"Amara!" Arthur called out as he opened the door to her room. "Come on, let's go," he said, gesturing for her to leave the room. "You're late."

"I've decided I'm not going. Sorry," she shot him a fake smile before she turned defiantly to the window.

Arthur sighed as he realised getting her to comply would be a bit more difficult. "It's part of your obligation as the princess of Camelot to be present at executions when asked to attend by father. I know you don't like them, I respect that, but we have to go to show support for Father."

"Morgana doesn't have to go," Amara grumbled.

"Morgana is not the king's daughter. You are. She can refuse, you can't."

"Unfortunately Arthur, watching a man get his head cut off is not on my to-do list."

"Amara, come on," Arthur huffed as he gripped the door. "We just have to stand in the back, you won't even have to see it happen from where we're standing. Now let's go before Father sends the guards to fetch us."

"Fine," she snapped and stormed past him. "You're so annoying."

"Yeah, you're one to talk," he scoffed.

Drums were being beaten as the prisoner was led out to face his punishment. "Let this serve as a lesson to all," the king's voice boomed out at the crowd gathered below. "This man, Thomas James Collins, is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic. And pursuant to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned, on penalty of death."

Amara moved her head to look up at the sky. She knew her father was right and that magic was a great evil that threatened to destroy everything he'd worked so hard to build, but she hated executions. She fidgeted on her feet before she let out a loud huff.

"Amara," Arthur warned. "The public may not be able to see you, but the knights up here can."

"Fine," Amara muttered before straightening her posture and facing forward again.

"He's a sorcerer Amara," Arthur whispered. "You know this must happen."

"I know," Amara accepted. "Doesn't mean I want to watch. I don't know why I can't just stay in my room."

"I pride myself as a fair and just king," their father continued. "But for the crime of sorcery, there is but one sentence I can pass," he said before nodding his head towards the executioner.

Amara watched the back of her father, watching as he raised his hand, reading the executioner to strike the sorcerer dead. He quickly dropped his hand, and Amara heard a thunk and the gasp of the crowd and knew it was done. The sorcerer was dead.

"When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos," Uther reminded the crowd of why he treated sorcerers so severely. "But with the people's help, magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival, to celebrate 20 years since the great dragon was captured, and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin," he smiled to his people before he began to turn away.

A loud wail echoed out through the square below and Uther frowned as he returned his attentions to the crowd.

"There is only one evil in this land and it is not magic!" a woman cried. "It is you! With your hatred and your ignorance. You took my son," a woman cried.

This was the mother of the sorcerer Uther had just executed. Amara didn't care about propriety now as she dropped her gaze to the ground. No one should ever have to witness their child being killed in such a way.

"And I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. A son for a son," she vowed making Amara's eyes widen.

Uther had let the woman air her grievances, but the moment she threatened Arthur he acted. "Seize her," Uther demanded of his guards.

Amara immediately stepped forward, wanting to see the face of the woman, but Arthur had his arm positioned firmly in front of her, preventing her from walking forward. A loud gail force wind echoed throughout the square and smoke rose into the air. "She escaped with the wind," their father declared as he spun around and stormed past his children. "Sorcery," he snapped in fury as he began pacing inside.

"I'm sure it's just another false threat father," Arthur tried to placate the king. Uther's temper tantrums around magic weren't exactly unfamiliar to the siblings.

"Magic is evil, it must be struck from the land. By any means necessary!" Uther turned to face them both. His temper seemed slightly more under control when he saw them both standing before him. "Thank you Amara for coming today with no fuss. I know you don't like attending executions," he turned to look at the wall. It was one thing for Arthur to see these moments of rage that came with being king, he was the heir, but he didn't want his young daughter to see this. "At least there is a celebration for you to enjoy," he smiled at her. "Check on Morgana would you?" he requested before walking off.

"Coming with no fuss," Arthur scoffed. "He never sees the fuss you make. It's always me who has to drag you here."

"That's ok," Amara smirked. "If that woman has her way you may not need to drag me any more."

Arthur just glared at her before he followed after their father, doing his best to ignore his sister.

Amara turned to walk in the other direction, the least she could do was check on Morgana. The king's ward hated executions with an absolute passion, she wasn't forced to attend them though. She would just protest in her room until the king made a gesture kind enough to soften her anger.

As she walked around the corner, a boy came racing around and crashed right into her.

"I'm so sorry," he immediately apologized. "Sorry my lady," he emphasised as he noticed her attire, it was evident she was noble, it just didn't seem that he realised exactly who he'd crashed into.

