Merlin woke up, it was his usual waking time, 7:30 AM. Today, he was going to attend to Arthur's annual party, his birthday of course and there were many things to do to please the prince. He was going to muck out the stables, brush and clean the prince's horse until it gleaned, clean the prince's chamber and clean the great hall. But first he was going to help Gaius to collect some herbs the old man needed for a potion which would make the king resist alcohol better. Gaius thought it was a ridiculous request but he must do what the king desired and he had Merlin to help him.

Merlin slowly got up from his bed and yawned loudly, he still wasn't used to this early mornings. He sighed when he thought about his duties today but a small voice said that it may be worth the work, maybe Arthur would reward him with something in his liking... Like a kiss on the cheek? Merlin started to giggle like a lovestruck girl by this thought and he saw Gaius looking worriedly at him.

"What is so funny Merlin?", he asked worried and Merlin just smiled at him.
"Nathin', just thinking of something.", Merlin answered.

"Shouldn't you get going to the woods?", Gaius snorted and Merlin nodded, hurried his way out. He went to the stable to borrow a horse. Soon he was out in the woods to collect the herbs, they were kind of hard to find and Merlin tried his best. After two hours, Merlin finally finished collecting the herbs needed and he was about to sit up on his horse when he saw two pair of amber eyes staring at him from the creeping shadows of the trees. Merlin felt a sting of fear in his stomach, he hurried his way up on the horse and rode quickly back to Camelot.

"Thank you very much Merlin for your help." Gaius said thankfully and hugged him.

"Not a problem." Merlin said with a smile and hugged Gaius back, then he gave the old man a concerned look. "Gaius, do you know if there exist wolves out in the forest?" he asked while packing his satchel.

"Wolves? No, there haven't been living wolves here since the last day of Frostfall." Gaius said with anxious eyes and folded his arms.

"But... I thought I saw some amber eyes out in the forest..." Merlin said and frowned.

"You are just tired Merlin. Now hurry away to the prince or he'll scold you!", Gaius said, brushing the wolf subject away and Merlin hurried away to the prince's chambers. This was going to be a long day...

Two hours later Merlin finally was finished with the stables and horses, he went to his chambers and washed himself before going to the great hall to clean it. He met Arthur on the way, the prince was chatting with a woman in the same age, Merlin find himself feeling rather jealous of the woman.

"Oh, hi there Merlin.", Arthur said and nodded to his servant. "This is my servant Merlin and Merlin, this is Alice, she is a princess from the province of Winterheld." he said and Alice looked at Merlin and smiled.
"My prince, my princess." Merlin said and bowed to the royal pair. "Will see you later Merlin, I still have to dress for the evening." Arthur said, wanting Merlin to brush off and Merlin nodded and bowed before he went away to the great hall to clean.

When he was finished with all of his work he felt rather exhausted but the evening had just begun. He managed his way to Arthur's chambers and once he was there, he sank down on the prince's bed with a loud sigh. Suddenly, the door opened and Merlin jerked, quickly getting off the bed.

"Hello Merlin." Arthur said while he walked in the room and Merlin waved to him, feeling his heart beat speed up a bit. The prince sure knew how to make people fall in love with him.

"Getting me dressed now are we?", Arthur said and walked to his wardrobe, Merlin by his side. "Yes, of course." Merlin said and looked for some nice clothes in the wardrobe. "Happy birthday by the way." the servant added and patted on Arthur's shoulder.
"Thank you Merlin, although I do not feel so happy with ageing, I don't want to loose my nice features you know." the prince said with a laugh and Merlin smiled brightly. "Nah, me neither." Merlin said and pulled some clothes off from the wardrobe. "Do you want to wear these today on your birthday?" he asked and showed his prince a blue tunic, with matching pants and the typical long red Camelot cloak with the lion on the back.

"Looks great Merlin, thank you." Arthur smiled and Merlin started to undress Arthur, his heart pounding loud in his head, he was afraid that Arthur would hear it. Merlin slowly unbuttoned Arthur's shirt, his cheeks flushing a little, thankfully though Arthur seemed not noticing it. When Arthur's shirt was off, Merlin made his way to Arthur's pants but suddenly Arthur's hand had wormed it's way around Merlin's wrist. "I will take care of those myself..." Arthur said and dressed himself behind the dressing pane. Merlin frowned, all other times he had been allowed to take all Arthur's clothes off (expect his boxers). He shrugged and decided to let it be.

Some minutes later Arthur came out from the dressing pane and stood before his servant. His already golden hair was highlighted by the blue colour of the tunic and the read cloak strengthened his blue eyes even more. Merlin was close to start drooling, but he eventually managed to not.

"Is this alright?" Arthur asked and spun around to show his clothes from different angles.

"Yes yes, you look very nice Arthur!" Merlin said and nodded.
"Good, then maybe I can flirt with Alicia...", Arthur said with a smirk and Merlin just nodded, feeling a little hurt. He wanted Arthur to flirt with him...

"Shouldn't you wear this? It will fit very well with your clothes." Merlin asked to change the subject, he held out Arthur's crown.
"Oh, very nice idea of you Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed. He bowed down his head in front of Merlin and Merlin laid the crown on Arthur's head, feeling all warm inside his chest. He longed to the day he would see Arthur standing before him with Uther's crown.

Arthur turned around and looked at himself in the mirror. "Oh, I do look really nice." he smirked and winked at himself. Merlin laughed. "You sure do..." he whispered to himself.

"Now then Merlin, have you really finished all of your work?", Arthur said and looked suspiciously at his servant.

"Yep, I sure have!" Merlin said with his goofy smile, looking proud.

"You never are finished." Arthur said with a evil smile. "I have one last assignment for you before all the guests arrive, you need to go out to the armoury and fetch my sword."

"You serious? I have been working...!" Merlin started but he was interrupted by Arthur pressing him against the wall. "Uh... Arthur?", Merlin stuttered.

"I'm your prince and you are under my obedience, capishe?" Arthur said, staring into Merlin's blue eyes with his own blue blobs.

"Yes, yes my prince..." Merlin coughed out and Arthur released him, leaving the room. Merlin sank down a minute on the floor, his heart beating like furious and his head spinning.
"I thought he was... going to kiss me..." Merlin thought and was near to fainting. He took some deep breaths before standing up. He made his way to the armoury, not knowing what was going to happen...