A/N: Ladies and gentlemen, my apologies for the long wait for an update, but here is the next chapter, so pleased enjoy!

"You should never have told her that, Merlin." I heard Arthur say in a hushed voice. "You know how easily she worries, and it's not going to help with her being so ill."

"I'm sorry, I… I didn't really think about it like that." Merlin replied. "It just kind of came out, I shouldn't have said it, I'm sorry." I could tell that he was sorry, but I was still a little confused about exactly what the pair of them was talking about.

Arthur let out a sigh. "Well, let's just hope that she won't remember it. It's already being dealt with, so there is no need for her to worry about it at all." The prince told him, before I heard someone walking towards my bed. "Has Gaius managed to find anything yet?"

"No, but he is still looking. How has she been?" Merlin asked, obviously keeping tabs on me so that he could report back to Gaius with how I was doing.

"Well, I've been better." I mumbled, wishing the pair of them would be a little quieter. "Do you two always have to talk so loud?"

There was silence for a moment, and I just knew that the pair of them was sending messages through their eyes. "So, how are you feeling now, Isabella?" Arthur asked me, taking a hold of my hand.

"Like I said, I've been better. But my chest doesn't seem to be hurting as much as it did." I told him, taking a slightly deeper breath than I usually would, just to make sure. "Yeah, chest isn't as bad. Still hurts, but not as much." I told him, wincing slight at the sharp pain that I felt. "Definitely still hurts. Ouch, that hurts."

Arthur was leaning over the bed in a heartbeat, helping me to sit up properly without hurting me too much. I gritted my teeth at the stabling pains, not wanting him to see the pain in was in or think that he was hurting me by helping me. "Isabella, it's okay, I know it hurts." He told me quietly, obviously noticing that I was trying not to show my pain.

I nodded at him a little, before letting it all out. "Ow, stupid flipping pain. Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger. Fudge sticks, it frigging hurts." I moaned, trying to get myself comfortable without being in too much pain at the same time.

Merlin was just looking at me in complete confusion, while Arthur seemed to be rather amused. "Do you tend to speak like that when you're in pain?" He asked me, still helping me to try and get comfortable.

"Yes, I fracking well do." I warned him, before finally sitting back and letting out a long breath. "Although, usually the words are slightly different. Trust me, you didn't want to the things I would usually say. I'd be executed for saying such things to a prince."

"Now, why do I find that rather easy to believe?" Arthur asked me, a smirk on his face.

I looked at him, trying to supress the grin that was trying to work its way onto my face. "Uh, because you know that although I'm a princess, I'm not exactly princess material. Please, I can barely pass for a lady at the best of times."

"You know, that is actually kind of true." Arthur said, trying not to laugh too much. "I'm not exactly sure what you are. On occasions, you look like a princess, but most of the time you certainly do not act like one."

I couldn't hold the grin back any more. "Exactly. I'm just Isabella, plain and simple." I told him, before starting to cough a little and letting out a groan. "Oh… why does it have to hurt so much?"

Arthur continued to look at me, with sympathy in his eyes. "Is there anything that you need, Isabella?" He asked me. All I could do was shake my head at him, what I needed was for the pain to stop and go away, but I doubted that he was capable of that. "Are you sure?"

I looked at him, and then at Merlin who was standing there nervously. "Actually, now that I think about it, I recall someone mentioning a letter from my brothers?" My words made Arthur's face fall. "So I wasn't imagining it then?"

Arthur let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead a little before looking back over at me. "We have received word from your brothers that Lord Donald has been spotted close to the borders of Elbear. It would appear that he is now searching there for you, having believed you left Camelot to return home." He told me.

"And the rest." I said, giving him a very firm look. I could tell by the way that Merlin was shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other that there was something that the prince wasn't telling me.

"It would seem he has a band of followers."

"Okay, so my crazed uncle has a bunch of thugs helping him now." I said. It was pretty obvious that he wasn't going to keep on working alone, that he was going to drum up some support. If he wanted to take the throne for himself, he was going to need people to support him, to help him.

"Isabella… it's… it's not as simple as that." Now I was worried. Clearly it was a lot more serious than I had originally thought it was. "These followers, they are known for practicing magic."

I felt all the colour, or what little colour there was, completely drain from my face. "What?"

