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She's powerful in a way Arthur has not known in anyone, woman or man, with an intensity of will that shatters his self-perception as a knight, as a prince, and at his core, as a man. He catches glimpses of her doing simple things—carrying linens, pouring wine, her black hair swaying gently—and wants to possess her, but he knows she lacks something essential that he'd always long to touch. Prince Arthur has never fancied himself a typical man, and when he dreams of her, he dreams of him—of Merlin, a man who exists only within Arthur’s mind.