A/N: I AM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE. My sister and I are moving into a new apartment, and they gave us a grand total of ONE day to move in. We told the internet people that we were moving, and they transferred the account right then. So, two days before we actually moved. As such, I have had no internet connection on the computer that actually has this story on it. Right now I am on my work computer where I had luckily already downloaded a copy of the story, so I can upload from here. It's only one day late though! Not too bad, I hope. Don't hate me please. Here, have some Arthur—
**EDITED**
It took Arthur a few long, bleary moments to remember all that had happened over the last few days when he woke up warm and content and wrapped up in his peacefully sleeping wife. It was very different from the way he had woken up the previous two mornings, having slept restlessly both nights on the hard ground. He didn't want to move from the cocoon of serenity, to break the fragile peace of this moment. He didn't want to have to face this strange new reality in which he found himself, where up was down and Merlin was magic and bad was good.
Eventually, though, he made the immensely difficult decision to carefully dislodge his sleeping wife and relocate her from his chest to the bed, smiling tenderly down at her as she snuggled deeper under the blankets at the loss of his warmth and hugged a pillow to her chest in his place.
Merlin's absence was painfully obvious as he had to search out his own clothes and dress himself—but no, he did not require assistance in order to get dressed, no matter that Merlin had always teased him about that. Having a second pair of hands just made everything go a lot faster. He was a king and he couldn't afford to waste time with tying his own boot laces.
Before long, he found himself at the door to Gaius' chambers, which were standing open to reveal the man himself arranging a number of potions and remedies in his medicine bag in preparation for his morning rounds, and wishing that he had thought to stop and get some breakfast for himself before coming here. But he couldn't very well turn around now, not when he had already made it this far. If he turned back now, he would lose his nerve.
And this was not something he could afford to back out on; he had to know. There was just too much information he was missing, too many blanks in the picture, and Gaius was the only person left in the kingdom that could fill them in for him.
"Why did you never inform my father that Balinor was of royal stock?" Arthur asked bluntly.
Gaius started and nearly upset one of the bottles on his table. He hastened to right it before it spilled its contents all over the stacks of papers beside it, and then turned to face Arthur with eyes that were wide and stunned. Arthur supposed that he probably could have found a more subtle way of bringing up the subject that would have been less of a shock to the old man, but he had always been a big fan of using the direct approach in life.
"Sire?" Gaius said, his eyes flicking over Arthur's shoulder to the corridor beyond. "I did not know that you had returned. I take it that your journey was a successful one?"
Arthur did not answer his question, instead leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms over his chest, leveling the man who had more of a hand in raising him than his own father had with a flat stare that told him in no uncertain terms that Arthur was unimpressed with his attempt to change the subject.
"My father never knew that Balinor was of royal blood," Arthur said, his tone making it clear that he would accept no other topic at the moment.
Things would've been a lot more complicated if Uther had known. His father may have been unreasonable when it came to sorcery, but even magic would not have blinded him completely to Balinor's rank; the politics of kings was too sensitive, the balance between kingdoms and across realms too important to maintain.
No, Uther had not known. But Gaius had known where to find Balinor in his exile. Gaius had known him before and likely known him well. Arthur leveled the man with a steely gaze.
"But I have no doubt that you did. However, you did not see fit to remedy my father's ignorance. Why was that exactly?"
Gaius looked decidedly shifty now, one hand clutching at the strap of his bag and the other steadying him on the edge of the table, his eyes returning periodically to the doorway at Arthur's back. It only confirmed Arthur's suspicions.
"Where is Merlin, sire?" Gaius asked.
"Gaius, I asked you a question," Arthur reminded him pointedly.
Gaius licked his lips, his grip on his bag tightening to the point that his knuckles went pale.
"Why would you keep something like that a secret?"
"Because he asked me to," Gaius finally said. "I knew Balinor from my travels. I met him when he was just a child. When he arrived in Camelot, he asked that I refrain from mentioning his heritage to anyone. I saw no reason not to comply with his request."
