A few days had passed and since the incident in the prince's chambers. Merlin was running errands for Guias when he felt someone watching him. He looked behind him and saw that Morgana was glaring at him. The warlock gulped and continued to walk down the corridor on his way to his final errand of the day. After finishing up what needed to be done, Merlin was walking back the way he came when he came to a stop in front of Morgana.

"M'lady, is there anything you need?", Merlin asked whilst bowing.

Morgana scoffed and waved her hand before resuming her stride through the palace, she did not have the time to deal with the likes of meaningless servant such as Merlin.

Merlin sighed and shook his head before doing the same and he continued to carry out his tasks. He had some time on his hands. He had been avoiding Arthur for the last two days and felt the need to pick up where he left off, even if it hurt him in the end. Merlin went to the courtyard where he found Arthur in the middle of his practice. The prince weaved in and out of each attack. The warlock watched his beloved in awe but then two beautiful women walked over to Arthur and by the looks of things... They were flirting with his price.

Merlin's heart broke even more because the prince had not even noticed him and he was laughing with the two women. He wanted to race over and drag his lover away from the thieves but he froze as his tears threatened to fall. Not wanting to cause a scene, Merlin turned on his heels and ran off. This was not the first time Merlin has seen Arthur being flirted with but all those other times it was always a woman. This stung him deep and, despite the fact he knew it was not Arthur's fault, he found himself crying in heartache when he arrived at the stables.

Mid-conversation, Arthur got the feeling that something was wrong and he suddenly felt very guilty when he realised that the women were flirting with him 'I hope that Merlin did not see this' he thought before he politely excused himself and he went back to training with the knights. However, he could not stop thinking about his warlock and he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach which was distracting him, all of the knights noticed how the prince was not concentrating on fighting and they knew that something was up with the prince but they did not know what it was.

Merlin felt like his world had ended, even he could not understand how emotional he was but he knew that he did not feel like he was good enough for Arthur. The warlock felt as though he was being held back from having a future with Arthur and that broke his heart because he wanted to have a relationship with Arthur where they were free to be together and not have to worry about anyone finding out, judging, harming or even killing Merlin.

Time skip,

Merlin stalked the hallways, his head hanging low as his chest ached with pain from the thought of others taking his prince away from him. Arthur was on his way to his chambers, exhausted from prying the two nobles off of him. He spotted Merlin and felt his whole instantly start to warm up.

"Merlin!", the prince cried happily. Merlin looked up for a moment in shock but quickly looked away.

Arthur tried to pull the warlock into a hug but Merlin refused to submit and hurriedly moved away from Arthur, "Is there something you need, your highness?", he asked, rather coldly.

Arthur was taken back by how Merlin addressed him, "Merlin? What's wrong?", he worried, thinking that he had done something wrong.

Merlin had wanted to keep it to himself, so as not to upset Arthur but the pain was too much. "You are the problem!", he almost screeched, "You are so much of a sex symbol that half the goddamn palace is after you! Everywhere I go, all I see is different people chasing you down for a simple chat!"

Arthur was stunned, part of him was kind of happy that Merlin felt jealous but he was also aware that he was being a bit too loud. "Merlin, calm down! It is no big deal! I was not interested in any of them and turned them all down so do not worry, alright?"

Merlin huffed and stormed off, leaving Arthur to stare after him in bewilderment and sorrow as he was overwhelmed with guilt for not being able to freely call Merlin his partner without putting him in immediate danger.

The prince and the warlock did not see each other for the rest of the day.