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Merlin eyed the dress on his bed. It was beautiful, really. The only thing was—would it be beautiful on him?
Trying to remember how it had come to this, Merlin undressed and slipped into the dress. It was a delicate thing, long and flowing and layered with wispy fabric.
He felt awkward in it. The sleeves were large, and walking felt unnatural with all that extra material swimming around his ankles.
All he could do was hope he didn’t look as ridiculous as he felt. He left his room to find Gaius at his workbench, securing the last of the flowers to the headpiece Merlin would be wearing.
“Ah,” Gaius said. “Does it fit all right?”
Merlin shrugged. He had no idea how the dress was supposed to fit. It was probably supposed to be tighter in places, like around the chest and hips, but he couldn’t help that.
“Never mind,” Gaius said. “Come here, sit.”
Merlin sat on the bench, and Gaius grabbed hold of his face. Merlin closed his eyes, trying to trust that Gaius knew what he was doing. He could feel powder on his cheeks and eyelids, stainer on his lips.
When he was done, Gaius set the large flower crown on Merlin’s head and started rearranging it, trying to mask the fact that Merlin had no long hair to speak of.
“There,” Gaius finally said, stepping back to look at his work. “You look…” He seemed at a loss for words.
Merlin sighed. “May I see?”
Gaius nodded and went to fetch the mirror. Merlin stood and looked down at himself. His hands were large, bony, undeniably a man’s. The dress draped off his shoulders in a fashionable way, exposing too much skin, and it would be a miracle if no one noticed his Adam’s apple.
When Gaius returned, Merlin took the mirror and held it up to his face.
His blue eyes stood out under a swathe of gold, his cheekbones were highlighted in pink, and his lips were a dark red. The flowers in his hair matched nicely. His skin looked pale beneath it all, white and fine.
He set the mirror on the table and took a few steps back to take in the full picture. The dress flowed nicely over him, almost giving him the illusion of curves and softness.
It did look beautiful. He looked beautiful.
“One more thing,” Gaius said, holding out a gold necklace.
Merlin put it on, careful not to mess up the flowers, and took a deep breath. “Well?” he asked.
“You’re ready,” Gaius said, smiling. “Good luck.”
“I’ll need it,” Merlin said, practising his best impression of a woman’s voice. Gaius’s smile wavered, and Merlin sighed. “I’ll stay quiet best I can.”
Gaius nodded and ushered Merlin to the door. He opened it and checked the corridor before shooing him out.
Merlin made it to the banquet hall without incident. There were so many people that he blended in, just one of many spruced up ladies hoping to catch the eye of an eligible bachelor.
But his true mission was to get the attention of a certain visiting noble. Valiant had appeared in Camelot some days ago, for the banquet, and he’d been womanising and worming his way closer and closer to Prince Arthur. Just yesterday, Arthur had extended an invitation to Valiant to sit with him at the high table during the banquet. Valiant had accepted, acting pleased and humble before making a move on some poor, unsuspecting girl behind Arthur’s back.
Then Merlin, in cleaning Valiant’s dreadfully messy chambers, had happened upon a vial. It could have been anything. It could have been a potion for sleep, or for pain, or for anything else. Merlin knew that, but he didn’t trust the man, and so he had spilled a bit on his sleeve and taken the sample back to Gaius.
It was poison. Valiant was going to poison Arthur at the banquet.
What he planned to do after that, Merlin wasn’t sure, but it was easy to imagine. There would be chaos. Maybe he would go after Uther next. Maybe he would kill the entire royal family. Maybe he wanted the throne for himself and didn’t have the resources to overrun Camelot in a battle, so he was going after the heart of the kingdom from within.
Whatever his plan was, Merlin wasn’t going to let him go through with it. He would catch Valiant’s attention at the banquet, lure him out of the hall, and expose him for what he was.
It had seemed like such a good idea in theory, but now in practise, Merlin wasn’t confident. The hall was packed, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to catch Valiant’s eye. There were so many other women, so many servants, so many knights.
And there, at the front of it all, was the high table with Uther, Morgana, and Arthur. Each of them had an honoured guest at their side, and Arthur had Valiant.
Valiant’s gaze swept the hall, and Merlin straightened up, trying to look as alluring as possible.
At first, he wasn’t sure if he’d been seen, but then Valiant’s gaze turned towards him again.
And again.
Merlin smiled at him the third time, and on the fifth, he gave what he hoped was a subtle wink.
