A Week with a Prince

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝕹𝖎𝖓𝖊

Arthur's attention was claimed by his Companions during their brief break-- they were all concerned about their security, suggesting to change their planned route and avoid roads entirely, even though it might mean arriving to Warwick a day later.

Ginny knew that her Lord Arthur wanted to talk to her about what had happened, to reprove her for her reckless behaviour most likely, but surrounded as he was by the excited knights, he didn't have a chance. She stole away from the noisy group the moment she finished the wine he obliged her to drink, desperate to organise her thoughts. With all those men talking loudly over each other, she could not focus.

"Don't go too far. Please." Arthur's voice made her stop in her tracks before she took two steps away.

"I won't," she promised, smiling. She walked back to him, where he sat on a fallen tree trunk facing a semi-circle of his Companions, and bestowed a quick kiss on his cheek, making some of them chuckle, others turn away politely.

Then she strolled through the meadow interspersed with a few trees into which the plain they travelled across the day before morphed, letting her thoughts ramble while she picked flowers and herbs for the healing salve.

Even without looking at him, Ginny could feel Arthur's eyes following her, warming her like the spring sunshine. She could also see the looks of his Companions when she turned towards the group of men occasionally, looks laced with... respect and admiration she had not noticed before... What had she done, exactly, to deserve them? she mused, lying down in the long grass, closing her eyes against the bright sunshine, shivering as the cool drops of dew soaked through the back of her shirt, reaching her skin.

She should have listened to Arthur and kept the gambeson on, it wasn't summer yet, this weather would not last long... Ginny could smell the rain in the air when she inhaled the breeze caressing the grass. But she would worry about the rain when it came, now she needed to think about the Excalibur. It was as if there was a tie between them, a magical link. The Sword seemed to understand and respect her thoughts and moods, bringing her glimpses of the future when she needed them most. And she felt bound to obey the magical blade in return. It hadn't been... from her own will entirely that she had drawn it against those Saxons, she... hadn't been quite herself... It felt to her now that she had followed an unspoken order...

She shivered again as a shadow fell on her face, blocking out the sunshine, then, sighing, opened her eyes when it did not move away.

"Come, my warrior, we should move on so we set camp for the night before it starts raining," Arthur said, smiling down at her, and she accepted his hand and let him pull her to her feet. "I have no idea how can Garreth be so sure it will rain tonight with all this sunshine, but he's always right."

"It will rain, and without his magic. I can feel it in the air," she said, leaning on her tiptoes, pressing her lips to his.

Without a moment's hesitation, surprising her, he pulled her closer, crushing her against him, deepening the kiss, making her long for more... She laced her fingers through his silky hair, never breaking the kiss, ready to follow him down into the soft grass trembling in the breeze, redolent of thousands of flowers and the approaching rain...

"Well, I'm sorry to interrupt you two, again, Your Majesties, but we're ready to leave." Lancelot's bemused voice made them pull apart.

Ginny hid her blushing face into Arthur's chest and did not look up until she heard Lancelot's retreating steps and Arthur's soft chuckle.

"I should apologise, my lady, I keep making us behave unsuitably."

Ginny simply rolled her eyes at him as he kissed her on her forehead, then she let him lead her across the meadow, her arm laced through his, her head leaning against his shoulder, wishing they were all alone in the world.