Gwaine held Merlin as he waited for the King to arrive, he finished reading as before he hadn't got very far before losing it. As he read he wondered, not completely idly, whether his old bubbies in the SAS could do him a favour, and at the same time regretted, in this incidence, the passing of the Monarchs divine right. A hanging, drawing and quartering was what was needed. Merlin didn't react at all as Gwaine tried to get through to the younger man and at the same time tried to sooth him by rubbing his hands through the raven locks.
Arthur can through the door at the same instant as the head of the police security Inspector Collins. "What's going on Gwaine" Arthur demanded. Gwaine nodded to the card he had place down on the bed.
"Be careful it will need to be brushed for fingerprints, the envelope is on the floor" he warned. "Sire you might not want to read that, it' pretty nasty" Arthur ignored him and flipped it open with his finger nail and read, Gwaine's boss read at the same time.
As Arthur finished reading he felt like throwing up "How did that get to Merlin?" the King demanded livid that his brother had had to read such things.
Morris spoke up "It came to him direct Sir, it was addressed in the appropriate manner"
Arthur swore and then move to his brother's side. Merlin was still whimpering in distress but seemed to be settled where he was so Arthur didn't try to move him. "The doctor has been called Sir" Morris told the King.
Arthur held his brothers hand, he couldn't believe this had happened, or that they hadn't taken extra precautions. After all the sender knew the protocol for marking the envelope so it wouldn't be opened by the secretaries. Gwaine asked the most important question "Is it from him Sir, is that his writing?"
Arthur looked again at the card "It looks like it to me, my uncles writing is quite distinct. Why? I mean why now, what could he gain by this?" he sounded broken.
The Inspector had called for an exhibit bag, and was waiting for it to arrive "I suspect it was motivated by some sort of revenge Sir, there can be no other reason. He will never be released from prison, my concern is how this got out, all letters are monitored and this is too explicit for it not to be stopped. I would suggest he was hoping to force the Prince into taking actions that would be inappropriate and against his wishes"
Elyan walked in and with a pair of tweezers put the card in a plastic bag "I doubt it will have anything on it but who knows. It would have been handled by a lot of people before it got to him."
At that moment Mithian came in and got everyone but Arthur and Gwaine to leave, she was allowed to see the card, which had been put in the bag opened. She read it carefully, hoping for a clue as to what had happened.
My Dear Boy,
I thought I would write to wish you season's greetings for your first Christmas in the bosom of your family. Thanks to you I of course won't see my friends and relations, as I will be in this hell hole.
I am writing to make sure you are being a good boy and not disgracing the family name and your good father's memory as you are prone to do. After all we are not there to make sure you get your punishments when you transgress, you know how deviant you are. Playing with yourself like a whore and a slut in the mornings. You didn't tell the court that was why I had to punish you, did you? Because you got hard and the only cure was to give you what your body craved, you don't think I enjoyed it do you? I did it to help you, who is there to help you now? That brother of yours, do you let him help you? If you haven't you had better, either that or ask the footmen or the protection officer. In fact with your appetite I would ask them all or you know you will go mad!
Make sure you do as I say, unless of course you really do want to go insane, because you will unless you get release from you demons. Remember we nearly had to give you your punishment the other end on several occasions as your demons possessed you. Do you remember the film I had to show you? Do you want that? If you do go insane they will bring you here, we will all give you what you crave, but by then we will have to give it all the ways I showed you in the film. There are lots here that can administer it. So I suggest you ask as many people as you can, you have been without for so long.
Happy Christmas dear nephew, and remember all we did was to help you, the others also send their best wishes. Perhaps we will see you soon.
Your loving Uncle, Agravaine.
Mithian went to the small kitchenette and got a glass of water and walked back to the bed after getting something from her bag "Merlin I want you to take this for me?" she tried to get Merlin to take a tablet and the water but he refused to open his mouth. She didn't push it but instead put the glass down and went back to her bag, then administered an injection.
"I want him to sleep, he has gone into an acute psychological stress reaction, I will up his antidepressants again and both I and Gwen will visit frequently, but for now I want him kept quiet and he will need people round him that he trusts completely. I don't want him to be left alone. Aithusa will help of course." She looked at Arthur "Don't blame yourself Sire, you couldn't have known" she paused before continuing. "Could I speak to you in the other room please?"
