Chapter Text
"Merlin!!"
The sound of Arthur's muffled but still loud voice came through the door to Morgana's room, and Merlin shared a look with Morgana and Gwen over Aithusa's head. "I'm starting to think living down the hall from him was a mistake," He muttered as he got up. Gwen gave him a sympathetic look. Morgana just looked annoyed, but then that seemed to be her default expression most days.
There was a knock on the door, and Merlin rolled his eyes to himself before walking across the room to answer it. It was one of the guards stationed outside Morgana's room. The other stood in his normal spot with his back to the door, unconcerned. "Um, the King-"
"I heard," Merlin said with a sigh as he passed the pair and then walked down the hall.
Behind him, he heard the guard who hadn't moved say in a half-teasing tone, "I told you you didn't need to-"
"Shut up," The other interrupted.
Merlin smiled to himself briefly in amusement. And then he reached the King's chambers, and his smile fell. He took a deep breath to brace himself before opening the door.
Arthur was digging through one of the drawers of his desk. "There you are. What the Hell did you do?"
"I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific, My Lord." Merlin looked around the room as he approached the King. Nothing seemed immediately wrong.
Arthur glared up at him. "What'd you rearrange my desk for? I can't find anything!"
Merlin raised an eyebrow. "Arthur, I've barely been able to keep up with my normal chores lately. When would I have have found the time to reorganize your desk?"
"I don't know, Merlin. You tell me."
Merlin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What is it you're looking for, My Lord?"
"The reports from yesterday's council meeting. I swear I laid them right here." He gestured vaguely to the top of the desk.
"Maybe you put it in one of the drawers and forgot about it," Merlin suggested, moving around the desk to get a better look. The drawer that was open was the one where Arthur would normally keep such things, but there wasn't a single bit of parchment amidst the mess Arthur had made of it in his search.
"I've checked the drawers," Arthur said.
"Did you check all of them?" Merlin asked, closing the drawer and opening the one below it, which he figured was the next mostly spot, but that one held only unused parchment.
"Why would it be in there?"
"I don't know, but it's not as if it grew legs and walked away." Merlin checked another drawer. This time he was successful. The reports Arthur was looking for were filed away neatly with various other papers, all arranged by date and then subject. Merlin pulled them out and handed them to Arthur. "Did you even try looking for them?"
"I looked in there."
"Uh huh. Sure you did." Merlin stood up straight and started to walk away.
"Where the Hell do you think you're going?"
Merlin paused, took a deep breath, and turned back around. "Did you need something else from me, Sire?"
Arthur frowned. He pointed at the desk. "You're going to fix this mess."
"What mess? It looks neater than it usually does, aside from where you were throwing things around like an idiot."
"I was not throwing things around. I was looking for something that wasn't where it was supposed to be. If you hadn't moved everything around, I wouldn't have to waste time searching my own desk for my own things and then having this conversation with you."
"I told you I didn't move anything."
"Who else could have done it?"
"I don't know. Maybe another servant? I'm sure whoever it was thought they were helping. Everything looked fine to me."
"No other servant would go into my desk and touch my things without my permission."
Arthur did have a point there. The only other one who might was Gwen, but she wasn't a servant any more. Merlin supposed it could have been her anyway. She did keep saying Merlin had too much to do, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for her to take on some of his chores for him, but surely she knew how particular Arthur was about these sorts of things. And why wouldn't she have said something?
Arthur put up a hand to stop Merlin before he could argue. "Whoever did it, you're going to fix it." He got up and started walking away from his desk, absently scratching his neck. "And figure out who it was. I don't like the idea of someone being in my room without my knowing about it."
"Yes, Sire," Merlin said with a sigh, sitting down at the desk to start removing things from drawers, so he could put them back where they'd been before. Honestly, he didn't like the idea of someone being in Arthur's room without his knowing about it either. But he had spells in place to prevent such things. No one who intended to harm the King could enter his room without Merlin being alerted. Whoever had done this, at the very least, didn't have ill intentions.
Arthur walked over to the dining table and sat down there to go over the reports he'd been looking for. Merlin continued reorganizing the desk, but when he glanced up occasionally or saw Arthur out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the king kept scratching himself, mostly around his collar and under his sleeves.
Merlin frowned to himself. He kept an eye out as he finished with the desk, and when he was done and he caught Arthur scratching his arm again, he asked, "Are you ok?"
Arthur looked at him. "You mean aside from being annoyed at my manservant's incompetence?"
"You keep scratching yourself."
Arthur looked down at his hand as if he hadn't entirely realized what he'd been doing and then slowly lowered it to the table. "I'm fine."
"Right…" Merlin got up and walked over to him. He reached out and pulled down the neck of Arthur's shirt, revealing that his skin was red where he'd been scratching it. He raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, what happened? Do you need to see Gaius?"
Arthur sighed and pulled Merlin's hand off of him. "I don't know. My clothes feel weird."
Merlin blinked. "Your clothes…"
"Yes." Arthur looked up at him. "So perhaps I should be asking you what happened?"
"I haven't done anything to your clothes."
