This is the sequel to Hidden Royalty, please read that one first before starting this one.

The first half-ish of this chapter is to summarize what happened in the weeks/months after Merlin came to Mercia and then it gradually goes towards the current time.

This is also a rewrite, so if you read it before, expect some changes :)

In the first days that Merlin was in Mercia he wasn't allowed to do much except for lying in the bed in his new room. Merlin was baffled by the size of his room, it was certainly bigger than the room he stayed in when he had that sleep over in Buckingham palace. In comparison, this room he was in now was almost like a suite… if it wasn't called that already.

His mother had put him on strict bed rest and went to check on him every so much time to see if her son was still obeying that rule.

Will and Percy had been staying in Mercia for just three days and then went back to England to do the last things for school before Winter break would start. Balinor had contacted the school and explained everything accordingly, he was aware that the news of Merlin's heritage had broken through already, but he wanted to personal explain the situation. The school had given Merlin the time off to recover and would be pleased to see him back soon again.

Arthur had been staying the full first week before he dutifully had to return to England as well, this was due Royal preparations for Christmas. Arthur and Merlin had spent the week mostly in Merlin's room as there was not much else that Merlin was allowed to do or go, but he didn't mind where he was or what he did, he just wanted to be in Arthur's presence. When Arthur had left, he had promised to Skype and call Merlin as much as he could.

After that same week, Merlin's mother and father had allowed their son to get out of bed for a period longer than five minutes. They would go to the registry office with him to register him as of Mercian birth and that would result him in having a dual citizenship; Mercian because of his parents, and American by birth right.

Because of Merlin's still mostly weak state, the press had been kept away from the event as much as possible. There was only one national newspaper allowed to record the event and the rest of the news hawks were stopped by the many bodyguards and police officers.

When the second week of complete bed rest was finally over and only one week before Christmas left, Balinor had made sure that he would have a day off in his schedule because he wanted to let Merlin and Hunith see as much of Mercia as he possible could in the small amount of time he had. Ideally he would do it by helicopter, but the doctor advised him not too as the ride would take too much toll on Merlin's still healing injuries, so Balinor opted to drive by car instead. However, by doing that, they attracted much more attention by both the people of Mercia and national and international press.

The Royal Family couldn't leave the car since the people cluttered around the car like sardines, hoping to catch sight of the new Prince. Their security didn't deem it safe for them to leave the car and so requested them not too.

During this all, Merlin was still feeling uncomfortable with all the attention he so suddenly got. He knew of course that being a Prince, and a new one at that, would draw attention to him as his parents, Arthur and the Mercian PR team had explained to him, but he hadn't apprehended on how difficult it would for him to cope with.

And then one day he just couldn't handle it anymore and had broken down. He locked himself up in his room for two days straight and no matter what his father or mother would do or say, he didn't come out of his room – and barely even talked to them.

His parents didn't know what to do and even brought Will and Percy back to Mercia to see if they had any luck, but they hadn't – although Merlin allowed them to come into his room, only problem then was that he hadn't said anything to them, he just sat there on his bed looking ahead of him with a pillow clutched in front of him.

As a last resort, they had called Arthur to see if he was able to come – he had a busy schedule with Christmas just around the corner. But that didn't matter to Arthur, he hopped on the plane almost instantly and Merlin allowed him to be in the room.

Arthur had held Merlin for what seemed like hours, with Merlin crying his eyes out and blaming himself for being weak and not suited for this kind of life. Arthur had talked to him, telling him that a life in the public eye was difficult, but if he had people around him that loved him than that was all he would need. Merlin had finally listened, he trusted Arthur's opinion most because he knew how this life could be. Then he was ashamed about his behaviour he presented the past days, but everyone forgave him immediately. They had been prepared for Merlin to feel insecure about his new position, it wasn't every day that someone would change their lifestyle almost instantly.

Arthur could only stay one extra day before he had to go back to England because Christmas would be in only four days.

Balinor had hoped that Merlin would be with him and Hunith during the Christmas Speech recording that would happen that afternoon, but Merlin felt too nervous for that. He had declined, hoping his parents would be okay with that – which they were. Merlin hugged them both and told them that he hoped that he was able to do it next year.

On Christmas day, Hunith, Merlin and Balinor had a lovely Christmas dinner and later made some hot cocoa and watched the Royal Speech together. Merlin heard his parents explain in their Speech that he -the Prince- wasn't with them because he was still having bad effects on the wounds - which was of course still true, but it wasn't the exact reason. Merlin buried his head in one of the cushions when he heard that, but his mother had wrapped an arm around him and told them that everything would be alright.

Merlin quickly changed channels after the Speech had ended to see Arthur perform his royal duty on Christmas in England. He quickly shot out a text to Arthur, telling him how good he looked and how much he was missing him. Then he and his parents sat down around the huge Christmas tree to finally celebrate their first Christmas together as a family.

Merlin had thought of things he could give Balinor for Christmas and in the end he had given his father a photo album with pictures of him as a baby and toddler. He also gave a self-edited DVD with some baby videos and videos from his childhood. He had made that when he was kept on the strict two week bed rest.

Balinor tried his best to not cry then and there, but failed and grabbed Merlin in a tight hug. It lasted less than a second as Balinor quickly realized that his son was still hurt, so he immediately had let him go again – only, Merlin embraced his father directly back.

In return, Merlin had gotten a helicopter from his parents – an no, not the toy form. It was a eight person carrying helicopter, and was given to get from Mercia and England as much as he wanted… whenever he didn't had any Royal responsibilities. Of course he also had access to the family's private jet if he chose to use that one, but at least he had options now.

Merlin was absolutely baffled that his parents just gave something like that to him and he had told them that it was way way too expensive, but his father would hear none of it.

Merlin had a shared Skype session with Arthur, Will and Percy the next day and they all shared what they got with Christmas. Will and Percy's jaw dropped when they heard what Merlin got, but there wasn't any jealousy involved… thankfully. Merlin was really worried that his friends would treat him differently because of his recently added title.

At New Year's Eve, Balinor and Hunith attended a party at which Merlin kindly declined to go to. He was still uncomfortable in his new role and still had some after effects of his healing side – his parents had understood. Not unlike the press and media, they were agitated by the frequent absence of the new Prince on these kind of gatherings, because there was no way they could earn money now.

Balinor and Hunith were just a few hours gone but back in time to celebrate the new year at twelve o'clock with their son.

In the new year, Balinor had some meetings and gatherings, but made sure that on the eight of January his schedule was clear. It was Merlin's birthday and he would not miss any more ever again.