"It's alright," she accepted as she smoothed out her dress.

"I was wondering if you could direct me towards Gaius' chambers," he asked. "The court physician?"

"Go around that corner and take a left, and then you just follow the stairs up. There's a marker on the wall, you won't be able to miss it."

"Thank you," he smiled before walking around her.

"What is your name?" Amara enquired, turning to look at him before he could hurry away.

"I'm Merlin," he answered. "I'm new here."

"Evidently so," she smirked. He had no idea he was talking to the princess of Camelot or he would not be addressing her so casually. "Could you please tell Gaius that I'll be requiring some more of my medicine soon?"

"Who should I tell him it's for?" he asked.

"Amara," she answered, wondering if her name would spark any recognition. It didn't. Merlin just nodded with a smile before he walked away. Yes, he was very new to the kingdom indeed.

Amara sat beside her father at the feast, as she tried to avoid looking at the empty seat beside her. Morgana had flat-out refused to come, there was no swaying her. She refused to celebrate the execution of a man, which was, Amara had to admit, a very valid point.

"Where is Morgana?" her father finally asked his daughter.

Amara had been hoping he wouldn't ask. He was in a good mood and quarrelling with Morgana always set him on edge. "She did not want to attend father, I'm sorry."

Uther sighed loudly as he took a sip of his wine. "I'll just go and find her myself then," he stood up from his chair and exited through the back of the dining hall. Morgana was going to be in trouble if she continued this way.

"She never learns does she?" Arthur remarked as he popped a grape into his mouth.

"She has strong opinions," Amara flicked her food around her plate. "For the record, I don't think she's wrong," Amara looked over at him. "This feels wrong celebrating like this."

"Look..." Arthur leaned on the table as he tried to articulate himself properly. "Morgana... she does not know how to properly express herself to Father. She goes straight to anger and that clashes with our father's anger. You and she both have strong opinions and you know Father would do anything in the world for the two of you to be happy. But open defiance like how Morgana behaves when she's angry, that'll never work with him," Arthur smiled lightly. "You should follow my lead and just mislead him."

"You mean lie?" Amara clarified.

"I didn't say that," Arthur pointed his finger at her. "Mislead, not lie, there's a difference."

"How?" she frowned, that seemed like a load of rubbish.

Arthur just shrugged. "If you're nice to me, maybe one day I'll teach you."

"I doubt it," Amara grabbed her goblet of water. "You're cursed to die, remember?" she smirked at him.

Before Arthur could snark back, Uther stormed back into the hall and took his seat, clearly angry about his confrontation with Morgana. Both Amara and Arthur quickly leaned back in their chairs and faced forward so as not to attract their father's ire.

"Amara," her father spoke in a measured tone, making her slowly look over at him. "I need you to speak to Morgana. Not showing respect to me is one thing, but she's refusing to greet Lady Helen tomorrow. She must show respect to our guests as my ward, that is non-negotiable. Perhaps you will have more luck convincing her to come."

"I'll speak to her in the morning," Amara agreed.

"Very good," Uther smiled at her, happy that at least one person was being agreeable. "Try and enjoy the rest of the feast," he ran his hand down the back of her hair. "We got strawberries in especially for this. They're meant to be superb."

"Better get them while you still can, Arthur," Amara dove on the chance to torment her older brother. "If the sorceress gets her wish these very well may be the last strawberries you ever get to have!"

"You see! I told you, Father, she won't stop!" Arthur leaned forward angrily. He'd been teased all day about his so-impending death and he'd had enough.

"Stop tormenting your brother," Uther chuckled half-heartedly and Amara just smirked. That wouldn't stop her.

"I like the other necklace better," Amara sighed as she looked down at the jewellery Morgana had chosen.

"I thought this would suit your eyes better," Morgana frowned.

"You're only saying that because you want to wear the one I liked."

"It's my necklace!" Morgana laughed incredulously.

"What do you think Gwen?" Amara looked over to Morgana's handmaid with a smile. "Gwen?" she asked, the girl was staring out of Morgana's window. "What are you looking at?"

"It's nothing," Gwen replied quickly. Too quickly.

Amara frowned and jumped up from the table she was sitting at and ran up to Gwen to look out the window. "Oh," Amara sighed. Gwen had been watching Arthur torment a servant.

The poor boy was running backwards and forwards whilst holding a target, Arthur was using it as moving target practice. The boy eventually lost his grip on the wooden target and it rolled across the ground and landed directly at someone's feet.

