A Marriage that Started a Legend

by IJustShowedUp

Follows canon but with my own arranged marriage spin on it. What happens when Hunith makes a mistake and is forced on the run with her infant son? What happens when Camelot knights find her twenty years later? What happens when Arthur learns he's betrothed to a peasant boy? Will Merlin be able to stand among royalty? Will these two different boys survive each other? Review!

5. Chapter 5

Merlin sped walked around the corner, leaving the hallway and now cracked vase behind. His face was still flaming over the whole incident, once again thankful that nobody had been around to see him klutz out. Although knowing him, it probably wouldn't be the last time.

He knew one thing for certain. He would definitely not be telling Will about the incident where he had broken a highly expensive looking vase.

His mind cut off as the sudden thought occurred to him. He wouldn't be telling Will anything. Because Will was in Ealdor and Merlin was in Camelot.

Did Will know yet? Did he know that Merlin was gone and probably wouldn't be returning. He probably did, it had been nearly four days since he had left.

Merlin's fast pace down another hallway slowed to a walk. So slow that a turtle or snail probably could have passed him by. Not that he would have noticed either way, lost in his thoughts as he was.

He hadn't even been able to say goodbye to Will, or to the other villagers. Not that the other villagers probably cared. He had never really connected with anyone. The only people he ever had in his corner was his mother and Will.

It wasn't a lot, but it had been perfectly fine to him. Now he didn't even have that but...his hand strayed up to his jacket, feeling the telltale bump. That was where his letter to Uncle Gaius was.

Maybe he wouldn't have to be alone.

He wondered what Uncle Gaius was like. His mother had never spoken of him before so he wasn't sure what to expect. He was the court physician, he knew that much, so he must be smart to have that job. Not just smart enough to be a physician but smart enough to become a Court Physician.

Merlin rounded another corner, finally coming out of his contemplative thoughts. That was when he saw her. A young girl in serving clothes ducking into an open doorway at the end of the hall. He saw other people going in and out.

Maybe one of them would be able to help him find where the Court Physician could be located.

He picked up his step again, hurrying over to the handful of people.

"Ah, excuse me." He called out to one of the serving boys. But he paid Merlin no attention, to busy rushing passed with what looked like a tray of goblets, to focused on trying not to drop anything to notice Merlin talking to him.

"...Or not." Merlin muttered to himself. Seeing the doorway was still opened, he ducked inside and instantly froze.

There were dozens of people in this room, running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Serving boys were dragging large bags of flour across the room. Serving girls were frantically scrubbing large pots and pans in a large basin of water bubbling with soap. There were smaller pans hanging on hooks over a long table that had a handful of people cutting up what looked like fruit. There was a stack of plates on another table against the wall that looked like just one would cost a fortune, tethering awkwardly because of how high it was stacked.

Merlin winced because it looked like just one twitch could send the whole stack tumbling to the floor to shatter.

"Come on people! Come on!" A large middle aged woman shouted. She had a thin layer of sweat on her face because of how insanely hot the room was. Not only was there so many people in here, the ovens seemed to be lit and just waited for the food to be put in. There weren't any actual windows in here either, being that the room was a good ways in the middle of the castle.

Clearly he had stumbled upon the kitchens.

"We barely have two days!" The woman kept shouting. "This meal has got to be the most perfect meal we have ever served!" Although the woman was storming around, barking orders at everybody, she didn't seem to be doing any actual work herself.

She wasn't helping lug anything or with the washing or the actual food preparations. Her yelling actually seemed to be making the people more anxious from the way they frantically sped up, looking like this was the hardest working day in their lives.

Then she turned her ire on him, the newcomer in her kitchens. Merlin just frowned confused as her eyes sharpened with deadly intent on him.

"Why are you in my kitchens?!" The woman barked, her threadbare peasant dress barely clinging onto her large form swirling around her fat ankles.

Merlin startled at suddenly being addressed, more like yelled at. But he quickly shook it off, taking steps deeper into the kitchen. She may be yelling but at least she was acknowledging him.

"I was hoping that somebody could help me." Merlin said. But when her eyes narrowed dangerously, he quickly hurried to finish. "I'm looking for-"

"I don't have time for this!" The woman barked over him, cutting him off easily. Merlin's mouth snapped shut, baffled. "If you aren't a new kitchen servant, than I have no use for you!" She practically shoved him out the door. Merlin scrambled on his feet, trying not to fall over as he was suddenly thrown back out into the hallway. "Take your questions to someone else and don't be bothering my workers!"

The woman slammed the door in his face. Merlin looked back at the door with a baffled expression. He put one hand on his hip and brought the other one up to run his fingers through his hair, still trying to figure out what happened.

After a minute of staring at the door and realizing that nobody would be coming back out anytime soon, he finally left. He wouldn't find Gaius by just standing around here.

So he started walking again.

Barely ten minutes later, he ended up stopping. But only so that he could gap at the large doorway that led out of the castle.

"You have got to be kidding me." Merlin grumbled to himself, bringing his hand up to his head again. He had walked passed here earlier. He had literally walked himself in a circle and hadn't even realized it until he was now staring down the stairs that led out into the courtyard.

The worst part about all of this was that he was pretty certain he hadn't even seen a third of the castle. So there was so much more unexplored places to see and that was just the castle itself. He couldn't imagine finding his way around the rest of the kingdom.

Merlin didn't go down the stairs to the courtyard. He couldn't, at least not yet. Thomas had died down there. The platform where he had been executed probably still had his blood stained on it, a servant having not come to clean up the mess left behind.

He started to feel ill at the thought. At just imagining how much blood would come out after losing a head.

So he walked away, heading down another hallway, following the windows, feeling the sun stream through them to warm his skin. He was still looking for Uncle Gaius. It didn't make sense for the court physician to be to far away from the castle so he had to be around here somewhere.

Merlin stopped walking when he saw two knights standing guard at the end of the hallway. He had been avoiding talking to the knights. Call it some kind of residue fear that they would recognize him as a sorcerer on sight and drag him before Uther to have him executed but all of the servants were clearly to busy with their work to help him.

He wondered if it was always like that or if it was just because of what was coming up.

He quickly shook those thoughts away, refusing to acknowledge even in his own mind of not only his wedding, but this celebration of over twenty years of executions.

The only way to distract himself though, was to talk to the knights. So that's exactly what he did. Before he could talk himself out of it, he had marched right on up to them.

The two knights looked at him curiously as he approached. It wasn't often that a peasant had the guts to approach a knight.

Merlin felt his heart pounding, sure that he was about to be dragged away, almost positive that the guards could tell just by looking at him that he was magic. But nothing happened. There was no grabbing him, no shouting for other guards, no being arrested. Just two guards looking at him confused when he just stood there for a minute.

So he went ahead and asked his question, "Do you know where I could find Gaius?" And then just in case they didn't know who he was talking about, he elaborated. "The court physician?"

There was no answer for a minute and Merlin briefly wondered if they had heard him. Or if maybe they were ignoring him. Was there some kind of rule where knights couldn't talk to peasants? It wouldn't surprise him in the least.

But right when he was about to walk away, giving up on them answering him, one of the knights finally gave him directions.

Merlin's eyes widened when he realized that he actually wasn't that far. It was practically right near by where he was.

"Thank you," Merlin said quickly before hurrying down the hallway, having to repeat the instructions in his head several times to make sure that he wouldn't get lost.

He went up the main staircase to the second floor. And then further down the hallway until he reached the end where just around the corner was a wooden door. He tugged that door open where there was a small staircase heading up. And up the small spiral tower he went until he reached the landing at the top of the stairs.

And right there where it should be, he saw a golden plaque pinned to the wall. It was old though, covered in dust. He had to squint to make out the words: GAIUS, COURT PHYSICIAN.

It was easier than he thought to find this place, now that he knew where he was going. Why hadn't he just bit the arrow and asked the guards earlier. It would have saved him a lot of trouble if he had. He wouldn't have broken that vase and he wouldn't have run into the angry kitchen lady who yelled at him

They seemed like they were all in a pinch. Merlin wouldn't have minded helping out for a bit but the angry lady had shoved him out before he could think to ask if they needed help.

