Arthur knew of their affair. How this had come to the king's attention Lancelot knew not. He suspected one of the Servants had uncovered the matter, but he simply had no way to know for sure. She had called the two adulterers to meet with her in private, away from even the prying eyes of her own Servant. The two monarchs were already waiting in the small, private room by the time the purple-clad knight arrived.

"I am sure you both know why I wished to speak with you," the king spoke as Lancelot stepped through the door. She was sat on a plain wooden chair, adorned in a simple tunic. Even without her throne, her sword, her armour or her crown, Lancelot was still overwhelmed by Arthur's kingly presence, dropping to one knee and bowing his head the second he stepped over the threshold.

Queen Guinevere said nothing. Lancelot knew well the emotion strangling her voice. He had seen it adorn her face many a time. It was an expression he had not seen her wear since before their affair began. He had managed to keep it from her through their love. And had now returned it to her through what he was sure was his own error in getting them caught.

Arthur let out a deep sigh. "I suppose I should say my own piece before I hear yours." She turned to Guinevere, sat upon another chair beside her. She held out a hand, and her wife took it. She gently stroked the back of her hand with her thumb. It was an act Lancelot himself had performed many times before. The queen had expressed once that it helped her feel calm, and so he had taken to doing it himself.

The sight of Arthur doing this now, to the woman whose trust she had betrayed-

No, he had to remind himself. Guinevere held no grudge for what Arthur had done. In her mind, both royal spouses were guilt-free in their respective affairs. And Lancelot believed the same. Or, he wanted to. There was always that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he and Guinevere had betrayed all of Britain in their actions, as if the king's own affair was not to be held to the same standard. Just what power did the king truly hold over her knights?

"Yes," Arthur confirmed, locking eyes with Guinevere, "I am aware of your... 'affair'. I can only imagine how the two of you must feel about you actions, but I must tell you of my own before you dwell upon it. The truth is..." Arthur visibly braced herself for what she was about to say. "The truth is, I have been engaged in my own extramarital affair. With Saber."

Lancelot's head bolted upwards, shocked that the king would admit to such, and to appear so distraught by her own actions. In truth, Lancelot had never felt as though he fully understood his king. Sir Tristan's parting words had helped elucidate the reasons why, to a point. But now, in this moment, Lancelot felt as though he had taken one giant leap towards true understanding.

"You seem surprised," Arthur said to her knight as she studied his expression, seeming to misread the cause for his shock. "That I would have such an affair, or that it would be with a man. May I beg your confidentiality, Sir Lancelot?"

Words eluded Lancelot, who could only nod in reply.

Arthur smiled slightly. "Thank you. In truth, I... I am a woman. It may be difficult to tell because of Excalibur suppressing my ageing, but I am no man. Guinevere and I were wed to create stability in the nation. It was a union of pure necessity. I love Guinevere, as a reliable friend and confidant, but not as a woman. It is a love that makes me rue that I cannot provide the happiness she deserves; that she has been made to sacrifice her own happiness to support me and my kingdom. And so... thank you, Lancelot."

"Y-You thank me?" he finally managed to speak. "But..."

"You have provided what I could not. I had noticed Guinevere's recent distance around me. I felt as if she had something she was keeping from me. Time has proven me correct."

Guinevere looked away in shame at this comment. Despite her best efforts, it seemed she had not been able to keep the affair from her mind whenever she was with Arthur. Nor to keep herself from feeling guilty over it.

"But I also noticed that she seemed happier when she was oblivious to my presence or observation. At first, I assumed she had grown to despise me for my recent neglect and my focus on the War. Love or no, Guinevere has been deprived of companionship by my recent focus. But once I learned of your affair, everything finally fell into place." Arthur rose from her seat, pulling Guinevere from her own. She then stepped across the small room and stopped before the still kneeling knight. "Please, rise, Sir Lancelot."

Lancelot obeyed, stunned by the softness of the king's tone. She then took his hand and placed it over the queen's, sandwiching the two lovers' hands between her own.