"Why would he ask you to do that? Why would he want to keep people from finding out that he was royalty?" Arthur asked, genuinely confused. Unless it was for the purpose of keeping himself or someone else safe, Arthur would never have even thought of hiding who he was.
Gaius sighed heavily, seeming to accept that he was not going to be able to get out of having this conversation, and lowered himself slowly onto his cluttered workbench. Arthur closed the door to the chamber behind him and pulled up a wooden chair from the other side of the room to sit in front of him, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.
"Balinor was ashamed of his own actions," Gaius told him. "He did not want anyone to know of his rank because, if they did, then they would surely know of his shame."
"And what actions were those?" Arthur pressed. "If Balinor was his father's only son, then the throne should have fallen to him. But it was his eldest sister who took the throne, and his other sister after her."
"The throne did fall to him," Gaius said. "Or it would have. But King Renor passed away from an illness when Balinor was only eighteen years old. Imagine what your rule would have been like had you been forced to bear the crown at that age."
Arthur shuddered to think it; he had been arrogant back then, spoilt and intolerant. He had not yet learned how to listen when other people spoke, to take advice and criticism, or to learn from his mistakes so as not to make them again. His rule would most likely have been brief and unfortunate.
"Balinor did not believe that he was capable of ruling well at that time," Gaius said. "But his sister Theanor was older than he was, more experienced in matters of the court, and already an accomplished stateswoman in her own right. She, he thought, would make a much better sovereign than he would. So he abdicated his throne and handed the crown over to her."
"And he was truly that ashamed of that?" Arthur asked incredulously. "Ashamed enough to hide his true identity even from his allies? Ashamed enough that he would not return to his kingdom even after he was driven into exile and hunted down?"
"Succession in Carthis is different than it is here," Gaius said with a shake of his head. "There are other factors in play."
"You mean magic?" Arthur asked straightforwardly.
Gaius shifted uncomfortably, once again looking at the door as if waiting for Merlin to make an appearance, or perhaps fearing that he would.
"What has brought about this sudden interest in Balinor and Carthis?" he inquired. "And where has Merlin got to?"
"All in due time, Gaius," Arthur said.
He knew he was being unnecessarily cruel in drawing this out, in making Gaius sweat like this, but there was a small part of him that was still stinging from the knowledge that the two people he had trusted most were the ones who had been lying to him about the greatest number of things. This was a petty way of getting his own back, he supposed, but it did make him feel just a bit better about the whole thing.
Gaius pursed his lips in displeasure but did not protest more.
"Magic does come into it, but more important than that is the concept of the Dragonlord," he told Arthur, whose brow furrowed in confusion.
"What does that have to do with it?"
"To understand how it affects succession, one must understand the ability itself and how it is inherited," Gaius said, a sort of earnestness creeping into his manner that betrayed his own fascination with the subject. He got the same way when he spoke of his craft, of anatomy and medicine and herb lore and potions and other such things that bored Arthur to tears. Arthur settled in for a lengthy lecture.
"The abilities of a Dragonlord—namely, the capacity to summon a dragon to him, to force a dragon to obey his word, and to call forth a new dragon from its egg—are passed down to the eldest son upon the death of the father. Any subsequent children of that Dragonlord, whatever their gender, will inherit only a partial ability, called an affinity.
"To have an affinity means that one will be able to call for a dragon, but it is the dragon's choice as to whether or not he wishes to obey the summons. A person with the affinity will not be able to bind a dragon to his or her will as a Dragonlord in full possession of his abilities can and nor will they be able to hatch a new dragon.
"Note that I say the eldest son, not the firstborn," Gaius said. "The first male child a Dragonlord has will inherit the full ability no matter how many older sisters he may have. However, if a Dragonlord's firstborn child is a daughter, as was the case with Balinor's father King Renor, then this child would be known as a Dragonlady."
