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!

30. Chapter 30

Whatever doubt Merlin has been feeling all this time, seemed to wash away in that very moment.

He was practically hanging off his seat, with his hands flames along the edges of it on either side of it. It was surprising that he hadn't fallen over with how far he was leaning. His jaw had gone slack, falling into an 'o' of surprise as he watched the scene play out in front of him.

The way that Arthur swung his blade, putting every bit of force he could muster into every blow. He evaded his opponent with ease, twirling his sword around in his hand as if this was some kind of dance more than it was a sword fight.

Merlin could argue with himself until he was blue in the face, but he knew that he would never be able to deny it. Not after he'd seen the way Arthur fought, it was just so much more...majestic, was that the right word for it? Than any sword fight had the right to be.

He really was crushing on Arthur. He wasn't sick, and he didn't have an indigestion problem. He was just falling into the deep end of seriously crushing, and it actually didn't scare him.

Not anymore. It was as if everything inside of him was loosening up as he came to accept what he was feeling.

He was crushing on Arthur...

He was crushing on Arthur...

He was crushing on Arthur...

The phrase repeated over and over again in his head, solidifying itself into a fact.

Merlin watched as Arthur's blade collided with his opponent's, the two swords clashing harshly together. And just as fast as it had happened was Arthur pulling away, only to come back full force at another angel.

It was strange how beautiful it was.

Call Merlin vain, but he had always thought his own magic was beautiful. It was just the simple thing's that had given him pleasure, like making thing's move to his will, or making pictures in the sky. No matter how many times he did it, it would feel him with some kind of childish glee, and it would feel as if there was a strange kind of peace settling in his bones.

There was nothing else like it in the world.

But the way that Arthur fought...there was a different kind of beauty to it. It was a kind of beauty that Merlin hadn't known existed, and all he could do was watch the battle before him in awe.

Merlin watched as Arthur's opponent came at him with everything he had. The other knight was getting clumsy, and more frantic with their moment's. It was as if they already knew that they were going to lose, but kept trying to cling on for just a moment longer.

Arthur rose his shield in defense, letting the man's sword clash against it with a clang of metal on metal.

Merlin liked to think that Arthur had probably realized the same thing. That the man was getting desperate, and desperation lead to mistakes.

Then his breath caught, and he felt as if his throat had been clean he'd closed with a sudden worry that started even him.

Arthur had lowered his shield and his opponent was swinging wildly at the prince's head.

Before the sword even had the chance to connect with Arthur's head, the prince was easily ducking down, allowing the sword to sweep over the top of his head.

Merlin felt the pressure in his throat ease away, when it became apparent that his sudden concern had been for nothing. And he felt surprising stupid for being so suddenly worried, clearly Arthur knew what he was doing.

As if sensing the danger that he was in, the opponent scrambled backward's, raising his shield in defense from any onslaught that the blonde would give him.

But Arthur didn't, seemingly perfectly content to stay where he stood. Even as he dropped back into his practiced crouch and twisted his sword easily around his hand.

It was a dangerous gesture, Merlin probably would have ended up stabbing himself if he had attempted to do the same. But Arthur had done it with such ease, his every movement radiating nothing less than pure confidence. It was clear that he'd done that movement a million times before, so many times that it was no doubt considered second nature for him.

He heard the gasps and the cries of the crowd around him as they got just as involved in the match as he was. And they all waited with baited breath for what would come next.

Arthur was the first to make a move, which he did so with a grace that was so surprising, it actually startled Merlin to see. The prince barreled forward with ease, swinging his sword and letting it bang against the shield in a manner that was almost deliberate. As if he was targeting the shield itself on purpose, instead of just trying to get pass it.

Merlin saw why when the prince's opponent took the opportunity he had to do a spin like Arthur had done earlier, trying to add more force into the blow of his blade. And maybe Merlin was just bias, but the man's movements seemed more clumsy and unorganized unlike Arthur's, who had been precise and sure...calculated.

Arthur brought his sword up with ease, the metal of it clashing harshly with his opponent as he blocked the blow, sliding his sword down the length of the other man's blade. And then Arthur was closer, using his own sword to force his opponent's blade out of the way as he spun so that his back was to the other man.

And then Arthur's elbow, sharp and sure, covered in a layer of protective cloth, slammed itself straight into the other knight's face. The force of the blow was enough to throw the knight onto the ground, where he landed harshly on his back, and probably knocking the breath out of him as well.

The man's helmet went flying, sailing straight off of his head and landing somewhere among the sand scattered across the field, signaling the end of the match.

It had all been so...glorious, in a way that he'd never considered sword fighting could be before.

The match had been over before he even realized it was. It was only the sudden roar of the crowd that brought it to his attention. He had almost been expecting the match to go on forever-it had felt as if it had gone on forever-but not in a way that had made it seem to drag by.

More like Merlin just hadn't wanted it to ever end, if only so he could keep watching the way Arthur moved.

Merlin had stood from his seat at some point, and it startled him to realize that he didn't even know when he'd done that. He definitely couldn't remember standing up. But either way, he was, and his hands were clamped tightly around the bar on the top of the railing overlooking the field.

There was a certain excitement etched onto his features, and his eye's had gone so dark they almost looked dilated. His smile was so wide, it almost felt as if it was going to break his face in half.

"Well, someone enjoyed the match." Morgana said playfully, her voice breaking through the fog that had covered Merlin's mind. But he didn't look back, to engaged with the sight of Arthur standing on the field in victory.

He briefly heard the quieter voice of Gwen whispering to her mistress, "I think we've lost him. He doesn't seem to be paying much attention to anything but Arthur."

And maybe that was what he needed to get his muscles, that had felt as if they were made out of jello, to get moving. His hand's shot up to cup around his mouth so that he could roar with the crowd, but his throat froze up before he got the first syllable out.

That...fucking...prat!

The way he'd been moving, the way he'd been fighting, the way that every swing of his blade had somehow been both instinctive and yet calculating...as if he'd been thinking two steps ahead this entire time.

It was so different to how Arthur had been fighting him, back when they'd been training together. He had thought the prince had been hard with his swing's, he could still feel the phantom ache in the arm that had held his shield.

But as he'd just realized, that ache was nothing compared to how it could have felt.

That fucking prat had held back.

Arthur hadn't put any real force into his swing's, he hadn't taken Merlin down in an instant when he full well knew that the prince could. Had he just been playing with him...?

Merlin whipped around, nearly startling Morgana and Gwen when they saw the way his eye's had gone almost intensively focused. "Quick, what's the other knight's name?" He said urgently, waving his hand in an almost impatient manner.

He was sure that they had said it before the match started, he was almost positive that there has been some kind of announcement. But whatever it was had been lost to him during the roar's of the crowd.

"Uh, Sir Osolat, I believe..." Morgana said slowly, but she sounded unsure. That particular knight wasn't stationed around Camelot's inner city, his job usually took him to the outposts to protect the highway's from bandit's.

Merlin whipped back around, not hearing the whisper of Gwen saying, "It's Sir Onslot."

On the field, Arthur ignored the unconscious knight at his feet. Looking out at the roaring crowd all cheering for him, Arthur carefully avoided looking at that one certain spot as he eased his helmet off of his blistering skin.

The battle had been won, and it was far easier than he wanted it to be. But this was only the first rounds, he could only hope that he had more impressive opponent's going forward.

It was so ridiculously easy, that he had barely worked up a sweat. In fact, if it wasn't for the way his bang's were now clinging to his forehead, he wouldn't have thought he'd worked up a sweat at all. And that was mostly from the heat of the sun more than from the fight itself.

But ridiculously easy or not, there was still a thrumming in his veins from just being able to fight at all. It was an almost addictive quality, being able to feel the way his blood was practically humming beneath his skin. It was a feeling unlike anything in the world, a feeling he'd only ever experienced in the mist of a fight.

And speaking of fight...Arthur finally raised his head to squint in the sunlight. His eye's locked immediately on where he knew his consort had taken residence.

And almost in an instant, faster than he could blink, Arthur felt as if his mind had completely shut down. He could do nothing but stare in disbelief at the bleacher's, his eye's were probably playing tricks on him because it looked as if everybody else had blurred straight out of his vision.

Everybody except for Merlin, who looked surprisingly vivid in a way that Arthur had never seen before. And although Arthur couldn't hear Merlin, the crowd as a whole was to loud and he was to high up, from the gestures he was making towards his opponent...it was obvious what he was doing.

Arthur felt his blood start stirring in his veins, and his jaw locked, unnoticed by the crowd because of how high up the bleacher's were. His eye's never looked away from Merlin's, even as the boy was clearly trying to encourage his unconscious opponent to get back up.

