Seven Kisses

Chapter Six: Six Hours until Dawn

VERY LATE EVENING *Same day*

They were getting worse, these dreams of hers and so... so real.

She didn't know how to take them or truly what they meant. This time she was alone, surrounded by evil in the shadows. She couldn't get away from the shadows as they held her fast. Dark tendrils coiled around her body and she felt her energy draining away. Morgana tried to struggle but that just made it worse. She was tired but she wouldn't give up fighting. Arthur would expect no less. Why she was thinking of Arthur just then she did not know. All she knew was that the look in his eyes alone was enough to help her keep fighting. She held on to the memory of his kisses, his touch. She clung to how he made her feel when he touched her in place no one had ever dared. She reveled in all the ways she could make his body come alive and conjure that look in his eyes. That look reserved only for her. "Arthur—" she whispered softly.

Her body was hot and tingling. How many times now? What number were they on? Morgana felt something heavy between her legs she'd never felt before and she opened her eyes dazedly. If she could cling to the memory she could get through this. These things wouldn't keep hurting her, resisting her. She tried to move but they pinned her down. Her head hurt, likely from being knocked around on the way down. Down where? She tried to move again but they only tightened around her.

The dungeon walls were slightly damp and from somewhere a light flickered. The stone was so glassy down here you could almost see through it. She lifted her head and stared. The eyes that looked back at her were not her own. They were begging her, pleading with her. "Morgana..."

It was Merlin. She was Merlin, and he looked terrible. There was blood sliding down the side of his face.

She screamed and woke up drenched in sweat.

"Morgana..." Gwen rushed into the room and held her. "Morgana, my dear." She held the sobbing woman in her arms.

***

LATE EVENING *Same Day*

"Father, will you at least listen to me." Arthur stared hard at Uther and his begging him to understand. They had been talking for the past three hours and he was getting nowhere. His father was extremely stubborn when he wanted to be.

As for Uther, he was defiant and confused. Yes, he knew Samuel was dead and he also remembered seeing him recently and being confused by that as well. He rubbed his forehead. He had to admit that ever since Catrina was exposed his mind felt a bit like it was stuffed with cotton.

"I've not been at my best, Arthur, I know that." Uther admitted with a grimace.

"You married a Troll!" Arthur glared at him.

"I didn't know!" Uther glared back.

"You didn't trust us then. Trust us –NOW-, Father. Please. I know you don't approve of my relationship with Merlin but I need your help. There must be something." Arthur hated having to beg, but he wasn't going to let this thing hurt Merlin any longer.

There was, but Uther was not going to let it go easily. He had buried that part of himself down so far he wasn't sure if he even wanted to revisit it. That's why he was angry, he supposed. Samuel was a long time ago. Sometimes he dreamed about him, but that's all they were... dreams. Why then did he not want to let go of them? "If I help" Uther knew Arthur wasn't going to let this go. His son was just as stubborn as he was. "I need you to give your word on something." It wasn't really the relationship between Merlin and Arthur that Uther was so annoyed about. It was the fact that it could damage the possibility of there ever being another Pendragon.

Arthur exhaled; surprised he'd even got this far with his father. "Tell me what you want."

"I want your word, Arthur, that when the time comes, you will marry a suitable woman and have children. If you swear to me that you will do that, swear on your mother, then I will help you." Uther told him flatly.