I haven't forgotten about this story, I've merely been distracted by my other Mergana story, "A Thin Line". It's hard to go between post S3 Mergana and pre S3 Mergana-two completely different moods and details. This is something of a filler chapter after the previous falling out but it'll leave you with questions that will definitely be answered next chapter. Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 11

"I had a very interesting conversation with Sir Leon last night," said the lofty voice of Camelot's Prince as he ate breakfast in his chambers.

"Oh?" said Merlin, feigning ignorance.

He could well imagine exactly how interesting Sir Leon had made the conversation. And Arthur couldn't have picked a worse time to discuss it. He'd barely slept last night, tossing and turning, angry with himself and hurt by Morgana's withdrawal. He'd been right to tell her, but so much had gone unsaid. Now she'd banished him from her presence and he felt it acutely.

"He said you were spouting off words of love about Lady Morgana at the Rising Sun."

Merlin shrugged, acting nonchalant as he straightened the bed, "Maybe. I say a lot of things when I'm drunk. As well you know."

"Well, this didn't sound like your usual drunk ramblings. What was it that Leon repeated? Oh something about how Morgana is a goddess sent to Earth to tempt men like you and something else about how one time with her wouldn't be enough," said Arthur.

Merlin felt his ears pinken at the too accurate recitation of his words in the pub. So this was the moment-he always thought he would die on the battlefield or in some obscure forest, die at Arthur's side as a proud and noble friend. Instead it seemed that fate had destined for him to die as a servant and by Arthur's own hand. Destiny unfulfilled.

Conscious of how important this answer was for his limbs, Merlin tried to shrug it off, "I talk about a lot of women that way. People say that I'm something of a romantic, a poet even. I've probably said something similar about Gwen." The last comment was meant to distract Arthur from the conversation.

He didn't take the bait, "You're lying. Besides, if you had ever muttered something like that about Guinevere, I would've killed you on the spot. Immediately and without hesitation," Arthur said, a definite note of steel in his voice. He continued, "I warned you to stay away from Morgana. She's not for you."

"I know, alright?" then mimicking Arthur's stern tone, he said, " She's above my station. She can't be my friend. I should take it from someone who knows. Yes, I know. Well…maybe I have different preferences now. Maybe I was actually tumbling a woman in the stables yesterday. What do you say to that Prince High and Mighty?."

Arthur snorted, "It's a load of bollocks. That's particularly hard to believe considering you follow Morgana's every movement with your eyes." At Merlin's surprised glance, he said, "I'd have to be blind or my father not to notice."

The prince sighed and said with kindness, "Look, I know this isn't easy. But take a couple of days. Help Gaius with this recent bout of pneumonia and try to purge whatever it is you feel for Morgana. I don't want to hear my knights telling me how my servant can't keep erotic thoughts to himself. It'll be better and easier for everyone, I promise."

"Did it work for you? A couple days?" Merlin asked softly.

Arthur didn't answer. He finished his breakfast in silence. As Merlin made for the door to start his tasks and apparently, to help Gaius, Arthur said, "No, it didn't work. But it helped."

Gwen wasn't great at lying.

She never had been. Her loose tongue got her into trouble. Straightforward lies about how someone wasn't present or that they had other things to do suddenly became wild tales involving new players and even stranger animals.

She was once supposed to tell her neighbor, Mrs. Alberts, that the horse shoes weren't ready because her father had been ill (he'd actually just been behind on his work because he refused to work on her birthday). Instead, she managed to construct an elaborate story about how her father had been forced to make horseshoes for a dark and mysterious man. He had demanded that he make them in gold with little crescent moons on them….Mrs. Alberts, so concerned at the mysterious stranger was still in town, had told her father she was going to call the guards to protect them from "evil outsiders with lavish tastes". Since then, she had tried not to lie. For moral as well as well as practical reasons.

But Morgana had begged her and so she planned to try, maybe this time without the was put to the test a short while later. It was a little after the evening meal and Gwen was in Morgana's room, straightening up.

Someone knocked and she pulled open the large door, trying to keep the vistor from peering inside.

It was Arthur and from the adorably scrunched up look on his face, he was not happy.

"Good evening, Guinevere. I've come to inquire after Morgana."

"Oh…um…she's doing better. Sleeping actually, so we might want to keep our voices down," she whispered the last bit.

"I see," Arthur said, whispering, although he didn't look quite convinced."Have you seen Merlin?"

"Merlin, why would I have seen him? What would he be doing here? I mean, I so rarely se Merlin. Or well, I see him in the hallways from time to time or in the kitchens. Well, and usually at dinner, but no. Honestly, sire, that's a bit ridiculous."

Suspicious again, Arthur said, "Gwen, you're rambling."

"Am I? Oh I suppose I am. But no. No, I haven't seen Merlin."

"You're certain about this?" he said, with that same discerning and suspicious voice.

"Yes," she said tentatively.

He scrutinized her and she felt heat rise in her cheeks. She was suddenly aware of how close they were, with her hand on the knob and her back against the door. His lips had taken on that pouty look that she loved as his eye bored into hers. Heat flared in his eyes and she saw him slightly lean in, the air between them hot with tension…

And then it was gone. He stepped back, every inch the stately prince.

"Well, if you see him, let him know I'm looking for him," he said haughtily.

She took a deep breath to curtail the pounding of her heart and said, "I will, sire."

"Goodnight, Guinevere," he said, his voice caressing the syllables of her full name.

"Goodnight, sire," she said, curtsying and carefully entering Morgana's bedchamber so as to hide the inside .

Closing the door, she sighed as she leaned against the door of the empty bedchamber.

She really hated lying.

FINIS

Riddle me this-Where is Merlin? Where's Morgana? I'll give you a hint: in series 1 they were both present at this place in just one episode (it's a short scene). In my fics, I've never put them there before. Any guesses?

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