Arthur was only forced to look away as he heard the announcer announcing his win. He didn't look behind him to see, but he was close enough to hear the steady thump as the announcer took Sir Onslot's crest from the wall that showed everyone competing and dropped it onto the ground. Even though he wasn't looking, Arthur knew that the announcer was taking his own crest and moving it up into the next round's slot.

For the first time, as Arthur stared out to the crowd, he didn't glance in his father's direction just so he could see that glimmer of pride reflecting in his eye's. The kind of pride that was only ever directed at Arthur when he'd done what was expected of him, like winning a tournament.

Realizing that he'd been standing there for to long, and that guards were arriving to help carry his opponent off the field, Arthur finally dragged his eye's away from Merlin's teasingly smirking expression that he could just barely make out.

Whipping around, Arthur practically stalked across the field towards the back area where all of the other knight's were waiting to accost him. He stepped into the back room with a flourish, and all of the knight's inside immediately crowded him, trying to get his attention as they told him what an exciting match he just had. As if there was any doubt that he would have won against such an unskilled opponent.

He ignored them all, the way their voices were grating on his ear's as they tried to somehow win the favor of the prince by telling him thing's he already knew. He was used to this kind of attention, and usually revered in it, but something about today was different. There was something about today that he just couldn't put his finger on, that caused a deep irritation to swell up in his bones.

Why did it irritate him so much that Merlin had clearly been on his opponent's side instead of his own?

Stalking forward, Arthur practically pushed himself through the crowd of knight's in a manner that he had never allowed himself to do so before as it was unseemly for a prince to behave that way toward's other nobles. But he didn't care right now, not by a long shot.

Arthur took his place by the wall, nearest to the door, where he could finally find solace in the peace that it provided, as the knight's grew distracted by the next round starting.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Arthur glowered down at the floor in an almost petulant manner. But his eyes were dark, deadly and sharp with clarity as he looked down at what appeared to be a faded bloodstain on the floor.

His stupidly irritating consort, that was what was causing his foul mood. Arthur clenched his fingers in his sleeve's, nearest to his elbow. Just the memory of his consort's smirkingly teasing face as he did something that Arthur had specifically told him not to, it caused something to stir in his veins.

It was as if his blood had started to thrum again, moving faster and faster as his glower on that stupid bloodstain hardened. It was strange, as if he was truly feeling the way his blood was moving under his skin. It was quite similar to how he felt when he was fighting, it was almost startling how similar it was actually. Which was strange, because he'd only ever felt this stir in his body during a fight, definitely not after the fight was already completed.

But it was different as well, because there was something dark stirring around under his skin, mixing easily into the excitement from the fight. Even as lackluster as his fight had been, he would never admit that he was thankful for his armor. If only because it covered up the hard-on he got anytime that he was in a battle, the exhilaration of being in a fight somehow to much for his body to take.

The dark thrumming running through his veins didn't help matter, it probably made it worse actually.

And somehow, thinking about his mouthy consort and what he could do to punish the brat for his impudence, didn't make it lessen in the slightest. In fact, he was almost certain that it seemed to throb the slightest of bit, hidden behind the safety of his armor.

But Arthur dismissed it.

His mind was already warping with the dangerous thoughts of what he could do, things that he may be able to get away with the next time he saw that brat.

And if his cock throbbed even harder by his growing thoughts, hard enough to actually gather Arthur's attention, he attributed it to nothing more than the thrill of the fight still coursing through his veins.

X

Merlin tried to pay attention to the next fight or two, he really did. But he found his attention waning as soon as the next match started. Pouting in a way that he would forever deny, Merlin collapsed into his chair with an irritated huff. His leg started bouncing up and down, his jittering energy causing him to be more fidgety than usual.

A bored light shone in his eye's as he watched the next two fighting. And he honestly couldn't have told you which of them won, and he could only vaguely remember the next fight. But his attention had waned so much at this point, that he couldn't have told you who fought if they'd been put in a lineup.

He found his eye's constantly darting over to the back area that he'd seen Arthur disappear through, almost willing the knight to re-emerge and capture his attention like he had during his fight.

But he never did, and Merlin pursed his lips with a growing agitation.

He would have thought a tournament would have been more interesting than this. But somehow, after seeing how Arthur fought, it made all of the other knight's seem as if they were lacking something. Now, what that something was, Merlin couldn't have told you if he tried, but he also noticed it vividly.

How all of the knight's just seemed to swing their swords with no rhythm or rhyme to it at all. As if their was no forethought put into it, as if they were trying to win by sheer force alone.

It was surprisingly annoying.

"Merlin, are you alright?" Morgana asked as the third match finished, clapping her hands politely for the winner.

Merlin glanced up, but immediately darted his eye's away again. "Yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" He asked, but his face had such annoyance on it that it was impossible to hide. But it wasn't directed at Morgana, never towards Morgana. His eye's had gone straight back for the little doorway that led to where the knight's were stationed, and his lips pursed again.

Arthur still hadn't emerged, and there wasn't anything that he could do to quell his irritation. He didn't care if he had to watch Arthur fight ten matches, all of them would be more interesting than the one he was witnessing right now.

"Well you do seem kind of...tense..." Gwen pointed out, her attention having been drawn away from the fight long enough to give a concerned frown to her new friend.

Merlin glanced over to her, his lips pursing before his eye's darted back over to the entrance on the far side of the field where the knight's were staying, "There's nothing to be tense about." Merlin said gruffly, narrowing his eye's on that stupid doorway, almost as if he thought he could force Arthur to the doorway by his sheer thoughts alone. "I'm quite enjoying myself...watching all of these other knight's...are you sure that one even knows how to use a sword?"

He asked this as he finally looked to the battle, where a knight waving two hooked swords fell on his backside after the other knight impressively blocked his attack. But still, Merlin's eye's had a shimmer of boredom in them. The kind of boredom he definitely would not be having right now if he hadn't seen Arthur fighting first.

And his fingers were starting to rap harsher on his bouncing knee. Both Gwen and Morgana looked at him with curious frowns. The two girl's glanced at each other, and then looked back to the male in their group.

Merlin could practically feel the way their eye's were drilling into the side of his head. It was like a pinpricking sensation on his skin that made him want to scratch at his face. But he didn't, if only because the next match was starting.

And just like all of the other's before, it was dreadfully boring.

Merlin jolted up from his seat, causing an exclamation of annoyance from the people in the row behind him when he stood in their way.

"Merlin! What are you doing?" Morgana asked, her already concerned frown deepening.

"What?" Merlin looked away from the newest fight that was starting, already wearing an unimpressed frown. Upon seeing Morgana and Gwen staring at him quizzically, he turned sheepish. "I just find myself getting...incredibly thirsty all of a sudden. I think I'm just gonna go to the well for a quick spot of water. I'll be back soon." And then Merlin was hurrying off, to the relief of the people behind him who had been trying to see the fight around him.

He wouldn't be coming back.

Morgana and Gwen turned to stare at each other, with heavy frowns and confused eyes. "What do you think that was about?" Morgana said, absolutely baffled by Merlin's sudden departure. "I thought he was excited to see the tournament..."

Gwen suddenly stiffened as a thought occurred to her. She raised a hand to cover her mouth at her sudden gasp, and then looked at Morgana with urgent eye's. "You don't think he's going to give Arthur a favor right now, do you?"

Morgana's eye's widened in surprise, "He wouldn't dare." She insisted. "He still doesn't have anything to give him!" But she turned doubtful eyes in the direction that Merlin had escaped in.

Gwen followed her gaze in the same direction, but Merlin was already long gone. "Should we go after him? Before he makes a mistake?" She worried, fretting, concerned that the boy could be in deeper trouble than he realized if he didn't think things through and do them exactly right.

Merlin would be a laughing stock among higher society if things weren't probably done. Especially if he went the more public route.

Morgana though, she just settled back into her seat. "No." She said simply, turning back to the fight to watch. But by her contemplative expression, it was clear that she wasn't really paying attention and her thoughts were already somewhere else entirely.

"No?" Gwen repeated, looking absolutely flabbergasted. "What do you mean by 'no?' What if Merlin does something...what if Arthur does something to him..."

"What if they do something together?" Morgana countered back, sighing heavily as she shook her head. "Just no, Gwen. We'll stay here, and leave them to their privacy. They clearly haven't had much of it since their marriage."

And yes, while she was worried, she knew better than to get involved. Not unless something happened to force her involvement. She would rather sit here and wait, to see how thing's played out, before she got into the mix.

Gwen frowned, but heaven forbid she go against her lady, especially when she knew that she was probably right. So swallowing hard, Gwen settled back into her seat, "Yes, m'lady." She said, her voice almost in a soft mummer.

Neither girl would talk again for the rest of the tournament.

