Knowing her future was strange...but he must know much more about her now than she could imagine, especially if they're wed. But looking in his eyes then, him speaking to her so gently and recalling that embrace from her first day—it helped melt some of the doubt.

"It's not what I thought would come to pass when you kissed me the first time...But in a way I think I hoped for it from the start."

She romanticized the idea of him ignoring his father's wishes for a moment. It was silly, thinking of being Queen consort when you scrub floors for a living. All of that got tossed away when he let her down for the sake of Uther.

"This must have been hard for you. I was confused and scared when I arrived. I'm so sorry." She bridged the gap between them, wrapping her arms around him in a warm, gentle hug. Perhaps it wasn't as intimate as the one he gave her before, but she felt the need to return the gesture.