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Chapter 14

"You're Gaius!"

Oh, no! Morgana thought. Not only they had switched crystals, Gwen had caught her red-handed.

A pregnant pause passed while a mental battle took place in Morgana's mind. If she was an obedient ward, she'd have to lie to Gwen about everything – her magic, Merlin, the blood crystal – and that could keep her friend safe, though she felt bad doing that, Guinevere was her best friend and she had never given Morgana any reason to distrust her. Though if Uther found out that Gwen knew about the lady's magic, well, things would end up pretty badly. Another thing that unsettled the young seer was the possibility that Gwen could be disgusted with who she and Merlin was. The pale woman shook her head (still with Gaius' features) and suddenly remembered that she was still using the blood crystal, she took it off, resting the gem on top of her nightstand.

Morgana licked her lips and took a deep breath. As long as Uther didn't know, Gwen would be safe. So, she would take that leap of faith, she would tell her friend the whole truth (even parts that weren't her secret to tell), because that was the right thing to do.

"Gwen, please, seat down." She said, pointing to her bed as she also took a sat on the mattress.

The maid obliged and followed her mistress' lead. When Gwen settled down, Morgana took her both hands between hers, looking her deeply in the eyes and said:

"What I have to tell you is very serious. Please, don't interrupt me until I've said everything."

Her friend nodded and so the seer began to speak.

Several minutes later, Morgana had told a summarized version of the events until the present moment, how she discovered her magic when she found out she was pregnant, how Uther had ordered Gaius to give her lessons about magic (Gwen knew about the lessons, but she truly thought that her mistress was learning herbalism), how it was Merlin instead of Gaius that was teaching her (hence the blood crystal with Gaius's blood and features) and how their love has bloomed.

Morgana was grateful that Gwen hadn't tried to free herself from her grip, that her friend hasn't shown disgust when she told her about her and Merlin's magic, though she had already stooped talking for a little while and Guinevere hadn't uttered a single word, she was just staring, dumbfounded and silent. Tentatively, Morgana tried to incite a response from her friend and called her name:

"Gwen."

The maid gaped and stammered:

"Milady … I … I …" Gwen lowered her eyes, trying to find something to say, then she finally spoke, stablishing eye contact and keeping it at the same time she squeezed her mistress' hands reassuringly: "I won't tell anyone, you have my word."

Morgana smiled in relief, thinking that she has been a fool for not trusting her secret sooner. Gwen was her best-friend, she was very loyal and understanding, of course she wouldn't turn her back at her now.

"But you and Merlin are in a serious mess! We have to think how we can fix this!" Gwen exclaimed in a high pitch, clearly nervous.

"I know!" Morgana gripped her hair in panic, her eyes beginning to get teary. She spoke again:

"Probably the guards have already reported the news to Uther, but he'll try to find me there instead of Merlin there. I can lie and say that I was testing Gaius's clothes because I came across a problem we haven't though before: my belly growing and stretching my gowns."

"That's a good idea! Your appearance may remain the same, but we know that physically you're changing. You haven't been able to fit four of your dresses lately!"

"Please don't say this as if it's some sort of good thing, I'm already getting self-conscious about my weight." The young seer murmured.

"Sorry, Morgana. Ok, now I'll run to the physician's quarter and change the crystals again."

"Thank you, Gwen." The noblewoman had an expression of fragility and she gently clasped her maid's hand before her friend departed.

"Explain: what were you doing going to Gaius' chambers?" Uther inquired in a stern tone.

"I didn't go to his chambers and I was testing a theory." Morgana replied calmly, using all her ability as a trained Lady of the Court to keep a mask of indifference.

"A theory?" He asked in confusion.

"Yes, a theory. The blood crystal, it creates an illusion that changes the body shape, but everything else remains the same, except in the first use."

"I'm not following, Morgana." The king said, still befuddled.

"What I wanted to test was the crystal's illusion regarding one's garments. As I have noticed, every time I put the necklace on, my outfit is the one I'm currently wearing, not the one I was wearing when the blood was collected. In fact, I believe the illusion was only extended to my outfit in the first day I used it. There's a problem in that: what of the actual expansion of my belly? I'm already having difficulty fitting in my gowns, so my clothing must be adjusted to this, the crystal won't perform that magic." She calmly stated.

"And what does this have to do with you wearing Gaius' clothes and going to his chamber?" Uther asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, I thought that first I should find clothes that would actually fit me as the pregnancy advances and Gaius' robes were the only ones I could easily obtain and that wouldn't over masculinize me, as you wouldn't accept it."

"Right… but that doesn't explain why you went to the physician's quarters. Haven't I made myself clear that there is off-limits for you?"

"No, it doesn't. But I didn't go to his quarters. It was a matter of analyzing how the clothing would fit during its use. The excess of clothing wasn't being concealed by the crystal, so I had to test the robes in normal conditions of weather, which means, exposed to the night wind in the gardens." She pointed nonchalantly.

"But the sentinel –"

"Sleeps at that part of the castle every night, that's why he didn't saw me." She interrupted him.

"How about the guards in the corridor?" He asked, baffled.