Arthur raised an eyebrow skeptically; he had never heard of such a thing. Surely, if there were Dragonladies as well as Dragonlords, he would have heard tell of them at some point, but Gaius carried on without acknowledging his expression of dubiousness.
"As the firstborn child of a Dragonlord, the full gift would be passed down to her as well. But, as a woman, she would not be able to exercise it. She would carry the ability, but it would be latent, inaccessible to her. She would then pass it down the line to her firstborn son."
"So a Dragonlady's eldest son would be a true Dragonlord as his grandfather was, and as his uncle is as well?" Arthur asked.
"Exactly. But the ability would be…diluted, so to speak. The purity of the line would be minutely weakened by the time spent dormant in one who could not wield it, and so her son would begin a new house of lesser Dragonlords. All his descendants would then take his name rather than the ancestral one that his grandfather had taken."
"What difference does the purity make?" Arthur asked. "If all Dragonlords can command dragons, then what makes one different from another?"
"The more pure the ability, the more powerful the command," Gaius said. "The order from the stronger, purer Dragonlord will carry more weight than the order from a lesser Dragonlord. If a dragon receives conflicting orders from two different Dragonlords, then he will obey the one with the purer heritage and disregard the weaker."
"What does any of this have to do with succession to the throne?" Arthur demanded impatiently; his head was starting to hurt from all these technical things and, interesting though it might be, it was not the information that he had come here to get.
"The kingdom of Carthis has been ruled by one line and one line only since it was first founded," Gaius said. "It has been passed down from eldest son to eldest son from the very first of the Dragonlords, Ambrosius. All the other lesser houses of Dragonlords have stemmed from this ancestral line, branching off by means of Dragonladies, eldest daughters who then birthed sons of their own to pass on their latent abilities. All Dragonlords were considered nobility, their rank among the gentry corresponding with the purity of their bloodline and ability, but only those directly descended from Ambrosius himself are royalty."
"And…Balinor was one such descendant?" Arthur asked, only barely stopping himself from saying Merlin.
"Yes, he was," Gaius confirmed. "And that is why it was such a scandal for him to give up his throne as he did. As the eldest son in a long line of eldest sons to rule that kingdom, his actions broke from generations and generations of tradition. Before then, the only time a Dragonlord of the house of Ambrosius was not on the throne was when he was a young child and an older sibling, or an aunt or uncle, had acted as regent until he was old enough to rule by himself.
"For Balinor to give up his right to the throne entirely is unprecedented in the entire history of the kingdom."
"So, only those descended from the house of Ambrosius are allowed to rule," Arthur said, reasonably confident in the validity of that statement. As complicated as the situation was, he thought he had most of it straight in his head. "And with Theanor, Eleanor, and Balinor all dead…"
He trailed off deliberately and kept a close eye on Gaius' expression, seeing the horror emerge at the dawning realization.
"Arthur," Gaius breathed, looking stricken. "Why are you asking me about this?"
Arthur smirked, thinking that he might as well just dive right in.
"Merlin was rather upset with the dragon for keeping this from him. Seemed to think that he deserved to know about it. I don't think I've ever seen Merlin shout like that."
He regretted the words as soon as they had left his mouth. Gaius' face lost all its color and he looked worryingly faint, reaching up to clutch at his chest.
"Gaius?" Arthur asked in alarm, really hoping that he hadn't just given the old man a heart attack in his callousness.
"How do y—what—I-I don't understand," Gaius stammered out.
Arthur sagged in relief; shocked as Gaius was, he did not at least seem like he was going to keel over and die from it. That would have been really awkward to explain to Guinevere. Arthur decided that now was probably a good time to put Gaius out of his misery.
"The villagers' tale of the dragon attacks was a clever ruse designed to lure the last of the Dragonlords out into the open," he said. "Sir Gerund, the Foremost Mage of Carthis, was waiting for us just over the border. He informed Merlin of his lineage and asked that he return with him to Carthis in order to lay claim to his throne and restore peace to the kingdom. Merlin really could have used some warning, you know."
