Arthur thought of himself as a noble man, he was fair to his people, treated servants properly, but there was just something about Merlin that always got under his skin. Maybe it was the fact that the young woman always spoke her mind, not caring who she was speaking to. Or maybe it was that she called Arthur out on his flaws. Perhaps it was that he cared for her but couldn't show it because she was a servant and he a prince. Maybe it was all of her rolled into one.

"Rise and shine, sire!" Merlin announced happily as she drew the curtains in his bedchambers aside.

"Ugh, Merlin not today," he muttered into his pillow. Merlin, being her usual self, ignored him and opened all the windows before picking out an outfit for him to wear. After Arthur got dressed and ready for his day, he went to train with his knights, only to see them all hangover from their night out together. Then he ran into Morgan, who was being her usual bitchy self. And to top the whole day off, his father called him into the throne room to tell him that he wasn't doing a good enough job being the prince of Camelot.

"Arthur, if you are to take the throne one day you can't be this was."

Arthur glared up at his father, "And what way would that be?"

"You can't be so friendly, son. You can't give every struggling farmer money, you can't excuse every servant from their mistakes, and you certainly can't be friends with any of the staff. You are the prince, you need to be making connections and thinking about the wealth and prosperity of the Kingdom. I understand that you want to help all of our subjects, but you simply cannot."

After Uther finished his rant, Arthur turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, waving for Merlin to follow him.

When they arrived at his room Arthur immediately flopped onto his bed and covered his face with his arm.

"Sire…?" Merlin attentively asked. When she didn't get an answer she tried again.
"Arthur, are you ok?" at that Arthur stood up and stepped toward her, "You know what Merlin, and no I am not ok. You know why?" when Merlin shook her head he continued, "Well, for starters, my knights all went out for a drink last night without me, and not only did they not think about their duties today, but they drunk themselves silly and I can't train knights that can't stand without assistance!"

Merlin opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off, "And not only that, but when I ran into Morgana today, she was horrible! She yelled and said things that she would have never said to me months ago, and was overall, a monster to me! And then to top it all off my father. Oh my, did I want to hurt him. He called me out on everything that I thought I was doing right and decided that not only saying that I was a failure as a prince was enough; he did it in front of the entire court, where everyone saw! And I mean seriously, did he have to bring up the fact that I'm kind to servant, I mean really. What does he expect; does he want me to be cruel? It's not like I would ever think of lying with one! Look at you for example; do you really think that I would ever think about being with someone like you?"

The second the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. The look on Merlins face broke his heart. She looked as if someone had punched her. Her mouth hung open slightly and her eyes watered a bit before she composed herself again.

"I am sorry sire if us being friends has caused you problems," was all she said before bowing slightly and excusing herself from his room.

'What have I done?'

The next morning Merlin crept into the princes chamber and opened his curtains, but without her usual exclamation of the beautiful day. When the light hit Arthur he opened his eyes and saw Merlin place some plates from a tray onto his table before she politely stepped out of his rooms once again.

The next time Arthur saw Merlin, he was on the training fields. He was in the middle of a spar with Gwaine when he glanced up and saw Merlin standing with Gwen and it looked like Gwen was attempting to comfort her friend. In his moment of distraction, Gwaine took his opportunity and knocked the prince to the ground.

Normally, Merlin would have jogged over laughing that the great and might Prince Arthur lost, but today, she just walked away.

When Gwaine helped Arthur stand he said, "Ok princess, what happened?"

"I don't know what you mean, you hit me and I fell."

At that Gwaine rolled his eyes, "No, I meant with Merlin. She seems different today. Lovers' quarrel?"

Arthur sputtered a response but it fell on deaf ears because Gwaine was too busy laughing at the prince's face.

"Yes, I know you have feelings for Merlin. And I hope you now that if you have, or ever do hurt her I will gladly kill you," Gwaine said with his best big brother look, before turning and walking away.

When Arthur stepped into his chambers the first thing he saw was Merlin.

"Merlin, may I have a word with you." She looked up from stoking the fire, her face falling when she realized what he might want talk about.

"Sire," when she said this Arthur almost flinched at her saddened tone, "If this is about yesterday, you can forget about it. If you want me to quit because you don't appreciate my feelings than that's fine, but I won't listen to you insult me anymore." Arthur looked at her, his face full of shock, but before he could say anything she continued, "Your father was wrong about you being a failure of a prince, but his words did not require you to talk to me the way you did, and I will not hear it again. I would quit my job in a heartbeat. I came here to study under Gaius and I got my job with you. I didn't mind at first but your insults have finally gotten the best of me and I am tired of it…"

Following this statement was Merlin listing off all of the things that she did for him in the past, excluding the magical assistance.

"…I have done everything you have asked and more, so please take that into consideration for your next servant."

Arthur stared at her, his mouth open, feeling bad for his words to her, before he started to get angry. Angry with himself. Angry with the world. Angry that Merlin wasn't happy being his servant.

"Merlin, if you hated your job so much than you should have quit before you wiggled your way into my life. You are a servant and you have no place making me fool bad for my choices. If the king says I am not doing my job correctly, you are not to question him. If I say that I wouldn't have a relationship with a servant you best forget about any feelings. I am a prince and you are a servant. Any relationship would never work. Never. Even if I wanted one with you, I couldn't. So don't get any ideas."

Little did they know that the King had a servant outside the prince's door, listing to every word they said.