Disclaimer: Yeah I own nothing except the details of the plot…

A/N: So at the moment I have eleven chapters planned out, which is subject to change because this chapter was supposed to be longer but I felt like I should stop where I did. I hope to get the next chapter up really quickly, but no promises because I'm a busy person. Alsooooo sorry if Ann seems like the creepiest person you've ever met… It isn't my fault, it's hers. I swear.

Chapter One

A beautiful woman knelt before King Uther in the court of Camelot, her long dark locks falling down over her smooth face. She was dressed in a dark blue velvet gown that showed off an obvious status.

"You say you are from Belec, Lady…?" Uther stood and approached the young woman suspiciously.

"Ann" She finished for him, her eyes not rising from the floor. "The kingdom was pillaged by raiders. I was told to come here; I was told you are a kind king."

Uther, looked down at her with a furrowed brow. "Please rise," He waited until she complied. "I would be happy to offer my hospitality to you, for however long you may need it."

The girl's face lit up into a tearful smile and she nodded her head in gratefulness. "Thank you my lord." Ann smiled and gave a small curtsey to Uther and then she turned to Arthur and repeated the motion. "Thanks be to you as well, Prince Arthur."

Arthur graced her with a small smile and he unfolded his arms. "My manservant will be at your disposal." With his newly freed arms he pushed Merlin towards the glowing, yet tear-streaked face, of the girl before him.

Merlin just bowed slightly, but Ann did not notice because her eyes did not leave the face of the crowned prince. "I would be grateful if you could show me to my room."

The prince looked to his servant expectantly, and Merlin rolled his eyes and subserviently told the girl to follow him. She looked back, slightly disappointed at the prince, but followed the raven haired sorcerer.

The walk to the guest chambers was silent and Merlin had a strange prickle in the back of his neck, probably from this strange girl looking intently at him. "This is where you will be staying." He said as he opened the door and allowed her to enter.

"This is perfect, thank you." She looked around at the large bed and finely decorated walls. She spun around to face Merlin. "You are Prince Arthur's personal manservant?"

The young sorcerer was taken aback by the question, but he quickly responded. "Yes."

Ann smiled. "You must be very lucky to work for him." She seemed sincere, but Merlin couldn't find it in himself to agree with her, so he just nodded, in place of the sarcastic comment he had on his tongue.

Working with Arthur wasn't so bad, but it was hard work. And not just because of all of the laundry and cleaning and training and verbal abuse, but Merlin had save the prince more times than he could count and never got more than a shred of thanks for it. It was rewarding though, the occasional glimpse of what their friendship actually was definitely kept Merlin thinking positively, especially when he wanted to rip the future king's head off.

The dark haired girl rested her hands on a chair and looked at Merlin expectantly, though he had no idea what she wanted. "Is there something you require?"

Lady Ann just shrugged, her lips pursing in consideration. "You must know nearly everything about him then." Merlin could see her bright green eyes light up at the prospect, and he adopted a somewhat suspicious look, what could she want to know? Was she trying to ruin him?

"I suppose I may know more than most." Although, he wasn't sure how true that was. Arthur did tell him a lot, but the prince was still a bit of a mystery to him. Merlin knew a lot about Arthur as a prince, but he wasn't sure how much he really knew about Arthur as a person, no matter how much he wanted to know about him. However, he did recognize Arthur as more than just a prince.

Ann gave a small smile. "Has he been courting anyone?" Her tone seemed to just convey curiosity, but Merlin couldn't help but feel that maybe she had another motive in asking him that strange question.

With a polite smile, Merlin shook his head. "No, no one in particular that I know of." He shifted his foot and suddenly wanted nothing more than to be rid of this strange woman.

"Oh." Her mouth twisted into a strange smile that showed that maybe it was more than just curiosity. "I was wondering if you could give him a missive." She immediately produced a neatly folded note and handed it to the dark haired boy.

Merlin looked down at it and shrugged. "Yes m'lady."

~*~

The sorcerer made his way to Arthur's chambers with a furrowed brow. It wasn't out of the ordinary for a woman to be interested in the prince, women had often shown interest in Arthur, for better or for worse. But the Lady Ann's interest seemed brasher than the usual mild intrigues of a lady of the court, but yet less confident than the likes of one such as Sofia.

Merlin had begun absent mindedly picking up the laundry that had collected since the last time he had cleaned the room, and he didn't notice that Arthur had walked in.

"Good, glad you're back. I need you to finish my laundry, draw me a bath and then, the stables need mucking out." Arthur added one of his socks to the pile that was steadily growing in his manservant's arms.

With a sigh and a roll of his eyes Merlin answered. "Yes, sire." He vaguely thought about how he didn't really consider himself the luckiest of all people. But it could be worse.

Arthur stood for a moment looking at Merlin, who was busily trying to fit all of his clothes in his arms, before he spoke again. "What's your opinion of Lady Ann?"

Merlin looked up from his armful. "I supposed she's… nice?" He gave a half shrug.

The prince just nodded. "Right. She seems…" He struggled to think of exactly what she seemed to be. She wasn't ugly or mean, she was just… odd.

"She asked about you, you know." Merlin informed him.

Arthur's eyebrows shot up. "Did she?"

A slight smirk played across Merlin's face, the self-absorbed prat would get excited over being talked about. "Yeah, wanted to know if you were courting anyone." Merlin tried to balance the already unstable pile of laundry on his hip as he fished out the note from his pocket. Unfortunately, the pile decided to fall to the floor just as he pulled the folded paper into sight. "Erm… she wanted me to give this to you." He looked sadly down at the mess he was going to have to clean up again.

"You bumbling fool!" Arthur snatched the note out of Merlin's hand and swatted him with it good-naturedly. "Well this was forward of her…" He looked from his servant, who was now picking up the clothes once more, to the note, which he just unfolded.

Merlin managed to get all the clothes in his arms again. "Well what does it say?"

Arthur read it over once and then shot a grin in Merlin's direction. "She wants to meet me tonight." He folded the note and sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to say no. And by me I mean you're going to have to tell her for me." Arthur started out of the room before throwing a glance in the direction of a very overwhelmed Merlin. "And I'm coming back in an hour for my bath. Make sure it's good and hot."

When the prince had walked out Merlin groaned. It was clearly going to be one of those days.

~*~