Merlin had invited Will, Percy and Arthur to come celebrate his nineteenth birthday with him and his parents at the palace, to which they agreed too. His parents had gifted him a black Bugatti Veyron -despite Hunith's initial worries about her son driving such a speeding monster, but Balinor told her that Merlin would be usually driven around anyways, so it wasn't like he would use his car that much.

Merlin's jaw just dropped at seeing what kind of car he got and immediately took his friends one by one for a ride – since it was only a two-seater. He was only allowed to ride on the Palace's premises so far, because his left arm wasn't completely operative yet. He still occasionally wore a sling so his left side had enough time and rest and could heal properly.

Balinor and Hunith had originally planned to do the Crown Prince ceremony on the same day as his birthday, but neither of them had foreseen that their son would be injured so they pushed the date for that back by about two months.

Will and Percy had no idea what to give a person who seemed to have or could get anything that his heart desired so instead they gave Merlin a new blue hoodie so he could wear it to hide from people. Initially, they had given it as a sort of joke, but Merlin had been loving the thing from the moment he opened the wrapping paper.

Arthur hadn't gave him anything, yet. He told Merlin that he would get his real present at his ceremony since it was still in the making. Arthur had told him though that he would get another surprise later that evening, at which Merlin grumbled and moaned once more about his hate for surprises. But when Merlin found out what Arthur meant by the surprise when he entered his room that night, he would not have thought about him losing his virginity. Arthur had (secretly of course) arranged Merlin's room to be full of candles and Arthur had taken it slow so it would be a special night for both of them.

Merlin had felt so inexperienced (as he hadn't gotten anything nothing more than a hand-job in a bar from some Irish stranger while he was drunk one night when he was seventeen), but Arthur had made it feel good to him and was making sure that it wouldn't go too fast for Merlin. In the end, Merlin wouldn't had picked any other to be his first than Arthur.

After his birthday was over and his friends had gone back to England two days after (which made him a bit sad, but he knew he'd go back to England soon enough), Balinor had been starting Merlin's training in how to act and behave like a Prince. It was safe to say that Merlin wasn't exactly loving these (what he called) Prince Lessons, but what could he do about it? He had accepted to become Crown Prince, so he was to be acting like one. But he didn't expected that he had to change quite drastically, at least when in formal occasions.

He had not yet been crying over the phone with Arthur when he had finished the first few days of Prince Lessons and had almost called it a quit, but Arthur had managed to calm him down. He had told Merlin that it was a lot to take in now and that Merlin was to learn to behave like royalty in less than seven weeks, while he had been taught since birth to learn every single aspect on how to act like a Prince.

Merlin had been reassured once again by Arthur and had promised him to not walk away from this life –again– and that he would try harder into learning its quirks.

Six weeks after he'd been shot, Merlin and his parents went to the doctor's to see if his wounds were healed. The doctor had told Merlin and his parents that there wouldn't be any permanent damage, apart from two small scars where the entry and exit wounds of the bullet were, but those would fade with time. The wound where the chest tube was, had already closed a week or two before and was barely visible anymore.

Because he had been wearing a sling on and off for the past six weeks, the doctor had sent him to a physiotherapist who had given him some exercises that he should do on a daily base for the following two weeks and they would reassess then. After the two weeks he had been cleared of the sling and he could do everything he wanted, that had made him so happy and immediately called Arthur, who then came over for a day to celebrate.

Arthur had been going back to school and had told Merlin when he came over that one day that the press had been going nuts and spent most time in front of the school gates, harassing almost every student to get to know every dirty little secret about Merlin. Merlin told Arthur that he wasn't looking forward to the immense press attention that would await him, but that he also couldn't wait to go back to school again.

Prince Lessons continued the next weeks and Merlin thought that the world had lost its mind with how many rules there seemed to be for quite unnecessary things.

To get some rest and be away from all the princely stuff, he would put on Will and Percy's gifted hoodie on several occasions and grabbed his car keys and left the palace without security. The first few times he had done it, it usually only took half an hour, before his security had found him again and Tom in particular told him about the dangers of going out alone - at which Merlin would just roll his eyes.

However, the more weeks that went by, the more days he succeeded in dodging his security for most of the day. He hated to have their eyes on him twenty-four-seven and he just wanted to be alone for some time. He now began to appreciate his life as a former commoner more and more.

But his wish of being alone didn't work out all the time. There were a few occasions that the people of Mercia had recognised him and had been following him around, asking for pictures and autographs, and at those times he was angry at himself for not having any security around him. Especially when paparazzi caught wind of it too that he was being out alone.

At one day in particular he had been chased by so many press, citizens and paparazzi that he had hid in the first store he could reach and hoped by doing so that they hadn't seen him entering and would run past the store so he could make his way back to his car.

The shop owner had given him an arched eyebrow so high that Merlin thought it could fall off any moment, and then he had apologized to the man (he learned his name was Gaius) for crashing into his store like that. He thought Gaius would be just like all those other people and would call the paparazzi right back, but Gaius had been proving the opposite. He had been inviting Merlin in and gave him the sanctuary he craved for. He said that Merlin was welcome in his store whenever he felt he needed a break and Merlin really believed the man. He did not think that Gaius said it only because he was the Prince.

The store he crashed in turned out to be some sort of small department store with two storeys. The first floor was converted into a sandwich corner with seating option, while on the ground floor were things such as a pharmacy, a section with toiletries and a variety of sections with other necessities.

He liked coming in the shop and since he loved Chemistry, he liked to watch Gaius preparing the medicines, as the man was also a certified Chemist. In fact, he'd probably pursued a career in Pharmacy if he hadn't turned out to be a Prince.

He learnt a great deal from the man in just those few weeks that he had known him but unfortunately for him, he wasn't allowed to make medicines on his own. Although, on some days he doubled as Gaius' assistant. He was mostly getting the jars and bottles of the needed ingredients from the top shelves, since the man wasn't as agile as he used to be. Merlin didn't mind doing though, he actually felt useful doing it and he loved being productive.

Merlin also liked to help Gaius with the inventory on days that it wasn't busy in the shop, because on those days he didn't need to be afraid of people recognizing him. Of course wearing his hoodie threw most people off if he would be in the front and people started to come in. At those times he made sure to get to the back and clean stuff up there, or something else and meanwhile hoping that no one had recognized him.

There also worked a girl called Freya In that very same store and she was Gaius' granddaughter and he was also her guardian since both her parents had died just a few years prior. Just like her grandfather, Freya could care less that Merlin was from royal blood and had treated him just like any other person. Merlin had been forming a close friendship with her rather soon.

Freya was mostly managing the sandwich shop and made one of the most delicious chicken sandwiches - of which Merlin just couldn't get enough off.

