I am so sorry for the wait, I was also going to make this into an extra-long chapter but it would have been massive so I've had to break it down.

Now to my lovely Reviewers! A big thank you Kellyn Sparrow, I'm glad you love it, unfortunately I get writters block easily, I can think of the beginning and end but the middle runs away from me! A big thanks to Mad Furry Cheshire Cat, it's slowly building up! And get well soon Woman! A Big thanks to Tintcalad, thanks for pointing out the errors! I have gone back and changed them! And I'm glad it made you laugh (Although it was in an awkward situation :S)

And a massive thank you to all of you reading and enjoying this story, I'm not the best writer but you do make me smile!

If I don't have chance to write the next chapter before, I wish you all an Awesome Christmas and an Amazing New Year!


A Strange Beginning

Emma could feel Arthur's breath on her neck, his hand covering her hand, his body close to hers. His other hand traced her skin up the other arm, settling itself on the top of her shoulder. Her pulse throbbed in her neck, her breath hitched in her throat, adrenaline burnt through her veins.

"You know what to do."

Swallowing, Emma did as she was told, releasing a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. Her fingers released their grip; the force of it sent her back into the Prince's arms.

"You missed."

Frustration filled Emma's eyes as she lowered the bow in her hand.

"If you weren't smothering me, I might have had a chance!"

After days of ineffective pleading, begging and nagging, Arthur was adamant in his decision, that was until Emma and Morgana formed together to ask the King. Morgana, Emma's tutor in being a medieval woman and ward, immediately took up Emma's cause as Morgana was a daughter of a knight and was taught from a young age to defend herself. However, Emma's celebration of her victory was short lived, Uther immediately ordered Arthur to be her tutor in Archery. By being trained to kill from a young age, Arthur was probably the best idea of a tutor; unfortunately due to his arrogant personality, the Prince scoffed at the idea of training a woman in a weapon, especially a weapon which had become second best to the crossbow.

Without any consideration to her lack of skill, Arthur had launched her head first into training and now, after an hour and a half, feeling sore, tired and frustrated, Emma had yet to hit to target.

"You straightened your arm again! You must keep it bent, and I told you hold the strings with three fingers not two! How many times do I need to repeat myself?"

Releasing herself from the Prince's arms, she turned to face him.

"It doesn't feel natural. My body wants to do what feels comfortable."

"Well your body is wrong. You are losing power and control; because you are straightening your arm the string of the bow is hitting it."

"I know I can feel the bruise forming."

"Then you should know you are doing it wrong."

"You're not exactly raising my confidence here."

Giving a sigh, Arthur began to grow weary of playing teacher to the ward of the King.

"Just try it again and that will be it for today."

Rolling her eyes, Emma retook her position and raised the bow as Arthur handed her an arrow and helped her notch it onto the string. He corrected the height of her shoulder, checked that Emma had the correct amount of fingers keeping the arrow in place; his hand flowed up her left arm and made sure it was bent into the correct position. Enclosing himself around her, his breath resumed its dance upon her neck, sending a shiver down her spine.

Focusing her on the target, Emma slowed her breath and pulled the string back, just as she readied herself to release the arrow, she almost dropped it in surprise, Arthur had covered her eyes with his hands.

"Arthur, just what are you doing?"

"Trust me. Now, fire an arrow."

"But I can't see anything!"

The future king's lips moved from her neck to her ear.

"You need to feel the bow, remember how you're holding it now; you need to know them until they become as natural as breathing." He took a breath, her ear dangerously close to his lips.

"Now, fire an arrow."

Doing as Arthur instructed and the inability to see, Emma readied the arrow again. As Arthur's breath danced upon her earlobe, her breathe matched his.

Trying to imagine where the target is, Emma released the arrow, feeling the strength of it escape the bow, she gasped back in the Prince. After a few minutes in silence, Arthur removed his cover from her eyes. As her eyes readjusted to the sunlight, Emma tried to spot where the arrow had gone, firstly checking by her feet, then the ground between her and the target and then finally, the target itself.

A full blown grin appeared on her face as a giggle slipped through her lips. Skipping towards the target Emma was filled with joy, although the arrow was barely on the target and Arthur had basically done all the hard work but finally in this backwards era, she had managed to accomplish something.

Sending a grin to Arthur, Emma walked back to him.

"I did it, I actually did it!"

Without realising, Arthur gave a smile back.

"You managed to fire one arrow."

"Don't ruin this moment!" Emma scolded him with the smile still on her face. "Can we do this again tomorrow? Please?"

"I will let you know. Now that's it for today."

Giving Arthur back the bow, Emma danced off towards her chambers, it was now late in the afternoon and the joyous young woman had been ordered to dine with the King that evening and Emma did not think shocking the dinner table with her current clothing of trousers and a shirt would be the best idea.