Valiant leaned close to Arthur to say something, and Arthur’s eyes snapped to Merlin. Merlin turned away quickly. He may have passed for a woman, but he still looked like himself, and if Arthur recognised him then all hell would break loose. No explanation would be good enough, and Arthur would never let him live it down.
When Merlin looked back, Valiant was standing up. Merlin turned to make his way out of the hall, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Valiant was following him, and to make sure that Gaius saw the plan was setting into action.
His heart was racing. He only had one chance to get this right.
He weaved through stragglers and servants in the corridor, still keeping an eye on Valiant, until he found a secluded corner. It was dark, which was good because he wasn’t sure how well the illusion would hold close up.
“There you are,” Valiant said once he caught up.
Merlin smiled and nodded.
“Shy?” Valiant asked, taking a step forward. Merlin took a step back and hit the wall. “You didn’t seem shy in the hall.”
Merlin just kept smiling.
Valiant kept stepping forward, and after a few strides he had Merlin pinned to the wall. Merlin suddenly wished he’d thought to wear perfume. He hoped the flowers in his hair would pass for a sweet scent.
“I have very important things to be doing tonight,” Valiant said, trailing his hand down one of Merlin’s arms. “But they can wait, don’t you think?”
Merlin nodded and put his hands on Valiant’s waist.
There, in his pocket, was the vial.
Merlin raised his hands to Valiant’s chest and whispered his spell. Valiant went flying backwards, into the opposite wall. He crashed to the floor unconscious, pulling a tapestry down with him.
It hadn’t made as much sound as Merlin had thought, so he did the only thing he could think of. He let out a high-pitched shriek, long and loud.
Gaius came running, shortly followed by several guards and, finally, Arthur.
Arthur pushed his way to the front of the crowd that was gathering.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“He attacked me,” Merlin said, keeping his voice soft.
Arthur looked between Merlin and Valiant’s body, confused.
“I—I pushed him away,” Merlin said.
“You’re very strong,” Arthur said appreciatively.
Valiant started to stir, fighting to get the tapestry off him. Arthur helped him up and held him back when he made to lunge at Merlin.
“This woman says you attacked her,” Arthur said, struggling to keep Valiant in check. He nodded at his guards, and three of them came over to restrain Valiant.
“Attacked her?” Valiant shouted. “She attacked me.”
“There was something in his pocket,” Merlin said before things could get more out of hand.
“So?” Arthur asked.
“So…” Merlin’s mind was spinning. “I thought he meant to drug me!”
Arthur frowned and turned to his guards. “Search him.”
They did so, retrieving the vial and handing it over. Valiant struggled against them, shouting that it wasn’t his, that it wasn’t anything.
Arthur uncorked it and took a whiff. “Gaius?” He handed it over. “What is it?”
Gaius smelled the contents. “Poison, sire.”
“Poison,” Arthur repeated. He turned back to Valiant. “Were you going to poison this woman?”
Valiant broke free of the guards, grabbed one of their swords, and hurled himself at Arthur.
Arthur dodged him easily, and the guards tackled him to the ground.
“I should say the poison might have been for you, sire,” Gaius said calmly.
Arthur looked between Gaius, Merlin, and Valiant, clearly trying to make sense of the situation.
“Take him to the dungeons,” he said finally. “We’ll sort this in the morning.”
The guards pulled Valiant up and dragged him off, screaming.
Merlin exhaled as he disappeared out of sight, out of earshot.
It had worked.
“Are you all right?” Arthur asked, stepping close to Merlin. He put a hand on his arm. “Did he hurt you?”
Merlin shook his head, keeping his eyes down. He couldn’t be recognised.
“Are you sure?” Arthur asked.
Merlin nodded.
“Gaius,” Arthur said. “Will you take care of her? Make sure she hasn’t been hurt?”
Gaius nodded. “Yes, of course. She might need a calming draught is all.”
Arthur nodded and let go of Merlin’s arm. “I am sorry you had to go through that,” he said. “You’ve been very brave.”
“Thank you,” Merlin said quietly.
“Are you sure you’ll all right?”
Merlin nodded, daring to look up, and offered a smile.
“I’ll leave you with Gaius, then,” Arthur said. “You’re in good hands. I must return to the banquet.”
Merlin watched as Arthur went back into the hall, and the crowd slowly dispersed.
“Oh, well done,” Gaius said when they were finally alone. “Well done!”
Merlin couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“It was one of our more unlikely ideas. Come, let’s get you home and out of that thing.”
Merlin looked down at his dress, thinking that, actually, he didn’t really mind it.
He had no reason to keep wearing it, though, so he followed Gaius back home to change.