An audible shocked ripple spread aroud the room. Merlin stared, his wide eye stare turning slowy from Alfred, still beming with delight, so Arthur, a stunned shock spread across his face, drained of life-giving blood and left so pale in shoick
"N-no." Stammered Athur, shock coursed through him- his veins icy riverlets chilling his body to the core. He took a gulping breath of air.
"Prove it" came Lanalots voice, strong and clear in Arthurs ear, cutting through his stunned confusion like a knife cutting through a dear hide. Alfred gestred to his daughter, and the princess Rachel pulled up her sleave as she was had been asked. The stark letters were inminstakeable on her skin: Arther Pendragon.
"That cant be right!" Arthur yelled, descreasing his tone when he saw Alfred raise a stirn eyebrow as a challenge.
"I am" Rachel said sofly and let her sleeve cover up her arm again. sha stared at the floor and wouldn't meet anyones eyes. Merlin felt pitty for her, but it was overwhelmed by the tinkering shatter of his own heart.
"My lord I am already soulbonded to Merlin" Arthur was explaining rationally. Alfred frowned at the raven hair man whom glared at him angrilty in return, his fists clenched by him side and he wished he could evaporate the man into dust.
"That brigend?" he asked.
"He's not a briganed. He's a very powerful warlock" Arthur siad as calmly as he could. He could feel Merlin opressing the urge to protest beside him.
"He dresses like a theif" the king of Northumbria quipped.
"I'm his soulmate, look!" Merlin excalimed: he rolled up his sleave and shoving his bear arm towards Alfred.
"Look!" he insisted, head high in rebelion. Arthur interwove their fingers and pulled his boyfriend away from where he was getting up in the monarch's face with his anger. He shot him a brief look of warning, pilling him back to his side.
"I cannot be your daughter's solemate. I am Merlin's" Arthur explained. Alfred gesticulared a hand dismissively, he didn't care.
"You have more than one soulmate." He said, offhand, Merlin's shouts concerning him about as much as a raveshing storm concerns an eternal granite mountain. Rachel stared down at her feet from her throne, hands playing with one another as her father made his proclimations.
"It's not possible! there must be someone else" Arthur protested.
"It's not unheared of. And it makes more sense that my daughter: a daughter of a King, a princess, would be the soulmate of a prince. You could unite the Kingdoms. What can this bandi- I mean, sourcer do?" Alfred spoke with a grand imperiousity that gripped the room. Arthur felt his heart sink through his stomach, while Merlin's was twisted into knots of painful dread.
"She should be my soulmate! I may not be written on her arm but I feel in in my heart!" Gwain stepped forward and kneeled before Rachel holding out his hand, which she took, looking worried but she was too polite to reject him. He kissed her hand and grinning, said:
"Deerheart, I yearn for your turftéd hair
To run your locks through my fingers
Like water in a stream
My love flows uphill towards you."
"GET him out of here!" Alfred screamed at his guards, and two of them came and dragged a dopey grinnig Gwaine away, waving at Rachel as hewent, blowing her a single kiss, and attemping to bow as the the guards held him about his wriggling torso.
"Anyways" Alfred turned back to Arthur and merlin and their crestflalen faces and smimiled beautifically at them "If you spend the morning together, I can arrange for us to discuss why you have cat yourselves upon our mercy." Arthur was torn: to refuse was to be cast out, he could tell, if he wanted Alfred's help he had to play along. The thought of hurting Merlin was incorrigable tho. He looked a this lover with confusion writ large across his face and he saw the second that Merlin realise what it mean. His anmgry jaw was set firmly in a straight line, he nodded at Arthur once.
He understood.
Artur turned back to the King and said with a fake smile "I would be honoured to be hosted by your gracious daughter." Alfred clapped his hands tgether loudly and grinned.
"Excellent! Then I small leave you in her capable hands. We will meet after lunch to discuss your request." With this his swooped out of the room in a whorl of blue cepe. Merlin threw him a dark loo and stormed out fo the hall, his insides, worms. He understoof his partner's logic, but he did not like it.
