... previously ...

A Loose Floorboard

As he went to move the bed back, he noticed that the floorboard wasn't just loose, it had lifted straight off, leaving a neat secret compartment underneath. Arthur grinned broadly as he knelt to replace the boards and saw a book nestled within it's depths. Secret diary, Merlin?

Ordinarily he wouldn't have considered looking at something so obviously private, but there was something about the book that grabbed his attention. It was large, old and very beautiful. He quickly glanced at the door again before lifted it up ... fear bubbling in his stomach. Please don't let this be what I think it is. His shaking hands undid the clasps to find the most beautiful script, drawings and symbols decorating every page. It was a magic book ... a spell book ... unmistakable. He should confront Merlin with it. Actually, he should take it to his father. He should ...

What he actually did surprised him. He returned the book to it's hole, taking note of various other interesting shapes contained within the dark space, replaced the floor board and slid the bed back to it's correct position. He then left the room, closed the door and sat on one of Gaius's chairs with his heart beating faster than he'd ever remembered.

His mind raced, struggling to come to terms with what he had just discovered. Merlin was studying magic?

12. The Whole Truth

Merlin was bustling about as usual; bright and breezy, apparently without a care in the world, whilst Arthur was sitting at his desk with one of his large jackets crumpled up in front of him. He didn't talk, didn't move, desperately trying to think of an excuse to avoid the conversation he needed to have with his manservant over that stupid loose floorboard.

"Arthur, do you want me to hang up that jacket?" Merlin chirped. "You're not going to need it today after all, as it's so warm and sunny out there and so why don't I just ..." He reached out to grab a sleeve and then jumped back with a yelp as Arthur practically growled at him. "Arthur ...?"

"That's 'Sire' or 'My Lord' to you," the Prince said crossly and Merlin felt a sudden stab of hurt at the uncharacteristically harsh tone.

"Ah ... since when?" he asked, confused. Arthur continued to glare at him and then, eventually, let out a long sigh.

"Sit down for a moment." The request was delivered in a gentler tone and Merlin felt even more confused by his master's recent, unpredictable, mood swings.

"Ah where ... Sire?" Arthur pointed to the chair opposite which Merlin approached cautiously, rarely allowed such luxury whilst working. He looked around the room nervously, as if worried someone else might suddenly appear to tell him off for taking such a liberty and then, after a short pause, perched his bottom on the very edge of the seat, ready to stand back to attention if required.

Then Arthur pulled his jacket off the table with a flourish and Merlin did just that - jumping up so quickly that the chair crashed to the floor behind him. There in front of the prince was a magic book. In fact, it looked very much like his magic book. He risked a look at Arthur who was simply eyeing his servant with a strange mixture of hurt and amusement.

"I said ... sit!" The prince said quietly and ominously. The servant quickly righted the chair and perched on the edge again. "Tell me, Merlin, do you recognise this?"

"Ah ...?"

"You see, I found it in your chambers last week ..."

"In my ...?" He groaned. It was his book. "That explains your bad mood then." Arthur glared at him and he swallowed hard.

"So, at first, I thought you might have it so that you could learn to recognise magical threats. I thought, perhaps, that Gaius was training you to take over from him."

"You did?"

"It would make a certain amount of sense and I'd guessed that's one of the reasons that Father values the old man's opinion so much ..."

"... well, that's true as I understand it - I mean ..."

"... but then I started to think about ... this." He looked as if he was going to put his palm on the book, but then apparently changed his mind, the expression on his face implying that he'd rather rest it on a pile of horse dung. "... and I realised that magic must be like sword craft."

"It must?"

"In that, no matter how hard someone studied a book on fighting, they could never become a knight unless they had actually picked up a sword and practised and so ..."

"Ah ..." said Merlin with a wince, suddenly catching on.

"... I can't see any way for you to recognise a magical threat without actually trying it out for yourself. Gaius of course, well ... he probably learnt before the purge, but you?" He looked up at Merlin then, disgust and disbelief on his face.

