grabbing him. She moved her fingers around the leather, her eyes searching for his again. She couldn't stand it, she had to tell him. Now.

"Lancelot..."

He stopped and stared. He swallowed hard, his throat working. He drew a loud shaky breath and exhaled. She held her breath, watching him gather his thoughts. What was he thinking?

"Cerys, I... I'm in love with you." He croaked.

She gripped harder on his arm and they stared at one another. She could not believe what she was hearing. He loved her? Truly? She blinked, processing his words for a moment, unsure of what to say or do.

"You do?" She asked, holding her breath again.

"I understand if you do not want me... I... I am not an honourable man. I have killed, I have seen things..." He said sadly, moving to sit down on her bed, sagging. He ran a hand over his face. "I have seen things that no one should have to bear the burden of, least of all you."

She lost complete control over her feelings, and she let them out. Her newfound confidence came to her again and she willed her hands to stop shaking as she walked over to him. Slowly, she crawled up onto his lap, straddling his hips. She took his face in both her hands and forced his eyes up to her.

He put his fingers around her wrists, his eyes showing such pain. She knew at that moment that he wrestled with feeling this way, thinking she would not want a man such as him.

"You are more than that, Lancelot. You are not just the mercenary." She kissed his cheeks and took breath to continue. She saw his eyes trying to read her, she felt his body so tense. She ran hands up and down his arms. She wanted so much to ease his torture. She loved him, and he loved her. She just had to say it and it would be true.

"I love the man, and the knight. You are so much more to me."

He crushed her to him and buried his head into her chest. She laced her fingers through his hair. She felt his shoulders relax, his breathing come back.

"You would not despise this side of me?"

"I never have, nor will I now."

He found her lips with his again and kissed her softly. His hand came up and brushed her hair. He was smiling now. She smiled back.

"Love, I have fought this so much." He whispered, touching her lips with a finger, his eyes fol­lowing it. "I truly thought you would not want me."

She laughed very softly. "And I thought you would not want me, for I have fought this feeling. I did not want to be one of your passing fancies."

He hissed in at that and took her chin in his grip, giving it a shake.

"Never." He said, his eyes hard.

She put a hand on top of his and he softened his grip. She smiled again, touching her lips to him again. He groaned and swivelled her down onto the bed, laying her flat out, angling himself to her side. He kissed her cheeks, neck, shoulders. She giggled as he tickled her collarbone with his beard, his lips kissing the point on her shoulder-blade. His hand found her thigh, and he held her close, his fingers kneading.

"Love, you are tickling me." She said as she squirmed.

Love. How easy it had come to her lips. She suddenly felt complete, with him there beside her. His dark brown mischievous eyes she had known her whole life. His sideways grin that made her so happy. His whit, his jesting, his rumbling baritone laughter that was such a part of her, and made her smile each time. It was all here for her, and she had finally realized it. Perhaps Lorina was right; they had been dancing around each other for some time. She had been too pre­occupied to see it until she had let herself feel.

She needed to say it truly; she could not hold it in anymore.

"I love you, Lancelot."


Dear Reader:

Ok everyone... breathe in... breathe out... They have declared! It is writ!

I was nervous posting this chapter. I wanted it to be perfect, and I rewrote it five times before I was happy with it. It's very dialogue and gesture intensive. I hope that it worked!

The next chapter will be posted shortly, I just have to read it one more time decide if I do or don't need a warning. But I had to get this posted.

Admitting love is very hard to do, especially when you don't know what the other person will say. Heart-wrenching and stress-inducing, but euphoric afterwards. I wanted to show that they both gave in, both needed to finally voice it and deal with the decision no matter what happened in the end.

I leave you with your comments and hope that I did not disappoint.

Cardeia