Of course he got scolded by his parents for running off without security once he would come back home, but they had been grateful that nothing had happened on their son's outings on his own.

~oOoOo~

Merlin slowly but securely got the hang off things and he became more bold and confident. Just two weeks before the ceremony took place he had his first public duty. He was going to cut the ribbon for the new part of the library which suitably had been called the 'Prince Merlin Wing'. The turnout of people was spectacular and the event had been widely covered by national and international press who finally got the type of news they were waiting for.

In Merlin's eyes it went alright, but he was aware that there was always room for improvement. He also had been leaving as soon as he could because even though he felt more confident, he was still adjusting to all the attention he suddenly got. Tom had congratulated him on handling it so well, when they were back in the car.

His father had also been so proud, that Merlin thought the man would might burst because of the amount of beaming with pride he had done.

One and a half weeks before the ceremony Merlin had a busy schedule. Most of them were about fittings for his suit which just bored him out of his mind and then there were the numerous rehearsals at the venue on what he should do and where to stand at the actual event.

And between everything, he still had to make homework. Merlin had been off from school for the first weeks when he was recovering from his wounds, but the week after his birthday Balinor had hired a tutor so he wouldn't be behind too much when he would go back to school again the week after the ceremony.

Not just Merlin had a difficult time adjusting to everything, Hunith was still adjusting too. She might've been though everything already almost twenty years back, but she was still stressed. Especially when Balinor had proceeded with announcing their engagement to the people of Mercia and she felt the pressure of living up to the people's expectations.

Besides that, Hunith had been also feeling sick for the last week now and threw up most of the days. Balinor had tried to get her examined by a doctor, but she wouldn't have any of it, she just blamed it stressing for not only of herself and her new role, but also because she kept worrying about Merlin and the upcoming ceremony.

Balinor hadn't liked it, but hadn't been pushing the matter too much either because he didn't want to be that kind of a husband. He did trust Hunith on her word, but even so he still kept a close eye on her.

Balinor had also begun to show Merlin some pictures of guests and monarchs that would be attending his ceremony, so he wouldn't feel completely lost at who all the people were. Merlin also asked if he could invite a friend of his to the ceremony. Balinor was wary of who it could be, because Percy, Will and Arthur were already invited and he hadn't heard his son mention another person. He asked his son who it was, but Merlin wasn't easily persuaded to give Freya's name as he still wanted to keep the thing about Freya on the low, because he was worried that it would bring forward the shop as his hiding place.

In the end though, both his parents had reluctantly agreed to Merlin's wish when Merlin had promised them that his friend wasn't trying to hurt him in any way possible and that they had to trust him on this.

He would ask Freya within the next couple of days.

~oOoOo~

CURRENT TIME

Merlin was reading yet another gossip magazine at the table, not because he was so interested in it, but because he wanted to see what they wrote about him now. This time round it was about relationship troubles between him and Arthur and he just shook his head at it. Apparently Arthur had broken up with him.

Merlin heard a clearing of someone's throat. Well, that someone was his father and looking up, his mother was also staring at him.

"Sorry." Merlin mumbled and closed the magazine and put it onto the chair next to him.

"Better." His mother said with a nod of her head. "Now Merlin, reading when seated at the table is not a correct table manner. That does also include phones." She gave him a pointed glare at which Merlin rolled his eyes. "… as is rolling your eyes to your host, or at any person for that fact."

Merlin heaved a deep sigh. "Mu-um, I kno-ow. But it's not like this is an official dinner. Look!" He gestured to the empty plate in front of him. "There isn't even food!"

Hunith rubbed her forehead and Balinor gently rubbed his hand over the small of her back. "Just, go." She sighed. "We'll further discuss table manners later."

Merlin didn't had to hear that twice. He immediately scooted his chair back and grabbed his jacket that he had draped over one of the empty chairs and threw it on over his hoodie. When he was almost to the door he was called back by Balinor.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Merlin stopped in his track and slowly turned around to face his parents. "Err… out?"

"Not without security you aren't. You know how people can react when you're out by yourself."

"Da-ad," Over the weeks, Merlin gradually started to call Balinor more often father or dad and it still made Balinor's heart do a little jump every time it happened. But right now he needed to be serious.

"No Merlin. Not this time. At least take Tom with you. And be home on time, I need to prepare you for that interview with Arthur that's tomorrow."

"Ugh. Fine." He turned and walked out of the room. He was actually not going to get security. He wanted to have some alone time with Freya when he would ask her for his party, well party sounded so informal considering how formal and big it would be. But still, in his eyes it was just a party.

He looked around him, looking if anyone noticed him slipping away. When he was content that no one saw him, he slipped into the garage that held all the cars and got into his own and made his way out of the driveway. He guessed that the cameras would've probably picked up by now that he left, but at least he had a head start of some minutes. And, after all, he had one of the fastest car in the world, so let them chase him if they want!

~oOoOo~

Balinor snaked an arm around his future wife's shoulder and kissed her soft and tenderly on her hair. "Maybe you should take some rest, you look a bit pale."

Hunith shook her head and then let her head rest on his chest. "I'm fine, really. Just a little bit tired, that's all."

Balinor embraced his soon to be wife. "Well, even more reason for you to get some sleep then." He kissed the top of her head again and then pulled her up to her feet. He was gently, but determinedly, pushing her towards the door. Suddenly Hunith stopped and grabbed her stomach while uttering a soft, "Oh."

Balinor panicked but continued to hold her in his strengthened grip and then gently lowered her down on a nearby chair. By then, Hunith was complaining about his overprotectiveness. "Bali, really. It was just a stitch in the side I guess. Seriously I'm fine."

But instead of listening to his fiancé, like he'd done the past weeks, he took matters in his own hands. "No, that's it Hunith. I've seen you not being well the past weeks, I'm getting the doctor now."

Balinor picked up his fiancé bridal style and called Lancelot in to give him the order to call the doctor. As soon as he had asked it, he swiftly walked Hunith to their suite. There, he waited until the doctor showed up and was then kicked out of their bedroom, so the doctor could examine Hunith without prying eyes.

He paced for a couple of minutes but knew that no doctor could be that fast with any examination. He then had two choices; 1) keep pacing, or 2) go to his office and try to do some work that was overdue. He chose option two, even though he was almost positive that he wouldn't get any work done. On his way there he saw one very familiar face and it made his heart clench with worry. He saw Tom, Merlin's personal bodyguard, speaking with Lancelot.

He walked up to the two men and made his presence clear by a soft clearing of his throat. The two deeply conversing security agents looked up to see their King standing right next to him.

"Sir." They both said, accompanied with a small inclination of their head.