He stalked, silent and feline, down the castle's corridor's to Gwaine's room, deciding to bury his frustration with his boyfriend in the niggling concern for his Gaelic friend. He flung open the pine door that sat in front of Gwaine's room with a crash and entered without a knock.
"Gwaine!" he shoted, looking desperatingly around the chamber, intent on focussing on the problem he could fix. He signed in exasperation and swirled arund to leave. He tried Wills room, Lancelots and Gwen's room, but Gwaine was not there. It wasn't until he burst into the room that had been given to Arthur that he found his friend; bent over the desk deep in thought, long wavy hair cascading over his face.
"Gwaine! What are ytou doing here?" He asked, annoyed at having been looking for himfor so long.
Merlin!" Gwaine jumped to his feet from where he had sat idly starring form the window, he grasped his friend's forearms in exctitement as he bounded over to the warlock like a puppy.
"Is Rachel coming?" he asked looking behind his friend hopefully Merlin rolled his eyes at his friend.
"Not just yet." He said, humouring his pal.
"I'll just wait here for her- or should I go and find her, what do you think, Merlin, would she be best wooed by a forceful man?" he asked, eyes glittering nervously.
"I... I don't know. Why are you even in here?" Merlin asked, trying to get things back on his track.
"I like the softness of the bed, mine is too hard, I slept here last night... It's not like Arthur was using it." he exlpained flashing Merlin a knowing eye. "Do you think she'll be able to find me here?"
"Sure I just need to look in your ear first" He said and pushed his friend to sit on the char again.
"Why my ear?!" Gwain asked at leaned away, looking confused at his friend.
"Uhm...clean ears are very important to the princess. Hygeine y'know?" Merlin made up on the spot with his fingers crossed behind his back.
"Oh or course. Shes to beautiful to ever be touched by dirt. I'm wroiting her a poem" Gwaine immediately relaxed and explained, grinning dumbly.
"Mhmmm" Merlin hummed, not really paying attention. He looked itno Gwaine's ear, luckily his magic worked long enough to make a small light to see.
"So far it goes like this: Rachel, thine eyes sparkle like fresh cut diamonds,
Thine skin is effervescent as the moonlight's glow,
Thou singst as summer's breeze through tree fronds
To win thine heart; aquesting I will go. What do you think?" Gwaine asked expectanly.
"I think you've been Love poisoned" MErlin straightened up and Gwaine looked at him in shock.
"How dare you! Rachel is the light of my life and Iw ill throw myself into the Liffey if she turned me down!! I'll...I'll foight you!" Gwaine stood in a rage and pointed angrily at MErlin who rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Gwaine you're writing poems. I don't think you actally know what a ryhme is normally!"
"She is my muse! She is is Cassipoiea, the sky I hang my stars upon, she is the eye of the day, and the moonless sky" Gwaine insisted, romancitally.
"Oh my god. Vos dormio" Merlin placed hi h and on Gwaines head and muutered the enchantmentt o send him to sleep.
Gwaine slumped on to the bed, silent for just a momeent before letting out a loud snore. As this struck, Merlin felt a chilly wave ripple through his body, his knees went weak and he sunk on to the bed, softer even than he had expected, to sit next to his unconscious friend. He gasped for air, realising that he would not be able to cure Gwaine.
Leaving Gwine to nap, Merlin trudge along the coridor thoughts running wild in concern for his friend, and for Arthur, his lvoe. He tryed to ignore the little voice that whispered to his doubts, that maybe this princess was the one Arthur was destined to love, and he was just the warm up act. He tried to shake them off and remember the soulbond spell, the golden light: that proved it. But would it have included her? She was very far away, in a different kingdom, why would it have included her if she was also Arthur's mate?
Merlin looked up and saw he had found himself outside a large studden door that had a sign on it showing that it was the libary. He needed to look for a cure for Gwaine that didn't invole accidentally blowing him up with Merlin's inconsistent magic and if he happened to come across a book that mentioned someone having two soulmates it couldn't hurt right?
