Chapter Seven
Gwen
We’d done it. We’d finally lived long enough to find each other.
Lance and Mordred lay on either side of me, cuddling me between them. Bors lay deeper in the bed, wedged in on Lance’s side between our legs, his face pressed against my hip, his arm draped over my thighs.
“This is quite the nest you’ve claimed, my queen,” Mordred said. “How many stories is this tower?”
“One hundred, but it’s not mine. I merely hold it for House Isador.” I stroked my fingers over Bors’ buzz cut, enjoying the feel of the short hair against my skin. “It’s no Camelot.”
Lance hummed against my throat. “It’s better.”
I lifted my head so I could see his eyes. “Guinevere built those shining walls with her own blood. That’s why the legend persists, despite the way Arthur spoiled everything with his curse. Nothing will ever shine like Camelot ever again.”
“Camelot was never about the castle, my queen. It was always you.”
“I built nothing here.” Until I said the words, I didn’t realize that it bothered me. I was thankful to be alive. I was extremely grateful to Shara for everything she’d done for me, including making me her sibling. If she hadn’t been at my back today…
I wouldn’t have been able to hold Arthur off.
My knights would be dead before I could claim them. Instead of making love with my Blood, I’d have been fucked by the king. Or I would have been dead. I knew which I would prefer if given the choice.
However, I hated feeling like a squatter. While I’d added my blood to the protective circle around the building, it was only to affirm my relationship with the primary queen. It washercircle. Her nest.
It would never bemyCamelot.
“It doesn’t matter.” Lance’s eyes flashed with fierce pride that surprised me, even as it brought tears to my eyes. “Nothing matters but you. You survived. You called us. You’ve taken Blood for the first time in centuries. You even escaped Arthur—”
“For the time being,” I broke in. “You know he’ll be back.”
“Yes. He will. He can’t resist the call of Camelot, either.”
“He can’t resistyourcall,” Mordred whispered, tucking my shoulder back beneath his chin. “Especially now that you’ve called your power. You’ve taken Camelot, my queen. The power is yours. The White Enchantress lives again. When has that happened in the last thousand years?”
I blew out a slow breath, my mind whirling. They were right. I didn’t think Guinevere’s line had been able to embrace her power in several generations. Certainly, never as fully as the original queen of Camelot. Arthur’s jealous curse and Elaine’s desperate plots to steal Lance away from me always destroyed Camelot before it could ever rise.
Before I could take my power.
Silvery white power ebbed and flowed inside me. A captured star shining in my heart.
Lance placed his palm over my heart. “This is Camelot, my queen. What the Once and Future King covets most of all.”
My face hardened. The soft, shining light inside me crystalized into a diamond’s cutting edge. “Then this time, he’ll be the Once andDeadKing.”
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