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The light from the sconces along the walls flickered off of the stone floor and the feast-goers as they cheered and drank with each other. The smell of mead and wine was heavy in the air, thanks to the gift that the visiting king had brought. The alcohol scent mixed with that of the smoked and salted meats that had been brought up from storage just for the occasion. Voices mingled together, laughing and talking and singing, drifting alongside the smells.
It was all too much for Merlin.
He was supposed to be working tonight, and he had a big job. Arthur had trusted him to stand behind the visiting nobility and serve them while actually making sure that they weren't going to get spelled or assassinated. Of course there were knights stationed around every window and entrance into the dining room. However, the prince knew that if an evil warlock was dedicated to doing something a room full of wall-to-wall guards would do nothing that a single magician on his side could do in an instant. So he was supposed to be the perfect servant, waiting hand and foot on the nobility. That wouldn't be a hard request, since he had been doing that pretty much since he had arrived in Camelot, but today it was. The king was kind and compassionate, the princess was polite and quiet, and the queen was gentle and patient. By all means, it should have been an easy task to complete.
Despite all of that, Merlin still found himself handing the jug of alcohol over to the servant that was meant to be tending to Uther himself. He rushed out of the hall without anyone noticing that he was gone for some time.
The visiting king made a motion behind him for the servant to move forward and fill his glass again around ten minutes after the young warlock had made his swift departure. He turned when thirty seconds, far longer than Merlin normally took, had passed without his drink being refilled. He turned around to see that the dark-haired man was no longer at his post. He leaned back in his seat and cast a look at the young prince next to him, "It seems that your manservant found something more amusing to do. Did you perhaps send him off on an errand?"
"I did not," Arthur said with a small snort. "But he does work for our court physician. It's possible that he had to go and give some remedies to the members of our court that were not able to attend. Sleeping drafts and the like," he quickly lied.
"I do not doubt that you have a competent staff, Prince Arthur," King Mormir soothed. "I was only trying to jest."
"Yes, of course," he chuckled. "I do hope you forgive me. The last nobility that we entertained was not nearly as forgiving as you and your family. It put quite a strain on the staff."
Mormir nodded in understanding, "Yes, well, we believe that those that serve us should be treated with kindness and patience since they have dedicated their lives to making sure we are comfortable. I am not offended that I am not being tended to as quickly as I was before."
Arthur nodded and motioned for another one of the servants to come and take Merlin's place at serving the new royal family. He made pleasant conversation with the nobles around him as worry for his servant began to grow more and more in his stomach. He used the minstrels beginning their entertainment for the evening as an excuse to be able to slip out of the hall mostly unnoticed.
He didn't know where his feet were taking him as he set off through the castle to find his lover. He could feel the panic that was sitting deep in his gut beginning to spread out through his veins until it was making his breath catch in his throat and his palms sweat. Normally he only got like this before a tournament, and a few times when Merlin had gotten hurt by one of the many attacks Camelot faced. His heart was beating in his ears so much that he almost missed the sound of retching coming from one of the long, dark hallways.
"Merlin?"
His voice echoed over the sound of his lover being ill into a blissfully empty and clean chamberpot. The warlock looked up just long enough to give him a sheepish look before he returned back to gagging.
Arthur jogged a few yards down the hallway so that he was sitting on the bottom step next to his partner. He raised his hand up and began to rub careful circles on the warm skin between Merlin's shoulder blades. It took a little bit longer for him to finally stop being sick, but once he had he magicked the vomit away from the chamberpot and down into the compost pile in the castle basement. "How long?"
"Arthur…"
"How. Long?" His voice was firm and commanding but he was also careful to make sure that it wasn't upset.
"I was going to tell you."
"When?" The hurt leached up into his words before he realized what he was doing. Upon hearing himself he winced and bit the sides of his tongue.
Merlin leaned into his side so that his head was resting on the other man's shoulder and collarbone. It had almost been three years since they had fallen in love with each other, and two since they had officially admitted it. He cupped his lower stomach with his hands. "I just… you were so focused on King Mormir, which you should be, and I didn't want to distract you."
"Mer-lin," the young prince squawked. He reached over and placed one of his large, calloused hands over the servant's lower abdomen. "Our children will never be a distraction to me."
"But they are," he protested. He frowned and placed his hand on top of Arthur's. "This is as far as we ever get, and then I have one of those horrible miscarriages and we're both depressed for weeks and your father gets upset with you."
"Maybe that won't happen this time," he argued with a little shrug.
"Arthur," his voice was small and broken. "It's happened a dozen times already. There are no Dragonlords left that I can ask about this, and Gaius has no idea how to stop it from happening. I just wanted to save you a little bit of hurt."
The prince reached over and took his lover's hands into his own. "Merlin, there is nothing that you could do to hurt me. You are the other half of my heart that had been missing my entire life. I want to be by your side through all of the joy and pain. I want to share in every second of hurt that you have, so that I can remind you that you may be the last Dragon Lord, but you are not alone."
He sniffled a little bit as tears began to gather in his vivid blue eyes. He reached up with the edge of his servant's tunic and wiped them from his face. "I love you," he whispered as he leaned over and gave him a rather wet kiss.
"I love you more," the prince smirked. Merlin smacked his arm in return. They stayed with their foreheads pressed against one another for a little while longer, blissfully ignorant of anything that might be happening outside of the moment that they were sharing. "You never did answer my question."
"I haven't bled in at least three moons," he replied, his voice almost getting caught in his teeth. He was worried that if he mentioned out loud how far the pregnancy had progressed, he would lose it then and there. "And this happened," he reached out and took his lover's hand, once more pressing it to his stomach. Arthur shifted a bit and felt the gentle swell that could have been mistaken for a gut had he not known every single inch of the other man's body.
A grin split across his face, "I think that it's going to take this time, Merlin."
"And why's that?" he asked, trying to hide his own smile. His heart ached as he remembered all of the other times that they had gotten excited to welcome the Crown Prince of Camelot's first born into the world only to wake up to sheets soaked with blood a day or a week or a month later. At the same time, however, he was elated to be starting a family with his lover, even if they were ignoring how they were going to explain the baby to Arthur's magic-hating father.
"Because you've never shown in any of your other pregnancies. We've just known by the morning sickness and the cravings," he grinned like a child on Mother Night. "Merlin, we've gotten this far. I think we can go the rest of the way."