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Despite what Morgana had often claimed growing up, Arthur was not missing half his brain, nor did the repeated blows to the head during training addle his ability to think.

He knew about Merlin’s magic, and though it may have taken him longer to work out than he would ever admit, he knew about it.

Merlin had been his manservant for nearly a year when Arthur had come into his chambers without Merlin realising. Merlin’s back was to him and there was a small butterfly flitting about his outstretched fingers. Arthur had rolled his eyes and slammed the door, preparing to make a comment about how soft Merlin was, or berate him for not doing his chores.

The noise of the door had caused Merlin to spin around suddenly and the butterfly vanished from the air. Arthur blinked, he could have sworn that he saw Merlin’s eyes flash gold as he’d spun around, but that would have been ridiculous.

Over the next few days Arthur had convinced himself that he had imagined the whole thing, the butterfly had flown out of the window, and the light from the setting sun had simply caught Merlin’s eyes oddly as he’d turned.

However, over the next few months Arthur couldn’t ignore the number of times branches had conveniently fallen on enemies, or how his chambers were spotless unless he was present while Merlin was cleaning, how Merlin could light fires with damp wood but only when no one was around, or how Arthur seemed to be able to slay impossible-to-kill-without-magic monsters but only when he was unconscious, only to wake up to Merlin’s smiling face saying ‘you did it sire’.

Arthur was not an idiot. No matter what anyone thought.

Eventually he sussed out the pattern, Merlin was saving his life, and had done many times over. The only time Merlin seemed to use his magic was to save Arthur’s life. Or to do his chores. Or when he found it amusing.

Arthur was going to die of worry.

The realization of Merlin’s magic was not one big reveal, but a series of quiet moments; Merlin keeping his food warm no matter how late Arthur was back from meetings, magically tripping up rude visiting nobles that Arthur wasn’t allowed to snark at, healing the townsfolk whose ailments couldn’t be cured by Gaius’ tinctures and herbs.

Every bit couldn’t truly be pinned down to magic, and so Arthur could safety assume it was his own overactive imagination, until it had been going on for months, and Arthur had nearly turned around and asked Merlin to heat up his bath, fully expecting Merlin to magic it, despite no certain evidence he even was a sorcerer.

Arthur had kept his mouth shut and dealt with the tepid bath, but he had realised somewhere along the way of being in denial about Merlin having magic, he had fully accepted the fact that Merlin had it in the first place and that there was something to be in denial over.

Now he just had to keep the man’s secret, if Merlin never told Arthur he was a sorcerer, Arthur would never be forced to make the choice of banishing Merlin, because even in denial he knew he could never be the cause of harm to the man. Banishment would be the only option, but it wouldn’t because Arthur was never going to find out about Merlin’s magic.

Merlin seemed to have other ideas, along with a death wish.

*

He was cheating against Arthur.

There was a small pile of coins between them on the tavern table, and the knights and locals surrounding them were spectators to the most ridiculously blatant and needless use of magic they’d ever not seen.

Merlin had blown on the dice, his eyes flashing gold, before calling the numbers as the dice clattered onto the table.

If Merlin was captured and killed for using magic to cheat at dice games Arthur was going to murder the man himself. He was going to send Arthur to an early grave with how reckless he was with his magic.

Eventually Arthur threw in the rest of his coins in a bold move, and Merlin matched his bet, Arthur was just thankful he could end the game after this and hopefully no one would notice Merlin using magic while a crowd of people watched him.

Merlin and the crowd cheered as he won the bag of silver coins, and Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. He tugged Merlin away from the table, and plied him with several drinks until the man was wobbling on his feet and unlikely to have another go at gambling.

The downside to that plan was that Arthur ended up stumbling back to the castle half carrying a drunk Merlin, who seemed to be bird boned for all he weighed.

“Perhaps with your winnings you can actually keep some of it this time instead of giving it away, eat some more.”

Merlin squinted at him, “How d’you know I giv’it away? Maybe ‘m keeping it all, save up‘n buy a cottage ‘n’the country?”

“Don’t be daft Merlin, I know you send half of all your money to Hunith, and the rest ends up being given to whatever charity case first gives you big sad eyes,”

Merlin gasped in mock offense, but then seemed to forget what he’d been offended about.

“Least I steal your money honestly, not everyone does,” Merlin muttered to himself.

Arthur paused and wondered who had been stealing from him dishonestly, he remembered the grizzled old Head of House, Mrs Ribbonel, who had been running the Queen’s duties since Ygraine died, had complained that the silverware hadn’t added up after the last banquet. Uther had blamed the visiting nobles, but as it had only been a handful of pieces they’d simply been replaced.

Apparently it had been one of their own staff, and Merlin knew who. He had half a mind to demand Merlin tell him, but he knew Merlin was loyal to a fault, and the only reason he wouldn’t have was because he felt the person had needed it.

It was no doubt some awful story of a servant barely more than a child with a family to feed, maybe an ailing parent, or even a dead one, that Uther wouldn’t have batted an eye over and was probably the cause of with his increased taxes, but Merlin would tear up at and was probably the one who suggested stealing it while nobles were visiting to deflect blame.

Arthur knew exactly who Merlin’s winnings were going to.

He wondered when he began trusting Merlin’s judgment as so iron clad he didn’t feel the need to follow up on an accusation of stealing in his own household simply because Merlin had deemed it not worthy enough of Arthur’s time.

“’rthur?”

“Yes Merlin?”

“Need t’tell you som’thin’, t’tell, to tell,”

“Oh?”

Merlin tried to place a finger to his lips but missed and ended up hitting his cheek, “Itsa secret,”

Arthur froze. Oh no.

“You’re a bit drunk to be spilling secrets, maybe wait until tomorrow?” Arthur’s voice sounded strangled even to his own ears, but Merlin was clearly too drunk to notice.

“No! ‘rthur! Stop!” Merlin pulled Arthur to a halt and swung himself around until they were face to face, he placed his hands on either side of Arthur’s face, slightly squishing his cheeks together.

“Merlin you really should wait until-”

“’rthur!” Merlin whined, “No waiting!”

“We’re almost in the courtyard,”

“M’know, if I don’t tell you now, ‘ll lose my nerve,” Merlin’s eyes widened, and Arthur was momentarily stunned by the bright blue colour of his eyes, he almost wanted Merlin to tell him, so he could watch his eyes turned that liquid gold colour without having to look away to pretend he hadn’t noticed.

“’rthur, when I first met you, I thought you were a prat, but you’re not, well you are, but you’re loyal, and nice even if you pretend you’re not, and you’re going to be such a good king; I would- I would do anything for you, y’know? The people love you, and the knights love you, and I- I l-”

“Merlin!”

Arthur’s head snapped around at Gwaine’s shout.

The knights were heading up the path after them.

Arthur looked back towards Merlin, but he’d been thoroughly distracted by Gwaine’s arrival, and was grinning and trying to drunkenly stumble over towards the knight.

Arthur frowned but helped him over.

“Merlin here giving you trouble Princess?”

“No, I was just taking him to bed. His bed.” Arthur flushed at Gwaine’s smirk.

“Of course, of course. I’m happy to take him off your hands if you like?”

Arthur still had a stabilizing arm wrapped around Merlin’s waist, “No, that’s okay. We’re almost there any way,”

Merlin leaned his head onto Gwaine’s shoulder, which tugged Arthur even closer, and whispered loudly to Gwaine, “Why d’ya interrupt? I was gonna tell ‘im,”

Gwaine patted Merlin’s head, and Arthur glanced away and pretended he couldn’t hear.

“Maybe not while you’re drunk Merls,”

“But I can’t do it if ‘m not drunk,”

Arthur let Merlin pester the rest of the knights for a bit before he insisted Merlin needed to go to bed and dragged him there, trying not to wake up Gauis in the process.

The way Gwaine had spoken to Merlin lingered in Arthur’s head, did Gwaine know about Merlin’s magic, and that he had been planning on telling Arthur? How many others knew? Merlin hadn’t been quiet when he’d been whispering, and none of the knights looked shocked that Merlin had been trying to tell him a secret. It could be they simply thought it was Merlin being drunk and ridiculous, or they might all know.

*

Arthur was having a quick review of patrols with Leon in his chambers, or at least, Leon was talking and Arthur was wondering how many of the knights knew about Merlin’s magic.

“Sire?”

“Mm?” Arthur turned to look at Leon, who was in turn looking expectantly at Arthur, “Ur,”

“Is there something on your mind, sire?”

Arthur wondered how he could ask if Leon knew about Merlin’s magic, without actually using the word magic, just in case he didn’t know.

“Yes actually, there is something on my mind. It’s about Merlin. You know, I believe you know, that Merlin is, well, Merlin’s special,” Arthur looked at Leon pointedly.

“Ah, yes sire. I understand.”

“You do?” Arthur wondered why none of his knights had come to him about Merlin’s magic, did they think he would have done Merlin harm? Arthur couldn’t even stomach the thought of banishing him.

Leon hummed, he seemed to be choosing his words carefully, “Yes, sire. I understand that he’s important to you, and that it requires discretion,”

Arthur nodded, more at ease. His head knight had done exactly what he’d done himself, realised about Merlin’s magic, knew he couldn’t be banished or worse, and decided to deny he even had magic for Merlin’s own safety.

“I understand what I’m about to ask you is above and beyond, but my father cannot know, I know you are sworn to him and not me-”

“Permission to speak freely, sire?”

Arthur nodded, Leon had always been the most adherent to formality, even though he had known Arthur the longest.

“We are loyal to you as well sire, and Merlin is important to you, we will not let any harm befall him, even if I have to lie to the king’s face to do it.”

Arthur was taken aback at this quiet vow of treason, this was not Gwaine calling him names, or Merlin’s complete lack of servitude, this was the most loyal and honourable of all the knights saying he was prepared to commit treason against his king to protect Merlin.

Arthur clasped his hand on Leon’s shoulder and squeezed, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. We need to be more discreet clearly, how many of the knights know?”

Leon winced, “I think most of your inner circle has their suspicions, I can make sure to squash any gossiping I hear,”

Arthur hummed, it was for the best, if his father heard even a rumour that Merlin had magic it would be enough for him.

“Sire? I hope you can forgive me for asking, but when you are King-?” he trailed off.