"You are the one who washes them, are you not?"
"Well, no, not usually."
"What do you mean 'not usually'? Who else would be washing them? You're my manservant."
"Exactly. I'm your manservant. With everything else you have me doing every day, when would I find the time to wash your clothes? Do you know how long that takes? I haven't done it myself since you became King. I usually just drop it off in the laundry room and then pick it up later." He really should have been doing that from the beginning; apparently, there were a lot of things Arthur had had him doing in those first few years that no one had bothered to tell him weren't actually in his job description.
"If you're going to be lazy and make someone else do your work, you could at least make sure they're competent. Clearly, whoever did it last did something wrong. They even smell off." He wrinkled his nose.
Merlin sighed. "So I suppose you want me to have them redone then?"
"You got something right for once, Merlin. But first, give me something else to change into; this is unbearable."
Merlin made his way down to the castle laundry room with a basket full of clean clothes. He'd thought about cleaning them with his magic, but somehow Arthur could always tell the difference. So of course he could tell the difference now, even if the clothes still felt the same to Merlin. He did admit they smelled different, which was the only way he was able to figure out which clothes needed to rewashed, but he didn't think it was a bad smell, just a bit... flowery.
He walked into the hot, humid room and looked around. He found the Head Laundress, a small but intimidating older woman with a messy, grey bun and a wet apron. "You can set them over there," She said, gesturing to a spot on the floor where there were a couple other baskets of laundry waiting to be washed.
He walked over to her. "The King wanted me to make sure…" He bit his lip awkwardly. "Well, you know how particular he can be about these things…"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you trying to say the King thinks my girls are incompetent?"
"No, of course not." Merlin shook his head quickly. "Not usually, anyway."
She raised her eyebrow higher.
He winced. "I mean-" He cleared his throat. "You know he's never had a problem before, but whatever was done differently this last time…"
"We haven't done anything differently."
"He's not angry," Merlin lied. Arthur was angry, but Merlin could handle that. He wasn't going to put it on these women who were just doing their jobs. "It's just… here." He held out the basket toward her.
She took out a tunic and looked at it with a frown. "This is clean."
"I know."
"Why are you bringing me clean clothes to wash?"
"Arthur wants them redone."
"What's wrong with them?"
"Like I was saying-"
"I'm telling you we haven't done anything different. I've been doing laundry in this castle longer than you've been alive. We've always done things exactly the same. We haven't even changed detergents in over twenty years."
"Then why does it smell different?"
She furrowed her brow and brought the fabric up to her nose to smell it. She paused for a moment. Then without a word, she started walking over to the closet where they kept their supplies and soaps and such.
Merlin set down the basket he was holding and followed her.
She climbed up onto a chair to look at one of the higher shelves. "Huh."
"What?" Merlin asked. He could see the shelf just fine from where he was standing, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just a bunch of jars with a bit of powder around that must have spilled out of them.
She pointed at one of the jars, at some of the powder that clung to the side and pulled along the edge. "That was clean yesterday."
"Are you sure?" He asked. How could she keep track of which spills had been cleaned up or not?
She nodded. "Like I said, we haven't changed detergents in over twenty years."
"That's the old one?" He asked.
She nodded again.
"Why'd you keep it if you don't use it?"
"I don't have it in me to throw out something so expensive. The Queen used to have it imported from the continent. She was nearly as particular as her son is. Didn't want anything else used on her clothes. After she died, King Uther didn't want anything around that reminded him of her, and smells can be powerful memory triggers, so we stopped using it. We didn't use it on much else anyway, so it wasn't much of a change." She shrugged.
Merlin's mouth felt dry. He swallowed, but it didn't help. "But someone used it on Arthur's clothes?"
"Looks like it. Can't imagine who, though."
"Do you know who washed his clothes yesterday? I won't tell him who it was. I'm just curious."
She looked at him. "You never brought any of his clothes in yesterday."
Merlin frowned. He didn't remember bringing Arthur's laundry down here yesterday, but it had been done, so he assumed he'd just forgotten or that someone else had picked them up for him. He looked at the jar again. "But you said it had to have been yesterday."
"Well, I suppose I could be wrong. My memory's not what it used to be. Someone probably just grabbed the wrong jar."
"Right…"
"I am surprised he doesn't like it though. It's much nicer than what we've been using, and like I said, it was his mother's favorite."
"It makes his skin itch," Merlin said, still staring at the jar.
"Huh. I suppose that's good to know." She climbed down from the chair and looked up at him. "Well, don't worry. I'll make sure these get done right this time." She gestured with the tunic she was still holding in her hand.
"Thank you," He said.
He left with a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
The next day, when Merlin picked up the freshly cleaned clothes and went to put them away, he found that Arthur's wardrobe and dresser had been reorganized, seemingly overnight.
Had they been like that this morning?
It occurred to him that he hadn't actually looked. He'd laid out Arthur's clothes for today last night. He didn't actually remember doing that either, but he must have because they'd been right there where he usually put them when he actually thought to do that.
Was he going mad?
