Truth under spell (Merthur)

Chapter 14: Day 3: The Long Night That Never Ends

Because I love you guys has another chapter. 

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"I didn't tell him I love him to."

Leon stared at him stunned. 

"I love him more than anything. More than even my own title. I'd give up my crown for him and I..." Arthur hid his face in his hands. "And I just stood there and said nothing. I just kept making him say it."

Leon opened and closed his mouth, looking much like a gaping fish out of water. He didn't know what to say. He sat for a moment and looked at the prince. "Then tell him."

Arthur looked up and shook his head. "I can't, I've hurt him enough."

"You'd hurt him more if you say nothing!" Leon yelled slightly. Looking at the prince like he was an idiot. 

"You do realize I'm the prince and you can yell at me like this?" Arthur stared right back at him with the same look. 

"Not today you're not. Right now, you are simply Arthur, and I am your friend. Who's telling you it will hurt him more if you say nothing." 

Arthur looked at him and his heart was warmed. He grew up with Leon. Leon was the only one that he could truly call a friend. The only one that treated him like a person and not royalty. When everyone else just did as he said, Leon wouldn't. If he didn't find it to be morally right, then Leon would say no. When everyone else would go quiet when he entered a room then Leon would always be the first to say hello. Then they got older and the weight of being the prince was on his shoulders. He stopped treating Leon as a person and started treating him like a knight. Here this knight was, and he was showing he never forgot they were friends. No matter how badly the prince treated him and others. He was still his friend. "Leon...even if I did, my father would never allow it."

There was silence once more. For a moment neither spoke, then Leon finally said. "Then say to hell with your father." Leon looked at Arhtur with not an ounce of regret or shame on his face. "Tell him you love him. Tell him and be with him. Don't let your father know and when you become king make your own laws. Make him the court sorcerer, lift the ban on magic. Be with him if that is what makes you happy." 

"Leon! You can't say that! It's treason!" 

"I don't care. I have always thought your father was wrong and even more so now that I know about Merlin. You can't tell me you agree with the way he does things. I've seen you look away when someone was being executed." 

"Of course I don't agree!" Arthur shouted, "but he's still the king. You're a knight to fight for him and the kingdom. You can't speak about him like this."

"I'm not here for him Arthur. I'm here fighting as a knight for you. Because I know you will be a great king. Cause I know you will do right by the people. All of them, not just the ones without magic but those who are hiding in fear with nowhere else to go!" Leon said. He got up and walked over to the prince he kneeled down and looked him in the eyes. "And Merlin can help you. He can be at your side, not as a servant but as an equal. Or will you sit by and let these people be hunted down? Killed for something that not all use for dark deeds? I've seen warlocks do good Arthur. All I ask is will you do what will make you happy or will you do what will make your father happy? "

Arthur looked at him for a moment in thought. He could see it, a kingdom of peace. A place of magic where the people could grow and flourish. A kingdom with Arthur on the throne and Merlin standing beside him. No, not standing, but sitting on a throne of his own. He didn't know this was something that he could want till it was suggested to him. He knew of Merlin's magic, but he never thought to lift the ban. Of course he always imagined being with Merlin but only in secret not openly. 

After not speaking for a moment Leon sat beside him. "A kingdom with an unhappy king is a kingdom with unhappy people. Just think about it and don't use your father as an excuse."

And think about it he did. For so long that Merlin had come back with the wood for the fire.

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"So," Leon started and scooted closer to Merlin. "Sorcerer then?" 

Merlin was tending the fire and poking around at it with a stick. "Warlock." 

"What's the difference?" Leon asked. He was genuinely curious and not at all trying to be mean or cruel. Others would ask such a question like. 'What's the difference? Magic is magic, who cared about titles.' but Leon asked because he truly wanted to know.

"Sorcerer's study and learn magic, Warlocks are born with it." Merlin said dropping the stick and curling his legs up to his chest. He sat there staring at the fire. "Sorcerers need spells and incantations. They have magic naturally, but they need something to channel it. Where warlocks most of the time use magic by pure instinct."

Leon looked at him confused. "So... the main difference is that one is born that way and the other has to study? So, like I could become a sorcerer but not a warlock?"

"If you have any magical attributes yes." Merlin said. He was actually excited to know that the knight was curious. Unlike many who wouldn't try to understand. They would just shrug their shoulders and say it didn't matter. For once since this spell was casted, he found he didn't mind answering these questions. 

Leon hummed and looked at the fire. "Warlock then, is that why you can call the dragon? I thought only dragon lords could call them?"

"I am a dragon lord." Merlin started to sweat. They were going into a topic he didn't really want to talk about. He changed his mind, he was no longer ok answering these questions.

Leon looked at him stunned. Up till this point Arthur had been listening but not looking. When Merlin said that the prince raised his head and looked at the servant. "How? I thought that dragon lords get their powers when their fathers die."

Merlin hid his face in the circle of his arms. Laying his forehead on his knees. "My father did die."

 "But I thought the last dragon lord was Balinor?" Leon asked not putting it together. 

"He was." The sadness in his voice was clear as glass. 

Leon didn't figure it out, but Arhtur did. He was there when the man had died. He remembered the way Merlin had acted. "Oh...He... he was your father, wasn't he? Thats why you cried."

Merlin pulled his head up and looked at the prince. "Yes, He was my father and when he died that day, I became the last dragon lord."

Leon and Arhtur both stared at him not knowing what to say. For a moment there was an awkward silence. 

Arthur looked at Merlin and was remembering what he said to him that day. "There is something I tell all my knights. No man is worth your tears." He had said as a sort of last words. Right before he went to fight the dragon. He had said it in hopes to help Merlin. Thinking that he had cried simply because the last dragon lord had died and with him their last chance at killing it. However, the truth was much worst. He had cried because he had lost his father. "Merlin, I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say.

Merlin looked at him confused. "For?" 

"For what I said. No man is worth your tears. I shouldn't have said it." 

Merlin stared at him for a moment. "You didn't know he was my father."

Arthur shook his head. "Doesn't matter. You were crying and hurting. Even if I didn't know he was your father. I knew you were sad. I'm sorry for that and for...for earlier. I shouldn't have forced you to say that."

Merlin wanted to so badly say it was ok. That he wasn't mad or upset, but that would be a lie. He was upset and hurting. More so because of the I love you thing rather than what he said forever ago. He stared at the prince that he loved more than anything and didn't say a word. 

Leon looked between the two. They were just sitting and staring at one another. It was getting rather weird and creepy. "We should get some rest. I'll take first watch, you two get some sleep." He said and stood up. Breaking whatever was going on between them. 

Merlin turned to Leon. "Ok, wake me when you start getting tired and I'll take the next watch." 

Leon agreed and went to lean on a tree to watch over them during the night. 

Merlin took one last glance at Arthur before he laid down and while watching the fire flicker and burn, he eventually fell asleep. 

Arthur laid down as well, but he found it almost impossible to sleep. He laid there using his arm as a pillow and stared at Merlin's back. Thinking about all that was said and what had been done. He knew he messed up, and he had to fix it. The how was what he was trying to figure out. He laid there and the last thought he had before closing his eyes to try and sleep was, "It's going to be a long night."

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