"Tom, I thought that Merlin wanted to leave, but if you're still here that must mean he changed his mind and decided to stay anyways."

The tall bodyguard frowned. "Leave, sir? I wasn't informed that the young Prince was going to leave."

"So Merlin hasn't come to you, to say that he's leaving?" Both the tall bodyguard as Lancelot shook their heads, giving their King a look like they've done something wrong.

The King frowned slightly. "Will you please check his room to see if he's there?" Both bodyguards nodded and headed for the Prince's room, only to return a couple of minutes later with the news that Merlin wasn't in his room and that neither of the staff had seen him since that morning.

The King sighed deeply and rubbed his temples. "Just find him. Find him now."

~oOoOo~

Merlin felt the tension of the day glide away with each mile he went faster on the odometer. Driving fast was maybe not the most responsible thing to, but that was the furthest thing from his mind. Right now he just wanted to be out of the suffocating hold the palace seemed to have on him, especially now the ceremony was just days away.

He pulled up into a parking garage just outside the busy city centre of Pointon, which was the biggest city in Mercia and also the city where the palace was located. He knew that if he would drive into the busy centre with his not so anonymous car, he would get ambushed by all kinds of people and he was just not in the mood for that right now.

He parked the car in the almost empty parking and then walked over to wall with lockers and placed his phone and car keys in it and locked it with a personal code. He knew that just like his car, his keys and phoned were also tagged with GPS. His security would find his car in just some mere minutes but by putting away his phone and keys, they wouldn't be finding him that easily.

He grabbed his back-up phone out of his pocket. He had purchased it on one of his secret outings after he had learned that his phone was being traced and he kept the back-up phone a secret for his parents and security - only Freya, Will, Arthur and Percy knew about it.

He pulled the hood further over his head and hoped that it would conceal his face enough so people wouldn't recognize him, and would instead be just thinking that he was one of the other people of Mercia who was wandering about in the streets. He looked around him one last time and then walked out of the garage and through some alleys that ultimately lead to the city centre.

Having been there so many times already in the past weeks made it easy for him to find Gaius' shop, and rounding another corner he already saw the big sign greeting him. He couldn't help to let a small smile pass his lips and started to walk faster. All the while he was still cautious of his surroundings, but people didn't seemed to notice him. Or at least not recognize him as their Prince.

There was a soft buzzing noise when he entered the shop and Gaius looked up to see who entered. Merlin first looked around and there was only one other customer as far he could see. He walked up to the small counter Gaius stood behind.

"Hey Gaius." Merlin greeted. The man just nodded to him.

"Needed some time off again?" Gaius said with just a slightly raised eyebrow, but Merlin knew that it was all in good sense. "Freya is upstairs." Gaius added and Merlin smiled and nodded and made his way to the small lift.

When the lift door chimed open, he saw that there was an older couple sitting at the seating section and were drinking a cup of coffee and there was also a woman having lunch with two young children of maybe six years old. He didn't saw Freya on her usual place behind the register though. He looked around once more, but saw no sign of the brunette and thought that she would perhaps be in the back.

His train of thought was momentarily interrupted when Merlin felt someone tap his shoulder and he stiffened all over, thinking that someone might've recognized him and was now wanting to have a picture or autograph. He briefly closed his eyes and breathed deeply in through his nose before opening them again and he started to turn around to the person and a big smile spread over his face.

In front of him was Freya, with her hair in a messy bun like always. She was shaking her head at him and then linked her arm into his, dragging him towards the little backroom that she and Gaius used as their own lunch room. She pushed the swing door open with her shoulder and then gestured to the small table where a cellophane wrapped sandwich was sitting on a paper plate.

"I saw you coming in and then noticed the chicken sandwiches were all sold, so I quickly whipped one up, especially for you. I know how much you like them." She walked past the small table and then went to the small fridge. "Want something to drink with it?"

"Err." Merlin began while pulling his hoodie down and giving his hair a short ruffle to get some sort of life back into it again. "Some water is just fine." He answered while taking a seat and started to unwrap the sandwich.

Freya hummed in response and returned with a bottle of water for Merlin and a cola for herself. She took a seat next to him and watched him rather intently, while he took a bite of his sandwich.

"What?" Merlin asked with his hand in front of his mouth. Etiquette lesson seemed to have some kind of effect on him.

"Hm. Nothing." She answered back. Her drink sizzled softly when she opened it. She then got up to get some flat boxes that still needed to be put together. She handed Merlin a few, he could help her with it.

Without even resisting, Merlin began the task that had been handed to him and made him momentarily forget his sandwich. He and Freya would often sit like this in the small backroom and talk about literally everything and nothing. But today, Freya seemed… different. And he couldn't put his finger on what was wrong.

He placed the still unassembled box on the floor and looked at her with a cocked head. "So are you going to tell me what is wrong with you today?" He did his best impression of the Gaius eyebrow.

Freya was picking at the top of the cardboard boxes, her lips going from left to right and then shrugged. "It's probably not even true."

"What is?"

Freya placed the box she had in her hands onto the ground and picked up her bag that sat on the ground next to her chair. Merlin had to keep his laughter in when Freya pulled out the same magazine that he had been reading not yet an hour ago. He was aware of Freya's little obsession with him and Arthur… but in the non-stalkerish way of the word. She just wanted to see him happy.

Merlin waited patiently with the best neutral expression he could manage right now and then saw the section about his and Arthur's supposed relationship problems, right in front of him on the table. Freya's petite finger was tapping at the words.

"I mean it's a gossip mag, so I'm always a bit sceptical. But it sounded so true…" Freya leaned forward to place a gentle hand on his shoulder. "And Merlin, if there's anything, anything, that you want off your chest, then I'm here for you."

Merlin decided to keep her in suspense just a minute longer and tried his best sad face. "It's true." He added softly, his voice creaked but not of sadness but because of a rupture of laughter that was threatening to come out. He heard Freya's soft intake of breath and that was all it took for him to completely burst out in laughing.

"Of course not!" He managed to choke out between laughing and then took a couple of deep breathes to come to his senses again. Freya stared at him through narrowed eyes and started to hit his right upper arm.

"You… utter… complete… prick!" She said with each hit. "I was worrying for most of the day about you and you decide to play me. What a good friend you are." She stopped hitting him and Merlin swiped a few tears from his eyes that were there as a result from all his laughing.

"Okay first… ouch. Second, it's a gossip mag, that should've given you a hint or two. Besides, you'd be one of the first to know whether me and Arthur are having troubles. You know that." The narrowing of Freya's eyes had only lessen a fragment. "Really. There is nothing wrong between us. Still together as glue or whatever the phrase is."

