He'd tried. He really had. He'd tried to be patient, tried to be good, but Arthur was quickly running out of any patience at all. "They'll starve."

"Nonsense," Uther said, and got upright just to give his words more power. "They've grown too soft. Remember these are your subjects, not your friends."

He thought of Merlin, then, and set his jaw. "Why can't we be both?"

"Because we rule the people, not the other way around."

Arthur shook his head slowly, his eyes slipping to the ground as he gathered up the courage to say something he'd never thought of saying to his father quite like this, before. "I think you're wrong."