Title: The Ties that Bind

Author: Canon_Balls

Spoilers: none

Genre: Kink, smut. AU in that it is post S1 but ignores S2 and S3 (of course!).

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the BBC/NBC show Merlin, and I make nothing from writing about it either. Suing me would be silly, as all you would get is a very grumpy King.

Author note: A major departure for me. The idea started out as a PWP het!kink in my head, but somehow in the writing, a plot emerged, and the kink factor went down. It turned into more of an old-fashioned bodice-ripper/bondage-dominance story. It's really rather sweet, but is graphic, so don't read if you don't like that, or can't handle it, or you're too young. Consider yourself warned.

Read and comment=love.

Summary: Arthur needs to be in control, but until Uther's dead, he can only get it one way.

Tonight she was waiting for him.

Time after time over the past year Morgana had seen Arthur sneaking back into the castle in the early hours of the morning just before dawn. She rarely slept through the night, and many a time she sat at her window seat, trying not to think about the latest dream that jerked her - shaking and sweating - from slumber. She tried to carefully blank out her mind, focusing on the inane details of the world outside her window: the sweet song of a nightingale; the muffled steps and hushed conversations of the night guardsmen; the scuttle of a cloud over a waxing moon.

The skulking of a Prince.

He didn't go out every night, as far as Morgana could tell. Only occasionally, and as she tried to predict when his next outing would be, she began to notice a pattern. One time was after he and Uther had had a particularly bad argument. Another was the night after Owain had died in a duel. Another was after Morgana had awakened from a strange illness that almost killed her. It was when things went beyond his control that he seemed to have the need to escape.

But where to? She puzzled a long while over it, until the truth all but slapped her in the face. How she managed to miss the signs, she put down to her own rather limited knowledge of fornicating, and the fact that she didn't want to acknowledge what he was doing right under her nose. But the disheveled hair and clothing she could no longer put down to a wild horse ride, as he more often than not didn't bother with taking a horse. The loose-limbed walk, she couldn't attribute to exercise. And the mornings after, when she saw his swollen lips and the way he avoided her gaze and company, she had to stop telling herself she was imagining it. She knew in her heart it was real. He was bedding another woman.

Or women, she didn't know. It hardly mattered. If he had fallen in love with someone else, he would have declared it to the entire kingdom, and especially his father, like he'd done with that vile Sophia. He wouldn't hide and sneak about. And as difficult as it would have been for her to accept, she could have done something. She could have fought for him. Or she could have tried to accept it. But his going out to bed someone else hurt far more than she would have guessed, and she didn't have a clue what to do about it.

It wasn't as if she was holding out on him. Since the announcement of their betrothal, they'd been dangerously teasing one another, until one night it got out of hand. And while it had been painful at first, Morgana eventually enjoyed it, and Arthur definitely had. Whenever he'd come to her after that, she'd gladly let him into her bed. They tried to not tempt fate anymore than they could help, as there was always the possibility that Morgana could become with child, but as their wedding was less than a month away, they worried less about that.

So why was he sneaking off to another woman? Was this how he expected to carry on after their wedding? Morgana wasn't naïve enough to think that marriage in her day and age was for anything more than political alliance within her class, and she knew hers was no different. If she'd been an unsuitable bride for Arthur, say a servant, their feelings wouldn't have mattered to Uther at all. But she was eminently suitable, and they did have feelings for one another. She loved him. And she believed that he loved her. However, this did not make her a doormat. No one cheated on the Lady Morgana, be he prince or pauper. She was tired of playing the coward, and that ended tonight.

Tonight she waited for his return.

She knew he'd be going out after Uther had publicly berated his decision to grant another knight mercy after having bested him in tournament combat. Arthur had no desire to kill another knight for sport, but Uther felt he showed too much leniency. Morgana could see the anger and frustration building beneath his outward calm, and knew he hated being perceived as weak by his father. But she also knew he had a good heart, and he would endure the censure to do the right thing. It was one of the many reasons why she loved him. And one of the many reasons why she despised Uther.

