Morgana woke the next morning, her mind made up that she would have to talk to Merlin again and put things right; not blurt anything else out. Not that she really had anything else as incriminating to blurt out, no, she'd already told him the one thing she shouldn't have. Seriously, she'd have been in less trouble if she'd told Merlin she loved him – not that that was ever likely to happen, of course. Her only problem was how to get him alone without looking suspicious.

X

"Arthur, may I come in?" Morgana asked, standing outside the Prince's chambers and knocking the door for good measure.

"Of course," he replied, but it was evidently beyond the Prince to open the door himself for, when it opened, the Lady of Camelot found herself face to face with Arthur's manservant. Perfect, she thought, unable to hold back a quick smile. This made her plan easier.

"What may I do for you?" Arthur asked through a mouthful of bread, giving his all-but-sister a smile. He clearly took longer to break his fast than she did; either that or he ate a lot more.

"Nothing for me, thank you," she replied politely. "Uther wishes to see you; something about guard duty." She wasn't entirely lying; Uther took any opportunity to talk about things such as guard duty with Arthur – she figured it was a male thing, for she simply had no interest in the matter – but he hadn't actually requested this particular meeting.

"What, now?" Arthur questioned, looking at the rest of his food longingly. Morgana nodded her head, letting out a small laugh.

"Honestly Arthur, you eat more than a horse! I'm sure you've had a sufficient amount of food to last you the morning," she said, eyeing the numerous empty plates in front of him. A snigger behind him from Merlin made it evident the serving boy agreed with her, but he quickly turned it into a cough as Arthur turned around to shoot him a stern glare. "Go on!" she encouraged as he stood, even making a shooing motion towards the door with her hands.

"Merlin!" Arthur called from the doorway, indicating that he wanted the servant to follow him. No!

"Um… Uther said he wanted to speak with you alone," Morgana lied hurriedly, trying to keep the slight panic rising inside her out of her voice. Arthur turned back around to face her and frowned a little, forming a crease between his blonde eyebrows. The young woman forced her breathing to remain neutral as she met his eyes, her face a picture of innocence.

"Oh alright," Arthur conceded with an exasperated sigh. "Don't touch my food Merlin, I will finish it when I return!" the Prince shouted from the corridor, leaving Morgana and Merlin alone. Now that she was here, she didn't really know what to say and the atmosphere was somewhat awkward. Normally, the pair got on very well and were never short of things to talk about, but Morgana's revelation from the day before hung silently and heavily in the air.

She watched Merlin as he moved across the room, over to Arthur's bed and began to strip the sheets.

"Uther didn't really want to speak to Arthur alone, did he?" Merlin asked. Considering he was accusing her of lying, he managed extremely well to keep his tone very un-accusatory, for which she was grateful – it made her sound and feel less guilty.

"He didn't want to speak with him at all," she admitted, looking at her feet. "I just wanted to -"

"-get me alone?" Merlin finished for her, visibly smirking.

"Don't make it sound so inappropriate!" she chided, but a smile and a small giggle betrayed her indignant tone of voice. Merlin laughed properly, his goofy smile widening, and she couldn't stop herself laughing with him. "Seriously though," she began, her smile fading, "I had to talk to you." Merlin only nodded so she carried on. "What I said yesterday, I… I didn't… you can't…" she stuttered, unable to get her words out properly, which may have had something to do with the fact that she didn't quite know what she was trying to say. Did she want to say that she didn't mean it and she didn't have magic, or that she did have it and he couldn't tell anyone?

Whatever the case, Merlin made the choice for her. "I won't tell anyone, Morgana," he assured her, in what was probably the most serious voice she'd ever known him to use. She looked up to see he'd put the sheet down and was staring very intently at her, the smirk no longer present on his face. "I promise I won't," he added. "I understand how…" he started, but it was the servant's turn to stumble over his words. He clenched his jaw and swallowed before continuing. "What I mean to say is, I can only imagine how difficult this is for you and how scared you must be feeling. And I know I'm only Arthur's manservant but if you ever want someone to talk to I'd be more than happy to listen."

Morgana let out a deep, shaky breath that she didn't realise she'd been holding. She couldn't explain why but she was overcome with the sudden urge to cry. Nobody had ever really been as nice to her as Merlin was being at that moment.

"Or not," she heard him mumble when she didn't reply. "I mean I'm a servant and you're… I shouldn't have said anything." Morgana focused her gaze once again on his face to see that Merlin looked upset. His eyes were cast downward and there was a faint blush tinging his cheeks. With a start, Morgana realised he was embarrassed and, when she still didn't say anything, he proceeded to cover Arthur's bed with a fresh sheet.

"Merlin?" she called softly to try and regain his attention. Either he didn't hear her or he was intent on ignoring her because he turned his back on her as he tucked the sheet in at the foot of the bed. "Merlin?" she tried again, moving forward to place a gentle hand on his left shoulder. Morgana felt slightly hurt when he flinched at her touch but, remembering that it had been she who upset him in the first place, acted would like it hadn't happened. "Merlin," she said for a third time, more forcefully, causing him to stop and look at her. "Thank you," she smiled, her voice as sweet and her smile as warm as she could possibly make them, to show him that she truly was grateful. "It's good to know I have someone to talk to about… this. And we're friends, right?" She gave his arm a little squeeze and smiled again.

This seemed to perk him up as he nodded and returned her smile. "Good," she chirped, feeling genuinely more at ease with the situation. Well, for a minute or so, at least.

"Ahem." The pair were caught off guard by a loud cough signalling Arthur's return. "What's going on?" he queried, striding purposefully into the room, eyeing them both suspiciously as they unconsciously jumped away from each other.

"Nothing," Merlin replied hurriedly, returning to tucking the fresh sheet into place. Morgana caught only a quick glimpse of his face as he turned around but she could have sworn that the boy was blushing again.

"I was just helping Merlin with the sheet," she explained quite calmly, if dishonestly, gesturing a hand towards said sheet as if it would back up her statement.

"You were helping Merlin with the sheet," Arthur repeated slowly, folding his arms across his broad chest and raising an eyebrow, clearly in disbelief. Morgana nodded her head eagerly and flashed him her best innocent smile. "Right. Of course."

"Well, now you're back you can help him yourself, can't you?" It wasn't really a question – Morgana knew full well Arthur had never made his own bed in his life and had no intention to start now. Without giving Arthur a chance to respond, she shuffled quickly towards the door. But not quickly enough.

"Morgana?" The raven-haired woman came to a halt and sighed, cursing herself inwardly. "My father didn't need to speak to me," the Prince declared. She turned around to find his arms still folded across his chest and his eyebrow still raised, only this time his suspicion was aimed solely at her.

"Did he not? Oh, my mistake," she responded, aiming a second innocent smile at him before whirling around and exiting the room, her long skirts billowing behind her. This time, she managed to leave without any more questions from the bewildered Prince of Camelot.

A/N: I didn't have many reviews for the previous chapter but the significant amount of favourites and follows suggests I'm doing something right, so thank you. I'm not sure how frequent the updates are going to be after next week because I'll be starting uni so apologies in advance if the story gets put on hold for a while during my 'settling in period'. Now, before you leave the page, please leave a cheeky review down below? I'd be extremely grateful!