He shook his head and started moving the clothes back to the way they'd been before. He had a system. It was a system that didn't make sense to anyone else, but it made sense to him, and having it thrown off would at least double the time it took him to pick out Arthur's clothes and put them away.
As he was moving the clothes, he came across a tunic he'd set aside the other day to mend later and then forgot about. At least, he was pretty sure it was the same one. He looked for the hole in it, but he couldn't find it. After a minute, he found the spot where it had been, but it was already patched up. Had he done that? It was a lot neater than he usually managed. Actually… he turned it inside out and looked more closely at the stitches. It wasn't the same kind of stitch he would normally use. It was one he didn't even recognize. It seemed needlessly fancy for a simple mending job. He ran his fingers over it. It was small, but the texture was enough that he knew Arthur was going to hate it. He set it aside to fix it later. Again.
Merlin decided to show the mended tunic to Gwen. At first, she just gave him an incredulous look. "Merlin, do you think I can just look at a piece of clothing at tell you who sewed it?"
His face felt warm. "Well, no, but I figured if anyone would know anything about it, it would be you."
She sighed. "I'll look at it, but I make no promises." She looked first at the outside of the tunic and then flipped it inside out to see how the stitches looked from the other side. Her brow furrowed. "Huh."
"What? Can you actually tell who sewed it?"
She rolled her eyes. "Of course not. It is interesting, though. I don't see this stitch very often, not for something like this."
"Where do you see it?" He asked.
"In embroidery sometimes, but even then, it's not very common around here." At his look, she specified, "I see it on things that have been imported from the continent. France, mostly."
"Who…?"
She shook her head. "I don't know, but I doubt it was a servant. It's not an easy stitch to learn. Only someone who has plenty of time or good reason to practice would bother with it."
"So a seamstress."
"Or a noble woman. Embroidery is one of the few hobbies they have. Morgana actually tried it once ages ago. She offered to teach me how to use a sword in exchange for me teaching her how to sew. I think she ended up drawing more blood with the needle than I did with the sword."
"I thought you told me you and Elyan learned how to swordfight before you even came to Camelot."
She bit her lip and shrugged. "Well, Morgana didn't know that."
Merlin laughed and nudged her arm. "Gwen!"
"What? Even if I knew a bit, it wasn't like I had much opportunity to practice."
"Mhm…" He wrapped his arms around her. "Did she wrap her arms around you like this to correct your stance?"
She elbowed him to get him off of her. "Shut up!"
He laughed louder. "What? I think it's sweet."
She rolled her eyes. "Only because you did the same thing with Arthur."
"In my defense, I actually had no idea what I was doing when Arthur first started teaching me how to use a sword."
"You still have no idea what you're doing."
"Hey, I can hold my own in a fight."
"Against a child, maybe."
"Why would I fight a child?"
She just rolled her eyes.
He nudged her arm again. "Did it at least work?"
"Did what work?"
"You know… The swordfighting lessons."
"I got better with a sword if that's what you mean."
"You know it's not."
She sighed and looked away, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter."
"Why doesn't it matter?"
She kept shaking her head. "We were kids. We didn't know what we were doing."
"How old were you?"
She shrugged. "Fifteen or sixteen, I think."
He nodded slowly. "I've told you about Will, haven't I? We were younger than that."
"That's different."
"Why?"
"Because Will didn't grow up to be a mass murderer."
"Right…" Merlin looked away. He had the thought that Will never really got the chance to grow up at all, but he didn't say that. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
It was though. Merlin knew it was. It was his fault Will died. It was his fault Morgana betrayed them.
He took a deep breath and shook his head before giving her a small smile and patting her knee. "At least you get a second chance with her."
"I'm still not sure she deserves it."
"No, she probably doesn't. But I know you. You're going to give it to her anyway."
She sighed and looked away. "I hate that you're right."
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "We can't help who we love."
She laughed bitterly and leaned her head on his shoulder. "If only…"
He sighed. "Yeah…" He leaned his head on top of hers. "I think I'd choose you."
"That would be much simpler, wouldn't it?"
"The Prince's manservant and the Princess's maidservant. The story writes itself, really."
She hummed thoughtfully. "Well, Arthur and I obviously didn't work out, and you and Morgana were never going to work out even if there wasn't the issue of being the wrong gender for each other."
He snorted. "True. But you and Morgana could still work out if she decides to stop trying to kill us."
"You and Arthur could still work out if he decides to stop being an idiot."
"Honestly, I'm not sure which is less likely at this point."
"Honestly, neither am I."
"Remember when we were both in love with someone who wasn't an idiot or a murderer?"
She hummed. "Do you ever think about what things would be like if he were still alive?"
"Far more than is probably healthy."
"Me too."
They were quiet for a moment, and then Merlin said, "I think there's at least one version of events where Arthur, Lance, you, and I all end up together."
"That sounds nice... I didn't think you liked me like that though."
"Maybe in that universe I do. It's not too hard to imagine. You are my favorite person."
"Really?"
"Well, second favorite. Aithusa's first."