X

Merlin walked through the dark tunnel of the stadium, heading further and further down the darkening hallway. And really, somebody should suggest getting some torches put down here, or at least some more of them. From what he could see, there appeared to be only one torch every yard or so, and that wasn't nearly enough to light up the hallway.

Merlin walked faster, almost in a light jog so that he could circle around the stadium faster than it had taken to walk there the first time he'd gone through it with George.

If anybody had asked Merlin if he was eager, he would pure out deny it with every possible lie and trick he could possibly come up with. But at the same time, if anybody saw him, it would be impossible to deny. The way his walking would speed up as he felt he was getting closer and closer. The way he bit at his lip hard enough that he could feel the little pinpricks of blood coming to the surface. The way his eye's were darting around trying to see any sign of an entrance...the way his heart picked up the pace in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with his sudden stride.

But really, could you blame him? Arthur had told him that he would stop him from cheering for his opponent. Now clearly, that had failed. And maybe Merlin was just far to curious for his own good, but he was really interested in seeing what Arthur would do now. Especially since Merlin had clearly gone out of his way to do it.

Merlin had to bite his lip harder before he allowed a groan to escape his lips. His thoughts were running wild, but they were all surprisingly mild. Things like putting him back in the stocks, or making him do something dreadfully boring.

He was more interested in what Arthur would do, then he was about the actual consequences.

The problem was, Merlin didn't know Arthur well enough to be able to guess what his next move would be. If it would be what he was thinking, or if Arthur had other plans in mind, yet alone what those plans would be.

But if this was a game of chess, Merlin knew that he would be saying check right about now. And he was just waiting for Arthur to make the next move to say 'check mate.' And Arthur would have no idea that Merlin was orchestrating this whole thing, pushing and pushing, just trying to force Arthur's hand.

If only because he wanted to see what his husband would do next.

Merlin eye's, half hidden by the poor light of a passing torchlight, lit up as he came across the entrance to the stadium. The light of the sun streaming in brightened up that single patch of hallway. Perfect, the entrance that he and George came in at meant that he was hallway there.

And with a renewed energy, Merlin crossed passed the doorway and continued back into the rapidly darkening hallway.

Merlin slowed his pace, trying to squint because it seemed as if there were even less torch fixtures down this path. Which was just strange if you asked him, but he wasn't going to complain if the audience had more lightening than these knight's did.

But even though it was getting darker, and the hallway was getting eerily cold, Merlin pressed forward. He had to get there eventually, if he just kept going, right?

As he walked, his mind started flashing back to Arthur's fight. He replayed his favorite parts over and over again in his mind. Like the way Arthur had spun around, putting his every force into his blow against even a subpar opponent. Or the way that Arthur had used his elbow, easily knocking his opponent to the ground.

Maybe Merlin should be concerned about how excited he'd gotten from the scene, but he couldn't. There was just something about it, the grace in which Arthur had fought, that had drew him in like a firefly to a torch.

If Merlin had to describe things in color, he would say that his magic resembled a shade of cerulean blue. It was calming, and peaceful, almost innocent in nature. It was just something so pure, something that was so ingrained in him, that it was impossible to deny no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

But Arthur, the way he fought...Merlin would have to describe it as a shade of red. Actually, the shade of pendragon red would probably be the best color for it. He had just been so fierce, striking at every opened opportunity. He had been fast and harsh, pushing forward until he'd won.

And yet despite all of that, the way he had moved had been so graceful, and there had been a certain looseness to his form that had surprised even Merlin to see. As if all of this time, Arthur had been some kind of prisoner, and this was the first time that he was truly seeing the blonde absolutely free.

He wanted to see more of it, probably more than he was willing to admit.

"Halt! Who goes there!" A sudden voice cut through Merlin's thoughts, almost the same way a dagger to the gut would have gotten his attention.

Merlin's head snapped up, a startled expression on his face as he took in the scene ahead of him. He'd been so caught up in his thoughts, that he hadn't realized that he had finally gotten to the knight's entrance.

There was an open doorway in front of him, but it was hidden by a pendragon red curtain, not allowing him to see anything past it. On either side of the curtain was two torches lighting up the passageway, making the curtain give off an almost eerie red glow. And standing on either side of the curtain, but just inside where the torches were stationed, were two armed guards. They were armed to the teeth, and each one had a spear in hand, crossing them together in front of the curtain. Almost as if they thought Merlin was going to force his way through them to get to the group of highly trained knight's that resided inside.

Merlin frowned, his eyebrow's creasing in confusion. He hadn't been expecting to meet with armed guards stopping him. "I uh, I'm here to see Arthur." He said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

The two knight's shared a glance, before one of the knight's scoffed. "The prince isn't taking fans." He said bluntly, relaxing some as he gave the boy an annoyed look. It happened every year, where at least one or two commoners thought that Arthur was looking at them during the fight. And somehow got in their head that meant that Arthur wanted to see them.

Delusional, the knight thought, thinking that the prince would be interested in some common girl. But then again, he also hadn't been expecting the prince to marry a common boy...

Merlin's eyes widened and his jaw dropped open, "F-fan?" He spluttered, looking dumbstruck as he raised his hands to rest on his hips. "I am not some fan!" He defended himself. And okay, maybe he was a fan of the way Arthur fought, but like hell he was going to admit it.

"Yeah, yeah." The knight grumbled, rolling his eye's. And that just made Merlin bristle, his face scrunching up in annoyance. "Just go back and watch the show. We'll pretend that you were never here, just to save you some face." The guard said dismissively, but he only said that because he knew that Arthur wouldn't be interested in hearing how yet another fan tried to get at him.

The guard even lowered his spear, apparently deeming Merlin as somebody that was clearly not a threat to the prince's safety.

Merlin scowled, "I don't want to pretend that I was never here!" He exclaimed, getting louder and louder. "I want to see Arthur!" He'd come all this way, and it wasn't like the matches was holding his attention any longer.

And maybe it was just his curiosity driving him to madness, but he was not leaving before he saw Arthur. Once he knew what Arthur was going to do now that Merlin had been caught cheering for something else, he would be more than happy to go with his curiosity satisfied.

The guard didn't seem to happy with his answer though. He gave Merlin a harsh stare, his glare hardening in a way that would have scared off any other commoner. But maybe Merlin was just stupid, because he didn't even flinch.

"You need to leave," the guard said in an almost threatening tone. "Now." But Merlin still didn't budge, so the guard added something else. "Before I have you thrown in the stocks."

Merlin just scoffed, "Yeah, because I've never been there before." He said dryly. The stocks may not had been his most favorite place in the world, but it wasn't like it was the worse punishment either. He could think of a thousand more worse things that could happen.

Can anybody say pyre?

The guard took a threatening step forward, clearly much larger than Merlin himself was. "Why, you little-" the guard started, the end's of his patience starting to thin. No peasant was going to be giving him lip, not as long as he was a Camelot knight.

The knight's growing rant was cut off, but only because the second knight who had been standing there, silently observing, stuck his arm out before the first knight could proceed any closer.

"What are you doing?" The first knight hissed, glaring daggers at the second knight's insubordination.

The second knight ignored him, giving Merlin a contemplative glance. "...What's your name?" He asked bluntly, his tone firm and even.

"W-what does his name matter?" The first knight spluttered. "You know as well as I do that peasants aren't allowed in this area of the stadium." And he took his job very seriously. Anything to be on the good side of those higher in power than him.

The second knight completely ignored his comrade, as if he hadn't spoken at all, making the first knight bristle. But the second knight had no patience for the first knight's power trip or his attempts at exerting his dominance onto somebody else.

The second knight held eyes steadily on Merlin, "Your name, boy." He said bluntly, already having an inkling of suspicion. There wasn't many peasant boy's that tried to get back here, that was mainly held by a few of the bolder peasant girl's that were trying to sleep their way up the chain of power.

Merlin flashed a scowl at the first knight, before turning back to the second knight that seemed so much more reasonable. "Merlin," he said bluntly. "My name is Merlin."

The second knight nodded, "Consort Merlin?" He asked bluntly. All of the knights had been informed of the prince's husband, things like his name and basic features like hair and eye color. But this was the first time the knight was seeing him in person.

Merlin stiffened, still not used to people addressing him like that. "I am." He said bluntly. "But you can just call me Merlin." They knew he was the consort, it wasn't like he needed to hear it every time somebody talked to him.

The second knight nodded and stepping back into his place against the wall, holding his spear lax at his side. "You may proceed." He said, before shifting his gaze straight ahead. As if preparing himself to wait for the next unfortunate person that crossed their paths.

Merlin gave the knight a cautious look, before shrugging and heading up to the curtain. But it wasn't the second knight he should have been watching. As this was going on, the first knight had looked more than shocked as he heard what the second had called him. And when Merlin tried to enter the curtain, he was quick to put his spear back in the way, making Merlin jumped back startled as the spear suddenly cut off his path.

