dk323 | Merlin fic: This is a real kingdom, right?

Title: This is a real kingdom, right?
Author: dk323
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Merlin/Arthur, Gwen/Morgana
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: The show Merlin is property of the BBC. No money being made.
Summary: In the kingdom of Aberdeen, Merlin is King, Arthur is his royal advisor, Gwen is nobility and Morgana is, frankly, scary.
Author’s Notes: This is pretty much complete crack with some drama thrown in for good measure.

~ * ~

The throne room only had four other people in it, which the knight found odd. Where was everyone else?

The king was flanked by a well-disguised man in a dark blue cloak, his face obscured so well by the hood that the knight could not discern who the man could be.

A woman stood by the queen. The knight recognized her as Lady Morgana’s maidservant, though judging by her expensive silk dress and finery, she clearly was a lady of this court at present.

“King Merlin. Queen Morgana,” The knight addressed them, giving both an acknowledging nod. “I am Sir Pelleas, a knight of Camelot. King Uther has the ransom money you requested for his son.”

Merlin gave a puzzled look at the knight before him. “What ransom? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Morgana spoke up, interjecting with an elegant hand wave. “It was my doing.”

“Oh,” Merlin said. He leaned back in his throne, tapping his fingers on the armrest.

“Carry on then. What is it you want?” Merlin wondered.

“Your majesty, King Uther has ordered that, with the giving of the ransom, you would return the Prince of Camelot back to him. He hopes that the payment would be satisfactory.”

The man in the blue cloak on Merlin’s other side coughed loudly.

Sir Pelleas turned to the unknown, cloaked man. “Who are you?” He asked, curious.

Merlin quickly said, “He is my royal advisor. Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Tell your king that I do not plan to hand the prince over to him.”

“But, you can’t do that! That’s not the way it works. You’re supposed to take the ransom and you re--”

Morgana cut him off. She gave a long-suffering look at the knight. “I can not believe that Uther thought it would be that simple. That is not how things work here. Though your king might not think so, we are not holding anyone here against their will. The ransom was just to keep up appearances, but – you really didn’t think we’d just give him back to you? It’s rather amusing - coming into a kingdom of magic and expecting us to play by the usual rules.”

“But, Camelot is a friend of Aberdeen – there was the peace treaty!”

Morgana’s eyes blazed at him. “I don’t believe for one moment that Uther meant the alliance he made. If you remember, he made it when we had something – someone – he wanted!”

“So, you do acknowledge that you hold the Prince under ransom?” The knight wanted to confirm.

The cloaked man moved closer to the king, placing his hand on his shoulder. Merlin looked up at him and then his eyes flared golden for a moment. The man literally disappeared before the knight’s eyes.

Merlin looked bored. He had his elbow on the throne arm, his palm cupping his cheek. “You have made a wasted journey. Tell your king that he should cease his efforts.”

Foolishly undeterred, the knight persisted with saying, “I understand you used to be the Prince’s manservant… there had been talk that --”

“Do I look like I want to hear this?” Merlin asked, impatient.

The queen spoke with a note of finality in her voice, “It is time that you went on your way, Sir Pelleas.”

The knight knew when to retreat – the looks on the king and queen’s faces were rather frightening.

And he had heard rumors of Queen Morgana being a vampire…

Sir Pelleas scratched his neck nervously.

When he turned away and moved to leave, the queen’s voice stopped him.

“You really think we’ll let you go that easily, Sir Pelleas?”

So that was how Sir Pelleas ended up back in Camelot, a dazed look on his face as the king asked him about what had happened.

“Sorry, what?”

“At Aberdeen! Paying the ransom for my son for crying out loud!”

Sir Pelleas shook his head. He just gave the king a confused look.

Uther groaned.

Not again.

~ * ~

Merlin opened the door to his chambers. He was not at all surprised to find Arthur there.

He had taken off his cloak and had made himself comfortable in Merlin’s favorite chair, no less.

Arthur nodded at him. He grabbed an apple from the fruit basket and took a big bite from it. Then he said, “As your advisor, I do think it’s about time you figure out a way to stop my father from sending knights after me.”

Merlin gave a long sigh as he sank down into a chair across from Arthur. “Yes, I should have listened to you before. Don’t say ‘I told you so.’”

Arthur gave him a look. He took another bite out of his apple and then, grinning, said, “I told you so.”

“Your restraint is commendable, you prat,” Merlin retorted.

Arthur only laughed.

