King Andrew Cairns and his son Prince Archibald Cairns, affectionately called Archie, of Callendar were visiting Camelot to negotiate a treaty with King Uther. This meant that they were to be treated with respect and not punched in the face like Arthur wanted to do right now. Since they were to get the best Uther had ordered that Archie have Arthur's manservant Merlin. Arthur didn't like the fact Merlin had to work for Archie especially as from what he had seen of the boy he was a spoiled prat.
Arthur had been like that but he had Merlin to tell him when he needed to stop and think about what he was doing. But now Merlin was serving that creep, it wasn't that Arthur hated Archie because he was a Prince who his father seemed to like better than him or even that Merlin actually addressed him like a servant should. It was the way that Archie looked at Merlin. The way he would stare at him when Merlin when he was bent over pouring his wine. Or when he was walking away to do something.
It made Arthur's blood boil to see that but knowing that this was a delicate treaty they were negotiating Arthur couldn't risk telling the other Prince exactly what he thought of him. Oh how he wanted to though, to tell that prat that Merlin was HIS and that Archie, he sneered even in his thoughts, could bloody well stop staring because Arthur would break him if he ever tried anything.
Archie may have been a bit arrogant but he knew that Prince Arthur didn't like him. Arthur was the better fighter, he had proven that this morning, he was also the better looking of the two, Archie was by no means ugly but Arthur had a charm about him that drew people to him. He was still trying to figure out what the Prince of Camelot could have against him when he was distracted by the manservant they had given him bending over to re-fill his cup. What was that boy's name? Martin? No it was something odd, Michael? No, Merlin! That was it!
He had overheard one of the servants say that Merlin was the Prince's personal manservant. OH. That was why he didn't like Merlin serving him! The great Arthur Pendragon, crown Prince of Camelot was jealous that his manservant was serving someone else!
When Arthur looked over again Archie was smirking, this was not good. While Merlin was bent over filling up Archie's cup the Prince leaned over and whispered something in his ear. His manservant blushed and stepped back, what had he whispered? He would not be responsible for his actions if it had been less than innocent. By now he was ignoring his father and King Andrew, not that they had noticed.
The last straw was when Archie purposely dropped his fork to see Merlin bend over. He barely remembered telling the Kings that he was going to leave; all he could see was red. Marching out off the hall not caring who looked he grabbed Merlin by the back of the top and dragged him out of the hall with him.
Once in the hallway he dragged Merlin a little bit along then stopped and shoved him into the wall. Before Merlin could protest there were a pair of lips on his and a tongue demanding entrance to his mouth. Relaxing Merlin kissed Arthur back, a few minutes later he had to pull back for lack of oxygen. Arthur leaned closer to him and growled into his ear "mine".
Grabbing Merlin by the hand this time he led him to his bedroom. Once there he pushed Merlin into the door and claimed his mouth again. After Arthur had kissed Merlin to the point where he was gasping for breath and had swollen lips he walked over to his dresser and brought out two items. Just the right thing to show Archie who Merlin really belonged to.
Merlin took one look at the items in Arthur's hands and the smirk on his face and immediately tried to back away. Arthur was having none of it "now now Merlin where do you think you're going?". He knew he wasn't getting out of it but Merlin tried the puppy dog eyes anyway in one last ditch attempt to get Arthur to stop with his plan.
This if anything made Arthur smirk more, Archie needed to be taught a lesion and Merlin should know that. He reached Merlin, who by this time was leaning against the table, and kissed him softly on the lips "trust me Merlin" he whispered pulling back. Still shaking Merlin nodded and let Arthur turn him over so he was facing the fireplace.
Arthur brushed the hair at the back of Merlin's neck away kissed it quickly and put the items on the table. Taking the lid off of the ink pot he dipped the quill into it and gently with all the calligraphy skills he had been taught when he was a child wrote Arthur's. Smiling he waited for the ink to dry and kissed the word "there" he breathed on the back of Merlin's neck.
Turning around Merlin looked at Arthur and said "you know it'll just wash off in the morning right?". Arthur had known this and replied "that's where your gift comes in, I want you to make it permanent so that everyone one knows who you belong to". The look on Merlin's face was worth the glare he received for it but if just to placate the boy he told him that Merlin could ink him too, just where it was not so obvious.
This made Merlin grin like the cat that ate the canary, he knew just where he'd put it. He took the quill off of Arthur and pushed him into the table sideways. He may not have been trained in calligraphy like Arthur but he used magic to make sure it look just like his and wrote Merlin's over the curve of Arthur's ear covering it with his hair. He waited for the ink to dry then whispered the words that would seal the ink on to their skin permanently.
In the morning, when Merlin was serving Archie, he bent over to pick up a piece of clothing that the visiting Prince had dropped when he heard the sound of a sword dropping to the ground. Standing back up he looked at the Prince and asked "anything wrong sire?" to which Archie gaped and stared at him. Merlin knew that Archie had seen the ink but he couldn't help smiling and acting innocent.
In the years to come no matter how many times Merlin was forced to serve visiting dignitary's no one ever made the same mistake of looking at Merlin like that again.