"Charles!" The second knight snapped, his blank expression shifting into a scowl as he glared sternly at the other knight. "What do you think you are doing?"

Charles bristled, since the second knight had been talking to him as if he was nothing more than an unruly toddler. "We can't just let him in!" He protested. "He's just a peasant boy!" And this was one of the few areas in the entirety of the kingdom where no peasants were allowed. He did not want to have that desecrated.

"He-" Merlin interrupted defensively. "Is right here! And I would like to go in and talk to my husband." He didn't exactly want to use the husband card, but he also wasn't ready to just throw in the towel and go all of the way back.

"You heard him." The second knight said bluntly, staring 'Charles' down. "Peasant heritage or not, he is still our consort. Which means he has ever right to enter, especially if it's because he wishes to see the prince."

"But-but...he's a peasant boy!" Charles protested, going to great lengths to prevent Merlin from entering.

Merlin scowled, "What's your problem?" He demanded. "I'm not going to hurt anything! I just wanted to...congratulate Arthur for winning his fight! There's nothing wrong with that!" He exclaimed, trying to duck under the spear. But Charles slid it back down into his way, preventing him from going any further.

"Charles!" The second knight said sharply, using his own spear to slide it under Charles, forcing it up and out of Merlin's way. "I know that you are not questioning our king."

Charles bristled at the insinuation, narrowing his eye's on the second knight. "Justin, I would never dare." He hissed. "It is not my place to question our king."

Merlin was watching this, his head going back and forth as each knight spoke up. Was it sad that this was almost more interesting than the actual tournament itself?

"Well then," 'Justin' said firmly, not giving in an inch. "Despite your personal feeling's, this mere 'peasant' is our consort. And is rewarded with all of the privilege that anybody married to our prince would be."

He said the word 'peasant' with a hint of annoyance to it. But Merlin had a feeling that Justin held less disdain about him being a peasant, and more like he was just trying to enunciate this fact to Charles.

Merlin's eye's darted away from the two squabbling knight's, and back to the curtain. He glanced back at the knight's who were now talking as if he wasn't even there.

Merlin didn't pick up his feet. He casually scooted his way so that he was standing against the wall near the curtain, trying to ease his way passed Justin.

"He could be anyone!" Charles voice suddenly cut through the air. But it sounded more like he was realizing that this was a losing battle. "I mean, are we really going to just believe some random boy who declares he's the consort? Any peasant boy can claim that!"

That brought Merlin up short before he could duck through the curtain. He glanced back at the two knights with a frown, "Who would want to impersonate me?"

The two knights stopped arguing long enough for their heads to snap down and look at him. Justin was giving him a stern look, but made no protest with this 'peasant's' interruption. After all, a consort had every right to have their voice heard.

Charles though, was scowling, and his eyes were harsh and annoyed. But at least he wasn't trying to prevent Merlin from going through the curtain, but with the way his hand was clenching and unclenching around his spear, it was taking everything he had not to.

Merlin let out a light chuckle, somehow sounding both nervous and sheepish. And then before Charles could give anymore of a reason for not allowing Merlin to enter, the consort was ducking through the curtain.

Charles head snapped around to glower at Justin, "Do you see what you've done? You just allowed a commoner to enter a sacred place." He has never been more agitated because of Justin's actions than he was now.

"It's a tournament room." Justin said dryly. "And you need to accept that times are changing. We are now living in a world in which a peasant has every possibility of marrying a noble. It is not our place to question these things, our place is only our duty to keep the kingdom safe and to keep the peace."

He said all of this is a no-nonsense, do not argue with me, I am done with this-tone. There was absolutely no humor or softness to his voice.

And then Justin was turning to face forward, waiting to stop the next person that tried to enter through here. Some people may claim that Justin was a harsh knight, but at the same time, nobody could have said that he wasn't fair, and took his duty very seriously.

Charles turned to face forward as well, taking his place on the wall. Muttering harshly under his breath, he said, "Commoners should do as their told, and stay in their place. Married to Arthur or not, he should still be treated as the commoner than he is."

"That commoner," Justin said in a bland tone, not giving Charles the satisfaction of looking at him as he spoke. "Now has more power in the palm of his hand than you will ever know."

Charles tightened his grip around his spear to almost breaking levels. Commoners, he thought spitefully, should learn their place.

X

Merlin let the thick curtain fall behind him, standing just inside the room. If Charles and Justin had been talking after he'd left, he couldn't hear a word because of how thick the curtain was. No wonder nobody had poked their heads out at the sound's of rising voices.

Merlin glanced around the room curiously, taking several large steps into it. He didn't know what Charles was being so protective of, it seemed like any other room to him. It was made out of sandstone and everything, just like the rest of the stadium seemed to be. The only difference were the many knight's that were clustered around the open entrance way in front of him, watching the fight's.

Merlin ducked and weaved his way through the small cluster of knight's, muttering 'excuse me's'. But there was no Arthur anywhere, and wasn't that a disappointment. Did he really watch an argument between two knights just to find that Arthur had what?

Already left?

Don't tell Merlin that Arthur was so arrogant about his win, that he hadn't bothered to wait around to see who else would be advancing to the next round's.

"Excuse me, just trying to..." Merlin grunted, literally having to push his way through two knight's right up against each other that seemed more like they were made out of nothing but biceps instead of anything else. "Get by." He let out a breath of relief when he was able to pop out from between them.

And that was how he found himself directly in the front of the crowd, being able to see the fight from here. It appeared that a new one was starting, a knight with a familiar shield of yellow was just now marching out onto the field.

"Who let a peasant in here?" He heard one of the knight's muttering from behind him.

"Do you think the guards are being lax out there?" Another knightly grumbled, and he could practically feel their annoyed glances drilling into his back. "I mean, what were they thinking letting a commoner in? I thought this place was only for knight's."

"Maybe we should escort him out." The first one grunted. "He's clearly in the wrong place..." and his tone of voice indicated that he was more than likely to drag Merlin out then actually escort him.

It made Merlin's hackles rise.

Glancing over his shoulder at the two knights behind him, "Actually," he said bluntly. "I do believe that I'm in the right place. But you might have a point. I find the view down here," he stopped to give them a raised eyebrow and a more than obvious look. "Entirely displeasing compared to the bleachers." And then he was turning back around, so that he could act as if he was actually interested in watching this newest fight commence.

Merlin probably shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when a hand clapped down on his shoulder. He was forced around and a fist full of his shirt was grasp, jerking him to the knight. The knight, a burly looking man with many scars across his face, sneered down at him, "You should show me some respect." The man said darkly. "As a knight of Camelot, I'm one of the men keeping you alive by keeping our boarders safe. So show me the respect I deserve, or I will teach it to you."

Merlin looked at him blankly, were all knights this arrogant? Arthur was definitely no picnic, and then there had been the knight that had accosted him in the hall, and let's not forget about Charles just outside this room, and now this knight? If he hadn't met knights like Derrick and Leon, Merlin would have long written off all of the knight's completely.

And it was so weird how fast he'd found himself in this kind of situation.

Merlin brightened up with false excitement, balancing himself on the tips of his toe's since the taller knight was yanking him upwards to face him, "Actually, I don't believe that's entirely true. I'm not from Camelot, so no, you've never kept me safe." Hell, the knight's from his own kingdom didn't keep his village safe, they had literally been written off and left to fend for themselves. Continuing on, Merlin said, "But you are in the attempt of assaulting me. So tell me again...why should I respect you?"

Maybe Merlin was just hard headed, but a threat about 'teaching him respect' didn't really scare him. And it wasn't because he thought he was 'untouchable' by being consort. He was just really that hard headed.

The knight's face seemed to shift into an angrier expression at that, but Merlin still thought that the knight that had accosted him in the hall did a much better expression of anger.

"Ugh, a fucking foreigner? Who thought it was a good idea to let you inside the city?" He demanded, as if he was really expecting Merlin to give him a serious answer.

"Probably the king." Merlin said dryly. Uther was the only reason that he was here in the first place after all.

That seemed to stump the knight, before there was a look of disdain on his face. "Fucking liar, as if a nobody like you would know the king. He has more important thing's to do than involve himself with a peasant."

"Like one of his knight's assaulting one of the commoners that they claim to be protecting." Merlin said pointedly, giving an obvious look to the hand the knight was using to jerk himself about.

Did nobody around here understand personal space?

The knight scowled, before saying in an arrogant tone, "Maybe I will teach you respect." And to Merlin's disbelief, the knight was using his other hand to reach for his blade. And this wasn't like Arthur when they had met that first day, and he was just acting as if he was going to pull out his sword. This was actually real.