He let out another sigh. "There's something I need to ask you, and you need to be completely honest with me, Isabella." Arthur told me, taking a hold of both my hands and basically scaring the hell out of me. "I promise you, nothing will happen to you, nor your brothers, but I need to know."

"Arthur, you're scaring me. What's going on?" I asked him, feeling my heart pounding in my chest. He was being so serious, and I really didn't like that.

"Did you know that your uncle practices magic?"

My eyes widened, as I tried to find a way to answer him. "What?" That was all that I could manage to say.

"Your uncle is a sorcerer, Isabella. I want to know, did you know about it?"

I shook my head at him. "Arthur, when I met you, I could barely even remember who I was. I remembered nothing of my family, until you researched my family for me. Maybe I did know, but my memory is still in pieces, and I can't give you an honest answer, because I really don't know." I told him wondering if the last part actually made any sense.

"Isabella, that was an honest answer." The prince replied, giving me a small smile. "I know there are some things that you have remembered, but also that there is a lot that you are still missing. And if you tell me that you don't remember, then I believe you." I could tell that he was being sincere, and that just made it all worse.

He had no idea that I had magic, that both my brothers had magic as well. He thought it was just our uncle that was a sorcerer, but he was wrong, very wrong. "Thank you, Arthur. I wish I could tell you more, but I just don't remember." I told him, before another small coughing fit took over.

"It's fine. Now, I suggest you get some more rest." He told me, trying to be commanding but utterly failing at it. "Obviously you are in a lot more pain than you care to admit. And while I do enjoy sitting her and listening to you snoring, I do have other things to be doing."

"Hey, I do not snore." I protested, going to whack him and this time only being slightly off. "And I didn't tell you to stay by my bedside while I constantly slept, did I? No, you decided to do that all by yourself." I reminded him. I hadn't expected him to be there when I woke up, I had expected to find either Merlin or Gaius watching over me.

I noticed Arthur's face soften slightly. "No, but I wanted to, to make sure that you were all right, Isabella."

"Arthur, I will be fine. Like you said, I need some more rest. You have duties to attend to, and I'm pretty sure Merlin has a list of chores that he should be doing as well. I am perfectly capable of sleeping without someone watching me the whole time." I told him. I still couldn't fully understand why he was so determined to sit there and watch over me, not when he had a kingdom to protect and care for.

The cogs in that pretty head of his were turning, and I could see that he was having an internal debate with himself as to whether to leave me to sleep in peace, or to stay and watch over me. I was hoping for the latter. "Of course, Isabella. I'll return later, to make sure that you have something to eat."

Just the mention of food made my stomach turn over. I wasn't hungry, and I really didn't feel like eating anything. But I knew that Arthur wouldn't take no for an answer. "You going to spoon feed me like a small child again?" I asked him, pretending to be all excited at the prospect of having the Prince of Camelot feeding me like that. It was rather amusing now that I thought about it, it would have been embarrassing if anyone but Merlin had witnessed it.

"Well, your coordination seems to have improved slightly." He said, referring to my attempt to hit him and almost succeeding at it as well. "So we shall have to wait and see."

I couldn't stop myself from letting out another groan. "I hate waiting, waiting is boring." I moaned at the prince.

All Arthur could do was chuckle at me. "I shall see you later, Isabella. Now get some more sleep." He said to me, before walking out of my chamber and leaving me there with just Merlin.

"What's really going on, Merlin?" I asked him seriously, now that the prince was gone. I knew there had to be more going on that the pair of them wasn't telling, and I knew I had a better chance of getting it out of him that Arthur.

"As Arthur said, we had word from your brothers about…"

"That is not what I'm talking about Merlin. It's more than that, and you know it is." I warned him. "What is really going on?"

The warlock let out a sigh as he abandoned his chores and came over to the bed. "He has been spreading lies, trying to get you out in the open. Paying people to give him information on where you are. He's desperate to find you, Isabella."

I let my head fall back against the pillow. There didn't seem to be an end to what my uncle was willing to do to get the throne. "In other words, he is doing anything and everything to get to me. Great, absolutely fantastic." I moaned, before having a slight coughing fit. All this news about the traitor was really not going to help me get any better. It was just going to start playing on my mind and stressing me out, not what I needed.

"Isabella, Arthur isn't going to let anything happen to you. He won't have the chance to get anywhere near you." Merlin told me in reassurance. "Arthur has people keeping a look out for Lord Donald. There is no way he can slip through."

