I Promise

narlth

Arthur shook his head in denial, it had to been some cruel illusion. There was no way Merlin could lie to him, especially about something like this.

His fingers tightened on the hilt of Excalibur, but he did not lift it. His whole body felt numb. How could someone who he trusted so implicitly as Merlin, lie to him, deceive him in such a manner, in the same way so many others had also betrayed him already.

Why always, was it those he was closest to that always held such secrets from him?

What was it about him that had others so eager to deceive him?

“Arthur?” Merlin’s voice sounded miles away, though logically he knew the servant was stood mere feet away.

It wasn’t the magic, that had ceased mattering to him a while ago, it was the lies that cut the deepest.

“Arthur?”

When Merlin spoke again Arthur used it as a focus, something to draw him from his thoughts, with a wash of cold, but he can’t look up, can’t see the man before him. Afraid perhaps, of what he would see if he did.

“How could you?”

“I didn’t have a choice-”

“We all have a choice, Merlin.” Arthur closed his eyes, lifting his head, so when they reopened they were looking directly into Merlin’s. “But I see yours was not to trust me.”

“Arthur…”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Arthur sheaths his sword. “The only thing I want to hear from your lips is the promise to never lie to me about something like this again.”

Merlin swallows thickly, his voice sticking in his throat.

“I swear it, Arthur.” Pink tongue wetting dry lips, he continues, “everything I do has always been to help you, never to hurt you.”

Arthur tilts his chin, eyes narrowing slightly.

“No second chances, Merlin. If you lie to me again…” The sentence unfinished, hangs heavily in the air between them.

There is a moment between them, when they are both still, as if scared of being the first to shatter the silence. But it cannot last.

“I understand.”