AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As if they shared one heart (which Annie supposed they kind of did), Lancelot frowned too.
Annie gathered that Arthur almost mentioned his dead dragon-sorceress wife, Guinevere, who’d been turned to stone upon her beheading by Rui. Guinevere was now eroded into some unrecognizable rock formation in a hidden cave deep underground. Good riddance.
Annie almost (but not quite) wished her alive again so she could torture her for a few decades the way she tortured Merlin, before finally putting her out of her misery. An eye for an eye, and all that.
This was yet another trait, vengefulness, especially where her mate was concerned, that Annie knew she should work on controlling. She just didn’t work very hard at it.
“You might not want to tour a particular section of the museum tomorrow then,” Annie said.
“There’s a special gallery on display that’s dedicated to the Arthurian legends. It’s a collection of all of the famous art—paintings, sculptures, supposed artifacts—about, well,you. And Lance, and Merlin. If I recall correctly from my art history studies, a large portion of the art includes the women of these legends or fictional stories. Like Morgan—”
“Whom the bards villainized,” Arthur protested.
“Well,” Annie said, “be that as it may, at least she looks beautiful in all of the paintings.”
At this, she smiled cheerfully in an attempt to help Arthur focus on the positives.
It didn’t take. He continued to frown ferociously, Lancelot mirroring his expression, though the intensity was more subdued.
Annie cleared her throat.
“We can certainly tour the museum without you if you’d like to do something else. Or, we can all go together to do something else. Explore the parks around Kensington Palace, for example. Or—”
“Nay,” Arthur said, his back straightening even more as if he was bracing himself. And he was no slouch to begin with.
“I want to see. I…I am curious.”
Annie’s expression softened.
There was such a lost look in his deep blue eyes. She couldn’t imagine how he was coping with his new reality, though he’d had some months to acclimate.
Here was a mighty warrior king who was plucked out of his own time where he’d led armies, fought bloody battles, triumphed gloriously against foreign invaders, and united a lawless, divided land.
Now, what was he?
Anyone else might need to take many more months, if not years, to adjust to this drastic change of circumstances, but Annie was absolutely certain that Arthur was impatient to find his place in the world. Todothings. Great things. Because he was just that sort of man.
And Lancelot…
Annie watched the faithful knight as he watched his king.
In unguarded moments like these, when Arthur was lost in his own thoughts and unaware, Lance looked at him with such naked longing. It was almost painful to see.
But it wasn’t necessarily lust in his gaze, Annie decided. It was simply desire in its purest form. A soul-deep wishing and wanting for something that he believed he could never have.
“Then we shall tour the gallery,” Annie said.
“We’ll have a good laugh at everything the artists got wrong and maybe even appreciate the beauty of the art itself.”
She didn’t think any of the group could distance themselves enough to laugh at the past, given how painful it had been for all involved. That was just wishful thinking. But maybe they could confront it and ultimately put it behind them, each in their own different ways.
“And tonight, I’ll research the best ways to travel to Caerleon or whatever it’s called now,” she added, “so we can get going first thing the day after next.”
Arthur gave a brief nod and pushed away from their table.
“Forgive me, Annie.” He met the eyes of Merlin, Rui and Wolfe in turn with the same sentiment.
“I shall retire early. Perhaps I am…jet lagged after all.”
