This took me forever to write. I wanted the (M) rated scene to be different that last time, but I had no idea what to do. Eventually, I came up with this. I hope you enjoy it. Truth is, I didn't actually describe anything in this, Mostly because, I wanted them do more than just oral, but I don't quite feel comfortable writing that just yet. I'm not sure if I ever will. Anyway, I leave that part to your imagination, and I hope you enjoy it.

Between the last chapter and this one, some time has passed. The witch-finder has been searching out the sorcerer completely unnoticed. Arthur and Merlin have had regular rendezvous. This chapter will include a clearer glimpse of the dark side of Merlin which was the entire reason that I wanted to continue writing for this story. Enjoy! :)

Aqua

When Uther entered his chambers, he noticed the letter addressed to him sitting at his writing desk. He opened the letter to find four words on the single page.

I know who.

Come.

He knew immediately that it was from the witchfinder. He didn't care how he had managed to do it without being seen at all, but he had discovered the sorcerer and was waiting at the inn for him to arrive. He grabbed his cloak and left as soon as possible.

In the dark room, Uther stood waiting impatiently for the witchfinder to speak.

"I find myself rather short on time. Have you not asked me to come here in order to reveal the sorcerer who is terrorizing my kingdom."

The witchfinder chuckled. It was an eerie sound as though it were rusty from underuse. "The servant boy, Merlin."

There was a quick silence before Uther asked, "What about him?"

He chuckled again at Uther's disbelief. "The servant boy is the sorcerer."

The witchfinder observed in the dim light the expression on Uther's face as the wheels began turning and tumbling in his brain. Innocent, wall flower, servant Merlin as a possessor of dark, powerful magic? It was a very hard concept to accept. That would be the problem with dealing with him. He would have to be exposed for anyone to believe it. But how?

"You'll need proof, and I have just the solution for you. But it'll cost ya," said the witchfinder, smiling in the dark.

"What is it?" Uther asked, intrigued.

"I have a liquid that, when drank, reveals a person's true identity. If the servant boy were to drink this, his magic would be released against his control, and his true nature would show."

"I'll take it," Uther declared.

The banquet was filled with people conversing loudly over their drinks. Musicians played a light tune in the background to keep the atmosphere. Uther split his time between speaking with King Feolan, who was visiting from a neighbouring kingdom and one of the few of his trusted people, and the rest of the time, he was watching Merlin. He would spot him out in the crowd, not that it was hard, he almost never left Arthur's side, and he would watch for any signs of his magic. He never had any slip ups before, but perhaps, he had simply not seen. Merlin had never been a priority in his mind before, but if he was the sorcerer responsible for the attacks and still Arthur's manservant, he was certainly a priority now.

He watched as a woman, a very pretty woman flirted with his son. He laughed but didn't seem interested in the slightest. Eventually, the woman gave up and moved to one of the knights. The king watched as Merlin whispered something into Arthur's ear and he laughed quietly. It was not a shame that Merlin turned out to be who he was, because Arthur had grown a friendship with the boy. He generally did not care who Arthur befriended, but he was beginning to forget his other friends among the knights. Arthur needed to be around men with more pride and strength.

Uther motioned to a servant girl who came to him immediately.

"Give this to Morgana's servant, Guinevere and tell her to give it to Merlin. Oh, and I'd appreciate it if she didn't know it was from me."

The servant girl took the cup and smiled, "Yes, sire."

He walked across the hall and gestured for Arthur to come with him. The stepped away from Merlin.

"Arthur, I'd like you to keep an eye on your servant, Merlin."

"Why?" Arthur's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"There is something about that boy. He seems sort of secretive. Just a precaution." The king left the hall before Arthur could question him anymore.

Gwen handed the cup to Merlin. "It's from that girl over there." She smiled knowingly.

"Really? That's very kind of her." He took a gulp from the cup. "Mmm." Then he turned his attention back to Arthur.

Arthur looked hard into Merlin's eyes. "We need to talk. Let's go."

Merlin chugged the cup to the bottom and followed him out of the hall.

In the solitarity of Arthur's chambers, they stood face-to-face. Merlin could see the seriousness in Arthur's eyes, and he felt as though a dark cloud had thrown its shadow on the room. The temperature seemed to drop about ten degrees, and there was a strange tingling in his fingertips.

"Merlin, he's suspicious. He came up to me and asked me to keep an eye on you."

