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!

84. Chapter 84

Ten Hours and Thirty Minutes before Execution:

"…Lady Clarissa?" Arthur spoke, pushing himself off from his desk. He probably sounded a little bit unsettled by having her in his personal space, and Lady Clarissa raised a delicate eyebrow due to his response. Arthur cleared his throat, casting a look towards the closed door the Lady was leaning up against, and wishing that she would open it back up. Surely a Lady of her standing would know how this would look if they were caught even standing on opposite sides of the room. "How did you get in here?"

He probably sounded blunter than he meant to be, a tone of voice that should have been reserved to only Merlin if he had been the one bursting up into his room, bleeding through his engagement with a Lady. But rather or not he sounded rude would be beside the point, his question still stood: how had Lady Clarissa gotten to his room. After the whole Valiant situation had gone down, after that knight had allowed a strange man onto their floor and let him-watched him-try to harass their new consort-which was actually a lesson his father hadn't ever taught him, probably one he didn't know himself: not all nobles behaved with honor-he'd tightened up security around their quarters. It was probably pointless now, since Merlin had moved out, but it was still a good idea nonetheless. With Morgana on the floor and knowing only the basics on how to defend herself, it wasn't wrong to have an extra added layer of protection. The problem came in as Arthur had given the guard a list of only a handful of people not the Royal Family who'd be allowed in here: namely a handful of chosen guards and even less handful of cleaning staff, which included only their person servants, Morris, George, Gwen, and his father's personal manservant.

Clarissa, as a distinguished lady from an important family would have never been on the list. She was not so important as to ignore proprietary for, even more especially since she didn't live in the area in the first place. There was only one reason for her to be here, and considering his situation with his own consort, it wasn't a good one. He hoped he'd not made a mistake on the guard assigned directly at the foot of the stairs, allowing an unmarried and beautiful girl into his room, honestly! Were these guards 'trying' to make Arthur lose the kingdom to Merlin, of all people?

"There was no guard at the foot of the stairs." the lady informed him, making Arthur straighten up in his surprise. No guard? …Why would there haven't been a guard at the foot of the stairs to keep close watch over their rooms? He tried to remember if he'd seen one when he'd arrived, but the memory was splotchy as he still had Merlin's ridiculous way of acting in the council chambers rolling about in his head. He didn't thin…oh, Arthur came to a stop as he realized 'why' exactly there was no guard on the stairway. But his train of thought were cut off as he saw Clarissa's smile playfully at him. "I took this to be meant as an invitation to come visit you in your glided tower."

Arthur clears his throat, even though it's feeling so unbearably dry now, awkwardly he shifts along his feet, "That was…clearly an oversight on my part, I will be rectifying that immediately." Is what he will say in the hopes of deluding her from whatever it is she thinks she will accomplish by being here. It is obvious though, what she came here for, Arthur is not a stupid man. Which is exactly why he can't allow such improper behavior stand when himself is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had never been afraid of women before, but Clarissa's shark-like smile, so different from the calmly cool, collected woman he had met before almost sends him into a tizzy all her own, made even worse by a teasing voice claiming his open door was just one more indicator that he'd wanted her to come in, as why wouldn't he ask who it is before just admitting her inside his sacred space. "…But do tell me, why are you here? I thought you were retiring back to your family's estate after the celebrations?"

Arthur makes a mental note inside the back of his mind to get a new guard stationed at the foot of the stairs to prevent another travesty like this from happening again. It was a huge miscalculation on his part, forgetting to replace Gregory-the man he usually had guarding the Royal suites-after Arthur had reassigned him to be stationed outside Merlin and Gaius' chambers. But he could worry about it later, for now, he had to remain polite and aloof as to not give Clarissa the wrong idea that what she was doing was in anyway okay. And what would be better than mentioning her family, surely thinking of one's home was akin to jumping into a cooling stream when one's bits were on fire with need and passion. Clarissa had all but opened that door for herself, Arthur only vaguely remembering, the day they met by mentioning she was only in the city to see the tournament. But other than that, he would not say he knew much of Clarissa and her motives for her actions: it could ruin her reputation as well as his own for her to be caught here. Arthur hadn't considered her to be a problem for him, since he'd only thought of her when he'd been forced to sit and endure being yelled at about one dance.

Crap, he would have to go through that again if he was caught, wouldn't he? His father was not going to be pleased.

Lady Clarissa finally pushed herself away from his door, smiling at him like a cat that finally caught a canary, "I suppose I found something fun to stick around for a little bit longer." She strode over, and stopped only as she reached the chair at the table he ate his meals at, her fingertips could barely be seen due to her long sheer purple sleeves trailing down past her wrists, but that did nothing to hide the slow and seductive way she trailed the fingers over the top of his chair. Arthur didn't like that she was closer than she was before, if she was willing to possibly dirty her reputation by coming into his room in the first place, there was no telling how far she might try to push things. There was a reason Arthur had only been with so few women in his life and this was why. Being caught in a compromising situation like this, he would have been forced into marriage to save both of their reputations, it was also why he'd never allowed a woman other than Morgana be in his bed chambers. But Arthur was already married, and had a contract hanging over his head…Clarissa continued to speak, as if she'd found the rising panic on his face to be amusing to her, "I was able to convince my family that it would be good for me to get some real-life experience of the world outside our little villa up north. So, I'll be staying with my uncle at his estate, it's just a short walk away from your castle actually-" she made it sound as if she expected for Arthur to come visit her in the most improper sense of the word. "My little sister was so mad when she wasn't allowed to come wit me. But then," she sighed while she wore a false look of loneliness, chin tilted down as she peeked up at him through her eyelashes. "The sickness happened, so I've gotten stuck inside the gates. With no friends, and only an elderly man to keep my company…"

Arthur really wished he could have a strong talk to these parents about how they'd trained their own daughter into behaving. And then just pawning her off onto Captain Beckett, he could remember now that the old retired captain of the guard and highly respected member of nobility was also the Ladies uncle. "Oh…is that so?" Arthur asked quickly, with hope that the conversation would distract the lady from trying any of her feminine wiles on him. But the way the Lady continued to look at him could almost make one feel as if they were on displayed and meant to be feasted on my her eyes alone. It was unsettling for sure, and Arthur almost felt as if she was stalking him with just her eye movements alone. "…Why couldn't your sister come with you to the city?"

Arthur was grasping at straws, one could say, as he almost wished her sister could be here. Well, if she was anything like her elder sister, then her not being here was better. Having two sets of eyes on him like he was a delectable meal could make one man feel wanted, unless they had a reason to not want them: his father's rage at risking their own kingdom for a brief hint of pleasure was one, and Merlin having one of his freak outs-probably done in public knowing him-was another. But if she was not, it would be very unlikely for the two girls to be separated so soon after arriving in a new place. It was scary by oneself, yet along joining the week a deadly plague ran amok through the city. He was steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the air in the room that said Clarissa wouldn't mind so much if Arthur gave her comfort on those lonely nights.

"Oh, she got in trouble a while back the last time she visited a city as large as Camelot." Clarissa said to him in a flippant manner. Arthur's felt when his eyes narrowed in on the delegate bracelet with purple beads tied around her even more delicate looking wrist. Not because her attempts at trying to seduce him was working because…just like the first time he saw her, her mannerisms stuck out to him. He could have sworn he'd seen that motion with her hand before…on somebody else…and he was pretty sure this time it wasn't just because he knew her uncle. There were other things that also seemed to stand out, like the way she arched her eyebrow at him or the way her grin widened as he caught her attention. He just couldn't exactly put his finger on it, "And now, father is flatly refusing to allow her to leave the estate without his direct supervision."

Clarissa seemed displeased at her sister being the topic of conversation, despite being the one who had brought her up. Or maybe she was just upset Arthur had taken the bait-or her clear signals for wanting him, most people didn't throw themselves at him so blatantly and not at all since the day he married-but at least she hadn't started rambling on about her sister. What Arthur really wanted to do was get back to work, the only way he would have been able to punish Merlin for disrespecting the servants and playing him like a fool, would be for Arthur to save him. And he couldn't do that as he was stuck in this room…with Clarissa…but how does he asks her to leave without sounding rude or angry about it. She was just a girl, and he didn't want to offend her delicate sensibilities. She was a beautiful girl after all, he just didn't like that she'd came into his space. He didn't like Merlin coming into his space either but at least he was expected to be in his room at some point.

"And," Arthur scrambled his mind for something he found intelligent enough to say, eyes glancing towards his still closed door. While wondering how he could herd her to it-like a farmer would herd his cattle-without having to touch her and giving her a wrong impression. If Merlin were here, he would have probably been able to scare her out with one of his fits. But Merlin wasn't here, and Arthur was not able to rely on the boy making a right fool out of himself to save him from things getting out of hand. "You've been in the city this entire time, you said? Before the city went into lockdown? And yet, you are only coming out of the woodwork now. I'll find myself wondering why that is…"

Arthur found he didn't care much for the answer, just as he didn't care much for Clarissa intruding in his personal space. But if he just played it cool, keep the conversation going by giving her proper attention called for due to his stature, it was only the correct answer to go about this. He did want to keep good relations with this family after all, as Lady Clarissa's uncle was generally well liked and had done much for their kingdom during his time as a general. But he still found himself scrambling in his mind on how to get her Out. There was only so many excuses he could think of, but none of it seemed to be a proper response. Not even telling her he had important work to get done would have gotten through to somebody behaving like a cat in heat.

"Well, I've thought about coming to see you much earlier." Clarissa strode across the room to him as she left his table behind her. Arthur found himself grateful that she hadn't visited him, he would not have been nearly as relaxed if he'd known she was still hanging around. And he felt himself stilling in surprise-one had to admire a woman who'd known what she wanted, except for the man who was in a very precarious life situation-when Clarissa made herself comfortable by leaning against him. There was a tuft of dirty blonde hair billowing in his nose as she leaned her head against his shoulder, and touched his arm gently with her hand, nestling his arm in between the valley of her breasts with an obvious purpose in mind. "But you always seemed so busy. And then the city went into lockdown and my uncle insisted I stay home until the whole thing blew over. But being alone in that manor might've got me thinking about you, and how much work you must be doing to save us all. We had so much fun that night at the dance, I thought I could come by and maybe…help you relax?"

Arthur had his face tilted out of her sight when he scrunched up her features, feeling her soft breath against the nape of his neck as she breathed the word into his ear. He found himself to be stiff, not enjoying the attention nearly as much as he may have in days past. His heart had sky rocketed into a panic, and Clarissa-with her fingertips going up and down his arm as she played with the sleeve of his shirt-did not seem to think his subtle 'get off' was a reason to stop. His gaze kept shooting back to the unlocked door, too fearful of anybody being able to just walk in to enjoy a beautiful woman's attention, his father warning to stay as far away as he could from this girl ringing loud in his ears. He should probably say something macho and strong as to not cause her any worry. So she could sleep in peace, knowing that everything would go back to normal soon because Arthur was hard at work on the problem's their city was facing. As if Arthur hadn't spent half the time since he'd left his father and his council meeting behind feeling as if he'd been ripped apart at the seams, without any idea or clue as to what the next step in solving all of their woes should be…

"I…really don't think-" Arthur really did try to state his case, about how this wasn't a good idea and he was a married man. But a woman who snuck in a man's bed chambers wouldn't care about such a technicality. His voice aborted though, and he felt his eyes fluttered closed as her hand went to the nape of his neck and started playing with the little hairs there. A shiver wracked down his body at the delicate touch of a woman. The touch would have definitely been considered uncomfortable, but the kind of uncomfortable in which he'd know playing into it was wrong, but if he was wrong he wouldn't want to be right. Keeping good relations with this woman's family surely did not include sleeping by her side, officially crossing over into an adulterer.

