Chapter Text
FOUR MONTHS AGO
Arthur groaned as he slowly rose to consciousness. Every muscle in his body felt like he had volunteered to be the practice dummy for a month. Felt loose, like those muscles had been stretched to their limit, then failed to snap back entirely.
"Here, Sire, drink this." A cup appeared at his lips, and he eagerly took it. His throat and mouth were parched, like he hadn't had water for months. He tried to gulp it, but was tsked and the cup placed to allow only small sips. "Slowly. You know better."
Having satisfied himself, Arthur let his head drop back and his eyes open. He slammed them shut as the bright sunlight hit them. He heard a rustling, then the light was gone.
"Thank you," he groaned. He let his eyes open again, and smiled. "Artemis, this is becoming a habit," he greeted.
The old druid chuckled. "Indeed, Sire. Though it is one I would gladly break."
Arthur closed his eyes again, exhausted but enjoying the feeling of the remedy Artemis had given him slowly easing his aches. "What happened?"
"What do you remember?"
Arthur’s expression turned to one of concentration as he considered the question. As he remembered, his eyes flew open and he shot up. "Merlin! Artemis, the magic he channeled…"
Artemis put up soothing hands. "Your Consort is resting, Sire. I have done all I can for him."
"Is he all right?"
"I believe he will be, with time. Sleep is what he needs most. I've put salve on his burns. They are severe, but I think with care he'll have full use of them, if not a little stiffness and some age pains in bad weather. He is fortunate that a sword is not his primary weapon."
“One of the market Druids…” he trailed off as the older man shook his head sadly.
“We tried, Sire. Healing Emrys would take a power almost equal to his own, which as you know, doesn’t often exist. His own magic interferes with it. Add to that what he had been working with- no, Sire. As I said, all that could be done has been.”
Arthur looked around the room then, eyes looking for anything different. "Did we … no, you wouldn't know. The fact that you're here means we must have succeeded on some level," he spoke to himself more than the druid.
"I'm aware of your recent adventures, Arthur. Part of them, at least. As a Seer, there are some things more clear to me than others, but I believe you were both fully successful. I believe the timeline has been restored exactly as it was. If it had not been, Emrys would not have been able to return Morgana to wherever she was. It was only the two of you who appeared here.”
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, flopping back. "Thank the gods." Another thought occurred to him. "How long have I been asleep?"
"A few days. The stress on your bodies was severe, Sire. It will take time to put that right," Artemis answered, giving him another cup of fluid. "The spell young Emrys performed in less than peak condition used almost as much of your strength as it did his."
Arthur scrunched his nose as soon as the smell hit him- Artemis's potions tasted no better than Gaius's had- but he willingly drank it, ignoring the slight rebuke in the druid’s tone. "Do you know how long we were gone?"
Artemis shook his head. "There is no way to know for sure, Arthur. And no one else is aware. To them, you suddenly appeared after your journey to the Crystal Cave to save Merlin, both of you unconscious. There would be other magical beings aware of what happened- much in the same sense as I am- but only knowing that something important had almost been lost and had been saved through powerful magic. But to us, you were gone for about a week."
Arthur sighed, settling himself more comfortably. Every part of him wanted to go see his lover, but Artemis had stressed how important sleep was for him, the tone of voice suggesting he would not be pleased with any interruptions to his prescription. "So, fill me in on what's happened while we were gone."
He tried very hard not to smile when Artemis immediately went into the details regarding the slow repair of Prince Durstan's relationship with the Queen Regent, the frustration of the Council over Gwen’s refusal to tell them anything, and Gwaine’s minor meltdown at being left behind. He had long ago discovered the old man was wise, quiet, confident… and quite the gossip!
MERLIN101010101101010110MERLIN
Gwen smiled as she walked in, seeing her King sitting on the edge of the sorcerer's bed, washing the bare skin with tender care.
"There are servants for that, you know," she pointed out fondly, announcing her presence as she took a seat on the chair next to the bed, her knee touching Arthur's. A solid presence to remind him he had friends who cared.
Arthur shot her a smirk, not stopping his ministrations. "And let them touch what's mine?" He pretended to look aghast, shuddering visibly at the very thought. "I'd have them beheaded."
She laughed, giving him a shove. "You're such a child, Arthur." He grinned at her and shrugged. "Artemis says he'll be fine, that he just needs rest," she reassured. She sent a sad look at the heavily bandaged hands. "And time to heal, though they will scar badly."
Arthur nodded. "I know. This is for my own indulgence. Might as well get it while I can. I doubt he'll be speaking to me when he wakes up."
Gwen frowned. "Did things go badly in the Crystal Caves?"
"I did what I had to do," Arthur answered quietly.
Gwen nodded, accepting. Then she sighed, chewing her bottom lip. Time to get to it, she thought. "Arthur, the Council are… concerned. There's some rather unpleasant talk going around."