The tingling sprouted from his fingertips and travelled through his hand and up to his wrists. Something wasn't right. "I'll just have to be careful."

"No, we have to do something about this. Something to move the focus off of you." Arthur put his hand on his chin and looked about the floor as though an answer would be found there.

"There's nothing we can do. We can only hope that he won't find out. I just need to-" He stopped when Arthur perked up with an idea.

"I need to find that beast. He would be more concerned about the destruction of the beast responsible for the attacks than watching you. Yes, I'll have to leave to hunt in the morning."

Merlin knew that it was time to tell Arthur that he thought it may be him doing the attacking. Perhaps he would understand. It's not his fault. He was probably doing it in his sleep. He just had to hope that Arthur would understand. "Arthur, I-" Merlin's mouth closed. It felt as though every one of his joints locked up at once. His entire body was tingling. There was an odd feeling of being separate from his body.

"Merlin?" asked Arthur cautiously. "What is it?"

In an instant, Merlin's eyes burned bright gold. The air stirred and things began to lift from the ground. The furniture was floating an inch above the floor. Books, papers, clothes, and anything loose flew around the room in a tornado forming on the ceiling directly above Merlin's head. The air howled loudly against their ears making Arthur's shouts distant and incomprehensible.

In his mind, images of a village in the night pierced Merlin's thoughts. Pain erupted with every image as though the thoughts were exploding from the deep recesses of his mind. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head at the temples, and his yells of pain lost among the sound of the wind which only grew louder.

They were vivid images showing a dark home. He could see sleeping forms inside through the window. There was an explosion that shattered the stone walls of the house. Screams of people awakening to the realization that they were trapped beneath the rubble of their home. Someone was calling out names in their fear for their family's lives. There was a flash and a whip of flame caught to the wreckage. There were more screams of agonizing pain as they were trapped in the fiery death trap made of their own home. A nearby tree caught the fire, and it spread rapidly to more trees. The sky was lost in a cloud of the thick black smoke. Orange and yellow light from the flames danced over the other houses. No one was able to wake in these homes, but they all rode the night mares of death and destruction.

Merlin was consumed by a new pain that dulled the one that burst throughout his head. This pain impaled his heart with the force of the suffering. His body stood back up against his will. A potent darkness roared in Merlin's chest, and his heart pounded heavily in his ears. The distant shouts from Arthur become loud murmuring as he felt his hands grasping for his arms. A powerful blast pulsated from Merlin, sending Arthur flying across the room. In Merlin's mind, he was screaming for it to stop, hoping desperately for Arthur to be okay, but his body was no longer his. The magic escaped him in bursts that bent the floor and walls in places. Furniture exploded around the room, sending splintered wood spiraling freely and widly thoughout the room.

Arthur groaned as he sat up from the ground. Merlin had lost control completely. He had been grabbing for Merlin, trying to get him to take back control, but he had been blasted from him and had hit the ground, hard. There had to be some way to get Merlin back. There was no way that he was doing this of his own accord. What had happened?

He pulled himself to his feet, fighting the ferocity of the wind. Dodging flying furniture, he slowly made his way to the center of the storm created in his room. He pulled himself up close to Merlin and caught the gaze of the hollow golden eyes. "Merlin, get a hold of yourself!" he bellowed.

Merlin felt himself pulled into his body for a second when Arthur had embraced him. He shouted something that he couldn't hear. Merlin began to slip away again, but then, Arthur leaned forward. The wind did not cease, but he grew deaf to the howls of the wind, the images left him, and the world was muted. Arthur whispered into his ear, too loud to be possible for a whisper, but his voice echoed in the silent storm. "Come back to me." He pressed his lips to his. A second later, the wind slowed and things dropped back to the floor. Merlin's eyes returned to their original bright blue. He kissed him back.

Arthur had meant to pull Merlin back and nothing else, but when he kissed him, he felt a powerful and dark lust overcome him. He slanted his mouth over Merlin's and felt Merlin push his lips closer. It had worked! Now, he couldn't stop. He slipped his tongue between his lips, where it mingled with Merlin's. He explored the deep, hot recesses of his mouth, while his hands rediscovered every tight muscle of Merlin's body.

