Page 45 of To Charm a Dark Prince

“Hardly a pet.” Lancelot smiled at her playfully. “But if you were, you could be certain I would be spoiling you rotten.”

Mordred was attempting to glare a hole into the silver knight.

Oh no. Now she had to deal withtwoof them flirting with her? She really hoped Galahad and Percival didn’t make things worse and add to the problem.

She cleared her throat and downed her glass of wine. She coughed and reached for a refill before picking at the dinner on her plate. It was all very tasty, but it was hard not to be distracted by the tense conversation going on around her. “Thanks. I think.”

“The thanks is mine to give you, believe me.” Lancelot poured her the new glass of wine. “It has been quite some time since we have had such lovely and entertaining company. God knows we have been here by ourselves for far, far too long.” He shot a glance at Galahad. “The gold one has started to look appealing.”

“Do not try your luck, whelp.” Galahad’s smile revealed he was hardly upset. “I can still knock you about the ears if I must.”

She chuckled. What a group of weirdos. But she found herself smiling more than not. Even if Mordred did look like he was about to explode. Or murder somebody. Or both. In no particular order.

“Tell me, Lady Gwendolyn,” Lancelot began, picking up a grape from a platter of food in front of him. “Do you ride?”

“Horses? And just Gwen is fine. Seriously.” She sipped her wine. “I love horses.”

“Would you like to join me for a ride tomorrow morning at dawn? I often take the hounds out to the woods to hunt for rabbits. They need the exercise.” Lancelot smiled.

Mordred growled quietly, his hand tightening into a fist.

Gwen glanced to the prince, then to the knight, and then back to the prince. “Am…I allowed?”

“Yes, myliege,is she allowed?” Lancelot sneered at Mordred.

Oh, shit. There was drama between those two. Drama she was clearly now smack in the middle of. She shrank back into her chair. “I don’t want to start problems.”

Mordred shut his eyes, obviously on the edge of losing his temper. “You may ride with Lancelot if you wish.” Each word clearly took every ounce of patience he had.

Lancelot was smiling at her, his silver eyes bright with hope. It was clear he very, very much wanted her to go with him.

Riding out into the woods and seeing more of Avalon sounded exciting. Gwen loved horses, and it’d been a long time since she had a chance to ride. “Um…sure. That sounds great.”

“Fantastic! It is settled. Do not worry, my prince, I will return her to you in one piece.” Lancelot raised his glass to Mordred in a clearly sarcastic salute.

“Ensure that you do.” Mordred pushed up from the table abruptly and stormed from the room. Everyone watched him leave with various reactions.

Galahad looked disappointed. Percival, wary. And Lancelot looked like the cat who had eaten the canary.

Gwen felt guilty all of a sudden. Mordred clearly was upset, and she didn’t know why. “I’ll see you all around. It was really nice to meet you all.” Getting up, she headed out of the room without waiting for anyone to reply.

Feeling a chill breeze, she headed in its direction. There was a door open that led to a balcony overlooking the courtyard.

Mordred was standing by the railing, his clawed hands resting on the stone. The hood of his black cloak was up over his hair, and he looked like a proper nightmare, cut against the fading daylight and gray sky.

“Are you all right?” She approached but kept her distance. He reminded her of a semi-tamed jungle cat. Probably wasn’t going to lash out, but it was a roll of the dice every time.

He turned his head slightly. “Come to scold me for my poor manners?”

“No. Just worried about you.” She leaned against the wall by the door.

“You cannot possibly be concerned about me.”

“Yeah, I can, because you don’t seem okay.” She knew she probably shouldn’t care. But here she was, and she was an idiot when it came to things like this. She shrugged. “And maybe I shouldn’t be worried, but I am.”

After a moment of silence, he spoke up. “Be wary of Lancelot. He cannot be trusted.” His claws tapped against the stone in succession.Tap-tap-tap-tap.It sent a shiver down her spine.

“Then…why do you keep him around?” She frowned.

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