There are more lies hiding within him.

Arthur growled softly so as to not wake the others as he rolled over for what felt like the hundredth time that night. No matter what position he laid in he could not find a comfortable position. And it wasn't due to a lack of comfort. He could easily hear Percival's gentle snoring or the occasional snort from Gwaine. No one else was stirring from their spots on the hard ground.

There was no reason to after the full day of events they had undertaken. It had been one of those days that stretched itself out with a week's worth of events.

His eyes found the lump where Merlin's sleeping form laid. He was the only one Arthur had the ability to see as Merlin had positioned his sleeping spot in front of the door the same as the previous night. Light gently spilled into the room from the small gap between the door and the floor. Arthur could only make out the general sloping outline of his body while the others faded into the darkness.

How can you trust Emrys when he does not even trust you?

He squeezed the blankets at hard as he could in his silent fit of frustration. This whole situation was a mess. Merlin not trusting him with this or that was what started this whole mess from the beginning. It was the damn principle of it all. Arthur had chosen to trust Merlin even though he had lied to him for years about his magic only for additional deception to be exposed. Arthur conjured up an image of the note in near perfect clarity, right down to the last sloping letter.

He debated about retrieving it several times for no reason other than having proof he hadn't simply made it up. It wasn't like he would be able to read it again. Even the large lettering of his name would be indefinable in the dim lighting.

Perhaps on his way to grab the letter he could bump into one of the knights. If he woke one man, there was no doubt it would wake the others. He knew his knights, and he knew damn well that they slept lightly. Years of camping in potentially hazardous locations while on scouting trips had left each of them with the ability to cast away their sleepiness at a moment's notice to face the danger with a clear head and sword in their hands. The moment he simply nudged one would trigger an immediate reaction from the entire group. There would be questions of why he was still awake, wide eyes searching out for any problems, and Merlin sleepily rubbing his eyes while Arthur glared coldly at him. He would stare Merlin down and challenge his duplicity face to face and watch as any further facade crumbled.

Better yet, he should have been more assertive immediately upon receiving the letter. He wasthe damn king of Camelot. Exercising power as he saw fit was well within his right, especially when it concerned the wellbeing of others. That note held information that may be important for his men's safety. Arthur should have cornered Merlin and demanded an explanation. He should have thrown the man to the ground and ordered him to confess his lies.

It wasn't like he hadn't done it before.

Knowing that Merlin had magic and waited for so many years to divulge that information was still a touchy subject for him. Arthur may have accepted the skill itself, but he hadn't accepted his lying. He had been hesitant to discuss it with Merlin because of the great strides they had already taken towards mending their bond. He refused to allow his friend to think that he was going back on his word simply because some buried corner of Arthur's ego still ached with betrayal.

Now was a different matter entirely. Arthur was angry, far from the forced patience constructed out of deference towards Merlin. There was no other emotion filtering through him other than a cool anger that would rear its spiteful head soon enough. Regardless of all that Merlin had thought were the worst things he had have ever done, Arthur felt this was it.

Arthur huffed and clenched his jaw angrily. The joint had begun to ached hours ago from the constant pressure. His frustrations with this new situation had caused his entire body to become tense. Movement was something that aided this when he was in Camelot. There were times when Arthur would go down to the training fields when he couldn't sleep and work on his sword technique, fighting his straw stuffed adversary with only the moonlight to aid his sight.

Of course, he had to remember that it was Merlin who suggested the impromptu training sessions in the first place.

Initially, when Merlin had suggested it Arthur thought it was a joke, but he still followed along as he thought a walk in the fresh air might aid him. He teased and berated him the entire journey to the training fields and was met with fiery retorts that no other servant would have ever dared to say to their master. When Merlin first held out the practice sword, Arthur was half tempted to refuse it and go back to his room, but one glance to his servant changed his mind. Merlin stood there waiting confidently, as though he knew something about the prince that he didn't even know about himself. At that point, Merlin had only been working for him for a few months. It had been quiet moments like this where Arthur felt as though he had known the idiot his entire life.

Since then, Merlin had suggested it whenever Arthur needed it the most, even if he himself hadn't known it. Somedays Arthur knew that Merlin suggested it because he had listened in on a particularly stressful council meeting. Other times, Merlin seemed to read his body language or his manner of speech like a book. Merlin would grab his leather boots and padded jacket and gesture with his head towards the door. The two of them would be light on their feet, dodging palace guards suspiciously as though they were two children out after their curfew. Arthur would smirk at Merlin who would look exhilarated after a particularly close call. He never reminded his servant that he was the prince or the king when the tradition carried on after that mantle was passed onto him and that he was privy to walk around the castle naked as the day he was born if he so chose.

