Author: LadyFromPoland

Disclaimer: I don't own "Merlin". It is a TV show which belongs to BBC.

Warning: SLASH

English is not my mother language

I should have updated sooner but I've been too much preoccupied to make myself finish the Epilogue quickly. I had to learn a lot, then I watched the last episode of "Sherlock" and have been excited ever since (I stopped counting the amount of fics that I've read recently). And now there is this issue of ACTA. I really hate this idea!
I've managed to finish this last part anyway so enjoy it!

Engagement of an idiot

Epilogue

The last few years meant to Merlin more than he could tell. Every single day was like a blessing and he was thanking for happiness all the time. It is, however, wrong to think that Merlin's life was perfect. He couldn't be with Arthur officially. That would be highly inappropriate and it would offend some of the people. Nonetheless, Merlin liked to think of his life as perfect. The titles were never something that he praised and they definitely weren't something that he needed in his life. He had already been given everything that made the life happy. That was more than he'd been hoping for for many years.

There were some members of the King's Council who tried to convince him to marry some noble lady. They were saying over and over again that the kingdom would benefit from a good marriage. However, they had lost the most powerful argument. Arthur had a ward who was already named an heir to the throne. It didn't really matter that he wasn't Arthur's true son. The king had right to name his heirs if he didn't have a legitimate son and since William was raised by him from a very young age, the king could pass all the values on him.

Nonetheless, throughout last few years, quite a lot of princes visited Camelot in order to seduce Arthur and become his queen. All of them were very disappointed when they were finally finding out that all their efforts were hopeless. Arthur didn't even seem a little bit interested in them. There was one princess who was closer to the success than any other, though. She was very beautiful and smart. Most of all, however, she knew very much about men and their weaknesses. Although Merlin was finding hilarious all the efforts of previous princesses, that time he felt really unsafe. He truly feared that he was about to lose Arthur and he needed to intervene. Thanks to his help, the king quickly realised that the princess was seducing him very skilfully and that she, giving him a very strong mixture of alcohol and herbs, almost dragged him to bed.

Since that event, Arthur started to be more careful. He knew very well to whom his heart belonged and he didn't want to ruin it because of one small mistake. Listening to his heart costed him too much to give it up easily and stupidly.

On one lazy afternoon, in the royal gardens, Merlin was watching his son playing between the flowers. It was a delightful sight.

Then he spotted Arthur. He smiled at him cheerfully and winked an eye. It was their way of saying find me later and then you'll see.... They had plenty of non-verbal signs to communicate in front of other people or at the distance.

Arthur winked at him back and Merlin just knew that he meant can't wait.

Then the king turned his attention towards his son who didn't notice him. "William!" he called the boy.

The kid turned around to look at him. "Yes, father?" he asked innocently.

Merlin smiled to himself. It was the scene that he had seen a few years before in the Crystal Cave. It was the scene that he had been so much afraid of. Now he knew that there was nothing to fear.

oOoOo

In the evening Merlin found his way to Arthur's chambers. The truth was, that after all these years it was more their shared chamber than just Arthur's. However, they needed to keep up appearances.

Merlin was never talking to anyone about where he was going in the evenings but he wasn't definitely creeping into king's chambers. The servants, among themselves, gossiped a lot about Merlin and Arthur's encounters. It was true that they had never caught their king red-handed but it had never been their intention. The servants simply passed short glances and smiled meaningfully. When they found Merlin in Arthur's chambers early in the morning, half-clothed, they often said "You fell asleep in the middle of discussing the state matters again, didn't you Merlin?"

Merlin knew that they knew the truth and he was grateful that they kept it to themselves.

Sometimes, young handmaids couldn't help giggling, hearing the moans from the inside of king's chamber; the two completely different but undoubtedly male moans.

The servants didn't dare to speak about it outside the castle. Arthur was a good king and they respected him very much. He was, however, a human and had his small weakness. The servant silently agreed that it was a detail and that they didn't care. Besides, there was one good thing in this unusual situation. The king had only one lover and he seemed contented enough not to look for another one. The virtue of many young women was safe.

"You've come finally," Arthur said, pulling him into an impatient kiss.

"William called me his father in front of half of the Council," Merlin said, pulling apart.

"It's not the first time," the king murmured blithely. "I've already gotten used to."

"It's serious, Arthur." Merlin tried to sound seriously himself but he was not able to with Arthur's arms all around him. "You shouldn't..."

"I shouldn't...?" Arthur asked, taking his hands away.

Merlin groaned impatiently. "Fine," he said. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

The king smirked playfully. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear," he whispered into Merlin's ear and pulled him towards the bed.

This last time, please, review! It's been a pleasure to write the story. I hope that you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.