The other knight's in the crowd, even the friend that this knight had been talking with, hushed and they all took a step back to watch. The knight's formed a semi-half circle around Merlin and the knight holding him.

"Get off!" Merlin snapped, starting to wiggle and kick. But really, all he did was hurt his toe against the armor incasing the knight's leg, more than he hurt the actual knight.

"Oooh, scared, are you?" The knight smirked, pulling his sword out some more, as if he was trying to tease Merlin.

"I've seen scarier." Merlin grunted, with a roll of his eye's as he started wiggling some more. The knight narrowed his eye's and a sneer of disgust formed on his lips.

"Chase, stop it." His friend hissed from the crowd. "You're going to get yourself disqualified acting like this-

"Like what?" 'Chase' said with a scoff, not giving his friend a look as he jerked Merlin closer. "I'm just trying to teach a peasant boy what happens when he insults a knight."

"I don't have to insult you, you do that all by yourself!" Merlin shot back, still wiggling to try and free himself from the knight's grasp. "I mean, you go around wearing the uniform of a knight, and yet you disgrace it like this!"

Merlin couldn't think of anything more disgraceful than a knight exerting his position of power over an unarmed civilian.

There was a gasp from the crowd all around them, and Merlin saw the facial feature's of Chase freeze. And maybe he went a step to far, because something shifted in Chase's eyes, as if he had finally snapped.

"You-you-you commoner!" Chase snarled, as if this was an insult to the highest order.

But all that did was make Merlin felt a hint of pride, "I'd rather be a commoner than a knight!" He shot back, unable to stop himself even when he knew that he was digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole.

And true enough, Chase was shoving him backwards while yanking his sword until just the tip remained inside. Merlin yelped from the sudden force, only to feel the breath escape him as he landed roughly against something firm and hard just behind him.

And a hand much heavier than when Chase had done it, landed firmly on his shoulder as if to hold him into place. Merlin's head whipped around, mouth opening to throw out another comment to the knight that had grabbed him. But his voice died in his throat as he got caught in the stare of Arthur.

And he was not happy.

"Are you causing trouble again?" Arthur asked in a murmur, only loud enough for Merlin to hear. And the carefully contained way that he was speaking, it led Merlin to having no idea who the prince was mad at.

Him or the knight.

"I didn't start anything." Merlin protested, doing nothing to lower his voice. "All I did was walk in here."

Arthur rolled his eye's, "And as I'm learning, that's all it takes for trouble to start." He'd seen Merlin as soon as the other boy had entered. It was hard not to notice a peasant boy slinking in through all of the knights. He'd been standing against the wall, watching Merlin disappear into the crowd of knight's. He had considered dragging the boy out by his stupidly large ears, and berate him for not only daring to enter this space but also for demanding to know what he was thinking cheering for his opponent. That was blown out of the window when Chase had accosted the boy, and Arthur had only intervened when he saw the knight going for his sword.

"Do you think I like being accosted by one of 'your' knights?" Merlin scowled, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. And he shook his shoulder, trying to shake Arthur's hand off of him. But either the prince didn't notice, or Merlin wasn't moving hard enough, because Arthur didn't budge.

Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off before he had the chance to.

"Sire!" Chase interrupted, apparently having no problem with getting into a conversation with his prince and a commoner. He pushed his sword back into his scabbard. "It's a good thing that you are here. This...commoner...entered here, and has insulted my honor. I would like to have a sanctioned duel with hi-" he was cut off when Arthur turned startling cold eyes onto him.

"A sanctioned duel?" Arthur repeated slowly, looking highly unimpressed. Merlin was looking back and forth between the two, clearly having no idea what that was. Arthur rolled his eye's and turned to his consort, "A sanctioned duel is a swords fight, similar to this tournament. Only it's much more closely monitored, although really, it's pretty much a fight to the death. It's usually done to preserve a knight's honor, or to settle a dispute."

Merlin's eyes went round, looking at the prince in disbelief. "So instead of attempting to kill me here," he said slowly, putting as much incredulousness into his voice as he could. "He wants the right to do it publicly..." what was up with this place? This knight seriously wanted to 'duel him to the death' just because Merlin had said the god-honest truth?

Damn, knights had some really fragile ego's.

Chase puffed out his chest, looking more than pleased with what he'd said. "Yes, sire." He said, acting as if Merlin wasn't even there, as if they weren't talking about Merlin at all. "I want a sanctioned duel against him, and it would be an honored if you would be the one to monitor our fight, and call it when one of us-" he finally stops to give Merlin a more than obvious look. "Is no longer able to go on."

Merlin bristled, feeling his offense growing. "Excuse me? I could take you on with one hand tied behind my ba-" a hand was cupping over his mouth before he could finish, muffling his voice. Merlin scowled, trying to elbow Arthur into the side to force him to let his mouth go, but all that did was probably bruise up his elbow against the cold metal plates of his armor.

Arthur acted as if he didn't feel his consort's clumsy attempts at trying to free himself. He was to busy giving Chase a cold look of annoyance, as if he was nothing more than a gnat under his foot. "So let me get this straight." Arthur drawled out in a slow tone. "You, want me to agree to this? To a sanctioned fight that involves one knight and one untrained common boy?" He made sure to make it sound as ridiculous as it was. "Especially when you full well know that only two agreeable knights can participate in such a match."

Merlin managed to wretch his face free, "I can beat him and you know it." He said confidently, before Arthur was slapping his hand back over his mouth. And this time, it was a much harder press, forcing Merlin against him so that he couldn't talk himself more into a hole than he already was.

"See?" Chase boasted, looking as if his arrogance had returned full force. "If the commoner wants to fight with me, then I'll be more than happy to be the one to show him what happens when he dishonors a knight of Camelot."

Arthur's eye's narrowed, a growing agitation rising in his chest, and Merlin wiggling against him wasn't helping in the least. "His name isn't 'the commoner'. It's Merlin."

Arthur said it bluntly, and his tone was harsh. Yes, Arthur carried a certain disdain for his wayward consort, but at the same time, even he knew a sanctioned duel wasn't the answer to his problem's. As much as Arthur wanted to send Merlin away, sending him to his death seemed like a step to far.

Merlin scowled behind Arthur's hand, trying to wiggle himself free some more. He could defend himself! But every movement he made, Arthur countered easily to keep him in place, even as he was talking to Chase.

"I suggest that you remember it." Arthur said, with a sniff of disdain. It wouldn't be long before the name of his consort no doubt stretched all across the other kingdom's, if it hadn't already.

Chase frowned, turning more defensive, trying to argue his case, "I know that it's not usually done, but there is a first thing for everything! Like you, marrying a commoner yourself! You can't say that you wouldn't like to have a sanctioned fight with him yourself! So what reason should there be that I can't fight this commoner?"

Merlin finally went stiff, his wiggling freezing in Arthur's arm. And then he shot a glare at Arthur, the best way that he could while in this position, almost daring Arthur to say he wanted Merlin dead.

That definitely would have killed the crush Merlin had on him.

Arthur scowled, glaring down at Merlin himself. The brat really did wear his emotions on his sleeve, Arthur could practically see everything he wanted to say just by looking at his eye's. Arthur felt a muscle in his jaw twitch, looking more at Merlin than he was at Chase when he finally spoke up.

"As much as I would love to go another round with my consort," the prince drawled out, every word slow and meaningful. "Even I know that a sanctioned duel would be going a step to far." He had no problem admitting that he didn't care for the boy, but having his blood on his hands was something else entirely.

Merlin practically sagged against the prince at that response. It wasn't the fact that he wasn't about to have a duel to the death that made him relieved. He was just relieved that Arthur apparently didn't want to have him killed.

Arthur rolled his eye's as he felt Merlin against him, but he had no choice but to keep the brat there. Simply because Arthur was afraid to hear what other stupidity Merlin would say if Arthur let go of his mouth.

"He insulted my honor!" Chase blustered, looking more and more agitated because his prince wasn't going along with what he wanted. Because the prince was actively refusing him in front of everybody. "He has to pay!"

Chase felt his voice die off in his throat when Arthur's glare on him sharpened, looking almost as sharp as glass.

"Oh, he will." Arthur's voice cut in, sharp and firm, cutting through the already silent room with ease. "But not by your hand." And help him god, was he actually entertaining this oaf? He should have just walked away with Merlin in tow, and acted as if this whole nightmare of a scene had never happened.

But the more Chase argued his case, the more annoyed that Arthur got. Did anybody really think that he would agree to such a fight? A trained knight against an untrained peasant boy? That wasn't a fight, that was an execution.

And as much as it pained Arthur to be married to such a person, Merlin also hadn't done anything to warrant that. And sure, he was the most irritating person Arthur had probably ever met in his life, but did that really warrant a death sentence?

Arthur shot an annoyed look at the boy at his side. Yeah, probably not, he grudgingly admitted.

