"Arthur!"

Arthur didn't realize what he was doing. It was as if he was in his own kind of trance. When he heard his name being yelled, Arthur immediately pulled his lips away from the boy in his grasp. To his horror it was the worst person who could ever find him in that position with a sorcerer. His father.

Uther stormed over with three of his own guards walking behind him. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Uther seemed to make it over to the two boys in less than five steps; His anger over the stone roof of the castle. To Arthur's horror he was grabbed by two guards, one holding each arm and pulling him away from Merlin, while Uther suddenly rounded on the boy who was already standing with his back against the wall. Uther sneered, showing his teeth as he pushed Merlin more into the wall as if it was possible. One gloved hand held the boy by the throat while the other hand sent the boy a hard echoing slap across the cheek.

"Father! It wasn't him!" Arthur cried, as he watched his father go for another slap, then another, and another, then pull Merlin off the wall, and on to the cold stone floor, Arthur suddenly realized Uther's blindness.

Arthur heard Merlin yelp and cry out, and he felt a sense of dread, guilt, and worry for Merlin as he watched his father tower over the boy who tried crawling away from the beating by the king. Arthur tried pulling away from the two knights holding him. "I kissed him!" he yelled, when he saw his father pull out his sword. The king, who had his sword at the back of Merlin's neck ready to slice through, looked away from the boy and up at his son.

Merlin lay on the floor hearing the scene before him. He refused to make eye contact with any of the people around him at that moment, but when Arthur admitted to his father that he was the one who brought on a kiss with a sorcerer, Merlin felt a hint of worry for the blonde standing in front of him. Would Uther really hurt his son?

Uther gasped as if a sudden realization him. "I knew it was possible," he mumbled, "I didn't know it was real."

Arthur's lips lined, " what are you talking about?"

Uther suddenly did something that caught both boys off guard; he lifted Merlin up by the arm harshly and stared him in the face. Merlin couldn't keep eye contact, he stared everywhere but at Uther.

"We're going to have a little visit. And if what I suspect about you is true, your life has just got a lot more complicated."

XOXOXO

"Father, please stop this," Arthur said. He struggled with the two guards pulling him after his father who was pulling Merlin along the corridor. "Where are we going? What's happening?" Arthur was surprised when they suddenly stopped in front of Uther's chamber doors.

"Are both of your parents sorcerers, boy?"

Merlin didn't answer. He didn't want to give Uther acknowledgment or the satisfaction in thinking he was so powerful. Instead, sudden anger washed over him and he tried jolting his arm away from Uther. The king gave him one hard tug making Merlin stop automatically.

"It's okay. You'll talk now," the king snarled as he swung the chamber doors open and push Merlin through, making the boy fall to the floor yet again.

"Merlin!"

The boy suddenly looked up and tears that had threatened to form behind his eyes finally poured at seeing his mother sitting on a chair with her arms and legs shackled.

"Mother?" Merlin sobbed in surprise. He seriously thought his mother was in the dungeons, or worst dead. So when he saw Hunith alive sitting in front of him, Merlin felt a sudden sense of relief.

Merlin didn't realize that Uther came into the room after him until the king started talking.

"Hunith, dear, I have a question," Uther said casually as he slowly walked into the room.

Merlin lifted himself until he was on his knees, a short moment later he was surprised to see Arthur pushed onto his knees as well next to him. Arthur never took his eyes off his father.

"Hunith have you ever heard of the high priestesses?"

"Why would I answer any of your questions, tyrant?" Hunith hissed.

"Because your son is sitting right there," Uther retorted and pointed, as if he was ready for that question. "And I can hurt him. I will hurt him. I will break him piece by piece. And I'll make you watch." Uther was now standing in front of the woman.

Behind strong defiant eyes, Merlin can see the horror in his mother's face. So she started speaking.

"I heard stories as a child. The priestesses were a group of magical women banded together because of the men who hurt them: Husbands; lovers; just plain tyrants who thought they were above the law; and more importantly, Kings."

"Have you ever met one?" Uther asked as if they were having the most friendly conversation.

"They're thought to have all died. There were 13, if I'm not mistaken, and if the stories were true. Some of old age, some by the pyre," Hunith eyed the man as he began calmly pacing in front of her.

"Have you ever practiced magic?"

"Not that it's your business or concern, but no," Hunith's lips lined and she tilted her head in annoyance. "Balinor wanted to make sure we used as little as possible. He wanted to keep Merlin safe."

Uther scoffed, "what good did that do him?" Uther turned to look back at the woman. "I'm sure Balinor told you what a seer is."

"Yes."

"And a banshee?"

"Of course."

"What do you know about sirens?"

Hunith stared expressionless for a long moment before her eyes narrowed.

Uther took this as his confirmation and he gave a light laugh. "Is that how you got Balinor to leave Camelot all those years ago?"

