ONE YEAR LATER

George backed up as he opened the door.

"I wish to speak to the king," Hunith said politely, heard by Arthur who stood up and waved at George. His servant was already moving out of the way to allow Hunith into the room.

"My Lady," he said, before glancing at Arthur, who waved his hand to dismiss George from the room. Hunith entered and looked around, curiosity in her eyes as she assessed Arthur's living quarters. She had spent so much time setting up Cenred's household, she would no doubt compare. Arthur wondered how she viewed it. He didn't have a wife as of yet, so he supposed it was different to what she knew.

"Lady Hunith," Arthur said bounding across the room, looking delighted to see her.

"Arthur, I wanted at quiet..." Hunith paused as the hump under Arthur's bed covers gave a little chirp and the dragon popped her head out. She bounded out, skittering over the bed, onto the blanket box, then onto the floor, to wind her way around Arthur's ankles. Arthur didn't turn a hair, and by the way he stepped, seemed to be perfectly accustomed to avoiding Aithusa in such a manner. The little dragon sniffed the air and gave a threatening rumble in Hunith's direction.

"Stop that!" Arthur ordered her. Aithusa chirped up at him charmingly, and Arthur smiled at her. "You can still stop it."

"She seems very fond of you," Hunith remarked at Aithusa jumped up to perch on the top of the bed frame, she curled up in the swaths of material that swung from the top of the posts. Arthur had been forced to replace it twice, once after Aithusa accidentally set light to it, and the second after he was forced to cut her free when she became tangled, and cutting the fabric seemed a far better option than having to burn her way out again.

"Excuse me a moment Lady Hunith," Arthur said, clambering onto the bed and arranging the material so Aithusa would not be able to get tangled up, as he explained the reason for the whole thing.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just not have the material there?"

"That has occurred to me. However, it seems to offend my servants for me to not have hangings on my bed. I don't care either way. Then again, Aithusa complains as well if they aren't there to sleep on."

The little dragon hung her head out and Arthur petted her head gently. She gave a happy little chirrup and then snuggled down, her gaze on Arthur as he took Hunith's arm and guided her to a chair.

"What can I do for you My Lady?"

"Stop that. You know I am no lady."

"I beg to differ, and not just because I bestowed that title on you."

"Well, it's that I want to talk to you about. Technically, it would go to Evelyn."

"Yes," Arthur said, sitting back down in his chair, looking across at Hunith.

"However, Merlin and Cenred took your advice."

Merlin, clearly, had taken the advice. Arthur didn't think Cenred would be too appreciative of his interference. Still, things had been moving along nicely. The betrothal agreement between Renyard and Evelyn was almost complete.

"Which bit of advice?" Arthur asked. There had been a good number of letters and conversations between himself and Merlin. By the sound of it Morgana had also been dispensing advice, no doubt to Hunith.

"That Evelyn will lose any claim to the throne of Essestir if she marries Renyard."

"That's not unusual, surely Cenred's own council knew that."

"They did. But if I pass the lands of Deria to her, then he can get a foothold in Camelot."

"Not much of one," Arthur said. "But I see your point. You want to add that to the marriage contract. Evelyn loses her claim to Deria."

"She hardly needs it, if she is going to be queen of Mercia."

"Entirely true," Arthur said. Evelyn had come round to the idea of being married, and being Queen of a kingdom. She was still young, so Arthur had advised to leave the marriage until a year or so after she came of age. Something else that Merlin had followed, not wanting to spook his little sister by rushing her into anything.

"And it's the same principle," Hunith said. "So I need to pass it on to someone else."

"You are within your rights to name an heir, as long as it's a woman. You just need to draw up a decree, that won't take long."

"I know, I've done it. Or rather Merlin has," Hunith said passing the scroll she was holding over to Arthur. Arthur shrugged, unrolled it and raised his eyebrows.

"Guinevere?" he asked her.

"Yes, it seems a sensible move. Horiace did suggest leaving it to the queen of Camelot, but you don't have one."

"Not yet, but I'm likely to at some point."

"Well, I don't know who it might be, and that might not be advantageous to you."

Arthur shrugged again and read further, raising his eyebrows and laughing as he read one of the stipulations.

"When she marries? You have a right to hold onto the lands and it's tithes until your death."

"I know, but I don't need it. I didn't need it in the first place."

"Well, some of the nobles thought they needed it."

"And do you think it has really changed their minds all that much. I am still a jumped up village whore."

"I dare say that don't say that out loud too often."

"No, but it is thought and it's there, and it has never affected my life. Only my daughter's."

"I dare say she's been shielded enough. You mean to bestow this as a wedding gift, knowing those two they will use it as an excuse to call the whole thing off."

"Bit late for that."

"It's took them long enough to get to this point. If this is a wedding present I suggest we tell them once they are firmly hand fasted."

Hunith smirked and nodded.

"I agree entirely."

Aithusa chirruped again, rolling over, out of the material to drop onto the floor. She shook herself and flexed her wings, she sat back on her heels and gave a loud call.

"Come in Merlin!" Arthur bellowed before a knock resounded on the door. Merlin came in, looking slightly chagrined. Aithusa trotted up to him lowering her head in deference, but still chirruping happily. Then as Merlin said something she turned and trotted over to Arthur, curling around his chair, looking protective and deferential at the same time. Arthur reached down to pet her head.

"Are you happy with this?" Merlin asked indicating to his mother's decree.

"You're clearly not," Arthur said.

