I Will Always Love You-Prince Caspian X OC

Chapter 17

"Who is that?" Gwen whispered. 

"One of the lords," Caspian replied. 

The lord met them, holding what now Gwen determined to be a sword, crusted over with barnacles. 

"This was given to me by your father. I hid it safely in a cave all these years." He held it out. 

"That's an old Narnian sword," Edmund said. 

"It's from your Golden Age." The lord replied to Edmund. "There are seven such swords, gifts from Aslan to protect Narnia. Your father entrusted them to us." He held the sword out further to Caspian. "Here, take it." 

Caspian silently took it from him. 

"And may it protect you." 

The crowd began to cheer again, and Caspian grasped hands with the lord. "Thank you, my lord," he said. "And we shall find your lost citizens." 

Caspian began to lead the group away but stopped, giving the sword to Edmund. Gwen and Lucy shared a smile at how Edmund's eyes lit up. 

The crew and everyone else embarked. 

Everyone began to settle back in and set sail once again. Caspian approached Gwen before hurrying off.

"As king of Narnia, I demand you to go sleep all night and all day tomorrow." 

Gwen laughed. "I shall obey, but I cannot promise all day tomorrow. I would lose valuable time with you." 

~~~

Lucy followed Gwen into the room they shared. 

"I cannot wait to go back to sleep." Lucy sighed as she pulled her boots off. 

"I can't either. Caspian has 'commanded' me to sleep all night and all day tomorrow." Gwen laughed again at the memory. 

Lucy smiled. "You two would make such a wonderful married couple." 

Gwen jerked around, cheeks heating. "Lu!"

"Well, it's true. Didn't you hear what the traders even said? They saw how close you two were too." 

Gwen bit her lip as she mulled over the thought; being married to Caspian. Living the rest of her life with him. 

She blushed at the thought alone of being his for eternity. 

"Gwen, are you blushing?!" 

"Change and go to bed, Lucy!" 

Lucy laughed. "Mark my words." 

Gwen battled her thoughts throughout the rest of the evening into the night. What if he does love me? What if he asks me to stay with him? Am I worthy of having such a blessing?  He's such a good man and is so kind, loyal, and strong. 

She felt she didn't deserve anything like that. She remembered what Aunt Ellen had said to her once. And it had stuck with her ever since. 

You're not worthy of being loved! You're too weak and disappointing! No one will ever love you!

She shuddered as she remembered crying herself to sleep that night after the yelling. 

She believed Aunt Ellen. She was weak, she was a disappointment, she was unworthy of being loved. What if this was all too good to be true and Caspian didn't truly have feelings for her or love her?

Aunt Ellen was right. She was all of those things. And all of those things were costing her all future happiness. 

But then, part of her wanted to know. Was she right to believe that?

She tossed and shook Lucy awake. 

"Lucy! Lucy!" she harshly whispered. 

"Mm?" Lucy hummed. "What's wrong? What time is it?" 

"I don't know, it's late. But I must ask you something, it's heavy on my mind." 

Lucy sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What is it?" 

"I've. . . I've been fighting this for quite some time now. I. . . Am I too weak and dependent on others? I feel like I rely too heavily on Caspian to save me when I'm in trouble. I could have gotten out of that situation if I had just tried harder. I'm not strong like you or Susan, I'm weak. I can barely handle my daggers in a fight. Does that make me unworthy of being loved?"

"What? What kind of question is this, Gwen?" 

Gwen looked down in shame. "My aunt told me I was unworthy of being loved because I was too weak and disappointing."

Lucy looked at her friend, a heartbroken look in her eyes. 

"You're not too weak, Gwen. There's nothing wrong with being a damsel in distress. If you are, it just means you aren't too prideful to accept help when it's needed. It's not a weakness no matter how many people believe it to be. And so what if Caspian has saved you a lot? He does it because he cares for you." She took Gwen's shaking hand. 

"You don't have to be physically strong and constantly save yourself to prove that you're this or that. Gwen, you carry a mental and emotional strength like I've never seen before. It radiates from you. It defeats being physically strong any day. You're as worthy of being loved as anyone else in this world."

Gwen wiped away a tear. "Thank you, Lucy. I feel much. . . better now." 

And as Gwen lay her head back on her pillow and closed her eyes, she almost believed Lucy.