"Oh this is going to get worse," Amara grimaced as the person whose feet it landed at put his foot on it, preventing the servant from picking it up. It was the same boy who'd bumped into her yesterday, the one who had no idea she was the princess of Camelot.

"Why?" Gwen asked nervously.

"I met that boy yesterday, he bumped into me. He's new to Camelot, he had no idea who I was."

"That means…" Gwen realized, her eyes widening.

"He won't know who Arthur is. I found it amusing, Arthur won't," Amara sighed as she watched her brother march up to the newest resident of Camelot. After a moment of talking, Merlin threw a punch at Arthur's head who quickly caught his arm and pulled it behind his back. "Morgana! Morgana! The new boy just tried to throw a punch at Arthur," Amara jumped up excitedly

"Did he hit him?" Morgana's eyes lit up.

"Well... no," Amara slumped as she watched the new boy get dragged away by the guards.

"Pity," Morgana muttered.

"That was brave," Gwen spoke quietly.

Amara smiled and gently nudged the girl. "Do you think the new boy is cute, Guinevere?"

"Your Highness," Amara's maid Lilia interjected as she came up to them. She was a timid young girl, only 14 years of age, it was almost impossible to draw conversation out of her. "If I may interject, your father is looking for you, he wishes to have lunch with you."

"Yes, yes," Amara nodded. "Let's go," she sighed. "Please make sure you're cheerful tomorrow to greet Lady Helena, Morgana. My father will be disappointed if you're not, and then I'll have to hear about it."

"I'll be a perfect ray of sunshine," Morgana rolled her eyes.

"Stop looking at the necklace, it's fine," Morgana leaned forward to whisper in Amara's ear. They were all gathered in the Great Hall, waiting to properly welcome Lady Helen to Camelot.

"The blue one would have been nicer," Amara smiled behind her to Morgana.

"Next time," Morgana promised.

"I'll hold you to that," Amara laughed quietly.

"The Lady Helen," the guards announced the singer's entrance before opening the doors to allow her through.

Amara immediately shuffled into her position further in front of Morgana as Lady Helen walked towards them.

"Lady Helen," Uther greeted, standing up from his throne and walking towards her with his arms open. "Thank you so much for coming to sing at our celebrations."

"The pleasure's all mine," she smiled back.

"How was your journey?" Uther enquired.

"Oh, the time it took, sire," she sighed as he kissed her hands.

"Well, it's always worth the wait," he smiled.

"It will be," she agreed.

"I'm sure you remember my daughter, Princess Amara," Uther held his arm out, gesturing her to come forward.

"Your Highness," Lady Helen curtsied in acknowledgment.

"I have heard such amazing stories about your voice, Lady Helen," Amara complimented. "I hope I can convince you to return to Camelot to perform at my birthday celebrations. It is coming up quite quickly," she smiled.

"I will be sure not to miss it," Lady Helen smiled. "Who could deny the princess of Camelot?"

"Then it is settled Father," Amara smiled.

"Indeed it is," Uther nodded at his daughter. "I've learned by now, what Amara wants, Amara usually gets," he joked.

"Lilia," Amara called her maid forward as she walked the halls.

"Yes, Your Highness?" she asked scurrying up to her.

"Do you know where my brother is?" Amara asked.

"I believe he is training with the knights my lady."

"Let's go then," Amara smiled, she loved watching the knights, and it had been some time since she'd annoyed her brother, it was overdue.

"Princess Amara," Sir Leon greeted her as she arrived at training.

"Sir Leon," Amara smiled. "How is training going?"

"We're training some new men, testing them for knighthood. To tell you the truth, it's not going well," he whispered.

"Amara, what are you doing here?" Arthur asked as he walked up to them.

"I just came to check whether or not you were still alive," Amara smiled widely at him.

"Are you ever going to let that go?" Arthur scowled.

"Not so long as I have fun taunting you with it."

"Walk her back to the citadel would you, sir Leon?" Arthur glared at his sister.

"I did come here for a reason," Amara called him back. "Father wants to have lunch with us both."

"Fine, how long until lunch?" Arthur asked.

"An hour."

"Alright, I'll finish training the knights, and then I'll join you," he said and Amara turned to walk back to the castle. "Amara," he called and she turned back around. "Where are your guards?"

Amara looked around with a smirk. "I have no idea. I think they got lost."

"I'll escort her back sire," Sir Leon smiled as he gestured for Amara to walk and Lilia trailed behind them. "You have to stop doing that."

