Somewhere In Briton
The chamber hadn't really changed from the last time Gwynn had seen it. This was Phillip's private domain, the one place he had set aside so that he could be himself and not the King of Briton. She dropped down onto one of the couches as she watched her King and her friend pace around the room.
"You will wear a bare path into the carpets if you continue like this," she finally said.
"They are my carpets and I will wear them bare if I choose to," he snapped back.
Gwynn sighed. So it was going to be that kind of meeting, was it? "You are acting more like a petulant green boy and less like a King, Phillip."
Phillip stopped and turned to look at her. "In this room, I have never had to be King."
"You have rarely acted like a child in here, either," she pointed out.
"I am not acting like a child, Gwynn," he argued. "And even if I was, could you hold blame to me for it?"
"In this instance? Perhaps."
Phillip frowned and dropped down onto the couch across from her. "Give me one good reason that you do not come back home right now, Gwynn."
"I have yet a year of school left to complete."
"I said a good reason, Gwynn."
She sighed. "Duty. Honor. A promise. Love."
He made a face at that last one. "You are still spending time with the McKnight?"
"I am, Phillip. Conner makes me happy."
"Does he make you as happy as you once were?"
"Do you mean does Conner make me feel like I did when you kissed me before I knew who it was that you really were?" Gwynn asked gently. "Phillip, why do you persist in asking the questions that we both know you do not want the answers to?"
"Your well-being is my concern, Gwynn. You are my champion and a knight of my guard. You are a woman of great strength and beauty and who has great value to me. You are my friend and my confidant." He looked at her. "The woman I love. I cannot help my jealousy about your McKnight."
"You and I were not meant to have that kind of relationship, Phillip. You are the King and I am the daughter of a known robber and thief. I am no royal lady and you are no common valet. We are who we are, and it is not something that anyone should try to change... not in this case." She spread her hands. "We each have duties larger than our personal desires, and those duties must be met with all of our will."
"I could order you back from that school and to my side."
"And you would deal with my hate and disappointment in you for the rest of my days if you abuse the trust between us in such a way."
"Is he really so important to you that you would disobey your King in such a way, that you would allow your honor to be stained?"
Gwynn stiffened and her eyes were filling with anger as she jumped to her feet. "How dare you, Phillip?! I have never, ever done anything that could be considered a staining of my honor. I have come each time you have called for my weapons. I have stood by you when there were assassins trying to take you out and risked my own life to protect you. I have done my duty always without complaint. I have had my heart broken in order to do the right thing!" She clenched her fists. "You have no right to question my honor when almost everything I have done in the last three years has been because of honor and duty to my king and to Briton! I have bled for Briton and I have cried for it and King or no, you will not accuse me of such a thing!"
Phillip had gotten to his feet when he heard the pain in Gwynn's voice. "Gwynn, I apologize. I did not mean it. I was being an ass when I said such a thing."
"You most certainly were!"
"My friend, my Gwynn, if you are truly happy there, I will not think of pulling such a double-edged act and force you to come home."
"I am, Phillip. I am very happy there and there are people that need me."
"And the McKinight? Does he make you happy?"
"He does, Phillip. He makes me happy."
"I love you, you know that, Gwynn."
"Yes, and I love you, but it is different."
"It is not as it used to be, is it?"
Gwynn shook her head. "No, my friend and my King, it is not."
"I would have you home and at my side, Gwynn. There is none I trust as I do you. There is none I can be just Phillip with as I can you."
"Would you force me home and into a loveless life before my time at Fandom is done, Phillip? Is your jealousy of Conner that great that you would condemn me to unhappiness for the rest of my days at such an early time and before it must be my fate?"
"That is not fair, Gwynn. You know that I would never wish you unhappiness, nor force you into any union that you did not wish," he said quietly. "It is hard, Gwynn. It is hard to know that your heart shines on someone else as it once did on me."
"You do not think it was hard for me to stand firm and make sure that you and I did nothing to cause issue for Briton? Do you think that it was easy when I had to tell you no to your proposals over and over again because I knew that it could never be? Phillip... it was not easy for me to break both of hearts in that way, but it was what had to be done. When my father sent me away and you did not even try to talk him out of it, I was hurt and I felt that I must not have meant that much to you if you could just send me away."
"Gwynn I did not --"
She held up her hand. "I know that now, Phillip. But you have to understand, I was hurt and angry three years ago when all of you sent me away. I have grown up since then and I have seen things that I wish never to have seen. I have helped people fight when I wished they were safely behind closed doors. My heart healed... and I fell in love with another. I will always love you, phillip, but as my brother. What we wished for once was not something that could be. When I met Conner..."
"He was a hero."
"It was more than that, Phillip, though, him deciding to help to rescue me when Nottingham came after me is what opened my eyes to him. I had cared for another before, and he left -- just like I thought you left me when I was sent away."
"I would have given up the throne --"
"No, you would not have. You would have tried to and you would have been harmed in the doing of it. A King cannot give in to his personal desires as he has greater duty to the country he rules." Gwynn sat back down and Phillip did the same. "As I said, when I first met Conner, he helped me fight and saved me from Nottingham and his guards. I did not expect to love him, but I did. It took some time. I believe we were together for a year of days before I told him how I felt."
"Does he love you like I do, Gwynn?"
"Not like you, for he is not you. But I believe he loves me."
"You believe so? Has he not told you his feelings then?"
"They are different in Fandom than we are here, Phillip. The men do not seem to voice their deeper feelings." She looked at Phillip. "But I believe that he does love me."
"And for this unconfirmed belief, you would stay longer in Fandom?"