“I suppose I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but it certainly cannot continue as it is, I will not have Merlin live a secret for the rest of his life,” He could certainly make peace with the druids, although Merlin was a sorcerer so something would need to be done about those laws, he certainly wasn’t burning anyone. No crime, no matter the severity, deserved that.

Leon was looking at him with pride, “Very good sire, I have to say, I couldn’t imagine him always being your manservant.”

“Right,” Arthur coughed, as he had a sudden flash of Merlin as an advisor, snarking him from across the council meeting instead of being stood behind him, “These patrols.”

After Leon had left Arthur kept thinking about what would need to be done to ensure Merlin’s existence wasn’t illegal when he was king. Peace with the druids was easily done, they were non violent and Arthur had manage to stop the raids and make a tentative agreement with them already, mainly that anytime Uther ordered a raid, Merlin would run ahead and warn them so by the time the knights got there, the camp would be empty.

Merlin was a sorcerer though, Arthur wondered if he could issue a pardon for Merlin’s crimes of sorcery while Uther was king, given how many times Merlin had used magic to save his life, it seemed reasonable.

Leon was right though, Merlin couldn’t remain his manservant, no matter how much Arthur wanted to keep him close, perhaps he could knight him, Merlin would hate that, or give him some ridiculous title and matching hat so he could be one of Arthur’s advisors.

He grinned the more he thought about it, and though Merlin would still have to keep it largely a secret, he could live without the fear of death looming over his head, his close friends could know, and he wouldn’t have to be a manservant anymore, he could be properly rewarded for saving Arthur’s life.

The next morning he noticed Merlin was shivering and leaning close the fire, always making his way towards it between his morning chores.

“Merlin, sit by the fire for a minute, I can hear your teeth chattering from here.”

Merlin looked so relieved and immediately dropped himself down by the fire.

Arthur eyed his threadbare clothes, “Merlin when was the last time you bought yourself new clothing?”

Merlin shrugged.

“And what about your winnings from the other night?”

Merlin’s gaze went shifty, and Arthur wondered if he remembered what had drunkenly confessed, “I spent it already,”

Arthur sighed, it had no doubt been given to the silverware thief. He stood up and walked over to his wardrobe, and started flinging clothes out onto the bed.

“Hey you prat! I just put those away!”

Arthur pulled out any shirt he hadn’t worn in a while, or that was too small and hadn’t yet been thrown. It wasn’t unusual for nobles to give old clothes to their servants, Morgana gave Gwen her old dresses all the time.

He looked at Merlin and then pointed at the pile of shirts, “There. They’re yours now,” Even Arthur’s hand-me-downs were of a thicker quality than Merlin’s, “Can’t have you freezing to death.”

Merlin was staring at him like he’d grown another head.

Arthur just eyed Merlin’s clothes critically, Merlin was too thin and tall for any of Arthur’s trousers to fit, and they wore different boot sizes. He would have to get something made.

“Thank you Arthur,” Merlin’s voice was soft and he was staring at him with a look that Arthur couldn’t work out.

“Yes well, a manservant’s appearance reflects on his master, can’t have anyone thinking I treat you poorly,”

Merlin snorted, “Didn’t seem so concerned when you ordered me to muck out the stables, sire, I know that’s the stableboys’ job!”

“How many months did it take you to work that one out?”

Merlin huffed, “That’s not fair, you knew the stableboys weren’t going to tell me,”

Later that day Arthur caught sight of Merlin wearing one of his old red shirts, although he was still shivering in the colder weather. Arthur immediately went to the seamstress and asked a winter cloak be added to the order along with the trousers, and asked that a pair of sturdy boots be bought from the lower town.

Several days later Merlin was properly outfitted for the winter, and Morgana wouldn’t stop giving him smug looks that Arthur couldn’t work out.

Merlin had a propensity for looking after everyone else, often to the detriment of his own health. Arthur decided that someone needed to look after Merlin, and it was going to be him.

Unfortunately that included pretending he didn’t know what was going on when Merlin snuck off to the forest the night before a hunt to fight a magical creature on his own so the knights didn’t have to.

Arthur simply asked for a larger than normal dinner be left in his rooms, along with some medical supplies, and a bath. Thankfully there were still some servants in the castle who understood propriety and simply nodded at the odd request and went off to do their jobs.

Which left Arthur trailing through the woods, after having snuck out of his own castle, to track Merlin down. When Arthur was king, he decided he was going to give Merlin special dispensation to use his magic to fight monsters, at least that way he could take knights with him, and he wouldn’t have to do it in the dead of night.

Eventually he came upon the sight of Merlin openly and wildly using magic against a terrifying beast that looked like multiple monsters melded together. It was the first time he had been able to watch Merlin use magic without having to look away, and it was the first time he’d seen Merlin use magic for something other than small things.

It was one thing to know that Merlin could magically create butterflies, or move dice, and trip over annoying nobles, but to see him be able to create and manipulate fire, to contain the beast without having it reach the trees around them, to see him trying to immobilize different sections of the beast at once while simultaneously firing magically enhanced arrows at the thing, it was truly something else. Merlin looked ethereal. 

Arthur couldn’t breathe for a moment. 

He felt a stab of envy that he hadn’t be able to witness the magical tournaments that used to be popular in Camelot, it would have been magnificent.

He had brought his sword with him, fully expecting to have to help Merlin kill the beast, but although he could see the sweat running down Merlin’s face, and the fine tremor in his arm, the battle was firmly his.

Arthur knew battle, and he knew the signs when someone was on equal footing and when they retreated into defensive maneuvers, and Merlin had been on the offensive throughout.

Merlin managed to get a glowing arrow straight at the crux where the multiple heads met and felled the beast.

Arthur had to stop himself from cheering.

Merlin stood in the clearing panting, the fire died down quickly before extinguishing itself, and the arrows stopped glowing, and then Merlin collapsed.

“Merlin!” Arthur ran over towards him, and grabbed him. Merlin’s head lolled against his chest, and a shot of sheer panic went through Arthur at Merlin’s limp body.

His hands roved over him looking for injury, he hadn’t seen the beast get a swipe, but he’d arrived after the fight had begun.

Merlin stirred in his arms but didn’t fully awaken.

Arthur couldn’t find a physical wound on Merlin, but he had no idea how this beast operated, it could have been able to wield its own form of magic.

Arthur picked Merlin up and carried him back to his horse, and rode for Camelot at breakneck speed. He barged into Gaius’ chambers, uncaring that it was the middle of the night.

“Merlin are you- Sire?”

To Arthur’s surprise, Gaius was awake with a candle already lit, as if he had been waiting up for Merlin to get back. Did Gaius know about Merlin’s magic? Did Gaius know about Merlin’s magic and sent him off alone into the woods to fight a magical creature?

“Gaius, Merlin has collapsed, he was out in the forest with that three headed beast,”

“The Nos Cerddwr,” Gaius muttered almost on reflex, he’d been correcting people on the name for days, but his attention was now fully on Merlin, “Lie him down on the cot,”

Arthur placed him down gently, “I can’t see any wounds, but who knows what that thing is capable of,”

Gaius started examining Merlin, “The Nos Cerddwr has a stinger, but the effect usually causes hallucinations, and due to the heightened state of fear caused by its presence, the hallucinations often take on a nightmarish quality,”

“So he should be running around terrified, not-” Arthur gestured to Merlin’s unconscious body with fear.

“Did you see it attack him?”

“No, he-”Arthur paused, there was still a chance, however unlikely, that Gaius didn’t know. Arthur had never been allowed to ask about the Purge, he knew Gaius had renounced magic, had he turned in other magic users? It was not something Arthur was going to risk Merlin’s life with, “The beast had been felled with arrows, most likely a band of hunters, I found Merlin unconscious nearby,”

Gaius eyed him carefully, “I see,” He finished his examination.

“Well?”

“I do not see any signs that would indicate the beast attacked him, magically or otherwise. I believe it is exhaustion.”

“Exhaustion?” Arthur asked in disbelief.

“Yes sire,”

Arthur wondered if it was a magical thing, could sorcerers use too much magic? Did they have a well of magic they drew from, or did they work as a conduit? He almost wished Merlin would tell him about his magic, just so Arthur could get some of his questions answered.

“So he just needs rest?”

“Indeed sire. I would recommend at least a day of bed rest.”

Arthur nodded, “Would you like me to relocate him to his rooms?”

“If you wouldn’t mind sire, there is no risk in moving him, and I believe he will be more comfortable in his rooms,”

Arthur nodded, and lifted Merlin off the cot in the main room and carried him to the door Gaius pointed out. Merlin still wasn’t eating enough, as the man was far too easy to lift.

“This is his room?” Arthur asked in horror as Gaius opened the door. The room was barely bigger than the bed, which was tiny, and the whole room was freezing. Arthur placed Merlin down on the bed, and pretended not to notice as Gaius nudged a book of some kind behind the bed with his foot.

“Yes, sire.”

Arthur knew his rooms were the best in the castle, excluding the king’s, and his judgment of what was acceptable was slightly skewed, but this was ridiculous. Nobody should be living like this; did Gaius live in here before Merlin moved in?

“Does Merlin wish to become the court physician?” Arthur asked.

If Gaius looked surprised by the change in topic, he didn’t show it, “I don’t believe so, sire.”

“Then you should get a different apprentice, one who is going to take over when you wish to retire.”

“May I ask your reasoning behind such a change?”

Arthur gestured to Merlin’s sleeping body, “He’s exhausted, to the point of collapsing,” although it was likely some magical exhaustion that Arthur wasn’t supposed to know about, he wasn’t above using it to get his point across, “And it has come to my attention that he is doing the work of two men,” Not to mention running off in the night to fight monsters, “If he wished to train as the physician I would release him to you immediately, however, if he has no intention of doing so I shall keep him as my manservant.”

Gaius hummed, “While I don’t believe he would have an issue with it, it would be better to refrain from decision making until he is awake,”

“Of course, and I would not expect him to remain as my manservant indefinitely, when I am King, I-” Arthur wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do, but something needed to be done about magic, “Merlin’s loyalty and dedication has not gone unnoticed, and it will not go unrewarded,”

Arthur was sure there was a look of quiet pride in Gaius’ eyes.

“Very good sire, I shall speak to him when he wakes,”

Arthur nodded, “I shall get George to attend to me for as long as he needs to recover.”

Gaius nodded, and ducked out of the room.

Arthur pulled the covers up higher on Merlin and tucked them around him a little tighter. Truly something needed to be done about this room.

