Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The curtains were ripped open. “Up you get, sire,” Merlin’s indifferent voice woke him. Arthur grumbled into his pillows. Merlin didn’t bother coaxing him out of bed, just did his usual chores. When Arthur looked up, he saw Merlin was doing them even more sloppily than usual.

“What’s up with you?” Arthur asked as he watched Merlin pour water into a goblet. Despite his quick and clumsy movements, he didn’t spill a drop. “Have you got somewhere to be?”

Merlin chuckled humourlessly. “Just tomorrow would be great.”

Arthur sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “If you don’t want to-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Merlin replied, “Oh, no sire, I’d be happy to attend to you today, and tomorrow, and every day after.”

Arthur was left speechless at the heartfelt words that were said so tiredly. He watched Merlin work for a moment, laying out his breakfast and getting him his clothes for the day. It was obvious his heart wasn’t in it.

When Merlin noticed Arthur was watching him, he stilled his movements. “Is something wrong?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Arthur could swear he saw a flicker of hope in Merlin’s eyes, but he had no idea what for. “Are you feeling okay?”

A small smile broke through Merlin’s mask of indifference. “I’m not sure. I’m afraid to…” He shook his head, his smile vanishing. “We’ll see.”

With those puzzling words Arthur ducked behind the privacy screen to change. He reemerged while strapping his belt around his waist, looking for his sword. It wasn’t in its usual spot. “Where’s my sword?” he asked Merlin.

“You won’t be needing it today. I know you feel naked without it, but you need to trust me when I tell you all will be better off if nobody gets their hands on your sword today.”

Arthur blinked at him. “But-”

“Training is cancelled.” Merlin indicated his breakfast. “Eat.”

Arthur sat down and raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know you gave the orders here, Merlin.”

Merlin only rolled his eyes. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

Arthur followed him to the door with his eyes, then directed his gaze to the food in front of him when the door closed. “Merlin!” he called after his servant, who didn’t return. “You forgot the fork and knife!”

When Merlin came back to clear away the dishes, he told Arthur, “Your father will ask you to accompany him to the village Howden. You will tell him how terribly sorry you are, but you cannot come with him because you have other things to do. You’ll come up with something. Just don’t mention the tavern, he won’t like that. Make up something about a girl or something.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because otherwise you’ll die.” Any other day Arthur would think Merlin was joking, but he sounded strangely serious when he said it.

“Excuse me?”

Merlin seemed to be mustering his patience as he spared Arthur a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “On the way to Howden, your father’s company will be attacked by some magical creature. It’ll be looking for you, but when it doesn’t find you there it’ll leave the king and his men alone.”

Arthur frowned. It sounded like Merlin was hiding something. “How can you be so sure?”

Merlin shrugged, pulling the door open with the hand that wasn’t holding the tray with Arthur’s empty breakfast dishes. “I hear rumours.”

Arthur followed him and held the door before Merlin could pull it closed behind him. “That’s all you’re going on? Rumours?”

Merlin seemed to hesitate for a moment before he turned in the doorway to face Arthur fully. “No, but it doesn’t matter where I heard what I heard. I’d rather you be safe here where I can watch you than on horseback all the way across the kingdom.” He flashed a genuine smile. “Just lie to your father and you’ll be fine.”

Merlin darted down the hall, miraculously balancing the tray. Arthur saw a guard approach Merlin to give him a message and Merlin nodded, glancing back to Arthur. Before Arthur could try to make out what they were talking about, his father approached him from the other side of the hallway. He got the impression Merlin was expertly avoiding the king.

“Arthur!”

Arthur straightened up. “Father.”

The king walked past Arthur into his room and Arthur followed, closing the door behind him. “We have received reports of unusual livestock deaths in Howden,” the king began. Arthur nodded along to his words, inwardly giving Merlin credit for speaking the truth and passing it on to him. “The reports speak of suspected sorcery. I will ride out in an hour with a handful of knights to check it out for myself. I expect you to join me.”

Part of Arthur wanted to say yes, just to defy Merlin’s strange advice. But a different part of him was inclined to take Merlin’s warning seriously. “That… is…” Arthur stammered, trying to come up with a feasible lie to get himself out of it, “worrisome. Unfortunately, I have somewhere else to be today.” He inwardly cursed Merlin for leaving it up to him to think of an excuse. “I would like to accompany you to Howden, but I promised this girl… Elodie… that I would meet her by the sweet briar. I can’t afford to let her down.” He cringed when a spark of curiosity lit in Uther’s eyes. “Not that we’re going to do anything!” he quickly added. “I mean, I barely know her…” He had just said the first girl’s name he could think of. He believed one of the servants was called Elodie, so it was no lie that he barely knew her. “We’re just… going… to talk. You know?”