"I don't need to be followed by guards all day," Amara scowled. "I'm not leaving the walls, I'm just wandering around the castle grounds."

"I know you don't enjoy the guards following you. But you're the princess of Camelot, you know Camelot has a lot of enemies, you can't make yourself a target."

"Well, Arthur's the target at the moment," Amara smirked. "We're all just counting the days until that sorceress comes back for him."

"It was hilarious," Arthur laughed as he told Amara and Uther a story of how he fought some village boy when he was on his way back to the citadel for lunch. "The fool thought he had won. I showed him, that's the second time I've bested him now."

"Is this the same boy you fought with yesterday?" Amara asked.

"Didn't know you knew that," Arthur fidgeted in his chair.

"I saw it from the window," Amara explained.

"Well, he almost made a fool of me today. I made sloppy mistakes, my footwork must have been off. But I won in the end, he's an idiot, but he's a brave one, I guess you have to give that a little respect."

"You should have had him thrown back in jail," Uther shook his head. "We need to ensure the people respect us. You can't allow people to humiliate you in public, you must make sure it doesn't happen again."

"He's Gaius' ward I believe," Amara noted. "He is new in Camelot I don't believe he knew who Arthur was."

"Well he certainly knew who I was today but he challenged me anyway," Arthur shrugged. "Hopefully he's learned by now he can't win against me."

"You sound so arrogant," Amara frowned.

"Is it arrogance if it's true?"

"Yes," Amara exclaimed.

"Have you had a chance to see the Lady Helen?" Uther asked Arthur, stepping in before they could devolve into an argument.

"Haven't had the chance as of yet," Arthur shook his head, avoiding eye contact.

"Ensure you do. You especially need to respect our guests, Arthur, set an example for your sister."

"Yeah Arthur," Amara smirked.

"Are you ever not annoying?"

"No," Amara tilted her head.

"I must go, I have duties to attend to," Uther interjected, standing up from the table. "You two finish lunch, I'll see you tomorrow," he left the room.

"You're not going to greet Lady Helen are you?" Amara sighed.

"I'll see her at the feast tomorrow," Arthur shrugged. "It's hardly worth going out of my way to greet her now."

"You're going to get in trouble," Amara sang.

"Lilia, the door," Amara called when she heard a knock.

"Hello," Lilia answered the door.

"I um… I have some medicine for the princess, it's from Gaius, for the… for the headaches," a familiar voice answered.

Amara moved away from her wardrobe to look at the doorway. "Merlin," she exclaimed as she saw him in the doorway.

"Princess I… uh… I," he stuttered.

"Cat got your tongue?" she asked as she stepped forward and Lilia moved away from the doorway.

"I um, I need to apologize, Your Highness. I didn't know who you were when I bumped into you the other day."

"He bumped into you?" Lilia whispered to Amara in shock.

"It was a mere accident," Amara smiled at her maid.

"I should've been more careful," he said.

"It's no bother," Amara dismissed with a wave of her hand. "I will caution you though, you should probably be more careful around my brother."

"You heard about that," Merlin scratched his head awkwardly.

"Arthur recounted it with glee," Amara rolled her eyes as she took the medicine out of his hands. "I saw some of the first fight from the window. Arthur isn't a joke Merlin, he's the prince, and calling him a prat, as accurate as that may be, is dangerous, Merlin. My father doesn't take any form of disrespect well, and if he fears you are disrespecting Arthur he will act. Trust me, you're lucky Arthur found you amusing or you would have fared much worse."

"I know, believe me, I had to put up with Gaius yelling at me for a good half hour."

"Very well," Amara smiled. "Please tell Gaius thank you from me, for the medicine."

"He told me to tell you he's changed some ingredients in it. You should only need to take that once a week, he said to try it and let him know and he can make adjustments."

"Thank you, Merlin," she smiled and Merlin bowed before leaving. "So, Lilia," Amara smiled as she walked back into the room. "Which dress should I wear tonight?" she asked as she pulled out two options from her wardrobe.

"You are asking for my opinion?" Lilia asked nervously.

"Of course I am," Amara confirmed.

"I think the blue one will bring out your eyes more," Lilia answered before her eyes widened. "Or the red is lovely as well, and it is Camelot's colour. It's up to you. I like both."

"Blue it is then," Amara smiled. "Thank you, Lilia."

Amara walked into the feast with Morgana by her side.

"Well I happen to think the necklace pulls the whole outfit together," Amara smiled.

"I know," Morgana smirked. "So you've mentioned. But who do you have to thank?"