“’rthur?” Merlin mumbled, his eyelids fluttered but didn’t fully open.

“Rest, that’s an order, Merlin.”

“N’d t’tell you som’th’g,”

“Merlin, I’m ordering you to rest, no somethings,” Arthur said, hopefully even if Merlin did tell him a certain something, he wouldn’t remember it come dawn.

“M’lv’you,”

Arthur frowned as he tried to work out how the jumble of syllables Merlin had muttered was a confession of magic. It had sounded like ‘Muv you’, was he trying to say ‘magic user’?

Arthur patted Merlin on the head, and left, before Merlin got more coherent and Arthur couldn’t pretend to be deaf to a confession of magic.

“Thank you for your help Gaius,” Arthur said, as he made his way towards his rooms, “Make sure he rests properly, and let me know if I need to organize for a new assistant,”

“Yes, sire. Although there will have to be lodgings arranged, as there is no additional room in here.”

“That’s quite alright Gaius, Merlin can relocate to the antechamber,”

Gaius blinked, and then nodded slowly, as if he was piecing something together, although what, Arthur had no idea.

“I see.”

Gaius’s eyebrows seemed to be judging him, and Arthur didn’t know why so he beat a hasty retreat back to his own rooms.

It was too late to inform George to attend him in the morning, so he would call for him when he woke. Arthur went to sleep satisfied. He would probably have to ride out in the morning with the knights and happen across the already dead body of the beast, but all his knights would return alive and well. Thanks, once again, to Merlin.  

*

He awoke to Merlin’s voice, and the sound of Merlin’s tentative steps around his room.

Merlin looked in an awful state, there were large bags under his eyes, and he looked as though a strong gust of wind could knock him over. Arthur felt awful, how many times had he seen Merlin looked like this, and he had assumed it had been from a night at the tavern and shouted loudly or given him extra chores with glee.

No more.

“Merlin, what do you think you’re doing?”

“My job?” Merlin snarked, although the words lacked any energy behind them, and Merlin sounded half dead.

“Sit down this instance,” Arthur leapt out of bed and dragged Merlin to a chair before he collapsed again.

“It’s going to be hard to do my chores from here, sire,”

Arthur sighed in relief that at least Merlin had the energy to make an honorific sound like an insult. Once he was sure Merlin wasn’t going to get up as soon as his back was turned, he went to the door and flagged down the first maid he could find.

“Will you make sure the antechamber is aired out and made ready for use. Also please ask George to fetch me my breakfast this morning, and make it large.”

The maid curtsied and went on her way.

“Are you firing me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous Merlin. Gaius said you needed bed rest, I can’t imagine him shirking his duty of care.” When Arthur had been a boy, he’d broken his arm, and Gaius had managed to wrangle him into four weeks of bed rest because Arthur had kept sneaking out and jostling the injury, making it worse. The man had been vigilant in keeping him to his bed; Arthur couldn’t imagine him not doing the same for Merlin.

“He was asleep when I left,”

Arthur hummed in displeasure, “Well, I will happily inform you that you collapsed yesterday in the woods where that Cerdernos-thing,”

“Nos Cerddwr,”

“Yes that, was roaming around and very well could have eaten you,”

“I would have been fine.”

“Only because you’re too skinny to have made a proper meal, it might have used you to pick its teeth afterwards,”

Merlin suddenly looked cautious, “How did you know I was in the woods when I collapsed?”

“Because I was the one who found you, you idiot,”

“You-?”

“What happened?” Arthur taunted, not wanting the conversation to steer near the topic of Merlin’s magic, “Did you see it and faint like a maid?”

“No! I-”

Whatever Merlin was going to say was stopped by two sharp raps at the door, before George entered holding a large tray full of hot food.

“Good morning, sire.” George said, he had the wide-eyed look of someone who had been awake before the cockerels. Arthur wondered if George was some odd magical creature, no one should look that awake in the morning.

“George you will be attending me for the next several days, while Merlin recovers,” Arthur said the last part pointedly to Merlin, who huffed and slumped in the chair.

At least he was wearing his new thicker clothes.

“Very good sire,” George immediately started flitting around the room, lighting the fire, and putting away clothes with impressive speed.

Merlin’s glare followed him around the room.

Arthur sat across from Merlin and uncovered the breakfast tray, “Eat, before you faint again,”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

Arthur glanced at where George was busy, and leant towards Merlin and whispered, “I found you in a heap in the forest, Merlin, I thought you were dead.” He pushed the tray towards him, “Indulge me.”

“I do nothing but indulge you,” Merlin muttered but he started eating.

“After you’ve finished you’re going straight back to your room. Hopefully I can speak to the steward about getting a new apprentice for Gaius and then you can move into the antechamber.”

Merlin choked on a bit of food, “What?”

Arthur pursed his lips, and remembered multiple nannies and schoolmasters telling him he needed to ask instead of demand. He’d never been very good at it.

“Gaius said you had no interest in becoming the court physician, and he will need to train up his replacement if he’s ever going to retire. Besides you clearly can’t go on working two jobs as you’re likely to collapse again.”

Merlin glared, “And you’ve just decided that I’ll stay on as your manservant?”

“Not forever,”

“What does that mean?”

“Never mind. Besides you clearly love it, you’re jumping at the chance to return to work already.”

Merlin jabbed a sausage in his direction, “You’re the worst.”

Arthur grinned, “Glad that’s settled.”

*

The new apprentice the steward found was a bright-eyed young woman called Leoma who was kind and sweet until you were trying to go against her instructions as a physician and then she could make grown knights quake. Arthur thought she was like some odd combination of Gwen and Morgana, and resolved to visit as little as possible. However, Gaius had an apprentice who was eager to learn and could dedicate all of her time to it.

For all Merlin’s protestations, everybody seemed happy with the change. She and Merlin got on like a tavern on fire and Arthur figured he should definitely be worried about the havoc they might wreck on his future kingdom.

Merlin still helped her with collecting herbs and doing deliveries, Arthur figured it was probably just to spite him, but it took up less of Merlin’s time. Arthur also managed to get George to do more of the menial chores of Merlin’s, after all, when Arthur was King and Merlin was- something, Arthur would still need a manservant.

Due to the extra time Merlin had, and Arthur’s plan to make Merlin some sort of advisor with a mandatory and ridiculous hat, he decided Merlin needed to be well versed in more political matters.

“Here, read these.” Arthur said one morning, placing a pile books on the table next to breakfast.

Since Merlin had moved into the antechamber, they had fallen into a new routine of Merlin bringing enough breakfast for two, and them sitting and eating together before they started the day.

“In what free time?” Merlin said with a mouthful of bread.

“George is taking over some of your duties, and if you stopped running errands for Leoma I’m sure you’d find time.”

Merlin glared at him unrepentant. He was still certain that Arthur was trying to replace him with George no matter how many times Arthur assured him he wasn’t.

“Why?”

“Because, one day I will be king, and as much as I loathe to admit it I have come to rely on your insights into certain matters.” Arthur said, despite how many times he had rehearsed it in his head, it still came out far sappier than he intended it to. It was a problem that seemed to happen a lot in Merlin’s presence.

“So you want me to read about,” Merlin glanced at the first cover, “Trade routes and the history of Camelot’s alliances?”

“You need to be well versed in many matters if you are going to help me run a kingdom.”

Merlin’s eyes went wide, and he looked oddly touched.

Arthur coughed, “Well, I will run the kingdom, but you need to understand the basics otherwise how will you write my speeches?”

Merlin rolled his eyes but the soft look in his eyes didn’t leave, “I will read them this afternoon. Thank you Arthur.”

“Yes, well, I had to read all of these during my schooling, so we can discuss what you’ve read this evening over dinner, bring enough for yourself as well. We’ll see if anything actually sticks between those ears.”

Merlin threw a chunk of bread at him.

*

Merlin still attended Arthur in the mornings and evenings, and fetched his food, but George had taken over the laundry and cleaning, as well as any polishing. The look of reverence in his eyes when Arthur had told him he would be taking over the polishing of his armor would haunt Arthur until his dying day.

When everything had come out about Merlin’s magic, Arthur was going to make him check to see if George was inhuman.

With a large amount of free time on his hands, Merlin took to devouring the entire contents of the library, one book at a time, and could often be found curled in a window nook or lazing under a tree while Arthur was training.

He was lucky Geoffrey hadn’t found him doing it yet.

Every night Arthur and Merlin would eat dinner, and Merlin would talk animatedly about whatever he had been reading about that day, occasionally Arthur would have to reread the book himself as he had long passed his schooling days.

It wasn’t as tiresome to read through them as when he had been a child. Arthur could say it was because he was more mature now, although if he was honest it was because Merlin’s enthusiasm was catching, and the man seemed to find every tidbit of knowledge fascinating.

‘Did you get to the bit about Nemeth’s proposal for an alliance that was just an exchange of heirs? Isn’t that unusual? Do you think he just didn’t like his son?’

Merlin was looking healthier now that he was sitting down to at least two meals a day with Arthur, and he wasn’t running over the castle trying to do two jobs. Arthur couldn’t deny that mealtimes had now become his favorite time of the day.

The only sticking point was that Arthur knew to an outsider that his allocation of Merlin’s duties to George, combined with Merlin’s penchant for lazing around the castle with a book might look like favoritism to someone who didn’t know he was schooling Merlin to be an advisor, which was practically the whole castle.

He was surprised that no one had asked him up until that point so far. Morgana and the knights had just given him smug knowing looks, and Gaius’ stare had practically bore a hole in his head whenever he saw the man.

Thankfully, and unusually, it was Uther who gave him the idea for the excuse.

He had been in a private meeting with his father in the King’s chambers, when Uther had offered him congratulations on taking a bedmate and professed he was worried Arthur was too much of a romantic to do it.

“I’ll admit the boy is an odd choice, but I understand why you’ve kept him around now, he’s a terrible servant after all. At least you won’t have to worry about bastards before you’re married. Good thinking boy, they muddy the line of succession.”

Arthur had been halfway through a mouthful of food when Uther had told him that, and he had an odd out of body experience for a moment.

“Bedmate?”

“Yes, your manservant. Mine told me you were bedding him, makes sense why you’re so fond of him. I remember I felt the same about Edeva.”

Arthur remembered Edeva, she was a beautiful woman who Uther had made part of the court, and was unofficially his bedwarmer on and off for several years when Arthur had been around ten years old.

