Possession: Prologue
An in progress story that has also been cross posted to FanFiction.net
Rating: M/PG13
Genre: Canon, Arthur/Merlin
Length: this part ~ 1500
Warnings: brief allusions to implied off-screen non-con
Summary:When a visiting lord takes an interest in Merlin, Arthur intervenes with his father to protect him. Unfortunately it end up making things a lot more complicated. Set in the break between Series 2 and 3. So expect spoilers for anything before then. Follows canon until this point but slightly AU from here on out.
Arthur was not looking forward to the dinner with his father. It was to be a family affair, just them alone in the hall with only the minimum of servants to silently attend. Merlin wasn’t to be one of them. He had not yet mastered the art of making himself invisible yet constantly present that Uther preferred in these more intimate dinners. Not to mention the fact that he was so terrified of Uther he’d probably end up spilling wine all over both of them or something. Arthur found himself chuckling as he pictured the numerous ways Merlin could have found to embarrass himself in so simple a situation.
His smile at the thought of Merlin, beetroot and flailing around in an embarrassed fashion was wiped off his face as he walked into the hall. Lord Colwyn was there sat at the table with his father. Arthur carefully arranged his face into a mask of perfect composure as he tried to sort through his feelings about this development. True these quiet dinners had been more awkward and uncomfortable since Morganna’s departure; her voice was no longer there to fill the silences which fell between him and his father. Yet he couldn’t help but feel hurt that his father had felt the need to introduce someone else to break them.
“If there is anything you require to make your stay more comfortable you have to simply ask”
“Oh I can assure you the room is well furnished and the food has of course been excellent …”
“But?”
“Well I would perhaps be in interested in a little … company,”
The way Lord Colwyn said it left Arthur in no doubt of exactly what kind of company he had in mind.
“Perhaps one of the servants” the man continued.
Arthur spared a half glance to his father but he knew he was unlikely to object. His father did not indulge in servants that way but he had no objections to allowing the nobility who wished to.
“Of course” Uther said inclining his head towards the guest, keeping his eyes away from Arthur’s gaze. Years of diplomacy left Arthur able to keep his composure, belying the sense of disgust this conversation gave him. Not just at the lord but at himself. There was a time when he might have considered using servants in that way, but since he had known Gwen and of course Merlin he understood just how wrong it would be to abuse his power that way.
“Was there one in particular you had in mind?” he heard his father ask.
“Well now that you mention it there had been one who has caught my eye”
“Go on”
“A young boy, tall, pale slim, dark hair. I think he may be your servant Prince Arthur” the lord said turning to face him. A cold feeling settled in Arthur’s chest, like someone had just poured ice through his veins. Merlin, he meant Merlin. The thought of Merlin, HIS Merlin forced to, forced to do …that with this man. The image of this man touching Merlin seemed to have lodged itself in his brain.
“No!” the word was out of his mouth before he realised. His father turned to look at him sharply.
“He is not your servant?”
“No. He is my manservant. He is mine and I do not share”. Arthur could almost feel his father’s raised eyebrows but all his attention was focussed on the Lord across the table. Trying to show his resignation in his gaze whilst resisting the urge to stand up and snap the man’s neck across the table for even daring to think of Merlin that way, Arthur was surprised to hear the lord respond with a low chuckle.
“Well, well I didn’t realise you had that kind of relationship with your manservant”.
“Is this true Arthur, have you been sleeping with your manservant?”
“I…” Arthur was finding it hard to formulate an answer to the question; of course he had thought about it. Every time Merlin’s hand brushed his skin, every night when they had been hunting and had lain their bedrolls within touching distance, gods sometimes just seeing that smile was enough to bring the warm coil of desire to Arthur’s stomach. But he was in no doubt as to what Merlin’s opinion of such a liaison would be, and there was no way he could ever force Merlin. But perhaps by telling his father that he had would be the best way to protect the boy. His father may be disappointed but it would be worth it. He forced himself to look up, to meet his Father’s gaze, knowing that he had to see the reaction for himself.
“I ..” he started again but quickly realised his mistake, despite their differences he couldn’t lie to his father when they were face to face like this.
“No, I haven’t slept with Merlin” he said, ashamed to find himself blushing. He was surprised to see a look of disappointment and perhaps anger crossing his Father’s face, and turned away in time to see the look of confused bewilderment on the face of the lord opposite.
He tried to follow his Father’s line of reasoning, why would he be disappointed that he was not sleeping with a servant, and a male one at that. The answer came to him quickly, if he wasn’t sleeping with Merlin why did he care so much about him being loaned out to other lords. Caring so much for one’s manservant was unseemly. He had been punished before for their attachment. If he didn’t do something to salvage this situation now, his father could easily do something worse to Merlin just to teach Arthur a lesson. However if he had been sleeping with Merlin, then not wanting to share him with a lesser noble would be perfectly understandable. He was going to have to find a way to lie about this that would protect Merlin from both his father and Lord Colwyn.
