My Kingdom for a Kiss

Arthur's muscles were tiring from the endless fight.

His armor was scrapped up and his sword was soon to dull.

But he had to keep going. For Camelot. For the innocent people behind the city walls.

A bearded solider bearing the symbol of the King Odin came running toward the prince, a battle cry escaping his hidden lips.

He swung his sword with stored strength and cut into the prince's stomach. It managed to break off his chainmail and blood came seeping through his silver armour.

Evangeline suddenly screamed and fell to her knees, Arthur, miles away mirroring her position.

Odin rushed to her side and pulled her up, cringing at the sight of her bloodied dress. It was dark and coming too fast.

"Help me, Beatrice!" He shouted and she ran over, aiding the father in laying his bleeding daughter down on her bed.

"Heal, beloved! Heal!" Odin plead, but she was too weak.

"Guards!!" He screamed from her side and three came dashing in.

"Bring me the psychian! And you! Fetch me Arthur Pendragon! Alive!"

They rushed off as quickly as their feet would carry them and the King looked back to his injured princess.

There was more blood than on a battlefield and with trembling hands he asked her what he could do.

But she was weak and light headed and found words difficult to conjure.

"Get me something, Beatrice!"

She rushed back with a clothe for pressure.

He tied it around her waist and double knotted it on the wound to keep what little blood inside.

She winced as he tightened it with bloody hands and a sweating brow.

Her bleeding stopped, alas, she had lost alot.

She feel into unconsciousness when her eyes would stay open no longer.

It seemed like ages before Arthur was brought, a wary Merlin helping bring the bloody prince in.

"Thank god. You patched it up." The King sighed.

"What happened?" Merlin asked, confused and fearful.

"Evangeline." The King sigh. "She cast a spell on herself, binding her to Arthur. So that she might change my mind about the battle."

"When he was hurt, she was. But I was foolish and sent them anyway. With a command to hurt not the prince of Camelot. But I guess not all who listen hear. I was selfish in my cravings for revenge." The King regretfully informed the servant.

"Call off our soldiers, Evan!" The King told his most trusted Knight, who was by Evangeline's side.

"Yes, Sire." He marched off with that command.

"When Evangeline regains her strength she can end this. She and Arthur will live and you can take the prince far from here. I don't want to see him again in my kingdom or near my daughter!"

The king told Merlin, before kissing his unconscious daughter's hand and rushing out to check on the progress of this latest commands.

Merlin openly began to panic, he scrambled around for a moment, unsure of what to do.

He had tried to heal Arthur on the way to Bernicia, when the guards weren't looking. But Evangeline's spell was fueled by something much more powerful than he; love.

He sighed in distress, looking down at the very sickly two as they slept.

Beatrice could not stay away, she needed to check up on Evangeline.

She slipped in when Merlin tried at attempt number 4, muttering a language she was now used to.

Merlin jumped when she made her presence known, his piercing baby blues wide with terror.

"You are in no danger. I know what you're doing. I might have something that can help." She rushed across the room, opening a carved wooden jewel box.

"Anemone. It helps to heal and protect. With magic it's power is heightened." She handed him a cloth pouch of a flowery herb.

"Are you sure?" Merlin asked, his heart racing with her knowledge of his abilities.

She nodded, "I am." and rushed to Evangeline's unconscious side.

"Ahreddan, allmectig modor
gyden!"

"Did it work?" Beatrice asked, feeling Evangeline's brow.

They two moved in their sleep for the first time and it filled Merlin with hope. "I think so. Watch for the color in their cheeks."

King Odin thundered back, kneeling beside his exhausted daughter.

"Any changes?" He asked desperately of Beatrice, who had been closely inspecting.

"They are healing. The wound is bandaged and the blood under it has dried. So the bleeding has stopped for some time. I think they will be fine with a bit of rest."

"I don't care how he is! He did this! Somehow he has influenced my Evangeline to suicide! It must be his father! Trying at my thrown and kingdom through the heart of my daughter. Curse him and his land!"

Odin raved loudly, causing a stir from the sleeping lovers.

He quieted his rants at once, but for his daughter's benefit alone.

The King posted two guards outside the room and commanded that their rest not be hendered and for none to enter unless permitted.

Beatrice and Merlin were at a loss of what to do in the meantime.

But night had fallen and Beatrice offered Merlin a bed, seeing as Odin was sore against his master, Merlin had not been welcome a room for the night in the castle.

Odin had hoped Arthur would be on his way as soon as he woke and Evangeline would never know he had been there.

But he had not counted on her awakening in the night, healed but weakened.

She groaned lightly at the wound on her side, sighing deeply as the memories flooded her wary mind.

