Prince Garrick woke the morning after taking Merlin to see a magic circus and found himself in a dark room. Sun peeked in through a gap in the curtains but they remained closed. Eldon had yet to arrive. At first the prince assumed he was running late but when he stood and walked to the windows to pull the curtains aside himself, he found an empty courtyard. It was early.

The prince didn't return to sleep but did lie back on the end of his bed to contemplate what he and Merlin could do today. He'd already shown him most of Sythian's safer areas and his plan was to ease Merlin into more romantic based settings as time moved on. This way, he could keep Merlin comfortable while also planting the idea of romance in his mind. Perhaps by the time Merlin's visit was over, he'd decide to stay and Garrick will have earned his first and last lover by patience and care. The thought made the prince smile and he felt that continuous and growing glow of affection for the quirky and charming sorcerer.

The smile faded, however, when Garrick remembered the cause for ever meeting Merlin. He was supposed to drain his magic and quite possibly, the young man's life to save his own. Then Garrick realized something else.

It had been days since the last time the voices visited him. In fact, since leaving Camelot with the wizard and staying close with him, he hadn't had so much as one nightmare. Perhaps the voices were finally silent…or perhaps they were satisfied with Merlin's close presence. Maybe when Merlin left, they'd return and resume eating away at Garrick. The idea more urgently pressed Prince Garrick to keep Merlin by his side. If that was the solution, wouldn't everybody be happy? Would Merlin be?

A while later, perhaps half an hour, Prince Garrick noticed servants beginning to move about the courtyard. He became a bit impatient in waiting for his food and stepped out to the hall. He was just turning a corner when he spotted his younger sister speaking to Eldon in an empty corridor.

Must be why he's late, the prince thought to himself.

He almost continued on to see what they were talking about but then Aster put a hand to Eldon's shoulder, pressing a soft kiss onto his lips. The prince was shocked and took a step back, actually hiding around the corner. His disbelief only increased when he saw his servant's hand hold the small of Aster's back so he could kiss her harder. The prince bit his bottom lip in disapproval but stay hidden, as if he was the one who would be in trouble should the three acknowledge each other.

The two lovers parted and Eldon turned down the corridor with a smile as he headed to the kitchen. Garrick panicked when his sister started walking in his direction. He quickly turned around to crash into somebody else, both of them falling down. The other person coughed under Garrick's weight and he quickly rose up to find none other than his special guest pressed to the floor. His entire body flushed at the sight of Merlin below him, especially with tousled morning hair. Merlin himself was a bit confused but also a bit affected by the prince's concerned look and proximity. At that moment, Princess Aster turned the corner.

The young girl jolted in surprise at finding two people being so provocative in blunt sunlight but was even more shocked after realizing that it was her brother and the somewhat shy guest who wasn't supposed to be his lover. Merlin glanced past a frozen Garrick's shoulder and blushed at the stunned princess.

"It isn't what it looks like." He told her and started to shuffle out from under Garrick.

The prince snapped back to reality and hastily stood to help Merlin up. His sister offered him a questioning glance but Garrick didn't meet her eyes. He wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed for what she saw or stern for what he witnessed.

"I couldn't sleep any longer so I thought I'd stretch my legs." Merlin lied.

He hadn't slept at all. He'd been too anxious.

"I didn't think everybody got up this early." He said.

"I'm sorry." Garrick told him dizzily. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"I guess it was just a coincidence that we're all up already." Princess Aster nodded but her brother felt a slight scowl pulling at his brow.

He didn't bring it up with Merlin present and instead let his sister pass them both. Garrick walked with Merlin while knowing he had a good fifteen to twenty minutes before Eldon arrived at his room with breakfast. Merlin felt a bit down after having realized he was homesick for Camelot but tried to hide it from the prince as they walked through the sunlit halls of the castle.

"Did you sleep well? Aside from waking up early?" Garrick asked Merlin.

"I did." Merlin nodded.

Garrick didn't completely buy it but he didn't call the other young man out on it.

"Maybe today is a good day to stay at the castle." The prince said. "I've showed you where everything is but we've yet to actually explore anything."

"Explore?" Merlin asked curiously.

"There's the library." Garrick shrugged. "…or we could look at the trinkets below the castle."

"Are we allowed to?" Merlin asked confusedly since that sort of thing was off limits in Camelot, even to Arthur.

"I have a feeling you're good at distracting guards." Garrick smiled.

