“Today we fight for Camelot! Today we rid Logres of the Saxon scourge!”
There was a chorus of bellows followed by the sound of hooves on stone as they filed out of the courtyard.
I watched them go, my hands clasped in front of me like I was praying—and I was. I was begging the gods to change the fate they had set before me and let me live with my pack forever.
Once they were gone, I turned to Bedivere. “We need to get our horses.”
“Why would we do such a thing, your majesty?” Bedivere asked with a frown, his dark brow furrowing with confusion.
I just shook my head at him. “I can’t explain it without getting sucker punched by the guys in the sky—but let’s just say my fate is waiting for me.”
“And fate is not a patient mistress,” Merlin’s voice came from behind us and we turned to find the wizard standing with the reins of our three horses.
His expression was grim as he gazed at me, his green eyes seeming to echo my own worries. “Come, Guinevere, it is time.”
I wanted to ask how much he knew of the future that was supposed to come about. Did he know that they were all meant to die? That I was going to be all alone again, but instead I just reached for the reins. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Guinevere led us to a hill overlooking the would-be battlefield. The vantage of it was clear: we would be able to see every bit of the battle from start to finish.
She had ridden to it as if she had seen it many times in her head and now I watched as she paced like a madwoman, biting at her nails as she watched both armies form.
Arthur’s banner was raised, as were the banners of Leodegrance, Benoic, and the other tribal kings. The lake—which had been the lifeblood for all of the territories around it—sparkled in the late-noon light as a backdrop of the battle-to-come. It was a stark contrast next to the bloodshed that was about to occur.
They had been waiting for such a battle and now the Saxons, joined by men from Lothian and Gorre, seemed to chomp at the bit in a disorganized cacophony.
Agravaine had left for Lothian weeks ago, though now I was uncertain of his fate as I saw the men he was supposed to lead as their new king falling in with the Saxon forces.
“Gwen,” Merlin said softly as he pulled her hands away from her mouth. “It will do you no good to torture yourself.”
I turned to watch them as Guinevere glared up at Merlin with a sudden fierceness. “You know why I have to do this in the first place, don’t you Merlin. Youknowhow this ends.”
Merlin shifted uncomfortably. “I have seen flashes of it, yes, it will be a great battle.”
Guinevere threw her hands up in the air, batting away his grip on her fingers. “That’s not all—the gods haven’t deigned to show you the end where everyone d—”
She was cut off by a gasp as she doubled over. I moved to catch her but she waved even my touch off, her brown eyes wide as the sound of a horn filled the low valley.
“It’s starting,” she murmured as she watched the opposing sides of battles clash together like ants. “I have to stop it. I have to change it.”
“What?” Merlin asked, frowning as she whirled away from us. She hurried over to her mare—a mare that had never seen even a day of battle before—and pulled herself into the saddle. “Gwen you cannot ride into battle, such a thing is absolutely preposterous.”
But Guinevere wasn’t listening to him, her brown eyes locked on the battle in front of us. She turned, the wind tousling her loose brown curls as she set her mouth into a firm line. “When you told me you weren’t going to fight to get free from that trap you said that the gods had shown me standing here alone.”
Merlin nodded, swallowing hard as he seemed to be considering his options. I was considering my own—I never wanted to put my hands on my omega, but if I needed to do so in an effort to stop her from riding into certain death then I would.
“Yes, but—”
Guinevere cut him off. “But I’m not standing here alone. That means the futurecanbe changed and I’m the only one who really knows what’s going to happen so it’s on me to change it.”
She gripped her mare’s reins in her hands before giving them a snap. “Hyah!”
Then she was off before we could say anything else.
“She is going to get herself killed,” I barked at Merlin, pulling myself into my own horse’s saddle to give chase.
“She’s trying to save you all,” Merlin said as he followed suit. “I just do not know from what. The gods did not see fit to show me such things.”
