Heartquake

Heartquake 10

“She should say yes. She played with my accessories all afternoon,” Morgana crosses her arms but smiles nonetheless.

“Thanks again, Morgana,” he says as Em jumps off the bed and run to her father’s side.

“Please, Merlin, you need to stop thanking me already. Taking care of Em is a pleasure,” she looks down at the girl fondly. “Meeting Arthur?”

“Uh, yeah,” Merlin hopes she doesn’t notice the blush creeping up his cheeks. She does and she gives a mischievous smile, like she’s known he’s in love with Arthur before he ever did. The door opens and Sir Leon pops in.

“My Lady?” the knight asks.

“Ah, Merlin, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to,” Morgana nods cordially. This time, Merlin can see the blush.

He and Em leave and Merlin thinks that he’s happy as long as she is. They meet Arthur at his chambers and he leads them somewhere and they follow blindly.

“Where are we going?” Merlin asks.

“Somewhere,” Arthur answers.

“Great, so not nowhere, then,” Merlin grumbles.

They stop walking when they enter a space, a small field, with hues of green and blue everywhere. It looks miraculously same as their yard but this one is different. More flowers growing, more trees, a lot more breeze and they can see the silhouette of the castle if they turn their backs.

“It’s beautiful, Arthur,” Merlin says.

“I used to come here a lot when I was kid. I just rediscovered it a few weeks ago,” Arthur says, and sits down on the grass.

“What’s in the bag?” Em asks Arthur.

“Ah, yes, Em, I’m glad you asked,” he opens the bag and there, wrapped in paper, are pieces of chicken and a few bunches of grapes.

“Picnic!” Em says excitedly.

They all sit cross-legged on the grass and eat their food slowly, enjoying the taste and the company. Soon, they’re full with food and Em proceeds to run around them in circles until Arthur puts his hands on her waist and brings her to his body.

Em situates herself comfortably between Arthur’s legs and starts picking flowers out of the ground, collecting them one by one in her hands. Merlin sits next to them, hand on Arthur’s shoulder as the prince strokes Em’s hair lovingly.

He then puts his chin on Arthur’s shoulder, then presses his lips to the prince’s shirt. Arthur looks at him like he’s asking some sort of silent question but Merlin just smiles. He brings his other hand to Arthur’s chest, where the future king, his king, puts his hand on top of it.

Emeline sits up and starts putting the flowers she’s collected in Arthur’s hair, which dissolves all of them to laughter.

“Doesn’t Arthur look pretty, Daddy?” she asks.

“Deeply so,” Merlin nods and buries his nose in Arthur’s scent.

He should probably tell Arthur that he’s leaving for Ealdor soon. Surely the prince would notice his absence tomorrow.

He gets kitchen duty so he doesn’t see Arthur for a few hours, until darkness descends on Camelot and Merlin’s eyes are resisting the temptation to close and his cheek is resisting the urge to just lie on any flat surface he can find.

When he gets off the job, he goes to Arthur’s chambers and finds a sight that makes his heart melt.

Arthur is on his chair at his table, where scattered papers lie there with abandon and his head is lolled to the side in slumber. In his arms, however, lies Emeline, curling up to Arthur’s chest, her eyelids closed and her chest heaving with breaths almost in time with Arthur’s.

Merlin lets himself look at this scene for just a moment longer until he walks towards them and puts an arm around Em, starting to pull her away from Arthur’s embrace.

It wakes the prince up in the process. He blinks his eyes, once and twice, before they settle on Merlin.

“Merlin,” he says sleepily.

“I’m just taking Em to bed,” he says.

“Mmph, let me,” Arthur puts his arm around the little girl and carries her to the antechamber and gently puts her down on the bed, tucks the sheets around her, and nods as if he’s done a good job.