Bedivere ran a contemplative thumb along his jaw, his eyes glancing between Gawain and me. “Why do you say that, Lancelot? Do you not believe in the words of the gods?”
I scoffed, shaking my head. “And you do? In what realm would we, Arthur’s knights, be accepted into his wife’s bed?”
“It is more than that and you know it, Lancelot,” Gawain shot back, his expression hurt. “It is a pack. A family.”
“It does not matter how much you yearn for a family, Gawain, relying on the words of a wizard who disappeared for a decade will not get you one.”
My words were harsh and I watched the other alpha flinch away from them as if I had actually reached out to strike him with my hand.
Gawain’s grip on the neck of his lute tightened, his knuckles turning white. “If you truly believe that, then why did you pull Gwen up onto your horse before I could earlier?”
I had no answer for the man, so instead I looked away from his accusatory eyes.
I was not surewhyI had rushed for the queen. One moment I had been next to Arthur and the next my mind was telling me that I needed to head for her even before the Saxons had revealed their trap.
Gawain had been the closest and would have easily been able to snag the queen back into the saddle, but my hands were already reaching for her and the little boy, pulling her up from the ground and to safety.
At that moment there was not a soul in that village that could have convinced me that they could have protected Guinevere better than I and I hated it. It went against every single thing that I had told myself to avoid.
I did not believe in the gods—not in the way that some thought that they did not actually exist—but rather that they would do nothing for me.
After all, I had spent years in my father’s house, rotting away whilst he made my life a living hell, and the gods had done nothing.
Now they wished for me to share in something that should have nothing to do with me? Why? What was their goal?
I was not so important that I would think that I deserved to be anywhere near the fiery omega. No, my father had made sure that my self-worth was non-existent and I knew that I did not fit in with such a lofty fate.
“Still, you must apologize,” Bedivere repeated himself, his voice more grave and full of disappointment than it had been before. I hated when the older alpha was angry with me, but I refused to show it. “To her majesty and to Gawain.”
I turned to do so, but much to my surprise Gawain had disappeared from his spot across the fire.
“Where has he gone?” I asked with a frown.
The side of Bedivere’s mouth pulled up into a wry half-smile. “While you were busily brooding, Sir Gawain went to go and find our wayward queen.”
“And you just let him? Bedivere, I assumed you knew better than to feed into the lad’s romantic sensibilities like this.”
Bedivere shrugged one muscled shoulder. “Mayhaps I am a bit of a romantic myself.”
I lifted a brow, staring at the older alpha. “So may I assume that you are also interested in our queen?”
This time the man just shook his head, giving a hearty laugh. “No, I am too old for such things.”
The hypocrisy of his words were not lost on me and I found myself rolling my eyes as I stood to follow Gawain before he got himself into trouble.
“You are but eight years older than Arthur, Bedivere, and yet you speak as if you have one foot already in the grave.”
Bedivere, always one to want the last word, just held up his stump. “It is not a foot, but I do already have one hand in the grave, Lancelot.”
With a wry shake of my head, I stepped out of the light of the fire and into the dark forest intent on finding the trio that had disappeared into its depths.
I just had not yet decided what I would do once I found them.
Chapter Fifteen
“How about Liam?” I heard Guinevere’s voice before I saw her and the little boy she had seemingly saved from the slaughter taking place back in his village. “No, you don’t like that one either? Man, kid, you sure are hard to please.”
All the omega received in response was silence and I heard her heave a heavy sigh.
