CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS ( i. )

"Alright, Cal, focus. This might be the most important thing you've ever done in your entire life."

The blonde gathers all her focus. She stares her opponents down as they stand across the table, narrowing her eyes. Her fingers grip the container of dice in her hand as the small squares rattle against the wood while she grabs her drink with the other hand, taking down a big gulp of ale. Everyone in the Rising Sun Tavern has stopped whatever conversation they had previously been in to watch this intense showdown.

The goal of the game is simple: accurately call two sixes and roll a twelve. The catch is that each team has to start at two and work their way up to twelve. Each time someone calls the right number, their team gets a point. Anyone that calls wrong must drink. Now that they have made it to twelve, everyone partaking in the game is fairly intoxicated. Calliope has Leon and a few other knights on her team while Arthur leads the other one. Their scores are tied as the prince has already failed to roll a twelve. She could win the game right here.

Arthur places his hands on the table, leaning forward, a drunken glaze glimmering in his eyes as Calliope quirks an eyebrow at him. The flirtatious glint between them is no where near subtle, thanks to the alcohol swirling in their systems. Luckily, everyone else is just as drunk as them.

"Do you remember our little deal?" He asks, his eyes dropping to her lips for a small moment.

Calliope places her own hands on the table, matching his challenge, "How could I forget?"

Their arrangement. There is a lot more on the line in this silly game of dice than anyone around them realizes. Whoever loses must grant the other's every request for two days. This bargain was struck halfway into the game, and Calliope knows that without the help of ale, it never would have been struck at all.

She thinks about all the chores she's going to make Arthur do. All the things he hates the most. With a smirk, she rattles the dice in the container one last time, and then, she lets them loose. They tumble onto the table, rolling over a few times until they stop, showing their numbers. Calliope huffs while Arthur and his team raises their hands and cheer. Six and two. No good.

The blonde lets out a string of curses. She takes a step back from the table, watching the prince as he gathers the dice for his next roll. She takes her sip of defeat, hoping, praying that Arthur does not roll two sixes. Mockingly, he shakes the container around, his eyes locked with hers through his every motion.

Every pair of eyes focuses onto the dice as they clatter, tumbling and tumbling until they make their decisive move. Arthur's face lights up. Calliope slams her hands against the table

"Goddammit!"

She stares at them—two sixes. Arthur and his team erupt into victorious cheers. Fuck.

"Looks like I win," the cocky prince crosses his arms over his chest, his eyes looking down at the blonde with a level of arrogance that she's tempted to slap off.

Shrugging, she tries to appear calm and collected. Her competitive nature trashing, "Congratulations. After nearly a year of knowing me, you've finally managed to beat me at something."

Leon snickers from behind her, patting the fiery blonde on the back, "He's never going to let you hear the end of this one, Cal."

"Well, what's that? One for the prince about about one hundred for me?" her gaze returns to Arthur. "I'm proud of you for finally getting your place on the floor."

He moves around the table separating them, their locked eyes never wavering, "You hate losing, don't you?" She huffs, looking away from his annoying stare. "It's really getting to you isn't it? You can't stand the idea of me winning."

"I'm sure we can return balance to the world in a sparring match," her words slice towards him, but lose their edge as he only gains amusement from her inability to accept defeat.

As most of the knights begin chatting amongst themselves, ready to turn in for the night, Arthur dares a step closer, his eyes raking over her like something he wants to devour.

"Aren't you going to ask about my first request?"

Damn him. Damn this cocky bastard. She has to fight every reflex in her body to keep her eyes from darting to his lips—remembering the desire that the taste of them awoke within her.

"Our deal doesn't start until morning," she manages, barely. This tension between them—the air so tight and hot—has only escalated since their kiss two weeks ago. Every time Calliope lets herself near him, she feels like her surroundings are shrinking; like she can't think or even breathe. She clenches her fists at her sides, willing a long step back, and suddenly, she feels some air returning to her chest.

Arthur seems to be recovering from the same fate as lowers his head in a nod, "Tomorrow then."

