The Royal Scandal *Book Three*

Taking Control of a Kingdom S3 E1

Instead, I went over to Gaius and Merlin and gestured for them to follow me into a deserted corridor. If anyone was going to have answers or solutions to what the hell was going on, it was gonna be Gaius.

"There must be some explanation to all of this. It can't all be a coincidence," I said, turning to face Gaius when we had found an empty hallway.

Gaius hesitated for a moment, looking between the two of us before he sighed and avoided all eye contact.

"What is it?" Merlin asked.

"During the great purge, Uther drowned many he suspected of sorcery, as you probably know," Gaius began. Of course, I knew of my father's cruelty to those who possessed magic. Everyone did. Let's be honest, it was probably his main characteristic that one would think of when they think of my father. "And some, God help them, were children. Killed for the magic they were born with." Hearing it again made me feel sick to my stomach as I thought of those poor, innocent children whose lives were lost too soon in life. "Maybe his conscience is playing tricks with him. Whatever it is, we can no longer hide this. A king's hold on his people is a very fragile thing. If they start to lose faith in him, I fear for Camelot."

"Well, we won't let things go that far," I said. "Worst comes to the worst, Arthur will step in and rule Camelot. Lord knows he'd do a damn better job at it than my father."

"Does Arthur know about the great purge and the... and the children?" Merlin asked, his voice breaking at the mention of the children.

"Everyone in Camelot knows about the great purge. I don't know how many know about the extent he went to, Arthur included," I answered sadly. "If Camelot's future wasn't at peril here, I would say my father is getting what he deserves. Whatever he saw in there, I hope it knocked some sense into him. Not that I think that's possible anymore. But I do hope that what he saw was so brutal that he may just see that he isn't right in his pursuit of magic."

"Somehow I don't think he will," Gaius admitted, to which I nodded.

A sudden tolling of the bells gained our attention, sending us rushing out to find a guard and see what was happening. Why was it all happening at once? First, we had a king who was freaking out just from looking at an empty space that could potentially be filled with the victims of his past massacres and then we now had whatever emergency the bell was signifying. Just our luck.

The three of us found a guard hurrying around the courtyard who was quick to direct us to the grassland below the wall that surrounded the castle. It was at least twenty feet in the air and guards often were sent off to do rounds of it in the night, preventing any pesky intruders from getting in. And it appeared that one man's life had ended prematurely doing just that.

He was laid across the ground in his Camelot uniform, a dagger sticking out of his stomach and his entire clothing was covered in thick red blood. He looked like he had been there for several hours before discovery.

"Take this man to my chambers," Gaius instructed Leon, who had come down to see what the issue was on Arthur's orders. "Chelsea, if you help Sir Leon. I suppose I had better speak to the two of you about this. It's a matter of urgency."

I paused for a moment, watching curiously as Gaius crouched down and pulled the dagger out of the man's body. I cringed slightly at the squelching sound as the dagger was pulled out, looking over to Merlin as the blood shone on the blade.

I nodded my head and assisted Leon in getting the dead guard to Gaius's chambers before I returned to the great hall where Arthur was waiting, standing at the front of the hall as father had been not so long ago. The main difference was he wasn't screaming at an imaginary force that no one but he could see.