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A/N: Thank you to all of you who reviewed. :) Enjoy.
Keeping a simple thing simple was never easy for Arthur. He had learned that early on.
He entered Morgana's chamber without even knocking. Hours after she had all but defied Uther's order to keep away from Leon, Arthur had to step in.
If Morgana didn't stop, Arthur would end up with the short end of the stick. Uther, being such a brilliant man, seemed satisfied enough to get in Arthur's way and leave him to deal with all of his burden's.
What a father.
Arthur didn't blame him, it was tough to be King.
Arthur moved stealthily through the room, searching for his annoying sister when Gwen came into view from behind the wardrobe.
"Sire." She bowed, face red and Arthur wished that he had not done as he had.
He forced a smile to his lips, but upon receiving the confused look on Gwen's face he sighed.
"Where's Morgana?" He asked, voice cold and composed.
Gwen looked down. "She went out to the library." She answered.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "The library?" Leon wouldn't be there, but Geoffrey was. If Arthur chased her down to the library there was no doubt that Geoffrey would tear him limb by limb from causing a scene.
Gwen looked at Arthur from under her lashes, wondering why he was so interested in Morgana. She thought that maybe he knew of Morgana's feelings toward Merlin, but she doubted that was the reason for his interest.
Arthur, though he liked to hide it, was very protective of Morgana. Along their years together, Arthur learned to love Morgana. Gwen could see that. If he had a small inkling that Morgana liked Merlin that would be the end of it.
Arthur would not have Merlin anywhere near Morgana.
Arthur was very much like his father. That was one thing they had in common.
"She was bored and decided that a book would keep her distracted." Gwen said trying to get Morgana as far away from any suspicious behavior.
Arthur nodded without looking back at Gwen. "Good." When he finally looked up at her he gave her a smile. "Don't tell her that I came into her chamber."
"I will not." Gwen said and put down Morgana's dresses in the wardrobe. She felt Arthur watching her and turned slowly to him. "Is there anything I can help you with sire?" She asked.
Arthur was lost looking into her eyes, but shook his head. "I'll be going now." He said, not able to think of anything else.
"Alright." Gwen nodded and watched him go. As soon as he was gone, Gwen blushed. She was giving him too much attention.
Not attention he doesn't deserve. Gwen thought with a smirk. He deserves the attention with all the practice he did.
It was not hard to see that Arthur was muscular and well fit. And to be attractive was just perfect. Gwen loved that.
Those thoughts are wrong. Gwen thought, biting her lip, but still felt a smile wiggle it's way into her lips.
Far off on the other side of the castle, Morgana was in the library looking for a book to not be bored anymore.
None of these are a good read. Morgana thought. She was right of course, most of them were herb books. She wouldn't even go into the restricted isle. Geoffrey would kill her without even being present.
She walked around an isle when she bumped into Merlin.
Seeing him brought heat to her face and she could hear her heart beating into her ears.
Merlin, unaware of her presence, kept on looking for the book Gaius had asked to find for him. It puzzled Merlin as to why Gaius needed to get a book on herbs when he knew them better than the books did.
Passing over the titles, he felt someone watching him. He looked up and held his breath.
None of them said a word, it wasn't necessary. Just by staring into each other's eyes was enough. The denied attraction, the need to say something, the unwanted love; it was all there.
Merlin cleared his throat and forced a smile on his face. "Milady." He said.
Morgana smiled back, but the resentment came back and she looked down sharply.
Feeling offended, Merlin frowned and he himself looked away.
For almost an eternity they both stood there; one looked up while the other was looking away, and then would look away only for the other to look back. They played that game for a while. Both of them knew that the other was looking back, but as soon as they looked...nothing.
Feeling irritated by such stupidity, Morgana smiled brightly.
"How have you been?" She asked.
"Busy." Merlin said, feeling his face tighten with seriousness. "Arthur and Gaius are a lot to handle."
"I bet." Morgana agreed with him.
And again the silence fell over them.
This is stupid, they both thought in their head.
Merlin and Morgana smiled at each other. They thought of many things to say, but nothing came to mind. All the anger that Morgana felt, it was gone; disappeared. She felt herself grow hot and she closed her eyes. Why was this so hard?
"I have to go." Merlin said, grabbing whatever book he could find.
Morgana, saddened by this, nodded.
As he turned to walk away Morgana gave way to one question.
"Merlin," she called, "How's Freya?"
There it was, the tension that bit at them, destroyed them for various reasons. The thing for which they could not be together.
"Fine." Merlin said, feeling threatened.
"She seems like a very nice girl." Morgana told him, sincerely.
"She is." Merlin said, voice crisp.
"You both seem happy." Morgana said, wanting to finally break the ice over this whole thing.
Merlin tensed up and wanted to not talk about this. "We are." He said, again with the same crisp tone.
"I'm happy for you." Morgana said, smiling weakly, and felt like crying. She sighed and walked away from him.
Merlin watched her go and leaned slightly on the table next to him. He closed his eyes and hated himself more than ever.
Walking away from the man she loved, but swore revenge on, Morgana once again had reason to want revenge, because her heart once again broke inside of her.
Unbeknownst to them both, Freya had watched from the very beginning everything that had been said between them. More able to read into their behavior, Freya saw the traces of something she did not want to see.
Panicked and stricken with horror, Freya decided at that moment that the Lady Morgana, although nice, would not get in the way of her love with Merlin.
Freya would not accept that. She walked out of the library after Merlin had left and made plans in her head to have Merlin all to herself. Still, inside her heart, she could not hide the way that Merlin had acted with Morgana. It was confusing and startling, because she knew that he felt something for her...and yet he hid that.
All she could think of was why?
Morgana sped to her room, feeling horrible by the mistake she had done of talking to Merlin. Of going to the library! There was no safe place from him. First outside in the practice fields and then when she had been in the library.
Gwen was startled by the harsh enter and jumped. Morgana smiled at her.
"I'm sorry."
"What happened?" Gwen asked.
Morgana told her everything, and Gwen absorbed all the details with shock and surprise. Gently she told her friend that everything would be okay.
"He doesn't even know how I feel, Gwen." Morgana told her friend, for the first time seeing her behavior objectively. "Oh no. He doesn't know, Gwen!" Seeing the confused look on Gwen's face made Morgana sigh. "That means that I've been acting so completely foolish for nothing. Merlin probably thinks me strange and therefore has less interest in me, if he ever had. He does hate me."
"No, he doesn't He could be confused by your actions, as is everyone, but he does not hate you." Gwen consoled, wrapping a hand over Morgana's shoulders.
"He doesn't know that I have feelings for him." Morgana said, voice full of lament.
Gwen watched her friend carefully as she said, "Will you ever tell him?"
"No!" The words rushed out of her mouth even before Morgana had time to think about it. She sighed. "It's for the best."
Gwen sat down next to her friend and gave her one of her best smiles. "It's never too late if you ever change your mind."
Morgana looked at the floor, her mind full of Merlin and Freya. "No, Gwen. It's already too late."
Gwen didn't know what to say and chose to hug her instead.
Welcoming the hug, Morgana rested her head on Gwen's shoulders.
She felt so stupid for liking Merlin and then acting like a lunatic because of it. Worst of all, Merlin didn't even know a thing.
She closed her eyes, ashamed of everything that she had done. Even Leon had been indirectly affected by this.
Morgana closed her eyes and hoped that she could make all of this better. Soon.
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