Now he was standing at the wooden door right next to the plaque. It looked like it was slightly out of place, like the door hadn't been fitted properly into the frame. Or maybe it was just old and the wood had been misshaped over time.

Merlin didn't know and didn't waste to much time thinking about it. This was it. He was going to meet his uncle.

Before he could talk himself out of it. Before he could convince himself that maybe he should go on a walk around the castle and explore a little more, try and learn his way around the place, he gave a quick knock on the door.

But there was no answer. The door actually creaked open on its own just a crack. He waited for a moment but nobody came so Merlin cautiously placed his hand on the wooden door and pushed it just slightly.

The door swung open and after a minute of hesitation, he walked inside.

"Hello." He called, a little to quietly, looking around the place for anybody. But he couldn't see a single person. He was to busy being held captive by all of the things he did see.

First thing he saw was dust, there was a lot of it. Every surface seemed to have a thin layer on it at least, as if Gaius had never bothered to dust a day in his life. Or had just eventually gave up on doing so.

The room was large and filled to the brim. As if Gaius had just shoved every little thing he could into every nook and cranny. Merlin couldn't imagine anything else being able to fit inside. The room wasn't square like most rooms were. It was more circular shaped which made sense since the room was found in a tower.

There were three long tables squeezed into the space. Merlin's fingers trailed along the corner of one of the tables, careful not to touch. It was filled with vials, each one holding a different liquid. His fingers brushed against one of the round bottles and he quickly jerked his fingers back before it could break like the vase had.

All of these vials were crammed onto this one table as if they had just been shoved into any available space he had. But another look around led Merlin to seeing a large bookshelf against one of the walls. But there wasn't a single book in it. It was filled with hundreds of different vials and call him curious but he really wanted to know what each one was.

He didn't recognize what a single one of these bottles or jars contained.

He moved on to another table that had dozens of books spread out across it. Many were open as if Gaius had been reading them but would put one aside just to read another.

Each book was thicker than the last and when he stopped to read one of the pages, his fingers just barely brushing the edge of it, he couldn't understand a single word. Not that he couldn't read, he could.

Maybe his mother had always had a fear that Merlin would end up in Camelot because she had been insistent on teaching him how to read and write. Most of the other villagers had never bothered learning or teaching their children.

His mother had loved to read even though they had no way of buying something new for her so the few books they had were at least two decades old and weren't particularly thick or well written. His mother had used those books to teach him.

Will was the only other one in their age group that knew how to read and even then, Will had a very basic grasp on it. Enough to where he could sound out little words but didn't have to much practice. What little he knew was because Hunith had caught him when Will had tried to sneak Merlin out of a lesson when they were young and Hunith had made him sit in as punishment.

The books completely covered this table and the next one. It fascinated Merlin. He had never seen so many books in one place before.

He had questioned on who could possibly have enough books to fill up the bookcase in his room. He had finally found someone who had more books than he could count.

There were several more bookcases jammed into place against the walls. Each one had books filling it up, crammed in until there was no place else for another to fit.

Merlin's eyes landed on a staircase on the far wall. His eyes trailed up it. The one staircase went further up the tower they were in, splitting off into two. At the top of one was a door but it was shut so he didn't know where it led to. The second staircase led further up along the wall, leading up to a second floor.

If you could call it a second floor. It was just a walkway really but it had several more bookcases up there. How did anyone find the time to even read half of these books were beyond him.

Well on the plus side, he had finally found Gaius. At the top of the stairs looking at one of the many bookcases was an elderly man. Merlin couldn't really see him because his back was to him. But he could see that the man had long white hair.

No wonder Gaius hadn't heard him when he knocked. Merlin didn't think he would have heard anything if he had been up there, distracted by the many books.

"Hel-" he started but his voice cracked in his nerves. He cleared his throat and tried again louder. "Hello?" He called up to the man.

Apparently Gaius hadn't heard him come in either. When Merlin had spoken, it startled the man so bad that he threw himself back. Unfortunately, the railing was just as old and rickety as the rest of the place was and snapped under his sudden weight.

Merlin's jaw dropped as Gaius yelled startled, falling over the edge. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion in Merlin's mind.

His eyes flashed away from Gaius briefly to notice the small cot shoved against the only open space between bookshelves.

Then his eyes flashed gold and the bed flung itself across the floor, stopping right under Gaius.

Everything seemed to speed back up and go to normal. Gaius hit the bed hard, the frame completely shattering under him. But the fall could have killed him and Merlin doing what he did, just saved the man's life. Of course, he had only fallen in the first place because of Merlin...

Merlin doing what he did...what he did was magic. Something that he just saw a man executed for. He could feel his throat start to close up again, he felt like he wasn't getting as much air as he normally did.

And then Gaius finally sat up in the bed, "What did you just do?!" His uncle snapped, glaring in Merlin's direction.

Merlin could feel his panic rising. He already had a thin layer of sweat forming on his brow and he was starting to grasp for breath. He had to get out of here, he had to. He had been fascinated just moments ago by all of the clutter but now it just felt like to much.

But he couldn't move.

It was like his feet were frozen to the ground where he stood. He watched, eyes starting to dilate as Gaius finally managed to roll off the bed and approach him. Oh god, maybe his mother had been wrong. Maybe Gaius didn't want somebody just bursting in his life like this. His own uncle was probably going to throw him at the executioner's feet and he had nobody to blame but himself.

"Tell me!" Gaius snapped, getting closer to the strange boy.

"I...I..." Merlin tried to get the words out, tried to force himself to say something. But his mouth just gaped opened uselessly, trying to speak even when nothing was coming out. His eyes darted around wildly, looking for some kind of escape. But there was no where to go. He was in such a rising panic that he couldn't even think to turn around where the door was located.

If he had, he could have been long gone by now. But he didn't and now he was just stuck there, feeling a lump forming in his throat and getting bigger.

When the boy still didn't answer him, Gaius finally realized that something was wrong. It was the boy's wide eyes full of panic, the twitching fingers, the sweating, and the hitched breathing that told him all that he needed to.

That was when him being a physician kicked in. Gaius grabbed the boy by his arm and forcibly sat him down on one of the long benches set up beside one of his tables. Gaius was completely calm as he set to grabbing a glass.

Merlin was still grasping for breath, he couldn't breathe, his nails dug into the edge of the wooden bench beneath him. Would his head be the next to roll? Or maybe they would actually set up a pyre for him. Was it him or were black dots starting to form in the corners of his vision.

Merlin only snapped out of it as something was forced against his lips and water started going down his throat. He was so caught up in his own panic that he hadn't noticed Gaius returning.

Not till the glass of water was forced down his throat, making him choke and sputter in his surprise. His eyes were wide, not because of his panic now but because of how startled he was.

Merlin was forced to take the glass himself to stop Gaius from practically drowning him.

Only when Merlin grabbed the glass did Gaius let go, leaving him to it.

Merlin was going to put the glass down but then he realized how dry his throat had gotten. Before he knew it, he had drowned the entire glass in one go.

Merlin finally lowered the cup, letting out a sigh of relief when he realized that he could breathe again. He had just needed something to snap out of it.

His eyes fluttered open, only to jump startled when he realized that Uncle Gaius was standing in front of him, staring him down. "...Sorry..." he said with a touch of to much awkwardness.

Gaius gave him a look, "Do you often have panic attacks like that?" He had recognized the symptoms instantly. It wasn't often but every now and then a knight showed up at his door because of it. They were soldiers and had seen more than most of the villagers.

Sometimes, panic attacks were just unavoidable.

Merlin let a bitter smile cross his lips for a moment, "Not usually. They just started happening a few days ago...I've had some big changes in my life recently."

Gaius nodded, committing that to memory. If the boy continued to have them, he would probably be visiting Gaius a lot more.

"So let's try this again," Gaius finally said. Merlin tensed up nervous but at least he didn't feel his throat start to swell close again. "How did that-" he pointed at his cot that was now clear across the floor from where he kept it. "Happen?"

"...I-I have no idea..." Merlin stuttered nervously. He was a bad liar, always had been.

Gaius gave him a stern look, almost reminding Merlin of his mother. It was clear that he wasn't believing a word that Merlin had said.

"If anybody had seen that." Gaius said sternly, as if Merlin had admitted to it already. Although really, he as good as had. Gaius sure hadn't done it and the only possible explanation was magic and here this strange boy was...it wasn't to hard to do the math on this one.

