Morgana opened her tired eyes the next morning to see Gwen and Arthur asleep on a chair at the foot of her bed, Gwen's head resting quite comfortably on Arthur's shoulder. She frowned. What on earth…? They certainly looked cosy but what were they doing cuddled up together in her bedroom? Anyone could see them! Abandoning that thought for a moment though, she had another one: When Arthur had been denying his feelings for her maidservant and vice versa, they'd been lying. It was sort of sweet, really. But, as with the last thought, this one was replaced with another: How did she get here?

The last thing she remembered was sitting in the forest with Merlin… Merlin… where was he? Last night's events came flooding back to her all too quickly. Merlin had followed her into the forest where she was meeting with Morgause who'd told her about her plans – well, ish, anyway – to annihilate Uther. After Morgause left, Morgana discovered Merlin and they'd argued, him revealing his own magic in the process. They'd argued some more then she must have fallen asleep because how she'd ended up back in her bedchamber was beyond her. Unless she'd dreamt it all? No, impossible.

Arthur stirred and sat up quickly when he realised Morgana was awake, rousing Gwen in the process.

'Morgana, what happened? Are you alright?' he asked, hurriedly rushing to the side of her bed in order to be closer to her. Gwen followed suit and came to her other side.

'I- um… I went to…' She stopped when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the king enter her room, followed closely by Gaius and Merlin, the latter of whom went and stood by her window, behind everyone else. Why was everyone crowding round her all of a sudden?

'Morgana,' the king greeted her softly, 'You were missing, what happened to you? Merlin found you unconscious and bought you back here. You were in the forest.' What had Merlin told them? Had he told them what he'd heard between her and Morgause? Is that why they were all here? She clutched at the bed sheet under the duvet, trying not to make her rising panic visible. 'Do you remember what happened?' the Uther pushed. She didn't know what she was supposed to say because she had no idea what Merlin had already said. Her eyes flickered towards the servant to find him shaking his head. It was only the slightest of shakes, but he definitely shook his head.

'No, I – I'm afraid I don't remember anything,' she answered slowly, her eyes still fixed on Merlin to gage his reaction. He appeared to exhale a small sigh of relief and even gave her a little smile. Uther and Gaius began talking to each other about something but she wasn't listening. How she wished she could communicate with Merlin telepathically.

'Gaius says you should get some rest,' Uther informed her, coming over to stroke her hair lightly. 'If you could bring her some food?' he asked Gwen who nodded and left immediately. 'Arthur, we have a council to get to. I'll return to see you later,' he promised, looking back at Morgana before leaving her chambers with Arthur. Gaius turned to exit as well but stopped when he realised Merlin wasn't following him.

'Just a minute,' Merlin muttered. Gaius raised his eyebrows in obvious disapproval. 'I'll catch you up soon, I promise,' Merlin said, ushering the physician out of the room.

'What happened?' Morgana queried as soon as Gaius was gone. Merlin came and sat on the edge of her bed before answering.

'Calm down,' he pleaded, making a move as though to take her hand but then deciding against it. 'You fell asleep so I carried you back here,' he told her. 'I didn't want us to get caught in the forest and, well, you were cold,' she shrugged, attempting nonchalance. It wasn't working though; she smiled just a little at his pretence that he didn't really care about her. 'Just keep pretending you don't remember anything and I'm sure it'll blow over soon,' he supposed, getting up.

'Hardly,' she sighed. 'If I was 'missing', Arthur and Uther will stop at nothing to find out what happened to me,' she explained.

'Hmm. I hadn't looked at it like that,' he replied thoughtfully.

'Thank you,' she whispered suddenly.

'What? What for?' he asked, his brow creasing ever so slightly.

'For caring, for bringing me back, for being there,' she answered. 'Take your pick.'

'That's alright, Morgana,' he assured her sincerely, getting up off the bed.

'Merlin!' she called, clutching at his arm to stop him leaving. 'I'm supposed to be meeting Morgause tonight.'

'You can't go.'

'But Merlin –'

' –Morgana. Do not go,' he ordered firmly. 'Please?' he begged when she did not reply.

She looked down at the bed covers and nodded. She wasn't used to people ordering her about, especially not servants, but she knew he was right so she refrained from complaining or throwing a hissy fit about it.

'I have to go before Gwen comes back with your food,' he uttered more delicately, 'I'll try and see you later?' he suggested. While on the surface it may have appeared he was just being kind, Morgana figured the main reason he wanted to visit her again was to check she hadn't seen Morgause.

