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“I cannot be your son.” He stared at Arthur, at Mr. Simeon. Was this all real? Would he never escape this fate of killing his father? He moved his gaze over Noelle. He didn’t want it to be. He wanted to be normal, perhaps share his days…and nights with her. Now, he had her hiding in King Arthur’s lair. Waiting to be killed. Probably by him! It was mad!
“I…I believe you are,” Arthur told him shakily. “I felt it, as did you. It’s a connection that cannot be broken. My only regret is that I didn’t know about you until you were almost a man. I wish I could have raised you. Not to make you a better man, but to be there in your life to support you and love you.”
Sebastian remembered the only memories he had of his childhood. A father who beat him many times in the face, or the back and legs, sometimes so bad that he couldn’t walk.
Arthur started to come toward him.
“I killed the man who adopted me.”
The king stopped. He looked ready to pounce on Sebastian. Noelle appeared like an angelic statue, not moving, not breathing.
“Why?” the king asked.
He tried to offer them his practiced smile. Of course, he was fine. He would always be fine. But he wouldn’t be. He didn’t want to break down in front of Noelle. Not on the first night. Come on! But tears filled his eyes and made them sparkle like emeralds in a clear summer stream.
Instead of answering, Sebastian did what he’d never done before for anyone’s examination. He pulled up his woolen sweater. He presented his chest first, and then his back. “They go down my arse and thighs.” He heard Noelle crying, and then he felt Arthur’s arms around him.
“I’m sorry, Mordred.”
“Sebastian. I’m Sebastian,” he said, embracing him. His gaze found Noelle’s. He smiled and winked at her.
“Yes, good!” the king announced, stepping back and glancing at Simeon. Sebastian it is!”
There came a thunderous crash. Sebastian tried to get to Noelle and ended up in the middle of Arthur’s living room, staring up at two gigantic brutes and their snorting horses.
“Gentlemen! Ehm…greetings,” he called out, ready to sprint if they moved.
“You!” the bigger, more brutish of the two shouted.
Shockingly, they weren’t pointing to Arthur, but to Simeon.
“You’re coming with us.”
“I can’t come with you!” the time traveler reminded them with impatience in his voice. “I can’t stay in one place too long. Nothing you try to secure me with will work.”
The knights exchanged an amused look. Did Sebastian want to give away his identity or Arthur’s if he didn’t have to?
“We have this to hold you down,” the younger one promised and held up a small vial.
Sebastian knew to get out of the way. He ran to Noelle then pulled her away. Arthur moved toward it, hands raised, words spilling from his lips. But he was bone weary and his strength didn’t last long. He looked at Sebastian for aid for his friend. Sebastian would not give it. Merlin was a powerful wizard, wasn’t he? He had to help himself for now. Sebastian would not give up his power if Morgan was involved.
The knight pulled the top out of the vial. Smoke erupted out, like a volcano. The older knight mumbled Morgan’s incantation and the smoke rose out of the vial and covered Simeon. The time traveler spoke out against it and for a little while, and with Arthur’s help, they prevailed. But finally, Simeon fell unconscious and stopped moving.
“Let him go!” Arthur shouted at them. “Why do you do her bidding?”
The older, larger knight narrowed his eyes on him. “Who are you and what do you know of any of it?”
“I’m Charles Lancaster, and I don’t approve of kidnapping—”
“Gawaine, he was using magic with the traveler.”
Gawaine, Sebastian repeated in his thoughts. He knew Sir Gawaine was a Round Table knight, but hearing his name shook Sebastian’s bones.
Gawaine grinned at him. “Using magic, hmm?”
“You have what you came for,” Sebastian said with a warning thread in his voice. “Go now, before I lose my patience.”
The knights laughed but then grew serious again. “That detective from the past told us who you are, Mordred. We came for you. But now that we are here, who is this man? Tell us and we will not take you to Morgan.”
