Page 55 of The Dragon Ring
Cadwy looked back at his father. “You’re not thinking straight,” he tried. “We can’t have a wedding at such short notice. It needs to be done in front of our people.”
Uthyr’s brows came together in a deep frown worthy of either one of his sons. “You know I can’t do that.” He gasped for breath. Anger was exhausting him. He began to cough again, and Breanna put a cloth to his mouth. This time the fit went on for longer, his breath becoming more and more wheezy. At last he collapsed back onto his pillows, eyes shut, chest heaving. Bright blood stained the cloth. Was he even going to last long enough to see this wedding?
I was trapped. I was in a strange land with no way of getting back home to Nathan, whose very existence felt more and more like a distant dream. This was my reality now. I couldn’t escape it any more than I could fly to the moon. It was no use protesting. No one was listening. That bloody prophecy was the thing directing my life, and I had no control.
Morgana cast her eyes over me again. I felt like a piece of meat being assessed for quality. How dare she look at me like that?
Breanna held out the length of rope to Cadwy. For a moment he just stared down at it, then, very reluctantly, he took it.
Euddolen came over to me. “Take my hand.”
I hesitated. What I really wanted to do was run away, but where to? I put my hand in his. I was surprised. For a Seneschal, who I assumed was the equivalent of a Prime Minister, it was very rough and calloused.
He led me to the foot of the bed. “Morgana, bring your brother.”
Morgana took Arthur by the arm none too gently, and steered him to stand facing me, at arm’s length. Uthyr’s eyelids fluttered open. He gave a small nod of satisfaction. “Get on with it. My strength ebbs.”
I looked up at Arthur, and his dark eyes held mine. Was that exultation there, hidden in the depths? I blinked in shock. Had he engineered this? Was all his protestation feigned?
Cadwy stepped up to us, the rope lying over his outstretched hands like a dead snake. It was creamy white, too slender to be of any practical use. Dubricius was at his elbow, a frown of disapproval on his face. Neither of them wanted to do this.
Of course. It was giving Arthur a step on the road toward the coveted High Kingship. And Arthur’s apparent reluctance had only made his father the more determined to carry this marriage out right now. Clever. I was impressed. How could I not be?
“Clasp hands.”
Arthur reached out and caught both my hands in his. Was that a tremble of excitement running through them?
Cadwy laid the rope over our clasped hands. Behind him, Morgana was as angry as he was, her face white with suppressed fury. But neither of them dared to cross their father, even on his deathbed. How easy would it have been after his death to have refused to carry out this wedding? Very, I suspected. Had she intended me for Cadwy? To replace this unknown Angharad? Should I look upon this hasty marriage as a rescue? After all, Uthyr himself had put aside Cadwy’s mother to take Eigr as his wife, so it must be easy to do.
Cadwy cleared his throat and began. “Arturius Pendragon, son of Uthyr Pendragon, High King of all Britain, grandson of Aurelius Ambrosius last Emperor of the Western World, great-grandson of Constantine, third of that name, you have come here today to plight your troth to this woman—” He looked at me questioningly. Close up like this I could see the hairs in his nostrils and smell the rank sweat of his body. Marrying Arthur looked more and more like a lucky escape.
“Guinevere,” I managed.
“To this woman, Guinevere.” Cadwy’s gruff voice was loud in the quiet bed chamber, only the rasping breath of the dying High King competing with it. He looked at me again. “Guinevere, you are come here today to plight your troth to this man, Arturius Pendragon. To vow to be his wife, to serve him all your days, to bear him strong sons, to honor his household, to obey his law.”
He took one of the ends of the rope and wrapped it around and over our hands.
“Arturius Pendragon, do you take this woman into your house to be your wife, with this promise of the knot of marriage?” He took the other end and similarly wrapped it under and over our hands, tying it in a loose knot on top. “Do you vow to return in twelve months to make this contract binding?”
I looked into Arthur’s face. He had four days’ stubble on his chin, his hair was unkempt and tangled, there were dark shadows beneath his eyes and the sharp smell of horses and winter clung to his clothes. I thought of Nathan– of his flopping fringe and his boyish smile, and my heart ached for him. But the image of his face shimmered and dispersed. Instead I saw Arthur, still frowning, as totally different to Nathan as any man could possibly be.
“I take this woman,” he said.
From the bed came a grunt of satisfaction.
Cadwy wrapped the ends of the rope around our wrists and tied another knot, binding us ever more closely together.
“Guinevere, do you vow to obey all the laws of the house of your new husband, until this knot be broken?” Cadwy was having difficulty getting the words out. They must have been choking him.
I pressed my lips together. What could I say? I had no viable alternative, and perhaps being bound by marriage to Arthur would make me safe in the dangerous place this palace looked to be. Perhaps it was my only hope. Without it, what was to stop Cadwy taking me for his own? That was what Morgana wanted. I knew without a doubt that it was what Cadwy wanted, too.
“I take this man,” I said, into the silence.
Chapter Fifteen
After the marriageceremony was done, Uthyr lay back sleeping on his pillows, his haggard face even more drawn than before. Arthur nodded to Dubricius. “Fetch Merlin.”
After a moment, Merlin appeared in the doorway, but stopped short, as though up against a solid but invisible wall. He stared– not at Arthur and me, still hand-fasted together by the rope– but at Morgana, who had gone to sit beside her father on Breanna’s stool. She gazed back at him out of hostile, dark eyes. No explanation was needed. His feelings were written across his face for everyone to see.