"And he has followers, followers with magic, Merlin. Lord Donald will stop at nothing to take the throne of Elbear for himself, it doesn't matter who gets in his way." I told him, the name of that man making me feel sick when the words came from my mouth.

"Well, he hasn't tried to get past me and Arthur yet, has he?" My warlock friend told me, a grin on his face.

I had to try so hard to hold in a laugh, which only resulted in my coughing instead. "Sorry, Merlin. It's just…" I stopped to have another little cough. "Was that meant to sound tough?" There was a grin on his face, and he knew that I was only messing with him. "You're right, what have I really got to worry about when I have you and Arthur keeping an eye out for me."

"Exactly, you've got nothing to worry about." He told me, giving me a smile. "I need to get on with these chores. Is there anything you need?" I shook my head at him, not wanting to give him more to do than what he already he had. "Right, I'll see you in a while." Merlin replied, giving me a smile and leaving me in my chamber alone.

In all honesty, I didn't want to be there on my own. I knew I was in Camelot, and that Arthur and Merlin would both be willing to do so much to protect me, but being in such a weak state, I wanted someone there with me. With everything that he been going on, I had almost forgotten that my uncle was still out there, out there waiting to kill me.

"Stop freaking yourself out, Isabella." I muttered to myself. Just thinking of my uncle made me start to panic. "He hasn't been seen around here, he is far away at the moment, he isn't anywhere near Camelot." Getting myself all worked up over it wasn't going to do me any good.

I ended up dragging myself over to the window, making sure to take the covers with me from the bed as I went. Lying down in bed was great if you have a television or a book to read or something, but I was just staring at the same damn walls the whole time. Instead, I opted to look out of the window, and watch the world go by. It had to be more interesting than what I was constantly looking at.

The first thing that I noticed when I looked outside was Arthur, training with his knights. He was shouting, a lot, which could only mean that he was worried about something. I couldn't help but let out a sigh, I was pretty sure it was me that he was worrying about, but there really was no need for him to.

I stayed at the window for quite sometime, watching Arthur and the knights. A few times, Arthur looked up at where I was, but since I knew he would be straight up to have a go at me if he knew I was out of bed, I had to quickly duck out of sight.

I almost let out a scream when I felt someone place their hand on my shoulder. "And what exactly are you doing out of bed?" Arthur asked me, a frown on his face.

With my hand over my racing heart, I let out a sigh. "Geeze, don't do that, Arthur. You scared the living daylights out of me." I moaned at him, causing him to roll his eyes. "What, do you have a stealth mode or something?"

"No, you just have a habit of going into your own little dream world and not doing as you are told. So, I'll ask you again, what are you doing out of bed?" He asked me once again, the frown still firmly set on his face. I could tell that he wasn't happy that I wasn't where he had left me.

"Arthur, I'm sick of laying in bed all the time. I needed to stretch my legs and get some fresh air." I told him being completely honest with him. "It's not like I went far, and I brought all the covers with me."

He was still frowning at me, clearly not impressed with my decision to leave the bed and go a few steps over to the chair by the window. Apparently, that was a bad thing to do. "Well, now you've watched the world go by, you can go back to bed." Arthur told me, taking a hold of my hand and helping me up from the chair.

I let out a groan as he did. "But I don't want to go to bed. It's boring. I'm bored, Arthur, I am so bored." I whined like a small child as he literally dragged me over to the bed. "Come on, let's go do something fun."

But it seemed that the prince was not about to listen to my child like moaning. "Isabella, you are not well. You need to stay in bed and rest." He told me firmly as he forced me to sit back down on my bed.

"Arthur, I'm not dying. I can still walk and stuff. It's just the coughing."

I watched as his eyebrows raised at my comment. "Just coughing? So, you're not in any pain anymore then?" He knew that I was, he had noticed the way I had been walking and the way I had been taking short, shallow breaths.

"It's really not that bad. I can manage with the pain." I could see from the look on his face that he really didn't believe me. "Okay, so it still really, really hurts, but I can't spend another day just lying in this bed, staring at the same things for hours on end. It's driving me mad, Arthur."

"I knew I should have stayed here with you." I heard Arthur say quietly. "I knew I shouldn't have left you on your own."

