AN: I know it's been ages since I last updated but I've just been so busy with moving (AGAIN) and the stress that it involves. Anyway I'm back now, I had a few chapters half way typed up-just needed to finish them. I'm changing up the pattern a bit for this one, but I'm sure you'll keep up. Enjoy and please review, I was a little disappointed with the review for the last chapter, but have high hopes for this one!

"And we come back
we'll be dressed in black
and you'll scream our names aloud
and we won't eat and we won't sleep
we'll drag bodies from their graves"

-Spectrum by Florence + The Machine

Chapter 8

"Hello, brother." her icy words rang through him as his eyes adjusted on her. She was mostly the same in appearance the difference was the warmth that once radiated from her was gone replaced by a look of frigid hate in her eyes. Suddenly he wondered if she was always like this and he failed to notice or if she was driven to this madness. He could hardly remember how he ended up in front of her on his knees, hands bound behind his back. While his mind tried to put the missing pieces together, a part of him listen to her speak. "I must admit Arthur, you are one hard man to kill. I should know I've been trying for years now. However I suppose even I would evade death if I had such powerful forces helping me stay alive. I don't know what you offered Emrys or why he continues to help you when all you've ever done is prosecute his kind, but I can assure you this time around both you and he will meet your end."

He could feel the soreness on the side of his face as his head ached. He watched her approach him like a snake that stalks it's prey, no this wasn't the same Morgana he'd known for the better part of his life, no she changed from who he knew her to be into who she was now in less than half a decade. The terrifying thing about that was he wondered if for the better part of his life he lived a lie. "I tried to be fair." He didn't know why he needed to justify anything to her anymore, but he felt with her being his sister and having magic he owed her some consolation.

"Fair?" she bit back, "I see, yes, you've evolved dear brother from Uther's influence, that is why those with magic can live and practice their gift freely-oh wait, no they can't." Her eyes narrowed and her voice became even colder if it was possible. "You like to delude yourself with such chatter, you've done nothing to change. You've done nothing to make a difference!"

He glared at her, he was getting tired of her games, of her attempts at his life and Camelot. It was the first time in a long time he found he saw the ruthlessness in her eyes that he saw in his father's eyes from time to time when he was prosecuting a magic user. He suddenly saw what everyone saw, he suddenly remembered the fear that his father invoked and now Morgana took his place to terrorize those who would not bend to her will. "Are you fair?"

Morgana's brows knit together in anger, "What?"

Arthur asked again, watching her eyes grow darker, "are you fair? Can you say that you've acted fairly in all you've done in this quest for vengeance and power?" She didn't answer, but he saw the tension building within her, he saw her fists, and the gold in her piercing green eyes. "So tell me sister, how are you any different from what you accuse me of?"

"Throw him in the dungeons!" She yelled and turned away from him, but he could sense the turmoil in her. With that he almost satisfactorily took another blow to the back of the head.

They looked from the hills towards Camelot, Arthur could hardly believe the state of Camelot. It was so easy he realized to destroy something, and took years to rebuild. He looked to Merlin who once again had that look of contemplation. He knew that every time Merlin faced Morgana he too felt just a little confused and perhaps responsible for her state of being. For he knew that once when things were simple and they were but children pretending to be grown, Merlin cared for his sister.

"I think we can use the tunnels and get to the dungeons, from there we'll know whose where." Said Merlin still scanning the area around the outer walls of the city. "Though I think there is a chance that Morgana wouldn't keep Gwen that far from her."

Arthur watched his friend, "What do you mean?"

Merlin smiled almost softly, "As much as Morgana despises Gwen for being queen, there is still some care for her there, I've seen it, and there is the whole thing of how much you care for Gwen."

"She would use Guinevere to get to me." Arthur finished. His brows knitting together in worry. "Let's go."

"Arthur"

He turned to look at Merlin, his eyes soft and a small smile on his lips, "We'll get her back." Arthur found himself nod before they were making their way towards the tunnels.

It seemed easy enough getting to the old tunnels, and he almost felt hopeful that they had a chance, that maybe perhaps Morgana missed this tunnel, but just as those thought entered his mind, he heard foot steps. "Merlin?" he whispered behind him only to turn around and be faced with a grimy faced giant that used the hilt of his sword to knock him to the ground. He found the world turn for a moment and vaguely heard Merlin call out to him before all went black.