'Okay,' she agreed quietly, not moving her eyes from the duvet, for part of her still wanted to shout at him for making demands of her.

Once he left, she began to think. Morgause wasn't going to be easy to let down. She was quite a tough woman and Morgana knew how badly she wanted to destroy Uther – which, now she thought about it, may not be fully justified. If Morgana didn't turn up to their meeting tonight, Morgause would just come looking for her and, she knew from past experience, that the woman had no issues with sneaking into her bedchambers at night. What if she got angry? Actually, never mind the 'what if?' She was definitely going to be angry and an angry sorceress wasn't something Morgana was particularly experienced in dealing with, nor was it something she was looking forward to.

'I've brought you some breakfast, My Lady,' Gwen said cheerfully, coming back into her room with a tray full of food and pulling Morgana out of her thoughts. Until she'd smelled it, Morgana had not realised that she was absolutely ravenous.

'Thank you, Gwen,' she smiled, gratefully taking the tray from her and placing it in her lap, forgetting her troubles for now as she ate, hungrily.

XXX

'Merlin?' Arthur called from behind him as he was on his way back to check on Morgana.

'Yes?' he replied, swerving round quickly, preparing to pretend he had definitely not been going to Morgana's room, but it didn't matter for that wasn't what Arthur wanted to talk about.

'About last night, you are being totally honest aren't you? Arthur asked, his voice quietening as he came closer. He clearly didn't want any passers-by to hear their conversation, for whatever reason.

'Of course. Why wouldn't I be?' Merlin questioned. What did he know?

'You would tell me if there was anything else, wouldn't you?' Arthur enquired, ignoring Merlin's question. Really, what had he found out?

'Yes, Arthur,' he promised, nodding his head for emphasis, desperate to move away from this topic.

'So you didn't see anyone? I mean, if you did and they threatened you and you're not telling me because you're scared then-'

'Arthur, I didn't see anyone else. I just found Morgana unconscious on the floor, picked her up and bought her straight back to the castle,' Merlin recounted.

'Okay, I believe you,' Arthur responded, putting his hand on Merlin's shoulder, making the servant feel slightly guilty; he hated keeping things from Arthur. 'You're about the one person I can trust these days, Merlin,' the prince said somewhat sadly. 'Thank you, for finding her and bringing her back safely. I don't think I said that last night.' Merlin forced himself to smile. It was one of those rare occasions when Arthur was being really nice and Merlin despised the fact that he had to lie to him all the time.

'Listen,' Arthur continued, just as Merlin was about to walk off. 'I know I had a go at you before about your feelings for Morgana but…'

'I don't have feelings for her,' Merlin interrupted hurriedly.

'Wait,' Arthur requested, holding up a hand. 'I was just going to apologise for it and say it's nice that you care about her. You could have left her there in the forest, but you didn't and I can't thank you enough for it.'

'I only did what anyone would have,' Merlin shrugged.

'Maybe. But still, thank you. Nothing can ever happen though,' Arthur added.

Merlin gave up arguing seeing as Arthur clearly didn't believe his protests. 'I know.'

'Good. so long as we're clear,' Arthur grinned, now walking off down the corridor. Hmph. He was a fine one to talk – the way he was around Guinevere. However, Merlin managed to restrain himself and didn't mention this; it would only earn him a clout around the ear and he didn't particularly want one of those.

'Oh, Merlin?' the prince called over his shoulder. What now?

'Hmm?' Merlin shuddered to a halt.

'I forgot to ask you, what were you doing in the woods at night anyway?

Damn! 'I was, er, finding some herbs for Gaius,' he lied.

'In the middle of the night?' Arthur asked, his suspicion evident on his face.

Merlin nodded, hoping he'd just drop it.

'Oh. Alright then,' he replied and continued on his way. Phew.

A/N… Sorry this chapter has taken so long to put up; apparently DIY is rather time consuming. I've had a few different ideas about where to go from here, so if my update rate decreases, it's because I'm struggling with which idea to go with… Two of them involve bringing in Gwaine, one of them Lancelot, one of them both, some of them neither… Yeah. I'm just toying around with different ideas for making the story a bit longer because, as it stands, if I don't bring in some more people to mix up the plot a bit, then the story will be finished in about 4 more chapters which, I don't want, and most of you readers have said you don't want… Let me know who you want to see introduced if you like?