The King

BROTHERS

"look me in the eyes and say that again" orders Arthur, his anger slightly seeping through

"no" snaps Luke, his voice loud in the stillness of the dungeon

Arthur turns around to walk away when Luke says "how can you even ask me that?" betrayal evident in his voice

Arthur stops suddenly, his body going still. Bell knows he's going to blow up. He's too calm.

"how can I?" his voice is low and quite but then it raises "how can I?" He turns back towards Luke

"you know me" says Luke "Do you honestly think I would do such a thing?"

"do I?"

"what are you talking about?" says Luke, frowning  "of course you do"

"I don't think I do" he says

"Arthur-"

"Look at you" Arthur says, his voice disgusted "in a filthy cell like a common thief. I raised you up, gave you a title, a status and you threw it all away"

Luke sighs "I didn't mean for this to happen"

"What did you think was gonna happen if you betrayed me?-"

"betrayed you?" says Luke, shocked "I would never betray you-"

"Oh yea?" says Arthur "How many times have you kissed her behind my back then tried to persuade me to marry her? How many times have you two laughed at me, believing you had me fooled?"

Suddenly Luke realizes something "You knew"

"Of course I knew!" snaps Arthur "You know me better than anybody did you honestly think I was stupid enough not to notice!?"

"Why haven't you said anything?" By now Luke's voice has a slight tremor to it. The angrier Arthur's voice gets, the weaker Luke's is.

"I discarded it because you had my trust" says Arthur "and you threw it back in my face-"

"I'm sorry"

Arthur laughs "is that the best you can do?" 

"I loved her!" says Luke suddenly, his voice shaking "going behind your back was one of the hardest thing I ever had to do-"

"but you did it anyway!" shouts Arthur "You risked yourself for her even though you knew how much I actually needed you-"

"I'm sorry-"

"Shut up!" snaps Arthur and Bell winces "She's not gonna drop it unless I marry her!"

Bell and Luke both freeze at the same time. It takes a while before Luke says "what?"

"that's the condition" says Arthur "If I marry her then there would be no need to pursue this anymore and she'll drop it-"

"no" says Luke, shaking his head "she wouldn't do that-"

"She did" snaps Arthur "she never loved you. She was just using you to marry me"

Bell honestly wants to pull him back, tell him to cut Luke some slack. He's drilling into him too hard. Bell knows how much Luke truly loved Katia. At the back of her mind, Bell is still wondering why she's here.

"You can't know that-"

"Wasn't she urging you to try and persuade me into marrying her often?"

Luke stays silent

"First the plan was to make you persuade me. That didn't work so they decided to change tactics and black mail me instead"

Bell knows that's not true. Katia admitted it herself. She screwed up. She slept with Luke, meaning she isn't fit to marry Arthur anymore. Blackmailing Arthur was not part of a calculated plan because Loosing her virtue was never part of the plan.