Here is chapter two. Please read and enjoy :)

The next time he saw Gwen was the knighting ceremony. His father was furious with him for passing her but he argued passionately that she deserved it. Uther secretly hoped Gwen would die in battle soon enough and Arthur was fully aware of that. Obviously he knew he would never let that happen.

There was a ball held in the honour of the new knights that night and Lancelot, also a new recruit invited Gwen to go along as his date. She accepted only because she had no good excuse not to. So with her new found money she went and brought a beautiful red dress. It was a gorgeous gown made from silk and narrowly missed grazing the floor as she walked. Looking her in mirror, she allowed herself a rare moment of girly behaviour and twirled. She loved the way the dress caught the light and hugged her curves in all the right places. Nervously she waited for Lancelot to come and meet her from Gaius's. He arrived shortly, looking very handsome in his full armour and red cloak. Gwen panicked and thought perhaps she should change into her chainmail. Lancelot sensing her distress turned to her and smiled,

"Gwen, you look wonderful. Relax. Tonight is meant to be fun."

She returned his smile and they walked arm in arm into the castle together. Judging from Lancelot's reaction, the new dress suited Gwen and the thought of Arthur seeing her like this made her heart skip a beat.

Arthur's heart skipped several beats as soon as he saw Gwen walk through the door. She looked beautiful and completely took his breath away. His heart stopped entirely when he saw she was not alone. Lancelot! Arthur knew there was a reason he didn't like him although admittedly he only realised he didn't like him tonight. Lancelot and Gwen came over to Uther and Arthur, Lancelot bowed and Gwen rather unusually curtsied instead.

"Thank you sire for this great honour you have bestowed upon us", was Lancelot's very eloquent greeting.

Gwen's response was a much simpler, "Thank you, your majesty".

"Lancelot, you will make a fine knight and are a wonderful addition to the greatest army the world has ever known. Sparks, you have surprised me but I'm sure I will be right in the end." Uther looked at Gwen with a mixture of disgust and pity.

"Gwen, you've done brilliantly in training, one of the best I've seen. I look forward to fighting alongside you in battle." Arthur felt compelled to say something after his father had basically implied that he wants her to die.

Gwen looked up from her curtsy and smiled a small smile at Arthur.

Eager to move them on from such a tense situation, Lancelot broke the silence and said "Gwen, would you care to dance?", and he held out his hand for her.

"It would be my pleasure", and Gwen took Lancelot's hand. Arthur's eyes followed them as they walked away.

And off Gwen and Lancelot went to dance with all the other couples already on the floor, Arthur longed to be able to go over and ask Gwen for a dance but he had to do his royal duty first. After what felt like hours of greeting dignitaries and congratulating new knights eventually his duties were over and he finally had the opportunity to be able to ask Gwen. But he was nervous, she had been dancing with Lancelot most of the night and looked so happy. Arthur desired to be the one who made her smile like that. Who would want to dance with a knight when they could dance with a prince, and it was that mental attitude that made him go over to them.

"May I cut in?"

"Of course your highness", was Lancelot's agreeable response but his eyes told another story. Arthur realised that Lancelot was well on his way to falling in love with Gwen.

"My lady",

Lancelot bowed to them both as he left. As Arthur took her hand Gwen couldn't help but smile. As she looked at him, with that smile, his heart melted and he knew that he too was beginning to fall for her, and fall hard. Before they could even get to the end of one song, there was some trouble and Arthur had to be dragged away.

It turned out the rest of the knights were needed as well. A griffin, a creature with a body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle, was a vicious beast and it had decided to attack Camelot. This one was especially dangerous as it had developed a taste for human blood. As the knights got into formation, shields surrounding the sides and others lifted to the sky, they attacked it with spears and burning arrows. Nothing was having even the slightest impact and eventually they had to retreat inside. They acknowledged they needed a new strategy. Arthur stormed off furious with himself for not being able to protect his beautiful Camelot and his people who live here. He anxiously paced around his room, kicking walls and throwing things. There was a knock at his door.

"Enter", Arthur growled.

"Sire, I think I have a plan." was Gwen's muted response.

"Well, spit it out", annoyed but calm Gwen continued to explain her idea. She argued that they should ride out and fight the griffin away from the castle and into the forest, forcing it to conduct the battle on the ground as opposed to flying and attacking them from above. Arthur listened intently and realised that not only was the girl beautiful and brave, she was intelligent as well. She could read people and situations and that was something Arthur valued. He agreed with her and said they would ride out as soon as day breaks. Once the message was sent out with the guards to the rest of the knights, Arthur and Gwen spent the rest of the night pouring over maps, plotting knights' locations and who would strike when. They spent along of time catching each other staring, their hands brushing against each other and laughing and joking with each other. There was even a bit of flirting going on. Gwen was beginning to fall asleep but she refused to go to bed determined to finalise the plan.

Eventually she fell asleep in her chair. Arthur looked at her, still in her gown from the ball, looking so peaceful but uncomfortable and he was overwhelmed by how protective he felt over her. He picked her up from the chair, and she stirred, looked up and him smiled before drifting off. He carefully placed her on his bed and covered her up with his sheets. He lay next to her, above the sheets, but the tension he felt meant he couldn't sleep. He hoped she wouldn't wake up and get mad at him. Maybe he should sleep on the floor instead? As he got up to move, Gwen turned round and faced him, "Don't go, please", she mumbled.

"Ssh, I'm not going anywhere." whispered Arthur.

"Good", she turned round and put his arm around her, and they both drifted off.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to read on :). Thank you.