A/N
Oh my god guys. I am so sorry I forgot to update today so here is that late update.
That night when I returned to my room, I collapsed onto my bed and lay there for a while thinking about poor little Leo and his sister, Aria. I mean, it must be so difficult having to live like that at such a young age. And I know that giving them some money would help but money wasn't what they needed, they needed a family, they needed love. But how could I give them that? Money can't buy love.
Suddenly, there was a knock at my door making me sit up and walk over to the door. When I opened it, I was surprised to not only see Merlin, but Gaius as well.
"Merlin, Gaius? Are you alright?" I asked.
"May we come in?" Gaius asked.
"Of course," I nodded, moving over to the side.
Gaius walked in first and then Merlin, who smiled at me and held onto my hand.
"Is Gaius alright?" I whispered to Merlin, shutting the door.
"Yeah, but I don't think he wants to talk about that," Merlin muttered back.
"What then?" I asked.
"You'll see," Merlin replied, as we walked over to Gaius, who was peering down at the book on my nightstand.
"It's a good read," he commented, picking up my copy of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger.
"Oh, yeah. I was just doing some background reading," I answered, as we reached Gaius.
"Chelsea, do you know what Paget's disease of the bone is?" Gaius asked me.
I looked over at Merlin in confusion before answering.
"Paget's disease of the bone is a lifelong illness that causes new bone material to grow too quickly. It causes its victims bones to be weak and can cause the utmost pain and can quite often lead to them not being able to walk properly, unless properly treated with a tonic, of course," I explained having read it in the book Gaius was still holding.
"Are you sure you haven't just swallowed the book?" Merlin asked, and I turned to see him smiling at me. Merlin then turned back to Gaius. "Told you she'd know it."
I looked between them feeling extremely confused.
"I'm sorry, what's going on?" I asked.
"And can it be completely cured?" Gaius continued.
"Well, there's no none cure as of yet," I answered, getting more and more confused by the seconds, but then I had a thought. "Gaius, do you have it?"
"What? No," Gaius said, turning to face us.
"Ok... does my father?" I guessed.
"No," Gaius replied.
"Well, are you gonna tell me who and why or am I going to have to guess every single person?" I asked.
"When she was younger, I used to make a tonic for the Lady Catrina as she had Paget's disease of the bone to help with the pain," Gaius said, making my eyes widen.
"Oh, God. Poor Catrina," I muttered, but then I realised. "Wait, but she—"
"Walks the same as everyone else," Merlin said.
"How is that possible?" I asked.
"It isn't possible, unless..." Gaius trailed off, waiting for me to figure it out.
"Unless... unless that isn't Lady Catrina," I figured after a moment.
"That's my thinking," Gaius agreed.
"Well, if that isn't Lady Catrina, who is my father dining with?" I asked.
"That's what we don't know," Merlin answered.
"And what we're gonna find out," Gaius added.
Gaius and Merlin stayed for a while longer, discussing more about who she could be and in the end we decided that Merlin would try and find something in their room while 'changing the sheets on her bed'. I mean, it was a plausible excuse so even if he got caught in there, he could easily pretend he was in there for the sheets. But there was one main problem with our plan...
Merlin isn't the best liar.
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The next morning, as I looked out of my window just before breakfast and saw father sitting on his horse and beside him was 'Lady Catrina' on...
"Unbelievable," I muttered to myself.
It had happened again. They were taking Cinnamon without even asking.
There was no point me rushing down as they would be leaving very soon and I'd never get down in time.
"It's been some time since I've seen him like this," a voice said behind me, making me jump.
I turned and saw Arthur peering out my window as father and Catrina rode off.
"I didn't hear you come in," I admitted.
"Sorry," Arthur muttered. "Did they ask you?"
"Ask me what?" I asked.
"About Cinnamon," Arthur answered.
I turned back to look out the window just in time to see them disappear out of the gates.
"Take a guess," I replied.
"I had a feeling," Arthur sighed. "It's weird seeing him with another woman. I mean, we never really saw much of him and mother, but still, I don't like it."
I was quite shocked to hear Arthur speak of mother as he really brought her up.
"What can we do?" I asked rhetorically. Cause to be quite honest, there wasn't much we could do. "I mean, who knows? Maybe he'll suddenly realise he doesn't like her."
"That's likely," Arthur muttered sarcastically.
"Hey," I began, rubbing Arthur's shoulder comfortingly. "It'll all be ok."
"I'll hold that to you," Arthur replied sadly.
It seemed like my problems were just piling up by the day now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Arthur left, I made my way down to Gaius', hoping that Merlin had found something. When I got there, Merlin hadn't got back yet and Gaius had started pacing.
"I'm sure he's fine," I reassured Gaius, who was starting to become even more restless.
"I know, but..." Gaius trailed off.
"You can't help but worry," I guessed.
"Exactly," Gaius nodded.
Just then the door opened and Merlin came rushing in with a basket. I rose up from the bench I was sitting on and walked over with Gaius.
"What did you find?" Gaius asked.
"Something wasn't right in there," Merlin answered. "There was this strange smell and I could have sworn the Lady Catrina's bed hadn't been slept in. And there was something else."