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of competing with her." Gwen paused for a second and then asked, "Where is Aithusa, in this other universe where Lancelot is alive and all four of us are together? Would she even exist?"
Merlin hummed as he thought about it. "I'd like to think she'd still be there somehow. I think the four of us would raise her together. Along with our four other kids, of course."
"We have five kids?"
"Mhm." He nodded.
"Are you saying you expect me to give birth four times?"
He hummed again. "No, just twice I think. I'll have the other two."
She laughed. "And how do you propose you do that?"
He shrugged. "I suppose magic would probably have to be legal in this universe as well."
She shook her head. "This is ridiculous."
"Hey, it's my fantasy. It can be whatever I want it to be."
"You fantasize about having Arthur and Lance's kids?"
Merlin blushed. "That's not what I said."
"Uh huh…"
"Shut up."
"I love you."
He looked at her. "I love you, too."
Merlin would probably be less annoyed by someone else doing his job for him if they would at least do it right. It wasn't just Arthur's clothes and his desk. Nearly every day this week, Merlin had had to redo one of his chores because someone else had done it incorrectly. He could tell they were trying, but whoever was 'helping' him clearly had no experience doing servants' work.
This, though… This was too far.
Merlin crossed his arms and frowned at the dead body on floor in front of him as Gaius examined it. Not like it took much examining to determine the cause of death. There was an ax embedded in the man's chest. An ax that, from the look of it, had previously been hanging on the wall.
"That ax shouldn't have even been sharp," Arthur pointed out. "How much force does it take to do that kind of damage with a blunt ax?"
"More than most humans are capable of, I would guess," Gaius said. "Perhaps someone of about Sir Percival's strength could manage it."
"A man that size would have a hard time sneaking around the castle," Leon said, crouching down to get a closer look at the body as well.
"Percival can be sneaky when he needs to be," Merlin said.
Leon nodded his head to the side, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. He searched the man's pockets and found a small, torn piece of parchment. On it were written two words, Arthur Pendragon, followed by a number.
"Looks like someone hired this guy to kill you," Leon guessed.
Arthur took the piece of parchment, read, it, and frowned. "Is that supposed to be how much they were going to pay him?"
"That's what it looks like," Gaius said.
"Well, that's just insulting. I'm worth way more than that."
Merlin rolled his eyes. "Of course that's what you're worried about. Not, I don't know, who hired him?"
"Of course I want to know who hired him," Arthur said.
"I think the more immediate question is: who killed him?" Leon asked.
Arthur walked over to look at the spot on the wall where the ax had been hung up. "Whoever it was must not have had a weapon of their own if they resorted to stealing a piece of decor off the wall."
"Unless this guy disarmed them first," Merlin said.
Arthur nodded his head to the side. "Perhaps. But if I'd just been disarmed, I probably wouldn't put my back to my opponent for the several seconds it would have taken to get the ax off the wall, especially if I was strong enough to kill them with my bare hands."
"Maybe they used magic," Leon suggested.
Merlin tensed. He could feel Gaius looking at him. "What makes you say that?" Merlin asked Leon.
"Well, if they had magic, it wouldn't matter how strong they were, and they wouldn't have to turn their back to get the ax. Plus, it would make sneaking around a lot easier." He shrugged.
"You make a solid argument," Gaius said, sounding displeased.
Arthur didn't seem to notice Gaius's tone. "The only thing that doesn't make sense is, why would someone with magic stop someone from killing me?"
"I don't know, Sire," Gaius said.
Arthur frowned but didn't push the question further. "I'm putting you in charge of this investigation," He said to Leon. "I want to know who who killed this guy and who hired him in the first place."
Leon nodded. "Of course, My Lord." As he and a couple of guards dealt with the body, Arthur turned back to Merlin and Gaius.
"If you don't mind, Sire, I would like Merlin's help with something," Gaius said.
Merlin cringed, knowing what that meant.
Arthur nodded. "That's fine." Of course the one time Merlin would have been fine with Arthur giving him something to do… "Just don't be late with my lunch," He added to Merlin before turning and heading back to his chambers.
The second the door closed behind him, Merlin put his hands up and started to defend himself. "I know what it looks like-"
"You're getting sloppy, Merlin," Gaius chastised, not even looking at him. "You haven't left a body lying around the castle like that in ages, especially one that was so obviously killed by magic."
"It wasn't me."
Gaius turned to him, exasperated. "Merlin-"
"I'm serious. I didn't even know anyone was after Arthur."
"Then who-"
"I don't know." Merlin bit his thumbnail nervously. He didn't like this. He should have known there was an assassin in the castle. He should have been the one to stop them.
Gaius looked troubled. "Well, you better find out."
"I know." For a moment, Merlin was quiet, internally debating whether or not to bring up the other thing.
"What is it?" Gaius asked.
Merlin sighed and looked at him. "I don't know if it's related or not, but someone's been doing my job for me lately."
"What do you mean?"
Merlin explained the things he'd noticed over the past few days.
Gaius frowned. "And you're sure it's not simply another servant or one of your friends? You have been awfully busy lately with Aithusa. Perhaps someone is merely trying to give you a hand."