“Yes, that’s exactly what Merlin is.” Arthur said, it was clear Uther already knew about his preferential treatment of Merlin, and Arthur couldn’t very well tell him that he was training Merlin to be his advisor, especially because Merlin had magic, and Arthur was going to have to give a royal pardon after Uther was dead. Letting his father believe Merlin was warming his bed so Arthur could avoid bastards before he was married was far simpler.

Uther stared at him for a long minute, “I won’t make him an official part of the court.”

“Of course not father. Merlin is still performing his duties as a manservant first and foremost.”

Uther nodded, satisfied.

The conversation moved on but Arthur found himself only half attending to it. His mind was far more preoccupied with the tantalizing thought of Merlin as a Royal Bedwarmer. 

It would certainly be a promotion from manservant, and Merlin would be free to fill his time however he liked, and certainly no one could bring accusations of magic against the King’s bedmate. Obviously Merlin wouldn’t have to actually warm his bed, unless he was so inclined, which led Arthur down an even more dangerous line of thought.

He ended up drinking far too much wine, and hurried off to his chambers, his father had simply laughed and muttered something about Edeva, which Arthur did not want to know about.

He passed out with the pleasant thought of imagining Merlin curled up against him.

*

Months passed in a similar fashion, before Merlin was running out of books to read. Arthur wondered if he could get Merlin some books on magic without being too suspicious, he wasn’t sure he even knew where to look.

“Merlin, I need you to research magic.”

“What?” Merlin looked up at him with wide eyes, letting his fork clatter against the plate as he dropped it. They were having dinner in Arthur’s chambers again and had been sat in a comfortable silence as Merlin had been leafing through a book with one hand and eating with the other.

“My father has a rather strict policy on it, and like all of his policies I must understand the subject thoroughly if I am to enact laws surrounding it when I am king.”

“And what exactly are you looking to understand?”

George was not present in Arthur’s chambers, nor would Arthur have started this conversation if he were, but he still glanced around to double check, George appeared so quickly on occasion, Arthur was sure the man had magic of his own.

“I do not necessarily believe it is inherently evil,” the image of Merlin conjuring butterflies came to mind in particular, “However, it is still largely unknown to me. What are the limitations of magic use, what were the laws surrounding it before the Purge happened, how was it monitored and regulated?”

Merlin nodded slowly, “I will see if I can find any knowledge of it,”

“Beside which I’m sure Gaius will appreciate any information on the topic as it seems we are being plagued by sorcerer’s curses and magical beasts on a weekly basis.”

Merlin laughed, “It’s not quite that often.”

*

There was some sort of curse making it’s way through the castle. Multiple people had been reduced to a near drunken state of uncontrollably confessing their thoughts and feelings to people. It would be amusing if Arthur weren’t absolutely terrified of accidentally catching whatever it was.

Arthur didn’t want to find himself telling Morgana that he actually enjoyed her company and sharp wit, or spilling to Uther that he had been slowly realising that his father was a monster who was killing innocent people, or worst of all, tell Merlin that he actually found his ridiculous ears rather irresistible and would he like a position as Arthur’s official bedwarmer?

It was better for everyone that he barricaded himself in his room.

There were two problems with this.

Firstly, he didn’t know how it was getting around the lower town and the castle, it could be a potion slipped into food or drink, it could be some mischievous creature, or simply another sorcerer. Arthur wondered if he relaxed some of the laws around sorcery when he was king, it would stop sorcerers coming to the castle every week with a new harebrained scheme.

The second problem with his barricade plan, was that Merlin had the key to not only his room, but also to Merlin’s own room, which now adjoined with Arthur’s. After a couple of years of the room not being in use Arthur had simply forgotten to lock the interior door.

“Arthur!” Merlin beamed.

Arthur jumped a mile and swung around, he had been keeping a vigilant eye on the door to his chambers but Merlin had managed to slip in from his own room. He glared at Merlin, until he realised the glaring wasn’t working because Merlin was continuing to grin at him like a lunatic.

“Merlin?”

Merlin didn’t slow his pace as he approached Arthur, and when he reached him he simply threw his arms around Arthur’s neck and gave him a tight hug.

Arthur could feel the warmth of Merlin’s body pressed right along the length of his own, and for a second he thought he might have fallen asleep watching the door. This was how most of the bedwarmer fantasies started.

“Arthur, I need to tell you something,”

Merlin pulled back enough that they were face to face but his arms were still flung around Arthur’s neck.

Arthur blinked as he realised Merlin’s eyes were blown wide and there was a thin sheen of sweat across his brow.

“Merlin? I think you’ve caught what everyone else has caught,”

“I know! I’ve been helping Gaius all day, I think I came into contact with whatever it was,” Merlin said, his face open with honesty.

“Okay, then we’re going to take you back to Gaius before you spill any of your secrets,”

“But I need to tell you something first,” Merlin’s eyes went hooded and he ran one of his hands from Arthur’s neck down his chest towards his belt.

Arthur bit his lip to stop himself from making any embarrassing noises. If Merlin was trying to seduce him into being fine with sorcery, Arthur was absolutely okay with that.

Merlin ducked his head into Arthur’s neck and started nipping at the skin there, “Arthur, I’m in love with you,”

Arthur froze.

He thought back to all the people who had been confessing their feelings, he realised a pattern of people confessing romantic feelings, perhaps it wasn’t some truth spell but another love spell. Camelot had seen its fair few of them.

“Merlin.” Arthur gently untangled himself from Merlin, who looked heartbroken.

“I’m sorry!”

“No, no,” Arthur murmured as he directed Merlin to a seat, “Merlin, you’re not yourself, you’ve been bespelled, or cursed, something. I’ll go and get Gaius and bring him here,” There was no way Arthur was going parade Merlin through the castle and watch him confess his love to everyone.

“You noble prat!” Merlin huffed and pulled Arthur’s face close enough that their noses were brushing together, “If you don’t feel the same that’s fine, but I’m perfectly in my right mind,”

“You’re under a love spell,”

“It’s a truth spell,”

“I know that’s not right,” If it was a truth spell, Merlin would be confessing to having magic right now, not to being in love with him.

“Who’s the physician here?” Merlin said smugly.

“The physician isn’t here. I’m trying to take you to them now.”

“Arthur,” Merlin said, looking very vulnerable all of a sudden. Arthur wanted to sweep him up in a hug, but it might send mixed messages right now. “Everything you’ve said, none of your objections have been ‘ew Merlin get off of me’,”

Arthur flushed, he had to keep reminding himself that this was a love spell, he had been under one himself. Merlin was probably going to remember all of this when he was better. He couldn’t give himself away in case Merlin was the one tomorrow saying ‘ew Arthur get off of me’.

He wasn’t going to put all this work into Merlin being his magic advisor to scare him away with feelings.

“Merlin, if you still feel the same when the magic has worn off, then we will talk. Right now, I need to take you to see Gaius and Leoma.”

Merlin let out a defeated sigh and rested his forehead against Arthur’s.

He didn’t seem to be trying to make another move to seduce Arthur so he let it be, it felt nice. They stood there for a minute, arms still loosely wrapped around each other, breathing in the same space.

Merlin’s eyes fluttered closed and Arthur felt a low swoop in his stomach that he was going to say was caused by magic. He could see a faint flash of gold in the slit of Merlin’s eye that was barely open.

Merlin was doing magic in front of him, they were literally touching foreheads and Merlin was doing magic. It was official. He thought Arthur was stupid.

“Arthur!” Morgana barged into the room and gasped when she saw them, “I knew it!”

Merlin slumped into his arms.

It was the first time in his life that Arthur had seen Morgana thrown off guard, “Did he just faint?”

Arthur looked at the sleeping Merlin in his arms, he carried him over to the bed and checked his pulse. He suspected it was magical exhaustion again, although what he’d done to warrant it this time Arthur wasn’t sure.

“Ur, yes. Fainted.” Arthur said, and then got one of the guards outside his room to send for either Gaius or Leoma. Just in case it was curse related. He would also be having words with them later about letting Morgana burst into his room unannounced.

Arthur suddenly remembered Morgana’s words.

“You knew?”

“Of course I knew Arthur, you’re not subtle,”

“Me?” Arthur said, horrified. Merlin had literally been doing magic in front of his face, and Arthur was the unsubtle one? He slumped into a chair, and Morgana sat opposite him.

He scrubbed his face with his hands, “How long have you known?”

She shrugged, “I suspected not long after he arrived, but I didn’t think you’d do anything about it. When you moved him into the antechamber and let him spend his days reading was more than I ever expected, especially while Uther is still around.”

“You’ve known about his magic since he arrived? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Magic?” Morgana’s eyes went wide.

Arthur was sure his heart stopped beating for a second.

“Arthur,” Morgana leaned over the table and whispered at him, “Did you just say Merlin has magic?”

Arthur thought about how to tactfully answer this.

“No.”

“Arthur!” Morgana hissed.

It reminded him of when they were children and Arthur would say he hadn’t eaten Morgana’s dessert despite the fact he had the sugar dusted around his mouth.

“You cannot tell anyone! Uther can’t know!” Arthur pleaded.

“Of course he can’t, Uther would kill him!”

“You think I don’t know that, it’s been giving me stress pains for months,”

“You’ve known for months? Who else knows?”

Arthur shrugged, “You and I know, I’m mostly sure Gaius knows, and most of the knights in my inner circle,”

“Arthur!”

“I didn’t tell them!”

Morgana pressed her fingers against her temples and started massaging them, she took several deep breaths, before she looked up and fixed Arthur with the fiercest expression he’d ever seen.

“And what are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Morgana’s voice went steely, “You haven’t told Uther, nor have you driven him out of Camelot, what exactly are you planning on doing with him?”

“Nothing! I don’t know!” Arthur slumped against the table, if anyone understood his position in this mess, it was going to be Morgana, “Look, I know what we were brought up believing, but I swear to you magic isn’t evil, Merlin’s not evil, he’s so powerful and he uses it to make butterflies. I know you may not trust him at first, but I swear to you, please trust me. Don’t tell Uther.”

Morgana’s mouth had fallen open. She slumped back in her chair, and it was the first time Arthur had seen her without her practiced poise in years.

“Morgana please,”

“I’m not going to tell Uther,” she said absentmindedly. She was turning something over in her mind.

He nodded, and let her think.

“What will you do when you are king?” she said quietly.

