Queens

Ros

"What about you and Arthur?" She asked, smiling sadly at Ana. Ros knew all too well that her brother could be a bit of a prat, and he usually puts his duty as prince before anything else. The only thing he would put before that, is family. Uther had told Arthur many times before that he was to marry a princess or a noble Lady, and she knew that Arthur took his princely duties very seriously. "I know that my brother can be... hard to love. I spent most of my years as a child being alone, he was so distant. Once he got a bit older, he understood that family is just as important as being a prince, and I'm sure in time he'll realize that love is just as important as family."

"I suppose, I hope you're right, I can't wait forever..." Ana sighed and walked over to the window, looking down to the courtyard. Ros knew that Ana couldn't wait forever, and for her brother no less, but she knew that in her heart that Arthur would realize it before it was too late.

"I'll help to try and convince him, I know it'll be hard for you to talk to him."

"Thank you your highness-"

"We've went over this Ana, please, call me Ros okay?"

"Of course, thank you, Ros." She smiled at her. "If that's all?"

"Yes, thank you Ana, you are free to do as you please for today."

"Do you know if Merlin is as well?"

"More than likely no, he said he was going to come and get me one he was finished, so we could take a walk in the gardens."

"Oh, well I hope you have a good time," Ana smiled and nodded to her, taking her leave. Ros sat there, wondering more about her and Arthur. She had seen them share looks from across the room, and when Ros would bring up Ana, Arthur's cheeks would flush just the slightest shade of pink, not enough for Uther or Morgana to take notice. She smiled at the thought of Arthur being in love, it was a rare occurrence and she hadn't seen Arthur get flushed because of a girl her entire life.

A knock at her door disrupted her thoughts and she smiled to herself, knowing that is was Merlin who was there. She stood up and walked over to her heavy wooden doors, and gently pulled one open to see Merlin standing there with his hands behind his back. "Merlin, what a surprise, I was just going out for a walk in the garden, would you care to join me?" She and Merlin had perfected their greetings to each other, for she knew that they had to keep it at least from Uther, which wasn't too hard because Uther was pretty much oblivious to everything she did anyway.

"Of course my lady," he said, he pulled out his hands from behind his back and there was a pure white rose in them, "for you your highness, a rose that bows down to your beauty, as I do." He held out the rose and she took it carefully in her hand, bringing it up to her nose and smelling the fragrant aroma of the flower.

"Why thank you Merlin, that's very kind of you." She reached back from behind her door and found her water pitcher and a vase, pouring a bit of water into the case and setting the rose gently inside. "Shall we go then?"

"I'll follow wherever you lead." They walked down the hallways,silently, as they always do. Merlin stayed a step or two behind her, as to look like a normal servant following the princess. They couldn't risk anyone seeing them together in the castle. In the gardens it was different, the only people who worked there or who went by there at all were servants. The servants who worked as the castle gardeners were mute, their tongues taken as a punishment of some sort. Uther had spared their life simply because he needed more workers in the castle, but the guests complained about them so he sent them to work as the gardeners. She didn't think that they minded, the garden was a beautiful place to work after all, quiet and peaceful. They mostly kept to themselves, because every one else was frightened of them, so she knew that they wouldn't be the ones to leak out information about her secret relationship with Merlin.

Although they had agreed to try and make it work, she knew that if Uther found out he would be furious, and he would still send for the execution of Merlin.

Once they reached the center of the garden, they both say on their usual stone bench. It was hard to not feel nervous around him, and Ros knew that he felt the same way because he was usually pretty nervous as well. Today she hoped to change that, she wanted to do something new, something that Merlin had certainly thought of doing before, but her mixed feelings for him got in the way of it. Now she was sure though, she cared for this boy a great deal, earlier when she had told Ana that she loved him, it sort of just came out. She wasn't sure if she loved him or not, but the feelings kept frowning stronger each day, is that what love is?

"I heard about Ana and Arthur," Merlin said quietly, "Do you think Arthur will ever accept his feelings?"

"I think he'll come around to it, he used to be much worse. He never really trusted anyone." She looked down at her hands and brought them to her lap, twiddling her thumbs together. "Merlin?"

"Hmm?" He turned to look at her and their eyes met, she stared into the beautiful blue oceanic color of them, they were eyes of someone who was godlike, and she felt her knees weaken, even if she was siting down. His hand found its way to hers in her lap, and his thumb lightly brushed against them.

"I think I'm falling in love with you," she said honestly, starting to lean closer to his face.

"Do you want to know something Ros?" They kept inching closer to each other, closer and closer with each breath they took.

"Hmm?" Their faces were centimeters apart, she could feel the tickle of his breath on her lips.

"I think I'm falling in love with you too," with that he leaned forward and closed the space between them, kissing her lightly on the mouth. It was a strange feeling to her, but she couldn't deny that it felt amazing. Sparks were running through her body and she felt Merlin's hand go up to her cheek, she pulled her hand away from her lap and brought it up to his hair, gently bringing him that much closer to her. They finally pulled apart, breathless, when their eyes met again she looked into the bluest blue she would ever see, and she could swear that she saw a spark of hazel, almost as if they were glowing. But she knew that she was just seeing things, she was feeling lightheaded from just kissing Merlin. A smile appeared on her face and she felt Merlin stroke her cheek with his thumb, his hand still on her face. She pulled him closer, and gently placed a light kiss on his lips, not as fierce as the one before.

"What are you doing to me Merlin?"

"I could ask you the same question, your highness."