With All My Heart || Arthur Pendragon

28

Mira sat at her window looking out at the night sky, waiting for Gwen to come back with news of Gwaine. He had been in prison for a week now, his fate still hadn't been decided. Uther allowed her to leave her chambers but she felt as if her every step was watched. She began thinking of everything: Gwaine, her guilt for bringing Osric into her friends' lives, King Uther, and Arthur. She had fallen for the Prince, seriously fallen for him, but maybe it was more than that, maybe she was....

"Stop it" Mira told herself,"He's the Prince, even if he did feel the same...". Again, she stopped herself, it was too painful for her even to admit her feelings for him, let alone consider he felt the same. She sighed.

"You always did cause trouble, didn't you?".

Mira jumped three feet in the air, gasping she spun round to see Osric standing in front of her. "Wh-what are you doing here?!" she demanded.

"You defended Gwaine well" he commented,"But...it wasn't enough".

"Osric" Mira began, trying to mask the fear in her voice,"Let Gwaine go, and I'll...I'll go with you. Just...don't hurt him".

"Even if I do drop the charges against Gwaine he will still hang for treason" he replied. The words stung Mira but she tried not to show it.

"He isn't the traitor, you are" she snapped. He laughed coldly. "Uther, won't believe you. He'll see what you really are" she continued. Osric stepped closer, sword in hand. She grabbed hers off the table. "Where are the guards?".

"Oh, they had some business to attend to".

"If you kill me, they'll know. Gwaine will be released and they'll catch you" Mira warned. "I'll be long gone by the time anyone hears about your death" he answered. He kept coming closer.

"Get out. Now. Or I swear Ill run you through" she lifted her sword up and put as much confidence into her voice as possible.

"Try me" Osric whispered and he lunged.

Mira defended as best she could but fighting in a dress against a Knight, however old, is not easy. Every swing he took was hard and her wrist ached after a few minutes. This wasn't messing with Gwaine on long summer evenings, surrendering after five hits; this was real, one wrong step and you die. She stumbled against a wall but dodged him in time to miss the sword that crashed against the hard stone, right where she'd been standing, leaving an ugly scratch. She took a strike at him, summoning all the anger, resentment, worry, sadness, and loneliness she'd felt over the years. Her blade ran across his arm leaving a massive burning cut.

Osric swung his sword at her ignoring the pain and knocked her own blade out of her hands. He shoved her against the wall and pressed his sword to her neck. She thought about what Merlin had said to her that night. "If you're going to kill me, tell me why you didn't all those years ago" Mira breathed. Osric faltered and his eyes clouded over.

"Shut up!" he growled and pushed the sword harder against her throat.

"Its because you're scared, aren't you?" she challenged straining against the sword,"You're afraid of me". Osric's face went slack so she kept going. "You're afraid of what I'll do. That's why you didn't kill me, I don't know why you're afraid but you are".

He pushed away from her and turned his back. "I knew I should have but I believed I could use you to my advantage" he murmured dangerously,"A mistake I'm about to make amends for".

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Arthur walked along the corridor thinking about his Father. He'd just had another argument with him over Gwaine; he wasn't going to let him die, the Knight had saved his life after all and they were great friends. He thought about Osric, the Knights, and Mira. He'd never felt this way about anyone before, he wished he could tell her but... He pushed the thought to the back of his mind like he always did, but it would always come back.