Merlin felt a bit more excited. They were going to break the rules? But why should that make him happy? Was it because he'd snuck around so many times with Arthur? It reminded him of home? Perhaps a bit of the spoiled prince?

"And if we get caught?" Merlin asked.

"We'll face some uncomfortable lecturing from the king." He shrugged. "It sounds fun though, right? I think we've collected some interesting things down there."

"…yeah. It sounds fun." Merlin nodded.

They continued walking with pleasant smiles and light feelings in both of their chests, though they were also a bit nervous. Merlin had been sensing something very strange about how the servants treated him. Actually, it was more how they treated him when he and Prince Garrick were together. It was like…they knew he was very powerful or something. They weren't afraid. Rather, they were very keen about watching him and Garrick when they were together. The idea that the servants suspected something going on between the two young men had occurred to Merlin after being giggled at so many times. Maybe it had made him paranoid and that was why he was a bit jumpy.

"I've told you a lot about Sythian but I haven't heard much about Camelot from an actual citizen." Garrick said to ease out of the silence. "I know the facts about the army and the laws and names of important people but what about other things? Things a royal wouldn't normally tell me about?"

"You mean the scandalous stuff?" Merlin asked with a smirk.

"Something like that." Garrick smiled.

"Well, there's magic just like any place even though it's banned. That could be considered scandalous." Merlin sighed. "I'm a scandal myself, aren't I?"

"I believe scandals are considered disgraces." Garrick said with a perked eyebrow. "To say you're a scandal would be like a mighty dragon saying he's a lizard."

Merlin couldn't help smiling and feeling a slight stir in his stomach.

"The castle guards all snore in their sleep." Merlin said so he didn't embarrass himself by staying silent too long.

"That is something I didn't know." The prince nodded.

"I've helped people escape from the dungeons before." Merlin went on.

"Magic?" Garrick asked.

"That's how you get the guard to sleep without drugs." Merlin nodded.

"No, I mean, the people you help escape, they were imprisoned for their magic?"

"…not always. I've helped someone out before who didn't have magic, but he knows about mine." Merlin told the prince.

"Knows?" Garrick asked. "So he's still alive?"

"Yes but he's banished from Camelot…which is sort of my fault…I encouraged him to try and become a knight even though he's a commoner. I used my magic to forge his nobility papers. He was discovered and jailed but thanks to Arthur, he lived. He couldn't do anything about Lancelot having to leave Camelot."

"Lancelot? I'll have to remember." Garrick said. "Perhaps he'd make a fine knight here if you think so."

"He isn't afraid of magic." Merlin said immediately with an enthusiastic nod. "I mean, he is. Even I'm afraid of magic sometimes, but he's courageous and loyal. He'd make a great knight."

"There are a lot of commoners that could be much greater." Garrick said with a smaller smile.

Merlin felt the statement being directed at him. It made him a bit more nervous. The prince's compliments and sense of familiarity with Merlin must have been why everyone thought there was something funny going on. Maybe that was the downside of being so sincere. Maybe that was why Arthur was as rude as he was on a daily basis.

Merlin and Garrick eventually came a full circle around the castle and the prince left his guest at his chambers before walking on to his for breakfast, though he wished he could maybe share breakfast with Merlin, too. When Garrick stepped into his room, Eldon was already there. Breakfast was on the table and the servant was heating water in the fireplace for the prince's bath.

Garrick didn't say anything but watched Eldon who offered an acknowledging bow of the head. When the prince didn't respond, he turned back to the fireplace, carefully taking the bucket of hot water and pouring it into a wooden tub.

"Eldon," Garrick said which got the servant's attention as he looked up again. "…not too hot. It's warmer today."

The servant nodded with a comprehensive smile before continuing to pour a bucket of cold water in and heating more over the fire. Prince Garrick sat at the table and ate his breakfast quietly and in a slightly tense manner as he thought. Eldon sensed the tension but didn't approach his master about it. The two sustained the first morning of clean silence since Merlin arrived and neither was quite comfortable with it.

After they'd both had breakfast, taken baths, and dressed in laundered clothes, Merlin and Prince Garrick headed casually toward the dungeons. Garrick led Merlin down a path opposing that which would lead them to the prisoner cells. Instead, he took him down a narrower and darker corridor. They passed through a few unguarded doors before arriving in a wider area completely underground where Sythian guards kept watch. Garrick gently prodded Merlin closer and the warlock got the idea as he moved in front of the prince to look for something to manipulate.