He wanted to slam his head into a wall when Uther smirked knowingly. “There’s no need to tell me what you and Elodie will be getting up to.” He put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder before he turned to leave. “Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Arthur clamped his jaw closed and nodded. When the door closed behind his father, he groaned and slumped down in a chair. “Merlin, what have you gotten me into,” he mumbled.

The rest of the day proceeded rather normally. He only caught glimpses of Merlin between meetings, always running off somewhere yet keeping an eye on Arthur, as he said he would. Arthur had no idea what Merlin was so worried about.

When Arthur left the council chamber after the last meeting of the day, he caught Merlin by the wrist. “Will you stop running around?” he demanded. “You’re making me nervous.”

“You should be. Be glad it’s only me making you nervous, not some magical beast or secret assassin.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Merlin shook off Arthur’s grip. “Time for supper.” Merlin led the way to Arthur’s chambers. “Your father came back a quarter of an hour ago and asked to dine with you, but I told him you were busy.” Merlin glanced at him, an amused glint in his eyes. “He said he understood. He looked almost proud.” Arthur felt himself getting red. “What did you tell your father you were up to?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Merlin nudged him with his elbow. “You didn’t take my advice of telling him about a girl, did you?”

“Of course not. Why would I listen to you?”

Merlin laughed, a stark contrast to the mood he had been in that morning. Arthur couldn’t help but smile at Merlin’s joy.

When they reached the door Merlin froze, stopping Arthur with a hand on his chest.

“Merlin…?”

“Somebody’s been here. Stay behind me.”

Merlin slowly opened the door, revealing that he was wrong. Somebody had not been in Arthur’s room, somebody was still in Arthur’s room. Merlin threw the door open the rest of the way while he yelled something at the same time.

The young woman laying the table was flung across the room and crashed into the wall. Something about her seemed familiar, though Arthur didn’t think he had ever seen her before. He watched with wide eyes as Merlin confidently strode over to her, his hands clenched into fists.

“Elodie, you have failed!” Merlin stated. Arthur frowned. “Arthur lives. Tomorrow I will wake up and a glorious new day will dawn upon a world in which Arthur’s heart continues to beat for many years to come.” The poetic words tumbled hysterically from Merlin’s lips.

The young woman chuckled weakly. “Did you really think my goal all along was to kill Arthur?”

Merlin held a dagger to her throat. Arthur distantly wondered where he had gotten that. “I don’t care what your goal was. I’ve had enough. Killing you has not made an end to this before so I thought I’d let you live this time, but I was clearly wrong.”

Elodie shook her head pityingly. “You have proved much today, but your test is not over yet. Only a few more hours to-”

She didn’t get to finish as Merlin’s dagger plunged into her throat.

It seemed like this wasn’t Merlin’s first time killing someone. Despite the situation, Arthur couldn’t help but admire how good Merlin looked with blood all over his hands. He shook the thought away and tried to recall if he had really seen what he’d seen: Merlin’s eyes turning gold before Elodie was thrown backwards. Did that mean Merlin was a sorcerer? Yet the first words out of Arthur’s mouth were, “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Merlin laughed, relieving his tension.

Chapter Text

Arthur hadn’t imagined spending his evening getting rid of a body with Merlin, but here he was. He was more surprised none of the guards stopped them to interrogate them. This didn’t seem like Merlin’s first time, either. “How many dead bodies have you had to get rid of?” Arthur asked. If Merlin had hidden his magic from him, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was more he hadn’t told Arthur.

“Too many to count. I’ve just never done it with you. I should let you help me more often, saves me a lot of trouble.”

Merlin was acting strange again, but in a different way than before. Earlier, he had seemed hopeless to the point of exhaustion. Now he still seemed hopeless, but it brought out his recklessness.

After disposing of the body, they slowly walked back in silence. “I’ll clean the room after supper,” Merlin broke through Arthur’s thoughts. “I could get you a new meal from the kitchen and take it to one of the unoccupied rooms. There are tables enough.”

“I have a better idea.”

Merlin turned to look at him in surprise. Arthur suppressed a smile.

“Get yourself cleaned up, then get two meals from the kitchen, one for me and one for yourself, and meet me in the garden.”