The news of his royal blood must have been as shocking to Merlin as the revelation of his magic had been to Arthur. Ruling a kingdom was a daunting task. To have it thrust upon him out of nowhere like that… At least Arthur had been raised for his throne, groomed for it since the day he was old enough to know what a king was. Arthur wondered how Merlin was holding up, if he had been crowned yet.
"Lay claim to…" Gaius was struggling to form words but he couldn't seem to get passed the stage of gaping at Arthur. He mouthed soundlessly for a moment, half-formed expressions flitting over his face too quickly for Arthur to interpret them. He waited patiently for Gaius to get a hold of himself.
"You…you are taking this all very well," Gaius finally said.
Not well enough, Arthur thought shamefacedly, but he did not tell Gaius what he had done; he didn't think he would be able to bear the expression of dismay and disappointment, so much more effective than anger had ever been, which he was sure to get in return if he did. Gaius' opinion had always mattered a great deal to him and he didn't want to give him reason to lower it.
"Yes, well, I have had some time to come to terms with it," he said instead. "All of it," he added, to make clear to Gaius that no more secrets remained.
Gaius nodded to himself as though he had expected it. He probably had; he knew Arthur to be quick on the uptake when it suited him, especially where sensitive matters which concern inter-kingdom relations were concerned.
"Merlin would never act against you, I assure you—" Gaius began intently, but Arthur raised a hand to stop him in his supplications.
"That's not necessary, Gaius," he said with a shake of his head. "I have reviewed the time Merlin has spent here and have no choice but to acknowledge that his actions show only the best of intentions. Merlin is not my enemy, no matter how long he has been lying to me."
Gaius stared at him some more, no less shocked by this response but now with a sort of awed pride coloring his features. He searched Arthur's face for a long time, judging the sincerity of his words. Apparently he was satisfied with what he saw there, his panicky expression fading into immense relief. He gave Arthur a small smile.
"He has only ever used his magic in the effort of keeping you and this kingdom safe," he said, one more token effort to make sure that Arthur understood entirely.
"I know that, Gaius. I don't doubt it."
And he truly didn't. Years spent with Merlin standing at his side, facing down his enemies with a boldness and lack of fear that was baffling at the time but which made perfect sense now, always with a smile and a disconcerting amount of faith in Arthur's abilities, assured him of that fact. Merlin may have lied to him, yes, but it was out of self-preservation, and no one could really blame him for that.
The fact was that Arthur owed his life to Merlin a dozen times over, a hundred times, maybe more. He owed him his kingdom. He probably owed him even more that he just hadn't realized yet. The more that he thought about it, the more convinced he became that Merlin was his friend and nothing, not even magic, could ever change that.
"Merlin wanted to tell you, you know," Gaius said. "For years. It broke his heart to keep it from you. He wanted nothing more than to be completely honest with you, but the circumstances were never in his favor."
"You advised him against telling me, didn't you?" Arthur asked with a sad little half-smile.
Gaius immediately looked guilty and moved to make excuses, but Arthur stopped him with a shake of his head.
"I don't blame you if you did. In fact, I would be more likely to thank you for it. I don't know what I would have done if Merlin had told me at some other time under some other conditions. As it is, I did not respond in the most pleasant of ways," he admitted, dropping his gaze to his hands.
"I regret my actions in those moments," he said, "and, though I did apologize to Merlin for them before we parted ways, I only truly came to terms with all of this late last night. I wish that I had done so sooner, and that I had had the opportunity to thank Merlin for all that he's done for me."
Silence reigned for a moment and Arthur looked up to see that Gaius had tears in his eyes. "What?" he asked.
"You have come so far, Arthur," Gaius said, his voice a little choked as if he were speaking around a lump in his throat. "So far from the boy you were when Merlin first arrived here. I could not be prouder of the man you have become."