But Merlin looked up, feeling shaky. "Th-that had nothing to do with me!" He jumped to his feet, leaving the empty glass on the edge of the table, being that there were so many opened books that he didn't really have anywhere else to put it. "That was...that was..." he stuttered, trying to come up with a convincing lie. But his mind was strangely blank, he couldn't come up with anything.

"I know what it was!" Gaius interrupted. He may be old but he wasn't so old that he couldn't recognize magic when he saw it. "I just want to know where you learned how to do it!"

If somebody was going around teaching teenagers how to use magic, then the king would have to be informed immediately.

"Nowhere!" Merlin exclaimed, maybe a little louder than he meant to.

Gaius pressed on, "So how is it that you know magic?"

Merlin stuttered for a moment, trying to get the words out before he finally blustered out a weak, "I don't!"

Gaius gave him a firm look, "Well it definitely wasn't me that moved my cot across the room."

Merlin's eyes flicked over to the bed and back to Gaius. "Well, really, it..." he grinned weakly. "It most...definitely wasn't me." His voice cracked at the end."

Gaius' eyes narrowed, "Boy, we both know that it was you. So answer my questions."

Merlin's eyes were darting in every direction, trying to find the words that would convince Gaius that he had nothing to do with the cot. But still, nothing came to mind.

"I...I..." he stuttered helplessly.

"You what?" Gaius demanded.

His mind came to one thing. To Thomas James Collins being led out to his death. To him being pinned down onto the executioner's platform. To his head rolling away from his body and the crowd cheering mere minutes later.

So he blurted out the one thing on his mind, "I just saw a guy executed for magic!" Then he slapped a hand over his mouth.

Gaius looked startled by that, then the firm look in his eyes shifted. He almost looked like he pitied Merlin. "That's right." Gaius said quietly. "Magic is punishable by execution around these parts. It will do good for you to remember that."

Merlin slowly lowered his hand from his mouth, giving a weary nod. He was feeling so tired. He had never felt tired back home from hiding his magic. As much as he hated it, it was literally just a fact in his life. Something he had lived with since the day he was born and would probably have to live with till the day he died.

But back home, at least he wouldn't be put to death just for being born. Sure, he might be forced to work for Cenred but at least he wouldn't be dead.

Gaius kept talking, voice slightly softer now. No wonder the boy had looked so panicked. Gaius remembered seeing his first execution, he hadn't been able to sleep for a weak afterwards.

"I do need to know though, how did you learn about magic. Uther had all of the books burned during the Great Purge."

"I-" Merlin started to stutter again before clearing his throat, trying to make his voice at least sound a little stronger. Meeting his uncle wasn't going nearly as good as he had hoped. The words finally came spilling out of his mouth, "I've-I've never studied magic or...or been taught."

Gaius gave him another stern look, making Merlin swallow hard, nervously. "Are you lying to me?"

Merlin couldn't really take this. All of the panic of being discovered and talking about it openly like this. It was only something to be talked about or whispered in the darkest of the night. Only to someone that was trusted and even though this man was his uncle, Merlin didn't know him at all.

Would he send him to the executioner? March him straight to Uther and declare him a sorcerer for everyone to hear.

"What do you want me to say?!" Merlin exploded, words almost running together in his frantic.

"The truth!" Gaius exclaimed, just as loud.

Merlin waved his hands in the air, needed to get his nervous energy out somehow. "I was born like this!" His mother had told him stories of when he was a child, back when he was still in a crib. How his eyes would flash gold and something he wanted would sail across the room and into his crib.

If you thought raising a normal child was hard, imagine being a single mother to a child who could literally summon any dangerous item the house held that he wanted to play with. It was a miracle Merlin had made it to adulthood, let along with Will being the only one to discover him and that had only been mere weeks before he had left Ealdor.

And now...and now Gaius knew when he had been in the city for less than a day. That had to be a new record right there on who took the shortest amount of time to discover when Merlin had magic.

"That's impossible!" Gaius exclaimed. He had never heard of someone being born with magic. Every sorcerer he had ever known had been taught one way or the other.

Gaius finally stopped yelling at the boy long enough to take him in. The ill fitting peasant clothing and his pale skin. He looked somewhat familiar but not at all at the same time. Gaius just couldn't figure out where he had seen the boy before. His eyes trailed down the boy's form and stopped on his hand.

His hand that was just peeking out of the slightly to big jacket. The knuckles were covered in cuts that were starting to scab over.

"What happened there?" Gaius demanded, already starting to move. He stepped around the boy so that he could start gathering books, cleaning off an edge of the table.

Merlin looked startled by the sudden movement, eyes dropping down to his cut up knuckles before looking back to Gaius. He had all but completely forgotten about his hand. The hand that he had used to punch a tree on his way to Camelot, when he had become overcome with so much anger over this whole situation that he had to get it out somehow.

Hence, why he had punched a tree.

Gaius looked up when the boy didn't answer immediately, "Well?" He demanded, pulling a bucket of water against the far wall onto the table.

"I, uh..." Merlin stuttered sheepishly. "I punched a tree."

Gaius gave him a dry look, "You...punched a tree." He repeated slowly, grabbing a threadbare rag that looked like it had seen better days.

"I was..." Merlin brought his uninjured hand to the back of his head to run his fingers through the thickness of his hair. "...I was really mad at the time."

"I see." Gaius said slowly, lips thinning. He waved a hand down at Merlin, "Sit, sit."

Merlin sat down gingerly on the bench at the table, watching as Gaius went over to the bookshelf with all of the potions. He watched with a confused frown as Gaius started digging through the jars, looking for something.

When the silence got to be to much, Merlin finally asked, "What exactly are we doing?"

"We are fixing your hand." Gaius said, not looking back at him as he finally pulled out a jar with some kind of pale pink paste in it.

Merlin straightened up, looking startled, "What? No!"

Gaius finally turned to give him a look, but only because he was coming back to sit on the other side of the table. He wasn't going to be taking no for an answer. The boy could be risking infection if it wasn't tended to.

"I mean...you really don't have to, I'm fine." Merlin said, voice quieter. Sure, it stung a little but he hadn't really noticed it. He had other things on his mind other than the little stinging sensation that he would get when he moved his hand a certain way and the cuts split open further.

"Doesn't look fine." Gaius said dryly, forcibly taking Merlin's hand. He dipped the rag into the bucket of water beside them and Merlin hissed when he rubbed it over his knuckles, cleaning out the cuts.

"That hurt." Merlin grumbled, but didn't fight it as Gaius cleaned up his hand.

"You'll live." Gaius said dryly. "Especially since you won't get an infection now."

Merlin winced, he hadn't thought of an infection. His knuckles weren't inflamed so that was a good sign at least. But he hadn't cleaned it either so it still had dirt in it.

Gaius picked up the jar of pale pink paste and scooped out a small bit on his fingers. Merlin's face scrunched up in disgust at the smell. "Ugh, that stinks!"

"Stink it may but it gets the job done." Gaius said simply, completely unbothered by the smell. He smeared it onto Merlin's knuckles, carefully coating each of his cuts. Even with Merlin's face scrunched up, he couldn't deny the effects. The cuts had stung for a moment as Gaius was touching them but he relaxed as the ache was soothed away.

"Good to know." Merlin said quietly, half to himself. He looked up as Gaius stood up. He didn't go far, just to a counter where there was a basket perched on the edge. It had dozens of little things falling out of it. One of them being a roll of bandages.

Gaius returned to the table, taking his seat. That was where he picked Merlin's hand back up and carefully wrapped the bandages around his hand. When he was done, he took the smallest scissors Merlin had ever seen to cut it off from the main roll, tying it off.

"...Thank you," Merlin said quietly, bringing his hand to his chest when Gaius finally let go. He brought his other hand up to touch the white bandages.

Gaius stood up, bringing his materials with him, putting his things away. Merlin brought the bandages up to his face and immediately scrunched his nose up. He could smell the pink paste straight through it.

Merlin looked up when Gaius finally spoke, the man putting the jar of paste back on the shelf. It looked like nothing but clutter to Merlin. Everything was in a state of disarray but Gaius seemed to know exactly where what he needed was.