"Well, this time you're forgiven for your stupid, stupid, humour." Freya finally managed to say and took a swig of her coke. "Because you two are just too cute together. Just ask all the other shippers." She earned a mock glare from Merlin and she chuckled, holding up her hands. "Sorry. Fangirl moment, I'm back."

"You lot are crazy you know that? What was that name for us again…"

"Merthur." Freya provided with a small smirk.

"Ugh, right. Yes." Merlin shook his head in disbelief. "I still can't figure out why there are fan clubs about us."

Freya stood up and went to stand behind Merlin, she bent down a little and threw her arms around his neck. "All part of your famousness babes." She gave him a small peck on the cheek at which Merlin groaned and rubbed his sleeve against his cheek. Of course there was nothing even remotely romantic behind the kiss, just a friendly gesture.

"Come on lazy pants." Freya said with a gesture of her arm for Merlin to stand up. "My shift is over and I want to get into town." She walked over to the swing door and only stuck her head out and looked left and right before pulling her head back in, grabbing Merlin's arm in the process. "Come on. The coast is clear."

Merlin made sure that his hoodie covered most of his face again, and the fact that he was now being with Freya also added less suspicion to him. They walked through the crowd and still no one seemed to have noticed him, so everything went according to plan. Now he just needed to find a place with not that many people around to ask Freya to his ceremony. Will and Percival would also come, so she wouldn't had to feel let out in between all those monarchs or other influential people he didn't even know.

He lead her towards a low wall at one of the sides and patted the spot next to him. "Come. Sit."

Freya did frown slightly at his unusual request. Normally they would just wander around. Even so, she still sat down next to him.

"There's actually something I wanted to ask you." Merlin began as soon as Freya sat down, feeling slightly nervous because he really wanted to have one of his best friends at the ceremony. He started to fidget with his hands, but stopped once he felt Freya's hand placed on top of his own. He looked up to her and saw her giving him a smile that only Freya could manage to give.

Freya tilted her head sideward. "Should I be intrigued?"

"You should!" Merlin replied and waggled his eyebrows multiple times. He felt less nervous already. He coughed awkwardly once and then he decided that he should just get it over with. And if Freya would decline… well that were worries for when it would happen.

"Well you might know that the ceremony is this Saturday…"

Freya gasped mockingly. "Nooo..." She joked. The talks about the ceremony were basically the only bit of news on every TV channel these past weeks. It was starting to make her absolutely crazy. Even on the streets, people talked about it.

Freya waved her hand for Merlin to continue and kept her laughter in when she saw Merlin's already serious face turn even more serious. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"As I was saying… the ceremony is this Saturday and my parents found it necessary to throw a big party…"

Freya lowered her head with every new sentence, but kept eye contact the whole time. "Yeees…?"

"And well, I was just wondering if you'd like to come?" He squeezed one eye shut, almost waiting for the rejection. But instead he saw Freya's mouth falling open and he opened his eye.

"Me?" Freya answered with a squeaky voice. She raised one eyebrow, and looking back at Merlin with her head in a cocked position to find any trace in his expression that suggested he was joking, but she couldn't find one.

"You want me, a simple city girl, to go to the ceremony arranged by the King and future Queen of Mercia, and which will probably be filled with royalty and other important guests. How am I ever going to fit in Merlin?" She was baffled that Merlin would ask her this. She didn't even had family that was a Lord or Duke or anything that would fit in that range.

"Freya come on. You're my best friend here and you made me feel welcome when I first arrived here. If you're not going, then I won't go either." Merlin said determined and crossed his arms in a toddler like fashion, complete with pouted lips

"Pfft, as if you could ever do that."

Merlin sighed and resolved in the other thing that no one could ever say no to. "Pleeaaase." He begged, placing both his hands on her left arm and looking deep into her brown eyes. He knew it would work, well hoped it would. Oh please let it work.

Freya tried to resist the puppy eyes, but she knew she didn't stand a chance at those. She threw her hands up "Ugh, fine. I'll go. I could never say no to that. You know Merlin, you're a mischievous little thing and you know it."

"You bet I do. I have the invitation at the palace so if you come with me or drop by this afternoon, I can give it to you."

"Oh yeah sure, I'll just drop by and tell that I'm here to pick up an invitation. I'm sure they'll open the gates immediately and while I'm there, I'm sure they'll ask me if I want to drink some tea with the King too. Seriously, Merlin?" Freya added with a humorous laugh completed with eye roll.

"Besides, I don't even know what to wear to…" She twirled her hands in front of her. "that kind of thing. No scratch that, I don't even have something to wear that would come even remotely close to what your guest will be wearing. I'm not rich you know."

"Freya." Merlin sighed. "I hope you know me better than that. You know I don't care about money, I don't care what you'll be wearing. Heck, you could show up with just jeans and a t-shirt and I wouldn't even mind it. Freya, all I care for is that you'll come." He placed his hand on top of her thigh. "And you don't have to worry about feeling left out, remember when I told you about my friends Will and Percival? Well they'll be coming too, so you won't be the only one who isn't 'important', don't worry about that." He specifically air quoted the word with his fingers, rolling his eyes as he did it. "Even though you lot will be the most important people there for me. And hell, I don't even feel comfortable with all those stuck up people, so you have me too." Merlin snickered and bumped his elbow against Freya's arm. There was a short silence, before Freya finally agreed to come and Merlin immediately jumped off the wall and stood in front of Freya, his hand extended towards her.

"Come on, there's something we need to do then."

Freya blinked. "Huh? What...where?"

"You'll see." Merlin answered and reached forward to grab Freya's hand and dragged her towards the more busy part of the city centre again. Freya was confused but followed her friend nonetheless. She was curious on what idea had formed inside Merlin's head this time and even started laughing as she followed him through the narrow streets. It was as if Merlin didn't care anymore if he was going to be recognized or not. And Freya knew that when Merlin had a goal in mind, there was not a single person that could stop him from reaching it.

Merlin turned left, then right and finally another left before they arrived at the street he was looking for. Freya knew that the street had only high-end stores and tried to stop Merlin of what she thought he was going to do, but before she could go against it and convince Merlin that he shouldn't be doing this, she already found herself in one of the stores.

The snooty shop attendant looked up from her place behind the counter and sighed annoyingly when she saw two teenagers enter the shop. Walking up to them with a certain type of pompous attitude, she cleared her throat to attract the attention of the two. "There are no teenagers allowed in here." She told the two, with what must be the most annoying voice Merlin ever heard. He already felt Freya tugging on his sleeve to get out of here.