"That's what I thought at first, but it doesn't feel right. If it was someone I knew, why wouldn't they say something? Besides, it's not just cleaning; it's the stuff that's not technically part of my job description, too."
"Like killing assassins?"
"Yes! And like writing Arthur's speeches and correcting his math on tax documents." That one he'd noticed just that morning. Frustratingly, it was the one part of Merlin's job this person was better at than him. "The only person I can think of who would do that is Gwen, but it's not her handwriting."
"I don't suppose you recognize the handwriting?"
He shook his head. "If I did, I would have figured this out by know. The closest as far as I can tell is Arthur's own handwriting, but it's a bit neater and…" He tried to think of the right word. "Lighter?"
"Lighter?"
"Like, they're not pressing the quill down as hard."
"I see…" Gaius turned and walked across the room to his desk, where he began rummaging through the drawers.
"What are you looking for?" Merlin asked, following him.
Gaius didn't answer, but after a moment, he pulled out a piece of parchment and said, "Ah." He showed it to Merlin. "Does it happen to look anything like this?"
Merlin scanned the page. It was a very old letter—Gaius never threw anything away—thanking Gaius for keeping the writer updated on what was going on in Camelot while they were away visiting family. The handwriting was a perfect match to that which Merlin had seen on Arthur's papers that morning. Merlin's eyes moved down the page, and his blood ran cold when he saw the name signed on the bottom. Queen Ygraine Pendragon.
Merlin looked up at Gaius. "That's not possible."
"I take it that's a yes?"
Merlin nodded. "But how? Arthur's mother has been dead for over twenty years." Almost thirty now, but Merlin didn't like to think about that.
"He used the Horn of Cathbhadh, didn't he?" Gaius asked with a stern look.
Merlin huffed. "Why are you looking at me like that's my fault? I wasn't there!"
"But he did do it?"
Merlin sighed. "Yes, of course he did. Morgana told him how it works. And she did say that the spirit he summoned might follow him back here if he looked back as he left, but she warned Arthur about that. She swore to me she did."
"And you believed her?"
"She thought he was going to summon Uther. The last thing she wants is his ghost haunting the castle. So yes, I believed her. Arthur must have looked back anyway." He ran a hand through his hair. "Fucking idiot."
"Language."
"Sorry." Merlin set the letter he was holding back down on Gaius's desk and then walked over to sit at the kitchen table, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his thighs. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"I suppose you'll have to ask Morgana. I'm sure she doesn't want Ygraine's ghost haunting the castle either."
Merlin furrowed his brow at Gaius. "Why would she care if Arthur's mother is here? It's Uther she hates."
"I'm not going to pretend like Uther being here wouldn't be worse, but I do think Morgana at least is worried about the wrong parent. Uther is her father. For all his faults, I don't believe he'd intentionally cause her harm. Ygraine, on the other hand, has already shown what she's willing to do to protect her son. After everything Morgana's done, what do you think she'll do to her?"
The blood drained from Merlin's face. "Oh fuck."
Gaius didn't say anything about Merlin's language that time, perhaps because he thought it was warranted, which did not make Merlin feel better in the least.
Merlin took a deep breath and looked away. "Can we really blame her though? I'd do the same thing for Aithusa. Hell, I have done the same thing for Arthur."
"Perhaps not, but that doesn't mean we should let her. The dead don't belong among the living. Ygraine has always been a very empathetic and compassionate woman, but the longer she stays here, the more she'll lose herself, becoming more and more obsessed with her only goal."
"Protecting Arthur."
Gaius nodded. "She won't care who she has to hurt to do it. She'll start seeing threats where there are none." He took a breath, steeling himself for what he had to say next. "It's possible that if she discovers Aithusa's true nature, she may even see her as a threat."
Merlin's eyes snapped to Gaius. "Aithusa's a baby."
"I know. But as you've previously pointed out, that never stopped Uther. And while it might stop Ygraine for now, I don't know how long that will remain true."
Merlin stood up. "I'm going to go talk to Morgana."
"That's probably a good idea," Gaius said, like he hadn't been the one to suggest it only minutes ago.
Merlin nodded and turned to leave the room, quickly making his way upstairs.
When Merlin walked into Morgana's room, he saw her sitting on the floor with Aithusa, and he couldn't help but smile, even as Morgana scowled in his direction. "Are you ever going to learn how to knock?"
"You sound like Arthur," Merlin said as he walked over to sit on the floor with them.
Morgana made a disgusted face. "Never say that again."
"Alright." Merlin smiled at Aithusa and waved. "Hello, Sunlight."
She smiled and waved back at him. "Hi, Papa."
Merlin held out his hands for Aithusa to help her stand and walk over to him. Her legs and feet were still recovering, but she was starting to be able to walk again for short distances. He grinned and lifted her in the air, making her giggle. He rubbed his nose against hers. "How's my favorite little dragon doing?"
She reached her left hand out and bopped his face. "Papa."
He kissed her cheek. "Yes, I'm your Papa." He put her down in his lap, facing sideways, so he and Morgana could both see her. "Have you been having fun in here with your Mama?"