"Oh?" Gaius said, as Merlin began pacing now.
"Jonas. As I was leaving I thought I saw something. This is gonna sound mad, but it looked like Jonas had a tail," Merlin said, making my eyes widen.
"A tail?" I repeated, causing Merlin to nod. "Are you sure?"
"I mean, I only glimpsed it for a moment. I mean, I could be wrong," Merlin stuttered, thinking he was wrong.
"No, no, I believe you," I assured him.
"Merlin, Chelsea, we must keep an eye on her. A very close eye," Gaius told us.
"Operation 'Stalk-my-father's-new-crush' is a go," I muttered to Merlin.
"So where have they gone today?" Gaius asked me.
"I don't know actually. It must be a little way as they took Cinnamon," I said.
"Cinnamon?" Merlin repeated. "Why would you want to eat cinnamon by itself?"
"No, not cinnamon. Cinnamon, my horse," I corrected Merlin, smiling at the confusion on his face.
"Oh, this could get confusing."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Merlin had drawn a sort of sketch of the type of tail he thought Jonas had so that evening when most people were asleep, I went into my secret room and looked for any book that would help me identify what Jonas was.
But no matter what book I looked in; I couldn't find anything that looked like the small drawing that Merlin had helpfully labelled with the word green next to it.
So basically I was looking for a green line with a slight curve at the end if I was going by Merlin's amazing drawing.
After about an hour of searching, I heard the distant knock on my door so I quickly ran out of my secret room shutting it quietly behind me and rushing over to the door.
When I opened it, Arthur was standing there holding the collar of a sheepish Merlin.
"Hi," I said, confused as to why Arthur looked so annoyed.
"Merlin has something to tell you," Arthur said bluntly.
I looked between them even more confused before I opened the door wider and let them in. Arthur pushed Merlin into my room and then shut my door before I could.
"Go on, Merlin. Tell my sister what I caught you doing," Arthur said harshly.
"I've already told you; it wasn't what it looked like," Merlin defended.
"What wasn't what it looked like?" I asked.
Merlin didn't say anything but as Arthur turned his back on him, I saw him trying to mouth something.
"Merlin was hanging a mirror out of my window so that he could watch Lady Catrina through her window," Arthur said.
"What?" I asked. "Wait, say that again."
I didn't hear what Arthur was saying as I was too focused on what Merlin was doing.
He had picked up my hairbrush and was swinging it around like it was a club or something. He then scrunched up his face, pinching his nose today and waving his hand in front of his face as if something smelt. It was taking everything I had to not laugh at him. Next, Merlin started tiptoeing around elegantly before—trying to do it quietly—stomping around, flaying his arms around.
Nothing he was doing was helping me figure out what he was trying to say so seeing this, he made a 'T' with his hands. Then an 'r'. Followed by an 'o' and finally two 'l's.
"Chelsea?" Arthur's voice made me turn back to him. "Did you hear what I just said?"
I glanced back at Merlin, who was mouthing troll before I turned back to Arthur.
"Yeah, I got it," I replied, hoping Merlin would realise I was speaking to him.
"So... what are you gonna do about it?" Arthur asked me.
"Do about what?" I asked.
"Oh, my God. I thought you said you were listening," Arthur groaned in frustration, turning his back on me, and running a hand through his hair.
I looked at Merlin and mouthed troll back, to which he nodded with a smile.
"I'm sure Merlin meant no harm," I said to Arthur before looking back at Merlin. "Isn't that right, Merlin?"
"Exactly. It was just a simple misunderstanding," Merlin nodded.
Arthur turned back to us, looking between us in disbelief.
"I can not believe you two," Arthur sighed exasperated, but then his face hardened and he glared at Merlin. "Look, my sister may be willing to forgive you just like that, but I know that on the inside she is fuming." Merlin looked at me worried, but I just shook my head with a small smile, knowing that Arthur had completely misinterpreted the whole situation. "But if I ever find you doing anything like that again..." Arthur made a violent gesture with his hands, making Merlin take a step back.
"Ok, now that that is all sorted, may I sleep or is there anything else you need to accuse Merlin of?" I asked Arthur.
"Unbelievable," Arthur muttered before shaking his head and walking out.
"She's a troll. I wasn't peeping on her, I promise. I was just checking what she was," Merlin explained, but paused when he had finished, realising how bad that sounded. "I should probably just—"
"MERLIN!!" Arthur's voice rang down the silent corridors.
"Yeah, probably," I agreed.
Merlin went to leave but being the worrywart he was, he turned back around to apologise again so I thought I had better clear some things up.
As he went to say sorry again, I placed my hand on his cheek and reached up onto my tiptoes and kissed him softly.
"Stop apologising," I whispered against his lips.
"Well, if it gets me this..." Merlin smirked, making me laugh.
"MERLIN!!" Arthur's voice called out again, only this time it was closer.
"I'd better go," Merlin muttered, hesitantly pulling away.
"Yeah before Arthur kills you," I joked.
"So, you're really—" Merlin began again, making me roll my eyes.
"Merlin," I warned.
"Right, now leaving," Merlin smiled before rushing out after Arthur.
God, those two were gonna be the death of each other.
2033 Words