"Oh, Arthur honey, you are way to tense." Clarissa interrupted his ramblings with a frown of obvious false concern. She didn't notice the way his eyes flew open at her usage of the word 'honey.' There was only one person in all the world who could call him that, even if he hated it with a passion, and it came right from the one who had a mouth greater than he was tall. A ridiculously awful name meant for the kind of people who ran after bunnies and smiled sweetly as they caught one, definitely not for Arthur. But Merlin hadn't cared, and seemed to have revamped and repurposed a nickname such as that for when-as he seemed to start picking up on-he was particularly upset with Arthur. This was a wake-up call to Arthur, who had found himself to remember quite well why he rarely had time for a woman, even before his marriage. They had a odd habit of becoming attacked, convinced to the core they would become the next Queen Pendragon, all because he showed them a brief hint of attention.

"I don't believe it's appropriate for you to be in my room." Arthur spoke up, voice stronger and much more decisive than it had been since she'd gotten in. Her fatal mistake had been using the nickname only Merlin had ever used for him, reminding him of his situation with the contract and what he was definitely 'not' supposed to be doing. But Clarissa had already gotten behind him, noticing from how she'd been playing with his neck hairs how tense he was, and not just from her sudden involvement in his life. Merlin. His. Father. The sickness. That bloody deal Merlin had made. Everything seemed to be making him tense, and Clarissa would have the perfect solution to that, as the squeezed at his shoulders, massaging him deeply and digging her thumbs into the base of his neck. "I-" Arthur tried but cut himself off with a groan, eyes rolling in the back of his head as she rubbed out this particular lump of nerves. His mind became jumbled at the feeling of her slim hands doing wonders to him, all thoughts of Merlin and what he had been trying to do seemed to escape him.

"You really should relax more." Clarissa said with a soothing tone, digging deeper and deeper against his shoulder blades. So much that it was painful to the stressed prince, but also something he felt he desperately needed. Hell, Arthur didn't even care it was Clarissa massaging him, he would have took Merlin if it got some of his aching muscles to just loosen up. Now 'that' had to be a key indicator as to how stressed he was, willing to let even Merlin be the one on the other end of those hands if the situation had called for it. But Clarissa was most definitely no Merlin, and it had been a 'really' long time since he'd felt the hands of a woman on him.

"I don't…aren't you concerned?" Arthur forced out of his muddled mind. It felt so good but, there was a reason he hadn't wanted Clarissa to be near him or in his room, wasn't there? He had already been put off by just her presence in his room, inside his own sacred space that had already been-on more than one occasion-contaminated by Merlin's mere presence. But there was another reason…Arthur had to wade through his muffled mind while he'd leaned back into Clarissa's working hands before he grasped onto a single thought. "What would it be said about you if somebody catches you in my room?"

It wasn't the biggest concern Arthur had, he was sure there was something else, but he couldn't go making his brain work fast enough for him to get the dots connected. It was an 'extremely' big deal in their society though, the things a woman could be seen doing or not doing. And being caught in a man's bed chambers-even if Clarissa could come up with a feasible excuse for her being there-there 'was' no good reason they couldn't do her excuse in a public setting. Where the rumors wouldn't fly so off the handle if they were seen together. He'd noticed-in his twenty summers of life experience-women were often the subject towards the more viscous of rumors, and punished far more severely then their male counterparts would have been. A noblewoman considered 'loose', especially one so young and inexperience with life, could often be disowned from their families and tossed out onto the streets with nothing but the silks they were on their backs. Others who weren't were often more publicly humiliated, even flogged in front of their peers by the stricter and more traditional parents.

A woman's reputation was everything. And could stop her from finding a good marriage match of their own if they were 'used goods' or 'damaged' and no longer pure. Arthur didn't necessarily want to agree with how their society worked in that little aspect of it, but…it was how society worked. And there was very little Arthur, even as a prince, was able to do to change how the people thought. Or even treated others they thought were 'dirty.'

"Then I suppose we just won't get caught." Cooed Clarissa in his ear, and Arthur stiffened as he felt the glide of her lips across the side of his neck. He really hoped her lipstick hadn't rubbed off on him, it would be pretty hard to include considering his male consort didn't go around wearing lipstick. A thought like that though, didn't stop Arthur tilting his head to the side-eyes fluttering closed-as he gave her more space to work with. It's really been a 'long' time since he'd been with a woman, it had been over a year since the last time. And Arthur'd pretty much resigned himself to the only touch he would get in the next fifty or so years would be the touch of his husband attacking him when he got in one of his moods.

"I-" Arthur cut himself off with a groan when the lady moved her hands under his arms, wrapping them around his stomach from behind, and her shapely breasts were pressed tantalizingly against his mid-back. His brain was going all fuzzy again, he was only a man after all. And there was only so much he could take before something in him just snapped. Snapped…what liked to snap at him… "I am a married man." He stuttered, his poor attempt at trying to sway her away from this choice. Arthur should be working, stopping this sick before there was anything more to worry about. But…it would be so easy to give in, to allow himself to be just a bit selfish this one time. There was plenty of many reasons he shouldn't be doing this, but damn it all, he was finding it hard for him one good enough to stop this.

To stop the hand that was slowly starting to trail down his belly heading towards his crotch, and he could feel her smile growing against his neck when he didn't push her away, "You aren't exactly wearing your wedding ring." She sung to him, and one her hands made a stop as she felt his belt line through his shirt, and made tantalizing circles in the cloth right under his belly button. And Arthur winced in her hold, knowing it was gonna come back to bite him in the arse. He'd taken his ring back off, despite his father's orders, when he started working. And tossed it into his bedside drawer to be forgotten about until it was needed again.

Arthur came back to himself, "I don't wear it all the time. I take it off when I have to write a lot, or else my finger cramps…" the lied spilled from Arthur's mouth with ease, but he winced at the sour taste of it in his mouth anyway, what a lame excuse that was. He should probably just push her away from him, excuse himself for this serious and obviously gross misconduct of his behavior, it was his one moment of weakness but he knew he couldn't go along with. Hue people's livelihood was at stake if he lost the kingdom, and he was being weak for having allowed it to go this far. But…he didn't want to hurt her if he suddenly shoved her off, he made his excuses, stomach muscles constricting as her hand started raising his shirt up so she could get to his belt buckle easier.

"Well don't worry so much." Clarissa seemed to buy his lie with ease, or maybe she was too eager to get to what was underneath his pants because she was already starting to slowly-teasingly-undo his buckle, sliding the strap out of the metal. "I'll not be the one to tell anybody about this. I won't even breathe a word of it to your husband…" and Arthur still didn't stop her even when he knew it was wrong.

He…he was starting to feel like a man again, was starting to feel good under the careful touch of a beautiful woman instead of the awful constant and never ending heat that boiled underneath his skin each and every time the thought of Merlin would cross his mind. Merlin frustrated him, and made him question his own manhood, feeling as if any of his attempts at providing for him had been clearly rebuffed in any and all manner. Arthur tried to help him by offering him gold, and items, and servants before he'd fucked that up from what Morris was telling him. But Clarissa wasn't like that. She was easy and uncomplicated, he could have her right this minute if he so desired. He didn't have to be resigned to only his right hand before he would've even tried to touch Merlin with a ten foot pool.

Who would know, in the privacy of his room, if he did step out of line just this once. As long as the Lady kept her word, then this would never have to get out. His father would never know that Arthur had the nerve to disobey him, would never know he was putting their kingdom at risk by playing the dangerous game. Merlin would never know of his adultery, didn't even know he could use it against him if he so desired and take Arthur's kingdom out from under his own nose…

Was it worth the risk?

Little Arthur seemed to agree, twitching violently in his pants when Lady Clarissa slid the strap all of the way out of the metal ring. And was toying with the ties underneath that kept his pants on straight underneath the belt, the positive reaction seemed to spurn her on…

Arthur's erection jolted and died in an instant, and it almost gave him whiplash, as the door slammed open so hard it banged against the wall, "Arthur, I think we need to tal-" Merlin started as he strode into the room with high intentions. His breath got caught in his throat and the words died on his lips before he could finish them, staring dumbly at the sight that was greeting him. This was…was not his reality. He had not just walked on his husband who was wrapped in the arms of…her…this whole thing suddenly seemed so much more important than a simple muck creature having made a home in their water supply…the image and betrayal-although he should have seen it coming all over again-forever burned into his retina's.

Arthur barely even had to look at the door, already knowing who it was long before his eyes met with his husband's. There was only one person in the world who had enough brass running through his veins, that he would come bursting in like that. His everything seemed to be going up in smoke right before his eyes. And it didn't matter if the Lady of the Beckett family kept her word. Merlin was most definitely not going to keep his trap shut, and the prince suddenly regretted not being much kinder to the boy. Maybe then he could have convinced him to keep his mouth zipped tight about this.

"Merlin!" Arthur's voice came out all squeaky as he practically threw himself out of the arms of the lady, who pouted and didn't look at all ashamed of having just been caught in quite the compromising position. Ice cold fear washed over him as he was finally forced to realize what he'd almost done, or what he had been heading towards. There would never be anything to have a man's erection fade faster than having one's husband walking into the affair you were attempting. Arthur's eyes darted all around the room, in a panic, trying to explain what was happening. Clarissa was…helping him find a quill? Stopped by to ask him about what the situation on the sick was looking like. Instead of those 'clever responses', he blistered out the first thing his panicked mind could get out. "This isn't what it looks like!"

Arthur wanted to force those words back down his throat and swallow them whole, as if he had never said them to begin with. Those words were such a cliche, the first thing people said whenever they had been caught doing a wrong. And Arthur could tell, frozen as he himself was, from the look on Merlin's face that he didn't believe it, not even for a second. Which made Arthur want to scream out in frustration-the previous anger he had with his consort minutes earlier all but evaporated with the situation-because 'now' Merlin chose to have a brain. He didn't know two men could have sex, but he sure did know when his husband was about to cheat on him. And that meant Arthur wouldn't be able to use Merlin's own stupidity and nativity against him.

Merlin's eyes connected with Arthur's, and even the prince stilled when he saw them freezing over until the prince could have sworn he was staring down a sudden tundra. Even goosebumps formed on his arms under his shirt, and Arthur couldn't be imagining the way the room seemed to drop down several degrees in an instant. "I thought she was gone." The consort spoke out, talking sorely with Arthur and ignoring the woman who stood behind him. Even his voice was glacier cold, giving Arthur no indicator as to just how pissed Merlin was.

"…I didn't lie," Arthur said quickly, remembering the last time they quarreled over Clarissa, and he told Merlin she'd left the city so he could forget of anything that had to do with her. "I really did think she left." Arthur was a prince, and he should never feel as out of his depth as he did now. But Merlin's expression that said he clearly didn't believe this truth hit him in the gut like a punch straight to his stomach. It was disorienting how Merlin seemed to have this sense telling him when Arthur's done something wrong, how he always seemed to show up at the wrong moment. Or perhaps, at the right moment. Maybe there was still some way of being able to salvage this. In a way he wouldn't be able to if he'd taken things with Clarissa a step too far.

"I'm sure you did." Merlin murmured underneath his breath, barely heard from how low he'd spoke it. But it may as well have been as loud and harsh as a punch straight to the face would have been, if the flinch Arthur gave was any indicator. Good, he thought with bitterness and anger swirling deep in the lowest pit of his belly. Merlin was surprised he was able to speak at all, without stuttering or even showing how his heart had fallen straight down in his stomach after seeing the obvious hints of his husband in the midst of an affair. He felt sick, but he was pretty sure he was doing a good job at not allowing it to surface and show. This incident was not like Morgana, who Merlin had caught Arthur as he stared after her during their very own wedding party, not moments after they had pledged their lives to each other. This was Clarissa, somebody trying to burst in on their non-existent relationship and make herself at home.

