Merlin had to admit Arthur's parting words hurt him a little, but he knew he probably didn't truly mean them. Merlin was aware that over the last couple of days, between the concern about Gwen, the concern about Camelot, the brief but intense concern about his manservant being a warlock, and now the concern about his father's health, Arthur hadn't really had any chance to release the pressure.

Besides, he had deliberately chosen to reveal he had let Livia go because he knew it would upset Arthur. It had been a necessary evil to ensure he would remain behind. Because right now, he was the only one who knew who could actually heal the King.

The fact that Uther had been affected by the curse made sense, and it was another proof of Morgana's more and more evident role in this epidemic. His chambers were right next to Morgana's in the castle's South wing. And Merlin was now convinced that if Arthur had spent that night in his bed instead of watching over Gwen in her house, he would certainly have been cursed as well.

The entire debate he'd had with himself over the whole night was made completely irrelevant by the latest developments. With the King cursed, there was only one possible course of action. He had to get Morgana to heal the King. If possible before Arthur came back with Livia, lest Arthur takes any harsh measure against the witch. But he would have to tell Morgana as little as possible. She couldn't discover she was actually the one responsible.

Merlin knocked resolutely on Morgana's door.

"Come in," she invited. "Oh, Merlin," she continued when he walked in. "Are there any news? I was about to get down to the city to see if there was anything I could do to help."

"I'm sure there are plenty of people that could benefit from your help," Merlin admitted, thinking about all the cursed villagers, "but I believe there's someone here in the castle who requires your attention first."

"My attention? What is it you wish me to do exactly?"

"I know you're the one who actually healed Gwen's neighbour," Merlin revealed.

Morgana didn't try to deny it and only shrugged. "Knowing I have magic, I had to give it a try. And it worked. I can help all these people. Is that why you came here? Because there's someone here in the castle you want me to heal?"

"The King."

"The King?" Morgana repeated with surprise. "Uther is affected by the curse?"

Merlin nodded. Morgana stared in the distance for a few seconds, and then... chuckled.

"Morgana, there's nothing funny about this," Merlin scolded.

"Well you'll admit he got what was coming to him, after everything he's done to all these sorcerers over the years."

"But you'll come with me to cure him, right?" Merlin insisted.

Morgana shrugged. "Why should I heal him? He's done nothing but persecute and hunt down people with magical abilities. People like me. He's the one who forbid the use of magic. Let him try to deal with this curse without it and see how he fares."

Merlin was baffled. "You're not serious, are you? You would actually let him die?"

"If Uther dies, then Arthur will become King. He's a better man. He's more open to magic, he agreed to use it to heal Gwen. He'll change the law. And people like me won't have to hide any more."

"Morgana, you can't let that happen!" Merlin reasoned, terrified to see she was ready to let things unfold without intervening. Could he have been that wrong about her?

"Why not?"

"Could you live with that death on your conscience, knowing you could have saved him? And do you really think Arthur will ever change the law if his father dies because of magic? On the contrary, he'll blame it for what happened! And things will remain just the same for you and for m-" Merlin caught his slip just in time. "- many other people."

Morgana sighed. "You're probably right," she finally admitted, though with obvious reluctance. "Let's go heal the King, then..."

It took them only a minute to reach Uther's chambers, right next to Morgana's. There, they found Gaius, taking care of the unconscious King. The court physician quickly told them about his patient's state:

"He's managed to fight the pain and hide his situation efficiently until today. But over the last hour it's spread at an incredible speed," Gaius said with concern. "I gave him the same drug as Gwen for the moment but we need to cure him soon. Arthur asked me to keep him alive until he came back, so I assume he has a lead. However, I don't think we have more than a couple of hours before it's too late..." he finished sadly.

"Thank you, Gaius. We're all extremely grateful for everything you do here," Morgana praised. "Would you mind leaving us alone with the King for a few minutes?"

Merlin could feel Gaius insistent look on him. He knew his tutor had guessed he planned on using magic to heal Uther, but he seemed puzzled by Morgana's presence.

"Naturally, my Lady. Merlin, as soon as you get the chance, come see me at the laboratory. There's something important I need to discuss with you."

