Thread: Don't Lose Your Head Over It: A Merlin RP (SevenxKawa)

Uther found himself staring at the boy more and more as the night progressed. He hadn??t had his fill of Arthur, certainly not, not when his son had been at death??s door just five days ago, but he was distracted. When had this puzzle appeared in his court? The first time Uther ever remembered the boy was when he had saved his own son. How had he managed that? Uther had very few memories of that night outside of the cold whisper of webs down the back of his neck. A king was not supposed to be affected by the baser things, certainly not the heebie jeebies, but Uther had felt the ghosts of crawling things all over his skin for days afterwards. There had been one moment, safe in the privacy of his own rooms, his own manservant dismissed, where he had given into the urge to shake his limbs out in an attempt to dislodge the feeling of creepy crawlies slithering along his skin. After years at war, with lice and fleas and leeches, he had thought the mild dislike of insects would have been bitten, crawled and sucked out of him, but it seemed that being covered in enchanted spider webs was something completely different. His thoughts were becoming disjointed, rolling away in exhausted pieces. Uther felt a deep, lazy warmth in his chest, the kind most men would call security he knew it as too much wine and not enough sleep, as he watched his son. Arthur was certainly acting the part of a healthy heir he favoured neither arm though Uther was sure his injury must still make movement difficult, being no stranger to such wounds himself. ??We??ll have similar scars?? , Uther thought absently, taking a sip of wine to hide the small smile on his lips as he watched Arthur and his knights crow over the clumsy, bright red of his servant. Boys would be boys, and Merlin certainly seemed a good sport to enjoy their light hearted bullying. An off-balanced sport, but a good one none the less. Arthur had chosen his injured arm to land the smack on the boy and Uther wondered whom the display was for him or the court? It wasn??t just boy??s fun. It was, as everything, a political gesture. For some reason, his eyes followed Arthur??s manservant??s movements, not his son??s, though the image of a laughing prince was forefront in his vision. It had to have been the feathers, the hat was simply ridiculous and it was impossible for any man to ignore them, the only remains of whatever giant, absurd birds they had been taken from. Then again, he had seen much more in the costumes of some of the noble men and women, quite a few of whom publicized their wealth by the amount of absurd, gaudy details they could add to their costumes. Arthur must have taken their examples to heart when he dug deep to find a suitably stupid outfit for his servant. It left Uther thinking of how many birds were wandering about, bottoms naked, as members of his court strutted about in their ill-gotten finery. He really needed to rest. Again, the boy met his eyes and all his thoughts were returned to their cold, careful places, clicking as each fell into place. From his seat, under the warm light of candles, some of which had been placed in colored glass holders to mimic a sunset, the boy??s eyes were dark. Uther didn??t look away. Merlin always met his eyes. Always. There was no proper lowering of his gaze along with his hands from that ridiculous hat, and that was strangely refreshing. Those eyes were honest there was nothing to hide in that head of his, no deep political secret, no plan to destroy him or even guilt from a petty theft. Refreshing. That was the word. A sign of respect had become the tool of his enemies. Arthur??s servant met his eyes like Morgana did, like Gaius did when his king wasn??t temperamental. It made him stare harder. No, that was probably the wine. Uther??s appetite had yet to return, not when he still couldn??t sleep at night where his mind was free to imagine a world where no tincture had been discovered, no miracle cure had brought his son back to him, and he was left with only Arthur??s colourless corpse. Wine on an empty stomach was even more potent than usual, especially with warm lights and his son up and about only a few feet away. It was almost enough to cause him to let his guard down. Almost. The boy recovered, eventually, after two half-starts, and continued his duties which Arthur had loudly reminded him of, his cup having gone below the halfway mark without Merlin noticing, a grave offense indeed, but Uther still stared. Now he was no longer pondering the string of lucky coincidences that had happened since Merlin had arrived. He was smiling thinly, talking with Morgana but watching over her curly, dark haired head. She noticed, of course. Morgana??s eyes were as sharp as her temper and Uther found there was little he could keep from his ward. She managed to glance back just as the boy had plastered that pained smile, looking for all the world that he had seen Medusa and got himself turned to stone while trying to talk her out of killing him. It was much the same look from when the youth had attempted to get out of a flogging, with only the movement of the feathers to destroy the image. She looked back at him with an expression that was somewhere between humor and a threat, an expression she alone could get away with. If anyone else had attempted it, Uther would have been very, very sore instead, he was only slightly guilty, but Morgana didn??t need to know that. ??You aren??t looking at Merlin, are you?? she asked politely, a wide smile on her face. So maybe there was more humor than threat than he had thought. And though he might consider her to be one of the few friends he had and the daughter he had never had, it was certainly out of her place to notice where his wandering eyes landed. He chuckled softly, taking another sip of wine instead of answering, but after that Merlin wasn??t alone in being observed. And she was less subtle than her king. Well, if she was going to play at that game. Uther leaned back a little, gesturing for his own attendant. The middle-aged man was average in every way, from his balding scalp to his softening belly, though he had a keen sense of his liege??s thoughts Uther could trust him to be discreet. He turned his grey head towards the servant, murmuring. Whatever he had said earned a sharp nod but not even a glance in Arthur??s direction. Uther rested the fingers of his left, and whole, hand on base of his goblet, thinking as he traced the designs of the base. Through the gloves, he couldn??t feel the fine metal work. After an appropriate amount of time, he glanced up, face void of any emotion besides a faint, magnanimous smile. Arthur was looking at him, staring hard and past his man??s shoulder. Then, he remembered himself, answered and sent his father??s servant away and gestured for Merlin. If Uther had been paying attention, he would have noticed the faint smile that danced on Morgana??s lips as she looked down to her own cup. One-love