And then something clicked in Zacharias's mind. Maybe it wasn't the truth of the matter - he was no mind reader - but it did make sense, given the way Merlin was acting, his opinion on this whole thing.
"Who hurt you?" he murmured, thumb brushing along his skin. "Because someone did." At least, he would put a lot of money on that fact. People weren't generally so skittish of relationships for no reason at all.
He leaned in closer, but just enough to touch their foreheads lightly together. "It doesn't always end badly Merlin."