The assassin takes another step back—just for good measure, "Tomorrow."

♛ ♛ ♛

Calliope leans against the wall, her fingers pressed against the bridge of her nose as she breathes in and out deeply to try and press through the horrible headache pounding in her skull. This morning, right as the sun made its appearance in the sky, someone rudely awoke her and told her she was needed in Morgana's chambers. She struggled to pull herself out bed, nausea and dizziness sticking to her as she walked down the corridors. When she arrived, Merlin was already there, and he looked her up and down with a grin, holding back a roar of laughter,

Her memories from last night are fuzzy. She does remember losing the game to Arthur and his stupid smirk of victory as she glances at him while he observes the singed debris scattered at his feet.

Morgana's room had been set aflame last night. Luckily, she was not harmed, but Uther is determined to find out exactly what occurred.

"I came back in with some extra blankets. There was a candle, but I put it out," Gwen explains to the King and his son.

"Are you sure?" Uther questions.

The servant nods, "I put it out, I swear."

"Gwen has been Morgana's servant for years. She said she blew it out. I believe her," Arthur offers his extension of support. Calliope still hasn't spoken. She's s still trying to decide if she might throw up or pass out.

Uther walks up to the bed, examining the curtains and sheets kissed with ghosts of hot fire, "She could have been burnt alive."

"Lighting struck the castle roof last night. That could have started the fire."

The King's back remains turned to everyone in the room, "Perhaps."

Arthur's eyebrows pinch, "What other explanation is there?"

Stepping away from the bed, he says, "Someone set the fire deliberately."

Shifting her gaze to Merlin, the blonde sees the worry in his eyes. They share an unspoken thought—one that would cause the King to descend into a terrible spiral—that Morgana set the fire herself with magic. Calliope isn't sure if his fondness for Morgana would outweigh his hatred for sorcery. From everything she's seen in the past year, the answer is something no one wants to face.

The assassin follows after Arthur and his father into the corridor. The King has an unhappy expression with bags dragging down his aging eyes.

"How did they reach her room unchallenged?"

Arthur glances to his father, "There are too many guards. It's impossible."

Well, not impossible, Calliope thinks. She could definitely figure it out.

The prince obviously reads her thoughts and shakes his head as his father sighs, "Yet, they managed it."

"I can't explain it."

"I can. They used magic." Calliope scoffs, causing the King to stop and look at her. "I imagine you have some smart explanation, don't you?"

She can't ignore the sarcasm lacing his tone, and Arthur holds his breath, awaiting her quick wit that could rip the King to shreds with words alone.

"Just that maybe you put too much faith in the guard's capabilities to keep out all unwanted guests."

The King shakes his head, "Regardless, I want all those under suspicion arrested, and the guards must have an extra two hours of training every day." His eyes look to the blonde. "Which you can handle since you have so much spare time to come up with these clever ideas."

Calliope offers a fake smile that she doesn't even try to force to look real. The King is too preoccupied with the fact that his Ward had just been attacked, so he brushes off her attitude and walks away, leaving her alone with the Prince.

She imagines stabbing the King in the back, but she pushes the intrusive thought out of her mind. No matter how appealing they may be at the moment.

"Perhaps you should consider at least trying not to insult my father at every possible chance presented to you," Calliope turns her body to face him fully in the corridor. Servants glide around them and the low murmuring of guards and knights shifting through the palace echo around them.

"Actually," she starts with a sly smile, "I think he's getting used to it."

"Now you're just being ridiculous."

"The day your father starts treating me like an actual human, I'll start being nice to him."

A smirk suddenly lifts his face, "You know, with all this going on I almost forgot you lost our bet,'" Oh God, why did he have to remember? "And I have the perfect idea for my first request."

Calliope looks to the ceiling, pinching the bridge of her nose and letting out a long sigh, "Just spit it out, Pendragon."