Here was Merlin, dutifully not allowing word of the contract spread. And Arthur is off having his fun in a lady's arms, as if their situation meant absolutely nothing to him. Why the hell was Merlin not going about screaming the truth of their relationship at the top of his lungs, if Arthur couldn't even bother keeping it in his pants.

"Boys, boys, please." Clarissa made herself known proudly, before plastering herself against Arthur's side as if she were his love. His Princess. His very own consort, and it was her every right to be able to keep the prince's arm directly planted straight in between the valley of her breasts. She looked at Merlin coyly, as if he should have expected for her to be there. Like Merlin was the intruder he should have figured Arthur would be having dalliances in the sanctity of his room with his beloved wife. "I'd not want for things to get out of hand, there's no reason to fight over little old me."

She cooed this, looking as if she would have liked nothing more than to see a rage match involving a prince and his consort over 'little old her'. Merlin's eyes-still frosty and hiding his emotions behind an impenetrable shield of disgust-snapped over, and looking like a pretty good imitation of a demon as he placed an unsuspecting curse onto an innocent female. "Trust me, nobody's fighting over you." He spoke coldly, the tension in the room seemed as if it was far more palpable than it had been barely a moment before.

Merlin watched with a sick sense of satisfaction as Clarissa's red painted looks-it might just be his anger and resentment talking, but he thought her makeup made her resemble a clown. Absolutely nothing compared to Morgana, who kept a more classy look most of the time-dropped into a scowl that made her look as ugly on the outside as she was on the inside. But it was nothing compared to the light of fire that filled up his belly when he saw the way Clarissa was rubbing her thumb around in a circular motion on Arthur's side.

"You found something to stick around for, did you now?" Merlin sneered, distaste feeling his mouth to the core. Maybe he shouldn't be so pissed off, it wasn't as if Arthur hadn't made his views of him and their relationship any clearer then he already had. But her? Seriously? Even though he and the prince would never be able work out any of their issues, Arthur picked her? 'That' was the kind of girl he liked? He should have expected it, should have known dancing with her was only the first step to full blown cheating. But knowing this did not stop Merlin-it almost fueled the fire brimming in his gut-from wanting to grab a fistful of the long hair stretching down Clarissa's back, and dragging her out of the room before throwing her down the hall. Before screaming something snappy, like how she should stay the hell out of his husband's room before Merlin showed her some real damage.

He might not be able to take on Arthur without the use of his magic to aid him, but he was sure he'd be able to take 'her' on. Despite the fire trying to roar up in his belly, threatening to overtake him so he would do something drastic, not even a second of emotion flickered on his face. He was stone, he was the snake hidden in the grass just waiting for a bit of vulnerability for him to strike out again, as impassive as a brick wall of emotion.

Clarissa seemed to take no notion of the tension as it rose and fell, stifling the air so deeply that not even an opened window would have pushed it out the room. "Oh," she scowled dangerous at him, as if she considered him the interloper on whatever notion of romance she had. If only she knew, the consort thought, that Arthur was the possibly the least romantic person on all the planet. "I believe I might have." And then her scowl disappeared, and she smiled at him pleasantly. Merlin could see her claw like painted nail digging into the sleeve of his husband's shirt, and Merlin knew she was trying to taunt him. Taunt him with her ability to get all of the things Merlin would never have, taunting him with her feminine charm and the ability to sway his husband's eyes away. Taunting him with the proud freedom of being able to touch something Merlin had already accepted he would never have.

If only Clarissa knew how Merlin would gladly past the prince off to her. As long as they would just go and leave him out of it, allowed him to return to his old life back in Ealdor, Merlin would say 'have fun and good luck' to Clarissa before he left her to the hell he'd been living. He doubted Clarissa, as one of these proud noble daughters, would go through the same mess that he was, but it didn't hurt him to think she wasn't 'living it up' nearly as much as someone would think a Royal would be.

"Merlin, Arthur spoke out again quickly and finally drawing the attention back to himself. He flinched when he saw those frosty eyes turned to him, and he was sure he was in trouble. It was almost worse than Merlin showing up five minutes later, and he would have surely caught him with his literal pants around his ankles. He pushed himself away from Clarissa, as if the distance would make Merlin just forget what he had witnessed. He ignored Clarissa who pouted, her fingers no longer being pressed in under his belt loops. "Maybe we should-" Arthur cleared his throat, knowing he had to do anything he could to defrost the ice in Merlin's eyes. Merlin was usually so full of expression, a real 'wearing a heart on my sleeve' type. Seeing the ice really did drill home for Arthur how epically he fucked up in all of this. How fucked it was that he was basically gambling his kingdom, his birthright, away, "Walk out and talk about this privately."

Maybe it would have been better if Arthur suggest Clarissa be the one to leave. Because Arthur was watching as the layer of ice in Merlin's eyes went thicker, forming layers and layers that he would've needed a pickax to get through. "Why ask for the privacy now?" The consort asked him, shoulders hunching in on himself as they shook. But Arthur was sure it was from contained rage, rather than Merlin about to start crying. "You sure didn't care about privacy just a minute ago!" His voice rose in his anger, but his eyes of ice didn't waver from out of Arthur's gaze even as he gestured roughly with his arm towards Clarissa.

All Arthur had wanted to do was get Merlin's sight away from Lady Clarissa. If he didn't have to see her, maybe he would calm down. Arthur would be able to lead him next door-to the Royal suite that Merlin had abandoned-and they would be able to have a calm and rational discussion about what all of this was. He could talk Merlin down from what it was he planned on doing next, try to convince him something like this should only remain in quiet and known between only the three of them. Even if the prince had to swear it would never happen again in all of their marriage-remembering all the sheer terror Arthur was going through right now, would be a damn good cockblock-to keep Merlin from letting it slip to his father.

This was the 'exact' opposite of making sure Merlin would stay content and happy enough to not take their kingdom. Arthur hated to admit the weakness, but Merlin was the one that held all the power in the world right now. He just didn't know it was in his hands. Arthur doubted even showing Merlin the new box he had procured for him would be enough to sway his righteous temper. But the prince-fool that he was-could feel his own temper start to rise, as it always did when in proximity to Merlin. Instead of insisting they take this talk off in a more private setting, the prince snapped, "You don't think this is private? My own bed chambers, not open to the public and barely open to yourself in that regard, isn't private enough for you? That's why a thing called 'knocking' was invented. Or do they not have that concept back in whatever farm town they scraped you out of?"

Merlin's face started growing red hot, the anger in his face contrasting sharply against the vivid blue of the ice in his eyes, "Don't you dare bring up my home." The consort snapped icily. He could deal with Arthur and his attitude, could deal with all of the shit he was putting up with. But right up there with: you will not abuse me, was: you don't get to talk crap about my home. There were good people in Ealdor, kind people, who would never dare treat a stranger that had welcomed onto their land with the same hostility and vengeance the people he'd dealt with in Camelot had. Merlin tilted his chin up high, proud he came from Ealdor and not Camelot City, "And maybe you wouldn't need your 'privacy' if you weren't in here with 'her'." He sneered at the prince, and he actually sounded inhuman. A voice that wasn't his, low and growly and dangerous in the making.

Here he was, stressing himself out so much his hair was probably gonna turn grey years before it was meant to. He'd run himself ragged over half of this castle, had himself a mental breakdown over an abusive arse, was probably verging on falling in to a very serious psychotic/depressive mentality, had discovered what had caused 'at least' seventy five people's deaths, and all with a crushing time limit bearing down on his shoulders. And what had Arthur been doing in all this time? Hiding away in his room so he could make kissy faces with some girl he'd claimed meant nothing to him. Well, the prince sure thought Clarissa was worth the secret of their marriage getting out. A loving husband didn't exactly go off cheating with the first woman that came his way.

Arthur should have been on his knees, begging for his consort's apologize after being so obviously caught in the wrong. But instead of admitting his faults and telling Merlin he had every right being mad at him, he lashed out. "I don't see 'how' any of what I do is your business!" Arthur knew he'd been weak, had allowed that weakness to show, but he was not going to have his life ruined for all but one mistake. A single mistake that had lasted for less than a minute, a single mistake he hadn't even got to enjoy before Merlin showed up to ruin it.

The sun must have dipped behind a cloud outside the window because a shadow seemed to be cast across the room, causing Merlin's face to be dark, except for his eyes that seemed to break through the shadows, "Didn't you once tell me everything I did is your business?" He demanded, hatred was growing so strongly inside of him, it was starting to leak through the ice in his eyes. Arthur had told him this back when he'd been dragging Merlin off to his room after he'd been caught looking for his job. "What makes you think you're not included in that? It's a two way street! 'Everything' you do is MY business. What do you think being a husband means?"

Arthur could think he was Merlin's boss, but he'd be damned if it wasn't the same for him. He could live with the disrespect he got from Arthur, but he would not stand to be blind sided like this. Merlin didn't even give a flying fuck that Arthur was off spending time with 'her'-although really, he was still stuck on Clarissa being Arthur's type, snooty and self-absorbed is how he saw her-but the least Arthur could do was tell him up front. And not act as if Merlin was so stupid as to not know what the two of them had been about to get up too. Arthur also didn't have to waste his time. If Merlin known Arthur was more interested in flirting and finding time with 'his girl' then saving this damn kingdom from annihilation, saving Gwen from execution as well, then he wouldn't have even bothered to find him in the first place.

"Oh," Clarissa decided to make herself known this time again, refusing to be reduced to the second-rate character in this little argument. She took her time as the attention fell onto her, to raise herself up by the back of her hands until she was sitting on the edge of Arthur's desk, nearly knocking off the inkwell. She didn't seem to notice, leaning so forward that it was amazing she didn't fall right off the edge herself. But it did bring attention straight to her breasts, nearly falling out the top of her low cut dress. The slit up the side of the skirt seemed to part as she crossed her legs, and she brought more attention to herself by sensually running her delicate fingers across her extremely feminine and slim ankle. Her sultry smile seemed to widen when she saw her ploy for attention had gotten her what she wanted, and she flashed it toward Merlin, as if she thought they were playing some game where she held all the cards and Merlin didn't even know the rules too. "Do try to calm yourself down some dear, we wouldn't want you getting all worked up for nothing."

Merlin gritted his teeth down, feeling as if she was just patronizing him now. The way her sultry smile started to resemble more of a smirk, taunting him as she made herself as home in Arthur's 'private' space as he called it. He wanted nothing more in the world than to wipe that look off her face, to be able to say something that would make her smug face drop in a heartbeat. Before unceremoniously tossing her out on her arse in the hallway. But the problem came in when he considered…he didn't have anything that was enough to give the effect he wanted to give to Clarissa. The only thing he'd had was…Arthur…and Clarissa could keep him for all Merlin cared. Hell, he'd even slap a bow on the guy's head and deliver him into her self-absorbed greedy little hands.

Clarissa flippantly waved her hand at him, and was looking not the least bit bothered by her no longer needing to be there, "You sound like you're some little boy having a tantrum because his favorite toy got taken away."