Arthur frowned, “I don’t know. I don’t know enough about magic. Peace with the druids? Maybe not a total ban on magic, but definitely regulations? I know Merlin will do no harm with magic, but what about others?”

“I have magic.” Morgana said quietly, her voice was barely above a whisper.

She looked at him with a challenge in her eyes. He nodded.

“You learned magic?”

She shook her head, “I was born with it,”

Arthur let his head drop on the table, “See! I didn’t even know that was possible,”

“You don’t mind?”

Arthur was about to say something along the lines of ‘I’ve always said you were a witch, this only proves my point’, but when he glanced over Morgana looked genuinely hesitant.

He placed his hand on top of hers, “I don’t mind, and I swear to you when I am King, you won’t have to live in fear,”

Morgana threw her arms around Arthur and nearly squeezed the breathe out of him. He wasn’t sure exactly what to do so he awkwardly patted her on the back. He could hear her quiet sobs of relief turn into laughter.

“Arthur, you’re ridiculous, how you ever won Merlin over is beyond me,”

“Oh, urm. Since you know about his magic, you should probably know we’re not actually- that is, he and I aren’t-” Arthur’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“So why all the time off and reading? And moving him to your chambers?”

“Antechamber,”

“You realize no one believes he’s actually sleeping in there, right? I don’t even think the maids have bothered cleaning it,”

Arthur didn’t think it was possible for his face to get any redder, “Since Leoma started working for Gaius, Merlin moved into the antechamber, which is normal practice for manservants,”

Morgana just raised an eyebrow.

“And, well. I’m training him to be an advisor of sorts, for when I’m King. He’s been saving my life for years, it’s beneath his dignity to be shining my shoes.”

Morgana looked like she was about to hug him again, “Arthur, he’ll make a wonderful Court Sorcerer,”

Arthur’s mind blanked for a second. Court Sorcerer. He remembered the occasional story when Uther had mentioned such a role, only when he was drunk, normally followed by a lot of swearing and muttering of names. It was effectively an advisor to the King, who dealt with any issues of a magical nature.

Arthur was also sure that during the magical tournaments held in Camelot, the Court Sorcerer was intended to win it, much as Arthur had been expected to win all of his tourneys since he officially became a knight.

He lost himself briefly imagining whether Merlin would show off during the tournament, much like Arthur showed off when he knew Merlin was watching.

He came back from his pleasant daydream to Morgana’s amused smirk.

He coughed, “Wouldn’t you want that role?” He hadn’t even considered the Court Sorcerer role before, it would include a complete repeal of the laws surrounding magic, and complete legalization of magic. However, Merlin and Morgana now had magic, how many others that he knew and loved were living in constant fear?

As much as he teased Morgana about being the bane of his life sent to kill him, he didn’t think she was actually evil.

Morgana seemed to think about it, “I want to be your head knight,”

“What?”

She started ticking points off on her hand, “I’m almost as good a fighter as you, you just won’t let me join in with training. I already know you’re going to let peasants be knights, why not women?”

“What about Leon?”

“He can be my assistant head knight, in case I fall in battle,”

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “If you want to be a knight, you will do the same initiation as everyone else, and you will work your way up to head knight. No favoritism,”

“Obviously. I also want a seat on the council,”

Arthur had lost control of his authority as King, and he hadn’t even been crowned yet.

“Yes, fine.”

Morgana clapped her hands together in delight, “Council meetings will be a riot with Merlin on them, I can’t wait to tell him,”

“You can’t tell him.”

“Why not?”

Arthur winced, “He doesn’t know,”

“What?”

“Well I couldn’t tell him about the position without telling him it’s a reward for his loyalty and the frankly embarrassing number of times he’s saved my life, and I can’t tell him that without telling him I know he has magic,”

“He doesn’t know that you know that he has magic?”

“No? Wait yes?” Arthur shook his head, “He doesn’t know that I know,”

Morgana looked at him for a long time, “I take it all back, you’re an idiot,”

“He can’t know that I know,”

“Why?”

“Well because, if I don’t know that he has magic then I don’t have to do anything about the fact he has magic and that it’s still illegal,”

“But you do know he has magic, you also now know that I have magic,”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think you should just let him know that you know? He’s probably terrified of you finding out, and it’s all for nothing,”

“He’s not, he keeps trying to tell me!”

Morgana looked like she was about to hit him round the head, “It’s a good thing you’ll have me and Merlin on your council,”

They both looked over to where Merlin was still asleep on the bed.

“Is he alright? He’s been out for a long time,”

“I think it’s magical exhaustion, it’s happened before, he just needs to sleep. I’m more worried about how long it’s taking Gaius and Leoma to get here.”

“Well, good luck with your idiocy,” Morgana stood and brushed off her dress, “I’m going to tell Merlin I know about his magic, even if you won’t,”

“Just wait until this love spell has been lifted, otherwise he’ll be confessing his love for you,”

“Love spell? I thought it was a truth spell? That’s why I came here to pester you about Merlin. I assumed you caught it and that’s why you hid up here.”

“If it was a truth spell then Merlin wouldn’t be confessing his love to me, now would he?”

Morgana gave him a pitying look, “It’s a good thing you’re pretty, otherwise I would doubt Merlin’s sanity.” She headed for the door, “Oh and Arthur? If I ever wanted to be Court Sorceress, then I suppose you could always make Merlin your consort,”

Arthur was far too distracted with his thoughts to hear her laughter as she closed the door behind her.

*

Eventually Leoma came bustling through the door, without knocking. Arthur really was going to have to have words with his guards.

She hurried over towards Merlin and started examining him. Arthur was familiar enough with Merlin’s tactics of concealment that he immediately noticed Leoma’s eyes flash gold as she rested a hand on his forehead.

Arthur wondered how many people in this bloody castle had magic.

“I think its exhaustion, sire.” Leoma said.

Arthur just nodded, forget authority, he’d lost control of his life.

“Thank you,” he said absentmindedly, “You’d best be getting back to Gaius, I’m sure he needs help with the curse victims,”

“Oh, about that. They’ve all been cured, sire.”

“Oh, well done. That was fast,”

“No, sire. Gaius and I didn’t do it. The effects just seemed to stop, everyone who was afflicted just got better,”

Arthur’s eyes fell on Merlin.

“Right, I’m sure Gaius is already reporting this to my father, so, have a well earned rest, I suppose.”

“Thank you, sire.”

She left.

Arthur turned to Merlin, “And Morgana says I’m the idiot.”

*

Unfortunately for everyone Uther was not convinced that the spontaneous recovery of those afflicted was a good thing. He was convinced whoever was behind the attack was gearing up for another one.

It wasn’t completely mad. Merlin had dealt with the effects of the curse, but not the root cause. Something out there had still caused this.

They were in a council meeting about it, and Gaius mentioned that he didn’t have enough information on the topic. Uther had merely nodded and the conversation had moved on.

At the end of the meeting Arthur caught Uther telling Gaius to meet him in his chambers and he would get him some books.

Arthur wondered why his father would have books in his rooms, Arthur wasn’t sure he’d seen his father read anything that wasn’t a missive or a battle map.

Fortunately for Arthur both the King’s chambers and the Prince’s contained hidden doors with tunnels leading out of the castle in case of a siege. Arthur had realised from a young age that it was an excellent way to spy on his father.

Though he couldn’t see through the door, he could hear through it.

Uther Pendragon was not as idiotic as Arthur had previously believed, apparently he hadn’t burned every book to do with magic, he had kept the ones that might be useful in preventing attacks from magical monsters and men.

Arthur just had no idea where in the King’s chambers they had been secreted away.

He needed to enlist Morgana’s help.

“Morgana!” Arthur knocked heavily on her door. She may be comfortable barging into his rooms with no notice but Arthur knew his luck and he’d end up walking in on her getting dressed and then she would kill him and take his crown.

“Enter.” Morgana said.

Merlin was inside with Morgana. It was a frustrating debacle, Morgana had insisted Merlin teach her magic, to which Merlin had obliged but because he didn’t know that Arthur knew, and Morgana was actually keeping her word not to say anything it meant Merlin ended up scrambling for excuses as to why he was in Morgana’s rooms at all hours.

Arthur just hoped it didn’t get back to his father. Uther may be oddly okay with him bedding Merlin so Arthur could get his rocks off without siring heirs but Arthur was sure he’d execute Merlin if he thought the man was despoiling Morgana.

“Merlin,”

“I was just, ur, we were-”

“Never mind, back to your duties. I need to talk to Morgana in private.”

Merlin nodded, looking between the two hesitantly before scurrying out of the room.

“You need to tell him Arthur. There’s no point in him not knowing anymore, it’s bordering on cruelty,”

“I know.” Arthur said quietly, it was hammered home with every wince Merlin made when he lied to Arthur’s face, or every time he returned injured after saving Arthur’s life. He tried to follow Merlin whenever he could to help the man but he didn’t always catch it.

There was also a not insignificant part of Arthur that was seething with jealousy that Morgana could watch Merlin freely doing magic. He couldn’t even be mad because it was his own stubbornness that was preventing it.

After nearly a year of pretending to be oblivious to Merlin’s magic he was finding it a hard habit to break, and there was always the voice at the back of his mind that taunted that there was another reason that Merlin hadn’t told him, beyond fear of Uther, and that was that he just wasn’t important enough to Arthur to tell him. At the end of the day he was Merlin’s employer, and a prat. Perhaps Merlin liked Arthur as a friend because Merlin was a nice person who was friends with everyone, and not because Arthur was special.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Uther has a stash of magic books in his room, I don’t know where but I heard a key so they’re locked away somewhere,”

Morgana frowned, and muttered some scathing words about Uther under her breath. While Arthur was slowly realising his father was not the man he’d looked up to for many years, he wasn’t quite at the level of comfort to bad mouth him, so he ignored Morgana.

“I remembered you went through a phase of lock picking as a child, do you still remember how?”

“Oh Arthur, that implies I ever stopped doing it,”

Arthur needed to check the locked trunk under his bed. It contained his vital sweet stash and he wouldn’t have Morgana pilfering it.

“Good, I’ll ask father to share dinner in my rooms, you break into his.”

Morgana gave him a flat look, “It truly is a good thing you’ve got me. I’ll arrange for Gwaine to distract the guards at Uther’s doors, and Merlin can waylay his manservant. I’ll ask Gwen to ensure the maids clean before dinner.”