Humming to herself as she entered her chambers, Emma was quickly joined by the Lady Morgana and Gwen, who seemed to have been lying in wait.

"How did the first session go?"

Morgana settled herself in one of the chairs, her purple gown flowing behind her and her dark hair lay loose over her shoulder, she was indeed an ethereal beauty. Gwen quickly retrieved a dress from the wardrobe handing it to Emma as she went to change behind the screen. Gwen was also a beauty in her own right, wearing an underdress of white and a sleeveless dress called a surcote in red as was befitting her station, with curly brown hair and light brown skin, she made sure her appearance was respectable.

Although Emma was adamant in her decision of not having a ladies maid, Gwen was a life saver by helping her as well as Morgana, although Emma begged her not to tell Arthur.

"Well," Emma's voice came from behind the screen. "Honestly, it was terrible at first; I felt I was being ordered around like a dog! But Arthur showed me the basics, how to hold the bow and the stance I had to stand in and finally, finally I managed to hit the target!"

She emerged, wearing a dress of dark blue, Emma turned as Gwen quickly laced it up with expert speed.

"So, it wasn't that terrible then?"

Morgana laughed before she noticed a cloud of confusion flash on to Emma's features before she forced it down resuming a neutral face.

"What is it?"

With a brief silence of contemplation, Emma considered on what to tell the women so had known only briefly.

"It's nothing, just a passing thought." Emma forced herself to smile, quickly changing the subject. "Anyway, I might be training again tomorrow!"

Morgana and Gwen started to talk but Emma was lost in her thoughts. How could she explain her reaction to her close proximity to Arthur? How could she explain the way her skin tingled when his breath was on her neck? Shaking her head to get rid of such thoughts, Emma forced them to the back of her mind, was she that desperate for human warmth?

Giving a sigh, Emma sat in front of the dress table, undoing the braid in her hair.

"I suppose Arthur was his boorish self again."

"I've started to think that he has no manners."

"Arthur with manners? The man's a bully. Isn't that right Gwen?"

"Yes Milady."

"It's Merlin I feel sorry for; the poor man is stuck with him every day."

Emma managed not to laugh out loud.

"I think Merlin can handle himself."

Gwen smiled as she brushed Emma's hair.

"Merlin said the same thing, the second time I met him."

Upon hearing this Emma did laugh.

"That doesn't surprise me."

The smile slowly faded from her face as Emma thought about the ordered meeting.

"What do you think Uther wants with me this time?"

This was not the first time Emma had been summoned to the King, although this was the first time it was dinner. Usually it was a full blown interrogation in all but name, normally the questions focused on the fate of Camelot, weapons, military tactics, criminal punishment and even the eradication magic, things that Uther could use against his enemies and to grab more power for himself.

Emma tried to evade answering if she could, or the answers she gave were so vague, they became riddles. Both Uther and Emma knew that his decision to make her his ward was politically motivated, with her in his debt; Uther thought he could use Emma and control her, something she allowed him to believe.

"I don't know, he's invited me and Arthur as well."

Gwen forced a circlet over Emma's hair as she moaned about being stuck with Arthur for the evening.

"He's just going to moan about how bad I was today!"

"You'll be fine." Gwen whispered her reassurance into Emma's ear, earning a small smile, at least someone was optimistic. Taking a breath and standing from the chair, she quickly gave herself the once over as Emma readied herself for the nightmare the night was expected to be.

"Let's get this over with."

Motioning Morgana to lead the way, Emma sulked behind allowing the King's other ward to lead the conversation as Emma hummed in agreement when she thought she was meant too.

Did she really want to endure an hour of questioning? Did she really want to go to this dinner?

Emma tried thinking of an escape plan, maybe she could 'accidently' fall and 'hurt' her ankle and therefore unable to make her way there. She almost growled at her own cowardice, Emma reminded herself she needed to get home very soon before she completely lost her mind.

Morgana was still happily chatting away about some sort of fashion as a guard opened the giant oak doors of their destination. With a loud announcement of both Morgana's and Emma's arrival, Emma took her eyes away from her feet. Uther and Arthur were already seated at the long wooden table; the large amount of food remained untouched as the two men waited for the ladies. Morgana immediately took her place to the left of Uther, as Arthur occupied his right; this unfortunately meant the only other set place for eating was by his side.

Noticing her hesitation, Arthur sent her a confused look, she had been fine during training, he was still surprised he managed to make her smile, something couldn't have happened in their small gap between their meetings, could it?

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Emma could have imagined a boxing ring bell sounding to start Uther's game for the evening.

To say the atmosphere was incredibly awkward would be an understatement, conversation was limited and restrained with Emma, whereas Morgana relayed court gossip and news she had heard whilst in the market with Gwen, completely at ease with the two men in front of her.