“But I only have not slept with him” he began hoping his father would think he was only looking down at the table from embarrassment, “because…” he racked his brains for a suitable reason “because he has not yet come of age, and I thought it would be inappropriate to sleep with someone who had not yet reached manhood”. He cursed himself for not thinking of that in the first place when Lord Colwyn first started this conversation. Though he reasoned he hadn’t entirely been responding rationally at that point.
“Very noble of you sire” Colwyn responded clearly trying for unsubtle flattery to make up for angering the prince.
“The boy never seemed that young to me”, Arthur heard the unspoken question in his father’s tone.
“Merlin looks older then he is, he doesn’t come of age for another couple of months, you can ask Gaius.”
“Hmmm” Arthur was pretty certain his father would be doing just that, and “and how is it, that you know this?”
“Please Uther if I had a servant as appetising as your son’s here and had been waiting for what two years until he came of age, I would know exactly what day that would happen on. And of course be understandably angry if anyone suggested taking that prize from me.” Lord Colwyn said, inclining his head towards Arthur across the table. Arthur could only manage to nod dumbly in response, the idea of viewing Merlin like that leaving a sour taste on his tongue, as if he was some kind of possession.
“I will obviously be happy with a different servant, perhaps the young lad I saw in the stables earlier”
Arthur heard his father murmur an assent and breathed a sigh of relief as the conversation moved back around to other topics.
Lord Colwyn bowed again before leaving the hall, and Arthur stood to leave the table.
“Arthur.” He turned to meet his father’s gaze. “I will, as you suggested, be questioning Gaius in relation to when your manservant will come of age, and when he does I expect to see that the situation is as you described. I will be very disappointed if I found you had lied to me Arthur.”
“Of course Father, I understand” Arthur said quietly before quickly turning and leaving the hall. He managed to keep his composure calm until he got back to his chambers. He knew he couldn’t actually do that to Merlin. Although the thought of it alone was exceedingly enjoyable, the thought of the pain and hurt on Merlin’s face was unbearable. No he would have to find some way to fake this, if he and particularly Merlin were to survive unscathed. He began to feel more confident, he has three months to come up with a strategy and if there was one thing Arthur Pendragon was good at. It was strategies.
Next Chapter
Rating: M/PG13
Genre: Canon, Arthur/Merlin
Length: this part ~ 1500
Warnings: brief allusions to implied off-screen non-con
Summary:When a visiting lord takes an interest in Merlin, Arthur intervenes with his father to protect him. Unfortunately it end up making things a lot more complicated. Set in the break between Series 2 and 3. So expect spoilers for anything before then. Follows canon until this point but slightly AU from here on out.
Arthur was not looking forward to the dinner with his father. It was to be a family affair, just them alone in the hall with only the minimum of servants to silently attend. Merlin wasn’t to be one of them. He had not yet mastered the art of making himself invisible yet constantly present that Uther preferred in these more intimate dinners. Not to mention the fact that he was so terrified of Uther he’d probably end up spilling wine all over both of them or something. Arthur found himself chuckling as he pictured the numerous ways Merlin could have found to embarrass himself in so simple a situation.
His smile at the thought of Merlin, beetroot and flailing around in an embarrassed fashion was wiped off his face as he walked into the hall. Lord Colwyn was there sat at the table with his father. Arthur carefully arranged his face into a mask of perfect composure as he tried to sort through his feelings about this development. True these quiet dinners had been more awkward and uncomfortable since Morganna’s departure; her voice was no longer there to fill the silences which fell between him and his father. Yet he couldn’t help but feel hurt that his father had felt the need to introduce someone else to break them.
“If there is anything you require to make your stay more comfortable you have to simply ask”
“Oh I can assure you the room is well furnished and the food has of course been excellent …”
“But?”
“Well I would perhaps be in interested in a little … company,”
The way Lord Colwyn said it left Arthur in no doubt of exactly what kind of company he had in mind.
“Perhaps one of the servants” the man continued.
Arthur spared a half glance to his father but he knew he was unlikely to object. His father did not indulge in servants that way but he had no objections to allowing the nobility who wished to.
“Of course” Uther said inclining his head towards the guest, keeping his eyes away from Arthur’s gaze. Years of diplomacy left Arthur able to keep his composure, belying the sense of disgust this conversation gave him. Not just at the lord but at himself. There was a time when he might have considered using servants in that way, but since he had known Gwen and of course Merlin he understood just how wrong it would be to abuse his power that way.
“Was there one in particular you had in mind?” he heard his father ask.