"You have to be nice to my father for the rest of the day," A huge grin lines his face as she looks at him again. "No insults or sly comments. And remember, if you choose not to do it, you have to muck out my horse's stall for an entire week." If Calliope could go back in time, she would punch her drunk self in the face for making this bet and setting these conditions. "In fact, let's make it even more difficult for you—you have to be nice to everyone...including me."

Her fists clench at her sides, and she grits her teeth to keep from hitting him. The Prince has never looked so proud of himself as he crosses his arms over his chest and gives her the most mocking expression he can muster.

"So, sweetheart, anything you want to say to me?"

"Oh, many things. Many things," she says through an exasperated breath.

He leans closer with raised eyebrows, "Care to share them?"

Calliope almost sees red as she controls herself from descending into a long, yelling tangent, "I'm going to get you back for this."

"That's not a very nice thing to say."

The blonde lets out a loud, aggravated sound, throwing her hands in the air and storming away with a string of curses under her breath.

And the Prince's laughter follows her until she turns the corner of the corridor.

♛ ♛ ♛

Calliope spends the next few hours on the training grounds. By the time the sun reaches its peak in the clear sky, her body is caked in sweat from the muggy heat, and she gulps down an entire canister of water on her way to see Merlin and Gaius.

In all of their free time, they've been doing as much research as possible to try and figure out anything about the man who kidnapped her mother, but after all these months, Calliope isn't sure how to keep holding onto the hope that they'll ever find anything. Uther is demanding and keeps her as busy as possible, leaving little time for anything else, which may be a tactic to try and keep her and Arthur from spending time together outside of mandatory duties. He wants his son to spend more time with Victoria, and every time Calliope has to watch them ride off for a picnic or even going on a walk around the castle grounds, she feels like exploding from the inside out. She can see the Lady grasping at straws—at anything that might bring the Prince closer to her.

But he only spends time with her out of duty. At least, that's what Calliope hopes to be true, but it's hard to ignore how far that duty will extend one day. Will it be in weeks? Months? Years? If Uther senses the depth of Arthur's feelings for Calliope, he may rush the wedding.

She never imagined herself being trapped in the state of longing for someone. Her tendrils of longing were always for a different life—an escape. But nothing can compare to the way her chest caves in on itself every time she sees him with her.

"Cal," her head snaps up as she opens the door of the physician's chambers to find Merlin sitting at the table while Gaius stirs together some kind of steaming concoction. "You look..."

"Save it, wizard boy," she says, closing the door behind her and brushing her sweat-coated hair out of her face. She walks across the room and plops down across from him.

Merlin straightens his back, "Aren't you supposed to be nice to me today?"

"Fuck," she narrows her eyes. "He told you?"

"Yep," he holds in a laugh. Instead of lashing out with an insult, Calliope just presses her lips into a hard line and shakes her head.

"Give Cal a break, Merlin," Gaius says, looking between the two of them. "The King is on edge right now, and it's putting us all in a bad mood."

"Speaking of...I was helping clear up Morgana's chambers earlier. The window was blown out into the courtyard below," Gaius doesn't answer, and Calliope knows where the young sorcerer is going with this. "It's odd, isn't it? If lightning struck the window like Arthur said, you'd think the glass would fall inside the window. It was magic. You know it was, and more importantly, so does she."

Gaius turns to him, "Morgana knows nothing for certain."

"That makes it even worse. She isn't sure what's happening to her, and it's tearing her apart."

"What would you have me do?"

Calliope watches as Merlin stands, "Talk to her. Tell her she'll be okay. Tell her that her powers are not something to be afraid of."

Gaius looks does down, "I can't."

The blonde swings her legs over the table, "Surely she deserves to know the full truth of things."

"Maybe I should speak to her," Merlin suggests.

"No, Merlin, you can't," the physician answers with urgency.

"Why not? I understand what she's going through."

Gaius walks to him, "You must never reveal your secret to anyone outside this room."

"If not me, then someone else."

"Who? Magic is outlawed in the kingdom. Have you forgotten?"

"Many still practice it. What about the Druids? You said they help people like this."

