𝙸𝚁𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙴. ➪ 𝙴. 𝙿𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚎

𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛

In the years that followed the Battle of Beruna, Phillis had grown scared of the night. It was pretty ironic, considering she was Queen of the stars.
After a week of Mrs. Beaver's intensive cloth-dabbing, she finally deemed young Phillis fit enough to get back to her royal duties. Phillis had felt fine after a day or two, yet Mrs. Beaver insisted she should stay wrapped up warm in bed for a few more days. Lucy and Susan had been the first to cuddle her and apologise for what had happened. Phillis insisted it was fine, and that she was only really angry at Elmer. However, all was forgiven particularly quickly.
But the night, specifically the dreams that haunted them, was something Phillis could never forgive. She'd wake up in a sweat, afraid to fall back to sleep. That particular night had been awful.

Edmund glared at her, standing terribly close to the trembling girl. He stroked her cheek. "You're beautiful," he whispered, "but you'll never be as beautiful as her."
She let out a shaky breath, trying to scream at him to get off and let her go. But she was stood over the edge of a waterfall, one push and she would fall. "Edmund, stop," she said, tears spilling from her eyes.
"You're smart," he whispered, leaning closer, "but you'll never be as smart as her."
"Stop," she sobbed. "Please."
"You're brave," he smirked, "but you'll never be as brave as her."
She cried out as he tormented her.
"I love you," he said, "but I'll never love you as much as I love her."
Then, he pushed. She screamed as she fell into the water fifty feet below. The water engulfed her, and she sank. No matter how hard she swam upwards, she continued to sink towards the bottom. Her foot caught between some rocks. She tugged and tugged but it wouldn't come out. She screamed for help, water filling her lungs. Her foot wouldn't budge and she could feel her lungs kissing her sweetly goodbye.

She sat up in bed, a knock at her door had woken her up. She looked to her left, to see Cobalt curled up beneath the window. He always slept there so that in the morning, he could soak up the Narnian sun. Phillis sighed and went to open the door, only to see Edmund stood there. "Edmund?" she muttered.
"I'm sorry, can I come in?" he asked.
"Sure," she shrugged, slightly confused.
"I didn't mean to wake you," he muttered.
"It's the middle of the night, what did you expect?" she snapped, but her eyes softened at the sad look on Edmund's face. "Sorry. I should be thanking you, I was having an awful dream."
"Me too," he sighed.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked and he nodded.
She patted her bed, gesturing for him to come and sit. "We were in battle, and you ended up getting hurt. I kept calling out to you, but you wouldn't wake up. You were bleeding and I could feel your pulse stop in my hands. I just had to see you alive," he said.
Phillis pulled him into a tight embrace.
"Tell me about yours?" he offered.
"Well, you were just telling me that I was beautiful and brave and smart and that you loved me, but I wasn't as beautiful or brave or smart as her and you loved her more than me. And then you pushed me and I fell into water. My foot got caught and no matter how much I swam or screamed I was well and truly alone."
There was a brief, comforting silence between the two before Edmund asked, "Can I stay here tonight?"
"Of course."
Quietly, Phillis and Edmund climbed into her bed, carful not to wake Cobalt. Neither knew how they got there, but the King and Queen of Narnia ended up lying in each other's tight grasp. The comfort of body heat scaring away any negative thoughts or haunting dreams. "Ed?" Phillis broke the silence.
"Hm?" he mumbled, his breath rolling down her neck.
"Let's keep this between me and you, yeah?" she said, not wanting to deal with the teasing.
"And Cobalt," Ed hummed.
"And Cobalt," she laughed.