"It's actually me who should be saying thank you."

Merlin frowned, having no idea why he would be thanking him. He'd only been here for five minutes and had already caused problems. But Gaius just gave him a stern look before his eyes flickered over to the broken railing on the walkway above their heads.

"Oh." Merlin blushed. He has honestly forgotten all about it. He hadn't thought at all when he had done it. Not that he regretted it, of course he wouldn't regret saving a life. Especially the life of his uncle.

Merlin thought for a moment, his mind going back to the poor man that had been executed. "So, you won't...you won't say anything..." he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

"Of course not." Gaius scoffed, like that was a ridiculous question. But Merlin could feel all of the tension leaving his body, sighing in relief. "But this does bring me to the question, who exactly are you?"

Merlin startled, having almost forgotten that he hadn't introduced himself. "Oh, um, I have something for you. A letter," he tugged open his jacket, shoving his hand down into his inside pocket. "It will explain everything."

He took the letter out of his jacket and held it out. Gaius just gave him a look, looking down his nose at the letter. Merlin blushed sheepishly when he realized that the letter was bent out of shape and practically smashed flat, folded around the edges.

"Er...it didn't look like that when I put it in there."

Gaius just shook his head before taking the letter. "You'll have to help me find my glasses. I have no idea where I've put them this time." He may know where everything he needed was but he never could keep up with his glasses. He was always putting them down somewhere.

"Oh, of course!" Merlin said quickly, standing up. But then Gaius sat down at the table, opening the letter. He squinted at the words, unable to make them out and left Merlin to look for his glasses.

So Merlin got to looking. He went from table to table, digging through the many books. He even stacked them as he went, keeping them open to the certain pages they were on but stacked up to clear some space off.

It was still a mess but at least there was a gap here and there on the table, giving him some space to look. Merlin didn't notice but Gaius was no longer looking at the letter. Instead, he was watching Merlin dig around through his stuff.

Merlin went over to the potions bookshelf. He was careful not to touch anything, not wanting to break something again. There were all kind of different bottles. There were vials laid in little rows or small square jars or round bottles. Each one seemed to have a different colored liquid. Some of the liquids looked thicker than the others. Some weren't liquid at all and was more like paste. Like the stuff that Gaius had put on his hand.

He spent a little more time there, spending a little less time looking for the glasses and getting more distracted by the colors shining through their glass bottles.

He eventually stepped away from the bookcase but didn't make it to far. There was a floorboard that was slightly out of place, sticking out a little. Merlin tripped straight over it, yelping when he hit the ground.

Gaius sighed and shook his head, wondering if he should be amused or not.

"Found them!" Merlin suddenly exclaimed. He was still laying on the floor on his stomach but held his hand high over his head, showing the glasses clutched in one fist.

"How on earth did they end up under there?" Gaius exclaimed, shaking his head. He couldn't understand how his glasses had ended up under a table of all things.

Merlin finally scrambled to get to his feet. "I have no idea, but I didn't break them!" He said brightly, as if that was truly an accomplishment.

Gaius looked at him dryly, "Indeed, you didn't." Did the boy often break things? He looked far to pleased that he hadn't broken the glasses.

Merlin made his way back over to the table that Gaius was sitting at and handed him the glasses. Gaius gave the boy a look before taking them from him, pushing them up onto his nose.

Merlin stepped away, getting distracted by the table that had different vials in the process of being made into medications. While he was doing that, Gaius looked back down at the letter, the words swimming into focus so that he could read them now.

'My Dear Gaius

I know that it has been many years since we have spoken. And I know that you owe me nothing but I write to you now, pleading for your help. As my big brother, I beg you. I have never once asked you for anything and now, I find that I have no choice but to turn to you for you are my last hope, the only one that I hope that I can trust.'

Gaius eyes widened, head shooting up to look at Merlin. The last thing he had ever expected to receive today was a letter from his little sister. The same sister who had disappeared twenty years ago.

Merlin was at the next table, curiously reading the page that one of his books were open to. He couldn't understand half of the words but that was only because he had never heard of them before.

Who was this boy and why had his sister sent him here? Well there was only one way to find out. Gaius turned back to the letter and continued to read.

'My love Balinor and I made a horrible mistake many years before I left. I hadn't fully realized just what the consequences would be, I didn't know that Uther would someday start this Great Purge. And now because of my foolish mistake, my son will have to pay the price.'

Gaius gasped quietly to himself. Her son? He hadn't known that Hunith had a child. It had been twenty years but he somehow hadn't truly realized that the same time would have passed for her.

Logically, he had known that twenty years would have passed for her but he had somehow never considered the possibility that she may had started a family of her own.

His eyes drifted up to look at Merlin...at his nephew. His nephew who was now wondering over to the table where he made his potions. He was kneeling down, looking into one of the vials. The bottle was a round one and Gaius could see his face through the glass. The glass distorted his face, making it look bigger than it was.

Gaius eyes drifted back down to the letter.

'Uther and I made a contract, a contract that stated that my son and his son would someday marry. And now the time has come.

After the Great Purge started, I tried to run, I made it all the way to Cenred's kingdom with my infant son. But they have found us and Camelot knights are here to take my son back home, to the land where he was born.

There is nothing that I can do. I can only pray that your prince of Camelot is a kind man who will treat my son well.

But Merlin is a very special boy and Camelot is a very dangerous place for him to live.

It is every mother's fate to think her child is special and yet, I would give my life if Merlin were not. My son has never really fit in, in our small village. He never really connected with the people here. I hope that he can find a connection within Camelot that he couldn't here.

Maybe a connection with you, as the only family that he has there.

It is amazing that nobody has discovered what he is yet.

My son, your only nephew, needs a hand to hold. He needs a voice to guide him, someone that can help him find a purpose for the gifts that he have been given.

With my beloved Balinor gone from us for many years now, the only person that has come to mind is you.

It has been many years since we have seen each other and I understand if this is to big to ask but yet, I have no choice but to ask.

I beg this of you, my brother, if you understand a mother's love for her son, keep him safe.

And may God save you both.

Hunith'

Gaius finally set the letter down. He was lost in his thoughts, paying no attention to Merlin who was fiddling with his potions now, unable to keep his hands to himself.

His sister Hunith was alive. Anything could have happened in the twenty years since her disappearance. He had never known that she was pregnant. What kind of brother was he to not know that his little sister had a child?

That she had been going through all of this with the added addition of a baby to raise. And she hadn't even thought to ask him for help when it first happened.

Gaius wondered if he would have gone with her if she had asked all those years ago. But honestly? He wasn't sure if he would have. He had just finished his apprenticeship to become a physician twenty years ago. He had become the court physician. He probably would have been to caught up in the excitement of his youth to care much for the little sister he barely knew and her baby.

Gaius had no idea of this marriage contract. Sure, he had heard by now that Arthur would be married, it was kind of hard not to for the news had spread like wildfire throughout the kingdom after the announcement.

Although nobody knew who it was yet, there were rumors going around. All kinds of rumors from a foreign princess to Arthur having gotten a servant girl pregnant and now had to marry her out of wedlock.

The last person Gaius had expected it to be was a mysterious nephew that he hadn't known existed. A mysterious nephew who had magic, who was marrying the prince of a kingdom who would have him executed if it was discovered.

Gaius may not have spent much of any actual time with his sister, but he liked to think that he would have helped her if only she had come to him sooner. But she hadn't and now he was here, her son having come to seek out his help.

Maybe not just his help, maybe the boy also wanted a connection with family. Because yes, the boy was his family. He could see that now.

He didn't know who this Balinor was, it was clear that Merlin had gotten his coloring from him. But his features, those were all Hunith's. That was why Gaius hadn't been able to put the pieces together about why the boy had looked familiar. How hadn't he seen it before?

He had often thought of Hunith over the years, wondering if she was still alive after her mysterious disappearance.

He hadn't expected the truth to come with a fully grown son.

As much as Gaius hated to admit it, had never actually admitted it, he was lonely. Sure, he was treated well and had a good income being that he had such a high position. What could be better than being known as the Court Physician? It was a very well desired job that many who studied medicine hoped to achieve someday.

And it was exactly what Gaius had done.