Merlin silently willed the guards' helmets to fall forward over their eyes. One of the two seemed to panic a bit while trying to push the helmet back into place but the other ignored it, standing perfectly still. Was he sleeping with his eyes open?

Merlin looked back to Garrick who also looked unsure. The warlock looked back to the guards and tried again, this time moving the motionless guard's sword around. He didn't respond.

And I thought Camelot's guards were bad, Merlin thought to himself with a bit of amusement.

"Come on, then." Garrick whispered with a laugh as he passed Merlin.

He followed the prince and they both slipped by the guards before using a similar trick on another two. They finally reached a room but inside the room, the trinkets they came to explore were locked in a cell. Garrick gave Merlin a suggestive look and the younger boy understood, already holding his hand up to the lock.

"Tospringe." Merlin murmured.

Prince Garrick watched the light gold color flash over Merlin's eyes. He had to admit, he never got tired of it. It seemed to look different with every person, even if it was a similar color. It was like you could sense how powerful a sorcerer was in that moment. A bit of his magic touched you.

The cell door opened quickly, even flying in a bit and making a clattering sound against some metal shield leaning against the bars. Both of the sleuths winced but heard no efforts to come after them. Merlin offered an apologetic glance to the prince but Garrick shook his head with a smile.

"Whenever Aster tries something like that, she blows the door in." he said.

"It can do that." Merlin nodded with a smile of his own.

Merlin began walking ahead into the cell with Garrick following after him, unintentionally admiring what little he could see of Merlin's neck. He had really been enjoying the absence of those voices since Merlin had gotten closer to him. There even seemed to be some bud of chemistry. Maybe if the prince continued to be patient and caring while also offering a little excitement like this, that bud would bloom and their love would be enough to keep the demons away.

"It's certainly a lot bigger than Uther's." Merlin sighed.

"Excuse me?" Garrick asked as he snapped back from his thoughts.

"The inventory of magical items." Merlin said as he turned around with an intrigued smile. "It's not surprising. You would come across more abandoned magical items in a kingdom where the practice is permitted."

"Oh," Garrick blushed.

Merlin turned slowly as he browsed through things. Garrick walked after him, trying to resist the urge to do something reckless to the boy like reach after his hand.

"Most of them are things that can't be destroyed." Garrick told the warlock. "Some are pretty dangerous but they're locked in magical boxes that even powerful spells can't open, though I wouldn't be too surprised if you were capable of it."

"I'm still learning." Merlin said but didn't drop the pleasant smile that Garrick admired.

"A lot of the things in here don't have much use and are merely here for storage after being found abandoned." The prince went on.

"Like?"

"That shield," Garrick said as they both glanced back toward the cell door where the shield was propped against the bars. "It can't be destroyed and that's all."

"That seems pretty useful." Merlin said with a slightly confused look now.

"Maybe if there was some way to carry it." the prince smiled. "It has no grip and you would have to hold it by the edges with both hands."

"…I guess that is inconvenient." Merlin nodded.

"And this mask," Garrick said as he pulled a woman's metal mask from one shelf. "It stays attached to the user's face until they allow it to be removed. We don't really know why it's indestructible but it's harmless."

Garrick went on to pull items off shelves and explain their uses to Merlin. Some were rather amusing like boots that made you a foot taller even though they had no heel. There was a box that made things disappear to an unknown place but was only two cubed inches in size. Garrick showed Merlin a flute that played on its own as well as a wooden cat that imitated a real one by moving around and cleaning itself.

Merlin was having a great time looking around with the prince through the large room with a library of magical trinkets all ready to be freed of their stationary, dust-masked lives. They were both in a very high mood until they came across a separate cage with a cradle inside. The infant bed was chained to the floor firmly and Merlin seemed curious but Garrick felt distressed to see it again – the place he slept for the first year of his life.

"Why is there a baby cradle in here?" Merlin asked the prince as he looked back, finally noticing the upset look on Garrick's face.

"…you shouldn't go near it." Prince Garrick replied. "It's supposed to be dormant but it's better not to take chances…it's very dangerous."

Merlin felt his heart sink after hearing the slight struggle in Garrick's voice. Could the cradle be cursed, maybe? But who would curse a baby's bed? Merlin noticed that there were burn marks on the blanket in the cradle but the bed itself was unharmed. They'd tried to destroy it.

"Um, is everything in this room magical?" Merlin asked to change the subject and perhaps the mood.

"Except for the dust, yes." Garrick said as they walked on down another row of shelves.