Ignoring how she was basically calling him the toy, Arthur felt his heart stuttering to life in a panic as he saw Merlin glaring at Clarissa. Furious as he'd been, he could argue with Merlin until the both of them ended up blue in the face, that didn't negate the very real issue they had here. Even comforting himself with the knowledge of Merlin not knowing 'anything' about his side of the contract didn't feel good enough to calm down. Even if Merlin wasn't able to do anything 'now', he knew his father was not going to see it in the same light. Because his 'consort' could always come back later and stake his rightful claim on the throne. The only issue he could see was rather or not Merlin would be able to succeed. Arthur hadn't actually 'done' anything even if it had been a close call. There weren't any other witnesses, as long as nobody else would be bursting down his door to get in, to collaborate his consort's word. And Clarissa was 'far' too classy of a lady with much too use, despite her brushing it off when he questioned it, to admit to something that would sully her good name.

"Now, as you can see, Arthur and I were just in the middle of something." Clarissa continued on, as if she thought Arthur and her was going to just pick back up where they had left off before Merlin had interrupted them. Arthur would 'not' be able to do anything after such a close call as this. "So here's an idea. Why don't you go on and run home to see your mommy or something. And leave the adults here to play."

To play?

To play?

To play?

Was that what they were calling it nowadays? Or maybe that was what they'd always called having an affair. How would Merlin know, it's not as if he had any frame of reference for this. He'd never got with somebody before Arthur. And truth be told, if this was what he was missing out on the entire time, then he was thankful nobody else in Ealdor had shared him…inclinations…towards the same sex.

But anyway, "I'm a little too busy bursting my arse trying to save this damn kingdom to run home to my mother!" Merlin said scathingly, eyes lit up like fireworks at the sheer audacity this woman had to claim Arthur like she was. Merlin might be more than happy to pass the prince off to her-let her go and deal with his swarmy attitude-but until Merlin had the divorce papers in hand, forever separating him and Arthur, then yes, Merlin would be the one to put a stop to whatever Clarissa thought would be going on. He must've really been stressed out by this monster roaming around underneath their feet, because he'd never felt so eager to hit a girl in his life.

Merlin wasn't surprised at all-he had almost been half expecting it-when Arthur stepped in front of him, trying to defend his 'girlfriend' or 'partner to his affair' or whatever they were calling their little 'get together.' "Merlin, you need to calm yourself down." The prince said firmly, eyes piercing as he bore them down into Merlin's own. As if this was Merlin who was the problem, instead of his fling, his bit on the side. No, why blame her? Or even blame himself, when he could just lay all of this shit at Merlin's doorstep. "Just like she said. This kind of behavior may fly back where your from, but you aren't a peasant any longer. Your a bloody Consort. So show some decorum, you are doing nothing but embarrassing yourself at this point."

Merlin's lip curled in distaste, baring his teeth like a wild man to the prince, "Be a consort? You want me to be a consort?" He repeated, sounding as if he were the calm before a wicked hurricane about to touch down, musing over the words of Arthur's new girlfriend, who acted as if he was hysteria for not taking Arthur's cheating ways with this bright smile and playful weak before telling them to 'have fun' before making his way out to do the real work while Arthur had fun making kissy faces. Well, not this time. Merlin refused to be the one made out to be a fool, refused to be the one 'put in his place and forced to correct himself' when he saw more injustice and hypocrisy than he'd ever seen back in Ealdor. "What exactly does a 'consort' do? More than the prince whose sitting on his arse while not doing one thing once so ever! I mean, do you even care about your people at all? The same people you're supposed to protect, who are suffering as you make out with your new girlfriend!"

Merlin felt as if he was doing nothing but pulling all the weight here. What was the point of Arthur if he was just going to be a huge sack of shit, doing nothing but weighing him down until he would be forced to his knees, unable to stand the pressure piling on his shoulders. This wasn't his problem to fix! He was 'never' supposed to be the one who went out of his way to save people who would flat out hate him to his face. But…Gwen…and the only way to get her out was to stop this. Or he might've just left it up to Arthur to fit in fixing everything in-between smooching on his girl. But Merlin seemed to have gone a step too far, because Arthur took this time to grab him by the collar of his jacket and jerk him to his tip toes. Putting Merlin in what was becoming an increasingly familiar position where their noses were left bumping into the other, while glaring into blue eyes of equal frustration mixed in with rage and rebellion.

"How dare you question my honor like that?" The prince snarled through gritted teeth, shaking his consort so violently that it made Merlin's teeth go to rattling. Arthur looked as if he'd been slapped by Merlin's questioning, as if Merlin's sharp desire to know the truth made him want to take the fancy sword he carried around with him straight through Merlin's stomach. The blood that would erupt out of the wound causing no effect on him, nor would Merlin's gurgling as the man who once promised to protect him inside these walls, slayed him right where he stood.

There was only so much defiance and rage one man could take before something inside of him would start to whither away. And Arthur had never looked as mad at Merlin as he did now. Not even when the consort was defying him in front of his oh, so precious council. Merlin didn't even raise a hand to fight back, he'd half-expected for any kind of confrontation between them to end up like this, physical. Arthur could hit him all he wanted, could show just how abusive he was in front of his girl-maybe she'd realize how messed up Arthur was, and would try to run while she could, before said prince for his hooks into her-but Merlin wouldn't be the one to flinch.

Clarissa took this moment to act as if she was the consort in the room, taking her stand against the prince's backside and looking down her nose to the Real Consort, "What is wrong with you, little boy?" She sneered at him, her accent thickening so deeply she could barely be understood. Exotic but clearly noble, the exact opposite of Merlin and his own country bumpkin foreign accent. "Do you not understand who this is? You cannot go talking to 'Prince Arthur-'" as if Merlin didn't know exactly what kind of creep he was married too. "As if you are nothing more than some uncultured swine."

Merlin lolled his head around to look at her, with a dead eyed stare that could freak out the bravest of men. "Don't talk as if you know anything." said the consort, watching as Clarissa shivered with an unsettled look at the tone of his voice, a tone that said very well 'I could kill you before you even look at me again'. And his eyes darkened to look almost like nothing when he saw the way she took hold of Arthur's arm, through the crook of his elbow even as Arthur still held onto himself. As if she thought Arthur was going to protect her from the big, bad Merlin. Not even seeing the way Arthur shook his arm to get her off-like she was nothing more than an unwanted leach-was enough to sway Merlin or his placate temper. Merlin lolled his head back to look at the prince, and casually raised his hands-which hung by his side lanky during the entirety of this encounter-until he was wrapping his fingers around Arthur's wrists. "And Arthur, don't touch me." He spoke in the same dead voice he talked to Clarissa in.

Clarissa could stroke Arthur's ego by acting as if he was some infallible being just because he had happened to be born with a crown already poised on his head, but Merlin didn't care about that. But Merlin didn't have the patience for such lame acts he knew he wouldn't be able to stomach. Besides, what kind of prince left his people to suffer, more interested with getting his game face on, then he was in saving as many lives as they would be able to salvage. To him, Arthur was no prince. He was a man who didn't know how to do the job his birth had given him. And it left Merlin scrambling about to pick up the pieces as best as he could in Prince Arthur's destructive wake. He would be better off doing everything on his own, he could get rid of it and let Arthur stay safe and sound in his nice, and cozy little richly done hovel. With her.

Arthur seemed to blink at him, looking as if he did not know what to make of Merlin's tone. Merlin did not know why though. He was making it plane to see for all the world to know…he was fed up with Arthur Pendragon. The prince, looking confused as if nobody had told him to fuck off before in his entire life-which was a damn lie because Merlin had done told him this several times in these two months they've known each other. But Arthur was allowing his fingers digging into Merlin's collar to loosen, until the cloth of his jacket slipped through his fingers and allowed Merlin to land back on his feet straight.

Merlin couldn't help but note how Arthur hadn't actually answered his question. About whether or not he cared about his people. The prince had just reacted, and attacked him. But hey, hearing Merlin speak the truth would cause even the calmest of men to be riled up. And Merlin already knew this prince had quite the temper, having fallen victim to it several times already.

Arthur cleared his throat, glancing over at his lady in waiting, before turning back to Merlin. The dark haired boy had already stepped away, wanting to put some actual space between them while going back and forth on whether or not he should just leave. There had been no point in him coming over here, he could see that now. And he would have to remember that the next time Merlin got himself the bright idea to come see his husband. But the prince followed him, and Merlin held his breathe in distaste when the prince stepped up to him toe to toe. Merlin didn't try to punch him in the gut, but that was only because Arthur didn't grab him like he just had. Instead, the prince leaned in so that his breath was ghosting along Merlin's earlobe so disgustingly so, but Merlin didn't back away due to his own pride-let Arthur be the one to move for once-even as his face scrunched up.

"This is going a bit too far." Granted, Arthur did try to be discreet, whispering low to Merlin so his new lady friend wouldn't be able to hear. But the young consort was pretty sure Arthur had never actually been discreet in his life, as his voice wasn't nearly low enough to mask what they were discussing at this point. Merlin was pretty sure Arthur was trying to stop their non-stop arguing because he didn't want to get embarrassed in front of…her, for not having a quiet and obedient consort who would do all that Merlin told him without question and with a complete faith in Arthur knowing exactly what he was doing. Even if that something included going off on a cheating spree with the first woman who came his way after their marriage. "I think I know what's got you so worked up this time." The prince decided on his own, bringing his hands up to rest on his hips.

Merlin lolled his eyes back over to Arthur, leaning his head away from him, "Oh, this ought to be real good. Go ahead and tell me Arthur, what's got me all worked up this time?" It couldn't possibly have been Arthur cheating on him, planning on doing only god-knows-what with that girl. Clearly, Merlin was all worked up-he wanted to scoff at the little phrase Arthur had delegated him into, because the prince has 'yet' to see him all worked up-due to whatever false concoction Arthur liked to make up in his own head. Refusing to believe Merlin the few times he tried to explain himself before he realized Arthur wasn't interested in the truth. He was just interested in forming his own narration to make himself look good.

Arthur's lips thinned at Merlin's dry remark but he didn't comment on it. In fact, he nodded, seeming to look more sure of himself than ever. "It's your mental affliction acting up again, is it not? That's why you act worse than a woman not getting her way. Just tell me now, do you need me to walk you down to Gaius' and have him take a look at you. I know nobody, even you Merlin, would treat me as you do if you were in your right state of mind. This might be a call for help and you don't know how to express yourself." Arthur reached out and cupped a hand over Merlin's shoulder, behaving like a real man who was only concerned for his husband. He might really have been concerned, but Merlin did not see it that way. He saw Arthur as patronizing him, and being incredibly stupid for still believing that lie Gaius had concocted to talk Arthur into not fighting him staying with him.

"…My mental…affliction…" Merlin repeated slowly, a vein starting to throb somewhere in his temple as he took that in. He could feel the red heat of rising anger starting to creep up his neck and was turning his face red. It was bad enough for Arthur to have claimed he had this 'mental affliction' right to the council themselves. He couldn't give a shit what they thought of him, and he could ignore the whole bit since Arthur thought-misguided as he'd been-he was helping save Merlin from being taken to the dungeon. But to say it now? In front of the woman he took pleasure in when he couldn't even look Merlin straight in his eyes half the time, not without thinking it would make him gay or a stupid thing like that. And for what? Because Merlin was not one of Arthur's 'yes men' who acted as if the prince's every word was the gospel truth? Was it because Merlin wasn't afraid to challenge him, to demand an explanation and have his questions he heard and answered, instead of meekly bowing his head and agreeing with whatever the word of the prince was.

"Just answered me truthfully," Arthur continued on talking as if Merlin hadn't said anything. The blond prince still had a hand on Merlin's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze as if he was trying to give him some kind of mock comfort. Amping up Merlin's 'this is fucking weird' factor, "Do we need to talk to Gaius and get you out on some kind of potion, one of his…medications, so these kinds of things don't happen anymore."

