"You must be tired, Artie will take you to your rooms. We'll meet for dinner."

King Arthur said to everyone in one of the corridors of the great castle.

"Evie would love this place."

Jay spoke to Mal, referring to the size of the castle.

"You realize there aren't many sockets here, don't you?"

Mal reminded him how old the place was.

"Did you notice anything strange about those men?"

Rashid asked Mal and Jay about the soldiers and Arthur himself, taking advantage of the fact that Ben was talking to the king.

"I think it was just me."

Jay told them.

"Can you talk to Merlin? Maybe we should go to him alone."

Mal asked Rashid. With a super villain on the loose, they could be too careful, since they still didn't know how far the powerful witch could go.

"Give me a few minutes and I'll do a quick spell."

Rashid thought.

"Ben, what do you say we go to the room? I'm tired from the trip."

Mal walked up to her husband, running over his conversation with the rulers.

"And where have you been hiding?"

The king asked them.

"We've been staying..."

"Isle of the Lost."

Mal said, preventing Ben from mentioning their real location.

"Yes, we've been staying there."

Although he didn't understand the reason for the lie, when he looked at Mal he was able to communicate with her gaze and knew that she was aware of what she was doing.

"Well, I'm going to room my wife's, have a good rest."

(...)

"What was that about Arthur? Why did you lie?"

Ben asked the woman as soon as they entered the room.

"Don't trust him or anyone else in this place."

Mal asked him, as she took off her traditional purple leather jacket.

"Why? Look, they're different from the other kingdoms, but they can be trusted."

"You can trust anyone, Ben."

She continued to say, as changed her clothes.

"Of course not."

He said, undressing as well.

"So, let's ignore the fact that you ate a cookie that was spelled by me and also that time when you believed that that boy really wanted to borrow money."

She said, standing in front of him on the bed in just a top.

"First of all, who's to say he's not going to give the money back?" She was about to retort, but he put his hand over her mouth. "And secondly, I was already in love with you, you were the innocent one in the situation, for thinking you had to put a spell on me to do it." He saw Mal's expression change and ran his hands down her neck. "And thirdly, as far as I can remember, I managed to get out from under your spell and I was still able to fool you."

"So, by your logic, I'm the one under the spell?" Knowing him well, she knew his weak points, so all she had to do was brush her lips against his earlobe and a shiver ran down his spine. She returned to his lips and threatened a kiss. And he was there for her. Finally, she brushed her lips against his, but pulled away quickly. "Who's the spellbound one anyway?"

"Me." Mal was about to pull away from him, but the king simply took her around the waist again, throwing them both onto the bed. "I've been completely in love since the moment I first saw you." He took her lips and kissed them urgently. She soon ran her hands down his neck, pushing him to lie down on top of her. Things would go further than that, but someone knocked on the door. "Really?"

"Dinner will be served, Your Highnesses."

(...)

Everyone quickly went down to the large dining room to have dinner with the royal family.

"Welcome, it's great to have you here."

The beautiful queen said.

"Thank you Guinevere."

Ben thanked her, smiling as always.

"So, let me see if I know everyone's name, Jay, Rashid and Queen Mal."

"I'm not queen yet, Your Majesty."

Mal defended, never much of a fan of the title, let alone now that she hasn't even been crowned.

"You're fighting for your people and risking your life, you're more of a queen than you realize."

Guinevere told her.

"Well, what have you come here for? To see Merlin, I suppose."

Arthur questioned or Agatha through him, at the moment it was hard to tell who was who.

"We've already told you, sire."

Jay said, looking at Rashid, who also had the same look on his face.

"Forgive me, I'm a bit forgetful."

He gave everyone a fake smile.

"Well, we've come to ask Merlin for help in defeating Agatha."

Rashid made up a quick half lie, because he would indeed help defeat the witch, but it was Mal who would do it entirely.

"That old man..." Agatha gave a muffled laugh, but remembered that her voice was now reflected in the zombies "I hope you make it."

"And do you know where Merlin is?"

The king asked again

"Not yet, but we'll find out soon enough."

Mal said.

The strange dinner continued for some time, until they realized that they really needed to meet up quickly.

(...)

"Now you see there's something strange?"

Mal asked Ben as soon as the four of them entered Rashid's room.

"All right, there's something strange, but what are we going to do?"

"We need to go after Merlin as soon as possible, but I don't know where he lives."

Rashid thought quickly as always. Suddenly they heard a knock on the door and before they had a chance to ask who it was or even open it, the queen burst in.

"Tomorrow at noon, Arthur and Artie will have a meeting and they won't be back until late in the evening." The woman said quickly and almost out of breath. "Ah, Merlin is among the dense trees in the forest to the south."

She then left without giving any explanation, leaving them dumbfounded and unable to understand anything, but Mal knew they could trust her, her instincts weren't fooling her.

"Okay, then tomorrow at noon we'll all go to Merlin."

Rashid said as soon as she left;

After all that, Ben took a long shower, sat on the edge of the bed and thought about the things around him. Honestly, if the boys hadn't spoken, he would never have suspected that there was anything wrong in that place. Was he too naive? Was he too trusting?

"It's okay?"

Mal asked. As soon as she got out of the shower, she found her husband sitting thoughtfully, while she continued the process of drying his purple hair."

"Oh? Yes, of course."

"You sure?"

She walked over to him and looked deep into his brown eyes.

"Yes, didn't we stop something earlier?"

He asked, sitting her on his lap.

"I think so."

"Certainly Lady Mal."

He picked her up and carried her to the center of the bed where they did what they hadn't done for a long time.

"How long since we did that?"

She threw herself on the bed, followed by him.

"Too long for me, I missed it."

He confessed to her, slipping his hands around her waist and hugging her tightly.

"Me too."

"After all this is over, I swear I'm going to take a month's vacation."

He confessed to her.

"You and a vacation? I seriously doubt it."

"We still have a honeymoon, have you forgotten?"

Mal turned to see those eyes staring at her.

"Kind of hard to remember with all this."

"What do you say while all this mess is going on, tomorrow morning I take you to see the garden near here?"

Mal loved the caress he made on her face to calm her down or simply because he liked it.

"I'd love to."

And this moment was one of Mal's favorites. When she wasn't the savior and the world wasn't in her hands, she was just Mal, and there was only her and Ben.