"Arthur, Leon is looking for you. He needs…" Gwen looks around the royal bedchamber, finding it empty.

I could have sworn he was in here. I just saw… Her eyes cast around the room and settle on the bed.

Aha. So that's where he is. She walks over, picks up the banner, and carries it from the room.

"My lady, did you find him?" Leon calls after her, seeing her striding purposefully down the corridor, carrying something red in her arms. He jogs the short distance and catches her up easily on his long legs.

"Not yet, but I know where he is. I will send him as soon as he is available," she says, barely glancing at him.

"Oh, well, I'll just accompany you," he says.

"Um, no, that's quite all right. I don't know long he'll be detained, honestly," she says. I like you, Leon, but not that way. Plus I don't think Arthur's interests lean that way.

"That's really all right, I'm kind of at a stand-still until I find him anyway," he says, shrugging.

She sees Merlin approaching and gives him a pointed look, shifting the banner in her arms so he sees it. Help me.

Merlin smirks and picks up his pace. "Ah, Sir Leon, just the man I was looking for," he says, approaching them. "There is a minor… issue in the armory. I think some items might be missing."

Merlin, you are a bloody genius, Gwen thinks.

"What? Oh, no, we can't have that! Excuse me, my lady, but I must see to this matter at once," Leon says, nodding respectfully to her as he joins Merlin.

Merlin glances back at Gwen, and she blows him a kiss. He grins and blushes faintly before turning his attention back to Leon.

xXx

She finds Arthur in the royal box in the jousting arena, sitting casually in the king's chair, one leg hooked over the arm in what seems to be his favorite pose.

"We almost had a third," she says, laughing as she tosses the banner on the queen's chair.

His eyebrows go up. "Oh, really? Some saucy little maidservant? A beautiful but bored courtier, perhaps?"

"Sir Leon."

Arthur's grin and eyebrows both drop abruptly. Gwen moves closer, and he brings his leg down from the arm so she can climb into his lap.

"He's actually looking for you," she adds, kissing the end of his nose.

"How did you shake him off?" Arthur leans in and kisses the pulse point on the side of her neck.

"Merlin helped. Made up some story about items missing from…" she pauses a minute as his lips trailing wet fire on her neck momentarily distract her, "from the armory."

Arthur chuckles against her, "Good call, Merlin. Leon does love few things more than weaponry."

"I know," she says, smiling as his arms wrap tighter around her. "We need to find him a wife. Soon."

"Or at least a little bit of crumpet to put his mind on other things," Arthur says, his lips making their way to her breasts.

"Arthur! That's terrible!" she laughs again. "Though probably true," she muses.

"I don't want to talk about Leon anymore," he says, lifting his head for a moment to look up into her soft brown eyes.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asks coyly.

"Jousting, of course," he motions to the arena below them.

"Oh, of course," she says, looking out over the long oval. Little dust clouds float up here and there where the breeze catches the dirt. The late afternoon sun is sinking lower, casting the sky in shades of pink and orange, giving everything a rosy glow.

He shifts her on his lap so that she is straddling him, the wide seat of the king's chair providing more than enough room for her knees to fit on either side of his thighs.

"Are you my stallion?" she asks, her voice dropping low and sultry.

"Indeed, my lady. Ready at your command with my lance," he says against her lips, kissing her with his words as he pulls her even closer into his lap.

"Yes, I see," she says between kisses. "Or rather, I feel." She moves her hips, pushing against his groin.

He groans and drops his head back for just a moment, his hands now creeping below her skirts, groping for her hips.

"Your armor is not very strong," he remarks, dropping kisses on the exposed tops of her breasts as his hands find bare skin above her stockings and slide higher, gripping her backside.

"I wasn't aware that I needed much armor for this kind of joust, my lord," she answers breathily.

"The less the better, actually," he agrees. "Might I suggest you… take up your lance, my lady?"