After swallowing goblet after goblet of wine, at the feast after the tournament, Arthur left the company early. He escorted her to her room, and left her at the threshold with a wine-flavored kiss upon her lips. And then the bastard snuck out. Not returning until it was nearly dawn.

She sat in his room, upon a chair that faced the door. And waited. And seethed. And by the time he stumbled in, she was spoiling for a fight.

"So nice of you to finally return," she snapped. Arthur's head jerked up, and he hastily shut the door.

"Morgana, what are you doing in my room?" He was obviously surprised by her presence, and was trying to recover quickly. "Merlin could come in and find you here." Even to his ears, the response was laughable.

Morgana snorted. "We both know he never manages to rise and get in here before noon." Her eyes narrowed in on him, noticed that in addition to his lips being red and swollen, his eyes were bloodshot and she could smell the ale on him from where she sat. A barmaid tonight. How humiliating.

She sprang up out of the chair and clenched her arms at her sides. To keep from hauling off and slugging him. "The better question is, why are you not in your room?"

Arthur dropped his gaze from hers and settled for a moment on her bosom, the plump flesh pushed up to the edge of her bodice by her upper arms. His face flushed, and not from drink. Shaking his head, he forced his eyes back to hers, and reached up to unpin his cloak. "I needed some fresh air. Went for a walk."

"To an alehouse? I'm not an idiot, Arthur. I can smell it on you from here."

His jaw tightened, and he pushed away from the door, all semblance of guilt burned away by temper. "Leave off, Morgana." Dropping his cloak on the floor, he brushed past her and walked over to a side table, where he proceeded to pour himself a goblet of wine. Morgana snapped.

She stomped over to him and knocked the goblet out of his hand. Furious, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her to him. "Haven't you had enough?" she hissed. "Obviously I'm not enough!"

Angry as he was, his eyes hot and his breath labored, Arthur still frowned down into her face. "What are you babbling about?"

Morgana yanked her wrist free, and whirled away from him, to walk to the fire blazing in the hearth. She looked at it instead of him. "I know what you've been doing, Arthur. And I'll not stand by while you sneak off to fornicate with other women. I won't have that in our marriage. If you can't accept that, if you want out, have the courtesy to tell me now. Don't do this to me anymore." By the time she's finished, her angry voice had become choked with tears.

She hated this. She hated caring about someone so much, loving someone to the point that it made you devolve into an emotional mess. He shouldn't be able to hurt her like this. But of course, he could. He always could.

If Morgana expected Arthur to bow to her anger, and come begging at the hem of her skirts for forgiveness, she was wrong. Not in the mood he was in.

"I'll not have you dictate to me too, Morgana." He left the goblet on the floor and proceeded to fill another. "I'll not be powerless here, in what we have. I get enough of that from my father." He deliberately swallowed half the contents of the cup before slamming it down again. But as if he was unable to resist, he muttered, "And I wasn't off fornicating with other women. At least, not tonight."

Morgana's head whipped around to him at that, and she angrily brushed the tears off her cheeks. "What does it matter? You have before. I just want to know why."

She finally crossed over to him, but stayed just out of his reach. "Why do you go to someone else? I love you. I've never said no to you."

Arthur chuckled, but it wasn't an amused tone. It was dark, and self-loathing. "You think you know me so well. But there is a side to me that I've tried to shield from you, one that you don't know, that is wrong, and God –" he broke off.

"What I get from those women, you can't give me. Shouldn't give me. But I need it all the same. If you want out of the marriage, fine. I love you, but you don't dictate anything to me. I'm not one of your pawns. I'm not anyone's pawn!"

He moved to leave again, but Morgana had glimpsed something in him that he tried to hide from her. He loved her, but was pushing her away rather than let her see that side to him. And she wasn't having it.

She reached out and grabbed his arm as he went to move by her, and that was all it took. He shook her off and instead grabbed her upper arms in a brutal grip. "Dammit, Morgana."