When Merlin saw who the card was from he was surprised but pleased to hear from his Uncle, he still had difficulty in accepting that his captors had been wrong in 'punishing' him, after all he did do bad things. But as he continued to read he began to relive what had happened to him, he wanted to stop reading but couldn't. When he realised what was being said to him he started to panic, he had hated that punishment more than any other. He knew why he was being given it, and was grateful to his Uncle for keeping it to just him, he knew some of the others had offered to help. In all that had happened to him he hadn't thought of the dangers of not having his punishment, after all he never had the same problem since. He hadn't realised he still needed to do such things now it didn't happen. He was scared of going mad, but the thought of asking someone to let he do such things repulsed him. Then he found himself losing awareness and although he sensed people were nearby he didn't understand what was happening, was he going insane? Then he knew no more as darkness took over.
Once Arthur and Mithian were in Merlin's lounge and the door was shut the doctors spoke to Arthur "At the moment I'm not sure how he will react to the contents of that letter, your uncle and the others had complete control of the Prince for years and made him feel both worthless and in need of their 'punishments' The letter has been written to try to make Merlin act in an inappropriate way towards you and the male staff. I have never been able to get all the information of his treatment from Merlin, but I did know he was forced to watch fairly explicit films. It is my opinion and I'm sure you can read between the lines as well as me, that the Prince was punished for what is a normal response for males, he was made to feel that he was abnormal and deviant. They basically justified their own behaviours by making the Prince take the blame. You will need patience and understanding. I'm sorry there is no miracle cure. This will set him back" Mithian looked at Arthur in sympathy.
Arthur was stunned, he just couldn't understand what was happening or why. "Why? What was he trying to gain?"
Mithian shook her head "I'm not his phycologist but I would guess it's all about control, he wants to control Merlin even now. In prison he has lost whatever power he had, and he is trying to reassert himself. I suspect that his original actions made him believe he had power over the King. It is hard to understand people who do such crimes and over such long periods. But you don't need me to tell you that this mustn't be allowed to happen again. I'm sure the police and prison will look into it, but you need to tighten who has access to Merlin without stopping him developing. Perhaps a new code just for his personal letters? I will stay here for now but I suspect the Prince won't be very responsive for some time. When were you due to leave for Norfolk?
"In four days, we can cancel" Arthur said "We can stay here"
"No go as planned, the change may help, and if he remains unresponsive then it will make no difference. He loves open spaces and it might be just what he needs." Mithian reassured the King "Was Gwaine going?"
"He wasn't but I suspect he will refuse to have his time off as will Freya. "He was coming up after the New Year anyway. My brother seems to attract a great deal of loyalty. Of course both yourself and Gwen can stay whenever you like the place is certainly big enough" Arthur said. "But please make sure you have your time with your own families, just tell us what to do and we will do it"
"I suspect you may be right about Gwaine and Freya. As to myself and Gwen we will need to see Merlin a couple of times a week, but we can work something out. I understand Gwen has become close to Lance and with her brother working for the Prince I suspect she will volunteer." Mithian said lightly. "Now go and rest, Merlin will sleep for several hours at least."
"I don't think so, I have things to do, I won't let this rest" Arthur added "I want answers"
"I'm sure you do Sir, but Agravaine de Bois is a clever man and I'm sure he had this planned for some time, whoever got the letter out probably had no idea what they were doing" Mithian said calmly "We just have to make sure it can't happen again."
"It won't!" Arthur said as he went back to check on his brother before leaving to make some phone calls
Before the blonde left Merlin's rooms he spoke to Gwaine "Can you stay with him?
"Try getting me away" Gwaine said grimly "Sir" he added as an afterthought.
"The doctor is staying for now, call for her when he wakes. I am going to get to the bottom of this"
"Good luck Sir, and see if you can get me time with the Princes Uncle, I won't need long"
Arthur snorted "I want time before you" Arthur went closer to Merlin who was now led back in bed, he kissed his forehead and looked at the protection officer "Mithian will talk to you later, but she said he may act inappropriately, just to warn you"
"Yeh I guessed, don't worry Sir, between us we will help him, He isn't alone in this"