“Well now that you mention it there had been one who has caught my eye”
“Go on”
“A young boy, tall, pale slim, dark hair. I think he may be your servant Prince Arthur” the lord said turning to face him. A cold feeling settled in Arthur’s chest, like someone had just poured ice through his veins. Merlin, he meant Merlin. The thought of Merlin, HIS Merlin forced to, forced to do …that with this man. The image of this man touching Merlin seemed to have lodged itself in his brain.
“No!” the word was out of his mouth before he realised. His father turned to look at him sharply.
“He is not your servant?”
“No. He is my manservant. He is mine and I do not share”. Arthur could almost feel his father’s raised eyebrows but all his attention was focussed on the Lord across the table. Trying to show his resignation in his gaze whilst resisting the urge to stand up and snap the man’s neck across the table for even daring to think of Merlin that way, Arthur was surprised to hear the lord respond with a low chuckle.
“Well, well I didn’t realise you had that kind of relationship with your manservant”.
“Is this true Arthur, have you been sleeping with your manservant?”
“I…” Arthur was finding it hard to formulate an answer to the question; of course he had thought about it. Every time Merlin’s hand brushed his skin, every night when they had been hunting and had lain their bedrolls within touching distance, gods sometimes just seeing that smile was enough to bring the warm coil of desire to Arthur’s stomach. But he was in no doubt as to what Merlin’s opinion of such a liaison would be, and there was no way he could ever force Merlin. But perhaps by telling his father that he had would be the best way to protect the boy. His father may be disappointed but it would be worth it. He forced himself to look up, to meet his Father’s gaze, knowing that he had to see the reaction for himself.
“I ..” he started again but quickly realised his mistake, despite their differences he couldn’t lie to his father when they were face to face like this.
“No, I haven’t slept with Merlin” he said, ashamed to find himself blushing. He was surprised to see a look of disappointment and perhaps anger crossing his Father’s face, and turned away in time to see the look of confused bewilderment on the face of the lord opposite.
He tried to follow his Father’s line of reasoning, why would he be disappointed that he was not sleeping with a servant, and a male one at that. The answer came to him quickly, if he wasn’t sleeping with Merlin why did he care so much about him being loaned out to other lords. Caring so much for one’s manservant was unseemly. He had been punished before for their attachment. If he didn’t do something to salvage this situation now, his father could easily do something worse to Merlin just to teach Arthur a lesson. However if he had been sleeping with Merlin, then not wanting to share him with a lesser noble would be perfectly understandable. He was going to have to find a way to lie about this that would protect Merlin from both his father and Lord Colwyn.
“But I only have not slept with him” he began hoping his father would think he was only looking down at the table from embarrassment, “because…” he racked his brains for a suitable reason “because he has not yet come of age, and I thought it would be inappropriate to sleep with someone who had not yet reached manhood”. He cursed himself for not thinking of that in the first place when Lord Colwyn first started this conversation. Though he reasoned he hadn’t entirely been responding rationally at that point.
“Very noble of you sire” Colwyn responded clearly trying for unsubtle flattery to make up for angering the prince.
“The boy never seemed that young to me”, Arthur heard the unspoken question in his father’s tone.
“Merlin looks older then he is, he doesn’t come of age for another couple of months, you can ask Gaius.”
“Hmmm” Arthur was pretty certain his father would be doing just that, and “and how is it, that you know this?”
“Please Uther if I had a servant as appetising as your son’s here and had been waiting for what two years until he came of age, I would know exactly what day that would happen on. And of course be understandably angry if anyone suggested taking that prize from me.” Lord Colwyn said, inclining his head towards Arthur across the table. Arthur could only manage to nod dumbly in response, the idea of viewing Merlin like that leaving a sour taste on his tongue, as if he was some kind of possession.
“I will obviously be happy with a different servant, perhaps the young lad I saw in the stables earlier”
Arthur heard his father murmur an assent and breathed a sigh of relief as the conversation moved back around to other topics.
Lord Colwyn bowed again before leaving the hall, and Arthur stood to leave the table.
“Arthur.” He turned to meet his father’s gaze. “I will, as you suggested, be questioning Gaius in relation to when your manservant will come of age, and when he does I expect to see that the situation is as you described. I will be very disappointed if I found you had lied to me Arthur.”
“Of course Father, I understand” Arthur said quietly before quickly turning and leaving the hall. He managed to keep his composure calm until he got back to his chambers. He knew he couldn’t actually do that to Merlin. Although the thought of it alone was exceedingly enjoyable, the thought of the pain and hurt on Merlin’s face was unbearable. No he would have to find some way to fake this, if he and particularly Merlin were to survive unscathed. He began to feel more confident, he has three months to come up with a strategy and if there was one thing Arthur Pendragon was good at. It was strategies.
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