Albion's Destiny

12. Cynecynn

Author's Name: The name of the chapter means "family". I hope.

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Arthur woke up in the exact same way he woke up every morning. Merlin woke him up with the lure of breakfast, with a side of cheery banter. Even though whatever had happened last night felt enormous, Merlin looked and acted exactly the same he always had. Arthur was glad. He wouldn't want Merlin to change.

"Eat with me," said Arthur as Merlin went around gathering Arthur's things, getting ready for their departure. They were leaving for Camelot today, and Arthur was amusing himself by watching Merlin's tempting ass move. The idiot hadn't even noticed yet.

"What?"

"Eat with me, Merlin. Come on, there's enough for us both."

Merlin sat down with a grin, immediately stuffing his mouth with a big piece of bread. Arthur's eyes were drawn to the way his lips stretched around the intrusion, and just like that, his thoughts turned filthy. He swallowed when Merlin did, only snapping out of his indecent thoughts when Merlin caught his stare and started to blush.

"The horses are ready," said Merlin to cover up his nervousness. "There's more than enough food, the druids are insisting on it--"

"Yeah, what's that anyways?" interrupted Arthur. "Why can't they just make there own food with a few words and molten eyes?"

"Because... I don't know." Merlin shook his head as his face turned completely red. "Gaius says it's impossible to create food with magic."

"Bullshit," said Arthur. "I saw you grow a whole fucking field of corn. In winter."

"Um, yeah. But no one else can... you know, do that."

Merlin looked very nervous about being powerful and special enough to do that, and Arthur smiled. He wondered why he had ever thought that Merlin would be different when he found out about the magic. He was still the same man. He still regularly fell over furniture, was horrible at holding his liquor, and stuttered out the worst ever lies. Merlin was the same, just... more. And his. Arthur understood that the reason why nothing felt like it was changing between them was because sex was a final step in their relationship. They had always been intimate, and Merlin had always been Arthur's. He just hadn't cherished what he had before.

As Merlin studiously bent to tie various pieces of his armour on him, Arthur thought about how he would like to bite the back of Merlin's neck, hard enough to bruise--a secret mark hidden under his awful scarves to remind Merlin of Arthur. He was actually sad that Merlin had cleaned away Arthur's come from his face. He would have liked to see it dry on those delicious cheekbones.

"My Lord?"

Arthur shook himself off to look at Leon. He had no idea when his second of command actually entered the room. He nodded, hoping he looked like he had been paying attention. Merlin's fingers were still casually holding his forearm, and he could feel the heat from all individual fingers.

"We are ready to leave. The prisoner is secure, and the men have been alerted. Next time the holding wagon rolls around, they will stuff him into it and bring him to Camelot."

"All right," said Arthur, missing Merlin's touch when he shifted back, Arthur's armour in place. "Gather the men, we are leaving."

Arthur was surprised, once again, that the knights didn't notice any change in the dynamic between him and Merlin. When they stopped for the night, Arthur sat as close to Merlin as he dared, nudging him with his shoulders and cracking jokes. He touched Merlin at every opportunity, something that made Merlin smile and curl into the touch like a cat. He wasn't certain why his knights were behaving as though they had all seen this before.