Occasionally, Merlin would partake in training, grabbing a dull sword and swinging it around sloppily while shouting profanities at it like it would respond. Arthur would stand back and laugh knowing that he was acting like a fool for him.

Arthur continued to steer his thoughts towards that Merlin. The side that always sided with Arthur. He needed to remind himself that Merlin was sincere even in his deception. Even as oxymoronic as it sounded, Arthur held fast to who he knew Merlin to be when all other factors were removed.

He knew Merlin to be steadfastly and authentically good.

It had taken Arthur a while after that to simply close his eyes as the thoughts of the letter would repeatedly siege the focus of his mind longer than he would care to admit. Sleep had overtaken him eventually and his whirling mind fell away into a black dreamless sleep.

Upon waking, Arthur had no time to recall the events of the previous day. He heard an odd shuffling behind him and turned over quickly, heart pounding from his battle hardened senses. He blinked open his eyes and was met with a full view of Gwaine's naked backside as he was pulling up his pants.

"Do you mind pointing that elsewhere?"

"Apologies Sire," Gwaine said. He turned around while fastening his belt and allowed his fresh shirt to fall into place, untucked and slightly askew as usual. His hands moved to his hair where he ran his fingers through it, untangling it from a seemingly refreshing night's sleep. Sleep that Arthur knew the knight had gotten by how loudly he had begun to snore during the later hours. "Would you prefer the front next time?"

Arthur threw his pillow at Gwaine as hard as he could. At the last second, the now fully clothed knight dodged the projectile. It sailed forward and landed on the lump that had yet to move. Merlin's blanket covered head popped up out of fright.

"What's goin' on?" He said blearily. Arthur found himself chuckling lightly. Gwaine tugged at the blanket to reveal Merlin with a yawn so wide it was a wonder how it didn't dislocate his jaw.

Gwaine prattled on to a still sleepy Merlin about the 'princess' being a prat as Arthur made his way over to his own clothing. He fought a yawn of his own and lost while he pulled his right arm across his torso to stretch it. His sword arm had grown stiff throughout the night which reminded him that he needed to ask Gaius about a tonic for it when they returned home. Arthur shook his head and smiled as he heard a half attempted sleepy insult come from Merlin. Even the lame attempt at an insult warranted a laugh from Gwaine.

Arthur made to reach for his belt that had been thrown precariously to the side, but stopped suddenly. His eyes caught sight of something that brought the entire previous night back into perspective all at once. A crumpled piece of paper sat barely peeking out from where his robe had been hastily folded in his rush to conceal it the previous night. Everything came rushing back to him at once and his stomach felt like he was falling through the ground all over again. His thoughts he had entertained throughout the night stood at the forefront of his mind. He grabbed the note and held it as though it would offer him some sort of explanation as to why his trust had nearly unraveled, but it provided him nothing but silence as he stared incredulously at the note.

This had caused him to nearly go off on Merlin for a second time?

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck and glanced nonchalantly towards Merlin who was sitting up and running his fingers through his messy hair with a yawn wide enough to emphasize the man's strong desire to go back to sleep. Arthur continued to watch Merlin without making it too obvious. Gwaine offered his hand to him and pulled him to his feet in one tug. Merlin smiled his thanks and bent down to pick up his blankets and move them out of the way of the door. The movements were slow and lacked a certain spark that had oftentimes annoyed him when his servant would all but skip about his room cleaning while Arthur was still obviously attempting to catch a few more minutes of rest.

He looked more than just tired. Merlin had been through a lot both physically and mentally over these past few days, to put it lightly. He had been seriously injured and then magically stitched up again twice. Both times he had taken the damage upon himself rather than allowing it to fall on another. Whether he was perfectly healed as Sarah had said or not, it had to have taken a toll on him.

It only made the weight in his stomach heavier.

His gaze went back to the paper. He wasn't terribly keen on the idea of admitting he was wrong about anything. It was that stubborn Pendragon blood that had kept his father persecuting innocent people and Morgana constantly trying to overthrow Camelot.

Footsteps that shuffled too much for it to be one of his knights stepped directly next to him. Arthur tried to calmly hide the note in his boot, but felt his jerky, quick movements that he knew would scream out his culpability. Arthur grabbed for his belt and tried to act natural as he put it on.

"I haven't punched any more holes in your belt if you're trying to find another thing to yell at me about."