The girl named Elodie had reminded Arthur of the lie he’d told his father. While Merlin fetched the food, Arthur grabbed a blanket from his room and took it to the garden where he laid it out by the sweet briar. It was the perfect time, because the sun was just starting to set, painting the sky pink and orange.

Merlin was speechless when he found Arthur there. He acted uncharacteristically hesitant when he laid out the plates with food.

“Something’s been on your mind all day,” Arthur said when they had settled themselves on the blanket and started eating. “I don’t mean to pry, but I want you to know you can tell me.”

Merlin remained quiet for a moment as he slowly chewed on some meat. “This is very… considerate of you.” He gestured to the blanket and the flowers blooming around them. Arthur suspected he’d wanted to say ‘romantic’, but didn’t quite dare to. “Today didn’t go as planned,” Merlin said quietly, looking anywhere but at Arthur. “I mean, the first part did, but then…” He stole a glance at Arthur. “I didn’t mean for you to see what you saw.”

“Your magic?” Arthur whispered.

Merlin nodded, his eyes now fixed on Arthur anxiously. “I’ve wanted to tell you. I was just afraid that…” He shrugged. “Well, I was afraid.”

Arthur took a sip from his wine and looked away. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. The revelation that Merlin had magic shook him to the core, like something had changed and things would never get back to how they were before. He just didn’t know yet if it was a good thing or not. “I hope this isn’t news to you, but I don’t share my father’s beliefs about sorcerers.”

“I know,” Merlin smiled. He sighed, coming to a decision. “I’ve gotten so tired of hiding. I was born with magic, Arthur, I had no choice.”

“And you’ve used it to kill people?”

“To protect you,” Merlin corrected. “Sometimes that means I have to kill people who intend to bring you harm.”

“Why?”

Merlin frowned. “Because they might come back to-”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Arthur changed his position on the blanket to face Merlin more directly. Sunlight was fading by the minute. “Why protect me?”

Merlin searched Arthur’s face before he whispered, “Isn’t that obvious?”

Arthur shook his head slightly.

A sad smile showed on his face before Merlin looked away. Arthur thought he saw tears in his eyes. “I don’t know if I’ll ever have the courage to tell you this again. I try to save your life over and over again because I can’t bear to live in a world without you.”

“But… why?”

Merlin looked at him. A tear rolled down his cheek. “Don’t make me say it. I want…” He sniffed and wiped the tears off his face. “I want this to be real.”

Arthur shuffled closer and touched a hand to his wrist. “This is real, Merlin.” He swallowed and took a deep breath. “Thank you for telling me. I… think I feel the same.”

Merlin chuckled wetly. “You think?”

“I don’t know, Merlin,” Arthur shook his head. “I’ve obviously not given this as much thought as you have. I don’t know what to tell you.”

Merlin looked at him for a moment before his face fell and he retreated. “Don’t bother.”

“What do you mean? What’s wrong?” Arthur had a feeling there was more that Merlin wasn’t telling him, something that explained the strange mood Merlin had been in all day.

Merlin looked at the food. “Are you finished?” Without waiting for an answer, he started packing up the leftover food and dishes.

“Merlin…”

“This was very lovely, Arthur.” He flashed a smile that did nothing to reassure Arthur. “I should be cleaning your room before all the light’s gone.”

Getting up from the blanket, Arthur asked, “Can’t you use your magic for that?”

“I could conjure a light, but it isn’t especially subtle magic.”

“I mean the cleaning.”

“Oh.” Merlin folded up the blanket. “I guess so, yes.”

Arthur followed Merlin to the kitchen where he dropped off the dirty dishes and to the laundry room where he dropped off the blanket.

On the way to his chambers, Arthur asked, “How did you know what Elodie was up to when you found her in my room?”

Merlin glanced at him. “This wasn’t the first time I caught her trying to kill you.”

That made sense. A lot of people were out to kill Arthur, for many different reasons. It seemed like this Elodie had used magic, so her motive probably had to do with his father’s ban on magic – nothing new. “Why did you never stop her before?”

Merlin laughed humourlessly. “Oh, I have. Many times. It never stuck, though.”

Arthur frowned. “You killed her and she came back to life?”

“In a way. She wouldn’t stay dead.”

“So what makes you think she’ll stay dead this time?”

“Nothing. I’m sure she’ll be alive to laugh in my face again tomorrow and it’ll be up to me to kill her again.”

Arthur stopped in his tracks. “I can help you.”

Merlin gave him a conflicted look. Then he smiled that same smile that told Arthur he was still hiding something. “That would be nice. Tomorrow.”