Even Calliope knows that's a bad idea, and Gaius shakes his head, "Uther has vowed to destroy them. The Druids cannot help her."

The blonde nods, "Yeah, that would be suicide for everyone involved."

"Well, then who can help her?"

"I will," Gaius answers, "as I have always done."

Merlin steps forward, "Then, you need to be honest with her."

"What makes you so certain that you know better than me?" Gaius asks with a raised voice.

"Because I went through the same thing! I know exactly how she's feeling right now."

With a sigh, Gaius looks at him with understanding, "You cannot get involved in this. No good will come of it. I mean it, Merlin. Stay out of it," he glances over the sorcerer's shoulder, "and you too, Cal. If he comes up with some stupid plan, you better tell me about it."

Calliope raises her hands in surrender, "Hey, I'm too busy for one of Merlin's idiotic schemes anyway."

The physician doesn't seem convinced. He simply nods his head and steps out to go gather some herbs for a potion, and Calliope turns to Merlin, her eyebrows quirked.

"I do think she deserves to know what's going on, but Gaius is right too," she says as Merlin returns to his place across from her. "Maybe just, gently assure her everything will be okay without disclosing too much about yourself." The sorcerer sets his elbows on the table, resting his chin in his hands, and Calliope pats his back. "And, if you do end up getting yourself into trouble, like always, I'll gladly help you out."

"Thanks, Cal," he replies through a small sigh.

♛ ♛ ♛

The next day, Calliope and Leon are forced into another one of Uther's paranoid schemes. Everyone that has ever consorted with sorcery had to be added to a piece of parchment, and whether it was simply a rumor or legitimate fact, they had to be arrested. He's determined to figure out who was behind the fire in Morgana's room, but Calliope knows he can never learn the actual truth. She doesn't doubt that his first instinct would be bloodshed, no matter who it was.

She does feel sympathy for Morgana. Calliope of all people knows what it's like to have a secret eating her alive.

When she's about to leave her room to join Leon, the servant's entrance opens quietly and Quinn walks in, greeting the blonde with a polite smile.

"Is everything okay?"

Calliope shrugs, "When the King is on a rampage to uncover a sorcerer, no one sleeps much." The brunette laughs lightly as she walks to the other side of the bed to gather the dirty clothes in the woven basket. "How many times am I going to have to tell you to stop doing that?"

As she heaves the basket into her arms, Quinn turns to the assassin, "It's my job, Cal. Besides, coming to this room is always entertaining. Sometimes, I catch the Prince standing at the end of the hallway, pacing and looking at your door like he's thinking about giving you a late night visit—"

"He does not," Calliope says, partly because she hardly believes it herself.

Quinn snickers, "Oh, he definitely does. I've witnessed it."

"Well, his betrothed is just down the hall. Maybe you're mistaken about who's door he's looking at."

"Shut up, Cal," Quinn answers, rolling her eyes. "Everyone with eyes can see how he looks at Lady Victoria compared to..." she trails off, but Calliope steps forward with an expectant stare.

"Compared to...?"

She meets the blonde's gaze, "To how he looks at you."

Her mouth clamps shut. Do people really notice them that much?

"Relax, Cal," Quinn nudges her arm. "It's just gossip."

Gossip that could easily reach the King's ears. And then, everything really would fall apart.

As Quinn exits her chambers with the laundry, Calliope leans against the edge of the bed, running her hand through her soft hair. She pushes away the worry, and instead, gathers herself and walks through the door, heading to find Leon so they can carry out another one of Uther's stupid decrees.

♛ ♛ ♛

so, i wanted to make this chapter longer, but i also haven't updated in forever, and i didn't want to have to make you guys wait any longer. the next chapter will be longer, but as of right now, i have no updating schedule because of classes. i'm feeling inspired again, so i'm going to work on this story in my free time and hopefully be able to roll out a bunch of updates when the holiday season gets closer and the semester ends.

anyway, sorry for the little hiatus, but i hope everyone enjoyed. remember to vote and leave your thoughts in the comments :)