Of Chores and Crowns (A Merlin Fanfiction) ✔

Chapter Forty

I despised myself. Absolutely despised myself.

I dropped my head into my hands, feeling Abatos huff into my hair. I groaned out loud, dragging my hands down my face. I looked over at my horse out of the corner of my eye.

"I am a clotpole." I groaned, coining one of Merlin's phrases.

He huffed a puff of air into my face, and I couldn't help but scrunch up my nose at the smell. I turned away, sighing deeply.

After Arthur kissed me, I had lost all concept of time. It was just the two of us and the open sky. However, the rest of the world eventually caught up with me, and I jerked away from him.

"I-I need to think."

Those had been my last words to him before I raced away. Now, I was hiding in the stables, on a stool in front of Abatos' stall. I was a coward.

I could not even understand why I was so upset. The man I loved cancelled his wedding for me. I should be dancing around the room in joy, not hiding out in a stable that smelled like horse poop.

My dress would be ruined after this day. Fayelinn had bought it for me, hoping to

Fayelinn.

I jerked upright, startling my horse. I needed to talk to Fayelinn. I needed to find out if she was angry at me, and if she was, I needed to fix it. I couldn't lose her.

I stood up, kissed Abatos on his nose, and raced out of the stables.
I wasn't sure where I could find her. Where does a bride go after her groom rejects her? I assumed my best bet was her room, so I hurried up the stairs, eager to see her.

When I burst into her room, she was racing around packing. Her wedding gown was tossed in a corner, but the gold dress I had found was laid out nicely on the bed. Faye had changed into one of her more simple dresses, and she had a wild grin on her face.

"Faye?" I asked, cautiously.

She whirled around to look at me, her cheeks flushed and her eyes shining brightly. She smiled when she saw me and I was taken aback. I felt like this wasn't the correct response when you were left at the alter.

"What's going on?" I asked, stepping further into the room and shutting the door firmly behind me.

"The wedding is camcelled!" She exclaimed, letting out a laugh.

I watched as she skipped around the room, tossing more and more of her belongings into her bags.

"Isn't that a bad thing?"

"No!" She exclaimed, dropping her stuff to grab me in an embrace, "It's amazing news! Now, I can be with him!"

"Be with who?" I asked, frowning deeply.

"My knight," She sighed breathily, "Gwaine."

I froze, my eyes bulging out of my head. Gwaine was her knight?! I thought back through the past through months, and the more I thought, the more sense it made. That must have been why he was so grumpy last night when the wedding was brought up!

Why hadn't I noticed this?

"Gwaine is your knight." I said, trying to process this new information.

"While you were gone, Gwaine was the only one who kept me calm. We eloped the week before you came back." She told me, trailing her fingers down the golden dress.

I had had it all wrong. The white dress hadn't been her wedding dress, the gold one had been. She used her land's tradition for the wedding she wanted; for the man she loved.