Okay. Not too sure about the title for this one- any better suggestions are welcome, and please review. Set after season 3.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin (or Uther)
Morgana's betrayal, Uther had discovered, was not the worst thing. It was hard, true, but as the King he had grown up learning to be strong. Uther Pendragon was no stranger to being betrayed, and if this time took him just that little bit longer to recover from, then so be it.
But no, the betrayal wasn't the worst thing.
It was the peoples' faces- those partly sympathetic, partly blaming gazes which seemed to follow him wherever he walked these days.
It was the fact that everyone knew. Knew precisely what Morgana had done. Precisely what she was. Precisely who she was. The fact that they knew what he had done- the secret he had fought so hard all these years to hide.
It was the look in Arthur's eyes, whenever the King could bring himself to meet his son's gaze. The knowledge that his darkest secrets were being revealed one by one. The worry that the Prince would someday realize the portion of truth in what Morgause had shown him- so long ago now.
It was the knowledge that this entire situation was his fault. That he was the one who had driven his daughter to such extremes. That he had been blind to the one part of her which had driven them so far apart.
It was the realization that, all these long years, he may have been wrong. About magic. About everything.
It was the doubt.
It was the fear.
It was him.