Arthur nodded, “Yes well, if you want to go into the details,”

She rolled her eyes, “Merlin has terrible taste in men,”

“Merlin’s interested in men?”

“Get out.”

*

The plan went off without a hitch. Arthur pretended there was some issue with the knights’ patrols, which delayed Uther, although confused him as to why Arthur was having trouble with schedules when he never had before.

Gwaine, who apparently owed Morgana a favour, and Arthur was never asking any more about it, distracted the guards outside Uther’s door with a tall tale about how Percival had fallen down a flight of stairs and was unconscious and that he needed their help lifting him.

Merlin sent Uther’s manservant racing all around the castle on imaginary errands for Uther, before joining Morgana in his rooms where between the two of them they managed to locate the books and magically duplicate them, so Uther’s copies remained in case he checked on them.

Merlin was in high spirits for the following days and whenever Arthur came into his rooms for their joint dinner Merlin would subtly switch out his magic book for one Arthur had given him.

It was almost tempting to let Merlin know that it was him who had found out about the magic books and told Morgana. Merlin would definitely be grateful. Arthur amused himself thinking of all the ways Merlin might show his gratitude.

“Arthur?” Merlin asked one night, “Are you okay? You’ve been smiling at your dinner for a while now, are you cursed again?”

Arthur needed to tell Merlin soon.

*

Arthur mulled the idea of telling Merlin over in his head for, according to Morgana, longer than anyone needed to think about anything. 

It wasn’t so much a question of whether he would, but how. Arthur knew Merlin was too scared of Uther, and possibly Arthur, to tell the prince himself. 

Arthur couldn’t help but feel it trivialised what Merlin had been going through keeping his secret for the last couple of years, to say that Arthur had known for the last year and never said anything.

Morgana said he was being a coward.

As much as Arthur hated Morgana being right, she was. It was plain and crippling fear that halted the words whenever he went to tell Merlin. 

He would see Merlin’s smiling face and endearing ears, and he couldn’t bear if Merlin was sad, or angry with him, what if he left? What if he didn’t give Arthur time to explain, Arthur had never been so good with words that he hadn’t needed time to formulate them, and there was only so much you could rehearse beforehand. 

It had put Arthur in a foul mood for days, and Merlin had even spent the last few evening meals pestering Arthur for what was on his mind. 

Arthur gave in, sort of.

After Merlin had pressed him for the hundredth time about why he was grumpy, Arthur huffed and said, “It’s about magic, Merlin.”

Merlin had frozen.

It was not an auspicious start. 

“What about it? You know they caught the sorcerer that cast the truth spell?”

Arthur nodded, they caught him weeks ago. His intended aim was to seed discord among the royals, or something. Arthur still didn’t see what that had to do with casting a love spell. 

No matter what anyone else said, Arthur knew it had been a love spell, Merlin had confessed he was in love with Arthur and then spent the next few days avoiding him at all costs and then never mentioned it again. 

Arthur was completely fine about it, not emotionally crushed in the slightest. 

“So what are you worried about?” Merlin’s eyes were wide and panicked, and Arthur could almost hear his heart beating from across the table. He looked as though he was prepared to make a bolt for the door. 

“I know-” Arthur watched Merlin shift in his seat, he had no reason to believe Arthur would be kind to him. Arthur and Morgana had both tried to argue for imprisonment rather than execution for the love spell sorcerer, but had failed and watched the man burn.

Merlin had no reason to suspect Arthur trusted magic. Unless-

“I know Morgana has magic.”

“What?”

“It’s kind of you to pretend, and I know you’ve been helping her with her dreams in a medical capacity, for which I’m grateful, but I wonder if more could be done,”

“More?”

Merlin sounded horrified, and Arthur realised it sounded like he was going to suggest blood letting to get the magic out. 

“To help her control her magic.” Arthur added hastily, “I wondered about perhaps if she lived with the druids, and it would be a gesture of good faith to them. Like the Nemeth heir exchange, except we couldn’t have a Druid here, it would be too dangerous for them,”

Merlin was staring at Arthur like he’d never seen him before. Admittedly, the last time they’d spoken about magic Arthur vaguely recalled saying something about how it corrupted people and turned them evil. 

His school master always reprimanded him for not explaining his line of thoughts better. 

“Ur,”

“Don’t worry Merlin,” Arthur said with joviality he didn’t feel, “I promise you Morgana is no more evil than before, just because she has magic. Although now she can light my hair on fire from a distance instead of using candles,”

“You- what about your father?” 

“I am beginning to learn that my father is a man who is capable of incorrect assumptions and prejudices just like any other, unfortunately he just has more power to wield those beliefs with. It does not mean they are right.”

“Oh Arthur.” Merlin’s eyes filled with unshed tears, “You will be a far greater king than your father.”

Arthur paused at the tone of sheer reverence that was in Merlin’s voice, and a blush rose on Arthur’s cheeks at the sincerity in which the compliment was said. 

“Yes, well, technically that’s treason Merlin so maybe don’t go around saying that out loud.” 

*

Arthur’s plan half worked.

Merlin still wasn’t telling him that he had magic, but Morgana was now insistent that she wanted to go and live with the druids for a bit.

Arthur kept saying that it had been more of a ploy to let Merlin know that he was okay with magic, but once Morgana got an idea in her head it was difficult to shake it loose, and she said Arthur was stubborn.

The problem was that she was far smarter than Arthur, and so before he knew it Morgana had roped in the daughter of a Duke from one of the neighbouring kingdoms who owed her a favour (Arthur did not want to know why so many people owed Morgana favours). So Morgana was ostensibly going to stay with Lady Arienne for the next month, and Arthur was going to escort her.

What was actually happening was Arthur was going to escort Morgana to Lady Arienne for a day so her father could write to Uther that she’d arrived safely, before Arthur would leave, now with Morgana disguised as one of his knights, and Lady Arienne was going to have one of her maids who had a passing resemblance to Morgana pretend she had come down with a sickness for her month long stay.

Arthur would have told her it was a ridiculous plan had he been consulted on the matter. He hadn’t and Morgana had simply barged in on his and Merlin’s evening meal and told Arthur what was happening.

Of course because it was one of Morgana’s plans, it went off without a hitch.

They rode to Lady Arienna, the journey not taking more than two days. The upside was that Merlin had to wear the armour that Morgana would ride back in, and Arthur got to see Merlin dressed as a knight.

The sight of Merlin confidently riding beside him with a cocky grin, while wearing full plate and with the red cloak billowing out behind him, it was doing odd things to Arthur’s stomach.

After they had ‘dropped’ Morgana off, they rested the horses and set back out the next day, this time with Morgana disguised in the knight’s attire, and Merlin back in his regular clothes, although because Morgana had taken his horse, Merlin had to ride behind Arthur, which was also incredibly distracting.

It was halfway back that the problem occurred.  

Arthur had been focusing on the warmth of Merlin pressed against his back, the feel of soft breaths on the back of his throat, and the way his grip on Arthur’s waist tightened whenever they passed over an uneven section of ground. Arthur was definitely not directing his horse to go over the more muddy route.

He would have to pamper Llamrei when they got back to the castle.

The point was Arthur had been so flustered by travelling with Merlin, that when they set up camp he was only giving it half a mind. Tomorrow would have a slight detour to drop Morgana off with the druids before heading back, and Arthur was already looking forward to another days ride with Merlin. Obviously after they had dropped Morgana off, Merlin could ride on his own horse, but Arthur would enjoy it while he could.

The attack happened so fast that no one noticed at first.

Arthur had turned to ask Merlin whether his little bottom was sore again, only to see Merlin’s face shuttered with pain. He glanced down to see an arrow lodged right underneath Merlin’s sternum, the blood quickly spreading across his blue tunic, even as his hands pressed down around the arrow.

Arthur had barely even heard the whisper of the arrow, had only turned to ask Merlin about his arse because he’d heard Merlin make a small noise of pain.

He whipped around to see the rest of the group were setting up the tents still.

“We’re under attack!” He yelled.

His men instantly jumped to their battle ready stances, drawing weapons within seconds. Leon immediately headed over to protect Morgana, who huffed and drew her own daggers from under her skirts.

Gwaine rushed over to Arthur, only then noticing Merlin, who was still half hidden behind Arthur’s horse.

“Watch my back.” Arthur said, before he dragged Merlin over to an overhang of trees, he tucked him in the roots, “Stay there and don’t die. Gwaine, protect him with your life.”

Gwaine nodded, standing guard over Merlin, shielding him from further attacks.

Arthur dived into the fray waiting for the attacker to reveal themselves, feeling guilty for every second that passed when he could be helping Merlin.

“Show yourself!” He yelled into the trees.

Five small faces popped out of the trees at various points. Arthur jolted in surprise when he noticed that none of the group could be older than twelve.

A young girl with more freckles than face, and a gap tooth large enough to get a quill through stepped forward, the apparent ring leader of the group. Arthur estimated she was probably about ten.

“That arrow was meant for you.” She yelled back, as if it was Arthur’s fault.

“Then you should have aimed better. All you’ve done is hurt my- my-” manservant was not right, friend was but not something he was going to reveal to an outsider, “Merlin.” He finished awkwardly.

“I never miss.” The girl insisted, “And I certainly wouldn’t miss my one chance to kill you.”

Percival looked like he wanted to eliminate the threat to his Prince, but also was in two minds about tackling a ten year old girl who looked like a strong breeze could knock her over.

“Well you did. So drop your weapons and surrender, so I can make sure my- make sure Merlin is alright.”

The girl huffed but signalled to her group to drop their collection of small battered daggers and bows, “Go on then. Kill us, Mageslayer.”

Arthur froze, it was a name that was often whispered about Uther. Suddenly he remembered a man from a few years back who had been dragged in front of his father, more freckles than face, whose crime had been making smoke into little figures to entertain his daughter. Uther had sentenced and killed him within two days, he never even asked who would look after the child.

Arthur hadn’t asked either. Had sat silent while a man had been condemned for trying to entertain his child.

He turned to Percival, “Make sure they have food to eat. Morgana, see if they wish to live with the druids.” He hurried over to where Merlin was injured, not wanting to look the young girl in the eye and prove her right. He’d let her father die.

Merlin should never have to bear the burden of Arthur’s failings though.

Gwaine had been seeing to Merlin in the meantime and it looked as though they’d removed the arrow. Arthur swatted Merlin’s hands away, berating him as he should have known better than to remove the arrow. He only relaxed when he saw the wound was not as bad as it had looked previously.