She nodded. Then, she shoved her doll in his face.
"Hi, Freya," He greeted the doll. "Have you been keeping these two ladies safe for me while I've been gone?"
Aithusa giggled and pulled the doll back into her arms, shaking her head. "Mama keep me safe. I keep Freya safe."
"So why can't Freya keep Mama safe?"
"Freya too small. You keep Mama safe."
"I do try, but I don't think you're giving Freya enough credit. She may be small now, but at night, she transforms into a ferocious beast, so she can protect little girls like you from bad people."
She laughed and shook her head. "Nuh uh."
"How do you know?"
"Woulda saw it."
He shook his head. "She only does it when you're asleep. During the day, she turns back like this, just like you how you turned yourself from a dragon into a human."
"Freya a dragon?"
"No, Freya's more like a big cat, but she does have wings."
"Really?"
He nodded. "Mhm."
"Can fly 'gether?"
He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "One day, Sunlight. One day, you'll be able to fly as much as you want, and Freya will be right there by your side."
She seemed happy with that for a moment, but then she looked up at him in confusion. "Why sad?"
"Me?"
She nodded.
He shook his head. "I'm fine, Sunlight. You don't need to worry about me."
She shook her head and poked his chest. "No. You is sad."
He sighed and gave her small, sad smile and kissed her head again. "I'm just missing my own Freya is all. I think you would have liked her."
"Tell 'bout Freya?"
"I've already told you about Freya."
"Again."
He bit his lip, glancing between Aithusa and Morgana, who was watching the interaction curiously. "How about I tell you about Freya tonight when I come tuck you into bed? Right now, I need to talk to your Mama about something. Ok?"
She thought about it for a second and then nodded. "Ok."
"Go play with your other toys for a bit, ok?"
She frowned, but she got off his lap and toddled over to the corner of the rug where her toys lay scattered about. She seemed oddly frustrated as she started to play with them.
"She doesn't like it when you tell her what to do," Morgana said.
Merlin looked at her. "It's not like I told her to do something she doesn't like to do. I just told her to play with her toys."
Morgana just rolled her eyes. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Right." Merlin took a breath and started to explain. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take much to convince her that Arthur would do something stupid. When he told her about Ygraine, she was at first relieved that at least it wasn't Uther, but then Merlin told her what Gaius had told him, and she glanced worriedly over at Aithusa.
"Do you want me to keep her in my room at night until we deal with this?" Merlin suggested.
Morgana scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. What are you going to do against a ghost? You might be a dragonlord, but I'm a High Priestess."
"Right…" Merlin decided not to argue with her. He could tell her that he was actually more powerful than her, but he really didn't want to as long as he didn't have to. At least he would only be across the hall, and he could sense if Aithusa was in danger, so protecting her shouldn't be too much of a problem. He shook his head. "So how do we get rid of a ghost?"
"We don't."
"What do you mean?"
"Only the person who summoned the spirit can banish it."
"Which means Arthur has to do it…"
"Yep."
Merlin sighed and put his head in his hand. "Which means we have to convince him not only that his mother is here but that she's a threat."
"Yep."
Merlin looked at her. "We're doomed."
"Yep."
Merlin laid back on the ground and looked up at the ceiling. "Say I do manage to convince him to help us. What does he actually need to do?"
"All he has to do is blow the horn while in the ghost's presence."
"That doesn't sound too complicated."
"Neither did not looking back in the first place."
"Fair point."
"And again, he has to be willing to banish his mother's ghost."
"I know."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Not yet."
"Well, you better come up with one quick. Because there is one other way to banish the spirit, and you're not gonna like it."
He sat up, leaning back on his hands. "What is it?"
"Kill Arthur."
His gaze hardened. "That's not an option."
"For you, maybe. But if it comes down to him or Aithusa, it's not a difficult choice for me."
"It won't come to that."
She shrugged one shoulder. "I hope you're right."
Merlin woke up in the middle of the night to a sharp pain in his head, a flood of fear rushing through his veins, the sound of crying in his ears, and the smell of smoke in his nose. He sat up so fast it made him lightheaded for a few seconds, and then he almost fell out of bed rushing to the door without another thought.
Yanking open the door, he saw smoke spilling out from underneath Morgana's across the hall. He also saw the two guards stationed outside her door on the ground. He didn't bother wasting time checking if they were still alive or not. He burst into the room and quickly assessed the situation.
Morgana's bed was on fire, and Morgana herself was struggling through a coughing fit to shove the burning blankets away from her. There was a blue, semi-translucent figure standing over Aithusa's crib, reaching one hand into it. A woman. Queen Ygraine.
She turned to Merlin when he entered and put her hands up, a panicked look in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize she was in here."
Merlin just glared at her and went to pick up Aithusa, putting the fire out with a wave of his hand.
Ygraine vanished.
The fire was gone, but the room was still full of smoke, Aithusa was still crying, and Morgana was still coughing. Carrying Aithusa in one arm, Merlin reached for Morgana with his other hand to pull her out of the room.