But he had no family. His parents had long since died and Hunith was his only family. But they didn't have that sibling connection so he had never bothered to contact her. Then she had disappeared.

And now her son was in his home.

It was true, Hunith had never asked him for anything their entire lives, even when Gaius was obviously more better off than her, money wise. This was the first thing that she had ever asked of him.

To protect her magically inclined son.

But could he do it?

Gaius was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of shattering glass. His head shot up, startled by the sudden sound. One of his vials was on the ground, completely shattered. Of course, it was the one that he had been working the longest on. It was a very complicated and one of his more difficult medicines that he liked to keep in stock in case of emergencies.

It took many a nights to finish it and it had only been a day from being completed.

Merlin was standing over it, looking both nervous and sheepish at the same time. "Er...sorry! It was an accident."

That was when Gaius's choice was clear. Gaius didn't care if it was treason. If he would be burned if it ever came out that he had knowingly harbored a sorcerer, that he had kept a sorcerer safe from persecution.

The king would have his head on a silver platter, literally, it this ever became known.

But this stranger was his nephew.

Gaius had never done anything to help Hunith, even when she had struggled through her day to day life long before the boy had come into the picture. Maybe he could begin to make it up to her by providing her son with a safe space.

But Gaius didn't tell Merlin any of this. There was no need to. Gaius hadn't realized it yet, but he had already made his choice the second that Merlin started having his panic attack over being discovered.

Gaius would keep him safe, even if it would some day cost him his own life.

And even through all of the chaos that would come in the next several years, Gaius would never regret this decision.

"The broom's over there." Gaius grumbled, nodding over to the far corner of the wall to the broom he rarely used, folding up the letter and tucking it away. He would find something to do with it later. It held to much information if anybody discovered it. He would have to dispose of it.

Merlin nodded sheepishly and went to grab the broom. Of course, halfway there, he tripped over the leg of one of his tables sticking out. Merlin yelped as he hit the ground hard.

Gaius sighed, shaking his head before getting back to work. He may need a special stock of potions just for Merlin related injuries and he would also have to start all over on his potion but honestly, he couldn't bring himself to care.

His life may be just a little less lonely with somebody in it.

He glanced up as Merlin brought the broom over to the glass on the floor and carefully swept it up. Of course, he may have to Merlin proof the place if he was a hazard, tripping over everything the way that he did.

It seemed as if the boy had yet to grow into his awkward, gangly limbs.

Away from the castle and in the lower town, Arthur was getting himself ready. Morris was picking up the target and preparing to hang it on the wall of one of the stalls. Not that the owner of the stall minded.

Well, he did, a lot actually, but he wasn't going to say anything to the prince. The prince who hadn't even asked before deciding to take up shop.

Morris was about to hang up the target and Arthur was pulling one of the daggers out. He was preparing to throw it before Morris could get it hung, making the manservant his new target.

Markus was standing just behind him with an almost vicious smirk on his face. He had his arms crossed over his thick chest, planning on enjoying this. That manservant of Arthur's deserved this. It was their jobs as nobles to keep the peasant people in their place, stop them from getting their heads to big. Especially those that managed to work in the castle, in close proximity to the royal family.

If Arthur was looking at Markus, he may have been startled by just how cruel the smirk was. He knew that his friend was cocky but cruel...that was a whole other story. But he didn't look. He was to busy having his fun at his manservants expense.

What could be more entertaining?

Their two lackeys stood behind Markus, shoving and chortling together. They had finally been clued in to the plan and were enjoying the anticipation. They couldn't wait to see the manservants face.

But they never got the chance to.

"Sire!" A voice called from down the street. Two of the more senior guards were heading over to them at a fast pace.

Arthur held back his groan of annoyance, what now? They couldn't have found him later? After his fun was done?

But he straightened up as they approached him, "Yes? What is it?"

One of the guards bowed, "I'm sorry sire, but your father sent us to bring you to the castle. It's an emergency."

Arthur's brows furrowed together in confusion. He turned to Morris only to bellow, "Morris! Bring that target board back to the castle! We are going to practice tomorrow!"

Then he left with the knights. He didn't say a single word to his friends as he left. It didn't even occur to him to tell them anything before he was gone.

Morris groaned, grabbing the target and started rolling it after Arthur before Markus could try something on him. The knight definitely wouldn't go easy on him, especially since Arthur was no longer in the picture.

He couldn't believe that he had dragged this thing all of the way out here for nothing, and now he was going to have to roll it all of the way back tomorrow.

He cursed under his breath as he rolled the target board. He wanted to throw the thing at Arthur, not that he could. It was way to big for him to lift properly, let along throw it.

Up ahead, "So, what is the emergency?" Arthur questioned the knights who stood on either side of him, leading him through the lower town and up to the castle.

"There has been a threat against your life, sire." One of the knights said.

That made Arthur jolt to a halt just as they were reaching the castle stairs. "Wait, that's the big emergency? I always have threats against my life! It comes with being a prince."

"Yes, sire." The other knight quickly explained. "But the one who made the threat appeared earlier today. She's a sorcerer. Your father wanted to take no chances."

Arthur got a serious look on his face and nodded. A sorcerer. That made a whole lot more sense. Sorcerer's were far more dangerous than the ordinary assassination attempts. A little precaution couldn't hurt in the long run. He would be sleeping with his sword beside him tonight.

Arthur went up the stairs and into the castle, starting his walk down the hallway towards the grand stairs, planning on going to his room.

"Sire," one of the knights called up to him from behind. "Were you planning on heading to the king's dinner party tonight?"

Arthur had his back to the knights so they didn't see his face scrunched up in disgust. "No, I don't believe I will."

The two knights bowed before leaving their prince to it.

Arthur started back up the stairs towards his room. His father's dinner party tonight, he couldn't think of a place that he wanted to be less.

It was mainly just a small party to congratulate himself on finding the peasant boy. As if Arthur wanted to celebrate that. He wished that dratted boy had never been found! Then he wouldn't be getting married.

Arthur's footfalls were a little heavier than normal. He refused to call it stomping. He was way to old to be stomping because he didn't get his way.

He wondered briefly if his intended stomped when he was mad.

Arthur's face scrunched up in disgust again. Just what he needed. A spoiled peasant boy for a husband.

Ironic, right?

Arthur made it to his room where he slammed his door shut. He would have Morris bring him his dinner later. One glance towards the window revealed that the sun was going down.

He wondered briefly if that meant that the boy had arrived at some point today. He hadn't seen Leon or those other two knights who had left with him but that didn't mean anything. It was a huge city. He could have wandered through it and still not have seen them.

Hell, if the boy was alone, Arthur would have walked straight past him. One peasant was like any other. Arthur would have no idea that this one would be the one he was to wed.

Like he said, all peasants were like any other. This one would be no different.

Face annoyed, Arthur turned away from his window. If his so called fiancé had made it to Camelot today, then that meant that Arthur had spent a whole day without seeing him. Surely he could keep it up.

Who said he even needed to see the boy ever. The peasant could stay in his very small area, like confined to his room, and Arthur could have the run of the place.

There was no reason to ever see each other outside of important functions where it was just expected for both of them to be there, as members of the royal family.

Members of the royal family...Arthur didn't care if he had to marry this boy. He would never be his family.

Arthur had leaned against his wall while he was in his thoughts. But now, he pushed himself away in disgust. This boy better not be expecting any special treatment just because of some weird twist of fate that it was him who got to marry the prince.

Arthur sure wouldn't be coddling the boy, that was for sure.

Just on the floor below Arthur, Morgana was standing at the top of the grand staircase. She was looking out the large window, watching the townspeople as they retreated to their homes. She could see the fires being lit as the sky darkened. The stars were starting to shine through the night sky. It truly was a beautiful sight.

Morgana sighed. She had been on her way to her rooms but had stopped there. There was just something about watching the city prepare itself for the night that calmed her.

"Morgana," a voice called from further down the stairs.

Morgana turned at the sound of her name, completely unsurprised that King Uther was making his way up to her. She was supposed to attend his dinner. The dinner was mainly a private affair, just him and several of the councilman would be in attendance. A sort of celebration for Arthur's upcoming marriage, not that it was anything to celebrate.