"B-but-" Chase started to protest, and whatever little patience Arthur was holding onto seemed to snap.

"No." Arthur said, firmly. "Now this is what is going to happen." He probably would have stepped up to Chase, just to make sure that he understood how serious he was. But he wasn't about to risk letting Merlin out of his sight. "You are going to go to the king and tell him that you are resigning from the tournament."

Chase went stiff, looking absolutely horrified by this sudden turn of events, "W-what!" He exclaimed, waving his arms around in his agitated confusion. "Why?"

Arthur looked at him, his eye's now showing boredom for this entire situation. "Because," he said bluntly. "You will still leave with your honor. Unless you want me to bring you before the king myself, and have you dishonored before the court for attempting an attack on the royal family." Because being dishonored in front of the kingdom was almost a worse crime to a knight than being executed would have been.

And was it just Arthur, or did his heart feel as if it had dropped like a stone to his gut. The royal family, he supposed that was what Merlin was now. Arthur found that he still had trouble wrapping his mind around that. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the idea that the royal family now included...Merlin.

His side that he had Merlin pressed up against so that he could hold his hand over his mouth, he could feel little pinpricks going down it. As if he was suddenly acutely aware of what he was doing, and heaven help him, but he really hoped that this would be the last time he'd be this close to Merlin.

"...The...royal family...?" Chase asked, looking baffled by this. The knight would never attack the royal family! He knew the punishment for such a thing was steep, and he would never dishonor his family by doing such a heinous crime.

Now it was Arthur's turn to look baffled. Did Chase...did nobody...? Realize who Merlin was? Did they not recognize the boy? But then again, only a handful of knight's had been allowed at the wedding itself, so he supposed it did make sense that some people wouldn't know what his consort looked like.

And really...he couldn't blame them for not realizing it. Arthur glanced over the consort at his side, letting his eye's linger on the threadbare clothes. Merlin definitely didn't look as a consort would, Arthur was only surprised that the boy had yet to deck himself out in silk and jewels.

And as if sensing his thoughts, Merlin shot him a glare.

Arthur glared back, refusing to admit that he'd done so simply because he could, before he turned back to Chase. Drawling out his words, Arthur said in a slow tone, as if he thought he was talking to somebody particularly dim, "My consort's delivery could use some work, but he isn't wrong. You do disgrace being a knight, if you go around attacking unarmed peasant's."

Arthur refused to acknowledge that he had done the exact same thing, that day they had their fight with the maces in the marketplace. He liked to think that he was more or less, playing around with Merlin, as opposed to Chase that had looked as if he was going in for the kill.

Chase looked dumbstruck, "Your...consort, sire?" And then he looked around confused, as if he was expecting another peasant boy to come waltzing out from the shadow's. Only this one would be dressed in the finery given to him by the crown.

Only Merlin hadn't gotten that little luxury.

Arthur felt his eye twitching, "Yes," he bit out, sending a glower in Merlin's direction. "My consort..." and at the same time, Merlin raised an obvious hand up halfway, as if to indicate himself. And it was clear that Merlin had said something, Arthur could feel the vibrations of it against the palm of his hand, but Merlin's voice was also to muffled to really make it out. That was probably for the best though, who knew what he would say if given the chance.

Chase's eye's boggled so hard, it looked as if they would fall out of his head. "Sire, please!" He begged, looking as if he was about to fall to his knee's at any minute to grovel more clearly. "I was unaware that this...boy...was your consort! I would have never behaved in such a manner if I knew-"

Merlin scowled behind Arthur's hand, briefly giving up on getting away to watch the scene unfold in front of him. So, he thought spitefully, attacking another unarmed peasant was perfectly alright, just as long as the peasant in question wasn't the prince's consort?

And Merlin couldn't help but notice that the entire time this knight was trying to apologize, if you could even call it that, he did not once even look in Merlin's direction. Chase was only apologizing to the prince for acting dishonorably, he wasn't apologizing to the peasant that he wanted to take a sword to.

"Irrelevant." Arthur interrupted, voice dismissive, because ignorance of the law was no excuse for breaking it. And rather he liked it or not, Merlin was his consort, and being attacked by one of his knight's was like they were attacking the prince himself. It had to be dealt with severely, and hopefully as discreetly as possible.

Besides, if one of his knight's had such a temper that a few words from one mouthy boy could cause him to fly into a duel to the death situation while knowing that he would win, that wasn't the kind of knight that Arthur wanted to take into battle alongside him.

Arthur had a temper himself, but at least he could rein it in hard enough as to not take a sword to his consort himself. Or you know, at least he did it while Merlin was wearing protective padding...

"Now, go." Arthur used his other hand that wasn't holding Merlin into place. "Before you do something more to dishonor yourself." And from his tone of voice, it was clear that Arthur would say no more on the subject.

Chase looked as if he was going to start blubbering, no longer looking like the arrogant knight he'd portrayed himself to be when he'd been up against Merlin. But as if resigning himself to his fate, Chase bowed only to his prince, and started walking backwards. The crowd of knight's watching in silence split apart, not saying a word as Chase backed himself out through the curtains.

And then in unison, they all turned to face Arthur and Merlin themselves, as if waiting to see if any of them would be punished for just watching instead of stepping in. But Arthur had had enough for one day.

"Go," he waved dismissively. "Enjoy the tournament." There was a surge as the knight's quickly gathered back around the entrance to watch the knight with the shield of snakes who was still fighting against his opponent.

Arthur rolled his eye's, before leaning over to hiss in Merlin's ear, "We need to talk." He wasn't lying to Chase when he said that Merlin was going to pay for getting them in to this. The tournament had lost a skilled knight because Merlin had simply shown up, and that wouldn't do.

Merlin scowled, but it wasn't seen since Arthur's hand was firmly cupping around his mouth. He still tried to say, "You bet your arse we do." But his voice came out in a muffled gargle. He still tried to convey what he meant by glaring at the blonde.

Arthur practically dragged Merlin to the curtained door, making the scrawnier boy scramble and nearly fall several times as he was dragged backward's. It was only because Arthur kept jerking him to his feet did he not land on his backside.

Arthur practically threw the curtains opened with a flourish, so that he and his mouthy consort could have some much needed privacy. Arthur, for the first time in his life, found himself growing tired of always being put on display or speculated about, since nowadays it was always because Merlin was at his side causing havoc wherever he went. It was time that they got some much needed privacy.

Arthur let the curtain fall down behind them, muffling the sound of the knight's cheering for the fight happening, and then he was scowling at the two guard's standing in the dim hallway.

"Get. Lost." He bit out, trapping Merlin's wiggling form in a more difficult position so that he couldn't escape.

Justin and Charles looked dumbstruck by this sudden event. But as Arthur was looking at them with a certain sharpness to his eye's, the two were quick to bow, "Yes, sire." And then they were quick to head instead the room, to guard from the other side of the doorway, and ignoring Arthur's obviously unwilling captive.

Anything to get away from Arthur and his bad mood.

"I told you we shouldn't have let him in," Charles hissed under his breath as the curtain fluttered close behind them.

"Shut it. It would have been worse if the consort was denied." Justin hissed back, knowing that he hadn't made a mistake, even if their prince was clearly agitated by it.

X

Arthur waited till the curtain went still, no longer fluttering from the movement of the knight's pushing passed it. And then turning to Merlin, he started to open his mouth to start yelling.

But before he could get a word out, something else came out instead.

"Ugh!" Arthur wretched his hand free from Merlin's mouth as he felt something firm, hot, and very wet, go across his palm. He looked horrified at the wetness on the palm of his hand, before he turned his look to Merlin. "Did you just...lick me!" He exclaimed, looking incredulous by this action.

Merlin brought a hand up to massage at his jaw, still feeling the phantom sensation of Arthur's hot hand pressed against the bottom half of his face. "You taste like sweat." He said bluntly, wrinkling his nose as he smacked his lips, the stale taste of Arthur clinging to his lips.

Arthur looked at him in disbelief, "Y-you do not get to go around...licking! At me!" He exclaimed, as if licking him was worse than licking anybody else. He could feel himself growing flustered. It got even worse when he realized what he'd just said, and he really hoped that nobody came waltzing down the hall at any moment to head that.

Merlin's eyes flashed, but Arthur couldn't see it because of how dim the hallway was, "Then don't go around manhandling me!" He exclaimed. Maybe he had liked it when Arthur had done it to him against that table when Merlin had been helping him dress, although he still wondered how he could have possibly liked something like that. But stopping him from talking was another form of manhandling altogether, and Merlin did not appreciate it in the least.

