The Royal Scandal *Book One*

The Last Stand S1 E2

💚 Edited--13.6.20 💚

The next day, I was walking round the courtyard when I saw Merlin.

"Merlin!" I yelled to him.

"Hey, Princess," He replied sadly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Arthur fired me."

"What? Why?"

"He said he needed someone who he could trust."

"Wha-what? I don't understand."

"It's fine, though."

"Let me talk to him. I'll knock some sense into him."

"Thank you, Chelsea. But don't worry. Maybe it's just not my destiny," Merlin said before walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You fired him!" I yelled, as I walked into Arthur's room without knocking.

"He humiliated us Chelsea. The whole crown court and our father now thinks I'm a coward and that you're some delinquent or something," Arthur snapped back.

"He was telling the truth Arthur. We can still expose Valiant."

"Argh!" He exclaimed annoyed. "You sound just like him. You know he said exactly the same thing? We can't expose him, Chelsea. And anyway, if we do any more damage, Father will just ship you off on a one way ticket to marriage with Valiant!" Arthur argued back.

"You know what? Fine, be like that. See if I care!" I yelled storming out.

"Chelsea," he said grabbing my wrist and pulling me back in. "Look I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you or Merlin but he has just made winning this competition so much harder and I can't risk losing you. You're all I've got left."

"You have Father."

"Not really."

I quickly wrapped my arms around him and squeezed tight. No matter how mad I was with him, he was still my brother and he was right; we were all each other had left.

"Does that mean you'll forgive Merlin?" I asked hopefully.

"No," he answered bluntly when we heard a knock at the door.

I spun round and saw Merlin standing their nervously. "I'll give you two a minute."

I left the room giving Merlin's hand a quick squeeze as I walked by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Third Person POV

"I thought I told you to get out of my sight," Arthur said without even looking at him.

"Don't fight Valiant in the final tomorrow," Merlin said quietly. "He'll use the shield against you."

"I know," Arthur responded, staring into the fire.

"Then withdraw. You have to withdraw. We'll find another way to stop Chelsea being sent off with him."

"Don't you understand? I can't withdraw. The people expect their prince to fight. How can I lead men into battle if they think I'm a coward? If I don't fight we have no chance of saving my sister. Don't you get it? To my Father, my sister is a burden, an opportunity of getting more power. If he marries her off to some prince, our kingdoms shall be united and we'll have an ally. At least if I fight, there's a chance that she won't be sent off with him; if I don't, there's none."

"Valiant will kill you. If you fight, you die."

"Then I die."

"How can you go out there and fight like that? Knowing that your sister is relying on you to make the right choice. I know you want to protect her but this is not the way. If you're dead, who's going to protect her? Why are you still doing this?"