Nobody but Morgana seemed to care that this whole thing was arranged. Sure, she could understand the contract, despite how barbaric it was to her, she knew that Arthur and his fiancé had no choice but to go through with it.

But surely Uther could have waited a little longer. Allowed the two boys a few months to get to know each other so that they would know what to expect in their marriage life instead of just throwing them both in the deep end on their wedding day.

"I thought that you were planning on joining us at the feast." Uther said confused. He never could understand his young ward. Everything he did just seemed to make her more annoyed with him.

"Is Arthur attending?" Morgana asked, crossing her arms under her breasts. It would have made the dinner a touch more bearable.

Uther sighed, "No, the guards have told me that he has decided to retire early."

Morgana nodded. "It doesn't surprise me in the least. I'm sure that he will need his rest for the next upcoming days. What, with his wedding and all." She scowled at her own words. What could be more barbaric than an arranged marriage in this day and time?

Yes, Morgana knew that it was actually a common practice but that made it no less barbaric in her eyes. She was the king's ward, basically an adopted daughter. How long would it take before he tried to marry her off?

Uther turned his gaze to the window, watching the courtyard below them. "Yes," he said heavily. "I supposed he will be." The whole thing weighed heavily on him but the contract was clear. Arthur would have to marry the peasant boy, rather they got along or not.

Uther usually would have insisted on Arthur joining the party. A prince needed to be seen in front of his people, the important people at least, like the nobles of Camelot. But due to the circumstances, he supposed that he could give his son a night to himself.

Despite all of his failings, Uther truly did care for his son and wanted what was best for him. Surely Arthur would come to see that this marriage was the best.

The people would see the prince marrying a peasant. Maybe that would stop the rumors that he had heard of people doubting his son on his ability to someday become king once Uther had stepped down himself.

His son would become king and the boy would just be a figure head in the background. Everybody would see Arthur marry the boy but nobody would be close enough to realize that the peasant would basically do nothing a royal actually did.

He would be just like the women who married up. He would let his husband, Arthur, do the things that had to be done and he could spend his days gossiping with the ladies or whatnot.

Completely out of the way.

Uther shook his thoughts away. He didn't need to waste anymore time on thinking about the boy and his son's upcoming nuptials. "I thought that you would be joining us."

Morgana turned away, looking back out the window. "Aren't you also celebrating chopping someone's head off? Or are we celebrating a marriage that nobody wants, least of all the people involved. That poor mother and..." she didn't have to finish her sentence for Uther to get what she was saying.

Poor Arthur.

Uther scowled, dismissing the comment about Arthur's marriage. Morgana just didn't fully understand the precarious situation that they were in. That the marriage was legally binding and now that the boys were adults, it had to go through.

At least now, the official marriage ceremony could be over and done with.

"It was simple justice for what he'd done." Uther said firmly. Since he had dismissed Morgana's comment on Arthur's marriage, he decided to address her concerns about the execution.

He would not have his orders be questioned.

She never did understand that as king, it was his job to make the hard choices. And yes, executing a sorcerer was exactly what the law said had to be done.

He didn't bother thinking about the fact that the law only existed in the first place because he had ordered it to be.

"To whom?" Morgana questioned Uther's authority. "He practiced magic, he didn't hurt anyone."

Morgana was one of those radical thinkers that Uther wanted to squash out of his kingdom. The few people that still questioned rather if all magic was evil or not. He had tried time and time again to have it drilled into her head but still, she questioned him and his law.

Morgana had brought her concerns to Uther when she had first heard rumors of what the man had done to be caught. About how he was just trying to feed his family. But Uther hadn't wanted to hear it or entertain the notion for even a moment.

As if he would believe the word of a sorcerer's innocence over the word of his peasant neighbor who had a good standing in the little neighborhood he lived in.

The man was a sorcerer and that was good enough for Uther, no matter what small bit of magic the man had done.

"You were not around twenty years ago," Uther tried to patiently explain for the umpteenth time since Morgana had started questioning him. "You have no idea what it was like." And he thanked God for that everyday that Morgana and Arthur hadn't been around during those times. The times when magic had caused so much destruction in the kingdom that Uther had no choice but to ban it, the consequences being death if his orders were not followed.

Sure, he had a brief period of time in his youth when he had thought that magic wasn't evil. That was what had led to his friendship with Balinor, after all.

But then he had learned just how evil magic was. How much it corrupted and that it was just a matter of time before Balinor had turned on him to. So he had struck before the man could strike against him.

But by the time that he had learned the truth, their two families were already tied together.

And their sons would be the one to keep their families together. His only saving grace during all of this was that the boy apparently hadn't inherited Balinor's gift for magic.

He could thank his lucky stars for that one.

Morgana just scoffed at his answer. "How long are you going to keep punishing people for what happened then?" She demanded.

Maybe once upon a time, magic had been corrupt. Maybe it had been evil and had done terrible things in the past.

But that was the past.

Times have changed. Sure, there were still people that used magic to do terrible things. But if people could use it to do those things, then surely people could use it for great good.

Just imagine the kind of life that their kingdom could have if magic flourished in it. They wouldn't have to worry about the farmers not being able to grow their harvest or about a drought. Or even a flood destroying things.

If magic could kill then surely, there was some kind of magic that could protect.

She didn't know much about magic at all. It was hard to learn anything when the only books on the subject were history books or books about different magical creatures. Uther had only kept those as a way of combating against magic if the need ever arose.

But there was no books on spells. Nothing that could tell her what kind of magic existed.

Not that Morgana wanted to know magic, heavens no. She still had some kind of self preservation. She knew that Uther wouldn't accept her if she showed the least bit interest in actually learning, might even have her executed.

But still, it would have been a fascinating subject to research.

But as always when Morgana questioned the king, he got mad at her. "Until they realize that there is no room for magic in my kingdom!" Uther said firmly.

The attacks of a magical nature had finally started dimming down to an every now and then occurrence. Nothing like how it was back when the law had first been enacted. It seemed as if the people were finally starting to understand that no matter how small the crime, sorcery would not be tolerated in his kingdom.

He didn't care who you were. Even if you were one of the highest nobles his kingdom had to offer. If the crime was magic in nature, execution was the only punishment to fit the crime.

"What about happiness?" Morgana questioned. "Is there no room for happiness in your kingdom either?"

Uther scowled, as he always did when his conversations with Morgana turned to arguing. Arthur never argued with him like this. The worst he had ever gotten was when Uther had told him about the marriage but he could forgive him for that one.

Arthur had always known that his marriage would be arranged for him someday. That was why Uther never bothered putting a stop to it when he knew that every now and then, Arthur would find entertainment with one of the noble daughters. As long as they were discreet and there were no pregnancies to disgrace both families.

If Uther had told Arthur his marriage was going to be with a princess that he had carefully chosen, his son would have just bowed his head and agreed. He wouldn't have dared argued over it. Uther would not have tolerated it if he had. Especially since Arthur had always known that the day would come someday.

But then Uther had dropped the bomb on him. That he had never even bothered looking for a bride because Arthur was already promised to somebody else.

Then Uther had said that the one his son was promised to was a peasant. Cue Arthur's disbelief and confusion.

Then came Uther explaining that it wasn't just a peasant. But it was also a male peasant.

Cue the anger.

Uther didn't fault him for that one. The king would have been just as furious if it had been him in this situation. So he had sent his son up to his room to cool down.

It didn't surprise him in the least later on when he heard that Arthur had trashed half of his room that night. Nor that it had taken almost three days before the prince had finally emerged.

"What on earth are you going on about?" Uther finally demanded of his ward. "Of course my kingdom is happy."

Morgana scoffed, "How can your kingdom be happy when it's prince is being forced into this mockery of a marriage?" She still had no idea who this peasant boy was. What if he was rude or crude? What if he let his sudden raise in status go to his head? Arthur was a bully and a prat himself and no way would she want to marry him herself but she couldn't imagine a worst fate then being tied down to someone just as bad.

Uther straightened his spine, "Arthur will just have to learn how to get along with his new husband. It won't be that hard."

He grossly underestimated the relationship that Arthur and Merlin would begin with.

Morgana raised her chin, refusing to cower. "Won't be that hard?" She repeated. "How can this marriage even work? Arthur doesn't even like boys to begin with! Does this peasant like boys at all either? How can a marriage work when there is absolutely no attraction to be had?"