"I am, I just..." Merlin paused and scratched his head, looking chagrined and uncertain. Hunith regarded him for a moment, then turned to look at Arthur. Then she slowly rose to her feet.

"I can trust you two to sort this out."

"I think so as well," Arthur said to her, picking up the scroll to move it to his side of the desk. "And that we do this without any fanfare, neither the bride or groom would like that. We'll hand it over later."

"Are you sure?" Merlin asked.

"Yes," Arthur said as Hunith kissed Merlin on the cheek, ruffled his hair and then strolled out of the room.

"I'll agree then," Merlin said.

"Fine, anything else you want to talk about?" Arthur asked, reaching for the nearby tray. He poured Merlin some wine, and held out the goblet. "None for you," he informed Aithusa as she clambered onto the arm of his chair.

"Has she before?"

"Once, but she knew I was very cross with her," Arthur said. Aithusa clambered into his lap. Merlin smirked.

"That is a very weird sight, all things considered."

"What is?"

"A Pendragon, with a dragon curled up in his lap."

Arthur winced slightly, his eyes dulling down a little. He glanced down at a happily settled Aithusa. "My father would not approve."

"You are not your father, any more that I am mine,"

Arthur looked up, slightly startled, and Merlin could read the mild question in his eyes. Although, Arthur, ever tactful, covered his reaction and turned his attention to the scroll, moving it so Aithusa wouldn't try to eat it, or accidentally ignite it.

"It will give Gwen a good income, and I know you have bestowed some income on Percival, so they will be fairly equal. I did offer them an apartment in the palace, but they are being very vague. I think there is some friction as to where they will live."

"That was one thing about giving them Lord Richmond's lands, they are close to the border with Camelot."

"Don't worry about that," Arthur said. "The only other option is for them to divide their time, I'm sure we can shift them back and forth. The only problem is Gwen is our acting physician, which means Gaius would need to train someone else as well."

"I think Percival is happy to stay here," Merlin said. "He gets more respect from the knights and citizens here. In their eyes he is a knight of Essetir."

"To your knights, he's just a commoner. He has similar issues to your mother."

"It's the same with Evelyn a little as well. If she marries Renyard, she will just be a princess, who becomes a queen. Staying within Essetir, she becomes nothing more than a pawn. Anyone she marries will take advantage of her status. Renyard cannot do that."

"No, because the agreement to lose your right to the throne in your own kingdom is so common that no one thinks anything of it. Bayard certainly didn't."

Merlin shifted uncomfortably and sipped his wine. "I wanted to thank you, for what you did."

"The negotiations were easy," Arthur said.

"I mean for dealing with Lot. We weren't very grateful."

"I did actually kill a member of the royal family of Essetir. Whatever he was doing, that is a serious thing."

"You did it more to protect me than anyone else. You could have sided with him, he is of royal blood. I'm not."

"You are heir to the throne of Essetir. Bloodlines are not entirely relevant to that, if an heir has been chosen. Besides, you're my friend."

Aithusa lifted her head as Arthur's voice tensed slightly. He petted her, so she settled back down again. Merlin watched her for a moment.

"I'm quite surprised she came here."

"So am I. I would have thought she would have gone with Kilgharrah."

"I have to thank you for helping me with that as well," Merlin said.

"Someone broke into the vaults of Camelot to get the..." Arthur paused.

"Triskelion," Merlin said with a smirk.

"Yes that. I have to say, if you want to thank me, you can do me a favour."

"What's that?"

"I have a vault full of items like that, some of them have been there years, and I hove no clue what anything does, or if it does anything, or if it's dangerous. Maybe it's a good idea to know."

"Are you sure you want to allow a sorcerer to see it?" Merlin asked with a grin.

"As you are forever telling me, you are a warlock," Arthur told him.

"Do I?"

"Yes, you do Merlin, and don't do any sort of innocent eyelash fluttering at me. I get enough of it from this one."

Aithusa raised her head again, brushing it against Arthur's chest, giving a contented rumble. Arthur petted her again, stroking across her back, and gently fondling one of her wings. Merlin raised his eyebrows.

"All right then, although I don't think your council will approve."

"It's hardly a matter for them to care about. I wouldn't want anything getting into the wrong hands. I know my father thought everyone was the wrong hands, and to some extent I am not entirely disinclined to argue with him."

"It's no worse than wielding a sword. You can choose to use it on anyone."

"I've seen enough people using weapons like that to hurt people that didn't deserve it. You can say what you like about my father, but he didn't allow people to be hurt if they didn't deserve it."

Arthur paused. It hung between them that perhaps Uther had. Seeing magic, and executing people for that. But Merlin couldn't to a point disagree. Uther was not the only king who mistrusted sorcery. Merlin knew something, that Arthur knew, and thought that Merlin didn't know. That Bayard had been concerned about Evelyn, and if she had magic.

Merlin had allowed the investigation, finding the token in the present sent to his sister. He realised what it was the moment he laid eyes on it. Evelyn happily put the pendant, on it's ribbon around her neck, and nothing happened. His sister did not have magic, so there was no reaction. If he had touched it, the pendant would have glowed. Merlin wondered about the irony of using sorcery to root out sorcery, but left it at that. He was never going to apologise for what he was.

What he, sadly, didn't know. Was how angry Arthur had been when he had learnt of the trick. And had actually said, very directly to Bayard, that he was inclined to advise the royal house of Essetir to reject the marriage offer on the basis of such a subterfuge.

Arthur knew this was a very fine balance. Gwen and Percival were paving the way with their marriage, and he was determined that all would be well for them.

The way the disaster went, utterly blindsided him.