DISCLAIMER: NOT MINE!
NOTES: Thanks fort he Reviews! This is really short, but the next one is already in the works and might even be ready tonight!
Hope you still like!
KNOWLEDGE
"Yes...." His voice as toneless when he said it, not flinching from her penetrating, angry gaze. One word that held a world of meaning. One simple word and yet it held a weight heavy enough to bury them both underneath.
They stared at each other for one endless moment and it seemed to Morgianna that all the emotions they suppressed, that slumbered underneath their cover of self- control and neglect, combined made the air heavy, almost too thick to breathe.
Her chest constricted under the pressure and for a heartbeat she thought she might suffocate.
But years of training and control took over instinctively and she let it go, let her feelings, her anxiousness go in one deep breath until there was nothing left inside.
Shouts and applause could be heard from the feast, Morgianna turned to see Merlin in the distance, standing at the head of a table, raising his cup in a toast. She could not hear the words, but the laughter and the clapping of hands washed over them both like a wave crashing to shore. Morgianna saw Arthur raising his goblet in return while Lancelot watched her calm face intently, following her eyes.
"It scares you sometimes, doesn't it?" He finally said solemnly. "Your brother's capacity for goodness. You hide it so well, even from him, but sometimes it fills your eyes; the fear that all that makes Arthur great could one day turn against him. His kindness, his overwhelming sense of justice, his capacity for mercy. We both know that a king cannot always afford to be merciful and forgiving, that sometimes he needs to be ruthless in his cause in order to make sure his ideals prevail....."
Morgianna turned to him ever so slowly, looking at him as though she would see him for the first time. When she answered him her voice was soft.
"You see it in my eyes, Sir Knight, because you feel it in your heart. Because it is the fear that gnaws away at you and robs you of your sleep just as surely as it fills my heart with dread."
Lancelot took another step towards her, grabbing her wrist to pull her closer, so that he could see all of her eerily serene face. His fingers dug into her skin hard enough to hurt, hard enough to leave her bruised. Still she returned his searing gaze with her own, her eyes dark and unreadable.
"I need to know...." He whispered harshly "Tell me what you see...."
"He will not need to be ruthless with you by his side....." Morgianna said, staring at his face. Now that his tight self- control was finally starting to fail him it showed all his conflicting emotions as plainly as a mirror.
"You are his stalwart, his rock; as long as you are with him no one can stand against this king and prevail. No one will be able to tear my brother down, not even his own kind heart. Together you can bring peace and justice and prosperity to this land. As long as you hold fast to your friendship, the love you have for each other, no man will have the strength nor the power to defeat him. You are his champion and as long as you stand together as one, no harm shall befall him...."
Lancelot let his breath come out in a sharp hiss, his hand falling from her wrist, his head bowing. All tension left his body that moment, leaving him tired and drained as he covered his face with his hands, squeezing his eyes shut.
As long as you are with him .....
Morgianna stood by and watched unmoving. She understood the feeling of defeat suddenly flooding him.....understood it all to well. It had been his choice, his question; knowledge was a burden in itself. Now he would have to carry it too, and it might wear him down just as it had weighed on her.
"That is not all, is it?" He asked after a while, looking up, gathering himself. She could see the knowledge in his eyes, the blooming understanding of what she had imparted on him....the slow horror of it spreading cross his handsome features, until he regained control.
"That is not all .....You and me, Morgianna....it's our doing. My fighting, your plotting that will keep Arthur from destroying himself, that will ensure his throne."
"Yes...." Morgianna said quietly, allowing the sadness she felt to fill her voice for once.
"And that means our failure could one day cost him everything...."