Uther chuckled, amazed by his ward's naivety. "Now Morgana," he started gently. "There are dozens of marriages where there is no attraction but they always seem to work out in the end."

He knew his son had no inkling towards the same gender, that was something that he would have definitely known if he did. He had no idea rather this peasant boy liked men or not but it was no concern to him. The boy's would marry either way.

"How?" Morgana demanded. "By sneaking around on each other? Is that what you consider a healthy marriage? Because what else do you expect to happen when you force two men who aren't interested in each other into a marriage! They haven't even met, not even a simple meet and greet!"

Uther scowled, "Morgana, do not question my authority. Arthur is my son, and he will do what he has to."

"Even if it means spending the rest of his life unhappy?" Morgana asked, clenching her fists into the folds of her dress. "He is only twenty summers old! He has his entire life and you wish to end it now? Because I cannot see how such an arrangement can end happily."

Uther dismissed her concerns, "Happy or not, the two boys will marry. No amount of your arguing will change what is to come."

Morgana ducked her head, glaring down at the floor under her feet. "Where is the boy anyway? I have not seen any new faces around the castle today."

Uther waved a dismissive hand, "Oh, I had him escorted to his room when he arrived hours ago. I just posted a guard outside his door to watch over him throughout the night."

Morgana raised a delicate eyebrow, "Are you afraid that he'll make a run for it?"

Nobody realized that Merlin had already left his room long before the guard was posted outside of it. The guard had been instructed to leave the boy to himself so he hadn't bothered to knock and therefore, hadn't discovered that the room was empty.

"Of course not." Uther lied easily. "It's just best to take precautions."

Besides, if the boy did try to make a run for it, he wouldn't make it very far. With how many guards he had posted throughout the city, there was no way that he would make it very far before he was caught. And then Uther would just have to play his trump card when the boy was brought back to him.

He knew that there was a good reason for keeping the boy's mother alive.

Morgana turned back to the window. There were less people now and the sky was darker than it had been before. "A guard, you say?" She said quietly. "So not only is he forced into this barbaric arrangement? But he's also a prisoner?"

She wasn't sure who she felt more sorry for, Arthur or this boy.

Uther shook his head, deciding that he was done with this conversation. "I will ignore you missing the party tonight. But I insist that you be there when Lady Helena arrives tomorrow."

Morgana straightened her back, almost having to force away her sneer of disgust. "I've told you!" She protested firmly, head snapping around to glare at him. Her long black hair flew around her face, falling down her back in light curls. "I want no part of these celebrations!"

How could she possibly celebrate something like this? Twenty years of executing sorcerer's? Arthur's forced arrangement? How was any of this something someone wanted to celebrate?

Everything was getting to Uther and he was entirely done with this whole conversation altogether. Who was Morgana to question him and the hard decisions that he had to make daily?

"I'm your guardian!" Uther snapped, annoyance seeping into his voice. "I expect you to do as I ask." Morgana turned her head away, scowl firmly planted on her lips but the king kept talking. "If you show me no respect, at least respect our finest singer."

Uther had never met Lady Helena before but she had been making waves around the kingdom the last year or so. He had heard tales of her beauty that matched her voice. So with the upcoming celebrations, he had only seen it fit to have her summoned to the castle to entertain them.

Who else would be better than who he had heard was the finest singer around these days.

Lady Helena would be arriving tomorrow and then he could see for himself just how talented she was.

Deciding that he was done talking to Morgana and content that he had gotten the final word in, Uther turned on his heel and started down the stairs back towards his little dinner party.

But of course, this was Morgana and she never allowed anybody to walk away from her with the last word. Not even Uther.

"You know, the more brutal you are, the more enemies you will create." Morgana called after him when he was already halfway down the stairs.

Even though he had heard her clearly, Uther kept walking, refusing to acknowledge such.

Morgana scowled down at his back before turning away, looking back out the window. Seeing the town just wasn't giving her the same sense of peace that it usually did. She was to riled up after her conversation with Uther.

So she hiked up her skirts and started up the stairs to the royal wing.

When she got there, Morgana glanced briefly at the guard planted firmly in front of the door next to Arthur's room. The room that his fiancé was in.

She briefly wondered if she should try and enter the room. If the guard would even let her since he was following Uther's orders to not let anyone in or out until morning.

Deciding against it due to the late hour, Morgana continued walking. She would meet him at some point. It would be impossible not to since they would be sharing not only a castle but a hallway as well for the next several decades.

The guard nodded in acknowledgment to her as she passed but she didn't go to her room. No, she ended up walking straight passed it. Instead, she knocked quietly on Arthur's door, wanting to see if he was still awake.

There was a moment of silence and she was prepared to step away, determining that he might be asleep. But before she could, she heard him call out a quiet, "Come in."

She ignored the guard watching her curiously. She knew that it wasn't entirely appropriate for her to be in Arthur's room this late, especially as they were getting older. After all, she was a lady and Arthur was about to be married.

Arthur's fiancé probably wouldn't appreciate her coming to his husband's room this late at night either. Not that she cared. She had never cared much for what others had thought of her, she wouldn't start now.

Morgana and Arthur didn't do it often, rarely actually, but they did have their late night talks sometimes. And if this fiancé couldn't understand that, then Morgana would gladly show him the door while they talked. And that was only if he was in the room at all.

Morgana doubted Arthur would be pleased to find his new husband hanging out in his room when he had a perfectly good one next door.

Morgana opened the door just wide enough for her to slide through the gap before shutting it firmly behind her, and away from the guard's curious gaze.

"Morgana," Arthur acknowledged before turning away. He was standing at his window, watching the town below. Apparently she wasn't the only one that liked watching the town as night fell.

He was chewing on his thumbnail but Morgana didn't mention it. It was a nasty habit from his childhood which, as Uther put it, was unseemly for a prince to be seen doing.

But he also only did it when he was particularly anxious which he had every right to be. The more hours that passed, the closer his marriage was.

"Arthur," Morgana said quietly, walking over to stand beside him. She could see their reflection in the glass of the window. "I've just heard news, your betrothed did arrive earlier today."

Arthur tensed up, feeling like he was going to be sick. He could practically feel the blood pumping in his veins, each breath he took making him more anxious than the last.

"And where did you hear that?" He finally asked, voice cracking just a touch. He cleared his throat, trying to make himself sound stronger than he was. "If you were gossiping with the girls again Morgana, you should know by now not to listen to every rumor that they tell you."

He was hoping that it was some kind of mistake. That Morgana really had been gossiping with the noble daughters during tea, although he knew that the girl rarely partook in it seriously. She usually just listened out of idle curiosity. Something about never knowing when you may need to know something that the person didn't want anybody else to know.

Arthur didn't really pay attention to her.

He had his own life to deal with. He didn't need to work out whatever drivel Morgana had heard of this time.

Morgana just scowled at the taller boy, "I wasn't having tea with the girls. I haven't had tea with them at all this month." She said firmly, but heaven forbid for Arthur to know anything about what was happening in her life.

"Good to know," Arthur said dryly, a mocking look on his face. The kind a brother might have when teasing a sister. The two had grown up together since their early teens. It was only natural to have formed some kind of bond in the past several years.

Morgana scowled at him though, pout on her lips. "Actually, I heard it from your father, himself."

Arthur felt like whatever humor he had just drain out of him within seconds. Now he stood there with a somber look on his face. "My father? When did you talk to him?"

Morgana stepped away from him, moving to sit on the edge of his desk. Morris had cleaned it up as he usually did. When Arthur worked, he usually spread out over his table but Morris usually stood right behind him, keeping all of his papers straight.

Arthur didn't say anything to Morris since it was his job but he had bitched to Morgana a time or two. Usually about how he had to dig through his papers to find what he was looking for because Morris had moved it to exactly where it was supposed to be.

"Just now actually, before I came up here." Morgana explained. "He caught me on the stairs, wanting me to go to the party he was having."

Arthur scrunched his face up, "Right, that party."

Morgana shook her head, feeling her hair swish down her back. "I'm honestly not sure if they are celebrating the execution that happened today or if they are celebrating your engagement."

Arthur turned his gaze back out the window, "I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the two. He's just trying to get this all done with without actually drawing a huge amount of attention to it. He's apparently not even inviting anyone outside the kingdom for the wedding."