Guards came from running either direction. Arthur pushed through one group of them to reach Merlin, Morgana, and Aithusa. "What happened?"
Morgana slid down the wall and sat with her head between her knees, trying to catch her breath.
"The fire's already out," Merlin told the guards without looking at them as they entered the room.
"Merlin," Arthur said. "Is Aithusa ok?"
"Physically, yeah." Merlin focused his attention on comforting Aithusa. She was untouched by smoke or fire, but her face was red and wet with tears that were still coming. He tried to keep his own emotions under control so as not to exacerbate hers, but it wasn't easy. He reminded himself that Aithusa wouldn't have actually died. Dragons couldn't be burned. But it was hard to get that to stick in his brain when he was looking at her very small, very human, body.
"What about Morgana?"
"I'm fine," Morgana said, her voice quiet and hoarse.
"I can send for Gaius."
Morgana glared at him. "I said I'm fine."
As Merlin repositioned Aithusa in his arms, he noticed Arthur's eyes move down to his chest and was suddenly aware of the fact that he'd neglected to put on a shirt.
"Are you ok?" Arthur asked, his voice more gentle than when he'd spoken to Morgana.
"Yeah, I was only in there for a few seconds to get them out."
Arthur pointed at his chest. "Then what's that from?"
Merlin looked down. There was a giant burn right in the middle of his chest, but it had long-since scarred over. Merlin hadn't been able to be burned since he'd become a dragonlord. "That's old," He said.
"What's it from?" Arthur asked again.
"Doesn't matter," Merlin said, shaking his head. He looked around the hall that was still full of guards and gestured to his own room with his head. "We should…"
Arthur agreed and went to open the door while Merlin helped Morgana to her feet, careful not to let Arthur see his back. It was bad enough that he'd seen the scars on his chest; he didn't need any more questions he couldn't answer. He walked in behind the other two, and while Morgana quickly sat down in the nearest chair, he looked on the ground for a shirt.
Arthur took Aithusa from him while he put his shirt on, looking incredibly uncomfortable with the situation, especially as it only made her cry louder, but Merlin quickly took her back. He started to pace around the room, bouncing her gently, rubbing her back, and whispering comforting words until she eventually began to calm down, more out of exhaustion than anything else.
"What happened?" Arthur asked when Merlin turned back to him
Merlin looked at Morgana, but she didn't say anything, so he looked back at Arthur. "There was something in Morgana's room. Or someone." He bit his lip, glancing down for a second before saying, "A ghost."
"You think you saw a ghost?" Arthur clearly didn't believe him.
Merlin nodded. "She was blue and transparent and sort of glowing? She was standing over Aithusa's crib when I opened the door. She said she was sorry, that she didn't realize Aithusa was in the room. And then she just vanished."
"Sorry, the ghost apologized to you?" Arthur asked incredulously.
Merlin nodded again, pushing on in spite of Arthur's continued disbelief. "Morgana was the target. She had no reason to hurt a baby." He pressed his lips into a straight line and added, "But she also didn't care enough to bother checking if Aithusa's crib was occupied before she started the fire."
Arthur looked at Morgana. "So I'm guessing this was one of the many people you've killed come back for revenge?"
Morgana glared at him. "This is not my fault. I'm not the one who recently thought it was a good idea to open a doorway to the Spirit World."
"You think this is my fault?"
"You looked back, didn't you?"
"What?"
Merlin took over. "When you left the Spirit World the other day after you spoke to your mother, did you look back?"
"How do you know I spoke to my mother?"
Merlin took a breath. "Just answer the question."
"I… I don't know. I might have glanced around a bit."
Morgana rolled her eyes. "I warned you what would happen if you looked back."
Arthur shook his head. "No."
"Arthur…" Merlin sighed.
Arthur looked at him. "No. That couldn't have been my mother. Even if she did follow me here, she would never do something like that."
"I saw her, Arthur."
Arthur kept shaking his head. "You must be mistaken. She wouldn't-"
"How do you know?" Morgana snapped. "It's not like you know her. All you know is what people have told you, and no one would be stupid enough to insult the dead queen in front of you or your father."
Arthur glared at her, but Merlin put a hand up to stop him before he could argue back. "Regardless of whether or not she would have done it when she was alive, now that she's a ghost, the only thing she cares about is protecting you. She's already killed one man; it was only a matter of time before she went after Morgana."
"What do you mean she's already killed one man?"
"The assassin from the other day?"
"You think that was her?"
"Who else would it have been? You agreed that someone probably used magic to do it. How many sorcerers do you know who'd do something like that for you? But the ghost of your dead mother?"
"My mother wouldn't kill a man. Even to protect me."
"You underestimate the lengths a parent will go to protect their child."
Arthur glanced at Aithusa in Merlin's arms. "Would you do it? For her?"
"In a heartbeat," Merlin answered without a second thought.
"Oh." Arthur looked away and shook his head. "But that doesn't mean that what you saw was my mother. The room was full of smoke, and you don't know my mother's face all that well anyway."