“You’ll live.” Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, the tension from his shoulders unclenching as he made sure Merlin’s torso was bandaged properly, “I’ll get you some herbs for the pain.”

They were in Llamrei’s saddle bag, Merlin often brought an excess of medical supplies on any trips into the forest. Arthur collected the herbs and instructed Elyan to start a fire so he could put the pain relief in some tea for Merlin.

He could see Morgana speaking with the young girl who was furiously whispering how her arrow had taken a sharp turn before it had hit Merlin. She was resolute that it had been on target for Arthur.

Arthur slowed where he was heading back over to Merlin. If Merlin had seen the arrow before the rest of them, had directed it away from Arthur why hadn’t he directed it to the other side of Arthur? He realised that Llamrei had been on his other side. Merlin had seen the arrow and knew he could direct it left or right, either into Arthur’s horse or himself.

Arthur would murder the man himself.

He was going to get stress ulcers if Merlin kept this up.

He made sure the tea contained enough pain relief for Merlin to sleep throughout the night. He would need some more in the morning if he was going to ride on horseback until they reached Camelot, so Arthur made sure it was rationed. He then got Leon to start on making dinner with the supplies they’d brought.

He angrily blew on the tea until it was cool enough for Merlin to drink. He always insisted on downing his tea in a matter of seconds and ended up scalding his throat. After Merlin had drunk the tea, Arthur made sure he got the first serving of stew before shooing him off into his tent.

He wasn’t necessarily tucking Merlin in, he was just making sure Merlin didn’t injure himself further while getting into his bedroll.

“’rthur.”

Arthur looked at Merlin, who was encased in several blankets that Arthur kept tucking around him.

“Mm?”

Merlin hadn’t even opened his eyes, his dark lashes fanning out on his pale face. One had come loose and Arthur wanted more than anything to gently brush it away.

“Need- t’tell oo som-fin,”

“Not now Merlin,”

“Yes now Merlin.” Merlin said grumpily, he still had his eyes closed. His voice was soft, he was clearly on the verge of passing out.

“Why don’t you tell me in the morning?”

“’n case, mite need t’live wiv droods.”

Arthur frowned, he smoothed out the top blanket for want of something to do with his hands, “You’re safe with me Merlin, I hope you know that.”

Merlin smiled still with his eyes closed.

He tried to mumble out something but all Arthur caught was, “Luh- I’luv-”

His breaths evened out as the pain relief took effect and pulled Merlin to sleep.

Arthur stared at his face longer than was appropriate, tracing the curve of his cheekbone down to his mouth. He didn’t particularly wish to return to the group, not only because if he left Merlin on his own to long he was liable to accidentally strangle himself with his own neckerchief or something equally improbable, but also because Arthur didn’t want to face the young girl.

It was likely that the others were also orphans whose parents had been killed by Uther over the years, though Arthur didn’t recognise any of them. He couldn’t match up any features to magic users who’d been killed. It made it somehow worse, the innocent people who had died at his father’s orders had been so numerous all their faces had blurred together.

Arthur knew he couldn’t hide in the tent forever. Well, he could, but Morgana would never let him live it down if he hid from a ten year old girl.

The group of children were sat in a circle around Morgana who was lighting and dousing a flame on a candle. The rest of the knights were either patrolling or playing card games. Morgana had vetted which knights they would be taking and allowed Arthur to reveal their true reason for leaving Morgana with the druids. Otherwise it would be incredibly hard to explain. He was still slightly surprised to see her casting magic out in the open.

“How is Merlin?” Morgana asked when she saw him reappear.

“He’ll recover.” Arthur said, he took a few steps towards the group but left a fair distance between them so as to not alarm the children.

The young girl just glared at him, “And you’re not gonna hurt Miss Morgana just cuz she’s got magic?”

Arthur shook his head, “No, magic is no more a weapon than- than that cooking spoon. In a pinch I’m sure you could damage someone with it, but it’s not it’s intended purpose. Besides, in a fight with Morgana I suspect she would beat me anyway.”

One of the young boys giggled.

“I’m sorry about your father.” He said lowly to the young girl, “It wasn’t right what happened to him. He hadn’t hurt anyone.”

He could see tears welling up in the girl’s eyes, and she jutted her chin out in a move to stop them falling.

“I hope to change things when I am king. I should like very much if you allow me to live long enough to do so.”

The girl sniffed, “I guess.”

Morgana interjected, “Nerys and her friends have decided to come with us to visit the druids and see if they can take them in.”

“I’m going to learn magic.” Nerys said pointedly, as if waiting for Arthur to protest.

“I’m sure you’ll be a force to be reckoned with. I wasn’t half as good at shooting when I was your age.”

“Really?” Nerys caught herself and scoffed, “I mean, of course. I’m the best at shooting. That arrow should have hit you.”

Arthur hummed, “It definitely should have. I suspect some magic knocked it off course.”

Morgana glanced from Arthur to the tent where Merlin was tucked up and raised an eyebrow. Arthur nodded.

“You’re both idiots.” Morgana declared and then turned to Nerys, “It’s a good things you’re coming with me. If you stay with them too long, their stupidity might rub off on you.”

Arthur huffed and left as the children descended into giggles.

He played a few hands of cards with the knights before he snuck off to Merlin’s tent and curled up alongside him. He was just making sure Merlin didn’t choke on his own spit and die during the night. He was just being a good friend. If Merlin was going to be his future Court Sorcerer then he needed to be alive to do it. He wasn’t going to have just any half talented hack on his staff, it was protecting his future investments.

Absolutely.  

*

The meeting with the druids went reasonably well in the beginning. They were happy to take the children in, help develop their own magic. It seemed to imply that magic could be passed down from parent to child, but it wasn’t necessarily always the case. He wondered why magic seemed to choose some people randomly, like Morgana and Merlin. As far as Arthur was aware neither of Morgana’s parents had magic, and Arthur had met Hunith who definitely didn’t have magic.

Another question he would have to wait for an answer for. He just need to confess to Merlin that he already knew about the man’s magic. Easier said than done.

It was when they were leaving that it all went wrong.

Merlin had been hanging back, the ride in the morning had wiped him of his energy and so he’d been sat on some tree roots with Gwaine for the majority of their time at the druid camp. When he rose to leave one of the druids spotted him and gasped, before falling to her knees.

“Emrys!” She cried.

Her shout drew several other’s attention, and all of them were overcome by the same rapture, whispers of ‘Emrys’ flying about the camp.

Merlin went even paler than he already was, “Nope. I’m Merlin. Definitely not this Emrys person.”

A few of the druids looked confused.

One man hesitantly stepped forward, “Surely if you are here with the Prince, and he is to one day repeal the ban on sorcery, then the prophecy is almost fulfilled.”

Arthur had so many questions running through his head it was impossible to pick the most important one. Was Merlin actually called Emrys? Why would he lie about his name? What was this prophecy? Had Merlin seduced Arthur into making him okay with sorcery? Was that Emrys’ plan all along to fulfil some prophecy?

He looked at Merlin who was already looking towards him. Merlin’s face was frozen in fear.

Arthur remembered that Merlin didn’t know that he knew about the magic. Perhaps Merlin- Emrys?- had decided to infiltrate the castle and save Arthur’s life, make him more amenable towards magic before he started his rein. It certainly made more sense than the insane attacks and schemes by other magic users which seemed to happen every other week.

“Is that really your name?” Arthur asked, it probably wasn’t the most pressing issue overall but it was the most pressing to Arthur. He’d thought of Merlin as his closest friend, to find out he hadn’t even known his name was killing Arthur. Was he just a means to an end for this Emrys?

Merlin looked baffled, “That’s your only question? About my name?”

“Not the only question. It’s just Emrys. Emrys. You don’t look like an Emrys.”

One of the old druids gasped in horror at Arthur, “Emrys is the most powerful sorcerer to walk this land.”

Arthur thought back to seeing Merlin fighting the Nos Cerddwr, how much raw power had been emanating from him. Whenever he’d seen magic cast from others they’d often needed talismans or crystals to reach such a power. Most magic users dealt with parlour tricks and basic healing.

He thought to the arrow wound that had definitely been a killing blow, but was somehow well enough to not even need stitches now.

It seemed obvious in retrospect, that Merlin who used his powers for fighting monsters and removing a love spell from an entire town was incredibly powerful. It seemed obvious that if a group of magic users were going to send one of their own undercover to save the Prince’s life and sway him around to their side, they would send their best.

“I’m just saying he looks more like a Merlin.”

Merlin was fully slack jawed while staring at Arthur. Morgana was pinching the bridge of her nose in despair.

The knights were looking at Merlin as if they’d never seen him before, which Arthur couldn’t work out. Sure they hadn’t known he was the most powerful sorcerer but they’d known he’d had magic.

Looking at their shocked expressions he might have to reevaluate that stance. He was sure Leon had told him his inner circle all knew, and they’d all been discreet about Morgana, but there was no one to pretend in front of at the moment.

“You know?” Merlin’s voice was barely above a whisper as he stared Arthur down.

Arthur winced, “Okay, so I admit I may have known for a little while-”

“How long?”

“A year?”

“A year!” Merlin raged, “I’ve been worried about being executed and you just didn’t think to mention you already knew? For a year.”

“You clearly haven’t been that worried as you’ve been trying to tell me at every opportunity!”

“I have not!”

“Wha-” Arthur looked towards the knights incredulously, they’d been there for one of the times Merlin tried to confess, “The night you cheated at the dice game, you tried to tell me, and after the Nos Cerddwr, and literally last night.”

Merlin flushed, “That wasn’t- I wasn’t trying to tell you about my magic!”

“You said you might have to stay with the druids! Are you telling me that there’s a second massive secret you’ve been keeping from me?”

Merlin’s face was bright red as he glanced around the clearing full of people who were staring at the two of them.

Morgana cleared her throat, seeming to take pity on Merlin, “Perhaps this conversation should be somewhere more private?”

“When we get back to Camel-”

“No.” Arthur cut Merlin off and stormed towards him, “We’re sorting this out now.” He wrapped a hand around Merlin’s upper arm and pulled him away into the forest.

“Now’s not the best time,”

“It was the best time last night.”

Merlin huffed, “I was out of it on pain killers.”

“Because you redirected an arrow towards yourself!”

“So you’d rather I just let it hit you?”