Hours later, Merlin was propped up on the green velvet covered bed, surrounded by books he'd "borrowed" from the library by hiding them under his jacket after the old librarian had just glared at him when he aske politely if he could take them to read, when Arthur returned back and flopped face down on the bed with a sigh.
"How was it" Merlin said dangerously. He didn't look up from the book he was looking at, even tho he wasn't reading it anymore.
"Urgh" Came Arthur muffled reply and Merlin poked him with his foot.
"Get up your squishing the books" Merlin complained. Arthur raised a head and conveyed his glare with a single eye.
"I feel like I could write a bloody book." He groned. "On reptile."
"Reptiles? You had fun with Rachel, then?" Merlin asked, his worry giving way to amusement.
"Oh, goddess, Merlin, Rachel's nice enough... but... all the reptiles. It's all she cares about! Did youknow that there are six types of snake indigenous to Britain and four lizards and SIXTY-four newts? SIXTY-FOUR. And she has most of them as pets! They all look the same, Merlin, I cannot tell one scaly green newt from another scaly green newt!" he ranted, as he say up and edged his way owards Merlin, finishing with his head buried in the green pillows by Merlin's alluring hip.
"She'd love the dragon," Merlin commented mildky.
"What?" Arthur asked, sitting him up in shock. Merlin looked nonchalent.
"Nothing." He responded, with innocent puppy eyes. Arthur glared at his mate suspiciously.
"Do you think she could be your soulmat?" he asked, bluttering out his fear in a sudden and abrupt burst. Arthur frowned in alarm.
"No!" He yelled and grabbed merlins hands "It's you, it always you" He finished softly and Merlin felt the warmth of his love melt the ice around his cold heart.
"If you're sure" He said with a small smilt.
"What happened with alfred?" the warlock asked him gently, eyes bristling with concern. "Did he agree to help us?" he gazed deparately at the Arthur.
"Not yet." Arthur confirmed. Pausing dramatically before he continuned... "I think he will if I spend more time with Princess Rachel. I think it's a trick. We might need to spend our nights aprat, so we don't incure his wraith." he explained maudlinly.
"Why? It's not a secret that we're soulmates, my love." Merlin protested.
"I know, I know, but for appearances! We knead to make Alfred think there's a chance I could love Racehl" Arthur said. Merlin eyed him suspiciously, like the shoipkeepers use to eye him when he was a theif. He sighed.
"Hey that reminds me- Gwaine slept in your room and got love possioned!" Merlin said. "You cannot sleep there!" he barked. Arhtur rolled a racalsient eye.
"Fiiin, I'll stay here with you. Love POISON?" he enunciated, surprised. Merlin notted.
"Yeah they put it in his ear instead of he drank it. It makes a difference. But i can't cure him with my magic all freaked out like this, we need to get him back to the treehouse, i have supplies there. But Arthur, I thin the love poison was meant for you!" Merlin said despeaartely gripping Arthur's callused blacksmiths hands in his own, tan and firm below his pale and swift, the only link connected them physically. Merlin ould feel his magic rushing to meet him as it always does, wanting to flood Arthur with his love and warmt h until he glows.
"We need to be careful with these people. I don't want them know we know so I'll keep on hanging out with Rachel, and meeting with Alfred to discuss terms. The sooner we can leave the better." Arthur said solemnly gazing into merlins eyes, his eyes earnest. Merlin nodded unable to help himself against his partner's cerulean orbs.
"I want to come with you" He said sulkinly.
"Merlin no!" Athur said with fear in his eyes. "That would be suspicious. We can't let them know we suspect them of threchery" Merlin scowled and looked at their joined hands.
"Fine but promise me you'll be safe" he pouted. Arthur reached up to carress his strident jaw and raise Merlin's face to his ow.
"I would do anything for you" Arthur said and brught their mouths together in a soft kiss.