It was said lightly, as though there wasn't any lingering hurt from the previous night. Where Arthur was able to pick up his upset was not in his words. His body language told him wonders. Merlin's hands held the blanket tightly and he forcefully kept his gaze forward as he lowered his blankets onto Arthur's bed. It was subtle and yet so terribly overt at the same time.

"About that-" Arthur began with his voice softer than normal in an attempt to keep it between themselves. "I wanted to apologize for my outburst towards you."

Merlin laughed softly. "Two apologies in a little over a day?" His tone was almost hopeful. He glanced towards him quickly and saw Merlin raised his eyebrow.

"Well, don't get used to it." Arthur extended his hand towards Merlin. "I was -"

"An ass?" Merlin supplied with a smirk. One quick glare was enough to wipe it from his face.

Arthur shook his head and caught sight of the eavesdropping knights. "Don't you lot have something better to do?" Arthur was pleased when it seemed to do the trick. They went back to readying themselves for the morning, straightening their capes and checking their swords. Gwaine even listened to him without so much as a simple side remark.

"You're right though." Arthur said. "I wouldn't treat my other council members as I had treated you. I would have held my composure in spite of my frustrations."

"And then you would have complained about it to me later when you finally got away from the meeting." Merlin shook his head and released a breathy laugh as though he was still bewildered that the topic had been broached again. "Arthur, I promise you now that if you treat me like your stuffy council members I will quit."

"What would you do then?" Arthur's eyes were shining. "Being a man of your talents."

Merlin paused for a moment considering the question. "Woodcarving."

"Woodcarving?" Arthur laughed. "Have you ever even tried to whittle?"

Merlin shook his head. "There's a first time for everything."

"Well, I wouldn't want you to have to lose any fingers on my account." Arthur looked down with a smirk on his face. "You'll only be treated like a 'stuffy council member' while we are in meetings."

"Agreed." Merlin's eyes flashed gold in that moment, and had Arthur blinked he would have missed it. Not a second later did the red jacket Arthur had given him the previous day come flying straight into his hands. Merlin pushed his arms through the sleeves and pulled it onto his shoulders so that it sat straightly. "Then I can still call you an ass."

"You know I'm beginning to have a second thoughts about you helping to run my kingdom."

Merlin worked his jaw as though he were fighting a smirk. He settled on raising an eyebrow at Arthur's jab. "Yeah?"

Arthur nodded. "Before all this-" Arthur made a grand waving movement pointing to his surroundings. "I wouldn't have trusted you to manage the stables." Arthur caught sight of the knights quietly managing to eavesdrop on their conversation. "But maybe I should have nosy knights manage them until they learn to follow orders."

"Did you say something, Sire?" Gwaine asked with a forced confusion. He looked around for something and settled on reaching for the closest thing to him. "We were just sharpening our swords."

Merlin sent Arthur a side glance before opening his mouth.

"I thought the sharpening stone was lost in the cavern after we fell in here."

"Right." Gwaine gave a half attempted smile that screamed he had been caught. "Good on you Merlin." Gwaine nudged Leon with his elbow. "What a memory that one."

"Apologies, Sire" Leon nodded at Arthur before glancing to his left. "Merlin."

Arthur glared at his knights which Elyan took as a sign to grab Gwaine and turn him away from them to give them more privacy.

"They're getting restless down here." Merlin's gaze was still on the knights who had now opted to strike up small talk among themselves to pass the time.

Arthur's attention returned to Merlin. "Well they're not the only ones."

Merlin closed his eyes momentarily and sighed deeply as though sensing something he couldn't. "I think it's nice."

There was a moment where quiet passed between them. Merlin seemingly took it as an end to their conversation and stepped away from Arthur to continue straightening up the room. Arthur watched him as he folded the blankets by hand, only using magic to summon them when they were out of his reach. He knew that Merlin was being mindful of how he performed magic around all of them so they could become accustomed to it on a smaller scale.

Arthur felt a weight in his gut. Merlin was still painfully unaware of the full scope of the situation. It was almost laughable and not to mention embarrassing how he had allowed it to thwart his better judgement. He hadn't even questioned where it had come from before he accepted it as truth.

"Merlin," Arthur began. He felt his stomach twist when Merlin's immediately turned back to face him. His head was tilted slightly off kilter in a way that spoke thoroughly of his confusion. "There is something I think you should see."

Merlin, who had been putting on his shirt at the time, popped his head through the hole and began working on the arms while making his way over to Arthur. "What is it?"

Arthur pulled out the crumpled note and opened his mouth, but failed to find the words. He felt his hand slowly closing around the paper, concealing it. How could he tell his friend that a mere note had caused the dissension and rattled the trust they had just rebuilt?

