the dark days (book one of the darkness saga)

Chapter 58 - Arthur

Chapter 58 - Arthur

Arthur , Lycan King POV

- Camelot time line -

I stop kissing her when I notice how she has stopped moving. I feel moisture on my finger when a single tear falls while I cup her cheek.

"What is it, my queen?" I could read her eyes. She was considering her options, like she was on the verge of telling me something.

a few moons ago -

“Arthur. An uprising is happening between The Fallen One and the rest of the Nonpareils” Guinevere who looks like she was just in a trance looked at me.

"Surely you are mistaken my love, this is not supposed to happen until centuries from now. Are you certain?" I knew about the coming uprising. I was once the Fallen One’s greatest creation, made from his own blood. I have walked alone for centuries, until I found my destined; she who is the rebirth of the goddess of creation. My pull towards her is strong, and the mate bond set in very decisively. I did not expect that she will have the same pull towards me as well.

Unknown to the gods and Nonpareils was I could sense who she was. Since then she has spoken freely to me about matters known only to gods, what was, what is, and what was yet to come, and how fate cannot be averted, but results can be changed.

“Something is distributing the balance. Someone who has been hidden will re-emerge. Her connection to a werewolf will be the catalyst.”

“I don’t understand, my love.” I knelt down in front of her.

“A time will come that I must go, so she can come. She is the rebirth of me but she is different. She will hold on her form and herself true. She is destined to your future rebirth. She will need your help. You are needed so she can go back to her time to stop the Nonpareil’s plan.”

“But I don’t want you to go my love.” A tear escapes my eye as I bury my face on her lap.

“Our time is done my love. I will neve truly be gone. Some parts of me will live inside her. But you now play a much bigger part. You need to help her find the answers she seeks. I Love you”

- Current moon -

How I wished that Guinevere was wrong, that her vision which she has not had for a long time was false. Yet I’ve learned better not to doubt gods.

I did not want to believe it. But when I saw her today—even thou her hair and clothing was a dead giveaway—I didn’t expect her to look exactly the same. Neither did I expect that she and I will have the same pull as I do with my queen.

Her eyes deceived her though. As with Guinevere, I could read her eyes when she is hiding something. But when she hugged our pups, I let go of my doubts. She looked genuinely happy to see them. Even the children were at ease with her presence. I just wonder how long she will hide the truth from me?

She looked resigned in her sorrow. She leans into my chest and allows herself to cry. I hold her tighter in response. Maybe tonight she just needs someone to lean on.

If that's what she needs, it's what I'll give.

The next several days I kept her close and watched her carefully. I couldn’t help but admire how smart she was, especially on how she gets out of spots where she is supposed to know someone’s name but doesn’t.

I’ve also spied on her trying to call upon her powers. The dark matter that was emanating from her finger tips was unmistakable. She has had training from what I can see; borne of chaos, dark matter is the hardest magic to tame. She could have slaughtered us all if she could not control it, but she has it masterfully restrained. She could not harness it's power though, and that gives her much frustration.

I had expected her to be at least a match with my Guinevere. When my queen first told me of her arrival, I trained with her, learning what I can do to subdue her in case I cannot sway her with words.

But it turned out her arrival was the exact opposite—I had not considered that she would need saving from my border guards—the least trained in my command. She actually handled herself pretty well, but without her powers getting outnumbered was inevitable. I had to rescue her. Had I not intervened, she would surely be lynched. My people have no love for things they do not understand.

I'll have to chastise those guards for attacking their queen. Just for show of course, I won't really have anything done to them; but I could not reveal to my people that there is something amiss. I just need enough time to help her return to where she came from.

She will need my help eventually if she wants to get back to her time. But I shall not force it out of her, for fear that she run away and get into more trouble.

I also discovered that she knew about us; perhaps it is written in lore or even history during her time? She keeps to herself most of the time, but when pressured to converse I could glimmer that it seems fantastical how she refers to Camelot or my reign as king.

But however good she is at pretending, it is clear to me that her love for my pups is true. The mate bond that she and I share is genuine.

Guinevere has warned me of this in her vision, and my god she is right. One need not take a second look to see that she is my queen. I just did not expect that the feelings will be the same as well.

I have to overcome the fact that I sorely miss my queen; that she is not her, but she will need my help. I must do what is honorable and reveal to her that I know, and she need not worry because I will do everything I can to get her back.

I'll never be prepared for the consequences of that though. Once I have succeeded in helping her return, my love isn't coming back. Neither she nor Guinevere can come back to me.

Could you blame me for wanting to hold on to her like this, even for just a little longer?

That's not fair to her. I'll have to help her soon.

I walk towards the garden, decided to speak to her about this. I hear Alexis and Xander playing with her.

“Father!” Alexis calls to me as she runs towards me and hugs my leg.

I kneel down to hoist her up, then hug her and kiss her forehead. “What games have you been playing?”

“Mother is teaching us a new game. Hopscotch I think it’s called.” Alexis squirms as I set her down on the ground. She hurriedly pulls me to this grid that was drawn on the ground with numbers written on them and small rocks on certain numbers.

“Oh Arthur, I didn’t see you there.” she smiles to me as she pick up a stone from the ground and throws it to one of the numbers on the grid.

My eyes widen as she grabs the hems of her dress and pulls it up to her mid thighs. The nanny covers her eyes with her hands but her cheeks obviously redden. She then hops on one leg across the grid, picks up her stone and goes back.

As she hops the dress bounces showing more of her knickers. I quickly glance at the guards and mind-link them to look away. They all quickly do as told.

She notices the change in everybody's demeanor, and quickly lowers her dress. “Oh! I'm sorry. It was a heated match and I was losing to this one.“ she leans down and tickles Alexis's side, causing her to squeal and run to hide behind me.

Maybe not today?