Arthur nodded resolutely, glad that he could at least help Merlin in some way, even though he suspected that didn’t solve all his problems. He led the way to his chambers and watched Merlin clean the blood off the floor with a single spell.

“Good night, my lord,” Merlin said before he left.

Arthur watched him leave. “See you tomorrow.”

He pulled the bed’s covers over himself. He wanted to help Merlin, like how Merlin had apparently helped him in secret for so long. Merlin had put himself into danger all these years, living in the heart of Camelot where magic was punishable by death. And he had done it all for Arthur. The realisation made something warm bloom in his chest.

It had pained him to see Merlin in such a miserable mood today. He wished Merlin would talk about it, but any time Arthur had tried to get him to open up, Merlin had changed the subject. Maybe he would have better luck tomorrow when they would go after Elodie together.

Then he thought back to Elodie’s words before she died. Hadn’t she mentioned some kind of test Merlin was undergoing? She had said there were only a few hours left of it. Arthur was sure he himself was involved in it, but he had no clue in what way. How much time did Merlin have?

If Arthur wanted to help him, he needed to do it now, before time ran out.

“Merlin?” He knocked on the physician’s door before entering.

Only one candle was burning, illuminating the pages of a book Gaius was studying. “He’s in his room,” Gaius told Arthur, giving him a critical look for the night clothes he was wearing.

Arthur nodded his thanks and knocked on Merlin’s door. Merlin opened it.

“Arthur? What are you doing here?”

“I…” Now that he was faced with the consequences of his impulsive decision to run through the castle’s halls and up the stairs to the physician’s tower, he had no idea what to say. He was still catching his breath when Merlin beckoned him inside and closed the door behind, shutting out the sparse light. Only the moonlight through the uncurtained window showed Arthur how utterly confused Merlin looked. He took a deep breath, willing his racing heart to calm down. “I love you.”

Merlin stared at him. Desperation warred with longing, until hope won and Merlin stepped forward to press his lips to Arthur’s.

“I never want this night to end,” Merlin whispered once they were sitting side by side on Merlin’s bed.

Arthur captured Merlin’s hand in his. “Will you tell me what has been bothering you today? And don’t tell me it was Elodie or anything else you’ve already told me, because I know there’s more. Something you’re not telling me and I feel like I should know because it has something to do with me.”

Merlin leaned against him. “I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”

“Promise?”

Merlin gave him an undecipherable look before he kissed him tenderly. “Promise.”

Chapter Text

The curtains opened, the sunlight that spilled through breaking through Arthur’s slumber. The events of the night before came back to him: kissing Merlin, talking in the darkness of the night about everything Merlin had done for Arthur in secret, before Merlin ordered him to go back to bed before the clock struck midnight.

Merlin sounded hesitant when he said, “Wake up, Arthur.”

“I’m awake,” Arthur mumbled. He watched Merlin do his chores around the room before he got up to change. The silence between them felt strange. He couldn’t blame Merlin for having a lot on his mind. “Have I still not earned my fork and knife privileges?” he asked when he sat down for breakfast, which was once again missing the fork and knife.

“Hm?”

“I know how to handle cutlery, Merlin, I won’t stab myself.”

“How did this blood get here?”

Arthur looked over. Merlin was frozen by the wall where he had stabbed Elodie the day before. “I guess your magic missed a spot.”

Merlin whirled around. “My magic…” he muttered, wide eyes fixed on Arthur.

“Don’t tell me you forgot…?”

Merlin slowly shook his head. “You remember?”

Arthur raised his eyebrows. “Of course. You stabbing that girl in front of my eyes isn’t something I’m going to easily forget, Merlin. Did you get any sign of her? Has she come back to life yet?”

Merlin gaped at him. “You remember!”

“I feel like there’s a bigger problem here than my memory, which is functioning perfectly fine.”

“No, you don’t understand!” A grin bloomed on Merlin’s face and he strode over to Arthur, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Elodie is dead for good. It’s a new day! Everything that happened yesterday-” He cut himself off, suddenly letting go of Arthur. A blush tinged his cheeks. “We really kissed, didn’t we?”

Arthur wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. “We did.” He swallowed and softened his voice. “Do you regret it?”

“No, gods no, Arthur, it was the best thing ever!”

“So are you going to explain everything now?”

“Arthur, you have no idea.”

Merlin sat down at the table with a deep sigh, for a moment just staring at Arthur with a big smile. Then it faded and he started explaining.

“I was cursed to relive yesterday over and over again.”