"Then stop causing trouble!" Arthur exclaimed, throwing out his arm and nearly hitting Merlin in the face by accident because he couldn't really see. The blond's face scrunched up in disgust, because that arm had the same hand that Merlin had licked, and he could feel the coldness of it as the stale air of the hallway hit it. He had to wipe it several times against the side of the red cloth covering his chest, and hoping at the same time that Merlin didn't carry any unknown diseases.

"I wasn't trying to cause trouble!" Merlin exclaimed, while Arthur was distracted with wiping himself clean. "I was trying to see you, you great oaf!"

The very air around them seemed to freeze, Arthur's wiping motion against his cloth stopping as well. It was to dark for either of them to really see, which made Merlin's harsh breathing of agitation seem to sound even louder than it was.

"And what-" Arthur drawled out, and Merlin could almost sense the dangerous eye's that he couldn't really see in the dim hallway, fastening themselves onto his shadowy figure. "Were you going to see me for?"

Merlin felt his heart speeding up, and he crossed his arms defensively over his chest, "Maybe I just wanted to see if you'd survived for myself. It was a pretty intense fight, and we wouldn't want the prince dropping dead."

Like hell he was going to admit the real reason. That the only thing intense from the fight, was on Arthur's part and not from his opponent's. That Merlin had only came down here in the first place because of his own overwhelming curiosity about the consequences of rooting for somebody else.

But it seemed as if that was put on the back burner, with these more recent event's taking place.

Arthur scoffed, "You call that an intense fight?" He asked, trying to squint so that he could see Merlin better in the darkness of the hall. But all he could see was the shadowy figure of Merlin fidgeting around. "There wasn't a chance that I would lose against that guy." And that wasn't just arrogance talking. That knight really hadn't been at the skill level that Arthur himself was at, but the whole selection process for matches was completely random. It was only that guy's horrible luck that he had ended up paired against Arthur.

"Really?" Merlin asked, and it actually sounded as if he was questioning Arthur, and it annoyed the prince more than he wanted it to. He was a prince! He shouldn't be being questioned as if he was a common man off of the street. "So, what'd you do? Pay off the competition with your many riches?"

Arthur felt himself stiffening up at the insinuation, "I don't cheat!" He exclaimed, his voice loud and practically cracking somewhere in the middle. And consort or not, Arthur would find a public way of punishing him that wouldn't embarrass the crown.

"Good," Merlin said brightly. And although Arthur couldn't see it in the dark, he could almost hear it in Merlin's voice. That he was once again wearing that stupidly cheeky grin that he always seemed to flash in Arthur's direction when he was mouthing off to him. "I don't know how I would feel being married to a cheater."

Arthur looked away, to some even darker corner of the hallway, "Probably the same way I feel being married to a commoner." But the hallway was already quiet enough, Arthur might as well had been shouting it.

Merlin's smile slowly dimmed down to nothing, an almost disappointed look flashing across his features, hidden by the shadows of the hall. There marriage wasn't so bad...was it? And sure, Merlin had a list of complaint's already, mainly to do with Arthur, but it wasn't absolutely horrible either. At least Merlin wasn't locked in his room being beaten half to death every night like he'd almost feared he would be.

But didn't that say something about Merlin? If that was his criteria for having a not-so-horrible marriage. That he wasn't being beaten all the time.

Arthur shook his head, and turned back to Merlin, acting as if he hadn't said anything. "We really did need to talk. About what happened in there with Chase."

Merlin sighed, sounding more tired than he wanted it to, because none of this was going the way that he'd been wanting to, "What is there to talk about. He tried to attack me, and you sent him away." This fact would probably always annoy Merlin, knowing that Arthur had practically came to his rescue.

But why bother if Arthur held such a clear disdain for him? Knowing what he did, it probably had something to do with reputation and Arthur having no choice but to defend him because it was his duty as his husband. Or something as medieval and stupid like that.

As if he was some maiden waiting for her prince to come save her.

"Well for one," Arthur spoke up. "I'm still waiting for you to thank me."

Merlin stiffened, his head shooting up to look at Arthur baffled. "Thank you?" He asked, his every word just leaking how incredulous he was feeling. "Thank you for what!"

"For saving your life!" Arthur exclaimed, baffled by Merlin's response. Didn't Merlin realize how bad this all could have turned out if the knight really had managed to attack him? Didn't his consort know how many people would fall to their knees in gratitude if their prince saved them? But then again, most people probably wouldn't have mouthed off to a knight in the first place. "The proper thing to do when somebody saves your life is to thank them!"

"I'm not thanking you!" Merlin's exclaimed, practically blustering. "I had everything handled just fine on my own!" He would have found a way to get out of it, he knew he would have! Just like with that knight in the hall that had accosted him the first time.

Arthur wanted to laugh at that, knowing that Merlin would have ended up flat on his backside if he'd tried to attack the knight, and probably with a near fatal wound as well. "If it wasn't for me," Arthur said, in the most obvious tone that he could muster. "You'd be bleeding from your jugular right about now."

And everything would have been so much worse if that had happened. His father would have had no choice but to order the knight's execution if he had succeeded in 'assassinating' Camelot's new Consort. So really, Arthur had saved two lives by stepping in when he did.

Merlin scowled defensively at that, "Oh?" He asked, stomping forward. Arthur may not have been able to see him clearly, but he could definitely feel it when Merlin started jabbing at his chest with every word he spoke. "So, what? You thought I needed some big, strong, man to protect me from my own mistakes?"

Merlin was pissed, he wasn't some damsel in distress. He wasn't some girl in the fairytail's that was locked away in her ivory tower, waiting endlessly for somebody to save her. And he didn't need, literally, a knight in shining armor to get involved in his battles.

Arthur scowled, reaching out blindly to grab roughly at the finger poking him in his chest. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he recognized that it was slimmer than any man's finger had the right to be. But that thought was gone as soon as it had arrived when Arthur started to speak, "Well, clearly you need something! Am I going to have to assign you armed guards just so you don't walk to your own death?" His father would not be happy if he learned that his consort had perished not even a month into their care.

But honestly, having trained guards was actually probably something that should have been handled already. If Arthur had been married to a noblewoman, she would have had armed guards to protect her for the first few months from a possible increase in assassination attempts.

Arthur supposed that was just one of the many things that had been forgotten about or brushed aside with the rush to pull the wedding together last minute.

Merlin tried jerking his finger free, but it was all but impossible with the firm grip that Arthur had on him. Once again, he had to ask why everyone had this insane notion that it was okay to manhandle him? "Don't you dare!" Merlin hissed, still jerking uselessly on his finger.

Maybe he should be more scared than he was by the insinuation that Arthur would have knight's to follow him around. It was bad enough to have George, but actual knights would have made everything so much worse. All it would take was one slip up, one mistake or ill timed flash of golden eye's, and he'd be brought before the king and sentenced to death faster than he could blink.

And even if he wasn't caught, odds were that Arthur would assign the worse of the lot. And then he'd have one of those bullying meat heads throwing their muscle around at him.

Already, he could feel his face flushing with anger at the idea.

"Then what would you have me do?" Arthur asked, with a sneer in his voice. "Clearly, you are causing more trouble then you are worth, and need someone to watch you. I clearly can't do it myself." As if Arthur was going to waste time playing babysitter.

Merlin stiffened, feeling his face flushing with anger, "Oh, forgive me so much for inconveniencing you!" He snapped. As if Merlin hadn't already been inconvenienced more than Arthur had been by their arrangement. It was Merlin that had to pick up and leave with what little he owned, saying goodbye to everyone and everything he knew.

Arthur didn't seem to care though, what their situation had done to Merlin personally. He had already moved on back to the knight that had attacked him, "Do you know what you did? Chase is one of the few knight's that would have actually tested my skill. And now he is to be disqualified because you had to come looking for me."

Arthur would have much preferred if Merlin had just stayed in the bleachers with his hands in his lap and his mouth shut. Then Arthur wouldn't be dealing with this mammoth of a headache, but heaven forbid the boy actually stay where he's supposed to be.

Merlin felt his spine stiffen, as some kind of rage seemed to overtake him and he was almost seeing red at this point. Since Arthur's grip was harsh around his finger, stopping him from poking his chest plate, but also from jerking away, Merlin stomped closer instead until he was almost right up against Arthur.

"No." Merlin said darkly, so close that he could almost make out Arthur's widening eye's in the dark. "You don't get to tell me that or complain about it. I am not taking responsibility over this situation, because you don't teach your knights how to communicate instead of attacking unarmed people."

Even though he was raging, his words had been spoken with an almost eerily calm quality to it. And each word he spoke made him take a step closer, until it was Arthur that was forced to step back lest he be ran over. And it didn't stop until Arthur's back was firmly pressed against the sandstone wall.

Arthur felt his shoulder blade's pressed up against the wall behind him, looking at the shadow of the boy with nothing less than disbelief on his face. Was he actually being...scolded? In what world had he fallen into, where the Prince of Camelot was scolded.

