Love, Faith and Family

Chapter 50

Miriam still hadn't spoken much to Merlin after the incident with Kilgharrah, even after he'd saved Morgana and Uther, his actions only continuing the futuristic visions he'd seen in the Crystal Cave.

And as if things couldn't get any worse, Lord Godwyn and the princess Elena had arrived in Camelot. And Arthur was supposed to marry her.

Ever since Gwen told her the news after hearing it from Arthur himself, Miriam had taken to avoiding him and the citadel like the plague, insisting on taking all of Gaius' patients in the lower town.

At least that was until she returned to the citadel to stock up on some more supplies that Arthur cornered her and dragged her into his room.

"What do you want, Arthur?" she grumbled as she tore her arm from his grip and he closed the door behind them.

"You've been avoiding me ever since Lord Godwyn arrived, why?"

"I haven't. I've just had a lot of people to help since then," she answered as she turned around to face him.

"Just as you know when I lie, I know when you do Mira. Tell me the truth," Arthur insisted and Miriam broke, the pressure inside her heart too much for her to bear.

"Because it kills me Arthur!" she exclaimed and Arthur's heart mirrored her broken one. "I knew this was going to happen but I still held out hope for us. And do you know how painful it is for me to hear everyone talking about you and Elena getting married every time I go into town?! And then to see you two going off for a picnic together?!"

The tears that pooled in her eyes only made Arthur empathetic to her state.

"And how painful do you think it is for me to be forced into a marriage with someone I don't love?! When the person I love with all my heart is so close to me and I can't be with her?! It's killing me too! And it's not fair Mira."

Her bottom lip trembled as the frustration seemed to drain out of her at Arthur's outburst, both of them crying freely.

"Nothing in this world is ever fair, Arthur. But we don't have a choice. We were doomed from the beginning."

"If I go through with it, if I marry Elena, what will you do?" he asked, hesitating as he said her name that seemed to stab more knives into her heart.

She took a deep breath to steel her nerves.

"I will be by your side as your physician and advisor, watching as you become the king you were meant to be and the king your people deserve."

Arthur once again saw straight through her lie but this time he chose to ignore it, to believe her words.

And he also chose not to stop her as she wiped her tears and walked out of his rooms and towards her own.

The second the door to Gaius' chambers closed Miriam let her heartbreak.

"Mira?" Merlin called as he walked out of their room at the sound of his sister's sobs.

Her vision was cloudy as she made for Merlin, her brother's arms wrapping around her before her knees promptly gave out.

And for what seemed like hours, Merlin could do nothing to heal his sister's broken heart except hold her as she cried.

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Today was Arthur's wedding day and Miriam stood in her green dress, smoothing it down for the thousandth time as she stood with Gaius amongst the groom's side of the crowd as they watched the ceremony begin.

"I'm sorry," Merlin said after seeing his sister's grimace at the sound of Arthur's voice saying that it was his wish to become one with Elena. "About the dragon the other night, I'm sorry for putting you in that situation to undo my mistake. You didn't deserve that."

Miriam gave him a weak smile, as their hands linked.

"You're forgiven," she replied before her heart stopped as Arthur stopped the ceremony, Merlin with a wicked smirk on his face as he recalled what he'd told Arthur moments before the prince walked down the aisle.

"Elena, you are a wonderful woman and a beautiful bride, but I cannot deny my feelings," he said and she only nodded.

"You do not love me."

"And I think if you were honest, you do not love me either."

She shook her head, both their hands still joined.

"No."

"Then we are both here out of duty. Can you forgive me?" he asked and the princess only smiled.

"I agree with all you have said. Thank you, Arthur."

And a hopeful smile couldn't help but decorate Miriam's face as the wedding was over, no one having gotten married.

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"So, I'm still a single man," Arthur pointed out as he encountered Miriam in the stairwell the next day, her nose in her notepad as Arthur said goodbye to Lord Godwyn and Princess Elena.

"So it would seem," she said with a small smirk as they stopped walking. "And what, pray tell, does the noble prince Arthur plan on doing now that he has forsaken a rather lovely candidate for his queen?"

"Well," Arthur began, eyes darting everywhere before landing on her. "I had hoped to have forsaken her for one equally as lovely. Who knows? Maybe even more so."

Miriam's smile soon turned into one of faux confusion.

"I do not know of such a person."

"Me neither, but I guess only time will tell."

Her heart was healing as she smiled at him as she lifted her skirts.

"Well, when time does tell, my prince, you know where to find me."

"You will be the first to know," he assured her as she walked past him, Arthur unable to see the large smile on her face and Miriam unable to see his, nor his little skip of joy as he reached the top of the stairs.

There was hope for them yet.