Reunion

"I don't want any trouble... Just let me walk inside, okay?", I asked the guard I had just defeated. In fear, he just nodded and ran away from there while I stared at the doors. It was so ironic, I wanted to make her marry someone, just so the rumors about her could stop... But now I was going to stop this forced marriage that her father arranged.

I took a deep breath... It was such a long time I haven't seen her, it was such a long time I have been here at Coventry's palace... I didn't know what to expect, nor I knew what the king was going to do once his eyes landed on me. Pure hatred, that's definitely a must in the feelings he will have... But without further delay, I just kicked the door open, slamming it and making a very loud noise echo.

"I object to this marriage!", I shouted. Startled, every single person in the room stared at me in surprise and the whispers started, but the king was the first to stand up, stomping on the ground to get everyone's attention and establish order.

"I... I am afraid we're not in that part of the marriage yet...", the man who was about to marry the princess said, stepping back with a hand on the handle of his sword. The king, in anger, walked between me and the couple about to get married.

"More importantly, how the hell did you get in here?! Why was security been so careless?!", the king shouted at me, the hatred I expected visible in his eyes.

"Your majesty, I have come here on my own, through the secret entrance of the palace...", I answered him, while he approached me grabbing his own sword, but I kept mine on its sheath.

"The secret entrance? That's how you escaped last time, isn't it? Well, whatever, guards! Seize her at once!", he ordered and the guards inside the room started to move... There were only four, but I haven't come here to fight anyone.

"Hold on! I... I have come to speak with her highness, the princess, I do not wish to cause any harm, nor I wish to fight your soldiers, your majesty. Just grant me this wish and peace will be kept", I said to the king, but he started to laugh, unstoppably.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to rub in her face that you've become the criminal's doom? The peacemaker of the mountains? The savior in the fire? Her rapist? Or are you going to bring the Roseblood war to us, as you already did to this continent? Well, regardless of what you have to say, I will not allow it. You will be sent to the-"

"Father, please", Isabelle suddenly interrupted the king. "She has come this far not to be arrested... I say we at least give her a chance to say anything at all...". The king seemed to have a but stored to say... But as a request of her own daughter, he recomposed and stepped aside.

"Very well... You can approach, Dagger, but drop your sword", the king said to me and, a little relieved, I did so, getting the sword stuck on the floor and approaching the princess. When I was just in front of her, I kneeled down in respect.

"Your highness... I... I am very happy that you have allowed me to speak with you... I hope you know that I have always been loyal to you and that everything I have done was thinking in you and this kingdom...", I said, calmly and not daring to look at her face, not even a single time.

"For this kingdom and for me, you say?"

"Yes... The day I escaped this palace I just followed the vow of the Coventry's knights, 'fear death is the path of the cowards. Run to it is the path of the idiots. The true warrior finds the path which lies in between'. I knew that staying and coming back before would certainly cause my death, so I arrived now, the right moment to speak and bring the truth to light..."

"And what makes you believe that the truth can be brought to light now... What truth is this?"

"That's... Not for me to decide anymore, your highness", I said, in fear while I gestured, trying to sign her about which truth is this without making it too obvious... I don't want to be her motive of ruin in case she doesn't want the truth to be told.

"Everblade, raise and look me in the eyes... Do you really expect me to believe that you remained loyal to us all this time?", she asked... and I only complied while my heart sank with those cold harsh words she said. I tried to control my feelings, but my hands betrayed me, shaking with the tension and fear...

"You have betrayed our outnumbered knights at the town, do you know how much of our honor you costed us with that retreat?! You have even stained our relationship with Waterkill, proving to be much more helpful than we could be at the moment of crisis... And if that wasn't enough, you have also brought the war with Roseblood to us! Even now, our forces need to move to protect the people...", she said in a shout and I dodged my gaze away, looking at the people who seemed angry at me, others worried and the rest whispering about me. But with a long deep breath, I took my courage and looked at her again, just to see her sighing a little and taking a step closer to me.

"I have to recognize, however... Our knights were wrong in burning that town down... Waterkill was saved due to your efforts and if the war with Roseblood was delayed, who knows how strong they would have become to face in later war... But the worst of all doesn't lie in the actions of recent times... The worst of all is the crime you committed two years ago, against me...", she said... And she caught me off guard... Probably courtesy of the lessons I have given her a long time ago, but this wasn't a tactic to attack me, it was just unexpected... With our lips touching each other in the kiss we had long desired to share.

"The worst crime you committed was to left me in wait for this... For two years...", she said, breaking her seriousness with a finishing smile, one that fills my heart. It was kind of poetic... It all started with a kiss, it now ends with a kiss...

"This... This can't possibly be okay! Your majesty, the marriage had already been arranged! And... And this is just gross, it goes against everything Coventry stands for!", the suitor shouted in objection against me... But his majesty seemed indecisive, a bit angry as well... But after a long thought, he sighed.

"Forget about the marriage, Arthur... My greatest wish is to see my daughter happy...", the king said, keeping a serious face and putting his sword back to its sheath. "It might be strange, a world-changing event... Something that I despise in the depths of my heart, to be honest. But after everything Everblade has done for this kingdom, everything she states to have done for the soon-to-be queen, after seeing that smile on my daughter... I can't possibly say that this relationship is wrong, and many of the people here agree...", he said and then looked at the so-called Arthur... In frustration, this suitor left the room, letting his anger clear with his stomps on the floor.

After he was gone, the king looked at me and smile slightly, as if asking me to take good care of her daughter... And then my eyes landed on Isabelle once more. She smiled proudly at me and then hugged me tighter than anyone has ever hugged me. That contagious smile spread to me, I was soon smiling too and hugging her back...

But the problems were just beginning... Politically, we had become controversial in the voices of other kingdoms... Militarily, the Roseblood Empire was coming to us, the rebellion and the kingdoms arming themselves to fight back... Economically, we lost an ally... Wanting our not, Arthur's family was noble of high status and great economic influence.

Ultimately, the decisions of my wife and now queen were going to be the very difference between diving deeper into a crisis or the success of our kingdom... But that's a story that shouldn't be told by me... In another moment, if she desires so, she will tell you about it... For now, you remain in darkness.