Page 29 of Queen Takes Camelot: Gwen
He feared nothing.
Until he fell in love with Queen Guinevere, and then lost her.
As a girl, I’d stood on the edge of the Chalice Well and felt his presence on the other side. He was that commanding. That powerful and compelling. Humans whispered that he’d been conceived by a demon on a human woman, and even Aima houses feared him. He wasn’t a king, but he possessed an impressive gift that had made him famous as a wizard even in this day and age.
I sensed him beyond the thin, shining curtain. A massive magnet drawing my focus. Darkness to my light.
Squeezing my Bloods’ hands, I stepped through the veil. “Merlin, I’m coming!”
13
Gwen
My skin tingled as we stepped through the shimmering veil. Rainbows exploded all around us, blinding me. Still blinking to clear my vision, it took me a moment to realize we were through.
Dazzling colors surrounded us. Cotton-candy pink and sky blue, orchid purple and acid green, flaming orange and neon yellow. Trees and flowers of impossible color combinations, growing in a wild, lush tumble everywhere. Tinkling sparks hung in the air that was thick and heavy with the scent of flowers. Living walls of ivy and tumbling flowers blew in the gentle breeze, giving me a glimpse of a fountain, only instead of water, an oil-slick rainbow fluid splashed on the shining stone.
A low drone filled my ears, as if a thousand lazy bumblebees danced among the flowers. Birds trilled somewhere in the trees, but it sounded like words instead of tweets and calls. I couldn’t understand the language, but I was sure they were words. Almost as if they were singing a poem or telling a story.
A story about me. Or rather, Guinevere’s sad story.
“Do you know who the fairy queen is?” I turned my head toward Mordred…
But he wasn’t there. Releasing both my Blood’s hands, I turned in a complete circle. His bond was still in my head but stretched so thinly that it was muted. “We have to go back for him.”
The shimmering veil we’d crossed through was gone. Gently rolling hills carpeted in lavender and pink stretched into the distance. Water sparkled on the horizon, a sea or lake, I wasn’t sure.
“I don’t think we can go back.” Lance tucked my hand around his arm. “Find Merlin, and then we’ll return to find out why Mordred didn’t come. But I must admit it’s probably a good idea that one Blood stayed behind to protect our flank, even if it wasn’t deliberate.”
“He wasn’t ever associated with the Lady of the Lake,” Bors replied. “I bet that’s why he couldn’t pass through.”
They were right, but I still didn’t like it. “Neither was I.”
The sooner I found Merlin, the sooner we could go back. Hopefully he’d know how to find the appropriate passageway through the veil.
“Without us drowning,” Bors muttered.
“You’re a queen.” A male voice rolled through the dense foliage, impatient and terse, as if he’d already lectured about this topic half a dozen times. “Descended from Guinevere herself, who made a willing sacrifice of your blood in one of the most holy places in Eiru. Of course, the ways opened for you.”
Or perhaps that annoyance in his voice was because he’d been imprisoned for hundreds of years, waiting for the chance to lecture me once again. “Merlin? Is that you?”
A curtain of delicate petals lifted, revealing a sparkling white archway and a winding pebbled path. Bors immediately took the lead. Lance stayed beside me, but I could feel his attention sweeping around us, particularly checking over his shoulder to make sure we weren’t attacked from behind.
My stomach fluttered with nerves. When I’d seen Lance, I’d recognized him immediately. Even if I’d only heard his voice, I would have known him. My heart would have sung with joy.
If that voice was Merlin… Why didn’t he come greet me? Was he trapped or restrained in some way beyond this magical location? Was he angry with me? But for what reason could he possibly be angry with me, when I’d come to release him?
We rounded a tall fluttering bush of softest blues that exploded up into butterflies as we neared. I jumped against Lance, and even Bors’ started to unsheathe his sword.
“So twitchy,” the man said, this time with a hint of amusement in his voice. “You weren’t always so fearful, Sir Bors de Ganis.”
Bors slammed the sword back down into its sheath. “Forgive me for not wanting to die again this day when our queen has finally managed to call me to her side once more.”
A white rectangular table sat beneath a weeping willow, only its leaves were bright red. My attention immediately locked on the man seated opposite us, positioned to watch us approach the table.
Merlin. He looked exactly the same as if he’d walked out of Guinevere’s memories. The sands of time had left him completely unchanged.
He hadn’t lived and died countless times as my Blood and I had suffered these past centuries. He hadn’t seen us killed by Arthur or Elaine or both. He hadn’t seen Lance defeated and imprisoned.