"No, just wait for it." Merlin whispered towards Freya and then turned back round to the snobby employee. He reached up to his hoodie and pulled it down, he immediately heard the woman in front of him gasp and looking at him wide-eyed. Merlin shrugged and acted nonchalant.

"You heard it Freya. We have to leave." He started to turn when the attendant was beginning her apologies.

"Your Highness, forgive me!" The employee continued her flatteries. Merlin looked at Freya with amusement written all over his face and started to roll his eyes at the praising the attendant did.

Merlin turned back and the employee immediately shut her mouth to which Merlin began talking. "Do you see this lovely young woman?" Merlin brought Freya forward by wrapping his hand around Freya's elbow.

"Of course sir, yes she's really pretty-"

Merlin cut her short, he had enough of the flatteries. "Yes. Well she needs a dress. Formal, floor-length. Freya can tell you what she likes and what she doesn't like." He pushed Freya lightly in her back so she took a step forward. She turned around and gave him a glare, but he decided to ignore it and made himself comfortable on one of the sofas in the middle of the store.

"Oh and lock the store, we don't want to be disturbed." Merlin added.

"Of course, Your Highness." The employee said and immediately closed the doors.

Freya moved closer to sofa where Merlin already sat on and bent forward to whisper in his ear, "And here I thought you didn't want people to recognize you." She chuckled lightly.

"Well as you witnessed just now, it does have its advantages."

Freya continued. "And you do know about your dresses, I wonder how?" She chuckled once again, while Merlin just glared at her.

"My mother has been talking about formal floor-length dresses, I just thought I would go with it. No idea what it actually means." Merlin's eyes just slightly widened.

The shop attendant returned and was giving him and Freya compliments almost every second, before she began to look at dresses with Freya.

~oOoOo~

Two black SUV stopped next to Merlin's parked car and the seven men in complete black attire and earpieces, approached the parked car. They had found the location of the car quickly with the aid of the GPS signal and had swiftly made their way to the exact location. But like other times before this, they only found the car parked and the Prince was nowhere to be seen. They had tried to find him by locating his phone and car keys, but that had resulted in nothing as Merlin had put those in one of the nearby lockers. They had started to notice how the Prince became more clever in evading the security.

Sighing, Tom contacted Lancelot through his earpiece.

"The Prince isn't here."

"Then search the city. Find him or His Majesty won't be happy."

Tom confirmed and both he and the teams went back to their SUV and started the search through the city.

~oOoOo~

"Oh wow Freya, you look… amazing." Merlin looked up and down at the smiling Freya who stood in front of him on a little pedestal. Freya was dressed in a deep purple Greek goddess pleated evening gown that was complementing her hair colour and skin tone. The dress had a little train behind it and the top was criss-crossed and the one shoulder strap was covered with crystals.

In his opinion, Freya looked stunning. There were just no other words for it. The dress fitted her perfectly and it almost looked like the dress was made for her.

Merlin was smiling brightly at Freya, who was now starting to twirl around on the pedestal. She stopped twirling and stood still in front of the mirror, looking at herself and Merlin could see that her smile was faltering.

"What's wrong?" Merlin asked with some concern, already standing up from the sofa. "Don't you like it?"

As Freya stepped off the pedestal, she answered, "Merlin, I can't take this." She picked the dress up at the front, so she wouldn't trip and fall down and started to make her way back to the changing room, but Merlin wasn't so quick to let her change. He stepped in front of her and blocked the way.

"Freya, I don't understand."

"You. Doing this for me. I don't deserve it."

Merlin narrowed his brows. "What do you mean you don't deserve it? if anyone does, than it's you Freya." He placed a gentle hand on her upper arm. "Don't say stuff like that, I want to do this for you. Please just take it, you look absolutely wonderful in it."

Freya glanced over her shoulder to catch the reflection in the mirror of her wearing the dress. She had never worn such an expensive piece of garment before and she did thought she looked rather beautiful in it. And that was just something she never felt about herself. She turned her head back to look in those big blue pleading eyes before she gave in.

"Alright Merlin, but I'll pay you back… Somehow." She muttered softly.

Merlin shook his head. "Nonsense. It's my gift to you." He held up his hand when Freya was about to go into a discussion. "Hubb, I don't want to hear any more of it."

Freya was about to protest again, but then the annoying employee (Merlin and Freya had learned that her name was Vivian) made her appearance known.

"Has Your Highness been able to make his decision?" She said in a sugar sweet voice and it just made Merlin cringe inside. But he had to act regal right now, although it was working on his nerves.

"Yes, Freya loves this one, but I think she'll need accessories and what else is necessary."

Vivian smiled sweetly and waited for Freya to change back into her own clothes. Merlin could just see how guilty Freya looked when she handed the dress over to Vivian who brought it to the register, only to return seconds later to whisk Freya away from his side and towards the accessory section of the shop. He saw Freya smile when she picked up jewellery and Merlin enjoyed seeing Freya looking so happy.

It didn't took too long before she and Vivian returned. Freya had picked out silver accessories and matching high heels that went perfectly with the dress she picked out. Vivian brought everything to the register and started to ring everything up.

Merlin chuckled lightly when he saw the shock in Freya's face when she discovered how expensive everything really was, but he didn't care about the price. If he couldn't spoil his friend for once, what was the point in owning so much money.

There were still a few items left to be scanned and Freya's eyes widened even more when she saw the subtotal.

"Merlin, oh god. It's too much." She covered her face with her hands.

"Freya, just forget about the price." He noticed that it didn't help, Freya still looked all stressed out. Merlin sighed and turned to his friend and made her look at him.

"Look, Freya, I'm just going to ask this; do you like it?"

"Yes, but…"

"Then that's everything I need to know." Merlin told her, cutting her short and Freya just quietly stood by, seeing how the gross total ended up in the thousands of pounds.

"The total is £5339,26, Your Highness." Vivian said with a tone laced with fake hospitality and Merlin had to refrain at the urge to suffocate the blonde woman in front of him. He also hoped that she would finally stop calling him 'Your Highness'. It made him want to claw his eyes out.

Merlin passed over the credit card that his father gave him. He was given unlimited access to it and he knew he could spend thousands of Pounds with it every day, if he wanted to, but he wanted to show his parents that he could be responsible with money. Well not at this moment, but that's because he wanted to do this for Freya.

Vivian swiped it through the machine and passed him the receipt to put his signature down on. As he signed it, Vivian put the shoes and the accessories that Freya picked out in boxes and her dress was put into a protective clothing bag that had the store's logo on it.

"I hope you'll be coming here again to shop Your Highness, Miss Freya." She added just out of pure sucking up to the Prince, while starting to hand the bags over to Freya. Merlin, the gentleman he was, grabbed most of the bags out of Vivian's hands and only let Freya carry the smallest bag.