He held up a hand when Arthur wanted to interrupt.

“Let me speak. I watched you die every day in numerous ways, until I managed to prevent everything that could lead to your death. I took your cutlery and your sword from you, I made you stay here instead of go out with your father, I stopped people from poisoning your food… Still, even when I did keep you alive until the end of the day, I would wake up at the start of the same day again. I tried explaining to you what was happening but you wouldn’t listen, or if you would you had no idea how to stop it. I asked Gaius, I asked Gwen and Morgana… Until I noticed Elodie knew more than she let on. I had killed her before – that’s what I meant when I said I couldn’t kill her, she would just be alive again when I woke up to relive the day – but she was the only one who didn’t repeat the same motions time after time. You became so predictable, Arthur, I could answer your questions before you asked them. But not with Elodie. She had a different way of killing you each time. To be honest, it took me way too long to figure out she had something to do with it.”

Merlin took a deep breath and released it slowly. Then he grinned.

“And now it’s finally over. It’s a new day.”

“Damn.” It was a lot to take in, Arthur couldn’t imagine what Merlin had gone through. “How many times have you lived through the same day?”

“I lost count. It feels like at least a month went by, perhaps two or three, which is strange considering the season hasn’t changed all this time. It was difficult to keep track.”

Arthur frowned. “So how did you stop it? I’m alive, but that didn’t seem to be a condition to stop this curse.”

Merlin shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

“What did you do differently?”

“The first half of the day went the same as any other. I took the same preventative measures as always.” He ticked off on his fingers, “Taking the cutlery and your sword from you, cancelling training, asking the guards to tell me if they saw any suspicious behaviour, making sure you wouldn’t go with your father to Howden, getting hold of a dagger to hide in my boot, taking out assassins the guards told me about.”

He dropped his hands.

“When you were still alive after your last meeting, I dared to hope again that it would be different this time. I hadn’t seen Elodie yet, after all. But then she was there in your room. I suspected Elodie was the one who put the curse on me and to stop it she needed to remain alive, but that was clearly not the solution. At this point I’d lost hope again that I would wake up to a new day. I thought it didn’t matter what I did because you wouldn’t remember anyway, so I used my magic in front of you to stop Elodie. That may have done the trick.”

“Revealing your magic?”

Merlin nodded.

“What about… the other things you said? Did you try telling me those things before?”

Merlin bit his lip. “No. Because… I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid you would reject me. But yesterday I thought it wouldn’t matter because I would wake up to a you that would not remember. So I told you anyway, just to see how you’d react. And then… I could never have imagined how well it would go. I didn’t want the day to end only to start all over. Like the first time I managed to keep you alive, I felt like I had finally made progress.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I guess whoever cursed me agreed.”

Arthur chuckled, still grappling with the fact that Merlin had lived countless times through the day that started out seeming like a normal one.

“You surprised me when you showed up last night,” Merlin said. “That had never happened before.”

“I don’t know why I did it,” Arthur admitted, “but I’m glad I did.”

Merlin jumped when there was a knock on the door.

“Enter,” Arthur said.

A guard poked his head through the door. “Your father demands your presence in his chambers.”

“I’ll be there in a moment.”

The guard nodded and closed the door.

Merlin released a breath. “For a moment I feared it was Uther asking you to accompany him to Howden.”

Arthur smiled sympathetically. He supposed Merlin would have to get used to a new routine, one that wasn’t as predictable.

They went to Uther’s chamber together. Merlin remained half a step behind Arthur, who stood in front of his father seated at his desk.

“How did the journey to Howden go?” Arthur asked courteously.

“That is what I called you here for,” the king spoke. “We were ambushed along the way. I have asked Gaius to identify the creatures for us, and he spoke of pixies.”

“Pixies?” Arthur glanced Merlin’s way, who was failing to conceal his smile. “What did they want?”

“They were looking for you. When they discovered you were not with us, they let us be. But the citadel’s security has been increased to ensure they didn’t follow us here.”

Arthur nodded. “Good. I would not want to be kidnapped by pixies.” He emphasised the last word for Merlin, who was trying his best to look innocent. “Was that all you called me here for?”

“Gaius informed me pixies are notorious for disguising themselves as humans. You need to be careful who you interact with.”

“Of course.”

“That means you need to break contact with that girl Elodie.”

Merlin tensed. Arthur stammered, “That… won’t be a problem. She, erm, died, yesterday.”

“Oh?” Uther raised his eyebrows. “May I ask what happened?”

“She was a pixie in disguise,” Merlin covered for Arthur.

