Sword in the Stars (Once & Future #2) - Cori McCarthy Page 0,55
shut. “Fuck that.”
“You okay?” Lam asked.
“Just need a minute.” Ari and Lam were silent, until she laughed. “You’re the castle heartthrob.”
“Someone’s got to be.”
“You teaching that GSA about the glories of being polyam?”
“I only think being polyamorous is glorious for those of us who are polyamorous.” Lam peeled off their buckles and leather while they were talking and were shirtless now. “Case in point, if you had to share Gwen with anyone other than a clueless boy king, I know you’d have lost it by now.”
“Your evidence?”
“Kay.”
Ari winced. “That’s fair.”
Lam’s voice glowed with a new depth. “Why do you think we haven’t?”
Ari laughed in a shallow way. “Not that I haven’t thought about it.”
“Not that I haven’t, either.”
Ari dared a look at Lam in the dim room. The only light came from that veiled moon outside. “So Morgause…” Ari searched for a gentle way to ask, eyes tracing Lam’s matching, delicate scars beneath their pecs. “Was she…”
“Surprised to find my downstairs has a lot in common with hers?” Lam laughed. “I believe she was delighted, truth be told.”
Ari fell back on the straw mattress, and Lam sat beside her. “How the hell are you doing so well while the rest of us are drowning in medieval crap?”
“There’s beauty here, Ari. There’s a reason for this place. These people.” Lam brushed her cheek with their knuckle. “I can’t help seeing that. I loved the King Arthur story. Kay and I ate it up when we were at knight camp on Lionel, but this is so much better. It’s truer. And we’re making the legend happen. We’re inside of it.”
“Making it happen,” she murmured. “Lam, I need you to find Gwen. Have her bring Arthur to the throne room. Alone.”
Ari stood before the empty throne. This place was the grandest and most neglected hall in the enormous castle. The vaulted ceilings hung with wheeled chandeliers and the stone walls wore pennants and tapestries—but there was no life to it. No spark.
No legend.
Even the throne was still far too big for Arthur’s young frame. She flashed back to a different Arthur. The body in Nin’s cave. The aged man with a gray beard. His face worn, as if a hundred tragedies had befallen him in a span of only twenty years or so. Ari ran her fingers over the symbols that had been magically carved into the wood. Old Merlin spared no expense when it came to making sure that his boy king impressed those who visited the kingdom.
On the purple seat cushion, Ari found a worn wooden box with a clunky metal latch.
The perfect size for a chalice.
Ari’s fingers twitched, and she swore she heard Kay in her head, ribbing her for her impulses, but she unlatched the box and swung it open.
It was empty.
“But Gweneviere, I—” Arthur’s voice snapped to a stop. Ari spun around. Gwen had tricked Arthur here, from the look of mild betrayal on his face. How very Gwen.
“And you’re not coming out until you sort this,” Gwen hissed, such a boss that Arthur stepped back while Gwen shut the double doors behind her.
Ari and Arthur were alone.
“You came back. You shouldn’t have.”
“There are tons of things I shouldn’t do.”
Arthur stared at her outfit. Ari had decided against her armor for the first time since she’d arrived at Camelot. She wore a man’s tunic, her arms and scars on show. She’d bound her breasts but there was no denying that her frame didn’t hold the same imposing weight without the bulk of her armor. Ari opened her mouth, but Arthur beat her to it, eyeing the box in her hands. “So you found my chalice. Maybe I should try it out on you. I don’t know what it does.”
Ari showed off the empty box. “It’s not here.”
Arthur moved forward, taking the box and relatching it. “This wood is magic. The chalice is only there if I open it. Merlin gave it to me.”
“So open it.” Ari smirked, and Arthur looked amused at first, and then grouchy.
“I want you out of my kingdom.”
“Why? Because I have breasts? Or because Gweneviere prefers—”
“You lie, and you… direct me. A lot.” He seemed to shrink in the presence of the throne. He moved to the other side of the room, setting the box down on a large, rectangular table.
“Yeah, that is definitely not the right shape,” Ari murmured before she could stop herself.
“What?” Arthur shouted so loudly it echoed. “What does that even mean? You have a problem with everything I do,