Merlin blinked, somehow not surprised in the least that this was where Arthur had gone. It gave him a whole new urge to sneak into Arthur's room one of these nights, climb into bed with him, before he climbed on top and sat on Arthur's chest so that he wouldn't be able to escape him. And then just go ahead and smother him with one of his dozens of pillow piled up at the head of the bed. His own husband, Arthur bloody Pendragon, wanted to go ahead and drug him. Take things the easy way and make sure Merlin couldn't argue with him anymore for god-knows-how long he would try to keep him on it. Until Merlin was a drunken fool, too out of it to even wipe the drool off his chin. Was that what Arthur wanted from him?

…Screw him.

"You and I both know there's nothing really wrong with my mind." Merlin said, voice sharp enough that it seemed to crack through the air like some kind of whip. He was tired of playing that little bit of their charade, tired of Arthur treating him like he was stupid or 'acting out' for attention, or just being unable to control himself because of how 'mental' he apparently was. Well, Merlin was over it and he'd be damned if Arthur treated him like he always did in front of…her. "Just because you do not like what I say, ever, does not mean I cannot 'keep up'. Does not mean I'm mental, or have any problems with my mind!"

Merlin was feeling preset damn proud of himself for getting that out there, enough was enough for that little lie. And Merlin didn't even care if Arthur tried to enforce him moving back into the Royal suite when it became apparent that their excuse had been just that, an excuse. He would tell him point blank, that wasn't happening. And if Arthur tried to force the issue, if he dragged his guards into the matter and had them drag him back into that dreaded room, then Merlin wasn't going to rest. He would be quite happy to tell Arthur that he would spend every minute of every day trying to get out of that room and back to his uncles. He would fight him every step of the way, be the most obnoxious person on the planet when they would finally allow him out to attend their 'royal function' to stroke their ego's and make them look good in front of people Merlin didn't give a damn about. It would be a lot easier, and Merlin would be more willing to 'play along' if Arthur left him where he was without a fight.

Merlin's proudness dimmed a second later when he saw Arthur frowning, looking confused. And oh my god, Arthur had legit spent this entire time on thoughts of Merlin being mental. Did everybody in the world who didn't agree with Arthur apparently have some kind of 'mental affliction', was that the only reason Arthur got out of bed in the morning? So convinced that there was something wrong in the people of this city, rather than believing there was actually something wrong with himself. Or it might be Merlin, the only one brave enough to tell their precious prince to fuck off. Now that he was thinking of it, he might have heard whispers once or twice about how Arthur behaved, but he could not recall anyone telling it to Arthur himself.

Of fucking course, Merlin thought to himself, the people who lived here all of their lives probably had a stronger self-preservation than Merlin had. How many people had ended up in the stocks for telling Arthur had wrong he was…also for trying to punch him but that was a different matter really…

"Ew," Clarissa once again took her chance to slide herself into the conversation, wrinkling her nose as she looked down at Merlin, apparently while not realizing this conversation was a two way street so a third shouldn't be involved. "You're mental? How are you even allowed near proper folks then, that's not right if there's something wrong with you."

Merlin stared at her thinking…what the ever loving fuck. Had she literally not heard Merlin telling 'his' husband, that there was nothing actually wrong with his mind. Or was she like Arthur, someone who had selective hearing and would only hear the things they wanted to hear, never mind what the actual truth was. God help them all if Clarissa ever became Lady Princess of Prince Arthur, shall the day come where Merlin actually does get to throw himself off a ledge. Or on the positive hope he was holding onto: gets to hold a set of divorce papers in his hand. Even if they were a once in a generation occurrence, divorces weren't exactly a norm but Merlin was holding out for it anyway. He didn't exactly have hope for any of them tough, if Clarissa got a handful of power and decided to go locking up all the people she didn't like.

Under 'mental distress' or whatever lie she could come up with as to not have the people revolting against it. You know, since she thought Merlin was the one needing to be locked up due to a mental disease he didn't even have.

Clarissa whipped her head around, her long mess of dirty blonde curls falling delicately over her slim shoulder, and she obviously took pleasure placing her arm around Arthur's again, ignoring the stiffen way the prince held himself-or his expression that went blank and devoid of emotion-as she casually squished her breasts up against him. Merlin lifted an eyebrow, wondering if this was some ploy she'd concocted to make him jealous. Well, not jealous perse, but more of her taunting him with how free she was to touch and be given touch in return.

If one could call Arthur subtly leaning away being 'touched in return'.

"Arthur," Clarissa started up that irritating cooing she'd taken to doing to the prince. "I do fear about how boring this conversation has gotten. I'm fully aware he's your husband, but I believe you can do so much better. He's quite the uncouth creature, is he not? I can't imagine your father is nearly as pleased by the union as he portrays himself to be to please you. But, I would really like to get back to what we were doing." She smiled charmingly at her prince, moving so she was standing in front of him and wrapped her arms lovingly around Prince Arthur's neck, fingers playing gently with the hairs at the nape of his neck. "Won't you be a dear, and get the child to leave so we adults can return to a proper playing…"

Merlin's face dropped, looking disturbed by this but his feet refused to leave the floor. Please tell him Clarissa wasn't referring to what she and his husband had been about to do as 'playing'. It set something off inside of his chest, as if his own ribs were constricting around his heart and trying to slowly kill him. Arthur was really going to do…that, after sending Merlin away? What kind of fucked up shit was this? Was Arthur even ashamed he'd been caught red handed by probably the worse person who could have caught him? Was he even ashamed his own consort felt as if he was being the interloper, in the one place meant to be 'his' new home.

Some home this was supposed to be…

"You're seriously going to do this?" Merlin felt his chest squeezing painfully, and he turned his harsh eyes on Arthur with disgust, fully expecting for the prince to toss him out on his arse any moment but he would make sure Arthur heard him before he'd be forced to leave. "You're going to cheat on me? And you aren't even trying to hide it? Do you not have any shame? Or are you proud of how horrible a person you are, running around with the first one to show up?"

Merlin didn't particularly want Arthur to hide the truth from him, he would much rather know where he stood in this false marriage of theirs. But Arthur could at least looked embarrassed to be caught or ashamed of how much of a perverted weasel he really was. He didn't have to rub his cheating ways in Merlin's face, or act as if he was doing nothing wrong. Or god forbid, tell him straight up he was about to be 'getting it on' with Lady Clarissa while Merlin himself was pushed out into the hallways.

Forgotten.

Misused.

Dismissed.

Nothing more than a pawn to be used among the royals, and then discarded as soon as they would get whatever they wanted from him.

"I'm not cheating on you! And trust me, nothing is going to be happening." Arthur said, quickly and with insistence. But it was hard to believe when he had Clarissa's arms still tangled around his neck like a leach. As if reading where Merlin's mind had gone, Arthur grabbed Clarissa by her upper arms and pulled her away from him, ignoring the way Clarissa pouted and huffed, before crossing her arms over her great chest. "This is all some huge misunderstanding…"

Arthur trailed off, already knowing Merlin wouldn't be buying the lie on his tongue. He remembered his father-back when the king had lectured him on Clarissa-had told him everybody was going to be affected by his actions with Merlin. The entirety of his kingdom probably rested directly on what was going to happen today. And Merlin was no fool, so lying to him was out of the question. He needed to take this far more seriously then he had been, not only to please his father should word of this awful, horrible incident ever get back to him, but he also knew he was entirely at fault for not sending the lady away as soon as she had made herself known in his quarters. It wasn't just him that would lose it all, it was his kingdom that would suffer…

Merlin nodded his head at him, a sardonic look on his face, "So, not only are you a cheater-" nothing Arthur said would change that in his mind, rather or not he had actually done anything. The point is, Arthur didn't see any problem with his behavior. It was a problem to Merlin though. "But you are also a huge liar as well." Arthur opened his mouth, and it was probably to try and argue his point, but the consort had enough of this and lifted his hand to shut him up. To Merlin's surprise, Arthur snapped his mouth shut in a rare show of obedience. Merlin wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he was quick to correct himself. "And I don't just mean the cheating." Arthur's protests aside, he'd always count this as the moment Arthur had first started cheating on him. After all, they had sworn till death so they part, to honor and cherish or all that jazz nobody gave a damn about.

Somehow, the cheating didn't hurt nearly as much as Arthur eluding his abuse was going to become physical. He considered right from the start Arthur would cheat on him at some point. It was almost to be expected, considering there was no actual love between them. But Merlin also figured Arthur and Clarissa weren't in love either, Merlin might've been more understanding of their situation if they were.

"…And what else would you consider I've lied to you about?" Arthur asked, bowing his head and not saying anything to defend himself. He knew he had fucked up badly, and Merlin could probably come up with a multitude of reasons Arthur might have lied about. He hadn't been doing a good job of keeping Merlin happy, as his father had ordered him too. He hadn't even done a good job of trying to keep his 'own' affairs discreet, as he had once warned Merlin to do.

"You made me a promise." Merlin spoke firmly and it was the one promise he had actually taken to his heart. Their wedding vows, as much as Merlin was wanting to hold those as swears and promises, he didn't think they held true. A marriage between a set of strangers wasn't exactly the strongest thing in the world, and they were liable to break just as easily as they had been formed. But Arthur made him a promise later on, and it was one Merlin was not going to forget. Arthur was a liar for breaking it, and Merlin would never allow him to forget of its existence, "You swore that nobody would allow to be on this floor again. After my little…incident-" he glanced over to Clarissa, not sure how much Lady Clarissa might have heard of what had happened to him, he news the news had spread like wildfire after his first council meeting, but unlike Arthur, it was one of the few things he would rather remain in private. So he gave the prince a harsh look, as if telling him not to speak of the details of what had happened to him-if Arthur even remembered after running off with his little trollop, "You said you will have the security upgraded so it would never have a chance of happening again. But I see someone else have managed to make it through," he shot a dirty look towards the Lady.

Arthur seemed to pale, realizing things were much worse off than he thought. He hadn't expected for Merlin to put those pieces together, but it wasn't a shock either. Merlin really did have a brain buried in there somewhere. Arthur swallowed hard as he realized Clarissa would have to go, they could not talk more freely without an audience, "You're right on that course." He said, with one sharp jerky nod of his head. "I have made you a promise, and I will keep my word, of course. This really was one huge misunderstanding. I assigned Gregory to you, for your protection, and it has slipped my mind to get a new guard for the door."

As far as excuses went, it wasn't the best Arthur had made. He probably shouldn't have made any excuse at all. There was no sugarcoating it, and he knew there was nothing to change what he'd allow to happen. He'd broken his word, point blank and as simple as that. Nobody should be allowed onto this floor, and Clarissa's mere presence was him going against his word. He would need to make an appeal to Merlin's better senses, and hope for the best. Arthur turned to Clarissa, preparing to ask if the lady would mind leaving them in private, since the two of them had many things to discuss and it wasn't proper to do in front of an audience of just one.

Merlin snorted at Arthur's words, but it sounded far more on the sarcastic side then amused, "Oh, good. I almost thought you were about to feed me some lie about how she's your newest maid, and was only trying to prepare you for a bath." It was a lie that would have led Merlin to doing whatever it took to ruin Arthur over. If the prince had thought him stupid enough to fall for such drivel, then he'd know there was really no hope for him at all. Well, he knew that already but…Arthur would've been beyond salvaging after such an obvious lie. Merlin would have gone scorched each over it though, it might have even been enough to tempt him into using his magic to turn Arthur's 'bath water' into a boiling hot mess.