Morgana sipped her wine, how wonderful it was to be living the way she was meant to, like a queen. She had to admit, it was hard at first living in a hovel eating what she could catch to survive, but now those days were gone. She prepared better this time, ensured that her reign would last longer than the last one, this time she had no one she cared for but herself, and she had the one man who could challenge her in her grasp. She supposed that she should worry about Emrys but he was an after thought. While watching her once friend Gwen die would bring her some comfort, she knew that the pitiful little servant could do little to nothing to stop her with her knight in shining armor presumed dead.

The knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts, "come" she said as she watched the young girl that once served Gwen walk into the room with what she had requested. Gwen had no idea that the girl was druid who lost her father to Uther, and that she was nothing but a spy. One thing she could always count on Gwen for was her generosity and naivety. She gave the girl the job of being her handmaid and privy to all that she knew just because she felt some sort of kinship in their common trait of being orphans.

"My lady, I've bought you what you wanted. The blood crystal, it was just where you said it would be in the royal vault, and I've made sure to secure the queen's blood in it as you asked." She said as she placed the item in front of Morgana and bowed her head.

Morgana smiled at her innocence, for she too was naive in her quest for vengeance. She supposed once a long time ago she was as well, but today she was powerful, not one of the five kingdom will dare challenge her, she wasn't as weak as the last time she was within these walls. She had the protection of the white dragon after all. It was all to easy to manipulate the girl into doing her bidding, but she gave credit where it was deserved for she did manage to break into the vault without getting caught and get some of Gwen's blood for the crystal to work, she thought to ask her how she managed that a little later. "Tell me Erin, what is it that you'll do for me?"

The girl's sandy blonde hair bounced up as she looked up at her mistress, her blue eyes shinning with need to please, "anything my lady! You know I serve only you."

She stood and laughed, walking towards the wine pitcher she grabbed another goblet and filled it. "Good, that is all I needed to hear. Now join me in drink." She said handing her the goblet.

"Oh my Lady! I couldn't!" she spouted, fiddling with her hands as she did.

Morgana stepped closer to her, lifting her chin to make the girl meet her eyes. She smiled almost kindly and said, "I insist, we must celebrate what we've accomplished and what we will accomplish when we bring Arthur Pendragon to his knees with grief."

There was that spark of vengeance in her eyes as she nodded and took the goblet. "Yes."

"Tell me how you managed the servant's blood." she said as she leaned against the table in front of her girl. "And don't just hold it, drink the damn thing."

She nodded and took a sip, "well my lady the queen was-"

"Stop referring to her as queen! I am now your queen!" She said as she slammed her own goblet down.

Erin flinched and looked down, "I'm so sorry my Lady!"

Morgana pushed some hair from her face and smiled again, "no it's quite alright, continue."

"Umm, well the servant as you call her was out riding and she fell from her horse, I happen to spook the horse and when she hit her head and fainted, I collected her blood." She said hurriedly.

"Brava!" She clapped, "I'm so pleased with your work dear Erin."

The young girl blushed, "thank you my Lady." and took another sip of the wine.

Morgana watched her for a while, watched the wine relax her, watcher her fear of her dissipate little. "Tell me Erin, what would you do to seek revenge against Arthur? What are you willing to do?"

"Anything!" She said almost too animatedly. Morgana smiled and stood and pulled the girl into her arms.

"Then I shall make your wish come true!" She whispered in her ear, before she pulled back and looked her in the eyes, "together we will cause Arthur so much pain, that in comparison he will know nothing."

"Yes my Lady, I would do anything for you." She whispered now.

Morgana laughed, "good, thats what I like to hear because I will need your help." She said before she cupped her face and kissed the girl. Yes she needed this girl's pathetic need for revenge to bring her half brother to his knees for his crimes, and how glorious it will be for her to watch.

She was giggling, her eyes light with mirth. Her delicate hand over her lips as he sat in front of her covered in leaves. It was their first picnic since they've been married, at Merlin's suggestion that he do something for Guinevere to show her that she was still loved and appreciated. Of course she was, he loved her more than he could ever show her. There were few things that could begin to compete with his love for the woman before him.