"Even this?" Merlin smiled as he picked something up from a higher shelf.

He pulled the small purple pebble into his hand and brought it down as the prince stepped closer to inspect it from Merlin's palm. The shiny little stone, only the size of a pea, twinkled warmly in the torch light. Prince Garrick cracked a smile.

"It's a stone that supposedly allows the user to hear someone's thoughts." He said. "It's very beautiful, the last in its existence, I believe."

"Isn't something like this dangerous?" Merlin asked.

"It would be, if it worked." The prince sighed. "Several years back, some of the knights were out on a hunt and took shelter from a storm inside a cave just an hour's ride from here. A few recognized it and brought it back for my father to look at. My mother knew all about it. She said to leave it alone but the stubborn kid I was, I snuck it out from here and showed it to some of the servants. We read about it in the library and one of the maids volunteered to be our test subject. She put a drop of her blood on the stone and I tied the stone up into a necklace to wear. I couldn't hear her thoughts and we figured it's because I didn't have magic so I passed it to one of the servants who did but it didn't work then, either. It's harmless but can't be destroyed."

Merlin stared at the mysterious little rock and noticed a small inner light emanating from the center. He figured it was just the glint of light reflecting on it but he couldn't bring himself to put it back down. Garrick noticed the sorcerer's fascination with the pebble.

"If you like it, you should keep it." Garrick said and Merlin looked up. "It can be a sort of keepsake."

"Do you think it's alright?" Merlin asked.

"Nobody would notice." The prince smiled at Merlin's cautiousness.

Merlin smiled too and kept hold of the little stone, unsure if he should do something to keep it safer so it wouldn't get lost. It was very tiny, after all.

"My lord," a voice behind them said.

Merlin and Prince Garrick looked over to see two guards, one of them being the one who could sleep with his eyes open, and they didn't look happy. That's how to two of them ended up standing in the throne room before the king. George himself felt conflicted about the situation. He could normally make Garrick eat dinner alone and do hours of merciless paperwork the five following days but with Merlin involved, the king was unsure how to approach any punishment.

"Garrick, you know I don't like you or your sister going down there." The king finally told his son as he stared straight at him.

"…I know." The prince replied. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"You know how dangerous it is."

Garrick resisted reminding his father that the dangerous things are locked up. He knew he was only worried about one thing: that cradle.

"If I could, I would destroy everything in that room." The king said. "I would send it elsewhere if it didn't put others at risk. I wouldn't wish this sort of thing on any enemy."

"I understand." Garrick said.

"You don't." the king said seriously. "If you understood, you wouldn't have gone down there in the first place."

Merlin felt guilty about getting Garrick into trouble but also confused as to why the king was being so serious. Everything dangerous was locked away and Garrick seemed to know what he was doing. What could be so dangerous as to make the king worry like this?

"I'm sorry, father." Garrick told the king, no longer meeting his eyes.

Garrick knew he couldn't tell his father that the voices had already returned, that the blessing didn't last and the curse was still with him, but he couldn't bear to hurt his father like that. He still had some control of it at the moment, anyway. It wouldn't do any good to worry everyone.

"Don't do anything reckless like that again." The king said. "Go on and wait in your chambers until supper. I'd like to speak to our guest alone."

Garrick flinched in worry and glanced at Merlin who seemed apprehensive himself but the king nodded as his son looked back to him.

"Go on, Garrick." He said.

The prince hesitated but after seeing the seriousness in his father's eyes, he reluctantly nodded and turned away, meeting Merlin's eyes for a brief moment before passing him. He left the room and the guards shut the door. Merlin stood anxiously in front of the king. Was he about to be scolded for letting the prince go down there just to entertain him? The king sighed heavily and the tired breath echoed in the throne room. Merlin was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry, My Lord." He said. "I forgot my place and let the prince spoil me. For making you worry about him, I apologize."

"I know it wasn't your idea, Merlin." The king said as he met the young boy's eyes. "Garrick is a kind and trusting person but he's also stubborn. Our kingdom has a bad habit of running out of things to do with our time and my son seems to feel that danger is very attractive. He wears it too well sometimes."

Merlin could think of another prince who wore danger too well. Even with all their differences, Prince Garrick and Arthur were a lot alike. Garrick was just raised differently.

"We didn't come across anything dangerous." Merlin told the king. "We only looked at the harmless trinkets."