Merlin had expected to be exhausted from his magical exersion, but instead, Arthur's lips against his and the scent of Arthur seized him in a powerful passion. His magic flared, but it was different than the uncontrolled, raging power that had nearly demolished the entire room. It was feral, driven by his burning lust, and triggered by instinct. And while the cause for his wild magic was the concoction Uther had given him, it did not burst out of him as the first bout of magic had, instead, it saturated the air in the room with a heady haze like a shadowing fog rolling over the earth. The temperature of the room felt considerably hotter, only adding to their excitement as they explored every fraction of each other that they could while still clothed.

"I can't take it anymore, this-" Arthur breathed, tugging at Merlin's shirt, "needs to come off." With that, he ripped the shirt over Merlin's head. He placed a kiss on Merlin's lips, another on his neck, then he trailed one of his hands down the center of Merlin's torso being deliberately agonizing. Merlin grabbed Arthur wrist and stopped it in its lurid path. He looked up at Merlin curiously.

"This isn't very fair. Why are you still entirely dressed? I only get to see you when I can sneak past Gaius. I need something for the time when we can't meet."

"Fine," Arthur said with a devilish smile. "You have your shirt off, I'll take mine off." He pulled his shirt off quickly and tossed it to the floor. Then, he moved his hand back to where it was and completed the trail down to the edge of his pants. He moved to take his pants off of him. Merlin stepped back a little.

"Well, there it is again. I would be more clothed than you." Merlin strained to keep a serious face, but he was enjoying the game too much.

"So you don't want me to wear pants either?" Arthur was quickly catching on. He hooked his fingers in the edge of his pants but then paused. "Actually, I think we might look silly wearing almost nothing but boots." They both looked towards there booted feet on the floor.

"Boots off then," Merlin declared. It was sort of comical in a way. Merlin pulled off his right boot first, then looked up at Arthur to watch him take one of his boots off. He pulled off the other one, and Arthur copied. They stood up straight, and Arthur gave him an amused look, which led to laughter at the absurdity of the game they were playing.

Arthur resumed the removal of his breeches in a ridiculously slow manner. He was still laughing when Arthur bent down to pull the pants off Merlin. It was actually the first time that he had ever undressed Merlin. He stood back up to come face to face with Merlin. They kissed again and again before the lust drove itself back into the atmosphere.

Arthur glanced over at the place where the bed had once been. It was now in several pieces about the room.

"I wish we still had a bed. I don't even know what I'm going to do about all this." The brow of Arthur's forehead furrowed in nearly frustrated worry.

"I could probably fix it," Merlin offered. He raised his hand, prepared to say the spell he figured could repair the bed, but hesitated. He wasn't sure why his magic had turned against him. There would be nothing he could do if it decided to do it again, and perhaps, trying to do magic would start it up again. The thoughts screamed through his mind in only a brief time, but it was very clear that even if it did happen again, he wouldn't know unless he tried. He couldn't live in fear of a part of himself forever. "Restituo supellex supellectilis"

The splintered wood, the tattered sheets, and the chunks of mattress sped across the room, gathering where the spot where the bed had been. They fit back together, mending themselves until there was a very luxurious bed that was once again, fit for a prince.

Arthur let out a small sound of awe before grabbing Merlin by the arms and throwing him onto the restored bed. Merlin gasped but quickly forgot the roughness of it when the prince lowered himself onto him. He could feel how hard he was with his erection pressed up against his leg. It only excited him more.

Arthur could feel the dark and powerful aura that swirled around Merlin. He allowed that all-consuming darkness penetrate him as he gave in to Merlin. It was the first time that he had ever seen Merlin as the potent sorcerer that he was. He had always been the crowned prince of Camelot, who deserved respect and obedience, but that night, he recognized that perhaps the one who was really in control was the sorcerer who devoted his life to protecting it. But now, Merlin was losing that control to the corruption of his own magic. All magic was evil, but Merlin wasn't. Camelot might not survive without Merlin's protection. He needed to regain his control.

What he really needed was a vacation.

They laid together, like they slept in the dip of a crescent moon. Arthur had his arms around Merlin, keeping him close while his mind refused to rest. It would have been so simple if he were anyone else, but the fact was that he was Arthur Pendragon, his father was Uther Pendragon, and his father would kill Merlin if he discovered who he really was. The importance of their secret was strong enough to begin with, but if Merlin's magic was out of control, the situation seemed hopeless. And his father suspected. Things were starting to go very very far downhill.

If his father found out, he would have Merlin executed and probably disown Arthur. But, if Merlin left, and he told his father before he found out on his own, things would be fine.

Things would have to be fine.