"Arthur, I ..."

"Merlin, are you or are you not practising magic?" The young warlock held the prince's gaze for the longest time before his expression and demeanor subtly changed. He stood up a little taller, lifted his chin defiantly and took a deep breath.

"Yes, sire."

"Why? When you know it could get you killed?"

"Because I need to protect you." Arthur opened his mouth as if to say something and then abruptly closed it again. Apparently that wasn't the answer he'd expected. "... and yes, I am practising spells but ... I didn't really need to because ... well, because I was born with it, you see, and ..."

"Prove it."

"What?"

"Prove you have magic." Merlin bit his lip before nodding very slowly. He'd thought long and hard about this recently and knew that there really was only one thing he could do – only one way that he stood a chance of making him understand. Still holding the prince's gaze, he lifted a hand, spoke a few words and saw Arthur jump as his eyes glowed gold. Then he jumped again as his gaze was pulled to the blue orb, glowing with a silver light which was now floating over the desk in-between them. The prince's eyes widened as he fully understood the implications of what he was seeing.

"T-that was you? That time in the caves?"

"Apparently," Merlin replied with a shrug.

"But ..."

"It's my destiny to protect you, Arthur. I'm no threat to you, or Uther, I promise." Arthur shook his head. "W-what are you going to do?" he continued, quietly.

"No idea ..." Arthur fell silent and, after a long and terrifying time just sitting there, Merlin decided to get up and continue with his chores. "What are you doing?"

"Working. I'm still your servant ... well, until you tell me otherwise, and, if you're going to have me executed, you should at least put it off for long enough to find a replacement."

"Don't joke about such things."

"Believe me, I don't find it at all funny. Never have." Arthur just grunted and continued to watch whilst Merlin continued to tidy up around him. When he'd finished, Merlin looked up to see Arthur still staring at him, an unreadable expression on his face. "Anything else, Sire?"

"I have no idea what to do about any of this," Arthur admitted eventually.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Go and muck my horses out then, and make sure you do it ... properly."

"Of course, Sire, I always do," Merlin almost growled. The atmosphere was getting colder with every passing moment and Merlin was torn between relief that he was not being turned in and real hurt at the impersonal looks he was now getting from Arthur.

"Well, what are you waiting for ... boy? Get on with it," Arthur snapped and Merlin tried hard not to react to the insulting form of address. Boy? He glared slightly but gave Arthur a deep bow.

"Yes ... my lord," he replied with a glare. Two could play at that game.

To be continued ... (chapter 15)

A/N (long - sorry)

1) Another 'problem chapter' in that it was already an edit from a story which already had a reaction. In the end the solution to this and chapter 15 came from my three parter 'The Arrow' where Arthur talks about what his relationship was like with Merlin immediately after that reveal ~

"Despite everything I was beginning to discover about him, this latest shock was rather too much to handle and I'm afraid ... well, I sulked - for a while. Well, it was a week. Alright, perhaps closer to two.

The worst thing about those two weeks was the coldness between us. No banter, no horseplay, very few words. That is to say, Arthur and Merlin didn't talk at all, only the Prince and the Servant. I called him 'boy' instead of Merlin or any of the other names I tended to use, and he understood, as I did, that that word was far more insulting than 'idiot' or 'fool.' Likewise it hurt like hell every time he called me 'my lord' and I longed to have him call me 'prat' or 'clotpole' never mind simply 'Arthur.'"

2) Then, for the following short paragraph, SpanglePony asked for more detail about how Gwen made the pair see sense, and I'll be addressing that in Chapter 15.

3) Beheading that chocolate plotbunny seemed to do the trick! Been writing and planning like mad since yesterday afternoon and am now a lot more confident about the next couple of chapters. Still a few blanks on the last few though. How to follow 'The Round Table' and 'Something About Merlin'? Hmm.

4) Also that tasty bunny gave me an idea for a new multi-parter in the early hours. It's a modern AU - not my usual thing- but I've already made a start. As usual, up to date details on all my fics are on my profile page.