"Arthur…"
"No. I…" Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know." He looked at Merlin. "I'm sorry that your daughter's life was at risk, and I want to find the person who did it, but it wasn't my mother. I know it wasn't."
"Arthur-"
"Merlin. It's late. We can discuss this tomorrow." He turned to leave, pausing to ask Morgana, "Are you sure you don't want me to send for Gaius?"
"I'm fine," She said coldly.
Arthur nodded and walk out of the room.
"Well, that went well," Merlin said sarcastically when the door closed. He went over to the cabinet where he kept some basic medical supplies. Because Morgana could say she was fine all she wanted, but he knew what a burn looked like. He grabbed some burn cream, a clean rag, some soap, some bandages, and a bowl and went back to the table to sit next to Morgana. He poured some water in the bowl and adjusted Aithusa is his lap. He kissed the top of her head. "Hey, Sunlight, do you think you could heat up this bowl of water just a little bit for me?"
She looked up at him. "Use magic?"
He nodded. "Yeah, you can use magic, just not around people who aren't me and your Mama, ok?"
She nodded and looked at the bowl. It was a bit above her head, so he stood her up on his lap. She blew on the water, her eyes flashed gold, and suddenly it was steaming. She looked at him. "I do good?"
He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Yeah, Sunlight, you did good." A little too good, really, but what did he expect from a dragon?
He asked Morgana to hold out her arm to him, and she reluctantly did so. He didn't mind the hot water, so he just made sure to let the rag cool off a little bit before putting it on Morgana's skin. The burns weren't terrible—barely worse than a bad sunburn—but they covered virtually all of her exposed skin, and since her nightgown was sleeveless, that meant her entire arms. She just watched as he gently cleaned her skin, barely even flinching even when he knew it must hurt.
When he opened the jar of burn cream, she asked, "You just keep that in your room?"
He glanced at her before beginning to gently apply the ointment to her burns. "My daughter's a dragon. I thought it might come in handy."
"But she can't be burned."
"I didn't say it was for her."
"Can you be burned?"
"Trying to learn my weaknesses?"
"Just curious. I thought I remembered you saying you couldn't be, but I saw the scar on your chest."
"Like I said, that's old," He said as he continued. "I wasn't always a dragonlord. I've always been a bit more resistant to fire than the average person, but after my father died, and I inherited his powers, I became close to fireproof. Still not entirely immune, I don't think, but I'm not exactly keen to test it."
"How lucky you are. Being immune to the one thing all sorcerers fear most."
He looked at her. "It's strange. I still fear it anyway." He looked back down, taking her other arm to begin the same treatment. "Even though Arthur's never sentenced anyone to the pyre, it's still what I see in my nightmares when I imagine him finding out about me."
"How can you be so afraid of someone and at the same time love him just as much?"
He paused before answering. "It's because I love him that I fear him. If I didn't, I wouldn't care what he thought about me. If anyone else tried to have me executed for sorcery, I would find a way out of it, even if I had to kill them. I can't do that with Arthur. He's the one person who could kill me, and I wouldn't raise a hand to stop him." He looked at her. "I don't fear you because I know I can defend myself from you, or at the very least, I know I would go down fighting. I can't defend myself from Arthur. Not because I don't have the ability but because the idea of hurting him goes against my very nature. That's why your fomorrah didn't work. I'm not really that lousy an assassin. I was just fighting myself the whole time."
"I didn't know it was possible to love someone so much."
"I suppose that's the difference between you and me."
"You think I'm not capable of love?"
"I didn't say that. I think you're perfectly capable of love. I know you love Aithusa. I know you once loved Arthur, Gwen, and me. I think you just forgot what that felt like. Aithusa's helping you remember, but there's less risk loving Aithusa. Someone who depends on you can't leave you. You can still lose her, and that terrifies you, but she can't betray you. Especially being a dragon, having a longer lifespan, she's always going to be a child to you. Literally. She won't reach adulthood until after you're dead."
Morgana just stared at him for a moment. "You think you have me all figured out, do you?"
"Kilgharrah once said that you and I couldn't possibly be more different. That you're the dark to my light, the hate to my love. I think he was wrong. I think the only difference between you and me is that even when I have a hard time believing it, I've always had people to help keep me from falling over the edge into darkness. You kept everyone from even knowing you were there, and when I saw that you were, I got scared and pushed you over that edge. Then your sister caught you and dragged you so far down you couldn't see the light anymore." He took a breath. "I will never forgive myself for what I did, but I'll keep holding my hand out to you in case you decide to claw your way back up." He held his hand out to her.
She didn't take it.
She cleared her throat and stood up. "I think we should probably get some sleep." She started toward the door.
"Where are you planning to go? Your room burned down, remember?"
She paused.
He sighed. "You can sleep in here until they get you a new bed."
She looked over her shoulder at him, her nose wrinkled in disgust. "With you?"
"I can sleep on the couch if it'll make you feel better."
"I suppose that would be… tolerable."
Merlin rolled his eyes and went to put Aithusa to bed. It was difficult to make himself put her down, but eventually, he managed it, laying her in her crib and kissing her goodnight.