He watched her for a few moments longer as the sun bounced of her skin and he felt the warmth in the pit of his stomach. His father never understood that the desire he had for Guinevere wasn't just a youthful lust. No, he had plenty of those, but it was when the idea of Guinevere planted itself in him mind and heart he realized what true desire for just one woman was. While she laughed she didn't noticed him lean forward and grab her waist and pull her down on top of him. They fell with him on his back on the blanket and her sprawled across him. Her curls curtaining the light some.

"What is it this time? Another wasp?" she asked her hand on his shoulders, lips mere inches from him face and breasts pressed to his chest. She breathed a little fast from the anticipation.

"Just me, wanting to kiss you because I can."

"Oh? Can you?" she asked with a raised brow.

He leaned forward and captured her lip, tasting the sweetness of the pear she had just moments before. "Yes, because you are mine and I yours."

She smiled at him, one hand coming up to cup his cheek before she leaned into him for another kiss. He always felt feverish when she kissed him like this. Her soft lips between his, her warm tongue meeting his every twist and turn. Her hands in his hair, nails scraping his scalp lightly. The delicious press of her breast against him, and her over all warmth.

He pushed her slightly lips never parting as he flipped them, so she was on her back and him over her. He pressed his groin into the folds of her gown. He missed the delicate material of her gowns she used to wear. His hand on her waist moving like a whisper over her stomach, to ghost over her chest then he captured her hands over her head and deepened the kiss even more. When she needed a breath, he busied himself with her neck, the scent of her lavender locks tickling his senses.

"Arthur..."

He loved his name on her lips, he loved how she strained to get closer to him, he loved how she tasted. There was a time moments like these were rushed, almost awkward because of all the things that he couldn't say or do for the fear that he would disappoint her, or wouldn't be able to hold up his end of giving them a future. But now she was his, he could touch her when he wanted, she was his present and his future. She would walk beside him and be his companion in light without having to hide.

He capture her lips again, now his other hand slowly moving over her torso to rest on a breast. She gasped into the kiss and his tongue soother her. Soon he would peel the green satin gown from her and over every inch of her with his lips, the sun would warm his back and light her skin. He grew harder.

He felt the ice cold water being splashed on to his face, he looked up and saw Morgana smirking at him, "taking a little nap are we, brother?" He glared at her but said nothing as two men grabbed him under the shoulders and dragged him out. "I have a treat for you. Well it's a treat for me really but I'm sure you'll appreciate it."

He didn't know what was happening, he didn't know if Merlin was dead, at the very least he knew that Elyan was alive. While he was trained to withstand battle, torture was something completely different. He wondered why Morgana just didn't kill him, what could she gain from keeping him locked away? But then did anything she do make sense to him anymore, the answer to that he knew. In a weak voice he managed to ask "where are you taking me?"

Morgana gave a shrill laugh, "Oh you'll see brother, you'll see." They approached the royal balcony now adorned with the black silk the white dragon on the center of it, the very place from where he watched countless men, woman, and even children being burnt or beheaded for their crimes of magic, but today a heavier feeling was settling in his stomach than when he watched them wondering if they were indeed innocent; as he wondered who it was that she was going to have burned when the pyre came into view.

He frantically looked around wondering if they've caught Merlin as well, or if it would be Elyan or another knight that refused to give her his loyalty that would succumb to the horrid fate of being burnt alive. Then he wondered if this was to give him a warning, to prepare him for his own fate. He had so many questions and no answers, he felt as helpless as he did when his father passed judgment on those who he now believed to be innocent.

Morgana watched his turmoil with a smile on her lips, her eyes cold and full of disgust. "Tell me brother, what does it feel like to take something so precious from someone who has done nothing to harm you?"

Arthur looked at her then, "I wouldn't know of that Morgana, I don't kill to please myself."

"No you killed to please your father!" she spat back the fire in her eyes raging high.

Arthur looked her over, "he was your father as well Morgana, isn't that your reasoning behind claiming the throne and Camelot, that it is your birth rite!" He watched her lips press together in being reminded of being Uther's daughter, but he continued, "I admit that I was wrong, and I've even started to evolve, to realize that what I did in my youth to please our father wasn't right even if it was law."