"Take it up where, exactly?" she teases, unable to help herself.

Arthur drops his head against her chest, laughing now. "I walked into that one, didn't I?"

"Directly and with great strides, Arthur," she says, lifting his head to place a searing kiss on his lips, her tongue snaking in to seduce his, coax it forth into her mouth. Her hands drop to his waist and she blindly pulls at the ties of his trousers.

They open easily, her practiced hands needing little guidance. She reaches her hand slowly inside the opening, wrapping her fingers around him.

He grunts and moves his hands, pulling at her skirts, freeing them so that they are no longer tucked between them. His one hand slips underneath again, this time in front, where his fingers trail up her inner thigh until he reaches her center, warm and wet, the coarse curls there familiar against his knuckles.

She cries out softly as he touches her intimately, sliding back and forth, circling around, slipping inside. Gwen works his manhood out of his trousers, stroking him as she does so, enjoying the feel of him in her hand, thick and firm.

"The lance is at the ready, my lord," she whispers into his ear, licking it, nibbling.

"The target is set," he confirms hoarsely, removing his hand to guide her hips to him as she guides his shaft to her.

She spears herself on him, the ring snagged by the lance, and she moans as he pushes upward, settling deep within her. "Oh…" she sighs, rocking her hips as he moves his, pushing against the chair, using it as leverage as she rides him, his hands still on her hips beneath her skirt, her hands in his hair, his face buried in her cleavage.

The breeze picks up, blowing the loose tendrils of Guinevere's hair from her neck, cooling the small places left wet by Arthur's kisses, and she shivers slightly. They simultaneously speed up, spurred on by their mounting passion and need, and Gwen clutches Arthur's shoulders, gripping his leather vest in both hands, holding them almost like reins.

Arthur lifts his head and gazes up at her, his beautiful queen rendered even more beautiful by her desire. She opens her eyes and catches him watching her, so she boldly watches him back, drinking in his passion-dark eyes, the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead, his full, parted lips.

He is beautiful, she thinks, and leans down to kiss him. Slowly, deeply, luxuriously, until Gwen tears her lips from his, crying out as her climax comes upon her, throwing her head back and sending her limbs tingling.

Moments later Arthur's breathing speeds up and deepens and he shouts out his own release, moving his arms up and clamping his arms around her waist tightly. He presses his face into her chest again and sighs a heavy, satisfied sigh.

xXx

Gwen and Arthur find Leon outside the armory, going over an inventory list with Merlin and Gwaine.

Gwaine is the first to notice the king and queen approaching, and he grins and nudges Leon.

"Ah, thank you, my lady. Sire," he nods to Arthur.

Merlin's eyes meet Gwen's for a fleeting moment, and Merlin is about to look away, slightly embarrassed to be continually and unwittingly embroiled in their little game, but then his eyebrows raise slightly and he lifts a hand to his hair, smoothing it.

Gwen gets the message and follows suit, finding the comb she had tucked there earlier askew. As she adjusts it, Gwaine suddenly seems to choke on something and falls to a fit of coughing, turning away slightly.

Leon absently pounds the other knight's back as he chats with Arthur, wondering what Gwaine's problem could possibly be.

"…So, my lord, the men will need your instruction on unarmed combat. Percival is very skilled, but he doesn't have the, um, flair for explanation that you do," he finishes, frowning at his quiet friend's failed attempt at instruction.

"He'll get there, Leon. I'll work with him on that as well as with the men. What is it?" Arthur suddenly asks, seeing Leon's eyes wandering towards the side of his head.

"Oh… nothing sir, nothing," Leon lies, pretending that he hasn't just noticed a lock of hair sticking straight out from the side of the king's suspiciously over-tousled hair or the queen's slight glowing rosy sheen.

Gwaine simply turns and walks away.

Thanks to SherryLynne and PrincessJennifer for the location, and thanks also go to faithlessducks for suggesting the usage of the jousting metaphors!