It was hard to wrap my head around it all, but the pregnancy was a happy surprise for all of us and we were excited about it.
Even though,technically, the baby was made from the alphas I knew in the past—the only way I could think of their current selves was that somehow, someway, Merlin had reincarnated them years in the future. Their way of carrying themselves, the way they spoke, and the ease with which they showed their emotions was very different than it had been, but even with all ofthat, they were still them: my alphas, my fated mates. The people who had breathed life into my lonely world again.
They now may have had lives that they had lived totally separate from our time in Camelot—but this baby was still ours—even if he or she had come about in such an unconventional manner.
“I won’t climb on anything more without you,” I promised, but even as I spoke I felt something shift in the air and my head was whipping around. “Did you feel that?”
“Feel what?” Lancelot asked as he finally made it up onto the ledge before holding out a hand to help Bedivere up.
Pushing away from Arthur’s arms I stood and stared out at the blue lake that was nearly triple the size it had been when I was in the past. All traces of the castle were nearly gone now except for the bare skeleton of the main structure that sat embedded into the far hill, barely visible from our vantage point.
I closed my eyes and felt for the tiny kernel of magic that still existed inside of me. My days of creating storms and vortexes were long gone now, but even I was still capable of searching for him. For my Merlin.
The water of the valley seemed to call for me as I reached out to it, eager to do my bidding in a way that it hadn’t the day before when I tried.
But today was different. Merlin had pulled me through to the past during the spring equinox three months ago when, as he had told me during our lessons, magic was the strongest.
I had insisted we come out to the mountains surrounding what used to be Camelot for this specific reason: today was the day of the summer solstice, and somehow, I just knew that it meant that something important was going to happen.
Letting what little magic I still possessed spread out around me, I searched for him just as I had the day when I was stuck in the dungeon before my near-execution.
The rivers, which were about as ancient as they had been centuries ago, threaded along the countryside, searching for Merlin’s very unique kind of magic.
Then I felt it, not far from where we were standing. It was like a whisper, barely even there, but I had felt Merlin’s magic many times and I knew deep inside of me that it was him.
My feet began to carry me in his direction, ignoring my alphas calling after me as I put my foot on a ledge and began to climb.
“Damn it, Gwen,” I heard Lancelot grumble. “Ihateheights.”
“You can remain down here if you like, Lance,” Gawain said brightly as he followed behind me.
“You know I won’t ever do such a thing, you dolt, “ the other alpha grumbled before putting a foot up on the ledge.
I hardly heard them as I pulled myself over and found myself on a plateau that led into what looked like a cave.
My breath caught in my throat.
“How has no one ever found this?” I asked Arthur as he finally made it up onto the ledge after me.
“If the gods did not wish something to be found, then it will not be found,” he said sagely as he moved in front of me. “I will go in first to make sure there aren’t any… surprises awaiting us.”
I wanted to go first—to find Merlin first—but Arthur’s tone left no room for me to argue.
Arthur and Gawain went first as Lancelot and Bedivere waited back with me and they ducked into the cave, disappearing into its depths.
Then a string of curse words flew from the cave as Gawain backed out of it in a rush.
“What is it?” Bedivere asked, already moving to shove me behind him as if he could protect me from any danger that may be inside of the cave.
“It’s nothing, just a fuck ton of cobwebs,” he said with a grimace as he pulled the stringy white webs from his clothes. “I hate spiders.”
“Grow up and get in here, Gawain,” Arthur’s voice echoed from inside.
Gawain winced. “Fine, but if I get bit you’re carrying me back down the mountain.”
“You will not get bit, it looks like there haven’t been spiders here in years…” Arthur shot back, his voice fading as he and Gawain continued to chatter with a comfort and ease that went far beyond thetechnicallythree months they had known each other in the future.
After what felt like forever, Arthur finally ducked his head out of the cave, his expression blank. “Guinevere, come.”