"Thank you for letting me borrow the necklace," Amara grumbled.

"Arthur," Morgana nodded her head in greeting to Arthur when he approached them.

"Well I'm glad to see you're still alive," Amara remarked.

Arthur just huffed before turning his attention solely to Morgana. "You do look lovely, I must say."

"Thank you, Arthur," Morgana smiled.

"Did you end up greeting, Lady Helen?" Amara asked and Arthur smiled coyly. "I'll take that as a no. I'm going to tell Father."

"You'll do no such thing!" Arthur protested.

"I shall accept payment in the form of new hair ribbons please," Amara requested.

"Evil," Arthur glared, but before he could argue further, the trumpets started playing, indicating their father would walk in soon. "Let's go," he said and the three of them walked around to find their seats. Arthur was to sit at the right of Uther, Amara on the left, with Morgana sitting beside Amara and they all stood while the king entered the feast hall.

"We have enjoyed 20 years of peace and prosperity. It has brought the kingdom and myself, many pleasures. But few can compare to the honour of introducing Lady Helen of Mora," he announced and everyone clapped as Uther found his way to his seat, allowing everyone to sit down.

Lady Helen's mellifluous voice was nothing shy of angelic Amara had to acknowledge. As she sang her song, Lady Helen began slowly advancing towards the head table where the royal family were seated. Amara was hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion and her head dropped before she quickly whipped it back up. Surely Lady Helen's singing wasn't so boring it was putting her to sleep. Amara looked to her side to see the same thing was happening to Morgana, both girls were struggling to keep their eyes open. Unable to stay awake any longer Amara closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Amara slowly opened her eyes and flinched as she noticed she was covered in cobwebs. A glance around the room told her everyone else had been in the same position. They were covered in cobwebs, and they'd all fallen asleep.

Amara let out a groan and she began to pull the webs off of her. "Father?" she asked looking to her father confused. She noticed him staring in shock at the centre of the room. Amara stood from her chair only to see Lady Helen lying on the ground, crushed underneath the fallen chandelier. "Oh, Lady Helen," Amara gasped.

"That's not Lady Helen," Uther breathed in shock.

The woman lying on the ground lifted her head and Amara's eyes widened. It was the mother of Thomas Collins, the one who'd sworn she'd see Arthur dead. The dying witch raised her body off the ground, dagger in hand and threw it straight at Arthur's head.

Amara could do nothing but watch in despair as she watched the dagger sail towards her brother, who was too shocked to move. The dagger made a loud noise as it hit the back of Arthur's chair.

Amara raced around her father's chair to see Arthur on the floor, he was unharmed. The boy Merlin had pulled him out of the way and to safety. Arthur quickly got to his feet and they turned to watch the imposter woman take her last breath.

"Arthur," Amara breathed in relief as she ran to his side. Arthur reached out and grabbed Amara's forearm, letting her know he was ok before he turned to stare at Merlin in shock. He'd tormented the boy, but he still chose to save him.

"You saved my boy's life. A debt must be repaid," he declared.

"Oh, well-" Merlin stuttered, clearly uncomfortable with the praise.

"Don't be so modest. You shall be rewarded," Uther insisted.

"No, honestly, you don't have to, Your Highness," Merlin bashfully shook his head.

"No, absolutely," Uther dismissed. "This merits something quite special."

"Well," Merlin smiled, finally relenting.

"You shall be rewarded a position in the royal household. You shall be Prince Arthur's manservant," Uther decided as the guests began to applaud.

"Father!" Arthur protested as Uther walked away. "Don't laugh Amara," Arthur scowled as he caught sight of her face.

"Well it is amusing," Amara smiled pulling her brother in for a hug. "I am glad you're ok though."

"We'll see how long for," he groaned as he awkwardly tapped her back. "I'm going to have to spend every day with this buffoon."

"Try and be nice," Amara asked. "Trust me, it'll make it easier for you both. But hey, at least now you have one less person wanting you dead," she tried to cheer him up.

"There are others?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Did you find it terrifying my Lady?" Lilia asked as she tended to Amara before bed.

"Arthur is hard to kill. Trust me, I've tried," Amara smiled.

"I'm always too frightened to even look at him."

"You don't need to fear Arthur, Lilia, he is kind to my friends, so he'll be kind to you," she assured while getting into bed.

"I'm your friend?" Lilia asked confused.

"Of course you are," Amara smiled taking her hand. "I don't have many, I'm very picky."

"Well I'm honored," Lilia said, her smile wide.