Chapter 66 I don't own Merlin, still have no clue where I'm taking this, just writing and letting it come freely. Hopefully it does make it onto the final draft, what am I saying, like I'm making a draft!
"Uh, Owaine. We're not in Camelot anymore." Cassie said, looking out the window at the night air.
"Of course this is Camelot!" Owaine said, joining her once more to look out the window.
"No, it's not. I've spent enough time on the battlements to recognise it from this height." Cassie argued.
"Cassie, this is Camelot. That's Gwen's house right there." he said pointing down to the right, "You can see the lake from here. You can even see Gwen walking back to her house!"
"Oh. Oops." Cassie said, sheepishly, recognising Gwen's retreating frame.
"Yeah, oops." Owaine repeated with an unbelieving chuckle. "Which tower is this, is what I'm wondering."
"An easy way to tell...with magic." Cassie suggested innocently.
"Really? There is no way in hell I'm letting you do magic so recklessly! It's quite enough you literally do it every day, I won't let you do this Cassie. It's too big a risk!" Owaine said seriously.
"Okay, you're right, my love. No magic. Let's look around. Carefully." Cassie acquiesced, too curious to want to object.
"Guess I know how to stop you from disagreeing with me. Get you curious!" Owaine joked around, his smile reaching his eyes as Cassie narrowed hers and looked at him calculatingly.
"If it weren't because I have no clue what these do, you'd so be on the floor right now." Cassie said, pointing to a pari of heavy, cylindrical objects on the floor.
"I think those are lamps, lambkin." he said seriously, biting back his smile.
"No need to be like that, dear. I'll light them." Cassie said with a deadly smile.
"You know, I think it might have been safer to let you win the bet, darling."
"Too right you are. Here, see if you can't read what's on these books."
"I thought you said it was dangerous to touch something here."
"It's all relative, my love. The books may or may not be dangerous, but it's the knowledge they hold that determines just how dangerous they are."
"You know, sometimes you are wise beyond your years. And other times, you're like a child."
"All in a day's work, my dear husband." Cassie replied with a chuckle. "Keeps me sane, sometimes. The goofiness and all. It's why I'm such good friends with Merlin."
"I'm sorry Cassie, but you and Merlin are not good friends because of that. It's because you and Merlin don't tell each other to shut up after listening to the other speak for five hours."
"Rude! I do not tell you to shut up after listening to you speak."
"That's because I don't speak for five hours. You two are completely capable of doing so for even longer."
"This is fascinating!" Cassie said, ignoring her husband as she read the first page of a book.
"What is it?"
"It's about air magic. It's got loads of spells! And this one...healing magic. Useful. Enchantments. Curses, don't want that one. Necromancy, scary thought. Astral projection, whatever that is. Hey, I think Merlin would like this one….housekeeping spells!" Cassie said, looking through various books and putting them in a few piles depending on whether she'd read them or not.
"Why would Merlin want a magic book?"
"He has magic. Housekeeping. You know, cleaning and polishing and all that. I thought it was funny. He'd really like that. Ooh, maybe there's a book on pranks here!" Cassie said without thinking, looking around for more books and summoning them with a glow of her eyes.
"Cassie! Stop! Merlin has magic!" Owaine demanded, surprise coloring his voice.
"What?! No he doesn't."
"I heard you quite clearly, Cass. You said that Merlin has magic."
"Okay, yes. He does have magic. But you can't tell him you know! Because then he's going to ask how you know and he doesn't know that I know and if he found out that I knew and I that I told you and I never told him he'd hate me forever. Please." she said in one breath, her eyes wide and pleading.
"I won't say a word. To anyone. But why haven't you told him?"
"Because he hasn't told me. Gaius knows, but I don't know if Merlin thinks he can truly trust anyone else with this. I mean, we live in Camelot, it's hardly safe for us. And what's worse, we live in the castle, in the heart of the city!"
"And he's the Prince's manservant! How do you know it's not just an act? What if he's after something else?" Owaine asked softly.
"Owaine, not everyone with magic harbors resentment towards Uther and his son. Merlin doesn't hold any resentment towards them, other than Arthur working him bone dry."
"Cassie, this is serious. How well do you really know him? How do you know he's not enchanting him or something?"
"Owaine, look me in the eye and tell me why you doubt him."
"Because I don't know him, Cassie. Not like I know you and-"
"You do know him, Owaine. And you know you trust him, no matter how dumb he can be. Just because he has magic, doesn't mean he's evil. If anything, he's quite the opposite. I don't think there's an evil bone in his body. Please, my love. Don't say anything."
"I won't. But we should go back." he said softly.
"Let me take a few of these books? Please?"
"Two. No more, it's too suspicious. Choose well; the pranks or the astal thingy."
"I'll take the 'astal thingy' and the air magic." Cassie said, repeating his words with a giggle.
"All right, come on. Let's go." he said, holding his hand out and helping her up. "I'm trusting what you say about Merlin, Cass. But at the first sign…"
"Trust him, Owaine. I trust him with my life, I hope you can too." she said, spotting a door near the base of the spiral stairs and starting towards it with the books in one hand and Owaine's hand in the other.
"It's not my life I'm worried about, Cass." he said softly, furrowing his brow at the door. "I swear that wasn't there earlier."
"Maybe the room just doesn't like you."
"It's a room, Cassie."
"Yeah, a magic room, hearing you not trust magic. I can imagine it not liking you and hiding its secrets from you." she said, reaching up and grabbing a skeleton key from a hook.
"You talk about it as if it were a person on its own."
"Not a person, but it definitely responds to emotions. My magic does, at least. Maybe it's got enough magic that it's become sentient." she said as she turned the keys in the lock and pushed the door open.
"Maybe." he agreed, trying not to roll his eyes at her.
"I would have won the bet, you know." she said as they walked down the stairs and reached another door.
"No you wouldn't have." he said, walking ahead of her and opening the door silently, peeking out before offering her his hand and continuing down the next hallway.
"Would too! Besides, it's really us that decide when and when not to. Not you." Cassie pointed out, turning the skeleton key over in her hand.
"By 'us' you mean women?" he clarified, taking the key from her and putting it in his pocket.
"Yes."
"You're wrong." he said, smirking down at her as an idea formed in his mind.
"No I'm not. I'd make a bet with you but I don't wa-"
"You don't want to lose again?" Owaine interrupted, a sly smile on his face.
"No. I don't want to stop trying. Besides, I have too much fun to ever stop, my love." Cassie said, squeezing closer to him and twining her fingers in his.
"That makes two of us." he whispered hotly in her ear, pulling her into a nearby broom closet and stifling her giggles with his lips, their breathing heavy as they met each other's embrace once again.
"Still you who decides?" Owaine asked teasingly as they lay on the cold stone floor wrapped in each other.
"Yup!" she replied, popping the 'p' loudly. "If I hadn't wanted to, we wouldn't have done anything."
"Liar." he said, kissing her nose as he tied the laces of her dress once more.
"You're just too stubborn to admit that I'm right, my Knight."
"Yes, I'm the stubborn one." he said sarcastically, opening the door for her and looking out once more before they continued on their way. "What time is it?"
"Late enough to be called morning." Cassie said, rounding the corner and walking towards the nobles' wing.
"You can just say morning, you know." he called after her, hurrying to catch up and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "We should get some rest."
"I have another idea for what we can do, mi amor." Cassie said, opening the door to their chambers and pulling him in.
"You're insatiable, my love." he said, shutting the door behind him and following her onto the bed.
"As are you." she breathed, letting her magic unclothe them and wrapping her legs around his waist.