Page 63 of To Love a Dark Lord

“Hm. I did not think of that.” He combed his talons through her hair as he held her close. “Gwendolyn, they will strike in the morning. I need you to stay in the keep. I need you to stay out of the way.”

“Why?” She furrowed her brow as she looked up at him. “You think I’m going to stop you from killing them?”

“At least Galahad, yes. I know you. And I know your bleeding heart.” He crooked a claw beneath her chin. “You will wish to spare him, no matter what he has done or vows to do. Galahad will die by my hand. I will not tolerate your meddling, too much is at stake.”

“I…” Her shoulders slumped. “You’re right. I don’t think I can watch him die. Lancelot was bad enough, and I really like Galahad.”

“I appreciate that you did not attempt to lie to me this time.” No matter what he did, he could not suppress a smirk. “And you believe I had enchanted the ring.”

“Yeah. I did. I mean. You’re taking this whole ‘the island decreed it wants me to be queen’ thing really well.” She stared down at the ring again, clearly fascinated by how it looked on her finger. “I guess I expected you to be mad about it.”

“I have two responses to that. The first is that my goal in all this is, and forever shall be, to keep you safe from all those who would see you harmed. This includes our former friends, the elementals, and any new threats that might arise.” He leaned down to kiss her, hovering his lips just over hers, before pausing. “And the second…is that you are right.”

“Wh—” Gwendolyn’s eyes rolled back into her head, her knees giving out as she fell asleep. He caught her as she fell, lifting her easily in his arms. When she woke, all the dirty business of Avalon would be concluded. Galahad, Zoe, and all the other elementals would be long dead.

She would wake with him having taken the throne. And Caliburn. Both of which were his by right. And he would leave her there in her dream until everything was secured. He would endure her wrath, but it would be worth it in the end.

Worse yet for her would be her discovery that the ring was impossible to remove. It would be his insurance that she would never be able to stand against him.

“The Ancients decreed that you must not give up your fight to become Queen of Avalon. And you never shall—but neither shall you succeed.” He carried her into the room, placing her down on the bed. He stroked her fiery hair before kissing her and pulling the blankets up over her. “We shall exist until the stars burn away as the King in Iron and his Queen in Chains.”

Eod, who was curled up on the rug by the fireplace, lifted his head and whimpered quietly.

Mordred patted the bed. He did not usually allow dogs to sleep there, but he would make an exception this time. Though, he suspected an exception once made was an exception no longer, but now the rule. But he would make that a gift to his firefly.

The hound jumped onto the bed, turned around a few times, sniffed Gwendolyn, then collapsed in a heap beside her, resting his head on her legs. He was a good and loyal animal.

Mordred petted the dog, seeing worry and concern in those big, doleful eyes. “It will be all right, I promise. She will understand.”

The dog’s ears drooped as if he questioned the validity of that statement. But Mordred was certain that Gwendolyn would forgive him. She must. There was no option.

Standing, he headed for the door. There was work to be done.

Gwen was back in senior year of high school, sitting on the field, staring out at the baseball diamond. It was a championship game, and her boyfriend Mick was shortstop. So here she was, cheering him on, with her bag of kettle corn and diet soda.

Wait.

Ex-boyfriend.

Mick was her ex-boyfriend.

All at once, she realized she was dreaming. And the moment after that, she remembered what had happened to put her here. Her first reaction had nothing to do with her dream. “Fuck!” she growled, placing her hands over her face. “I should have known—I should have known! Fucking damn it!”

Mordred had tricked her. The ring wasn’t just enchanted, it was cursed. But cursed how? That remained to be seen. She was going to beat the shit out of him. Or rather, she was going to try. Maybe Maewenn would loan her a frying pan.

The last thing she remembered was putting the ring on her finger, and then she was here. She knew why he’d done it. He wanted Galahad and Zoe dead—and while she agreed about Zoe, she was on the fence about Galahad. More importantly…he wanted the throne.

Something told her she was going to have a hard time getting the ring off her finger when she woke up. “Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck—” She knew swearing wasn’t going to get her anywhere, but it made her feel better.

He’d betrayed her. She was furious. But at the same time, she wasn’t surprised. And, to be fair, she’d done it to him a half dozen times so far. It still made her want to scream. Given that she was alone in a dream, she did. Nobody around her even registered her outburst.

She knew what he was up to. It wasn’t enough that Mordred was going to kill Galahad and Zoe and take the throne for himself—it was what he was going to do the day after. Namely, slaughter all the elementals and place all of Avalon under his thumb. He was going to take the throne. Technically, the Ancients had said she couldn’t give up trying—not that she had to succeed.

He’d found a loophole. Great. A murderous loophole.

But how could she stop him? What could she do? If the ring made her fall asleep on command, he effectively had wired her with a goddamn off switch.

Even worse, she was trapped in a dream. She couldn’t do anything from here. That was her first step—get out of the dream.

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