"Whatever you need, you can get from me and no one else, Arthur Pendragon!" Her eyes blazed in her face. She knew this was it, and if she didn't win now, he would be lost to her. She couldn't let him go. If she just pushed him a little further, she could get him to break, and then she'd have him back. "You don't scare me. You forget whom you are dealing with. And I'm more woman than any of those peasants you've been futtering. So let's have it."

"Fine!" He dragged her to the bed, and then ripped the front of her gown open. Incensed, Morgana brought up her arm to slap him, but Arthur easily blocked her. "Ah, ah, ah. Just remember, you asked for this." Holding both her wrists in one of his, he striped her ruined dress from her in seconds. Morgana tried to kick him, but only succeeded in flipping her delicate slippers off. Arthur laughed, his face now alive with dark passion, and a lust for her that she'd never seen before as he took in her nearly naked form. And to her chagrin, Morgana felt herself grow wet. Arthur growled, "Now all we've got left are your hose, and I've got a better use for them than being on your legs."

He shoved her back onto the bed, and before she could recover, he got one stocking off. She kicked out at him, but that did little to stop him from removing the second stocking with ease. He tucked them into his belt, and then moved onto the bed to cover her. His weight held her down, and he pinned her hands over her head.

Morgana was breathing hard from her exertions, but was more turned on than she had ever been. Her Arthur was always so solicitous a lover, always gentle and sweet. This Arthur was dominant, and rough, and called to something dark in her that was already answering. Her nipples tightened, and her body slowly gave way to his superior strength. Only her eyes resisted, until at last they also went soft.

Seeing the change in her eyes, Arthur's own darkened. His body hardened even more, and it was all he could do not to come early. His Morgana, pinned beneath him, submissive and captured…. his fantasy had finally come true. This is what he wanted, what he'd been seeking with those other women he'd tied up and bedded. But their surrender was never as sweet as this one. Because they weren't her. Triumph blazed across his face, and he couldn't resist saying, "Admit defeat."

Morgana's eyes reignited, and snapped fire at him in seconds. "Never."

She craned her neck up, and bit Arthur on the lip. Stunned, he let her hands go to touch his now bleeding mouth. Morgana tried to take advantage of his surprise and threw a punch at him. He deflected it just in time, and it grazed off his arm. Cursing and spitting, she fought him still, until he shifted his weight off of her long enough to flip her over. Now facedown into the bedclothes, she had no way to strike back, and reluctantly subsided in exhaustion.

"Vixen," Arthur hissed in her ear, her wrists again captured in one of his hands. She felt the other hand moving and tugging on his clothing behind her, but could not tell what he was doing. Until she felt the leather of his belt come up to loop around her wrists. Arthur pulled the buckle tight, then looped and tied the other end of the belt to one of the four posts of his bed. Morgana struggled and pulled but could not free herself. Arthur slid off her body, but without the movement of her arms, there was little she could do to escape.

"I wouldn't struggle so much if I were you," Arthur said, almost casually now, though his breath was labored. "You'll need your energy later." He grasped her one ankle, and tied a stocking to it. Then pulling her ankles apart, he tied the stocking to a post at the foot of the bed. He did the same to her other ankle, tying it to the opposite post.

Arthur stepped back off the bed to admire his work. She still cursed his name into the bedclothes, but she'd ceased struggling. Her beautifully curved back was blanketed with her hair, like a spill of ink upon a snow bank. Her luscious backside tilted slightly up, and showed him her wet core. Despite her protests, she was very turned on, her thighs even glistening with moisture. He groaned at the sight. His one fear – that she would hate him for this, for his strange craving and his rough treatment of her – was now assuaged.

His tongue flicked out to taste the blood on his lip, and he grinned in anticipation. She never gave up, his Morgana. Which made dominating her even sweeter.

At least in her current position she couldn't bite his lip - or any other important parts - anymore. He'd make sure she bit the bedclothes, though, when the pleasure he was about to give her became too much. He quickly shed his clothes. His painfully hard erection, the hardest he'd ever had, reminding him that playtime was over.

