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ISABEL knew instantly that inviting Gwen to thehad been a bad idea The look on Arthur&039;s face told her so

But she was rather puzzled why, since she&039;d had the impression that he&039;d always kept his queen involved in the politics of his kingdom Gwen seemed so in tune with the intricacies of Ca, when Gwen had seenized that her husband had not expected her to join this party Once she graciously greeted all at the table, including Lancelot, she took her leave

All the men had stood and bowed, but holy cow!

Isabel felt at a loss She was the only wo a dozen burly and apparently a bit unhappy men, and she&039;d have liked Gwen to be there so she didn&039;t feel so out of her elee that she&039;d so quickly bonded with the woman who she had been asked to betray in one way and ended up betraying in another What the hell rong with her? Suddenly she felt like shit and wanted to run Only Arthur&039;s eyesaway from the room

You are not alone, Isabel, I am here, and it is at a tinize your confusion and understand your fear; ies that you question all you hold dear Should you wish to withdraw from this pact we have made, I will undo this scheme, which I have laid

Isabel touched her necklace and smiled at the men "Please, sirs, take your seats It seems to me we have much to discuss And I don&039;t know about you, but I&039; So let us break fast and stuff ourselves with food and ideas"

The necklace warainst her chest

"She does not speak as we do," one giant said

"Because she co to seat her "&039;Tis e need her Her views are refreshing"

As he helped seat her, he whispered, "May we speak privately after thisas there are none of these ht through her He straightened andin a "sit, sit" motion to the rest of the men Then he clapped "Trevor! We are ravenous"

"Oh, thank the gods," Isabelto feed her pickled eel When she and Gwen had visited the kitchen, Isabel and Trevor had o well in your h the bailey Even noarriors were hard at work, exercising their swording skills with one another The clanging of steel on steel - at least she believed it was steel, but who the hell knew? - rang out through the air

"You won over every one of hts and ideas, Countess I particularly enjoyed your suggestion of an occasional fair held at our borders, so that we may continue to enjoy harmony betwixt our people"

"Hey, a party is a party Especially at peak harvest ti?"

"Well, we can call it whatever you would like, Arthur"

"I enjoy the Thanks and Giving notion"

"Tell ?"

"Because until he swears coiance with Richard of Fres"

That stopped her short "He is in league with that pig?"

"So e bubble up "How dare he co for you to hand over the throne?"

"There areupon me and all of Camelot that make no sense"

"And yet you permit it You invite him into your castle"

"He is my son, Isabel What would you havewould probably be at the top of ood whack or ten to his backside"

"You , you do not use a whip, you take him over your knee and spank with your hand"

Arthur barked out a laugh "&039;Twould seee aall s? I do not wish to spend what tiht on ue that he hadn&039;t brought on this particularly bad-tasting piece of trouble, but stopped herself "Yes, of course It is too nice a day to waste"

Arthur steered her toward the stables "Would you care for a ride, Isabel?"

"Oh, I would love it" She jabbed a thu to keep us co close behind theain shortly"

As they entered the stable, it was obvious right off the bat that Harry was not a happy camper "If you have come for a ride, I&039;m afraid Samara cannot be ridden, Izzy She has been hurt"

"Hurt how?" Isabel asked

"Her leg has been lamed"

"How?"

"I can only say that foul play may have been involved I can&039;t see how she could possibly have caused this injury on her own"

"That little sonofabitch!" Isabel said She turned on Arthur "That beloved son of yours is a rabbed her shoulders "Hold off, Isabel We do not know that this was the machinations of Mordred"

She felt her eyes welling but did nothing to wipe away the tears "Who else would want to harm Samara? You know the answer, Arthur You just don&039;t want to see it"

"Hoould he even knohich horse is yours, Isabel?"

Harry cleared his throat and shuffled his feet

"Harry?" Isabel said, looking over at him

"Well, when he came to stable his horse, I overheard a conversation between him and one of the lads Mordred coe and asked the boy if the king was considering breeding her The lad told hi And then Mordred said that perhaps he would discuss the possibility of a pairing between his steed and her e in another tirade, Arthur said, "I will have ate, Isabel, I promise you this And no matter where it leads, the person responsible will be held accountable, should it be a stable boy or even Mordred"

She wrenched herself from his hold and ran to Sa the stall door and wrapping her arms around the horse&039;s neck "I aainst her neck

"Who did this to you, do you know?" she asked, stepping back and tickling Samara&039;s muzzle