Vivian smiled at the Prince, but shoot daggers to Freya when she held the door open for them and wished them a pleasant day.

"Blergh." Merlin said, letting his body shudder once they were out the store. "I've never met a person that was such a suck up!"

Freya started laughing at him for his exaggeration, but was then staring mouth wide open at the two black SUVs that came to a sudden stop at the side of the road and the seven men in black suits jumped out of the car. They were surrounding her and Merlin.

"Great." Merlin mumbled.

Tom walked forward, placing a hand on Merlin's shoulder. He bent down to Merlin's ear and softly said, "Your Highness, I have orders to immediately bring you back to the palace."

"Well… I order you to ignore that." Merlin retorted. "And I thought we agreed on just 'Merlin' and not 'Your Highness'."

Tom straightened his posture while Merlin narrowed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, sir. But I cannot ignore a direct order from His Majesty."

"Well I'm with a friend right now, so it has to wait." Merlin replied back like it was the most normal thing in the world. Well, in some way it was starting to become a normal thing for him, but for Freya it was something out of the ordinary. Although at this very moment she was looking in amusement at the two bickering men.

However, she didn't had that feeling for long. The other six men standing around her were watching her intensely - like she could attack Merlin at any moment. Her stare was interrupted by Merlin's exclaim.

"Ugh, fine!" Merlin finally replied after arguing with Tom for a few minutes. By then, a small crowd of passers-by had gathered around them. They found out quickly that it was their new Prince that was standing in the circle, but they couldn't see much because the view was being blocked by the many bodyguards.

Merlin argued further, "But someone has to take Freya home. Otherwise I'm not going with you."

"I'll do it, sir." One of the other six bodyguards said and stepped forward to take the bags out of Merlin's hands. He then turned to Freya. "Miss Freya, if you would like to follow me."

Freya looked wide-eyed to her friend.

"It's okay Freya, you can trust them. I'll text you tonight, okay?" He stepped forward and gave her a hug. As he hugged, he whispered, "Don't tell them about the shop yet." She nodded to him as she stepped back and followed the bodyguard with short blonde hair. He led her to one of the two SUVs while the other six bodyguards pushed the crowd to the side and swiftly brought Merlin into the other SUV.

~oOoOo~

"That was really irresponsible of you Merlin, you should've known better." Balinor scolded at his son when Merlin stood in front of him in his home-office. Merlin already knew he would get scolded when he would get back at the palace, it always went like this. His father would be giving his 'I'm disappointed, but I'm glad you're okay' speech, while he would just nod and say he was sorry. Normally his mother would be there too to back his father up, but strangely enough she wasn't there.

"Alright dad." Merlin interrupted when Balinor began preaching about security once again. "I'll try to take them with me from now on, okay? Where's mum by the way?"

As he had asked it, his father's face aged almost thirty years. Balinor slumped back into his chair and ran a weary hand through his tangled hair.

Balinor finally heaved a sigh. "I called the doctor to examine her."

Merlin narrowed his brows. He knew his mother wasn't feeling that well, but he thought it was probably the flu or something. He'd never reasoned that it could've been something serious. "And…?" He asked a bit anxiously.

Balinor shook his head. "The doctor is still with her. That can't mean something good right?" His father stood up from his chair again, the palms of his hand placed flat on the surface of his desk. "Right!"

Merlin went around the desk to stand next to his father and gripped one of his father's arms. "Okay, calm down, dad. I'm sure the doctor is taking so long, because he can't find anything. That would be good news. Come on, let's sit and wait together." Merlin gestured his hand to the couch in his father's office and Balinor sat down on it with a heavy sigh.

"Thank you." Balinor said to his son, letting his fist down with a little bounce on his son's leg. "For being here." Merlin reached his hand out and intertwined his father's fingers with his own and offered a small smile. They sat in a comfortable silence when that was interrupted by the phone on Balinor's desk ringing. Balinor not yet flew to the phone and answered.

Merlin saw his father nod a few times.

"Alright, love, we'll be there as soon as possible." Balinor said and put down the phone.

Merlin stood next to his father, his eyes asking what's wrong. "The doctor has finished his examinations and Hunith would like to see us." Balinor said to his son.

They both never ran so fast in their entire life.

~oOoOo~

The doctor stood up from his bent position and snapped his medicine bag close, he straightened his jacket and looked Hunith in the eye who sat on her and Balinor's bed.

"Miss Swain." The doctor began.

Hunith had changed her last name back from Browne to her official last name almost immediately after coming to Mercia. Merlin was quite mad at her about the fact that even his last name was a lie, but after spending time with Arthur and after he had done some thinking on his own, he came to terms with it.

The doctor continued. "After completing all the examinations and after getting the results back from the lab about your blood works, I can only come up with one particular explanation. You're pregnant. And I would say about twelve weeks, maybe even thirteen. It's highly possible that the stitch you felt earlier was actually the baby moving."

Hunith's mouth fell open and her eyes were full of disbelief, but she instinctively cradled her stomach immediately. "P-pregnant?" She croaked out. "How is that even possible, I'm almost forty. Surely you have made a mistake?"

The doctor shook his head. "Everything points to it, but we can do an ultrasound if you want more certainty."

Hunith nodded softly.

"And it really isn't that uncommon for women at the age of forty to get pregnant, and there is also no reason to believe that those pregnancies are developing differently than women who are under forty."

Hunith was still hardly believing it. "So I'm pregnant?" Hunith muttered, more to herself, while trying to wrap her head around it. She was doing a quick back count, they were in Mercia for about eleven weeks, so it must've happened before that. Her eyes widened at the realisation that it must've been during the weekend that Merlin was staying over at the English palace… the weekend her son was shot. Merlin would never let her live that down ever again.

But that wasn't the only thing. Not only hadn't they discussed the possibility of more children yet, right now was also the worst time possible to be pregnant. There was just so much to focus on - the ceremony for one, and then the upcoming wedding next year, and then everything that would come in between. All that and a baby… it would be just too much.

Hunith put her hand to her forehead until she felt a hand on top of her shoulder and she looked up to the doctor.

"Be happy about it Miss Swain, a pregnancy is a joyous occasion and I'm sure the people of Mercia will be ecstatic by another pregnancy."

She could only manage to absentmindedly nod her head to the man.

The doctor wrote some things on his notepad and looked up to Hunith, who was barely recovered from the news. "I advise you to drink plenty and get some rest for the following few days, especially since there is a big event happening this Saturday." He waited a second before asking, "Shall I inform the King and Prince?"

