Chaos erupted at the man’s words. Even the men who were accompanying their king were exchanging shocked looks as they stood in their green livery.
Gawain’s gasp was ragged and when I turned to look at him I found his blue eyes wide as he stared at his father with disbelief.
Agravaine’s face began to grow red as his mouth opened and closed silently before his hand twitched to the polished pommel of his sword—whether to draw it to fight his father or just for a sense of security after having the rug so soundly pulled out from under him I wasn’t sure.
A cacophony of angry voices surrounded me: Lancelot yelling at his father, his bark sharp, Agravaine finally finding his ability to speak only to begin protesting his disinheritance, the people around us talking loudly about what they had just witnessed, and above it all Morgana’s shrill laugh as she sniped back at her stepsons.
“Stop,” I said far too quietly, my ears buzzing as anxiety over it all came crashing down around my shoulders.
Rain began to fall overhead in thick fat drops.
“Gwen,” Gawain’s voice was next to my ear as his hand pressed comfortingly into my back, but I could barely hear him over the buzz of noise around me.
Panic clogged my throat as the arguing continued and I finally put my hands over my ears. “Stop!”
My voice rang out over the din and it was quickly followed by screams as fist-sized pieces of hail began to fall from the sky.
A firm chest pressed into my back as Gawain covered my head with his body, his sage scent filling my nose. I heard him grunt in pain above me, but I didn’t know how to stop it.
People began to run to avoid the hail that I couldn’t seem to get under control, the magical core which Merlin had struggled to teach me how to call to was alight with energy that seemed to build with my panic, making the hail fall harder.
“What is going on here?” Arthur’s booming voice filled the courtyard and with his arrival the hail stopped completely, the last ball of ice thudding to the ground at my feet.
Peering from underneath Gawain’s arms, I found him pushing through Lot’s men, flanked by Merlin and Bedivere on either side.
I had never seen Arthur look so furious before.
His cheeks were flushed red as he surveyed the wreckage and I could feel his end of the bond light on fire with anger.
I met his gaze that flickered from me to the alpha standing over me, watching it soften for the briefest of moments before he whirled on Morgana.
“What is the meaning of this?”
His words held a clear command in them, making every other alpha in the vicinity flinch as he barked his words at his half-sister.
“Morgana, I protected you from invaders and I invited you into my home and this is how you repay me? By bringing your theatrics to my people and upsetting my wife?”
Morgana, for the first time since she had triumphantly announced her son’s betrothal, faltered slightly at Arthur’s reaction.
She opened her mouth to say something but Arthur cut her off. “I expect now that your husband has come to retrieve you that you will leave at first light.”
Then he turned and walked across the courtyard, his boots crunching into the ice beneath his feet as he made his way to Agravaine, whispering something I couldn’t hear into the man’s ear and waiting for him to nod before he looked at me again.
“Gawain,” I said, giving the alpha’s arm a gentle pat, “I don’t think ice will fall from the sky anymore.”
“Are you certain?” Gawain asked, finally leaning back and showing me his face which had several small cuts and one nasty gash just above his eye.
“Why didn’t you protect yourself?” I gasped, nearly reaching up to touch the wound but stopped, reminding myself that we were in front of many people.
“You are my queen, your safety is my first priority always,” Gawain said simply, his blue eyes crinkling in the corner as he offered me his same sweet smile that was marred by the trail of blood trickling down the side of his face.
Warm hands slid under my elbow, turning me away from Gawain where a second set of brighter, icier blue eyes found mine. “Are you well, my queen?”
Arthur’s allspice scent filled my nose, chasing away the panic and anxiety that had threatened to take over and I found myself melting into his arms for a moment.
“Sorry,” I muttered into his shirt which smelled of freshly tilled earth and sweat from his long day helping in the field. “I didn’t know how to handle it on my own. Maybe I’m really not cut out for all this queen stuff.”
“You did well,” Arthur purred, his words warm with affection.
