Arthur's Sons (Book 1)

The Beginning of the End (Part 3)

After trying to convince his father to simply imprison the boy and failing miserably he returned to his chambers to find Merlyn finishing replacing the sheets on his bed, he closed the door quietly behind him and smirk to himself. He snuck up on cat-soft feet and wrapped his arms around her middle pulling her against his chest causing her to sequel in fright.

"Just me." He murmured in her ear then placing a chaste kiss just below it before turning her around and pushing her back on the bed. Merlyn giggled as he climbed over her and began placing small kisses up the side of her neck.

"Arthur, I just made the bed." She whined causing Arthur to chuckle and pull back to see her staring up at him lovingly. Arthur heart ached wishing he could have her without the threat of his father or the kingdom.

"Arthur love, what's the matter?" She asked smoothing her hand over his creased brow, Arthur sighed and sat back on the edge of the bed; Merlyn following and watching him with concern.

"It's the boys." He said after a moment staring down at his hands.

"What about them? Have they done something wrong?" Merlyn asked as the panic began to rise in her chest. Arthur sighed and turned to her before tentatively explaining everything Morgana had told him about their involvement with the druid boys escape and subsequent capture. Merlyn had gone white and Arthur quickly reassured her that they would not be jailed but they did need to have a talk, Merlyn nodded before standing and telling him she would be back soon.

Barley 10 minutes later Merlyn entered without knocking followed by both twins who look confused until Rowan's gaze locked with his and the boy paled slightly.

"Sit down both of you." Merlyn ordered them sternly, both boys practically ran to comply bowing their heads in shame. Merlyn took up a spot just behind him and glared down at them but neither boy raised their head and instead remained silent, waiting.

"You were the ones who helped the Druid boy." Arthur stated causing both boys to snap their heads up with a mixture of shock and fear before it was suddenly gone under a emotionless mask, Rowan opened his mouth to speak but Arthur held his hand up stopping him.

"Don't bother lying, Morgana told me everything." Arthur watched as anger filled both their faces and the clear signs of betrayal showed.

"So... wanna tell me why you thought it was okay to not only endanger yourselves but Morgana also." Arthur said leaning forward, resting his chin on his hand and staring them down.

"We saw him in the courtyard.... he was hurt and the guards were looking for him. He was terrified and calling for help, it was a spur of the moment decision." Arty spoke barely above a whisper, wringing his hands in nervousness.

"We didn't mean to get Morgana involved but the guard saw him run toward us and were catching up when we ran down the corridor, we figured Morgana would be most likely to help at the time so we sort of burst in and scared her half to death. When she saw us helping him she didn't hesitate and even insisted he stay with her when we suggested moving him somewhere safer." Rowan continued his voice wobbling with the effort of holding back his emotions.

"I see." Arthur lent back and looked at his boys who were on the verge of tears and felt his heart clench, he knew they were only trying to help but they needed to learn that they could trust him.

"Are we to be punished?" Arty asked hesitantly.

"I think having you tell us everything from the beginning and not leaving out a single detail will be a good start." Arthur responded giving them a meaningful look. Both boys nodded before telling him everything, he noticed they were able to skilfully skip around the parts where they had used magic but he supposed that would come in time. He was impressed by the attention to detail they had for the original plan to get the boy out of the city and could see they would have succeeded if Morgana had not butted in, he was also surprised that Arty had such a skill for healing but he supposed he did live with the court physician so it would be a natural assumption that he had learnt a thing or two. When they finished they both looked exhausted from the weight they had been carrying for the past few days and Arthur felt relieved they had told him without protest.