"Thank you, my friend, for providing for Guinevere what I could not. And to you, Guinevere... I am truly sorry for being intimate with Saber without telling you. There is much of his past that is not my place to divulge, which contributed to my being consumed by my emotions. I-"

"No." Guinevere shook her head, silencing the king mid-apology. "Neither of us were fulfilled in the way a married couple should be. It would be wrong of me to blame you for seeking that fulfilment in one you understand on so deep a level as my, admittedly, limited understanding of the Servant visions leads me to believe. If anything, I, like you, am happy you have found one who cares for you so deeply. After everything you have sacrificed for this nation, you more than deserve it. And more, it would be hypocritical, given my own affair with Lancelot."

"I fear I must confess to my own short-sightedness," Lancelot reluctantly interrupted the two's discussion. "I have only been viewing this situation from my and the queen's perspective. I never truly considered that her struggle was one you both shared. I simply used your affair to justify my own actions - as if I was providing justice for Queen Guinevere as recompense for your alleged betrayal. I see now how foolish I have been, and can only pray the two of you can forgive my foolishness."

"The only foolishness I see is your belief that I would hold this against you, my friend," the king responded softly. Her kind, understanding, borderline motherly smile warmed Lancelot's heart, and he wondered how he had ever harboured a negative thought about her in his thick head. "I appreciate that you felt so protective of Guinevere. She is a good woman, and deserves only love and kindness."

"Oh, no, I am not so-"

"Yes, you are," Arthur and Lancelot both interrupted as one, fixing her with a stare that she could surely not deny. After a moment, king and knight turned their gazes on each other, whereupon they could not refrain from grinning, nor from laughing. Soon, the three were all laughing together; something none of the three could have expected, going into this discussion of the two extramarital affairs shared between them.

It was certainly not the outcome Sir Agravain had expected when he had reported the affair to his king. No, he had expected a punishment far greater for this betrayal from a knight and the queen. In his mind, the fact that the king had committed adultery first changed nothing. It was still a betrayal of their king and nation.

Agravain had once been dispatched as a mole - an operative in his mother's plot to destroy Camelot - long before the Grail War was even suggested to become a factor in the conflict between Uther Pendragon's children. While plotting to destroy Camelot from within, the man who had once been Morgan's most reliable child had come to truly respect and admire his uncle.

That was why he now so fervently, so wickedly supported his uncle's rule, performing the dirty tasks that the honourable King of Knights and his entourage would never dream to. He did what was necessary, even when he knew his fellow knights would detest him for it. On one level, it was so Arthur could defeat Morgan when the time finally, inevitably came. On another, it was to prove to himself that he was no longer a puppet of Morgan.

He had never confessed any of this sordid history to his king, of course; nor would he ever. That would only risk disrupting his work towards building a brighter future for the kingdom. Thus, as he did with many of his plots, he kept it to himself. As he would his next plot.

Although he had not managed to overhear the entire conversation, he had at least managed to make himself abreast of the conclusion. A conclusion that Agravain knew was a poor choice, driven by pure emotion, rather than logic. A conclusion that Agravain knew would only breed insubordination, if this betrayal went unpunished. It was often logic that drove the king's actions, and that had proven a great boon for Camelot. But the king had become compromised by his emotions, thanks to the many tragedies that had taken place in the course of this War.

That was why it fell to Agravain to do what his king could not. So firm was his belief that his cause was just that, even if it meant opposing the king's own will, Agravain would push onward, for the future of the kingdom.

The plan was already formulating in his mind. The mind that his mother had hoped would bring about the fall of Camelot.

Every other chapter released before now was already written prior to Chapter 1's release. Before release, I always reread it one last time to fix errors and slightly improve the wording. This was supposed to be a simple flashback to flesh out the next chapter, but it took on a life of its own and is now a separate chapter entirely. I may be adding another chapter soon, and perhaps tweaking some of the later chapters to match the slightly altered direction this chapter has taken the story. Naturally, I may require a break from releasing chapters after this. We'll see.