Salanced down at Sa, which rapped in what looked like cotton cloth Apparently that was about the only thing available in these ti," Harry said from behind her

She whirled to see both Harry and Arthur standing outside the stall "She knoho did this," Isabel said "We can bring Mordred down here and see how she reacts"

"Isabel, you are not thinking clearly," Harry said "Samara is ornery with most of the stable boys It even took h to allow me to examine her And you well know that animals loveher neck "We will find who did this to you, I proain, then pressed her ainst Isabel&039;s chest in what one could loosely interpret as a "woe is esture

"Isabel, if you&039;d still like to take that ride, you are welcome to any number of my horses"

Isabel wasn&039;t so sure that she could ride any other horse beside Samara sidesaddle She&039;d hate to eic did not extend beyond her own horse She shook her head as she left the stall and closed it "I fear I&039;ve lost the desire for a ride"

"A stroll, perhaps?"

As much as she craved time with Arthur, she just felt heartsick over what had happened to Samara "I&039;m so sorry, but I don&039;t think I would be the best of co that even when you are not at your best, you are still the most worthy companion I could wish to be around"

She smiled "Okay, perhaps a short stroll"

"Excellent" He turned to Harry "Sir, I wish for you to instruct the stable lads that Sauarded at all times If needs be, have one set up a bed of sorts in front of her stall so that none can disturb her again"

"Sir, I&039; orders to your servants I have no authority here"

"You have authority in the na, Harry I bestow it upon you"

Harry bowed slightly "As you wish"

Arthur held out his ar the feel of his well-ers

"I just cannot understand, Arthur, the abuse of innocent animals"

"Nor, I, m&039;lady, nor I As you s"

"No, really? I could not tell, being too busy trying to keep fro over them all"

Arthur smiled and squeezed her hand "There, now that&039;s better Now tell ?"

THE two ended up at the east gardens, which were just as beautiful as the others, but in a totally different way There was a large pond here, teaht, beautiful fish And as far as Isabel could tell by the scents, this garden was rant herbs It made sense, as the cookhouse was nearby, and beyond that were rows upon rows of plants, which she guessed would be producing fruits and vegetables very soon And beyond that was an orchard in full bloom with the promise of apples and maybe apricots and cherries and peaches She wasn&039;t certain just what types of fruit trees they had in this ti

"Camelot is lovely, Arthur Truly"

"My thanks, Countess Although I cannot take credit for much of this &039;Tis the artistry of my people, and of course - " He stopped short and sed hard

"And of course, Gwen," Isabel finished for him "You should not feel reluctant to speak of her, Arthur We have spent but a short tiether, but I really do like her She&039;s a lovely lady, and I see perfectly why you fell in love with her"

He led her to a concrete bench and they sat "So you see how I cannot bring myself to condemn her?"

"Absolutely As we have said before, the heart wants what it wants So"

"It would seem that mine is just as fickle"

"As it can be for any human Would you care to hear the story about the first boy I fell madly in love with?"

His sad eyes lit up with humor "Oh, yes, madam, I would enjoy that veryher skirts around her, "his narade"

"Second grade?"

"We attended school together"

"You do this in Duether?"

"Indeed So anyway, Billy and I sat side by side in class, at the back of the rooood students"

"You were seated by hoell you did in the learning?"

"Yes The probleht up front, so the teachers could keep a closer watch on them"

"Such different customs for two lands so close to one another"

"Yes, I suppose, but anyway, it was obvious he had a crush on tails all the tin of affection?"

"Yes When ere that young the only way to express if you liked a girl was to tease and taunt If a boy ignored you, that was a sure sign he wasn&039;t interested at all But if he teased, then you knew he liked you Or at least wanted to grab your attention"

"Ha! That is so true That at least we have in common"

"So then on Valentine&039;s Day" - she held up a hand to stop his question - "it&039;s a holiday we celebrate once a year, where sweethearts express their feelings for one another" She figured discussing having a Hallmark mo hands and pictures of hearts and things like that"

He nodded "This happens, too, at Camelot, yet we do not set aside a particular day for this"

"I know, it&039;s possible we in Dumont overdo the holiday traditions"

He was actually grinning nohich made Isabel feel all fluttery She loved his s the one who could put one on his face when his heart was heavy

"So on Valentine&039;s Day, Billy slipped a note on my desk It read, &039;Please be my valentine&039; I was really happy, as I had set irl&039;s heart on hi even as a young girl I do so wish I had also known the young lady you were then I am certain that I would have battled with this Billy for your affections"

"I&039;ht that hard for me"