❝ The future was yet to be written, uncertain in every way except one: there will be fire.
When the dawn closed her eyes, she awoke in flames-a hellfire inferno burning as leaves on briar-thicket trees. A forest of thorns alight. A vision of the fut...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
nights of wine and starry eyes
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
DEEP WITHIN HER, AN adamant barrage came to life with the goldenrod dawn, piercing and tearing and battering without mercy. Anxiety ribboned through every vein like a river of flame, growing ever stronger with every passing footfall, only to reach its suffocating zenith in the midst of the training grounds.
Aurora did not doubt him for a moment—she could never dream of it, especially with a reassuring Merlin spouting sonnets of praise every chance given. Her anxiety was not one born from doubt in his abilities, but rather the fear that, somehow, everything would fall apart at the seams. That the big little lie they orchestrated would collapse like the walls of Jericho, exposed for all to see and bringing shame upon Lancelot's very name, and the dream he spent endless years reaching for would forever be torn from his grasp. She feared that, in time, Francis's words would prove themselves; the truth cannot long stay hidden, and God only knew what chaos the aftermath would sow.
"What's the matter with you?" Merlin's voice ricocheted like thunder, tearing her clean from the ocean of anxiety that sought to swallow her whole. Those eyes of cornflower skies, so innocent and carefree, baffled Aurora beyond comprehension; how could he be so calm when a storm could blow through at any hour? "Don't tell me you're worried about Lancelot."
"You could say so," she admitted, gleed eyes lost upon the crowding of bystanders and noble men across the way. To receive a new knight of Camelot, or even just the mere possibility, had always been a great spectacle. The stage was set, the audience gathered in anticipation and the performers gathered in the center of it all; such a place was nothing short of home to Arthur, but Lancelot appeared as if flesh alone was keeping him together.
To see him in such a state served only to make her insides twist and turn in the worst possible way.
"He'll be fine, Aurora." Pretty assurances flowed from his lips like honey. "We've both seen him in action and we both know he has it in him to not only stand against Arthur, but to win. You needn't worry about anything; everything will be fine."