"No!" Hunith immediately answered and then cleared her throat. "No, I- I want to tell them myself. Thank you doctor."

The doctor smiled brightly towards her and with a single nod left the room. Leaving Hunith alone with her thoughts. She looked down and focused on her midsection. She lifted her shirt a little bit and looked better again.

There it was, so tiny, almost unnoticeable, but still present. A small baby bump.

She immediately burst out in tears and she didn't know where her emotions were coming from so suddenly… well she could guess. She had been experiencing some really light mood swings lately, but she just thought it was because she was getting used to her new surroundings. Now it just all made sense to her once she put two and two together.

She took a deep breath, wiped away the happy tears and reached out for the phone. She had a good guess where Balinor would be right now.

~oOoOo~

Balinor not yet fell into his bedroom, with Merlin hot on his tail. Hunith found it amusing from her place on the bed.

Right now she had covered herself up again so to not give Balinor any clues, and was leaning with her back against the headboard. She had a sparkle in her eyes, but she kept the rest of her face in a blank expression.

Balinor was the first to approach her and sat down next to her on the bed, taking her hands in his own. "Hunith, what's wrong? The doctor wouldn't tell us."

Hunith turned to face her fiancé and her face completely changed. Her blank expression disappeared and she started to smile. After one last deep inhale she said it. "I'm pregnant."

Balinor stared blankly to her, his lips slightly apart and his eyes growing wider with the second before he barked out a laugh. "Pregnant!" He scooted closer and embraced his fiancé tightly. His eyes shimmering with tears. "Oh god, pregnant… pregnant! You. are. pregnant."

Hunith chuckled. "Yes, I think we know it now." Her eyes flicked up to her son, who still stood at the entrance. "Merlin?"

He blinked first before quietly shuffling forward. "I'm happy for you mum." He said just above a whisper. He was a bit shocked to be honest.

His aunt Lyndsey had just recently delivered her and his uncle JJ's baby and he was going to see the baby for the first time at the ceremony, but this news was far bigger news. He was going to be a big brother… he would never have thought he would be one, and now it was actually going to happen. He suddenly stopped halfway in the room and began to drag his right foot from left to right over the carpet with his hands clasped behind his back.

Hunith sensed what was going on and pushed Balinor to the side so she could get to her son, and while he was reluctant to let her off the bed, Balinor stood up and helped her to stand. Hunith walked up to her son and placed one of her hands against his cheeks and got him to look at her. "Oh Merlin, don't think you're suddenly less important because of this." She started to softly caress the skin under her thumb. "Things will change, but you're still the most precious in my life. I love you, you know that right?" Merlin nodded softly and then embraced his mother tightly.

She would tell Merlin about when the baby was conceived later. Not right now, she wanted to cherish this moment.

Balinor had walked up to the pair and kissed Hunith on the side of her head. He kept smiling brightly and was just unable to wipe it off his face, everything was alright with Hunith and even better, she was with child.

And how much he loved to stay here all day with his family, there were still so many things to do before Saturday. He turned to his son. "Merlin, we need to go. We have to go through the questions of tomorrow's interview and when we're done with that, Arthur will probably be here."

Merlin groaned soft. "Do I really have to do this interview?" His nose was scrunched up and his lips pouted. He really did not like to talk about himself and about his and Arthur's relationship to some interviewer he didn't even knew and what would later on be broadcasted on national and probably international television. But apparently meant that by being a Royal you wouldn't have a private life anymore.

"I know you don't like it, Merlin, but it's better if we give the people the things they want to know, then that the paparazzi is getting those details one way or another and usually they'll get it in a dirty way. Merlin trust me, it will only make the people more suspicious and making us look like we have something to hide if they have to find out about things by paparazzi. So, please, Merlin, just do this for us."

Merlin sulkily started his way out of the room, while Balinor turned around to face Hunith, who was shaking her head playfully.

"I'll get someone to bring you something to drink and I'll come check on you later." He brought his hand up to touch Hunith's still mostly flat stomach and smiled down on it. When he looked up his eyes were still filled with pride. "This time we'll do everything right." He whispered with his forehead resting against Hunith's. Hunith nodded the best way she could in this position, before placing yet another kiss on Balinor's lips.

~oOoOo~

Merlin walked towards his father's study, and saw the bodyguard that brought Freya home in the hallway. He called him over to him.

"Sir?"

Merlin groaned inwardly, there was really no way to stop the security to leave the formalities. "Did you bring Freya home safely?" He asked.

"Yes sir, she was a bit tensed by all the security though."

"Can you blame her? You lot always look at people like you want to murder them." Merlin joked but the guard's straight face didn't move one inch.

"We must do everything to protect the royal family sir." He replied instead, standing up a little more straighter.

Merlin rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Anyways, can you do something for me?"

"Certainly."

"Can you bring this invitation over at Freya's house? Deliver it in person, I want to be certain she got it." He handed over the white envelope with a red ribbon. The name 'Freya Renan' was written in a golden curly typeface at the front of the envelope. He had grabbed the invitation from his desk before heading over to his father's office to receive his scolding.

"Let her know that she will be picked up by one of the royal staff at eight pm."

"Right away sir." The guard answered and accepted the envelope and walked away from Merlin. By then, Balinor had caught up with his son and both moved towards his father's office again.

Balinor and Merlin went over the pre-approved questions that their PR bureau had sent them and after an hour going through every other question, he was told by his father that he'd do great if he'd just keep calm and relaxed. Merlin did snort a little bit at that – easier said than done.

He went back to his room after having heard from Tom that Arthur was waiting there for him. While walking he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and opened iMessage. He wanted to know if the invitation was brought at her house already.

To: Freya
3:36 pm
did you got the invite?

From: Freya
3:38 pm
yes! It was so beautiful. Gaius did need a bit of persuading to let me go, but he agreed at last

To: Freya
3:38 pm
great! and btw I hope the guards treated you nice

From: Freya
3:39 pm
they had. Really.

To: Freya
3:39 pm
I know they can be a bit scary looking if they want too. LOL

From: Freya
3:39 pm
well… no argument there.

From: Freya
3:40 pm
but really, they warmed up to me

From: Freya
3:40 pm
I think

To: Freya
3:41 pm
haha. Well, glad to hear

To: Freya
3:41 pm
But I need to go. Arthur's waiting for me ;-)

From: Freya
3:41 pm
Do I want to know?

To: Freya
3:42 pm
Probably not.

From: Freya
3:42 pm
well, have fun :-P

To: Freya
3:44 pm
^_^

Merlin pocketed his phone and pushed his door open. He was immediately met with a kiss by Arthur.

"Missed you." Arthur whispered with a smile.