"—Then there is Lady Sylvaine Penhal. She has quite a lovely face and perfect birthing hips, if ever I saw them."
"If Mordred remains within my line of sight for another second, I'm going to murder him," Arthur said through gritted teeth.
Turning away with that calculated grace of his, Mordred retreated toward the chapel doors. "As you wish, sire. Please consider my proposal nonetheless," he called over his shoulder. Then he walked through the door, and Arthur and I were alone again.
"Gods, that man tries my patience," Arthur groaned.
Before I could respond, Arthur glanced up at me, his expression one of exhaustion mixed with desperation. “Where is she?” His voice cracked.
I didn't know what to say.
He jumped up from his throne and began pacing the small confines of the chapel as I continued to worry that the entire structure was going to cave in upon us.
"I don't understand how she has simply disappeared!" Then he immediately stopped walking and turned to face me. "Where is Lioran?"
"Lioran?" I repeated, frowning.
"Yes! Bring him to me at once!"
"What does Lioran have to do with any of this?"
"Just—get him."
"Arthur, the last thing we want is for any of this to get out. If word spreads that you are looking for a wife—"
"—GET LIORAN!"
With that, Mordred popped his head back in through the door. "Did you call for me, sire?"
I turned to face Mordred, eager to give him an errand so we both could avoid his murder. "Would you locate Lioran and bring him here?"
"What do I tell him?" Mordred asked, looking perplexed. "The king is supposed to be in his bedchamber ill!"
"Tell him the king…" I started impatiently, shaking my head. "Tell him whatever the bloody hell you want to tell him, just bring him here!"
Mordred simply nodded and disappeared through the old oak door once more. When I was alone with Arthur, I turned to face him, my jaw tight.
"Arthur, you must hold yourself together."
He turned to face me. “I know you doubt my sanity," he began, his chest rising and falling with his escalated breathing. "But she’s not a dream, and she's not a ghost, Lance! Ifelther magic. I saw her pull the sword.” His fists clenched at his sides. “And yet… every fair-haired woman in Logres was brought here—and nothing.”
I stepped forward cautiously. “Perhaps we missed a village. A remote settlement—”
“We’ve beenthorough,” he snapped.
"The North is impossible to fully search, Arthur."
He shook his head as if he were lost in his thoughts and hadn't even heard me. "It’s as if she vanished into mist.” He paused then. "Mist," he repeated and then began nodding. "Yes, I must speak to Lioran at once."
"What does Lioran have to do with this?"
"He has the same affinity for watershedoes," Arthur explained as he looked up at me.
"Then you believe he knows her?" It seemed far-fetched at best.
"I don't know what I believe."
It wasn't just Arthur's obsession with this woman that was causing me unrest. It was what might happenifhe actually found her. His obsession had grown darker with each passing day. One moment he spoke of bedding her. The next, he talked of threats, of removing rivals to the throne.