Who had said a little pain to his husband wouldn't get his displeasure across.

Arthur's head whipped around to look at Merlin, a jolt of irritated panic flooding his system as he was forced to see Clarissa's own displeasure at being hinted as a maid, "Merlin!" He scolded harshly, as he knew what a huge offense that could be with a proper Lady being the victim. To insinuate a Lady in silks could pass for a maidservant…it was such a dishonorable suggestion and Merlin would have been lucky if Clarissa's family didn't try to insist on Merlin being publicly punished for the insult, "You cannot go around insulting Ladies of the court like that! What is wrong with you? Lady Clarissa, she's an honored guest, and should be treated like it!"

Even Arthur's own father-who had been insisting he keep Merlin happy and never saw Clarissa for as long as he lived-would have been hard pressed into taking proper action if he saw how Merlin was behaving. Uther would not have had Merlin boldly insulting a Noble Lady in such a way, to allow him to destroy the bonds the Pendragon's had with a noble family like the 'Beckett's'. Arthur would have to work double time now to preserve the bonds of one of the many families that had pledged its own loyalty and had given many of it's own son's into their armies over the generations, even if it would also mean turning his back onto Merlin. Arthur, he was stuck with Merlin, he could fix things with the boy any old time-or at least come up with another plan to prevent him from wanting to talk of what is occurring at this very moment to the very wrong people…like his father. But he had Lady Beckett in front of him now, and there was no telling what his consort might do in the future, he had to salvage things with her before she left.

Arthur's ears burned with embarrassment, quickly turning back to Clarissa as he tried to save some kind of face, ignoring Merlin's muttering behind him of how 'she's not my bloody guest.' "I do find myself having to apologize on the behalf of my consort. He's not exactly housebroken, and it has been quite tough getting him accustomed to our more noble lifestyle." He gave her a false laugh-a practiced laugh that many people would think was real-to try and make a joke out of this. In Arthur's experience, people liked to laugh, and making the people they knew as victims of said joke usually was a sure fire way of breaking the ice.

Clarissa's face was pinched, she had clearly heard Merlin's little comment-Arthur would have to fight with him again, wouldn't he?-but she nodded her head to Arthur, "It's perfectly alright, sire. I'm able to see quite clearly how…housebroken he is not." She said this with a titter of laughter in her voice as she continued with Arthur's joke, handling the insult with all of the grace and poise a lady of her station would be expected to have, her face going smooth to hide her pinched expression as if they hadn't already seen it. Why couldn't Merlin be like that more? Their marriage probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad if Merlin know how to handle himself with that same grace.

"…Maybe I should just leave." Merlin spoke up with a certain heat in his voice, from his position right behind Arthur, which told the prince he was most definitely gonna be involved in another fight with Merlin later on. "You know, before I just try and do something outrageous. Like chewing on Arthur's pillows, or peeing all over his rug. It's quite hard to get a dog housebroken after all. We wouldn't want me to have any accidents, would we, Arthur."

Arthur didn't look back at him, but he did sag his shoulders and looked up towards his ceiling as if to ask, why him? Merlin was so disgusting, peeing on his rug? Like he was a dog mocking across his territory? Arthur might like to call Merlin his pet, in the privacy of his own mind usually, but that didn't mean Merlin was an 'actual' pet. He was human so surely the brat knew how to curb his tongue…that might be another thing Arthur would have to teach to him at some point. Outside of the presence of a Lady, because he felt as if things were going to be getting very ugly between them, very soon.

"I really do apologize for him." Arthur told the Lady as sincerely as he could, while mentally thinking of how he was going to handle Merlin. Should he go about this smooth and gently, try to relax him and go with his father's original plan on making him be happy so he wouldn't take their kingdom? It was a plan that had seemed to fallen through before it'd even begun, and Arthur didn't think he could spin a convincingly enough act for Merlin to believe it so throughly. He was too agitated anyway, and the better option might be to just smash the consort's skull through his wall. Arthur smiled charmingly at the Lady, not a hint of displeasure anywhere more on his features. "Might I escort you out? I'll have to apologize again for having you leave so quickly, but it seems I need to attend to my consort at the moment."

He could hear Merlin huffing behind him, and feel his steady gaze on the square of his back. He felt a chill in the air again that told him he probably did not want to have another go around with Merlin at the moment, but he hadn't stepped down during challenges, raids, or even tourney fights. He was not going to step down from the boy with a smart mouth.

"Of course, darling. I can see I've might have been overstaying my welcome a tad bit." Clarissa said in a casual tone, before hooking her arm around the crook of elbow Arthur was offering her. She might be the one actually leaving, but she was leaving a bit of chaos in her wake, and couldn't have been a bit more proud of herself if she tried. Clarissa saw fit to flash a superior smirk in Merlin's eyes, taking much pleasure when she saw him scoff and rolling his eyes at her. Such a jealous little thing, but that was good. Let him be jealous of her, it felt good to be seen as a challenger by somebody who'd once won the prince's heart. She almost thrives on the drama she was causing, and she flashed a pretty smile to Arthur, masking her sheer amusement at the prince's obvious frustration towards his own consort. A marriage like that seemed so unstable and shaky, and she almost wanted to see exactly what pushed buttons would it take for Arthur to split off with his 'one true love'. "I do ever so hope that you and your consort can manage to work out yourselves. I must say, after the reception I have received here today, I do believe you were right on the mark. It really is improper for an unwed woman to be spending time in a man's bed chambers."

She said this with false modesty, as if she hadn't been raised with the same values all proper young women were taught among the noble circles. How the purity of their bodies were the only real worth they had, and reputation was everything inside of their little world of dinner parties and festivities as they carried on with their lives. But really, who had cared for such trivial things of the past, when one could bag a prince. Nobody would question rather or not she had stolen herself a prince if the owner was a fleabag. She didn't even particularly like the prince, and while his crown was the biggest part about him, Clarissa had her own reasons for trying to string him along…

"Well, still, I have to thank you for being so good about all of this." Arthur said, clearing his throat as he reached out and grabbed the door handle to let the Lady leave the room. "Unfortunately, Merlin's not been raised right, so he's a tad knackered in his head. But I am taking measures to rectify all of that."

Or, Arthur thought bemusedly in the back of his mind as he opened the door for Clarissa, he had thought he was taking measures to fix whatever problems and stress Merlin had that was causing his outbursts. But after what Merlin had said-how there was nothing wrong with his mind-he found himself starting to question it. Wasn't that a thing somebody with an actual mental illness would say to prevent more permanent solutions to fix up the problem. He wanted to say Merlin was lying, that he just didn't want Arthur's involvement in dealing with his mental health, but…oh god, he hoped his consort had a grave mental disease. Because if he didn't, then that meant all of these outbursts were just his personality. Arthur couldn't live with these types of problems being an everyday occurrence, constantly scrambling behind Merlin and trying to fix whatever political issues he was causing with his everyday behavior.

Clarissa stepped through the doorway, turning to face Arthur one last time as she stood now in the hallway, "Don't worry so much, Arthur dear. I find no fault in your consort or his heavier. I too, would be behaving in quite the manner if I had wondered in to find my own husband with another." As if she was somehow being gracious for allowing such a slight against her go unpunished. Merlin rolled his eyes behind him, unable to believe the lengths any person would go for 'diplomacy' or something like that. If Clarissa was mad at him, she should've just bloody well said it. He had a few choice things he would like to say to her as well, and none of them as pleasant as he had been so far. "The next time we meet, we might agree it's to be done in a more public setting." She offered, as a false truth meant to placate the eavesdropping consort.

Arthur agreed to this, also spending in false tones of placating as he doubted he'd ever get a chance to be near Clarissa again. This whole situation had been enough to scare him into realizing what he'd lose by giving into the brief pleasures of the flesh. And Clarissa wasn't worth the hassle that he knew came with her. Bidding her goodbye one last final time, Arthur closed the door in her face, sealing a mouthy consort in his room with him.

As soon as the door was closed, Arthur whipped his head around to glare at Merlin, a vein started throbbing dangerous in his forehead. Forget about trying to make Merlin happy, forget about what his father wanted, his father wasn't the one that had to constantly deal with Merlin and his failings. He should just go to his king and admit he was giving up, he couldn't keep Merlin under control. Not like he knew his father would, having Merlin beaten up until the consort finally started to comply in order to get away from the torment. It'd probably be the one and only thing to get through Merlin's head that he couldn't act like that. Or maybe he should do it himself, channel some of his father's brutality for once. His hand itched to take off his belt, feel the strap of it heavy and thick in his hand, he felt the urge to smack the leather against the palm of his hand and watch Merlin pale as he realized he'd finally gotten Arthur to reach a breaking point. The prince would finally get his relief as he painted the boy's arse in red strips, showcasing the strength of his blows against the pale skin

Arthur wouldn't hold him down with his hands, the boy would surely wiggle free with his squirmy the prince knew him to be. He wouldn't get the hits in that he wanted if Merlin kept breaking free. No, it might be better to have some chains brought to him discreetly from the dungeons, a bigger heavy duty set of iron locks. Arthur would easily be able to clasp those silver manacles around his moron's slim wrists, hoisting them above his head after the prince forced him onto his belly on the bed, he'd tie them securely to the top of the headboard and force Merlin's back into an awkward arch while his upper body was forced to maneuver to allot for an odd positioning. And depending on rather or not Merlin was a kicker-his balls could attest that his consort was very much a kicker-he would have to get more chains to wrap around the boy's ankles, before latching them onto the footboard. Keeping Merlin spread out like some kind of eagle.

This would leave Arthur to do whatever he wished to Merlin for an undefinable amount of time. He'd be able to take things slow, one mark at a time as Merlin's body shook as he tried to escape, crying out from the snap of the blows against the smooth surface for Arthur to work with, after riding Merlin of a few key items that would block or shield him from Arthur's cruel gaze. Speeding things up with his own leisure in mind, seeing how many designs he could make across Merlin's legs, and back, and arse with those red stripes standing out vividly on him until Arthur decided enough was enough.

…he would probably have to swallow his pride and actually comfort the boy after he was done. Such a thing like that would probably be quite stressful for Merlin, and Arthur would probably be better off after being able to get some of his own stress out of him.

Merlin's sharp voice broke through Arthur's mind before he could fall down the rabbit hole deeper than he'd gone, "Please tell me you aren't falling for any of that shit! She is so full of it! Acting like she's so sweet and coy in front of you, I bet she doesn't act 'nearly' as innocent when she's not trying to impress you!" He glared straight towards the door Clarissa had just exited from, feeling the urge to set her stupidly perfect hair on fire. Merlin found it would be really easy to do, the magic was flickering in his fingertips before he was forced to squash it down before it released.

What kind of person would be desperate enough to go to a married man's room? Who was pathetic enough to do that with 'Arthur', the bloody pounce he was. And then gets 'caught' and isn't even a bit ashamed about it. Merlin would've found himself mortified if the situations were reversed, and the Lady 'was' the Lady of the House. God, what the hell was Arthur thinking! He was the one having a meltdown every time Merlin did something that he thought was 'embarrassing!' And yet, there would apparently be no problem in the world if the prince was the one doing the embarrassing things. Merlin was MORTIFIED due to Arthur's behavior, weren't they supposed to act in love! Wasn't this what this whole marriage had been about! And Arthur felt it was okay to just screw them up, to screw him up after everything he'd been through, for…her. How many times, Merlin couldn't help but wonder as a huge sharp acidic bitterness swirled inside of his gut, had Clarissa snuck into the personal chamber of a married man?

Or was it just 'his' supposed man she felt entitled to walking in and out as if she owned the place.

