Kink Me! #5
Kink Me! #5 Closed to new prompts Welcome to Kink Me! Merlin #5!
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It's several days before Arthur summons him again. Days fraught with worry and tense silence and enquiring looks from Gaius as he mopes about his room, brushing off questions about why he suddenly has so much free time on his hands. The face of the messenger who'd arrived at Gaius' rooms with instructions from Prince Arthur had betrayed nothing, though Merlin takes it as a small sign of goodwill that Arthur had sent a kitchen maid and not one of Uther's guards to greet him.
He takes a deep breath before knocking on Arthur's door - a small formality that has never been observed between them before but now seems impossible to forgo - swallowing thickly as Arthur's voice bids him enter.
Arthur's standing before the fireplace, head down as he stares pensively at his closed fist, his face devoid of emotion. Merlin closes the door behind him, his heart thumping loudly in his chest.
For a moment, neither one speaks, the silence weighing heavily between them. Just as Merlin's wondering if he should risk breaking it, Arthur raises his head slightly.
"You're a liar and a traitor."
His voice is flat, strained, and it cuts through Merlin like a knife. He bites his lip to keep from responding.
Arthur turns, his cold eyes staring straight through him. "From the moment I met you, you've shown me nothing but deceit. My father warned me about the treacherous nature of sorcerers, and now I see that he was right."
Merlin shakes his head, stepping forward, "Arthur, please, I'm your friend-"
"It's Prince Arthur, and you're fooling yourself if you think that I could be friends with a peasant, let alone a sorcerer."
Arthur's eyes burn at the interruption, and for a second, Merlin worries that he'll strike him. Then the moment passes, and his expression shutters again.
He straightens, his voice unbearably formal. "You've saved my life in the past, and though your reasons for doing so are not what I once thought they were, I am not so devoid of honour as to ignore the debt owed to you."
Merlin flinches - is this what it all boils down to, in the end? His loyalty and devotion weighed and measured for barter like sacks of grain?
He waits, hardly daring to breath. Waits to hear what repayment his actions have bought him. A quick death, maybe, for his year and a half of service; beheading instead of the pyre. It's a small comfort, but at least it will spare Gaius and the others from hearing him scream as the fire consumes him. Spare his mother the knowledge that she sent her only son to the flames.
The prince looks away, his posture rigid.
"I'm not going to turn you in."
Something worryingly like hope threatens to loosen the knot in his chest, but the grim look on Arthur's face prevents it. He lick his dry lips. "You're not?"
Arthur watches him closely. "On one condition," he says quietly, confirming Merlin's suspicions.
He holds his hand out in front of him, a thin metal bracelet on his open palm for Merlin to see. There's a hole for a key on the outer band. Merlin's stomach lurches.
"What's that?" he asks quietly, though he suspects he already knows.
"A restraint from before the great purge. It's used to inhibit magic."
"Where-"
"It doesn't matter how I got it," Arthur interrupts harshly, his eyes dark. "The question is, will you wear it?"
Merlin swallows again, cold dread settling in his stomach. Just the sight of the bracelet makes something revolt inside him, his instincts urging him to run away, refuse. But this is Arthur. Arthur, whom he trusts with his life. Surely he can convince him he means no harm.
He shakes his head hesitantly. "It's not necessary, sire, I'd never use my magic to-"
"I know what you'll say," the prince coldly interrupts again. "You'll say that you only use your magic for good, that it's nothing to be feared. You think others before you haven't tried the same?"
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