Morgana smiled again, "you've learned nothing, you only claim to have changed, you stood by and watched them burn, you help find them! The only thing you changed was solely for yourself, and that was to marry a servant."

"That servant was your friend, she was loyal to you!" Arthur shouted.

"And you took her from me!" Morgana shouted back, Arthur watched her then, she pulled herself back and looked to him again, he never realized that Guinevere meant as much to Morgana as she did to him, "she was my only friend, the only thing I had to myself, and you took her from me, just as you took my sister! You and Uther took so much from me!"

"I was your friend, or at least I thought we were friends once." He whispered slowly, "I didn't mean to fall in love with Guinevere, but I'm not sorry that I did." his eyes casting to the cold stone.

She stood straight, "she was pathetic as well, to have fallen in love with the man that let her father be killed, her father was innocent you know. Just as Gwen was innocent of what happened between her and Lancelot the nobel."

Arthur's head jerked up at this, he watched her laugh again, "I must say that at the very least you still have some faith in her to have been able to marry her, but she was of course innocent, she was under my enchantment, I thought Lancelot would kill you, and it would be a silly romantic tragedy, the stuff of legends really-a love triangle between a king, his whore, and his knight. But I realize now that I didn't quite reach the height of tragedy that I could cause you. The sheer pain that I can inflict upon you, until today."

With a motion of her hand he looked down to the court yard to the pryer where he heard a very familiar voice, it was Guinvere's his eyes looked from the pryer to Morgana. "No!" She was alive, she was alive this whole time he was wasting away in the dungeons. Seeing her gave him a spark of life but it also made his heart sink to the depths of his stomach when he realized that it wouldn't be Merlin, or Elyan or one of the other knights, it was going to be Guinevere. "Guinevere!" She looked up at him, her eyes full of tears and fear.

"Oh but yes!" She laughed, her head angling to look at him as her lips pouted, "don't worry it will only hurt while her skin burns then she will faint from the pain and the rest will be smooth."

"Morgana I beg you! Don't do this!" he shouted, he felt the grip on his shoulders tighten, he felt his heart race, and his eyes sting. "She was your friend!"

"Any friendship I had with her ended when she choose you over me. I would have no reason to kill her if it weren't for you Arthur!" Morgana said sternly, almost bitterly, "it is because of you, she will burn today."

"NO! Guinevere!" he fought as much as his body allowed, but he knew he was weak, but he continued, his head feel light. He watched as Guinevere fought and screamed and begged to be released, he watched Morgana's guards bound her to the pryer. "Please Morgana."

She approached him, her cold hand on his chin as she looked him in the eyes, "I lived in fear once, I begged once, but no one listened, so now you shall feel the pain. I shall make you feel what every person who had ever loved someone and died because of Uther and you, and I will keep you alive until your will to live or die has disappeared and you've become a ghost in your own mind. You will see what Camelot will become."

"Morgana I will never forgive for this." He said.

She turned away from him, and looked to the pryer where Guinevere begged for her life, "I don't need your forgiveness, but you will beg for mine." With those words her eyes flashed golden and the spontaneous fire sparked to life as it burned at the flesh it found.

The cries of agony that floated to him cause him to fall to his his knees, the tears trailing down his grime covered face, but Morgana wouldn't let him kneel, no the guards pulled him back up and made him watch as she scream, as the fire turned his beautiful Guinevere into something of shadows, as it consumed her. He looked away again and fell to his knees, had he been watching he would've watched the face of the woman who he knew to be his wife and love Guinevere transform to that of the maid servant Erin. If his mind wasn't weakened and devoured with seeing her in pain he would've heard her call out to Morgana as her mistress. But he didn't see nor hear it, and when he closed his eyes all he could see was Guinevere burning and hear her screams echoing through his whole being.

Morgana kneeled next to him her icy words washing over him, "and now you shall live with that until I grant you death!" And then with a swoosh of her skirt she was gone, he felt himself being pulled up and dragged back to the dungeons.

When he hit the cold ground all he could whisper was, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry I couldn't save you..."

TBC

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