"Her name is Lady Clarissa-" Arthur started with a firm tone, his hand twitching towards his belt with a sudden desire to see what Merlin's wrists would look like tied and bound together with the leather of his belt, something to keep him in place without chains being an option. But he knew it wouldn't be happening outside of his own mind. No matter his hand itched something fierce to finally get hands onto Merlin, and show him what could happen to him if he continued to act so disrespectful in front of 'important' people…Merlin scoffed loudly, and rolled his eyes. Arthur could feel his veins throb in harsh singular motions in his neck, looking vivid and red against his tan throat as his anger grew at Merlin 'continuing' to show him defiance, "AND-" he spoke loudly, making sure he had Merlin's full attention on him, resisting the urge to grab Merlin and jerk him over his lap to finally give the boy a proper punishing. "You will do well to show her a bit more respect. Her uncle was the finest man in our military for many years."

Merlin's head whipped up to look at his husband with his startling cold gaze back in place, "Then I will show her uncle some respect should he'd be deserving of it when I meet him!" Because for all Merlin knew, this military guy was no different to all the other men he'd met since arriving here, in this strange alien world he was forced to partake in until Camelot took all he had. He refused to talk nice and act as if Clarissa wasn't completely out of line by being here. He refused to think Arthur wasn't at fault for not making her leave the very second she'd shown up. Fucking liar, promising he would be safe when it was him who Merlin should have been the most concerned about. And most of all, Merlin REFUSED to be ganged up on my the prince and his affair partner.

"Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed with frustration, putting one hand on his lower hip-which didn't help any of his urges as he could feel the hard leather against the side of his hand-and gestured with the other in front of him, "You do not play around with these things! Lord Beckett has done great things for my kingdom. The least I can do is be polite to his one niece when she comes and visits." And the least Merlin could do, Arthur thought agitatedly, was to not be around when she did. Arthur was finding it to be harder and harder to control these growing urges of his. He could almost 'feel' the roughened cloth of Merlin's peasant clothes underneath the palms of his hands, could hear the squeals or the whines of complaining as Arthur manhandled him into the place he wanted him. Feel the exhilaration of pure power as he saw the red handprints as he formed them on Merlin's…

"Being nice? Is that what you are calling it?" The boy in question asked harshly, snapping the blond out of the thoughts he'd fallen down into-he could feel this strange sickness growing in him each and every time he and Merlin had a confrontation. And Arthur was almost scared to see exactly how more Merlin could push him before he…gave in, and did something he'd probably regret later. But not any regret in the moment, he'd probably never be able to get over the exhilaration of finally putting Merlin in his proper place. Under him. "She was all over you when I came in Arthur, the least you can do is not lie straight to my face. You were cheating on me, plain and simple."

Arthur felt a low growl building up in his throat, he knew Merlin was right but he didn't appreciate it being thrown in his face. If Merlin hadn't walked in when he had, Clarissa most likely would have got her hand down his pants and then…all bets would have been lost. Merlin wasn't stupid, and Arthur could deny it until he was blue in the face. But the truth was clear, "Do you not understand just how important it is to not upset somebody that has the prestige of Lady Clarissa?"

He was almost embarrassed by how hoarse his own throat was sounding, causing a warm flush over his chest that he hoped Merlin wouldn't go noticing as he made his weak excuses of what he had been doing with the Lady. A prince shouldn't sound as if he was guttural-needy-to show some mutt his dominance. He should exert the position of power with just his presence alone, like the kind his father had. Where he could walk into a single room and have everybody fall silent around him in response. Merlin wasn't the silent type, and a new urge almost overcame Arthur: to use Merlin's blue faded neckerchief he wore around his neck to gag him with it. There would be no chance of anybody hearing Merlin's muffled screams if Arthur would ever get the chance to pin him flat on his desk and take a switch to his hide, using one of his hands to hold both of Merlin's slim wrists behind his back as he used the other to turn his arsecheeks red.

"And do 'you' not understand that I don't care one wit about what some random noble girl-" one who has never worked a day in her life from what the Consort been able to tell, "thinks about me while she has busied herself with putting the moves on my own husband!" Merlin had thought noble girls were supposed to be more modest than that. And they had the nerve to chortle while acting as if the peasants were the pigs. Merlin had never snuck in a married man's room! He might not have exactly the same…equipment…that a girl had, but he still had a mouth and could quite easily start kissing somebody!

…But not Arthur. Even if Arthur's bedroom would be one he'd snuck into several times already. But in his defense, Arthur was his husband! Not some random floozy's who probably thought getting it on with the prince would make her be something special instead of later discarded.

This brought Arthur up short, hearing the sudden shrill uptick in Merlin's voice. And the prince was sneering at him in disgust, "Oh Merlin, it's sweet to know you're jealous." As this was the one and only reason Merlin would still be in Arthur's face about all of this. If he was jealous, it really was a cute thought that Merlin still had that ridiculous crush on him. Maybe he wanted to be the one to have his hands creeping down the front of his pants, tugging at his underwear underneath after undoing his belt buckle…no, Arthur wrinkled his nose to himself. That was absolutely vile, and it wasn't going to happen, mainly because Merlin was a dim moron who didn't even know he could wrap his hand around Arthur's…

Arthur would sing to the heavens over how much he was grateful when Merlin interrupted him long before he was able to finish that thought.

"Jealous!" Merlin had demanded, voice going far higher up in pitch than it had been a second ago as he glared at Arthur. Merlin wouldn't have said he was jealous, for him to be jealous of Clarissa, he would have to actually like Arthur. Arthur, the same man who made Merlin feel as if he would forever be wading through this dark tunnel of an endless painful void. Constantly wondering and waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the day to come where Arthur really would be the one that left bruises and markings on Merlin's body. So the answer would be no, Merlin wasn't in anyway that was possible, jealous of somebody who behaved as Lady Clarissa Beckett did. But Merlin would say with complete confidence that he was betrayed, it caused his repressed anger to lash out at merely the suggestion.

It was almost as if Arthur had taken a little rusted spoon and painstakingly carved his insides out of him until Merlin had nothing more to give. Arthur might not have hit him yet-he was tense, almost erratic as he waited for Arthur's threat to finally come to fruition. The wait was almost worse than Arthur actually doing it, because he was expecting it to happen at any moment but it never did which caused him to be frazzled-but he might as well have. The scars forming on his heart was just as painful as a bleeding wound gashed across his chest, his words and actions infecting him like the disease that was spreading right outside the gates closed off to them. And in a kingdom where Merlin was watched every minute of every day, he could not even use his magic to try and-metaphorically-heal those bleeding wounds gushing out. Every time Merlin thought they might finally be healing, and he would get a chance to move on with life, it was Arthur that sent another painful gash.

Opening his hardening heart for more pain and agony to escape through the boarders he found himself struggling to keep up.

"I am most definitely not-" Merlin started to say, wanting to make this very clear to Arthur or so help him god, he would end him. "Jeal-" he cut himself off abruptly, staring blankly for a second before his brain seemed to catch up with him. The prince stared at him confused, seeing a red flush working its way to cover up Merlin's entire face as the consort diverted his eyes, it may have actually looked appealing-with the glow of the sun coming in the windows to cast its light on Merlin's face in an attractive and pretty manner as it bounced off the red coloring-if it had been on anybody else in the world.

"…What? What is it?" Arthur demanded, when he saw Merlin's mouth clamp shut, and the way the consort was looking in every other direction but at his face. Was there something on his face? Did he have some kind of horrible ink mark slashed right across his face that nobody had bothered to tell him about this whole time? Arthur even brought a hand up to his face, as if to see if any ink stains would come off on his fingertips. But Merlin was acting a little too strange for something like that, it also didn't seem like something Merlin would have kept his mouth closed on. He seemed more like the type to laugh in his face about it, or ignore it completely and allow Arthur to walk around the entire castle in front of all his subjects, while he laughed discreetly behind his back.

Merlin muttered something half-heartedly under his breath, glancing back at Arthur and was quick to look away before the prince could get any kind of information on this strange behavior. Arthur had a deeper frown, having not been able to hear one word Merlin had muttered under his breath. And then he saw Merlin glancing over at him one more time, only this gaze was aimed more towards his waistline. Arthur felt like he'd been hit by a sudden bolt of lightning, his heart leaping straight up into his throat as he had a sudden thought.

Was Merlin looking at his belt? Had Merlin been able to somehow read his earlier thoughts, when he was so consumed by the idea of punishing him proper. In a way that didn't involve laps or intense sword training until one was forced to drop from the exhaustion, a tactic he used when one of his knights had upset him or allowed themselves to fall back on their training. Or maybe what he had wanted to do to Merlin had just been written over his face, and he hadn't been hiding it nearly well enough like he thought. That thought would have been scary, and Arthur could feel his palms start to sweat as the itching to give Merlin one proper thrashing nearly overcame him, since he was left wondering if his father ever saw the expression on his face. He couldn't remember rather or not the godawful thoughts that circled his mind during his arguments nearly constantly with Merlin, had ever made their appearance in front of his father. God, he hoped they hadn't, but that also wasn't exactly his biggest concern right now.

"…Merlin…" Arthur muttered, breathing the name out underneath his breath as he took a step closer to the boy. Merlin couldn't possibly be suggesting what he thought he was suggesting, the look right at his waistline where his belt was peeking out of his shirt seemed to indicate otherwise. Maybe his consort knew how absolutely out of line he'd been behaving, maybe this whole Clarissa thing would be a godsend in disguise. Maybe on some really deep level, Merlin recognized he himself needed to be punished for his own good, needed Arthur's help to do it because he didn't know how he was supposed to act. And if Arthur disciplined him in a proper manner, Merlin would pick up on what was acceptable and what wasn't. This was just Merlin's shy way of asking for his help! Because the Merlin he knew would never actually ask him for help.

Although, Arthur was fully aware how wrong his thoughts were, and how the things circling in his mind could often be misconstrued in a sexual-he did not see it in a sexual way himself-and he knew he probably shouldn't be thinking of these things at all-sexual or not-lest he be too tempted to try it out for real. But here Merlin was, and he seemed to be practically offering himself on a silver platter for Arthur's lash. If Merlin was asking for it, then it surely couldn't be wrong, right? They could do the punishment just the one time, and then move on with their lives. Arthur would get his itch out, and be able to punish Merlin for all of the things he did in just one session. He could even punish him nice and proper for what Morris had said he'd done-the way Merlin thought he could start mistreating the servants in the castle. Now, that was something he'd be pleased to punish Merlin for.

But Arthur had never done any of this before, oh jeez, this was going to be like their wedding night all over again, wasn't it? Where Arthur questioned himself on how he was supposed to get things to start, even if he hadn't gone through any of what he'd been thinking. Should he just jump right into the fray? And order Merlin to lay across his desk on his belly, so his arse was propped up and in a prime angle for Arthur to start whipping. Should he chain him up-he was sure he had extra belts in his wardrobe that would get the job done-or allow Merlin to prove himself to Arthur by not moving on his own from the position, like he was on offering for Arthur's lash. Should he go ahead and have his brat start stripping so Arthur wouldn't have any of his clothes resisting him, preventing Merlin from truly feeling the whip of his belt? Or maybe that'd be too much for a first timer-as if Arthur had any more experience with something like this than the consort did-and it would be best for Merlin to just keep his clothes on for their first session.

Look at him, acting as if this was going to happen more than once…he took another step closer to Merlin, wanting to reach out and grasp his chin to force him to look at him. If Arthur was going to do this for real, then he needed Merlin to look at him so Arthur would know he wasn't forcing the matter or reading the signs wrong. He refused to be like Valiant who took without permission, even if the idea of forcing Merlin to take what he gave him and teach him how to like-the idea of a Merlin who would come to him and asking for it-would have been more than tantalizing.

