No young man-no matter how great can know his destiny.
Astrid Ashryver Morgan, the Queen of the once-great kingdom of Ambience, lost everything centuries ago, and her once loving heart lies broken and in darkness.
And so Astrid's life is about to...
After Merlin had investigated Lady Catrina's bed chambers, almost got caught by Jonas, and then told Gaius and I what he'd seen, he went on with his chores for Arthur.
I was brushing Eclipss down next to Merlin who is brushing his own horse, Arthur with us as he leans against Merlin's horse's side, when we hear laughter from across the courtyard. Arthur rolls his blue eyes when we look up to see Uther helping Lady Catrina off her horse, both of them laughing.
"Honestly! Look at them!" Arthur says in exaggeration, frowning, as he gestures to his father and Lady Catrina.
I hear Uther asking Catrina if she's alright, and she responds that she is.
I ask, "Don't you think it's odd how quickly they've become so close?"
Arthur says flippantly, "There's nothing odd about that. My father's a wealthy and powerful man."
He pats the horse's side before turning around and taking his leave.
After he leaves, Merlin tells me he plans to find out more by going to Arthur's bed chambers, and I made him promise t come get me if he finds anything, which Merlin agrees to.
We then continue brushing our horses while chatting.
🗡🗡🗡
I was woken up from my sleep by the sound of my door opening. I sit up and turn as Merlin rushes up to me, face filed with a mixture of shock, horror, and disbelief.
"I've found something," He says, eyes wide.
Not needing him to say anymore, I swing myself out of bed, throw on a blue faux fur long sleeved coat, and tug on my boots as I follow Merlin out the door.
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(What her coat looks like—->)
On the way, he tells me how he'd used a mirror in Arthur's chambers with his magic in order to spy on Catrina. When he did, he'd seen the form of a troll, not a beautiful woman.
Arthur, had, of course, woken up and caught Merlin. After giving him a lecture, he'd threaten to feed Merlin to the dogs if he'd ever caught him again.
Merlin leads me downstairs, and we have to duck back behind the corner so Catrina wouldn't see us. We enter the stables and go down a flight of stairs to the manure pile. We pause at the bottom of the stairs and gaze around for Catrina. A couple of grunts has us looking to our right. We swallow fearfully before following the sounds of the grunts. As we draw closer, Merlin and I have to press our hands to our noses to block out the unbearable stench, making us gag.
We step into a doorway on our right, seeing a few candles are lit, but freeze out of shock upon seeing a horrid sight before us.
It was Lady Catrina, just in a different form, sound asleep, and with flies buzzing around her. Her skin is a dark grayish, purple colour, her body is much rounded than before, her hair is now white and stringy, warts and welts cover her skin, manure covers her dress, and she also has a pair of tusks sticking out of her bottom jaw.
