enchanted | a. pendragon [on hold]

viii | illyria's lament

"Nonsense" Arthur interrupted. Merlin frowned, thinking that he was going to turn his request down. Surely, he thought, that as soon as Arthur knew it was for Lia, he would grant him the day off. "Perhaps I can convince Father to let us hold a small celebration. Lia deserves to be celebrated."

"Oh, she'd adore that," Morgana said, getting genuinely excited. Just as Arthur, she would do anything to see Lia smile. "She could get dressed up, and Arthur, you'll invite the knights. I'll speak with the servants in the kitchen about a cake. And there must be dancing — Lia loves to dance."

Merlin stayed silent as Arthur and Morgana quietly began planning Lia's birthday party. What had originally just been a nice quiet day with just the two of them was now essentially just Arthur and Morgana trying to impress Lia — of course, Uther wouldn't allow for the celebration to be nearly as extravagant as if it had been one of their own birthdays.

However, because of this, Merlin had doubled his workload, but it was for Lia, so it was worth it. He left the training grounds with a list of things to organize, as well as a very threatening order from Arthur to keep it all a secret from Lia. He tried to explain that he was horrible at keeping secrets from Lia — it was a miracle he hadn't revealed that Morgana was evil — but neither of them had cared. Arthur and Morgana wanted everything to be a surprise.

| | |

It wasn't a surprise.

Though, to Merlin's delight, it wasn't his fault. But Arthur couldn't exactly yell at his father for dropping the ball. In Uther's defense, no one had specified that he couldn't mention the celebration to Lia. She had been in the council chamber with the King, delivering a batch of pain reliever for his shoulder. He was there discussing the next patrol schedule with Arthur.

"So, are you looking forward to your birthday tomorrow?" Uther had asked, only trying to make small talk.

"How did you know it's my birthday tomorrow, Sire?" Lia asked, smiling cluelessly.

Uther missed the way that Arthur was shaking his head from his position behind Lia. "Oh, your party is all Morgana has talked about for days."

"Party?"

Arthur sighed exasperatedly while rubbing his forehead. "During all her rambling you must have missed the part about it being a surprise, Father."

"Oh," he said, smiling almost sheepishly. "My apologies."

"Lia, there's to be a celebration held in honor of your birthday tomorrow night," Arthur explained.

"That's so kind of you, Sire, but I wouldn't want to cause any trouble. I do not need a large celebration just for myself," she told him, shaking her head. She didn't want to inconvenience anyone.

"Nonsense," the King said, waving her off. "Even I know how important it is for a young woman to come of age. I suspect you'll end the day with several offers of courtship from our knights."

Lia's cheeks heated up as Uther brought up being courted. She was also careful to keep her eyes off of Arthur, whose jaw had tightened. Of course, Lia wouldn't be accepting any courtships, but she couldn't reveal why. Maybe she'd spend the whole night by Leon or Merlin's side to appease Uther, who had purposefully brought up the topic, still not approving of Arthur's feelings for her.

"Perhaps, My Lord," she said, smiling.

"Well, since you know," Arthur said, wanting to change the subject away from Lia courting one of his knights. "You may as well go see Morgana. Her gift to you is a dress for you to wear."