"There are some things in that room that were once so dangerous, they could easily penetrate any enchantment that dared keep them restrained." King George said. "Among the harmless trinkets you saw an infant's cradle, did you not?"

"…the one chained to the floor?" Merlin asked, already wary after Garrick's anxious stare. "We didn't go near it."

"I suspect Garrick didn't tell you about it."

The unknowing warlock remained silent. He didn't sense a bad feeling coming from the cradle. Perhaps if it was cursed, it had been lifted now. The king stared intently at Merlin, wondering if Garrick's punishment now could be an advantage to his future safety. If Merlin felt anything for his son, surely he would try his best to protect him. His magic was more than enough to keep the prince grounded and the sorcerer himself could provide plenty of entertainment for him.

"That cradle you saw was my son's when he was but an infant." The king told Merlin.

Merlin was surprised and also felt a bad chill crawl up his spine.

"Sythian has always been a kingdom that struggles in only one sense." The king said. "Power."

"But everybody gets along well here." Merlin said. "The people are so friendly with each other even if some have magic and some don't. It's perfect."

"Sythian is far from perfect." The king smiled weakly at the boy's rose colored view of the kingdom. "My son has shown you many parts of Sythian during your stay but only the places where he knows we have no enemies. Being a powerful kingdom with magic in our army, it's a very alluring target for those who crave power. There are those in Sythian that will do anything to get their hands on the throne and they've proved that well. While I've tried to be a just king while keeping my people safe, I have priorities to my own family and the people know that. I can't help but put my family first."

"…but what about the cradle?" Merlin asked, unsure of how the two subjects related.

"Long ago, there was a high priestess intent on the throne but acting as a maid to enter the castle as she pleased. When Garrick was born, she placed a curse on his cradle." The king explained. "We didn't even know at the time and continued to let him lie in it until he was old enough for his own bed. By then, the curse had already bound itself to him."

Merlin's heart began to sink slowly.

The prince is cursed?!

"He had nightmares as a young boy and was slowly being killed by it, hearing voices and growing weaker as they demanded things of him." George went on. "He was on the threshold of death by the time he was six. We worried because my wife had already become pregnant again and we didn't want the same to happen to our next child. We brought in a council of high priestesses that we knew we could trust and had them bless Garrick. It took several months but the voices faded and finally left Garrick. He hasn't heard them since and he's been healthy.

"We were told about the cradle but the maid had left many years before. The bed couldn't be destroyed so we locked it away. The priestesses told us that the curse no longer lived in the cradle but it still contains magic and any risk that it could bring harm again is too much. Such a fate that the curse brings, I wouldn't wish it on anyone but the witch who cast it."

Merlin felt frightened. A curse that slowly killed someone? One that made you hear voices that demand things for your life? How do they know if it had completely stopped?

"What did the curse do, exactly?" Merlin asked the king, despite his fears.

"…the demons that possessed him asked for the greatest magic he could find." The king said wearily. "Whenever Garrick tried to tell us more, the demons would strike him. We only know that they never found that magic and that they were destroyed…just please understand that Garrick can't go back down there."

Merlin nodded but his expression was shocked and he couldn't speak. The greatest magic? But hadn't Merlin been told time after time that he would become the greatest sorcerer the world had ever known? Didn't that make him Prince's Garrick's target?

Is that why he's been so kind to me? Why he brought me to Sythian? Merlin asked himself.

The king sensed Merlin's thoughts and nearly assured him that he was safe but he remembered what Garrick had told him when they arrived. "He's very sensitive about it so don't mention his magic."

"The demons have been properly dealt with." The king said instead but Merlin remained cautious.

"…how did you know when Garrick was cursed?" Merlin asked. "Did he just tell you?"

"His mother had a special sensitivity to magic…she was a very talented witch. It seems unfair that the thing she was so connected to was the means of her death." King George nodded sadly at the memory of the queen's early funeral. "I've lost my wife to magic just like King Uther did. Had magic not been Rachael's gift and our children's legacies, I might be so bitter like him."

The thought gave Merlin a sad chill. So small a difference really did change everything. He wondered what it would take to make a kingdom with the freedom of Sythian but the safety and determination of Camelot. Surely, that was Arthur's purpose. It took the proper leader. Even King George knew that he would never be the best. He understood and expected those younger to surpass him. Only then could a truly peaceful world be forged. Only under King Arthur's rule could Albion be the place of both freedom and refuge. The thoughts burdened Merlin again as he was reminded of the heavy weight that rested on his shoulders.