With All My Heart || Arthur Pendragon

29

One month later....

"Well?" asked Mira worriedly.

Guinevere shook her head and closed the bedroom door. "Gaius says its as he suspected over the past week or two. The King hasn't spoken, appeared in public, he barely eats or sleeps, just...stares out the window. Gaius believes Uther is thinking of-"

"Morgana" Mira finished and the maid nodded,"Does Gaius think he'll recover?". Gwen shook her head and the room seemed to grow colder. "But it happened before, remember? Surely he'll get better" Mira insisted.

"He thinks Uther's spirit is broken. It took a few months but...he was never the same after Morgana betrayed him. I think its taking its toll" Gwen explained,"Gaius doesn't have a cure. It looks as if he's gone into himself, no even Arthur can get to him"

Mira turned and looked out the window at the Kingdom, people went about their business, the sun shone, the market was busy. Nobody knowing that their King was slowly breaking. "What will happen now?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know" Gwen murmured coming to stand beside her. Mira sighed and hugged her arms tighter around her long emerald green dress.

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Prince Arthur heard a knock on his door and called for the person to enter. Night had fallen and he'd sent Merlin to do some washing so he could think about his Father. He was glad to see that it was Mira who walked in.

"I'm sorry, my Lord, am I disturbing you?" she asked.

"No, come in" he smiled weakly.

She returned his smile and closed the door. "Gwaine asked me to give you this"

He took the note from her and read it, it just said that Gwaine was sick and asked could he be excused from training the next day. "Tell him that's fine" Arthur replied.

"Thank you" she curtsied and turned towards the door.

He suddenly felt like he needed her to stay. "Eh...Mira" he called and she turned back,"Could I ask you something?"

She nodded and he gestured for her to sit at the table beside him. "What did you want to ask my Lord?" she questioned after he hesitated.

"Do you know if word has got out about...my Father?"

She thought. "Not that I know of"

He nodded. "Gaius says he might not recover..." he murmured.

"Might not, that doesn't mean he won't"

"Until then I'll have to lead the Kingdom" he said quietly.

"You've done it before though" she replied.

"Not like this" he whispered,"Morgana will grow stronger, if Camelot's enemies hear about him they'll attack, the people will begin to get nervous"

"You can't think like that"

"I can't stop thinking like that" he answered.

Mira looked him in the eye. "This is what you've been trained for" Mira said firmly,"The people love you, they look to you to lead them, each person out there trusts you with their lives. Look at what you've done for me, you saved my life only a month ago!". Arthur looked at her waiting for her to continue. "The people believe in you Arthur. But that counts for nothing if you don't believe in yourself"

The Prince was quiet for a minute. "Do you think I can do this?" he asked,"Do you believe I can?"

"The Knights think you can do this, Gaius does, Gwen, Merlin...and I do...I believe in you Arthur, everyone does" Mira replied,"You don't have to do this alone, we're here for you". She didn't realise that she'd put her hand on his, when she saw she blushed and moved her hand, but Arthur caught it and held it in his own. She looked up at him.

"Thank you" he smiled,"It means more to me than I can say". She smiled back and for a moment she was able to forget about everything and just look into his eyes. Arthur felt the same, he loved the way the candlelight danced in her eyes when she smiled, creating specks of gold in her deep brown pools. Arthur cleared his throat. "I contacted my Uncle, he's going to come here to help me with my Father and leading"

"Your Uncle?" Mira asked.

"Yes, my Mother's brother" said Arthur,"Lord Agravaine"

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"You were gone long" Gwen observed while turning down the bed.

"Sorry, I was with Arthur" Mira replied.

Gwen was quiet for a minute as Mira went to stand by the fire, watching the dancing flames. "Can I ask you something Mira? As a friend" she asked walking over to the Lady.

"Of course" Mira smiled tiredly and turned to her.

"Over the past while, well ever since you came to Camelot a few months ago...I noticed you and Arthur..."

"What do you mean?" murmured Mira.

"It's the way you look at each other" the maid continued,"The way you act around each other". Mira stayed quiet so Gwen continued. "You love him, don't you?"

Mira's breath caught. She'd asked herself this question for months, hoping she was wrong. But hearing it now she knew the answer. "Yes" she whispered,"I love Arthur"

"I think he might feel the same" Gwen said.

"I don't think so....Besides, even if he did....he is the Prince, I'm just a Lady of the Court. He's destined to marry a princess" Mira's eyes grew sad,"And I'm no princess".

"Things may change".

Mira smiled sadly. "You know, I've heard about love, read about it, seen it. People say that when you fall in love, everything begins to make sense. For some reason I don't feel like that, nothing seems to make sense".

"I know what you mean" Gwen laughed softly.

A tear trickled down Mira's cheek. "I love him Gwen. But it breaks my heart. I feel as if, every time I see him I'm reminded of just how much I love him and yet I can never tell him".

Gwen put her arms around Mira. "I know it's hard, but it's worse for you. But I'll always be here, I understand"

"Thank you Gwen" Mira wiped her eyes,"I'll remember that"