Morgana's eyes widened, "Really? But wouldn't that be like an insult to the other kingdoms? If they aren't invited."

Arthur nodded, "That's what I've always thought."

"It's literally the first rule in politics." Morgana said, before scrunching up her face and making her voice sound all squeaky, doing a perfect imitation of their private tutor. "Whenever a big event is happening, always invite every noble you can. You don't want to be seen as giving favors to one kingdom over another."

Arthur couldn't help but snort, "Perfect Morgana, just perfect." She couldn't have done a more perfect technique. That sounded just like the old woman who had given them their etiquette lessons.

Morgana smirked, pleased with herself. "I know, right." She looked down as if she were inspecting her nails. But it was clear that she was just showboating. Then she gave a heavy sigh, "And your father wants me to be with him tomorrow. Apparently Lady Helena is arriving,"

"Who?" Arthur asked blankly.

Morgana gave him a look, "Lady Helena..." Arthur was still looking confused, making Morgana give a heavy sigh. "As in the woman who is going to sing for your wedding."

"Oh..." Arthur said awkwardly. "Right, I knew that." Of course he knew who Lady Helena was. Why wouldn't he know the name of the lady singing at his wedding. Just because he still didn't know his fiancé's name didn't mean he didn't know the wedding singer's.

Morgana gave him a look before a slow smile spread across her face. "You so did not."

Arthur gave her a scowl. He almost wanted to throw something at her just to erase that smug grin off her face. The only reason he didn't was because he was leaning beside his window and didn't have anything within reach.

But Arthur corrected that by making his way over to her. With a heavy sigh, he sat down in the chair at his desk. He wasn't usually so depressed. What did he have to be depressed about? He was a prince. Everybody in his life either loved him, wanted to be with him, or to be him. He ran a hand confidently over his hair, and he was handsome to boot.

It felt good to be known by everybody.

But with his upcoming wedding coming sooner rather than later, he would rather be anybody else at this moment. Hell, he would even rather be that hunched back peasant that lived on the edge of town that was like eighty years old and basically had no teeth.

He wanted to be anybody other than the one being married.

Arthur took his feet and propped them up on his desk, carefully not touching Morgana sitting on the other side. Or knocking over his stack of papers.

Morgana looked at him, her eyes surprisingly soft. They usually weren't when they looked at him. They were usually mostly annoyed but with these circumstances, everything was changing.

Arthur looked away with a scowl, unable to meet her eyes. He didn't want everything to change. He liked his life just how it was. He could spend his mornings training, his afternoons messing with the peasants, seeing if anybody was interesting enough that night to take to bed.

He rarely actually took a girl to bed but he was no stranger to it either. He'd only been with a handful of girls before although he had no doubt that the rumor mill put the number much higher than that. Not that Arthur had done anything to correct that. Why would he correct people on the number of girls he'd been with? It seemed kind of redundant to him.

And he'd also never taken them to his bed before. His room was his space, he wouldn't invite somebody that he would never see again into it. He was the only one that had ever slept in his bed.

Why soil his sheets when there were dozens of empty bedrooms that he could use at his disposal. Not that the few girls that he had shown an interest to had ever complained. Why complained when they could get bragging rights about sleeping with a prince.

Not that they would.

There was a reason the few girls he'd been with had been the daughters of nobles. They wouldn't go around talking about it because they needed to keep their reputation clean, pure. It would be harder to get a decent marriage offer if word got out that she had been with someone else. Although Arthur had found that rarely did somebody actually go to a marriage pure.

Most people wanted to be with someone they were actually attracted to before being bound in a loveless marriage.

In the like, five girls he'd ever been with, only one had ever complained that he hadn't taken her to his actual bed. And that was only because she had convinced herself that there was something more between them when Arthur had been clear from the beginning that this was just a one time thing.

Thank god her father had taken her home before she could go off the deep end. Never again did he want to see that little psycho, not that he would actually call her that to her face.

The prince couldn't exactly be seen being so bluntly rude to a noble, even if she was crazy.

Arthur's eyes drifted over to his bed, to his pendragon red sheets. He tried to imagine somebody in it, the first person to ever be in it other than himself. He tried to imagine this man that he would have to bring up here to consummate their marriage but he just couldn't picture it.

And not just because he had no idea what the man looked like.

He literally felt ill at just the idea of someone in his bed. The fact that the somebody in question would be not only a man but his husband made him feel even worst.

If he felt ill at just the thought, how on earth would he be able to do this when the time came?

"Arthur?" Morgana suddenly said, voice quiet. Arthur looked up startled, brought out of his thoughts before they could turn into a more depressing manner.

"Yeah?" He asked when she didn't say anything at first.

Morgana looked away, eyes trained on her lap. "Do you think your ready? For marriage, I mean."

Morgana couldn't even begin to imagine if it had been her that Uther had arranged to be married. Luckily, she didn't have to worry about such things, at least not yet. Uther always did see her as the twelve year old that arrived at his doorstep all those years ago. It had completely escaped his notice that she had grown into a young woman.

Most women were either married by her age of twenty two, or were at least engaged or courting. But not Morgana, and that was mainly because people were scared of Uther's wrath if they sullied her good name.

It was no secret that Uther was protective of the maiden in his care.

Morgana wondered what Uther would do if she ever told him that she's not a maiden. That she hadn't been since she was sixteen and a knight from another kingdom had been visiting while Camelot was hosting a tournament.

He hadn't realized just who she was and Morgana hadn't told him.

Arthur sighed, toying with his fingers. "How am I suppose to answer that? Of course I'm not. I mean, for one, he's a guy. Two, he's a guy!" Morgana raised her eyebrow at him mentioning it twice. "And three, for all I know, he could be a total freak! I know he's a peasant so he's already got that against him."

Morgana rolled her eyes at his last statement before a slow grin spread across her face. "We could always check him out ourselves."

Arthur looked at her with a frown, "Check him out?"

Morgana nodded, "Yeah!" She got excited about her idea. "The wedding is in what, a day or two. He's just next door. Why don't we just pop in and see what he's all about."

"...Pop in?" Arthur repeated weakly. He swallowed hard, a lump in his voice. He nearly fell out of his chair when he straightened up, planting his feet on the floor. He awkwardly tried to straighten up some papers that were already as straight as they were going to get thanks to Morris. "I, uh...it's getting pretty late. We probably shouldn't disturb him if he's trying to sleep."

Morgana laughed but stopped when she saw that Arthur wasn't laughing. "Wait, you're serious?"

Arthur gave her a look.

"Oooooh," Morgana said slowly as a thought struck her. "You're nervous!"

Arthur immediately glared at her, "I am not nervous! I don't get nervous!"

Morgana rolled her eyes, "Oh, of course you don't."

"I don't!" Arthur insisted, his pride on the line here. "I'm Prince Arthur Pendragon! Some little peasant boy isn't going to make me nervous!"

Morgana gave him a wry smirk, flicking her hair out of her eyes with a twitch of her fingers. "But he's not just 'some little peasant boy'. Is he? He's your husband to be."

Arthur swallowed hard at those words. It was hard to hear someone else refer to someone as his husband. He didn't think that he would ever get used to it, didn't want to get used to it.

Under Morgana's smirk, Arthur straightened his spine and started storming over to his door. "I'll go right now just to show you that there's nothing to be nervous about! I'm gonna march right on over there and let him know how things are gonna be!" He was the one in charge here and that boy had another thing coming if he considered anything different.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be so scared." Morgana said amused. Who knows, maybe he would be. But then again, he probably wouldn't survive this family for very long if he couldn't even handle Arthur. But it was nice to know that even at twenty summers, Arthur was just so easy to rile up.

"Damn right he will be." Arthur said with such forceful bravado that it was obviously fake.

He had just reached for the handle to his door when Morgana put a finger to her chin, voice sounding far to innocent. "Oh, did I forget to mention that you will have to let the guard in front of his door know that you want to be let into your husband's bed chambers this late at night."

Arthur froze before he could open his door. A moment of silence later, he let his head drop till it bumped against the door. "I hate you so much right now." He grumbled just loud enough for her to hear.

Morgana's amused smirk grew brighter.