Betrayed and Broken

Captured

Arthur rolled out of bed and sighed angrily. For just a second when he woke up, he had seen the sunlight streaming through the cracks in the curtains and was thinking about yelling at Merlin for not waking him up earlier. Then he remembered that Merlin was gone. That he was a sorcerer and was evil. And then he remembered the conversation at the Round Table and Lancelot's reaction. The man would be sorely missed until he broke free from the enchantment.

The king wondered about that. How was it that a strong willed, intelligent, stubborn, young knight was unable to break free from a spell, but a cranky old man (not that he would ever say it to Gaius' face) could? It just didn't make sense to Arthur, especially since Gaius would have had the spell on longer than Lancelot. How did that work?

He felt the bed shift beneath him and rolled over to see Gwen smiling up at him. It wasn't her usual smile that could cause a field of wilted flowers to bloom, but it was a smile more the less and more than he had expected. She had been so heartbroken the last six months, sobbing into Arthur's chest and holding onto him as if he were the last string connecting her to sanity. But now she laughed weakly and Arthur smiled at her in confusion, "What? What are you laughing about?"

She didn't say anything, but continued to laugh, gaining strength. Arthur smiled fully and continued to ask what as he snaked an arm around her waist and rolled her on top of him. He wished for a moment that Merlin wouldn't walk in and see them like this before he remembered that he was never going to walk in here again. Period. Gwen threw her head back and laughed, putting her hands on Arthur's chest. He asked, "What?" one more time before he started to pepper her face with light kisses.

Her laughter died into giggles and she captured his lips, kissing him deeply before letting go and rolling to lie down next to him. She smiled at him and said, "It's nothing really. It's just that you had such a look of concentration on your face. You looked so serious and it was so funny. It's what Merlin would have called your 'Attempting to Think' face." As Gwen realized what she had just said, her smile wilted and she frowned at him, saying, "Oh."

Arthur sighed and nuzzled into her hair as she rested her cheek against his shoulder. He rubbed her arm gently saying, "It's going to be hard getting used to... the traitor being gone. He was everywhere in our lives since he literally went everywhere with us. But we'll get through it. We have to. We're strong enough and we have each other."

Gwen's smile came back in full bloom and she snuggled deeper into his arms, "That sounded quite romantic, Arthur Pendragon. It was quite inspirational, too. I'm pleased." She grinned at him.

Arthur nodded in mock self-satisfaction, although he was actually quite pleased with himself; he didn't even need Merlin's help with this one. Then he remembered, again, that Merlin was gone and chose to respond, "I thought so. It's just the thing I say to my knights when they need cheering up."

Gwen sagged in his arms before propping herself up on an elbow. She stared at him in a silent reproof for a moment before dragging herself off to bed. As she grabbed out a dress and went behind a dressing screen to change, Arthur threw his hands in the air and cried out, "What? What did I do?"

After she had arranged her dress properly, Gwen walked out around the screen and gave him a look. He started pulling on his clothes and was about to open his mouth to protest some more when she finally answered, "Really Arthur? That's what you say to your knights when they need cheering up? It's not just something romantic that you said to your wife to make her feel better? I'm not being petty, but I had given you brownie points for being romantic and you completely lost them by talking about your knights. Women don't like to hear about their man's friends when their man is attempting to be romantic. Honestly, Arthur." She huffed out the last sentence.