"…Your buckle is undone." Merlin repeated himself a bit louder than before, the annoyance practically leaked out of his voice, turning a sharp eye to look at Arthur before turning away again. And this time, Arthur was able to see the pinched look across his face, the way his eyebrows seemed to be drawn together in irritation, the steady frown that looked to be more deeper and more agitated than Arthur had ever seen. Arthur froze in mid-step, not sure if he had heard him right. It actually took him a long minute-possibly the longest minute in the entirety of his life-just to register what Merlin had said, it felt as if his brain had just stopped and he had no control over himself or his actions. But he did have control, he just needed to…look down…

Heart pounding in his chest, Arthur slowly drew his eyes down to where Merlin had carefully been avoiding looking at. It wasn't his belt perse, but it was more definitely his belt at the same time. His belt that was open, the strap no longer connected to the buckle to keep it in place. It was just open, and hanging in front of him, it was a miracle Arthur hadn't felt the heavy weight of the buckle pulling down by gravity before now. And to his horror, the heat of flushed embarrassment wormed through him when he realized the ties of his pants seemed to be just barely hanging together, his shirt rucked up just enough for a tiny edge to be tucked into his pants for it to be seen. The top of his darkened black silk underwear poking out through the gap in his pants caused by the loosened tie…had he'd been walking around like that this whole time?

The red in his face was overwelminjg him, and in a flash, Arthur whipped around to turn him back to Merlin, biting back a curse as he struggled to get himself back in order, trying to pretend as if Merlin wasn't standing behind him. In a perfect world where Arthur didn't worry so much about consort, then his underwear wouldn't have been anything Merlin hadn't seen before. But this was an imperfect world, where Arthur was constantly in one struggle after another to enforce what was necessary of Merlin without going over the line in the sand, even if there were often many mistakes that almost obliterated that line completely. It left Arthur muttering curse after curse underneath his breath as he struggled to get the knots undone so he could retie his pants proper.

Fucking Clarissa, he knew he shouldn't have been entertaining her for as long as he had. His father had been right, that girl would do nothing else but cause him trouble. She had been in the process of getting her hands down his pants, and with Merlin suddenly interrupting them, in his own panic and frazzled state, he hadn't realized he'd never fixed up his pants. Which meant Merlin could have seen him in a state of undress he should never be privy too…fuck, Arthur froze again after he finished with his tying, hands frozen on the belt strap he'd been pushing back through the buckle. Merlin staring at his buckle had been what drew his attention…but that meant Merlin didn't want him to whip him like he'd thought. How in the world had he read those signs completely wrong, oh god, what if he'd gone the more dominant route and outright attacked his consort before throwing him onto the table.

No amount of Merlin shrieking 'no' at him would have stopped him, he would have thought Merlin wanted to be punished and disciplined just as much as Arthur wanted an excuse to hit him. Even Merlin kicking him in the jewels again probably would not have been enough to stop him. Arthur would have just assumed this meant Merlin would want him to prove himself capable of being able to rein in his tendencies before he went too far, and that 'too far' was enough to get him killed. A kick would have just been an excuse for Arthur to tie his legs to the legs of his desk. Arthur could feel sick at himself, he wanted to bash his head into a wall…repeatedly…over just how bad this would've gone in Merlin hadn't spoken up when he did.

"Um…" Arthur cleared his throat once he'd gotten his belt buckle back into it's proper place, while he cursed himself mentally for his lack of diction as his voice died in his throat. He glanced to Merlin over his shoulder, and saw the boy still looked to be quite irritated-Arthur would have almost been offended if he hadn't screwed himself up so badly, because most people would have quite enjoyed to see what laid under the prince's Royal trousers-as he now had his arms planted firmly over his chest and was now tapping his foot. "So…I know this is very…awkward…"

Merlin interrupting him when a sound burst right out of his mouth, some kind of scoffing laugh of sarcasm, "Oh, really? Awkward isn't exactly the word I would use." Merlin had plenty of words he wanted to call Arthur swirling around inside of his mind, even as none of them escaped his lips. Jerk was one, but that wasn't good enough. There was also: bastard, man-whore, asshole, cheater, the Prince Adulterer of Camelot, not proper husband material…and a though other words that seemed to be even crude for Merlin and his often language fouled tongue.

Arthur cleared his throat, deciding enough would be enough and he needed to address the larger of the issues. So Arthur put on his princely facade as he turned around to face the consort, brushing his shirt out to rid himself of the wrinkles that formed in the fabric, "Let's just back up for a moment. I do know this might be upsetting for you to see such a thing, but even you must be aware that you aren't allowed to talk to my guests the way you treated Lady Clarissa. Who are you to talk to a Lady in the manner you did?

Honestly, it was a cold world the day Arthur would decide he would rather talk about Clarissa than anything else. But he also didn't want to drag this on for too long, and have Merlin start getting any suspicion of what he had been planning on doing to him. There would be nothing worse in the world than seeing Merlin paling as he realized the blond had grown past the 'we're just gonna argue every five minutes stage' and straight to the 'I want to be the one to whip your arse raw and bend you to my will to shape you into a better Merlin'. So no, it was obvious Clarissa was the rightful choice. Even if his father was going to kill him, lock his corpse inside his room for a month, and then kill him over and over again for putting stupid enough to put an entire kingdom at risk for his own stupidity.

"Who am I?" Merlin laughed at him, the bitterness heard so much clearly than it had been before. A sound like that caused Arthur to swallow hard and he was forced to wonder rather or not he'd finally pushed too hard and now Merlin had cracked up completely. "Who am I? I'm only your bloody one and only consort! I would have thought that would mean something to you! I'm only pretending and going along with this shit because 'you' and 'your' father, insisted! So why the bloody hell does it feel as if I'm the only one playing along!"

Uther was the one that took him aside that day during the tourney, insisting how important it was that Merlin played along. He was pretty sure the king would have no problem killing him if he didn't at least make it look like he was trying, playing the part while he struggled not to collapse underneath the sudden weight of a political matter he should have never been involved in. Arthur was the one who was so worried about what his father thought and was so worried about doing anything he could to please him. Even Merlin could see a mile away how devoted the prince was to being a good son. But a good son did not make a good husband, and it was left to Merlin being the sole player inside of a game he didn't even want to play.

Arthur brushed aside the fact that Merlin was one hundred precent right about how he had basically failed. He'd let his own hormones rule his actions, and he knew that was probably the worse thing a man of his callable could do, but he'd be damned if he allowed Merlin to know this, "You don't have any right to demand anything of what I do with my time. You also don't get to question me in front of one of my subjects, and demand to know rather or not I care about my people!"

Arthur was pretty sure Merlin was getting a taste for the high life, starting to realize what position of power he truly had because of his recent behavior and the like. Treating the servants as if they were his own personal playthings, as Morris had been kind enough to warn him about. And then he'd all but kicked Clarissa out of Arthur's own chambers! He might have been wrong to keep her here for as long as he did, but he liked to think Merlin was in the wrong as well, for literally everything else he'd done to make a fool out of both himself and Arthur in front of the Lady. He also wouldn't be the one to dignify Merlin with a response about his people as he knew his rage would consume him if he had to defend himself on that front.

Merlin couldn't help but notice how Arthur dodged his questioning on his people once again-because apparently Arthur only cared about what the other nobles could do for him, rather than what he could do for the people who needed his help-and it was one more thing to piss him off among the huge list he was building up in his head, "I don't really give a damn if you spend your time doing whatever you want with Clarissa!" Merlin spurned forward, while throwing his hands out on either side of him with a frustrated gesture. He really didn't care whatever the prince thought he was doing, but Merlin knew he wasn't going to play these games with him. So Merlin help up his finger to show Arthur the stupid ring he was still fucking wearing. "Here, she can even take your bloody ring! And she can very well be your bloody consort!"

Merlin honestly could not give a damn about what consequences might befall him if he didn't comply with the king and his wishes. What would they do to him anyway? Set him to burn at the stake? Hell, everybody had to die at some point, right? And at least it would free him from being under Arthur's control, and being forced to play as Arthur's lover while knowing he was making kissy faces with the Lady Clarissa in the background. Merlin would not be played a fool any longer, he knew exactly what he wanted: freedom. And this ring no longer made him feel marked as a bloody Pendragon and being a member of the Royal family, he never had been in the first place.

This stupid metal was nothing but a weight, trying to force him down to his knees and placate to any possible thing the Pendragon family would want from him. Well he was done and over with all of it, and the endless crappy hand he was dealt with on the daily. Before Merlin could stop himself or think things through more clearly-running on emotions was purely what he was doing-he was reaching up his other hand with every intention of ripping that damn ring off his finger. And throw it straight into the prince's face, he can give it to Clarissa while Merlin sat back with his feet up and enjoyed the view for once. If Clarissa would face even half of the challenges that he did, he doubted she'd still be standing on her own two feet.

Merlin hadn't even gotten the ring up past his first knuckle before Arthur was whipping up to him and the prince's firm-hot and heavy-hand clamped on his own palm like a steel cable, absolutely refusing to allow Merlin's ring to move any further, "Are you an absolute moron! You can't just go taking off the Royal ring!" Arthur bellowed in his face, while also conveniently forgetting he himself was no longer wearing his own ring. But apparently, Arthur saw the rules for himself and for Merlin as something vastly different.

Merlin gritted his teeth and glowered up at him, "Get off of me!" He shouted back gruffly, trying to jerk his hand out of Arthur's grasp. He didn't care if he got arrested for 'assaulting a prince', Arthur wasn't his boss and it was time for that message to finally sink home.

X

Anybody who had been outside of the room at the moment, Clarissa having long gone and content in the drama she had created, would have heard this series of loud crashes. Chairs being kicked over or plates being knocked off the table yet to be clean by Morris. The ripping of fabric as the sheets that hung like a canopy around Arthur's bed were torn from the rungs, the sound glass made after it had a body thrown against the windows, or even this loud 'flop' sound as Arthur's changing screen was banged into and flipped onto it's. The smashing of glass as an ink bottle on Arthur's desk as it would get thrown off in the struggle of bodies slamming against the other. Books being knocked straight to the ground, not even the wardrobe was spared as a door got flung into someone else's face and this caused clothes to get ripped off the hangers with an attempt to grab onto the other.

Two guards stopped outside the doors and didn't dare enter, looking at each other with these heavy formed frowns. Both guards had this very silent conversation with stares alone on rather or not the two of them should knock. And who it would be if they did.

There was another crash as a fourth chair had got knocked over on it's side, "Bloody hell Merlin, just let me see it already!" Arthur's voice bellowed out, extremely loud enough to be heard from behind the door.

"Don't you fucking come near me with…with that thing! Don't touch me there!" Merlin shrieked from someplace inside and there was a loud expletive from Arthur as a sound like something hitting him faded through the door. There was another yell from Merlin and it sounded like a body had just hit the ground as he was tackled to the floor.

"Oh my god, I'm not going to hurt you! I just want you to stay still long enough!" Came the voice of their prince, and then the sound of a body being dragged across hard floor. There was one more crash and the sound of clothes being ripped and torn as Merlin let out a startled yell-unbeknownst to the guards-was just the sound of more clothes being torn from their hangers as Merlin tried his best to grab onto them for purchase as the blond prince was trying to drag him away by his ankles.

The two guards looked at each other again before they walked away. It was an unanimous decision to wait till later to give Arthur their hourly reports on the sickness situation. It was probably best to not interrupt what sounded like 'very' angry sex.