Arthur awoke the next morning to the unfortunately rousing chorus of Rise and Shine. It was far too early to be thinking about rising – he'd been up all night thinking about Merlin. Speaking of which ... The man himself was cheerily rambling on about something completely irrelevant and unimportant. Or he was going through Arthur's schedule for the day. Being a King was much harder than being a Prince. He cursed his thoughts for wandering. Back to Merlin. Who was grinning like all was right with the world. Like nothing had changed overnight. Admittedly, those changes had been his own fault. Why had he followed Merlin again?

Arthur studied Merlin's face intently, looking for any sort of mask; any hint at the kind of betrayal he was apparently capable of. He hated the thought of Merlin as a traitor.

"Merlin?"

"Yes Arthur?" Merlin looked slightly disturbed by Arthur's questioning, almost hesitant tone.

"Do you trust me?"

Merlin's face went blank for a split second before a wide smile graced his lips. "Of course. But have you mistaken me for Gwen?"

Arthur knew what that look had meant. Merlin was going to lie. Peering thoughtfully at Merlin, Arthur concluded that he was a much better liar than anyone gave him credit for. Which could mean that his Father was right and Merlin was Evil. Or it could mean that Arthur was very bad at reading people's faces. Or (knowing Merlin) it could mean something else entirely. Sometimes he hated his manservant.

Merlin, Arthur decided, was not going to tell Arthur the truth anytime soon. Which meant that Arthur had to confront him or catch him in the act. Knowing Merlin, he he'd probably make up some very bad lies (or maybe some very good ones – did he know Merlin anymore?) and get him sent to Gaius. Who would probably diagnose him with a head affliction or mental illness. Especially if he already knew about Merlin. And Merlin lived with him – what were the chances of Gaius not knowing?

No, confronting Merlin was a bad idea – until he had more evidence. He'd have to just watch and wait...

"BANG!"

Or maybe just wait. Afterall all Arthur was watching Merlin do was drop his armour. And he still needed to get dressed. Merlin had only just finished his babbled version of Arthur's schedule. Great...

oOo

The knights were doing this on purpose. They knew that Arthur wanted to shout at something today, so they were being meek and flawless. Oh how he wished there was something to criticize sarcastically. Merlin, the object of Arthur's temper, couldn't even be bothered to stick around to get shouted at or things thrown at him. Actually, hearing at of Merlin's titles, Arthur was drastically re-evaluating his morning routine. Throwing small, heavy, potentially missiles at the man with the title of King, was probably not a good idea. Arthur scowled.

oOo

Arthur supposed that Merlin realised he was on to him. He stopped doing anything suspicious around him, at all. Even things he did before Arthur followed him. In fact he had become a model servant. Arthur couldn't have even thrown anything at him anymore if he'd wanted to. Due to this he was in a towering temper. Unfortunately this made people even more careful about what they did so Arthur had nothing caustic to say. This wasn't fair! Arthur scowled again.

oOo

This was getting beyond ridiculous. Why couldn't Merlin just slip up or something? Arthur was beginning to doubt his state of mind on the night he'd 'over heard' the conversation. Maybe he should just go to Gaius and get him to diagnose Arthur with a head illness or concussion. Afterall if he was suspecting anyone – even Merlin – of magic, he would likely become as bad as his father. He scowled. And stopped. Gwen had told him he would get frown lines if he kept it up.