He ran his hands up her long, shapely legs as he moved up and over her. Her muscles quivered in response, and her fingers curled. He slipped his hands under her to cup her full breasts, the calluses on his fingers abrading her nipples. Morgana's body clenched, and she moaned into the pillow. He plucked and teased her nipples as he settled his lower body against her, keeping most of his weight on his elbows. His cock fit snugly into the separation of her cheeks, bathing in her wetness. He kissed her shoulder, and licked his way to her ear. Morgana turned her head, and moaned brokenly, "Arthur," and he captured her lips with his. The mingled taste of wine and blood and their own unique flavors made her shudder with desire, and something in Arthur snapped.

He broke off the kiss, and yanked his hands out from under her. With one he tilted her hips even further up, and with the other he fitted the head of his cock between her nether lips. With a powerful shove, he thrust fully into her.

Morgana cried out, and yanked on her bonds, the feel of him in this position almost too much. He was large, and normally gave her time to accept him, but not tonight. Tonight he gave her no time; just his rampant prick, pushing its way inside, until he was seated to the root. Pleasure and pain warred within her, and to her surprise, she loved it. The keen edge that sharpened her enjoyment and kept her aware, made her feel every inch. She pushed her backside against him with a pleading whimper.

Arthur pulled out to the tip, then set a brutal pace. Again and again, he shafted her, his balls slapping against her lips in the quiet of the room, the liquid sounds of their union the only noise besides their harsh breathing and muted cries. He was propped up on his elbows, his arms alongside hers, his mouth at her ear, her shoulder, her neck. He prayed that he would last until she comes, but knows he can't make it much longer. His balls tightened up and the base of his spine ached. It felt so good, so hot to be fucking her when she's tied up, helpless, and he's in charge. But most of all, that she liked it just as much as he did. Her cries echoed in his ears, and he finally felt her inner walls begin to tighten and flutter. Arthur shifted slightly, and thrust brutally in at a new angle, down and toward her mound, and that's all it took. She screamed in pleasure, her channel squeezing him and quivering madly. One short dig, then two, and Arthur followed her, his pleasure boiling up from his back, up through his stones and out his cock. He bit down on her shoulder, where it curved into her neck, hard enough to draw a drop of blood himself. It mingled with his, just as his seed mingled with her cream.

Arthur collapsed on top of her, his vision grayed around the edges. He licked the bite to soothe it, then brushed aside her hair to drop a tender kiss on the bare nape of her neck. Carefully, he slipped out of her, and then reached up to undo the belt and down to untie the stockings. Rolling over, he pulled her into his arms, and she snuggled into his chest. He tried to sooth the rough chafing on her wrists with his lips, and he murmured to her, "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Morgana barely registered the question. She'd never felt more used, and more pleasured in her life. She had no idea bed sport could even be like this, and had no idea where Arthur got the idea from. But she was heartily glad she'd made him show her.

It was hard for her to form coherent thoughts when her body still hummed, but she managed to say, "I'll let you know as soon as I can feel anything below my neck."

Arthur immediately sat up, and gingerly laid her against the pillows. He anxiously ran his hands over her, and watched her face for signs of pain. "By God, I'm so sorry, Morgana. Where does it hurt? Inside?" His face was grimly set. "I knew I shouldn't have done this with you. Should I get Gaius?"

Morgana batted his hands away, and at his last question, yelped an embarrassed, "No!" She might have lost some inhibitions, but she didn't want anyone other than Arthur to know it.

"I'm fine." She tenderly ran a hand along his tense jaw. "I just meant that you pleasured me so much, I was overwhelmed. It was amazing, Arthur. I never imagined it could be like this. That I would enjoy it," she blushingly admitted, "like this."

Relief filled his face, and he tugged her back again into his arms as he settled back in the bed. "Good." He ran his hands soothingly up and down her back, and then stopped when an arrogant grin kicked up a corner of his mouth.

"Wanna do it again?"

Morgana giggled into his chest.