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Ever since Arthur was a child, he had known that Magic wasn’t supposed to be around him. A Prince of Camelot, the only heir to Uther Pendragon, and the very opposite of Magic. His first nursemaid, according to the whispers that he tried to ignore, had the gift. She used it to soothe him, to light candles in the night and to try and help him sleep, but she had become sick. It started slowly, but the more time she spent with Arthur, the worse she became.
It took until Arthur’s tenth summer for Uther to realise that he had the ability to find Magic-users. That, when they were close enough, Arthur could draw off them. He could not control it, had no ability to use the Magic himself, he merely absorbed the power from others. They would weaken, become feeble during extended periods of contact, and it became a way of ensuring nobody within the Castle could perform Magic.
It got worse during his early teen years, he would draw more energy than people could provide. He’d have a new nursemaid almost weekly, women brought throughout the Kingdom to serve him, yet Arthur kept taking away their energy. Slowly, it became clear that he needed contact with others, to extend his interactions so that he could take energy from all of them. Not enough for them to notice, not enough to make anybody sick.
Gaius, the Court Physician and Uther’s advisor, told Arthur it was because he had been born of Magic. That, because Uther had used such a dangerous spell to conceive, it had made Arthur the very opposite of Magic. The Prince had to learn that everything contained a certain amount of Magic, that even the plants and the animals had such a gift. He could draw from them, absorbed energy without ever making anybody ill.
It just meant that Arthur knew how to keep secrets from his Father. Like the visiting noble that had passed out after Arthur shook his hand and kept the hold, or the Guard that sometimes grew pale if he was outside of Arthur’s Chambers. The stable-boy, that occasionally would sleep outside if Arthur was roaming the Castle, just because he had more Magic inside him than most.
Gaius was one of the worst. He hated hurting him, so tried to limit the time he spent with the Physician. If he knew that he would be visiting him, Arthur made sure to tire himself out beforehand, to visit lots of other people so that he did not hurt the man that had explained his curse to him. Even Morgana, the King’s Ward, was susceptible to his power. They had hidden that well, covered it up by Gaius telling the King she suffered with night-terrors.
The very first time Arthur met Merlin, he hadn't picked up on the Magic. Then, when he noticed that he never felt empty around him, Arthur was forced to realise that Merlin had Magic. Worse, it had to be strong, considering Merlin was the one he constantly spent time with. Drawing his energy, sucking away enough Magic that Merlin should be dead on the floor, yet the boy never stopped smiling. He was a clumsy idiot, tripping over nothing and constantly smiling or rolling his eyes, disrespecting Arthur like he wasn’t the Prince of Camelot.
The boy had Magic, and was obviously trying to hide it. To begin with, Arthur presumed it a plot. That the sorcerer was attempting to kill him, and it was just an elaborate ploy to get him to trust his manservant.
The thing was, Merlin kept jumping into danger for him. Risking his life, time and time again, without the slightest hesitation. Braver than any Knight he’d ever met, far more able in his Magic than Arthur had first thought, and the Prince decided that Merlin truly was an idiot. That he had Magic, yet he stayed in Camelot, knowing the risks.
Gaius promised to keep his curse a secret, told Merlin nothing of the fact that he should be on the floor with the amount of energy Arthur took from him. The usual ache in the pit of his stomach, the emptiness that came when he didn’t have any energy to drain, it was always filled. Morgana watched with amusement as Arthur began to do the same for Merlin, sought him out and kept him safe from Uther, just because he knew that there had to be something special.
‘Perhaps his Magic is too strong.’ Gaius supplied, and Arthur rolled his eyes. How could a manservant that tripped over his own feet be a powerful sorcerer?
The Dragon, in the end, was the creature that explained the truth to him. Another secret Arthur wasn’t supposed to know about, but in times where the Prince had no other energy to steal, it had been Kilgharrah’s that he relied on. The scaled-creature told him of a prophecy, that Merlin would one-day be the greatest sorcerer Albion had ever seen. That it was his Destiny to protect Arthur, to keep him safe.
Arthur had laughed, then realised the Dragon was serious, and promptly almost fell over. He was only settled by the fact that Merlin was close enough for him to steal energy from, to replenish his own supply and demand an explanation of why he was tied so deeply to such a clotpole.
‘Two sides of the same coin.’
It started to make sense, slowly. Merlin could read him better than anybody else, was always right there whenever Arthur needed him. Hell, the servant risked his head every day by warming Arthur’s bathwater with Magic, or using spells to light the fire when he couldn’t get a flame to catch. On Hunts, it was Merlin that stayed by his side. Out on Quests, it was Merlin that vanished and then mysteriously reappeared after the beast had been killed.
It was Merlin that told his sister she was special, that he’d help her hide her gift from Uther. Arthur watched as one servant, one person, successfully managed to weave himself so perfectly into Arthur’s life, that the Prince honestly doubted he could ever lose Merlin. In fact, Arthur began to realise he was worried about the idiotic servant, that somewhere along the line, he’d grown attached to the man.
Every time Merlin jumped into danger, it was Arthur that ran behind shrieking at Merlin to get back. When he was stupid enough to admit to Magic in front of the King, it was Arthur that had to work to hide the secret. Because if Merlin couldn’t look after himself, then Arthur would do it for him.
Where he was devoid of all Magic, Merlin was the very opposite. He was Magic, it poured out of him, acted like it was a part of him.
When Arthur was King, he swore he would protect Merlin, to repay him for all that the sorcerer had done for him. For the energy gifted, for the many times Merlin had saved his life.
Suddenly, the curse didn’t seem so bad anymore.