"Father, have you lost your mind?" Arthur asked nervously. "Sirens are the one creature we have no prove of existing."

"They are real, Arthur. Just a stronger version of a lamia. While lamia make men fight each other for the love of the creature, sirens can bewitch whomever they choose. They can cause a person to kill themselves for their love," Uther said as he never took his eyes off the beautiful woman standing in front of him. "It explains so much, Hunith." Uther swiped the woman's cheek with his thumb. "Like why my wife wanted to see you every day."

"Ygraine was my best friend, Uther, nothing more. It was your tendency to give more attention to Gorlois's wife that had Ygraine not want to be near you." Hunith yelped and was thrown sideways to the floor when Uther send a very hard slap to her face.

"Mother!" Merlin jumped to his feet but he wasn't able to run over to his mother because the kings knights held him by the shoulder.

"I will make you admit it, siren! Because there is no way my son would k-" Uther stopped talking and growled low. His eyes narrowed and he pulled out his sword from his belt. "I will take care of the boy myself." He turned, then walked over to Merlin who took a couple of steps backwards.

"Don't! He has no control over it, Uther!"

All eyes trailed over to Hunith who was suddenly sitting up on the floor. Uther stopped in front of Merlin. He stood looking at the boy for a moment before looking back at Hunith. The woman sighed then slightly sobbed.

Merlin stared at his mother with a look of confusion. What was she talking about? Surely this was a plan for her to keep Uther away from Merlin, right? There was no way sirens were real. There was no way his mother was a siren, he would know after 17 years.

"Half sorcerer, half siren," Hunith said, staring at Uther. "Siren blood runs in our family, it's true. Starting with the first high priestess who created the first siren. We are descendants of the mother siren."

"What?" Arthur asked shocked. He glanced at Merlin who looked just as confused as he was. There was no way that the boy next to him was a siren. That couldn't be why Arthur had the urge to first protect, then kiss him. Although the boy was very beautiful, could his siren heritage be why Arthur was drawn to him? Was his siren heritage even real, and not a story Hunith made up to protect her son?

When Hunith looked over at the two boys still on their knees, her eyes scanned Arthur for a mere moment before she stared at her son.

"I'm sorry I've never told you Merlin. I thought with your magic. . . Trying to hide all these years, it would make your life harder."

Merlin gulped dryly. "Father's power, it runs in the family. He commands ..." Merlin gulped again then blinked, remembering Arthur's warning to not mention what he can do in front of Uther. "Are my siren powers the reason why they come to me? Why I don't need to use magic on them?"

Hunith knew what her son was referring to; his persuasion over not only the dragons, but all animals was something Merlin always questioned.

"Yes, my love. You always have been and always will be my special boy. My Merlin. As a male siren you do not control your powers, or the pull you have on others. When a male siren is born they take the powers of their mother. That is why I've never used them, I don't have any. They are yours now."

Merlin smiled and his eyes watered. "I love you, mother."

"And I will always love you, no matter what happens, or where I am. Do not let other's actions define you, Merlin."

Merlin nodded.

Hunith then stood on her feet, and lifted her chin defiantly. She look like she was going to say something. She stared Uther in the eye, and spat in his face.

Uther brought his hand to his face and wiped the spit off. He growled in his throat. "I should have destroyed your family all those years ago," he snarled. Uther brought his sword out to the side.

"Father, don't!" Arthur cried.

"Its never too late to make things right," Uther said, and with one swift motion, Uther plunged his sword into the woman's midsection.

Hunith's brows scrunched in pain. Her shackled hands fisted into the shoulders of Uther's leather jacket and she stared into his eyes. Her mouth open. There was a loud scream, but it wasn't from Hunith.

Uther pulled his sword out, leaving Hunith's limp body to fall on the floor. He looked back to see Arthur jump to his feet staring at Merlin screaming, with his hands to his head, and his eyes shut tight. Arthur scrambled to his feet in horror, to get away just as the knights in the room began flying towards walls, and windows began to burst outward. Merlin's scream was more of a screech. It didn't sound like a man's voice. It didn't sound like a person at all. It was shrill, and sharp, and Arthur had to cover his ears as the sound grew louder than what he heard in the courtyard. He noticed from the corner of his eye his father walk next to him. The king also had his hands at his ears.

"What have you done?" Arthur said towards his father. He stared with wide eyes, worried when he saw Merlin gasp, his eyes shot open to reveal huge pupils and golden iris'.

"We need to leave." Arthur said low. He grabbed his father's arm extra hard because he wanted to punish him for his stupidity, and he pushed him towards the door.

Merlin started chanting in that familiar language Arthur knew as the old religion, and the blond stopped at the doorway to stare at the boy.

Merlin's golden-eyed gaze suddenly turned to Arthur, and the blonde's brows rose in even more worry.

"Go!" He shouted to Uther as Merlin slowly made his way over to the two running royals.

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