"Uh, Arthur, you do know I am capable of looking after myself. I don't need to be watched every minute of every day, just because I'm not completely health." I told him, wondering why he was fussing over me so much. There really was no need for it, but it didn't seem to stop him.

He turned at looked at him, all the covers I had dragged from the bed and to the chair in his arms. "Isabella, I just don't want anything happening to you, okay? Now, just please stay in bed. I have a few more things to be doing, but Merlin will be along shortly with something to eat for you."

I let out a sigh as I threw myself back on my bed, allowing Arthur to put all the sheets back over me. "Fine. If I have to. I'll stay in bed until you tell me otherwise."

He smiled at me, before leaning over and placing a light kiss on my forehead. "Behave, Isabella."

"As you wish, my lord." I said, leading to him rolling his eyes at me before exiting the room. And once again I was left there on my own. I knew that Arthur would be back soon, and that Merlin would most likely be accompanying him, but once again it made me feel a little nervous.

After a few minutes, I decided to close my eyes, thinking that a little nap wouldn't do any harm. And it really didn't take me that long to fall asleep, except I had fallen asleep worrying about my uncle.

When I opened my eyes, I found that I was no longer in my nice comfy bed in Camelot, but standing in some forest somewhere. It was so dark that I could hardly see anything at all, and it was cold, it was definitely cold. I had to admit, I was a little freaked out.

I was even more freaked out when I heard something, a voice. "Isabella…" A mans voice sang through the trees. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

The next thing I knew, I was running. I knew who was looking for me, and I knew that there was no way I was going to hang around in a forest in the dark when my dreaded traitor of an uncle was out there hunting me down. Except no matter where I ran, everything remained the same.

I didn't seem to be getting anywhere, the trees still surrounded me, and the darkness was creeping closer. But worse of all, I could hear him getting closer and closer. "Oh, little Isabella…" He called, sending a chill down my spine. "I'm going to find you. You can't run away from me."

My heart was pounding in my chest, just knowing he was out there and after me was causing my heart to race. It was bad enough having him after me in the real world, but having him chase after me in a dream, it just seemed too much.

But then I heard another voice, the voice of a woman. "Isabella, remember, this is your dream."

"Sian? Is that you?" I called out, not knowing if it was her, or where she was. I couldn't see a damn thing.

"It is, Princess." She replied, before I finally managed to see a shape in front of me, walking towards me. "Do you remember what I told you last time?"

I nodded, before realising that she probably couldn't see me nodding. "Yeah, I remember. I control my dreams, I build dream worlds, and my magic is link to my emotions." I replied.

"And what were you thinking of before you fell asleep, Isabella?"

That was when it clicked and I realised what I had done. "My uncle. A letter arrived from my brothers, telling us that my uncle had been spotted close to Elbear. He's still looking for me, and I was worried about how long it would be until he came back to Camelot to look for me."

"So, you fell asleep worrying about your uncle, about him coming after you." Sian said, now standing directly in front of me. Her hood was still covering her face, so I still couldn't see her completely. "And what is happening here?"

"He's chasing me, because he wants to kill me." I whispered. "Because that was what I was thinking about, what was playing on my mind before I fell asleep. So I created a world where he was chasing me."

I was pretty sure that Sian was smiling under that hood of hers, it was just a feeling that I was getting from her. "You're learning quickly, Princess. Now, change it. Change this world, face your uncle and stop him."

Before I could reply to her, I heard a deep chuckling coming from behind me. I turned on the spot slowly, coming face to face with the man that had killed my parents and tried to destroy the kingdom that my brothers were protecting.

"Well, if it isn't the little princess. Out in the woods, all on her own. No prince to protect her." He said, an evil smirk on his face. "What ever will she do?"

I wasn't going to let him get to me, it was not real, it was just a dream. "I'm not scared of you." I told him, trying to sound strong, but pretty sure that I was failing at it.

"Really? Are you not?" He asked me, taking a step closer to me. "Because you really should be, you know." I knew that I needed to be strong, so I stayed standing there, standing my ground. "Do you know why your precious prince hasn't come to save you? Do you know where he is, Isabella?"

"It doesn't matter where Arthur is. I don't need him to protect me, I can protect myself." I told him, trying to sound as tough and confident as I could.