"My knights are trained in combat." Arthur practically had to force his voice to work. "They're not girl's, they're not going to stop and talk about their feeling's."

Merlin scoffed, using Arthur's surprise as an opportunity to jerk his finger out of the prince's now lax grip. "It's not their feeling's that we're talking about! It's the fact that your lughead knight had no problem accosting me when all I was doing was trying to track you down. Although really," he stopped to scowl, letting his eye's flitter over Arthur's shadowy figure. "I don't know why I even bothered."

Merlin stepped back, no longer interested in seeing how Arthur would have reacted with him cheering for the other knight. Whatever curious mood he'd fallen into, had all but disapated with this new situation.

Merlin turned to leave but of course, Arthur had to try and get the last word in, "He only accosted you because you were somewhere you're not supposed to be. If you had just stayed where you were supposed to be-"

He was cut off by Merlin whipping around, "I thought I said don't go around blaming me for this!"

Arthur stiffened, still standing against the wall but now no longer being pressed there by Merlin, "I do not take orders from you." He said snidely. It would be a cold day before Arthur took anything that Merlin had to say seriously.

Merlin scoffed, bringing his hands up onto his hips, "You know what?" He started to snap, having to cut himself short because he could feel his blood starting to over-boil in his veins.

"What?!" Arthur snapped back just as loud, stalking away from the wall to the shadowy figure of Merlin.

Merlin had to take a large breath to calm himself, before his voice came out with that eerie quality returning to it. And even though his words were soft, he might as well had been shouting it for all that Arthur was concerned.

"I blame you for all of this."

Arthur stiffened, "For all of what, exactly?"

Merlin supposed he could have said a lot of thing's at this point. For him being here in the first place, for them being forced to marry in a situation out of their control, for the small bits of bruises lightening up on Merlin's backside after their training...but those were all irrelevant. None of those were things that could be changed, so why bother to bring any of them up right now?

Merlin raised his head, scowling as he tried to find Arthur's eye's in the dark, "You're a prince, aren't you? Aren't all of these knight's under your direct command?" Merlin may not know much about how nobility operated, but it wasn't that big of a leap to make that the knight's answered directly to the royal family.

"Yes, they do." Arthur said, with a hint of pride in his voice. Even as a prince, the responsibility of the knights hadn't just been handed over to him. He'd had to work damn hard to not only be taken seriously as their next king, but also respected as a fellow knight.

"Then when they do something wrong," Merlin said firmly. "That responsibility lies on your shoulder's as well. I'd be seriously questioning you if you hadn't sent that knight away at all."

"As if you aren't questioning me now?" Arthur shot back, a growing frustration building up in him. He'd sent the knight away, what more did Merlin want? As much of a headache all of this was causing him, Arthur knew that it would have been more of a headache if word had gotten out that he'd done nothing instead.

His reputation would be ruined if people knew that he had stood there and allowed a knight to attack his consort. The knight in question should have known better than to attack somebody unarmed, but the matter stood that none of this would have happened if Merlin had just stayed where he was supposed to.

Merlin acted as if Arthur hadn't said anything, "The problem is that none of this should have happened. If you had better control over your men, then we wouldn't be having this conversation. Honestly? What right did he have to attack me?"

That made Arthur bristle in an almost defensive manner, "What?" He asked in an almost bitter tone. "Do you think you're untouchable now that you're my consort?" It would be just his luck that Merlin would allow his new position to go to his head, to behave as if he had any say in how Arthur commanded his men.

Merlin bristled himself, almost offended by this, "No," he said, scoffing so hard that Arthur was almost startled by this. "I'm not talking about being a consort. I'm talking about being a person. The only reason I was allowed in was because I'm your consort. But that doesn't defeat the purpose, that the knight thought I was just some random peasant and still thought it was best to attack me."

Merlin probably would have been a lot more accommodating and explained why he was there, if the knight hadn't been the first to start everything.

Arthur glowered down at the floor as if he were some petulant toddler. It had been tough enough the first time, when he had admitted in front of everybody that Merlin had been right, and that Chase had acted dishonorably. But feeling Merlin's eye's on his now, he knew that he could never admit that to his face.

He just wanted to put all of this behind him, and go back to his normality, where things like peasant boy's becoming consorts weren't a thing.

"Is there anything else that you would like to complain about?" Arthur grumbled. Although he'd said it, he half expected for Merlin to grovel and beg for his forgiveness because he had so clearly insulted the prince.

But maybe Arthur really didn't know his consort at all, if he thought that was something that Merlin would do.

Instead of groveling for forgiveness, Merlin exclaimed loudly, "Yeah, actually! There is!" He had a whole list of things he could complain about right now, and only half of them were actually involving of Arthur in some way. But honestly, there was only one thing that came to the forefront of his mind.

Arthur rolled his eye's so hard he almost thought they were going to fall straight out of his head, "Oh lord, what now?" He couldn't imagine what stupidly Merlin would come up with now. Or what he had to complain about at all. So what if one knight had attacked him out of the blue, it wasn't like it was the end of the world or anything.

Merlin should be grateful, that was all that happened to him. And in return, he had all of the wealth that the Pendragon's had. It seemed like a pretty good deal to Arthur, and he couldn't think of anybody who would not take it just so they could have the honor of being married to him.

Merlin glowered, although the effect of the stare did nothing to Arthur as it could not be seen in the ever darkening hallway, "You went easy on me when we were training." He said bluntly.

Arthur straightened up, looking almost baffled by this. What was Merlin going on about this time? Of course Arthur had gone easy on him back when they'd been training together. Arthur could admit that he had put a lot of force behind his blow's, probably more than was warranted since he'd half been trying to get out his frustration on their whole situation. But honestly, he hadn't gone nearly as hard as he could have been either. Unlike Chase, Arthur knew better than to waste the full scope of his skills against somebody that was unmatched.

"Yeah..." the prince said slowly. He could almost feel Merlin's eye's drilling in on his own shadowy figure, almost breaking through the darkness. "...So..." don't tell him that Merlin was mad about that now. He should be honored that Arthur had saw his weakness and had decided not to exploit it.

Merlin scowled, because this prat wasn't even attempting to hide the fact that he had taken it easy on him.

"Don't do that again." Merlin said bluntly. He was not going to be made a fool of, thinking that he was actually able to keep toe to toe with Arthur without being able to use his magic in defense. If Arthur wanted to train, or was going to teach Merlin how to defend himself, or whatever else they had been doing, then that was exactly what they were going to be doing.

He could already feel his muscles screaming in protest at him, the phantom sensation of the aches and pains he'd experienced erupting over his body. But still, he brushed it aside in favor of giving Arthur a deadly glare.

Arthur wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or to scoff at that, "You do not want that." He said firmly, giving Merlin the time to back out of this while he still could.

But Merlin squared his shoulders and met his words head on, "Yes, I do." He said firmly, each word sounding as if it was a sentence in itself. "And you are going to give it to me."

Arthur shook his head, a smirk growing on his face. "You are so going to regret that." He said confidently. It would be only to easy for Arthur to take Merlin down, the next time they trained together.

If there was a next time.

Merlin shrugged, a surprisingly confident bravado on his face. "Can't regret anything, you'll to busy talking instead of giving me anything to work with."

And then Merlin was whipping around, turning his back to Arthur. And then he was walking away, as if their conversation was even halfway over.

Arthur shook his head, wondering what exactly he had gotten himself into with this union. But shaking that thought away, Arthur started to stalk forward after the shadowy figure of Merlin. His every step was soft and even, making absolutely no sound as his feet came into contact with the ground as he went after his prey.

Merlin never sensed Arthur coming up behind him, he never even saw it coming when the blonde bared down on top of him. Not until Arthur was grabbing Merlin by his wrist, and jerking him backwards.

"Hey!" Merlin protested loudly, struggling in futile, attempting to wrench his wrist free. "What are you doing? Let go of me!" He exclaimed. He'd probably never been jerked around so many times in all of his life.

Merlin's growing protest was cut off to a sudden halt when Arthur threw him back against the wall near the curtain. Hard enough that he felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. And then he nearly flinched back, feeling the heat of a torch near his head.

Arthur smirked, enjoying Merlin's agitation probably more than he should. And at least now, he could see better, Merlin's face lit up by the torchlight with the shadows now dancing across it as the flames flickered.

Glowering again, Merlin scowled up at Arthur, feeling the rough stones of the wall pressed harshly up against his back, "You really need to stop manhandl-"

He was cut off when Arthur brought a hand up, pressing it firmly against the wall on the other side of his head. "No," the prince said, showing all of his teeth as his smile held a bit of a bite to it, "You and me need to have a talk, about Sir Onslot."