GUINEVERE: A Medieval Romance by Lavinia Collins

Author:Lavinia Collins [Collins, Lavinia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Book Folks Arthurian fantasy historical fiction publisher
Published: 2014-12-02T05:00:00+00:00

Kay led me to somewhere I had never been, which must have been his rooms. In one was a bed and a small steaming bath. Everything was clean, simple and functional. No silk, no gold. Kay did not seem to have seen the attraction in Camelot’s new-found luxuries. He locked the door behind us and gestured to the bath.

“Get in,” he said brusquely. “You’ll feel better for it.”

I stood my ground, resistant. Still upset, angry and resentful. He had pulled me from Lancelot’s arms.

“Can one of the women not help me with this?” I crossed my arms stubbornly.

“Do you want more people to know?”

He turned me around impatiently, and loosened the lacing of my dress as if he was helping a child. He turned away for me to slip out of it and I stepped into the bath. The hot water, almost painful against my skin, did make me feel calmer. I noticed I was still trembling slightly, but I was beginning to feel more steady. And I was glad of the hot water. I pulled my hair loose, though it was almost loose already, and it fell around my shoulders, the ends trailing wet and dark in the bath. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them. Kay turned back and sat down cross-legged on the floor beside me. He sighed to look at me.

“It will be well,” he said, the anger all gone from his voice. I glared at him from under the locks of hair falling before my face. “Oh, I’m sure now it seems like the end of the world. But it’s better this way, Guinevere. Arthur doesn’t know, and the gossip will die down.” He paused for a moment, glancing down at the floor thoughtfully. “Arthur loves you, you know.”

I put my head down on my arms, folded around my knees, to hide the tears of guilt pricking there. I knew that I was lucky, I knew I had something good, but I had wanted to choose. It all seemed so unfair. I hadn’t asked for any of it. I hadn’t asked for Lancelot to come into my life and change everything; nor had I asked Arthur to take me from across the sea to be his wife. I didn’t see why I shouldn’t love as freely as everyone else seemed to just because I was someone’s queen. I hadn’t had any control and now I was being punished. I was suffering because I had wanted to be happy, and make my own choices like a man. I didn’t think Arthur owned me, but everyone else seemed to think that he did. Tears choked my throat, but didn’t fall. This was the way it was, it had always been. I had longed for something more, but the world had closed in around me, and reminded me that I was not somehow above it.

“Arthur has had other women,” I replied sulkily, flicking at the bathwater with my fingers.

“Guinevere, this is just the way of it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.