To his embarrassment, Arthur's own eyes were growing a bit wet as well and he dropped his head again, surreptitiously wiping at them with the back of his hand.
"You know, I had a great deal of respect for your father," Gaius said. "He always acted in what he believed to be the best interests of his kingdom. But his pride prevented him from admitting when he had made a mistake, and his fear grew into a hatred that blinded him to that which he did not wish to see. That you have been able to look past that, past all that you were taught growing up, and come to the decision that you have makes you a better man than he ever could have been."
"Thank you, Gaius," he whispered. "I used to want nothing more than to grow up to be just like him. He always seemed so strong, so sure of everything. I wanted to be that strong, that confident in everything I did. But now, knowing what I do, and after everything that happened with the Horn of Cathbhadh… Well, I can say honestly now that I am very glad to hear you say that."
"You are a good man, Arthur," Gaius said. "You have managed to overlook years of deeply ingrained prejudice because you were presented with evidence to the contrary of what you had been taught. That is something not many people would have been able to do. It shows remarkable strength of character and a depth of integrity that few possess. And these are the things that make you a great king, the things that Merlin saw in you long before anyone else did."
Arthur chuckled a bit at that.
"Yes, he always did seem irrationally confident in me," he said.
"Yes, well, a strong belief in destiny does tend to make one rather self-assured," Gaius pointed out with a light laugh of his own.
Arthur looked up at him again, eyes wide.
"Destiny?" he asked eagerly. "So do you know what he was talking about then? Merlin and the dragon were spouting cryptic gibberish about destiny back and forth at each other and it didn't make the least bit of sense to me."
Gaius raised an eyebrow. "Did neither of them explain it to you?" he asked.
Arthur felt a slight flush rise in his cheeks and grimaced sheepishly.
"Well, you see…they didn't exactly know that I was listening…" he mumbled.
"Arthur!" Gaius exclaimed in reprimand.
"I know, it was wrong, but I wanted to talk to Merlin so I followed him out of camp in the middle of the night and found him shouting himself hoarse at the dragon I had supposedly killed nine years ago! How could I not be curious?" he demanded.
Gaius tried to look reproachful, but Arthur could see the amusement trying to break its way through.
"Anyway, from what they said, it sounded like Merlin considered it something like his sacred duty to protect me."
"That's because it is," Gaius said matter-of-factly. "According to the ancient prophecies of the Druids, your and Merlin's destinies are intertwined. You are the Once and Future King, destined to eventually unite the whole of Albion under your banner. And Merlin is destined to guide and protect you so that you may reach that goal."
"All of Albion?" Arthur breathed out, feeling a little lightheaded himself at the prospect. "They expect me to rule over the entire land?"
"And to usher in a Golden Age of peace and prosperity for all peoples," Gaius added serenely. Then he gave him a pointed look. "And I do mean all peoples."
It was Arthur's turn to gape like a fish now. It was taxing enough ruling over one kingdom, much less all of them combined. The logistics alone were staggering, never mind the difficulties in actually bringing them all together under his rule and holding them there. It would be horribly impractical to attempt to rule over a kingdom of that size.
And then there was the implication in Gaius' words, the unsubtle hint that he would make it safe for people like Merlin, that he would legalize magic. It was such a radical prospect. Ruling over the entire land of Albion, over all peoples, secular and magical alike.
"How would that even be possible?" Arthur mused, his mind reeling at the mere thought. "For anyone, let alone me."
"There is no doubt in my mind that if anyone were to achieve such a thing, it would be you," Gaius said with a smile. "And I think that Merlin alone has faith enough for the rest of us."
Arthur let out a laugh, a bit on the hysterical side. It was an impossible task. But then again, if an entire population of Druids and a fifty foot dragon all claimed it to be true, then who was he to doubt it? Maybe he was capable of this, maybe he wasn't. But he would never know if he didn't try.