“Yes!” Arthur brought them to a stop when he thought they were far enough out that the others wouldn’t be able to hear them. “I was wearing armour Merlin, you weren’t.”

“Ungrateful prat.” Merlin muttered.

Arthur winced, he was probably being too harsh with Merlin but it was because he was worried about the man. He was constantly throwing himself into danger without a thought for his own wellbeing. Someone needed to start looking after Merlin and so far Arthur had been doing a terrible job.

“You’ve saved my life enough times, you can let me get hit by an arrow or two.”

Merlin glared at him, “You really have known for the past year?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. At first I didn’t want to believe it, and then, I thought if I acknowledged it I’d have to send you away.”

“And then?”

“It had been so long, and as far as you knew I still hated magic-”

“Is that why we brought Morgana here?”

“Admittedly I told you I knew about Morgana’s magic to let you know my feelings on magic had changed.”

Merlin tilted his head in curiosity, his wide blue eyes almost burning a hole in Arthur’s head, “And what are your feelings on magic now?”

“It’s certainly not evil. I don’t fully understand it still, but I suppose much like a hammer it can be used to create or destroy, it depends entirely on the wielder. You won’t- Merlin, when I am king, you won’t ever have to hide yourself. If you are the one wielding magic then I know it can only be a force of good, because I trust you. Implicitly.”

Merlin’s eyes welled with tears, “Arthur.” He threw his arms around Arthur’s neck and clung to him.

Arthur instinctively wanted to joke it off, tell Merlin to stop acting like such a girl. However, the feel of Merlin pressed against his front was incredibly nice, and besides which he probably owed it to Merlin given that he’d hidden the fact he’d known about his magic for a year and never said anything. Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlin’s waist and held him tightly.

“You’re going to be an amazing king,” Merlin whispered into Arthur’s neck.

Arthur remembered about the prophecy and Merlin’s maybe other name, and whatever it was that Merlin had been trying to tell him for months if it wasn’t about his magic.

He pulled back slightly, “So what’s this other secret you’ve been keeping from me then?”

Merlin’s blush came back in full force. Arthur thought it looked even more adorable from close up.

“Is your name really Emrys?”

“What is your thing about the name?”

“I just think you suit Merlin better.”

Merlin huffed but looked pleased, “Merlin is my real name. Emrys is a name I was given by the druids.”

“And the prophecy?”

“That you would one day unite the lands of Albion and bring magic back to the lands,”

Arthur wasn’t sure why that settled so uneasily inside of him, “If that’s true then why do sorcerers keep trying to kill me?”

Merlin frowned, “Prophecy and fate are tangent but not exactly the same, and not everyone believes them. There’s also a lot of room for interpretation. Prophecy is a potential future, not a guarantee. Also it never says how you’ll do it, so some think it could be your death that brings it about. But it means you’re the focal point.”

“Which is why they target me and not my father.”

“That and some want to inflict pain on your father through killing you.”

“And you? How are you trying to fulfil the prophecy?”

“By keeping you alive long enough to actually become king.”

Arthur snorted, “If magic gets brought back to the land it will be your doing and not mine. If the most powerful sorcerer in all the lands uses it to make butterflies and do his chores, how was I ever meant to think it was evil.”

“But you will be the one to make it law. It’s why prophecies are never about some village lad, unless he becomes a powerful knight or lord, they’re always about people who have the power to change things.”

“So is the second secret about the prophecy?”

“No.”

“Do I need to get you drunk to reveal it?”

“It’s not- it’s not some secret about magic, or prophecies, or dragons-”

“Dragons?”

“Ignore that. It’s just a personal secret. I promise.”

Arthur was saddened when Merlin stepped out of his reach, “Why won’t you tell me? You keep trying to when you’re drunk or exhausted or on pain relief.”

“When I have no inhibitions and I think it’d be a great idea to tell you because I’m not thinking about the repercussions!”

“Merlin I already know you have magic, I found out today that you’re the most powerful sorcerer to exist, and that you became my friend because of some prophecy. At this point what is going to make me walk away?”

“I didn’t become your friend because of the prophecy. I saved your life because I’m a nice person and your father 'rewarded' me by making me your servant. I would have continued being your servant because of the prophecy, I became your friend because it turns out you’re not that much of a prat after all.”

The knot that had formed in Arthur’s chest loosened somewhat. His main worry after finding out about Emrys and the prophecy that it was going to turn out that he never truly knew Merlin, that it had all been a ruse and he’d not only lose his best friend, but every memory he’d had would have been based on a lie.

At this point he could find out that Gaius was the true king, or that Gwaine was a virgin, or that there was a dragon living under the castle and he wouldn’t care.

“Besides,” Merlin continued, “I’ve technically already told you, it’s not my fault that you didn’t believe me.”

Arthur tried to think if Merlin had told him anything outrageous recently, but Merlin came up with so many insane reasons to cover up his magic it was hard to pin the truth down.

Merlin sighed when he realised Arthur wasn’t going to let it go, “Look, I promise it’s nothing horrifying. If it’ll put your mind at rest, it was when I was under the truth spell, I told you I loved you, and we never spoke of it again, okay? No need to go into it all now.”

“Merlin you were under a love spell, of course you told me you loved me.”

“Why are you so insistent on it being a love spell?”

“Because if it was a truth spell surely you would have told me you had magic?”

“Truth spells work dependant on the person you’re confessing to. You confess the biggest secret you’re hiding from that particular person. If I’d seen Gaius I would have confessed that it was me who accidentally released all the scorpions from their tank last month. If I’d seen Uther it would have been that I had magic. With you- if you knew I had magic you might send me away, but you’d ensure I was safe. If you knew I was in love with you, you might never want to see me again. I might ruin everything that came before.”

“But you never mentioned it again. I said to tell me when you weren’t under the effects of the spell, and you never mentioned it again, I thought-”

“Easier to admit when your inhibitions are lowered.”

Arthur pulled Merlin flush against him, “Well I for one am glad you’re not drunk or otherwise incapacitated at the moment, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do this.” He cupped Merlin’s face in his palms and gently pressed their lips together.

Arthur had been intending for it to be a sweet and romantic moment, but then Merlin gripped his hair and slid his tongue along the seam of Arthur’s mouth, and all bets were off.

The two of the ended up pressed against a tree with Arthur’s leg wedged between Merlin’s so Merlin could grind into his hip. Arthur had left a pretty purple bruise on Merlin’s neck, high enough that it wouldn’t be covered by his neckerchief, and Merlin had deftly removed Arthur’s armour and slid his hands straight up the back of Arthur’s shirt.

After a while of frantic groping they could hear distant shouts of the knights heading their way.

The far off call of Leon made Arthur detangle himself from Merlin’s grasp.

“Sire? Merlin? We’re just checking you’ve not killed each other.”

Arthur grinned at Merlin’s ruffled hair and reddened mouth, he ducked back in for a brief kiss and whispered, “In case it wasn’t clear, I love you too.”

Merlin beamed.

The knight’s shouts were getting closer and Merlin seemed to realise how dishevelled they both were, “We should-” he gestured towards Arthur’s armour.

Arthur just shrugged, “Everyone, including my father, thinks we’re sleeping together already,”

“Even so we sh- wait,” Merlin looked at Arthur in horror, “Your father thinks what?”

*

Years Later.

“Merlin.”

A grumble.

“Merlin.”

Another grumble, and a mop of dark hair popped out from underneath the covers, “What?”

Arthur pulled his partner’s body against his own. The two of them were curled up in bed, and George had scampered off to fetch their breakfast, so Arthur knew he had at least ten minutes before they were interrupted.

“Can I just want to say good morning to you?”

Merlin glared at him suspiciously, still half asleep. The later starts were one aspect of higher status that Merlin had taken to like a duck to water. Most of the time it was now Arthur dragging Merlin out of bed in the mornings.

“You’re awfully chirper for this early in the morning.”

Admittedly Arthur was still a terror to wake up in the morning, but at least he was better than Merlin. George was lucky if the two of them were up and about in time for lunch most days.

“Well, today has been two years since magic became legal.” Arthur grinned. It had taken far more effort than just getting rid of the law. New laws and practises had needed to be put in place, there was suspicions from magic users who’d thought it was a ploy, and outrage from some of Uther’s more devout following. Merlin in particular had been run off his feet since Arthur had promoted him to Councillor of Magical Affairs, complete with ridiculous official hat that he made him wear at any formal ceremony he could get away with.

After two years most of the hurdles had been covered and they were settling into a new normal. They were even going to be reinstating the magical tournaments from next year.

Arthur knew it was time.

“Are you looking to celebrate?” Merlin’s gaze trailed down to where they were both still naked from the previous evening.

“Actually I have a job proposition for you.”

“Oh?”

“It does still come with a hat requirement.”

Merlin rolled his eyes, “It can’t be as ridiculous as what I have now. I look like a court jester.”

“I suppose it’s a bit more regal.” Arthur took out a box he had hidden in his bedside table and opened it for Merlin to see. Inside was a golden ring with a yellow sapphire embedded in the band. Arthur had spent longer than he would ever admit looking for a gem that matched the colour that Merlin’s eyes turned when he cast magic.

Merlin let out a soft gasp, “Arthur-”

“Will you do me the great honour of becoming my husband, and ruling by my side?”

“But- what about- two men can’t marry, that’s not-”

“Merlin, I am the king, and you are the most powerful sorcerer to ever live. We can do whatever we damned well like.”

Merlin beamed at him, “I suppose a crown is better than my current court hat.”

“Tiara, Merlin. You’ll be my consort.”

“Circlet.” He argued.

Arthur grinned, “Done. But you can’t complain about wearing it as you’re the one who picked it.”

Merlin looked horrified that Arthur had managed to catch him out, swatting him with a pillow for good measure, before straightening back up and holding out his hand, “Well, I accept your job proposition. I suppose it does have some nice perks,” he let his eyes run down Arthur’s naked form.

Arthur didn’t waste a moment longer and slid the ring onto Merlin’s finger. The two of them admired it for a moment before Merlin pulled him in for a heated kiss.

“I believe you mentioned celebrating?”

The two of them didn’t even notice George dropping off the food tray on the table by the door and beating a hasty retreat.

It was of no surprise to anyone in the castle or the town when the announcement was made that the King and his Councillor of Magical Affairs would become the King and his Consort. More people were surprised to find out that it was meant to have been a secret in the first place.