It wasn't that Merlin minded lying in the prince's bed all day. 'No!' the warlock thought, enjoying the feel of his body dipping into the expensive royal mattress. In fact, the manservant had, on occasion, taken an illegal, and completely worth it, nap or two in the comfy bed in between chores when the royal was out.

However, the warlock never imagined in his wildest dreams that he'd be able to skip all his chores to lie in said extremely comfy bed for an entire day...

... and the next day.

... and the next day.

Chained to it.

"Is this really necessary, Sire?" the chained manservant asked on the fourth day from his prison on the royal bed, shifting on the mattress to alleviate the cramp forming in his leg muscles.

The royal in question swirled from behind the changing screen, straightening his expensive leather jacket with a princely tug, before summoning a maidservant into the room.

"Yes, Sorcerer," the prince began, "It is necessary! I can't trust the likes of your kind to run about my father's streets without causing mischief." The warlock had to roll his eyes at the statement. Arthur's brilliant plan to keep the all-powerful evil warlock subdued was to chain him to the bed where said sorcerer would have easy killing access to the thick-headed prince

'If said evil sorcerer was inclined to do so, that is...' the chained youth thought, eyeing with interest the sharp sword unceremoniously thrown near the edge of the bed

Killing the pain-in-the-arse, was a temptation the warlock was having a harder time ignoring as the uneventful days passed and the non-magic chains began to rub his skin raw. The warlock sighed in misery, attempting to shift on the bed and relieve his sore muscles, trying to ignore the blushing gaze coming from the maidservant tying the prince's laces.

"Still sore from yesterday, Merlin?"

The manservant's eyes went wide with embarrassment, while that sharp sword was just begging to be used against the smug royal.

When he had told the prince that he would do anything to convince him that he wasn't evil, being chained to a bed had never entered his head. Even an idiot like him knew, what the servants and the rest of the court thought the future-king kept the sorcerer tied to the bed for!

And the warlock was sure that the prince's antics would spread the terribly embarrassingly incorrect information like wildfire once the maidservant scurried out of the room.

The warlock shuddered in embarrassment at the thought of the nobles thinking of him... like that...with Arthur.

Once again, he had to stop himself from eyeing the sword, or the knife on the table, or the table itself or anything else the warlock might use to magically throw towards the prince's smirking head.

Fortunately, the manservant's murderous thoughts were interrupted by another maidservant entering the room. Then said thoughts resumed tenfold as the new maidservant began to change the pillow cases, glancing at Merlin's chained form with a deep blush.

This had better be fucking worth it, destiny… The warlock cringed, face completely red, ignoring the two blushing maidservants and the smirking future-king as they made their exit from the bedroom. It took all of the manservant's will to keep his glowing irises from setting something, or someone by the name of Arthur on fire.

"Stupid...stupid...stupid prat…." The miserable blushing youth mumbled, images of giggling nobles invading his head. One silence tear found its way from his eyes as he watched his reputation shatter before his eyes.

But he couldn't let one little setback like…being chained to a bedpost ruin all his hard work! No!

Nothing could be so humiliating as to force him to give up on destiny.

A destiny, he could kiss goodbye from the bedpost if he gave in and smashed the prince's head in with the table.

'Nope,' the youth thought. 'Nothing the prat could do, could make him simply throw away destiny.'

Nothing at all…

"Oh, Mer...lin!" He heard the prince say opening the large oak doors, and coming in, wearing a smirk, of which even Morgana would have been proud.

Quirking an eyebrow, the warlock, looked up curiously, from his position on the bed.

Nothing can get rid of destiny. Remember, nothing at all!

The prince's grin grew wider; the warlock's face fell.

Nothing...can...get ride of destiny!

"Oh, Merlin! You'll be pleased to learn that my father says, he's glad that I finally found the best use for my very pretty but incompetent manservant."