Merlin gave in. “I will discuss it with Morgana tomorrow. She will have my head if I do anything without consulting her.”

“Wise decision, that.” Arthur noted.

Merlin nodded in agreement.

Arthur waved his hand. “This whole thing – the kingdom of Aberdeen as a safe place for magic users and the like – this is a real kingdom, right?”

Merlin looked affronted. “Of course it is! Have you seen Morgana? When she puts her mind to something, there’s no stopping her. I’m still not completely sure how she convinced me to get involved.”

Arthur gave him an incredulous look. “I doubt it was a hard decision to make, Merlin. Who wouldn’t want to be king over just being a servant?”

Merlin shifted uncomfortably. “Well, maybe for you, it’s an easy choice, but all this attention – although I do admit I like the idea of providing a protected place for those inclined to practice magic. It’s sort of nice.” He mused, appearing thoughtful.

“I see Morgana enjoys dressing up Guinevere like a doll,” Arthur remarked. He looked amused by the whole idea.

“Well, they are close,” Merlin told him. “And Morgana was adamant about giving Gwen a title and having dresses made for her.”

“You’re not going to dress me up, are you?” Arthur asked, not at all sounding just a bit aroused by the thought.

Merlin gave him a suggestive look. “Well, that depends, do you want me to?”

Arthur shrugged. “I might consider it.”

“Actually, it’s not a bad idea, I think,” Merlin continued. He licked his lips.

He poured himself a drink in his goblet. Looking at Arthur intently, Merlin put one finger inside the goblet. He took his finger out and proceeded to lick the red liquid languidly with his tongue – peering at Arthur as he did so.

Arthur nearly growled as he stood up and went over to straddle Merlin in his chair.

His lips crashed onto Merlin’s, his tongue slipping inside to taste the sweet drink Merlin had just had.

Arthur kissed his way down Merlin’s neck, touching a particularly sensitive place at the crook where neck met shoulder, which elicited a moan from Merlin.

He gave Merlin a smug smile as he got up off of him. Kneeling down in front of him, Arthur unlaced his breeches.

Feeling impatient, Merlin’s eyes flashed gold and his breeches fell down in a pool around his ankles.

Arthur looked up at him and then down at his hard length. He didn’t make another move.

Instead he spoke, “Bed,” Arthur demanded.

“You can’t tell me what to--” Merlin started.

But then Arthur kissed him in a spot so close to where Merlin desperately wanted his lips, his mouth to touch, to taste – that Merlin choked out a moan of frustration, of pleasure denied. He couldn’t stand it when Arthur teased him like this…

“Arthur!” He uttered hoarsely.

Merlin knew at that moment that Arthur could ask him to move a mountain and he would do it without question.

~ * ~

“I’m sure you want to return to Camelot sometime,” Merlin said, sounding resigned to the thought.

He looked to Arthur who was lying next to him on his bed.

“But you have to stay here,” Arthur pointed out.

“Well, Morgana did say she’d burn me alive or whatever it was – something horrific, I’m sure -- if I left. She told me that I couldn’t back out of the agreement I made with her. And, I suppose, it wouldn’t be much of a kingdom without a king.”

Arthur smirked. “You and I both know that Morgana could do just fine ruling by herself.”

“We must keep up appearances, Arthur. It’s very important.”

“And what about your successor? Is that all planned out?”

“Yes, it’s that boy Morgana and I took in…Sirius, I think his name was? Morgana thinks he’ll be a good pick. We’ll raise him and train him in magic, leadership, diplomacy…”

Arthur looked at him incredulously. “What about fighting? Battle strategy?”

“Oh, right. You could take care of that part. Well, that is – if you don’t plan to go back when your father dies. Camelot would still need a king--”

Arthur repositioned himself so that he was on top of Merlin, looking down on the other man.

He couldn’t bear to see the sad look on Merlin’s face.

“I’m here now,” Arthur told him firmly. “Let’s just focus on the positive, all right?”

And without allowing Merlin a chance to reply, Arthur crashed his lips onto his.

Unbeknownst to them, Morgana and Gwen were watching from the doorway.

“This is wrong, Morgana,” Gwen said softly, but she wasn’t fooling anyone. Morgana could tell Gwen was enjoying this just as much as she herself was.

“Don’t think I’ve seen you enjoy it the last time we did this.”

Gwen blushed.

And they continued to watch Arthur and Merlin, Gwen mentally taking notes for the next time she shared a bed with her Queen…

~ * ~

Merlin fic: This is a real kingdom, right?

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