What Arthur was expecting to find inside he wasn't quite sure. But this was certainly going to scar his mind forever.
Morgana was sitting on top of a table with Merlin standing between her legs. They were kissing quite passionately. Morgana had just begun to take off Merlin's tunic. Both were so lost in each other that neither were aware of the intrusion.
"What is going on here! "Arthur's shout seemed to draw them out of it. They abruptly pulled apart, startled to say the least and turned to face Arthur and the knights who had followed their King's lead.
Arthur's glare met Merlin's fearful eyes "Arthur- "Merlin began but was soon cut off.
"Don't! "Arthur's tone was low as he made a few steps toward the pair, sword still drawn.
Merlin defensively stepped between him and Morgana "Arthur" Merlin begged "Arthur please just let me explain "He stretched his hand out slightly to try and calm Arthur down.
"Why?" Arthur yelled "What could you possibly have to say that will make any of this better, you are a traitor" Merlin flinched at the name as Arthur pointed his sword to Merlin's chest. Merlin opened his mouth to say something else but he was cut off by a small, tired voice.
"What's going on?" everyone turned in the direction of the voice and found it belonged to a little girl around the age of four. She had raven black hair and Arthur could see she the fear in her familiar sapphire eyes as she took in the scene in front of her. Percival, who was startled by the sudden noise behind him had turned so his sword was now pointed in the girl's direction which caused her to scream.
"Hey!" Morgana yelled at Percival "Don't you dare touch her!" Percival flinched, he wasn't intending on hurting the child. He slowly lowered his sword so not to further frighten the girl.
"Please tell me this is not who I think it is" Arthur breathed out.
Tears started forming in her eyes as she whispered "Mama, Papa, what's happening?" To have his suspicions of the child's identity confirmed was quite overwhelming to say the least. Contrary to what people may have thought, Arthur wasn't as stupid as people pegged him to be. He knew by the age of the girl that their relationship had to of been going on for a long time. Urgh, how could he have missed this?
Arthur hadn't realised he'd lowered his sword until he glanced up to see Merlin making his way over to his daughter. "Nothing Iris, don't worry" Merlin gently told her as he picked up her small form, kissing her forehead "Sorry for waking you. Now Mama's going to put you back to bed while I have a chat with these men"
"But Merlin -" Morgana began to protest
"Hang on a minute " Arthur returned his sword to face the traitor in front of him "you're not going anywhere " Iris let out another small squeal as she buried her face in her father's neck.
"Arthur please, she's just a child" Merlin begged over his daughter's cries "She doesn't need to be here for this"
Arthur glanced over at the small, shaking form clinging to Merlin as if her life depended on it. Despite his better judgement, he put his sword down. Afterall it was hard to be aggressive to something so small and innocent.
Merlin's eyes silently thanked Arthur as he handed the girl over to Morgana. She glared at the intruding group, daring them to lay a finger on Merlin, before disappearing into the back room.
The silence that followed was awkward to say the least. No one was quite sure where to start. I mean Arthur had just caught his supposed best friend in the act, with both his enemy and sister.
Merlin was shifting awkwardly by the wall but not meeting Arthur's eyes. Arthur had so many questions he wanted to ask but first. "How long Merlin?"
At this he finally met Arthur's eye, he looked almost apologetic as he answered. "Five years"
"Five- " Arthur yelled incredulously "You've been betraying me for five years?"
"Merlin's never betrayed anything Arthur" everyone turned to find that Morgana had walked back into the room, coming to a stop by Merlin's side. Merlin glanced worriedly toward the back room. Morgana caught on to what he was thinking "She's fine, don't worry" she whispered to him.
"Forgive me Morgana but for some reason I don't believe that" Arthur huffed "How else could you keep getting into Camelot or finding some new way of trying to kill me?"
Morgana just rolled her eyes "Gods you can be quite oblivious can't you dear brother" she shot an annoyed look at Merlin "Who do you think keeps stopping me from doing that"
"Right. Cause Merlin's the one who has defeated you every time?"
"Sometimes I really don't know why you bother Merlin" she huffed "He's so thick that he can't even comprehend the idea that you're the one saving him".
"Hey!" Arthur called out but was cut off by Merlin
"Seriously Morgana? You know exactly why"
"I get that it may be your destiny to save him, but do you not ever get fed up with being overlooked all the time?"
Destiny? What on earth was she talking about? Arthur was about to ask this very question but soon shut his mouth when Merlin growled in what sounded like annoyance. The pair had turn to fully face each other now.
"You know I do Morgana. But I know it'll work out in the end"
"Right because hiding in the shadows is what will bring about Albion?" Morgana broke with a dry laugh.
Arthur looked to his knights who were just as stunned as he was.
"Yes!" Merlin yelled "You'd believe in it more if it weren't for Morgause-"
"Really? You're bringing my sister into this again? At least she's trying to do something to help our kind" She pointed a finger in Merlin's face "All you've done is protect the man who would kill you if he ever knew the truth"
"And all of your efforts have caused nothing but bloodshed on both sides"
As much as Arthur didn't want to disrupt a lover's quarrel, he could tell this would go sideways very quickly if they didn't stop soon. Besides, he had too many questions already. Before Morgana could retort Arthur cut across both "ENOUGH!"
The pair paused their bickering but were obviously still angry. Their faces were flushed, and their breathing laboured but they just stared at each other for what seemed like forever, never once breaking eye contact.
Soon though Merlin's eyes softened "I'm sorry" he whispered
At his words Morgana stood a little less rigid "Me too"
Merlin stepped closer to her and reached to touch her arm "I shouldn't have brought her up. Though I'll still never agree with what you are doing-" Morgana closed the gap between them.
"I know, but I can't stop. It's gone too far now" Morgana sounded almost sad as she played with the collar of Merlin's shirt.
Merlin brought his hand to her cheek making her look at him again "It's never too late you know" and with that he pulled her into a tight embrace which she returned.
"How can they just make up like that?"
Everyone turned to look at Gwaine who of course was the one to ruin the moment. Merlin blushed awkwardly as he let go of Morgana, whilst she glared at Gwaine. "Haven't you ever seen a husband and wife make up before?" She retorted mockingly.
"Wait, what?" Arthur gave the couple an incredulous look "You're married?"
Morgana just rolled her eyes, and none too discreetly whispered to Merlin "See. Thick as anything"
"Hey! Now how about instead of insulting me why don't you both get on with explaining how the hell this all happened"
Merlin shared a hesitant look with Morgana before giving a short nod, then moved to sit on one of the chairs surrounding the table. Morgana was next to join him. The others got the hint and one by one they joined them round the table.