“I see.” Uther looked between Arthur and Merlin. “That will be all.”

Once they were back in Arthur’s chamber, Arthur blurted out, “Pixies, Merlin? You told me there would be a dangerous magical beast attacking my father and his men!”

Merlin chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe me when I told you the truth. I had to come up with something to stop you from going.”

Arthur had to admit it had worked.

“What was your father on about with Elodie? Did you tell him about her?”

Arthur shook his head. “It was the excuse I came up with. Elodie was the first girl’s name that popped into my head when I told my father I’d be spending the day with a girl. Just a coincidence.”

“Yeah, must be,” Merlin mused, though he didn’t sound convinced.

“Do you have a better explanation?”

“No, but I might know someone who does. Someone who may know who was behind my curse.”

Arthur followed Merlin down to the dungeons. “How many more secrets are you keeping from me, Merlin?” Arthur wondered when Merlin lit a torch and preceded him down a winding tunnel.

Merlin shot him a look over his shoulder. “I…”

“You don’t have to answer that.”

“One day you’ll know everything. It’s just a lot to lay on you all at once.”

The tunnel opened into a big cavern. A cold breeze swept through it, suggesting there was an opening to the outside somewhere.

“I escaped!” Merlin called out. “I broke the curse!”

Something moved, making the breeze strengthen into a strong wind. Arthur recoiled until his back was against the rough wall when he saw the great winged creature descend and settle on the rock in front of them. “A dragon?” he whispered in disbelief. If Merlin hadn’t taken his sword from him, he would have drawn it.

“Welcome to my prison, young prince,” the dragon spoke. He bowed his head down.

Arthur cleared his throat. “Thank you? I had no idea this cave existed.”

“Yet another of your father’s many faults.”

“What-”

“Don’t listen to him,” Merlin interrupted. “Uther killed all dragons except Kilgharrah, who he keeps here on a chain.”

“Until you free me, young warlock,” the dragon said. “What have you come here to ask of me this time?”

Merlin explained his curse to the dragon, who he had apparently also consulted one of the times he lived through the previous day. The dragon did not recall. “I need to know who put this curse on me and why.”

“Why do you need to know?” the dragon countered. “Does it not satisfy you enough that it is over now?”

Merlin narrowed his eyes. “You know who it is, don’t you?”

“I do. But the knowledge will not satisfy you.”

“Tell me!” Merlin demanded.

“Very well. Elodie was a priestess of the Old Religion,” Kilgharrah began. “What you call a curse was no more than a spell to ensure your and Arthur’s destiny would come to pass as intended. Elodie is not to blame, for she acted merely as an executor of the Triple Goddess’ will. She was fated to die in the process.”

“Our destiny?” Merlin glanced at Arthur, whose head was reeling from how much information he needed to process. “You told me before that my destiny was to keep Arthur alive. Then why didn’t the spell end when I saved him?”

“For your destinies to remain on the correct path, you need to do more than just keep Arthur alive.” The dragon puffed out a warm breath. “The spell was not only for you, Merlin. Its intention was for you both to open up to each other. That is what ended the spell and allowed you to move forward on the intended path.”

Arthur saw Merlin’s cheeks redden. From what little sense he could make of the dragon’s explanation, he understood that their relationship to each other was part of a larger cosmic plan. And it had taken Merlin countless attempts to open up to Arthur about his magic and his feelings. Something in Merlin’s behaviour had also encouraged Arthur himself to admit his feelings to Merlin.

“How did I know Elodie’s name?” Arthur asked before Merlin could give voice to his obviously growing outrage.

“You were not untouched by her spell,” the dragon replied. “Your destiny is intertwined with that of Merlin. For the spell to work, you both needed to be involved in the enchantment. The repeated days that Merlin experienced may have bled into your memories.”

Arthur shuddered. He didn’t like that he had been enchanted without his knowledge, though he supposed it was nothing compared to what Merlin had gone through. He understood his anger.

“Do you have any more misplaced memories?” Merlin asked him, his concern for Arthur now taking precedence over his disdain for the Triple Goddess and whatever path she intended for them.

“Not that I know of.”

They left the cave after the dragon’s cautioning words to remember what their experiences had taught them. Though Arthur was grateful that he and Merlin had opened up to each other, he agreed with Merlin that the way it had happened in was a bit elaborate, to put it lightly.

Merlin clasped Arthur’s hand and pulled him close to his side. “I think this was the dragon’s elaborate way to say he gives us his blessing,” he whispered with a grin.