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Suspended above the floor as if I weighed no more than a feather, I felt myself moving across the room and turned by an invisible current of energy until I hovered over the dais like a porcelain doll to be displayed in a shop for children to peer at.
With that horrifying thought, the room's tranquility was shattered.
The tramping had grown louder. The heavy chamber door swung open with a resounding crash, filling the room with the harsh clamor of armored boots striking the stone floor. The scent of leather and steel mixed with the flickering light and sweet smell of Merlin's incense.
In the doorway stood my brother, Arthur Pendragon, with a group of armored men behind him. He wore a fine set of armor made from deep, inky hues of polished metal. A dark, maroon cape billowed around his shoulders. Dark-haired and handsome like our father, he might have passed for any fine prince of the realm or a wealthy nobleman's son. Only his eyes hinted at the malevolent power he had kindled within himself since he had taken his seat on the throne of the Rose Court of Camelot.
Arthur's eyes narrowed in confusion as he took in the scene before him. Me, hanging in the air like a rag doll about to be hidden behind the tapestry like some bizarre, treasured work of art. Merlin, her hands still poised in the air, brimming with unconcealed magic.
The High Priestess regarded my brother with surprising calm. “Greetings, High King.”
“Merlin. I see you make no attempt to hide yourself.” Arthur turned to the man at his side. “She did not run as you said she would, Fenyx.”
The man by his side smiled slowly, never taking his eyes from Merlin.
This was my brother's new favorite.
Fenyx had golden hair which framed a ruggedly handsome face marked by piercing, steel-blue eyes. He surveyed the room with an air of quiet confidence. Strong, capable hands rested on the hilt of a broadsword. A flowing white cape cascaded around the Lord General’s shoulders. He wore a cuirass of azure blue with an intricate pattern of silver and white.
Every plate, every buckle, every link of his chainmail was polished to a mirror-like sheen. He held his helmet under one arm, adorned with a rose and a silver crest. His own insignia blended with Arthur's Rose Court motif. Fenyx must have held a special place in my brother's cruel heart indeed.
But though his appearance was one of radiant beauty, I sensed a treacherous undertow beneath the calm seas. A malevolence that lay just beneath the surface.
“Your sister, I presume? You failed to tell me how lovely a creature she was.”
I couldn’t move, couldn’t scream, couldn’t do anything butbeas the two men looked at me assessingly, Arthur with cold suspicion and Fenyx with a wolfish gleam in his eyes.
“She wasn’t as comely before she left,” Arthur observed as he looked at me. “She’s... changed.” His head snapped back to Merlin. “What have you done to her? She’s different.”
Merlin did not reply.
“You’ve been keeping her here, I suppose?” he pressed. “This is where she’s been all of this time? Why? What is the meaning of this?”
“Weakening the king’s morale, of course,” Merlin said, her voice soft and controlled. “If you believed your beloved sister had betrayed you...”
Arthur’s lips curled. “Ah, yes. You sought to weaken me by taking something you believed I loved.”
He did not specifically deny he loved me, I noted. The implication was there.
“You must have moved her about quite a bit. She did not go willingly, I presume?” Fenyx asked, still looking at me with interest.
“No. I betrayed her. She hates me for it,” Merlin said clearly. “She has been kept here all these long months. As my captive.”
I understood now. Understood what Merlin was doing. Giving me an alibi. Buying me a story.
But did she understand the price this story was going to cost?
“She is not the only one I have stolen from you, King,” Merlin said, her voice becoming crafty and boastful.
“What is that supposed to mean?” my brother demanded sharply.
“Why, Guinevere, of course,” Merlin said with false innocence. “You have come to fetch her tonight, have you not? Is that not what this attack was all about?”
Merlin was baiting him. I could see Arthur’s temper rising. Soon, it would explode like a spark in a barrel of kindling.
“Where is she?” he said through gritted teeth. “I want her. I want her back now.”
“Do you not wish to know how I spirited her away from you in the first place? How I stole her out of the castle?”