"They play dice every night, I just happened to return to my chambers during one of those sessions." She replied in a calm tone.

"Oh, my goodness. They are such an incompetent lot." He mumbled while lowering his head and she nodded, smiling inwardly.

"I need to reprimand them." He grunted and Morgana felt a little bit guilty about that, though it was the lesser evil or else Merlin's head would be rolling. He regained her attention when he scolded her:

"But you also did something extremely suspicious, Morgana. How are we going to explain your night stroll with Gaius' clothing?"

"We can say that Arthur challenged me to wear Gaius' robes. I'm sure the guards will believe it." She said matter-of-factly.

"Fine." The king said, seemly satisfied with her answer, then he continued speaking: "Just don't you ever do that again."

"I won't, milord." She reassured him and then added: "But we still need to solve the problem about my clothes."

"I'm sure Gaius will think of something. Ask him during your next lesson."

"As you wish, my King." She curtsied to him while he left her chamber.

It was a poorly made excuse that she had come up with and wasn't exactly sure if he'd believe her. At least her lie had was able to explain everything and she thought that Uther wasn't aware that Gaius also had a blood crystal, which made him oblivious to the truth. It was impressive how sometimes he just wanted to believe her words and have some sort of logical explanation to something instead of wonder about the unknown. Lucky for her the king had those days.

By now, Gwen was probably saving the rest of their skins telling Gaius and Merlin about her ladyship cover story, which would hopefully appease the king's curiosity if he asked the physician about the episode.

Definitely, having her best-friend's help was the sole good thing that came out of that situation, which she would do her best to avoid in the future, even if that meant she had to come up with another way for Merlin to gain access to her chambers.

Feeling tired after the ordeal, Morgana decided to take a nap and rest for a bit, shortly falling asleep until she was disturbed by a terrible nightmare: Arthur dying by a wound made by the Questing Beast. She woke up screaming and by then Gwen had already returned to her chambers, embraced her mistress and tried to calm her down.

"Was that all you saw in the dream?" Merlin asked her and Morgana nodded. Gwen was also there, still unsure about how to deal with the fact that her best-friends had magic, but she was glad that they were using it to protect Camelot and its people – she was particularly thankful to Merlin for healing her father and saving his life.

But her gratitude wasn't enough for her to not being surprised when he came up flying – as a damn bird – by Morgana's window and suddenly transformed into a human right in front of her eyes as if it was the most natural thing to do.

"Arthur will be hurt by the Questing Beast and die if he decides to hunt it! We have to stop him!" Morgana exclaimed, truly terrified that the Prince could end up dead.

"Morgana, calm down." Merlin tried to soothe down her apprehension, holding her in a comforting hug. Then he continued saying: "I won't let it happen. I'll protect Arthur, I swear."

Between sobs, Morgana protested:

"But what if you can't? What if the beast is faster than you? We can't risk Arthur's life, Merlin! You know we can't!"

"I know it, Morgana, better than anyone. That's why I promise you I'll look after him."

"He's like family to me, Merlin. I won't just stand here and wait for this future to come true. I have the feeling that if he goes there he'll be struck by the beast, Merlin. Accompanying him won't be enough to keep him safe." She said, looking dead serious into his eyes.

Merlin was perplexed about her statement. She better than anyone knew that Arthur would hunt the beast no matter what they said, so he ended up saying:

"You know Arthur won't simply accept that, Morgana. It's his duty as the Camelot's Prince to hunt down the threats to the kingdom. We can't stop him, you know that."

"Then we can lock him up or do something to avoid him going … I can help you hunt it down and … and Camelot will be safe." She said, stammering.

"Absolutely not!" Merlin exclaimed. The thought of putting her in such danger was too much absurd.

"Merlin!" She protested, but her words were lost as he continued to speak in a frenetic speed:

"You're pregnant! You can't expose yourself to such danger as if it was the most natural thing to do! What if you get hurt? What if you end up losing the child or worse dead?"

"Merlin, the fact that I'm pregnant doesn't turn me into an invalid person! I can swordfight better than many knights, I have also learnt magic with you and I know of your secret, so we could kill the beast from a safe distance with our magic without the fear of being discovered! It's a completely rational course of action!" She stated with an enraged tone.

"No! There's too much at risk, Morgana. I can't possible let you into a dangerous hunt like that!"

"I think Merlin is right, milady." Gwen agreed with Merlin, fearful for her mistress wellbeing.

Contradicted, Morgana said:

"Fine." And shortly she added: "But you have to promise me you'll watch over him properly, Merlin."

"I'll do my best, my love." Merlin replied and kissed her lips briefly.

Gwen blushed a little and smiled at their demonstration of affection.

After Merlin left the same way he got in – flying as a damn bird – Morgana talked to Gwen about her dream with more details.

In the following dawn, the hunting party had successfully tracked down the Questing Beast and unfortunately the creature had killed Sir Bedivere.

Arthur and Merlin cornered the beast and it was about to attack them when Arthur suddenly yelled:

"Ástríce!"

And the beast fell lifeless to the ground.

All Merlin could summon up to say was:

"What?"

A/N: "Ástríce!" means "I strike"