The Offspring || Edmund Pevensie Fanfiction ||

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🕯Trapped in Darkness🕯
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"Psst.." A whisper flowed through Charlotte's ears, ceasing her slumber.

She was immediately reminded of her paranoia that Miraz might enter her cell and have the guards hurl her into the torture chambers. She dared not sleep with her back turned on the cell door all through the night, trapped in darkness.

Her eyes felt dry, her eyelids puffy. She remembered. She had spent the night sobbing over her sword that Miraz seized, and had only a few hours of sleep. Even her bracelet had vanished, having slipped somewhere on the battlefield the previous night. She felt truly isolated without her prized possessions.

The Queen sat on the other side of the bars, staring at her with soft eyes. Her smile reflected the ray of light, emitting a radiant glow. In her hand sat a candle with an incandescent flame, keeping them company in the darkness of the dungeon. In the other hand was a metal cup, which she cautiously, and soundlessly, slid into the cell.

"It's alright," she prompted the frightened child with a soothing tone, "it's water. You must hydrate yourself, dear."

Charlotte inched closer, cautiously examining the cup of water. Her eyes darted warily between the cup and the lady, perplexed by her compassionate acts. Upon noticing the transparency of its contents, she immediately drank its contents in huge gulps.

Compared to the eerie darkness, the Queen's radiant glow provided some comfort to Charlotte's sore eyes. Charlotte reminisced the way her mother used to care for her. Especially when the darkness engulfed them, her mother was always the light in her life. A soothing sentiment surfaced in her heart.

"I'm Prunaprisma, Caspian's aunt," she introduced herself, her voice sweet and tender, "what's your name, dear?"

"Charlotte," she wiped her wet lips with the back of her hand, "thank you. Pardon me, why are you being nice to me?"

"I'm sorry for the way things turned out to be," Prunaprisma was solemn, her sincere eyes brimming with tears, "I never thought I'd be living a lie."

"Oh."

"My husband's been keeping me in the dark, and he still is, even after he confessed to his crimes."

"Can't you do anything about it?" Charlotte pleaded, grasping the bars. "After all, you're the Queen."

"I..." Silence rolled off her tongue, as she struggled to translate her thoughts, "I don't know."

Charlotte's heart sank. Though Prunaprisma was speechless, her crumbled expression was sufficient to convey a thousand words. Charlotte reached her hand out between the bars, and gently placed it over her hand. Prunaprisma was a prisoner to Miraz as was she, an emotionally trapped victim who only wanted the best for her baby.

"My duty is towards my husband..." Prunaprisma sighed, placing the candlelight on the ground. "I want a good life for my son. But not like this."

"Now that I've realised what he's done, it feels wrong to sit on the throne. But how can he be arrested when he gives the orders? And since then, he'd do anything to keep it that way, including silencing me. After all, I've already given him a successor."

The two sat in silence, empathising with each other through the barrier with an uncomfortable embrace. Only the candle reflected a tiny ray of hope in them both, sufficient to fight the absence of light engulfing them.

"I'm sorry that this happened to your marriage," Charlotte whispered, "you and your baby deserve better."

"And so do you, you must miss your friends."