"Of course," Merlin agreed. Whatever Gaius wanted to tell him, he apparently didn't want to do it in front of Morgana.

After Gaius left, Morgana asked the two knights to leave the room as well. Once there was only Merlin and her left, she walked closer to the King's bed. "Well. I suppose it's now or never... I hope I'll remember the incantation correctly."

Merlin remained silent and observed her quietly. He was quite curious to see Morgana practising magic at last. Apart from her visions, the rare times she had used magic were involuntary, so it should be interesting to see her use it with some control this time.

Morgana rose her hand above Uther and articulated slowly and slightly hesitantly: "Toorhim farunka sitow!" Then, she examined the result.

"It's not working," Merlin commented with surprise.

Morgana shook her head. "I don't understand. I did the exact same thing yesterday and that man was healed instantly... Let me try again. Toorhim farunka sitow!"

Still no result.

"This is confounding!" Morgana exclaimed. "Merlin, I assure you I'm not being uncooperative! I am truly trying to heal him!"

"I know, I believe you."

"Then what am I doing wrong? Maybe it's the incantation?"

"No, it's the right one," Merlin confirmed. When Morgana stared at him at his confidence, he explained: "Arthur and I were there when Livia healed Gwen. The incantation was the same."

"By the way, why don't you try to heal him? Rumour has it you might be a warlock yourself..." she teased with a sly smile.

"Right..." Merlin dismissed. But in truth, he wasn't sure just how much Morgana was joking. He didn't know her well enough to be able to tell.

"So, what do we do, now? Morgana asked.

Merlin shook his head. He didn't know. He truly didn't know. He hadn't expected it wouldn't work, and he had absolutely no idea why it didn't. Morgana had already healed someone without anyone's help, so why couldn't she heal Uther today?

"Well, it seems nothing can be done here," he finally said with discouragement.

Maybe Arthur had chosen the right course of action by going after Livia, Merlin thought. Maybe with her magic and his, they'd manage to heal Uther just like they had healed Gwen. But he was greatly annoyed to see all his plans failing one after the other over the last few days. It was like he was missing some important information.

He was very tempted to go talk to the dragon again, but he already knew what he would say – or rather, what he wouldn't. And still, he knew he needed to discuss this with someone he could talk freely to. Someone who might bring some light on what he didn't manage to see on his own. Someone like Gaius.

"That's it? You're already giving up?" Morgana asked.

"Do you have any other idea?"

"I can keep trying," she suggested.

"All right," Merlin agreed. "I'll leave you to it, then. I'm not of any help anyway, and Gaius asked to see me."

"You could indeed leave me alone, but that would be a little hypocritical of you after your speech about how I couldn't let Uther die, don't you think?" Morgana accused.

"I know but... I should go, I'm sorry," Merlin concluded while turning to leave, wishing he could explain.

He immediately headed back to the laboratory, where he found Gaius waiting for him impatiently.

"Gaius, you said you had something important to tell me?"

"Indeed. I finally managed to find some information on dryads. Not much, though. I had to search through very old archives."

"That's great! What did you find out?" Merlin asked eagerly. Some hope at last.

"If my translation is correct, it turns out dryads normally live in communities. That's where they derive their magic from. Alone, with none of their peers in close vicinity, they are powerless. That means Livia's presence during the recent events wasn't an entire coincidence. It allowed whoever cast the curse to... well, cast it."

Merlin nodded. "And in turn, Livia only managed to use dryad magic to heal Gwen because of that other person's presence..."

The other person. Namely, Morgana... Who had failed to heal Uther because, Merlin could now guess, Livia had left the city...

"Now, all we need to do is find another person in the city with dryad heritage," Gaius continued, "someone capable of casting that curse, of even just the healing spell, and we'll have our culprit."

Before Merlin had the time to reveal he already knew who that was, they both jumped when the laboratory's door creaked.

"Someone's there!" Gaius exclaimed.

Merlin ran to the door and hurried outside, but he only managed to catch a glimpse of a colourful dress before it disappeared behind a corner.

Morgana.

What had she heard exactly? Merlin wondered anxiously.