Golden Wishes

4. Sunken Eyes

It was a furious looking Merlin Arthur met on the other side of the doors when he stepped into his chambers later that afternoon. He looked like a mother bear waiting to reprimand her kids for wandering off without letting her know, and Arthur couldn't help but snort at the image formed in his head.

"Where have you been?" asked the dark haired man, his shadowed eyes narrowed at Arthur with accusation. "Didn't you hear me this morning about your lunch date with Lord Appleby? Do you have any idea how many excuses I had to come up for you because you thought it was a good idea to skive off your princely duties? As if I have no other work to do!"

Ah. Arthur did not- in fact- forget about it. It was just the fact that commissioning a silversmith took a lot of his time, and he wanted his gift to be perfect, so he stayed at the forge to see the progress with his own eyes. It was just that he didn't remember to inform Merlin of his whereabouts.

"Well then," Arthur said, squaring his shoulders and placing the box in his hands on the nearby table, "have you done my clothes for the evening?" He was certainly not changing the subject of his missing appointment with Lord whatshisname, but merely speculating what his servant did in his work hours.

His question seemed to strike the dark haired man into silence, and Arthur raised both his eyebrows with veiled amusement and the silent victory of winning another verbal battle.

"Ah- no" was Merlin's genius reply, and Arthur inwardly smirked.

"No? Well, what have you been doing? Other than reminding me of where I should be?"

The man in question looked dumbfounded, at a loss of words for his question and it painfully reminded Arthur how young Merlin looked. There was still a sparkle in his deep blue eyes that Arthur had seen missing in the eyes of his old friend, and his heart gave a painful throb. He looked away, unable to hold the other's gaze which painfully reminded himself of his failures, and found himself looking at a pile of clothes sitting on a chair at the table.

"Right then," Arthur continued, with a hint of a smile at the edge of his lips and walked towards the aforementioned chair. "You can start by pressing my robe" tossing the said crimson robe at the younger man, Arthur didn't hide the smirk that came over him. Secret sorcerer or not Merlin could still be an idiot. "And cleaning my shirt and my boots"

Arthur's hand gently hovered over the carved wooden box on the table and didn't miss the questioning glance Merlin sent at it. He wanted to wait until the dark haired man's curiosity got the better of him and questioned him about it, but Arthur was bouncing on his heels to show off his present that he ran out of patience. "Oh alright, Merlin" he huffed exasperatedly and signalled him to come closer as he opened the box. "Take a look at what I got for Morgana"

Inside the small chest rested a sharp, well balanced dagger with its crimson grip and sheath embossed with gold and silver highlights of swirls. It's pommel decorated with a cut ruby which glistened in the sunlight. The design was quite similar but different from what he got for her the last time, but nonetheless, the weapon was beautiful. It cost Arthur a small fortune, but it was for Morgana, his sister, who he dearly loved and wanted back in his life. He knew that maybe it would come back to bite him, but he desperately wanted for her to know that he cared for her. He didn't want to see her being wasted into a half mad, vengeful woman she had been.

"What do you say Merlin?"

Arthur glanced at Merlin who seemed to have quietened for some reason, only to realise that man had gone dreadfully pale with a look of fearful apprehension in his face. He was looking at the blade with dread in his eyes, and Arthur had to wonder what had happened to make Merlin to be that way. Sometimes Arthur could only imagine what was going on in his servant's head.