Guinevere and I stood atop the tower where I had stood against the raids and world bosses. She wore a white dress with a veil covering her face.

The land around us had already turned from a marsh of blood and mud to a field of green once again. Crimson flowers spread from the base of the black tower all across the field. Remara, the wise woman, stood as the officiate of the ceremony. My army was around us but our actual ceremony was very small. Jeriah and his brothers were there, along with the clan leaders for the Myrmidon, but I didn’t have many friends in this world and Guinevere had left all of her’s behind when she came with me.

I held her hands in mine. Her finger had regrown after a few healers saw to it, but there was a faint silver scar there still that would always be a reminder of what had been done to her. The wind blew and lifted up Guinevere’s veil for just a moment. I didn’t need Voidra to tell me as the pulse in every man who saw her thickened at the just the glimpse of part of her face.

“You have come here today in the sight of gods and man to bind yourselves in heart and flesh,” Remara said. “Do you swear by the mana in your veins to be faithful to one another from this day forth, until you are parted by death.”

“I swear to protect Guinevere as long as there is strength in my body,” I said. “I will be faithful to her always, in this life and the next.”

I could feel my oath tighten inside me, similar to the mana bindings Merlin had used on me. My oath had gone beyond what had been asked of me. Even if Guinevere died, I could never remarry, that was fine with me, no one I had ever met on earth or this world had even come close to measuring up to her.

“I swear to support Mordred and to always have his back, as long as there is breath in my lungs,” Guinevere said. “I will be faithful to him always, in this life and the next.”

“You have given your oaths in sight of mortals and the heavens,” Remara said. “Let no one try to tear apart what you have created today, and may blessings of fertility and prosperity be upon you.”

I pulled Guinevere into a kiss. It was relatively chaste, but I still held her in my arms for a long moment.

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There was a cheer and I looked out to see my army as small as ants below all looking up at us. They had heard none of our words but had evidently been attending in their own small way. For the first time, I truly felt like a champion. Not just powerful physically, but something that went down deeper than flesh and bone. I could give a speech about victory or how we would prevail, but now was not the time for that. Today I wasn’t Mordred the Warlord, I was Mordred the husband and father.

I took Guinevere’s hand in mine. Scarlet lightning wreathed my body as blue sapphire wings sprouted from her back and we took to the sky. I opened a portal, and we flew through, appearing at the castle in the middle of the Ancient Forest. I carried Guinevere in my arms like I had when moving through the tunnels below the forest. Her arms encircled my neck, her veil gone now as it was just the two of us alone in the castle. I sat down on the bed with her.

Guinevere’s hand went up to the black and silver choker around her neck.

“I didn’t have time to pick a better option when I took this,” she said. “Now that I can look on it, it seems more like a cursed item than something anyone would choose to create.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it makes me a target for the gaze of every man,” Guinevere said. “I’m not bound by my oath like you made. I said it but they were only words, my mana didn’t bind me to them.”

“Did you mean them when you said them?” I asked.

“Of course,” Guinevere said sounding almost offended.

“Then they weren’t just words,” I responded, kissing her gently on the forehead. “In my world, we don’t have oaths like that, we just have to trust the other person to keep their word. I trust you Guinevere. I don’t need some magic to believe you’ll keep your word.”

Guinevere let her hair fall loose in curtain, then leaned her head against my chest.

“War is coming. Arthur will never stop coming after you,” she said. “I tried so hard to keep war from coming to my kingdom, and now I feel like I’m the one who started it.”

I lifted her chin up with a finger, looking into the crystal blue of her eyes.

“You are not responsible for the actions of others,” I said firmly. “I will give Arthur his chance for peace. If he takes it, I will let him and his people be.”

“He won’t take it,” Guinevere said. “He hates you with an obsession.”

“With you by my side, I can stand against the world,” I said. “If Arthur comes for us, I won’t hesitate to do what must be done.”

“What about us?” Guinevere asked. “Can’t we just… hide away? Raise our child in peace somewhere?”

“Is there anywhere on this world where we can be left at peace?” I asked.

Guinevere was silent than shook her head. “No, they’ll hunt us to the ends of the earth.”

“The we stand together to the end,” I said, taking her hands in mine.

“Till death parts us,” Guinevere agreed her lips meeting mine.