Restless, Emma ate very little, usually when summoned Uther launched his questioning as soon as her foot crossed the door frame, questions which were repeated throughout the course of their meetings until she revealed even the vaguest of answers. Emma's thoughts circled, attempting to predict Uther's plans and tactic's for what had to be a device of a dinner.

Regaining herself from her thoughts Emma realised she was caught in the middle of a conversation between the King and his son.

"I do not like how close they have ventured to our borders."

"But they didn't cross it; they may have just been travelling by."

"I cannot take that chance; they have been an enemy of Camelot's for many years. You will lead a small group of knight and patrol the border for any activity."

Arthur opened his mouth to answer; however, Emma beat him to it.

"Can I come?"

Arthur turned to her in surprise as an amused smile graced Morgana's face.

"Why should I let you go on a patrol?" Uther took a sip from his goblet, distrust clouding his old eyes. Seeing an opportunity, Emma formed a plan to escape the Citadel, even if it was only for a few days. Immediately her thoughts strayed to finding someone of the magical variety to send her home as no one practising magic would risk their life by coming to Camelot with Uther in charge, apart from Merlin, of course.

"Well, if this is indeed an old enemy, they will have prepared for a small patrol force and will probably have orders not to spare anyone."

"Go on."

"If I go," Emma tried not to smile. "We can deceive them into believing you have ordered Prince Arthur to give a tour of the Kingdom to your new Ward. That way we can scout out their numbers and report back, allowing us the advantage."

"And if this plan should fail?"

With her brief silence, the tension returned before a small smile brightened her face.

"Surely you have faith in the ability of your son and his knights?"

Uther tensed, as he considered what she had said, Morgana began to open her mouth to speak but the King raised his hand to silence her.

"I assumed you thought if this plan due to tactics from where you of from?"

Emma tried not to smirk as she realised he had used this opportunity to try and get information out of her and did not fancy the consequences if she told him she thought of it thanks to the Trojan Horse, which was older than him.

"Maybe it is, Sire."

She leant forward in her chair, biting her bottom lip in anticipation, anxious for an answer.

"Fine, you ride out at dawn."

Most of Uther's reply was unheard due to a massive squeal of delight and the bouncing of Emma in her chair before forcing the closest person into a bone crushing hug, which unfortunately was Arthur.

Stunned by her happiness, the young Prince watched as she ran from the room, calling out to Gwen to help her.

"Father, you can't do this."

Having been unable to sleep properly, Emma was quite aware she had bags under her eyes but with the help of Gwen she did at least look presentable in a pair of trousers and a blouse which were hidden underneath a dark blue cloak. With a bag a clothes in her hand and a satchel of water on her hip, Emma hoped she had prepared enough for this quest. Walking down the stone steps to the courtyard, Emma made sure her back was covered because of the hidden bow attached to her back, praying to be able to practise in the wildness of the wood just like Robin Hood and Maid Marion and to be as good.

"You're late."

Holding the reins of his horse, Arthur was dressed in his chainmail; his sword sheathed at his side beside his Merlin was leading a white mare towards her, directing it to stand to the side to allow Emma to climb on.

Stepping back in surprise Emma, in her excitement, had not factored in actually how they would be travelling.

Looking between the two of them, Emma swallowed, what if they didn't let her go because she could not control the four legged creature.

"What is the matter now?"

Attempting to find an excuse, she stood there dumbly, opening her mouth like a goldfish. She was never going to live this down; Arthur was going to tease her to her grave.

"I- err," Emma cleared her throat. "I don't know how to ride."

Queue the awkward silence.

"Are you being serious?"

Turning to Arthur, she felt her temper rising.

"Look, we don't need horses to get around, we have much faster methods."

"You were never taught to ride, at all?"

Feeling the annoyance being written all over her face and taking a few steps forward, Emma jabbed her finger into Arthur's chest.

"Don't you dare laugh at me Arthur Pendragon!"

Ignoring her threat, Arthur motioned to Merlin, who began to attach bags to the horse meant for Emma. As the young warlock moved the horse to prepare it for the journey with the equipment needed, as Arthur mounted his own.

Rushing up to him, Emma hoped she could somehow try and stop them should they try and leave.

"Here." Arthur offered his hand to her, only to receive a blank stare.

Just what was he playing at? Last time he did this he-.

Emma tried to step back, but Arthur had already placed her hand in his. A gasped passed her lips in shock, without her consent, a sharp tug forced her up onto Arthur horse causing the whole courtyard to look to the loud shriek Emma produced.

Letting go of her hand, Emma was mortified, not only was she now on the horse, but she was now sat in front of Arthur. With the reins in his right hand, his left wrapped around her as his breath resume the dance on her neck from the day before.

Emma just knew, this quest was going to be torture.


Tehe! I really hoped you enjoyed it!

Reviews are adored ;) Thanks for reading!

I apologise for any errors, unfortunately me and my amazing betas are only human!

If you spot an error please contact me, I shall change it asap!

Until next time! x