How To Train Your Dragonlord

Kings of Camelot

In the months following the celebration, Merlin and Arthur continued to grow closer, and continued to rule Camelot side-by-side. Merlin, with Arthur and Will's help, managed to convince his mother to move to Camelot, as the Queen Mother - the mother of the King(s).
It took Hunith a couple of months to get used to living in a castle, and being treated like royalty - well she was royalty now, thanks to Merlin and Arthur's marriage. Even after a few months, she would insist on doing basic things for herself - her maid was more of a companion to her than anything else.
Merlin, who hadn't been amazing at turning up and paying attention in council meetings prior to the marriage, made even more of an effort to attend the meetings and give useful input, but he would still miss at least one meeting a fortnight because he had become distracted while growing flowers in the meadows, or teaching young citizens a few simple spells. Arthur could never bring himself to scold Merlin for his lateness when he heard of such things, as they were part of his list of reasons for loving and marrying Merlin.
Arthur, on the other hand, relaxed more in meetings that Merlin managed to attend, which also continued to develop in the meetings missing Merlin. He tried to keep Merlin as close to him at all times as possible which, if anything was actually harder than before they married.
Around a week after the ceremony, the Kings had matching crowns commissioned by the city blacksmith. Merlin also enchanted their crowns to shine as if they were made of Alexandrite.
After two months of peaceful marital bliss, the council brought up an issue they had been concerned with. They tiptoed around the subject of their concern for half a meeting, before Arthur finally snapped and said: "Oh, for god's sake, spit it out! What on earth is worrying you to this extent?"
"Well, sires, the issue is about heirs. Royal children, my lords." The council member that mentioned it looked as if he felt that he were about to be hung. Then, something that they weren't expecting happened. Merlin laughed.
This, of course, got Arthur laughing too. "What do you find funny, Merlin?" he asked.
Merlin smiled as he struggled to control his laughter. "Well, we've been married for two months and they're already discussing heirs! We'll have time in the years to come to figure that out. For now, we should focus more on trying to prevent any threat of attack from the High Priestess of the Old Religion."
Merlin had taken to referring to Morgana as this, as it seemed to hurt Arthur less than mentioning the name of his sister. It was almost as if using a title for her set a barrier between the Morgana attacking the kingdom and the timid Morgana of old, too afraid to even watch an execution. Between the Morgana seemingly set on killing her brother and the Morgana that both Kings had held so very close in their hearts.
The former was a Morgana they tried to keep out of their minds as much as sensibly possible. The latter was a Morgana they wished could return, when they were given the time to be left alone with their innermost private thoughts. Often, the Kings were reminded of the latter Morgana during council meetings, as the topics frequently discussed now were things that the Morgana of old would've wished that Uther could've discussed with his council.
"Of course, your Majesty," one of the members of the council replied. All of the members were a bit too suck-uppity for Merlin's tastes. He liked people who spoke their minds without worrying about what he'd say to them. That was one of the many reasons that he'd spend time with his new subjects. He still acted a lot like they did, so they were still a lot more open with him when he was around them, because they knew that he didn't mind. And so the meeting continued to the topics of the day.

Merlin and Arthur shared lunch together in their chambers afterwards, seeing as they often had duties to attend to separately, and they wanted to catch up without the court watching. Arthur was still thinking about what the council had brought up about their relationship. They were, of course, right. If theirs had been a 'normal' relationship, Merlin would have already announced that he was with child by now. But the two of them hadn't even discussed their options, in relation to heirs, yet. Which, of course, meant Arthur brought the topic up with Merlin over lunch.
"Merlin, I've been thinking," Arthur started.
"Oh, well that's dangerous!" Merlin quipped, getting himself an eye roll, a sarcastic laugh and a light tap on the arm for his troubles.
"I've been thinking about what the council brought up this morning," he said, finally.
"About heirs?" Merlin asked. Arthur nodded. "That really got under your skin, didn't it?" Arthur nodded again. "I thought it probably would. Is this our serious conversation topic of the day, then?"
"It is," Arthur replied. They had taken to having one topic per day that they would discuss without quips or sarcasm, so that they weren't constantly downplaying everything that they discussed.
Merlin put down his food and cutlery, and turned his entire attention to Arthur, which was another thing Arthur didn't think he'd ever stop loving about his husband. He was glad, as he never wanted to stop loving it about him, either.
"We need to start to seriously consider what we are going to do about heirs. If you were a queen, you'd usually already be with child by now. I know that would also be your main royal role, but I can understand why the council are so on edge about it."
"I understand entirely. Besides, it would give you more security on the throne - and more comfort - to know you had an heir on the way."
"Yes, exactly. I knew you would understand, Merlin."
"I'm just not sure that Camelot is quite right for a royal child right now. The High Priestess continues to try to infiltrate our walls, and we're still trying to keep the people on side after the unusual union. But, we can still discuss our options available, if it would give you some comfort," Merlin replied, any hint of playfulness immediately removed from his tone.
Arthur sighed. "I know that Camelot is the least safe it's been in decades, but that's because my father had such a distrusting reign after my mother... And I don't want to have to do that... But I also don't think we should put us on hold just because of my sister, because then she's still winning. And no, Merlin, you don't need to keep calling her 'High Priestess'. The sooner I admit to myself that our Morgana is gone, the sooner we can halt her threat to the kingdom.
"But let's not talk about Morgana now. Let's put her out of our minds, or we'll both be in foul moods by the end of the day. Why don't you start listing some of our options for heirs?"