Arthur! Thinking of him made her look around and she would more than surprised to see him sleeping and bandaged by her side.

Evangeline pondered on whether she should wake him, but he beat her to it with fluttering blue eyes.

"Evangeline?" He groaned as he put his weight on her elbows, sitting up after a long rest.

Evangeline suddenly pushed him back down, bringing her lips to his to answer with a kiss.

She had thought he would die in the battle, but to see him here, safely in her bed... well, aside from the battle wound gash, made her stomach flip with glee.

Arthur was surprised, but pleasantly so. He intertwined his fingers through her loose raven locks, kissing back the lips he had longed for.

"I thought I would never see you again." He admitted in a whisper after a moment of absence from her pillow lips.

"Then why did you go?" Evangeline frowned, running her hand through his fair messy hair.

Arthur sighed. "I had to. I couldn't just sit safely in Camelot and ask my men to fight a war they had no part in starting."

"That is noble." She agreed, finding herself capable of understanding his reasoning.

"What am I doing here?" Arthur asked, sitting up in her large wood paneled bed.

"You got injured. My father commanded his men to bring you to safety and treat you." Evangeline explained.

"Why would Odin do such a thing? He loathes me and my father." Arthur frowned in confusion.

"Because if you were injuried, I would be." Evangeline vaguely told him.

"How is that? You're hurt. Why?" He was a bit beyond perplexed now and she bit her lip and looked down at her silken sheets rather than his baby blues.

"In a mute attempt to end this petty war before it began, I cast a spell to bind me to you. Hoping my father would care enough for me to stop this nonsense. Obviously, vengeance is more important than the well being of his last child."

Arthur could not be angry at her for risking her life when he saw the expression on her face.

It was that of betrayal and of sorrow.

Arthur ignored the pain in his side to lean over and comfort her with an embrace.

"Your father loves you, Evangeline. And yes, he may be seeking his revenge with a desperate heart, but he still loves you. He is just hurt and is trying to mend his own heart by gaining closure from a murderer's death."

"Murderer? Is that how you see your father now?" She pulled away, sad for him. She never wished to turn him against his own father.

"It is what he is. But he is still my father and as much as I feel guilty about it, I still love him." He sighed, wondering if something was wrong with him.

"He tried to kill me and you still love him. How is that any different than my father trying to kill you and I still loving him? There is no shame, Arthur. It's unfortunate at times but our blood relatives will always hold a tiny bit of our compassions."

Evangeline assured her wary love, running a soothing hand through his fair locks.

Arthur took her hand and kissed it. He was so happy that he lived long enough to see her again, to hold her.

"You know... You should not have done what you did, Evangeline. I could not live if you died because of me." He frowned against the back of her soft pale hand.

"If I hadn't you would be dead." Evangeline defended her starstruck actions.

"Better me than you."

Evangeline shook her head. "What kind of life would that be for me? To have grazed love but to never hold. Matthew, my mother, my uncle... you? No. Not a life I like to see."

"Love...?" Arthur glanced up at her, his heart cautious but overjoyed by her insinuated proclaimation of love.

"Yes. I-... I love you, Arthur." She admitted what she thought was obvious by now.

The brightest smile to grace his fair face broke out at the corner of his full lips and it lit up the dark room.

"I love you, Evangeline. I love you more than breath." He proclaimed without much of said breath and took her hands gently in his.

Their intimate moment was cut short by the abrupt entry her father had made.

''Separate! You will not lay a filthy hand on my daughter!'' He commanded, being summoned by the guards with word of voices heard.

Arthur did as the king command and the guards stood at the ready to strike him where he lay, wounded.

''My child.'' Odin breathed his first full breath and found her side on his knee. ''Are you well, my foolish child?'' He asked, cupping her rather pale cheek.

''I am well, my king.'' She nodded into his rough, concerned hand.

''Has not Uther sent his protruding armies in the night?'' Evangeline asked, glancing to the open stone window to her side.

''Not as yet, my princess. Though unprepared we are not.'' He assured.

But a troubling sound did disturb their unsuspecting ears and sound of battle commenced below her tower walls.

''My king! Uther's army attempts to breach our gates!'' A knight came running to him, his sword drawn and his young face free of battle scars. He was afraid and the guards stood more vigilant as the king stood.

''He wouldn't dare attack Bernicia! Our walls have been breached by none!'' He bellowed, turning his glare to Arthur.

''Give them him.'' He commanded, scoffing as he gestured to the injured, foreign prince. ''But heed this king's words! My vengeance will not be quenched! Your life be spared to hinder Uther's madness and bloodshed of my people!''