"I'm sorry, Merlin." Arthur said with an embarrassed regret.

Merlin gave a short disbelieving laugh as he smirked. "Arthur, we already went over this."

He lowered his voice. "No, I need to tell-"

Arthur was cut off by a knock on the door. Merlin shook his head and gripped Arthur's shoulder and laughed softly. When he spoke his voice was soft so he was the only one who could hear. "I've already forgiven you. It wasn't as though your frustration was irreparable." Merlin looked down guiltily for a moment. "We both have done far worse to each other than simply being an ass for a moment because it had been a long day. I can imagine you were as tired as I was."

Arthur nodded, agreeing on the outside, but he battled internally with the truth. He sighed and closed his eyes while contemplating the message. The simple note written by lord knows who had been enough to undermine the entirety of his trust in Merlin. Again, Arthur had found himself questioning a man he had known for years, a man who had made sacrifices time and time again for him. Shame sat heavily on his chest. Merlin didn't know what had gone through Arthur's mind that night. He was oblivious to what he had been thinking over and over for hours in the quiet of the night, how he had planned intricately the many ways in which he could get the truth through any means necessary.

He opened his mouth to respond, but Merlin had already arrived at the door to allow entrance to the druids bringing in their breakfast. Arthur stared. How had he made it to the door so quickly? Arthur realized that he didn't remember feeling Merlin release his shoulder, let alone hear him walk across the room.

Arthur shook his head. Perhaps Merlin was right and that he was simply exhausted. With one glance towards the group to ensure no one was looking, Arthur slipped the paper into the waistband of his trousers.

Their company gave them more space than they had the day prior, and it wasn't long before the only movement in the room was that of Merlin and the knights around the platters of food. He moved forward to join them without too much thought. He picked up bread and an apple before sitting on the ground next to Merlin who had already taken several large bites of his own apple.

Throughout their breakfast, Merlin continued on as though nothing had happened between them. Merlin would occasionally insult Arthur to which he would retaliate with an insult of his own or a quick affectionate shove. They both fell easily back into their routine that had developed throughout the years of Merlin being in Arthur's service. It was a quiet friendship grown amidst the mess of proprieties and other seemingly nonsensical opinions.

"Ready?" Gwaine asked through a much too large bite of cheese and bread.

Merlin swallowed his bite of food. "Not really."

Elyan cleared his throat and refilled his water glass. "I thought that you were supposed to be the greatest sorcerer of all time? Shouldn't that title alone mean that you should be training her?"

Merlin gave him a small smile. "I've never really had the opportunity to practice my skills-" He looked a little guilty for a moment. "for obvious reasons."

"You should have seen some of the other knights when we first started training Percival." Leon paused for a moment to take a sip of water. "He didn't have half the skill of a knight and yet he was able to beat a majority of them simply by sheer power alone." He looked to Percival and patted him on the back. "No offense."

"He's right, Merlin." Percival reached for his third apple, obviously unaffected by the previous comment. "Be confident and that just might rattle her. If I were you, I'd be more worried about what you're planning for that speech later on."

Merlin exasperatedly sighed and dropped his bread. He cradled his head in his hands. "That's not helping."

Arthur smiled as he remembered what was on the agenda. Merlin had his training with Gunilda this morning and the speech later on that Catherine had organized. "There's absolutely nothing to worry yourself over." Arthur said. "These people respect you and will find what you have to say valuable."

Merlin stood and stretched his back. He seemed antsy to get a move on with the day. "I hope you're right."

Arthur stood and saw a bit of the note sticking from his waistband. Perhaps he had blown the note out of proportion simply due to being so incredibly exhausted by the entire ordeal. It was a reasonable explanation, one that he decided was best at the moment. They were in for another long day. Arthur felt it was best not to sully it at the moment with this news. He doubted that it warranted any more than perhaps a small mention to Catherine later that day. She knew her people and would be able to pinpoint someone that could possibly be struggling with the events that had transpired. If Arthur had difficulty when he discovered that Merlin had magic they was no question that there could be individuals in the complex that would questions his past. Maybe it had been a test of his will, seeing if he would stay by Merlin's side no matter what. Whatever it was, Arthur couldn't do anything about it at the moment. He carefully folded it further so that it was out of view.

Yeah, Arthur had just been tired.

Author's note

There aren't really many excuses for abandoning this for months. That was something that I promised myself I wouldn't do, and yet I did it anyways. I want to apologize for not making it more of a priority. I appreciate all your support! Thank you so much for reading.