Morgause froze, her posture taut and stiff.
Britt strolled around Morgause. “After all, what kind of love is more sacred than that between a mother and her sons? And to lose not one, but four of them? And the eldest being the heir to your kingdom? Now that is not only the illustration of shame, but also of irony. How deep their love for you must go,” Britt chuckled.
“What do you know?” Morgause spat, her hands clenched in fists. “You think you’re better than me? All you do is spout pretty words and deceive everyone around you into thinking you’re a great king when you’re not. You’re nothing more than Merlin’s puppet!”
“It’s true,” Britt said before leaning across the distance between her and Morgause. “But it doesn’t change the fact that it only took pretty words to lure your sons away, where as you had to use magic.”
Morgause screamed in fury, but Britt wasn’t done.
“And your magic didn’t even work on me—though heaven knows you tried. How pathetic you looked, fluttering your eyes at a man—your brother no less—who wouldn’t even glance your way.”
“You are no brother of mine!” Morgause snarled. “You are some sort of fae creature Merlin dug up from God knows where! Only faeries and women can resist the charms and enchantments I was given by the fae of the north!”
“Be reasonable, Morgause. If I was a faerie I would have no desire to rule over a human kingdom,” Britt said.
“You cannot deceive me. What other kind of male can be as beautiful as you?” Morgause snarled.
Britt laughed as she briefly tugged on a lock of her hair. When she looked up Morgause was staring at her.
All anger was gone, instead she studied Britt with intensity.
“You-you’re a, a woman,” Morgause said, her eyes widening.
Britt’s smugness left her. “What? Now you’re grasping at straws.”
Morgause shook her head. “You wouldn’t fall victim to my ensnarement, nor did you fight back with magic of your own. If you were a faerie there would be more enchanters than just Merlin behind you, and you wouldn’t have ridden into battle. You’re a woman.”
“Are you mad?” Britt demanded. “Not only is that a great insult, but—,” Britt was cut off when Morgause took Britt’s free hand in her hands and stared at Britt with something that looked like…hope.
Britt swallowed uncomfortably as the Orkney queen stared into Britt’s eyes. “It’s true, it’s true, you are a woman!” she said, throwing her arms around Britt in an embrace. Ten years seemed to fall off the queen as her voice grew joyous and her smile bubbled with happiness rather than smug temptation.
“All these years trying—and here you accomplish it! Does Merlin know? He must know. If he threatens to usurp you tell him I will see him turned into a rat,” Morgause said.
“I’m sorry, what?” Britt said.
“For years my sister Elaine—wife of King Urien—and I have tried to see a queen rule in Britain,” Morgause said. “It was the only reason why I came to this blasted castle. If Arthur died and Gawain was his heir naturally he would need some sort of regent until he inherited his Father’s throne as well. I planned to be that regent.”
“Um,” Britt started, but Morgause was on a roll.
“Men are stupid and daft creatures, and they think us women to be even less intelligent than them. If a woman was placed on the throne think of the good she could do! But it has never happened because men refuse to believe we have an equal right to rule… until now,” Morgause said, returning her lit up eyes to Britt.
“I’m not telling everyone I’m a girl,” Britt finally said.
“No, I suppose you can’t. But even if you aren’t publically a female ruler you can improve Britain! You can make life better for women,” Morgause said with the devotion of a zealot.
Britt studied the beautiful queen for a moment. “Is it a hard thing? Being married to Lot I mean.”
The smile fell from Morgause’s lips and she looked at the ground. “It is easier for me than most, I believe, being that he is gone much of the time and I have never had to fear him. But it is difficult. When one is treated like a mindless barn animal most of the time it is difficult not to be a mindless animal. I cannot imagine how women who are only as half as lucky as Elaine and I are treated.”
Britt considered the problem as she stared at rows of herbs.
“But the treatment of women is only part of it. Some things you are already changing. I heard you have used crown funds to begin constructing a public bath house. Most nobility would see that as sprinkling pearls before pigs, but it is a fantastic idea, My Lord,” Morgause said.