Then he laughed, and not just a normal, short laugh. Oh, no. It was a manic laugh. "Dead. Your precious Prince Arthur is dead. I sliced open his throat."

"You're lying." I whispered, my eyes widening. There was no way that he could kill Arthur, not in my dreams and not in the real world. There was no way I would ever let that happen.

"Am I? Am I really lying? I killed the prince, and it was all too easy." There was so much smugness in his voice, and part of me was actually listening to him.

I shook my head. "No, no you can't have killed him." I told him. That was when something inside of my just snapped. "You can't have killed him, because this is all just a dream. This is my dream, and I don't want you here!" I shouted at him, feeling my emotions start to bubble over.

There was a blinding flash of light, and the man who had been standing there, threatening me, informing me that he had killed Prince Arthur, was gone. "Very good, Isabella. You really are learning well." Sian told me, now standing next to me.

"Sian, look, it's all well and good teaching me how to control my dreams, but how is that going to help if I have to face my uncle in the real world? What if I need to use my magic? I understand how it's controlled, but I don't know how to control it." I told her, pleading a little, hoping that she would explain how I could control my magic when I was awake and not just when I was in my own little dream world.

"Patience, Princess Isabella. In time, you will learn, you will master your magic. But for now, just believe in yourself and those around you." She told me. I was pretty sure I could hear a hit of proudness in her voice, but it was so hard to tell.

The next thing I knew, she had disappeared, and once again left me there alone. The last time it hadn't been so bad, it was a nice, sunny, happy place, and this was anything but those things. "Great, leave me here alone, again!" I called, even though I knew she most likely couldn't hear me. Instead I just closed my eyes, and done my best to think about Camelot, about Merlin, and most importantly, about Arthur.

A few moments later, and I was coughing once again and I quickly opened my eyes. As I did, I realised that I was back in my bed in Camelot, and Arthur was sitting beside the bed, frowning at me. "Uh oh, what did I do this time?" I asked him, wondering why he was looking at me like that.

"Is everything okay, Isabella?" He asked me, a rather concerned look on his face, which only made me worry more.

"Yeah…" I replied slowly. "Why?"

He reached over and took a hold of one of my hands. "Isabella, you were mumbling while you were asleep." All I could do was keep on looking at him, and wonder what it was I could have been saying. "You were crying out, you kept saying no. And then you were calling my name."

"Oh…" I managed to say, not entirely sure what else I could say to that. "I… uh, I guess I must have been having a bit of a bad dream or something." I decided to add, hoping that he wasn't going to push at it too much.

"Your uncle?" Clearly Arthur was better at reading me than I thought he was, so I had to nod at him. "Isabella, everything will be fine, I promise you." He assured me, holding my hand a little tighter.

I couldn't help but smile at him. "I know, I trust you, Arthur."

He smiled back at me, at hearing that I believed him and trusted him. "Good. Now, I hope you're hungry. Merlin has made a lovely dinner for you." He said, just as the warlock walked into the room carrying a tray.

He brought it over and placed it down on the side of the bed. "Soup? Again? Really?" I moaned, looking at the liquid in the bowl. "Is there nothing else to eat in this castle? I'm sure there has to be something else in the kitchen."

"Gaius insists that you keep having soup. It's easier for you to digest and less likely to make you cough." Merlin informed me. I had to admit, it did kind of make sense, so with a sigh I managed to pick up the spoon and start feeding myself. It wasn't the best soup I had ever had, but it was better than having nothing at all.

I was starting to realise just how much better my life was in Camelot to back home. In Camelot I had a family, real family, my brothers. But it wasn't just that, I had friends, more friends than I'd had in such a long time. There were people here who truly cared about me, and who I cared about as well. Arthur and Merlin were both my closest friends there, I cared about them both so much, just in different ways. But at the end of the day, I would do anything to protect both of them, just as I knew that they were doing everything they could to protect me. And for that, I was truly grateful.

A/N: Well, hello there everyone. I know it has sen a while since the last update, and it's simply because life got in the way, as it does. But I have been working away to update not just this, but ALL of my stories. Three down and two to go this week.

Anyway I just want to thank everyone who reads this story and his hit favourite/follow, you guys rock. And all those people who have taken the time to leave a review, an even bigger thank you to all you amazing people!

I will do my best to get another chapter up soon, but I'm not making any promises. So, until next time!

Pippa.