Chapter 3
Arthur stood, mouth agape, at the bottom of the stairs, shock rooting him to the spot. Gasping, Merlin's amber eyes faded back to blue; his raised arm falling to his side.
The glass vials on the floor continued piecing themselves together.
"Arthur?"
merlin tentatively asked, his voice tinged with panic. The prince swayed on his feet and grasped the cold, stone wall beside him, balancing himself.
" Arthur speak!, i--"
He stopped abruptly as Arthur's bemused expression changed to one of fury and- something that looked like betrayal. Eyes twinging, Merlin braced himself for the sting ; the gold coin rendering before the blow. It came.
"sorcereryourasorcererarrestfathertoyoutake!"
The princes cracked voice pulsated through the stairwell in a stream of anguish- though the speech was undecipherable, the message was clear. Merlin asked anyway.
"what?!"
Merlin knew he should probably take advantage of Arthur's momentary confusion but he couldn't bring himself to betray his master, his friend, his l- no! His friend . He knew it would not matter to Arthur but it did to him. He would stay with Arthur until he died, however soon that may be. Two sides of the same coin- till death do them part merlin thought dryly. If only both sides felt the same... not unrequited.
"Magic!" Arthur gasped " you just used magic!!"
"im sorry. I- I wanted to tell you truly, but-" Merlin instinctively lifted his hand to Arthur's shoulder, softly gripping the delicate surface of his tunic, breathing in his metallic yet comforting scent. Eyes clouded over, Arthur stared at his former servants soft features, stunned by the physical contact that sent shivers down his spine. For a moment, he thought he would just forget about the whole incident there and then- for a moment. The fury, the pain and the mental conviction of the evils of sorcery sharply kicked him back to his senses and he violently shrugged Merlin's hand away, avoiding the pained look in the other man's eyes.
"I... I... " He seemed to be scanning his brain for what to do. His head shot up, his eyes filled with a new-found purpose, Then said the one word Merlin dreaded hearing most- the condemning word that proved Merlin's unrequited bond theory.
"Father."
Arthur spoke, whilst pushing past Merlin and heading down the corridor, ignoring Merlin's desperate shouts behind him he remembered where he would find the king- in his study writing peace negotiations with a neighbouring kingdom
. He cursed his own stupidity, he should have noticed what Merlin really was! The embarrassment of admitting that to the king succumbed only to the growing sense of hopelessness he felt. He struggled to think of a single bad event that could be traced down to merlin- nothing could be found... In fact, closer examination of Camelot's recent troubles suggested Merlin's was involved ( if not responsible ) for the solution to the problem, not the cause. How many times had his idiot manservant saved the day?
And why was he desperately trying to find evil in him? Was it that he wanted Merlin to die? NO. He dismissed this thought immediately- it was the opposite from what he wanted. Over his past month of brooding he had had plenty of time to think. To think over the changed in himself that even he could not deny, the new emotions that his manservant had provoked in him.
Jealousy. At first just with Gwen; When he had seen the flower she had given Merlin it was all he could do to refrain himself from ripping it from his red scarf and posting it back to her in little bits. Sadistic, yes, but he had thought about it. He had thought it had just been over protectiveness of his friend- Gratitude for when he had saved his life. But then Lancelot came. He had tried being hostile- that hadn't worked, so he moved on to friendship; Get involved and steer him away from the prize: Merlin. That didn't seem to work either- He still felt his blood pulse through his veins with rapid speed, the crimson liquid tainted with evils green whenever he saw the two together, even though he new it was just friendly banter. He then had blamed it on Friendship alone. His status of Prince had given him no true friends, except Merlin. He had though he knew what it meant to be friends, to have friends and to trust them. He smirked at his own naivety. Before Merlin he had had many 'friends', after, just one.
But he understood now. Understood the emotions, the pain, the loss the past month had brang him and the betrayal And he understood how problematic this realization was. Even if he had not been royalty, the mere supposition of what he felt would be enough to have him exiled. It wasn't supposed to happen, men and men just didn't - He stopped abruptly. He had reached the door to his fathers study. Taking a deep breath, He knocked heavily on the wood, then pushed down the handle when he heard the deep, familiar and forboding voice ; "Enter."
Cliff-hanger !Bah! What an awful chapter! Oh well, I felt the need to update and so I did :D Hopefully the next chapter will be sooner. Anyway's please review.