The King nodded calmly. "My eyes." He had already seen the double takes, the strange looks he'd received whenever he'd been around the castle. None had had enough courage to speak to him directly about it yet, and he'd been content to leave it alone until someone was. Except, of course, Prince Durstan. The sight had sent the poor man into prayer for hours. "Cowards couldn't confront me themselves so they sent you. The very woman they argued vehemently against when I announced your regency has become their shield," he snorted in disgust. "You're too good to them."
"Arthur, be kind. You have been… harsh… on those who dared to tread too closely to Merlin in the past," Gwen pointed out. "They are concerned you've been enchanted."
Arthur hesitated, wondering how much to tell her. He lost himself for a moment in enjoying the feel of the washcloth sliding over the smooth chest of his lover, trailing his fingers lightly after it. He had no way to describe the fear he'd experienced when the younger man had been in control of all that power, when he'd looked and found it was Emrys he was seeing, not his Merlin.
In that moment, he'd thought his love was lost to the ancient powers he communed with. When the being in front of him hadn't flinched from the hatred in Morgana's voice, had confirmed with a great deal of sadness that their final battle was yet to come, reaching out with ruined hands for both of them. He'd thought then he may never get this chance to touch again, to feel the younger man's steady heartbeat beneath his fingers. Yes, he thought, he was thoroughly enchanted. But not as the Council feared.
"It is of my own making," he finally answered. Arthur slowly moved his eyes to connect with hers, and gathered up the Bond to him, let it fill him, let all the threads he had created surround him. He took in the sense of his lover, of a deep, healing slumber. He felt it reach automatically along the connection he'd made with Merlin. He gave a light tug on the hum of power flowing through it. He heard her gasp when he deliberately pushed that power toward his eyes, felt the gold crowns burn for a moment, before he allowed it to fade away, letting himself slip out of the Bond. "Do you believe I have been influenced by it?"
Gwen hesitated. "Arthur, that was… certainly not natural. But I do believe that you control it," she answered, nodding to herself. "That is what I will tell the Council.”
“Did you have the same fears?” he inquired gently. The Council could go to Hell, but he cared about her opinions.
“No, not really. Maybe a little. Obviously something caused it. I wanted to be sure it wouldn’t harm you.”
“Much like the thing itself, Gwen, the harm it causes will be of my own creation,” The King answered sadly.
She had no answer for that. “Did it… did it happen because of the Cave? Durstan was very worried while you were gone."
Arthur shook up his head, dropping the cloth in the wash water, disappointed that his task was finished. He allowed his fingers to trail up and down the bare arm closest to him as he spoke, unable and unwilling to stop touching. "In a way, I suppose. He needed help, needed shields he'd refused to build himself. I used the Bond to reach out to him, to create them for him. I didn't know it would mix with the ancient magic in the Cave, didn't know the combination of the two would leave a permanent mark. And if I had known- I still would have done it." He nodded at Merlin. "His eyes are the same. The gold is in them all the time now, not just when he uses magic. Personally, I think it's rather attractive on him. Not as nice as when they go completely gold, mind you, but still attractive."
Gwen smiled at him. "You've come so far, Arthur. It wasn't so very long ago that you weren't able to be so accepting of his magic. And now… now you wield a power all of your own with as much confidence and surety as he does his."
"None of it seems to overly shock you, either. I'm impressed at- and sincerely grateful for- how supportive you've been to both of us," Arthur replied, shying away from her intended compliment. "And the only reason he had to wait until I became King is because I was too much of a coward to stand up to my father for him, still wanted my father's approval. Believe me, had I known then what I do now, things would have turned out very differently."
"Durstan has told me what he knows. And I have seen for myself how it saved Merlin's life. You've always been close with him, Arthur. The more I learn about your destiny together, the less of what the two of you do surprises me," she laughed. She sobered. "It's not dangerous to you, the Prince told me, though he admitted these bonds are so rare that little can be taken as fact. But I saw, Arthur. I saw you go into it too deeply."
Arthur shook his head firmly. "The Bond itself is not dangerous to me. I've been assured of that from many sources. My choices in wielding it, however, can be. The same as any tool." He took a deep breath. She needed to know. "But, there is something you, and you alone, should know."
Gwen gave him a look of concern. "Arthur, what is it?"
"Do you truly understand how much I love him?" Her expression softened, and she nodded. "I was going to lose him, Gwen. He was never going to stop throwing himself in front of me. I understand it's his destiny to protect me. But you have to know, I can't watch him die again. I won't survive it. I told you before we left for the Cave- his last breath would be my own. The only way to protect me is to protect him. I did what I had to do."
Gwen reached over and put her hand over his. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she smiled at him. She had known from the first moment Arthur had revealed the Bond to her that it could never end any other way. "Arthur, I understand. You don't have to say it. I think I knew the first time I saw your eyes." She looked over to the slumbering man on the bed. "But he… Arthur, he'll never accept it."
"He will. He has no choice."