The High Queen of Narnia

Chapter 12

Elodie was standing with Caspian on the ground as they readied the horse Susan and Lucy were to take into the woods to find Aslan. Lucy had a cloak draped over her shoulders while Susan wore a dress with her battle armour on top, Elodie and Caspian also having donned protective gear. She never wore gloves when she fought with her axe, unlike her brothers when they fought with their swords, but with how sharp her axe had been sharpened to, the fauns suggested it and looked slightly terrified when she ran a bare finger down the blade only for no blood to run. It made them even more anxious as they awaited Edmund to return from delivering Peter's challenge to Miraz.

"Destrier has always served me well. You are in good hands," Caspian assured the two girls as he finished tightening the saddle straps.

"Or hooves," Lucy joked and while Susan didn't react, Caspian smiled as Elodie laughed.

"Nice one, Lu," she praised as she adjusted the young queen's cloak on the back of the horse.

"Good luck," Caspian said.

"Thanks," Susan replied, not really looking at the doe-eyed prince.

"Look," he said earnestly. "Maybe it's time you had this back?" he offered as he held out her horn that was engraved to look like Aslan. Susan's bottom lip dropped slightly before her fingers curled around it.

"Thank you," she said sincerely before Elodie moved into their eye-line.

"Be safe, both of you," she pleaded.

"Aslan will keep us safe," Lucy said warmly.

"I have no doubt in my mind," Elodie chuckled. "Good luck."

And Susan spurred the reins as they led the horse out of a secret back entrance in the hopes they wouldn't be seen but Elodie didn't know how much she trusted that. And she couldn't let them go with a feeling like that sitting in her chest.

"I have to go after them," she blurted as the prince turned to her.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"Miraz likely has us surrounded. If his troops spot any of us trying to escape, they'd be killed on sight," she reasoned as she began walking at a hurried pace through the tunnels.

"How do you know?" he asked as he grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"How do you not? He's your uncle and he wants all of us, including you, dead," she answered as she shrugged his grip off and tried to keep walking.

"Then let me go!"

She froze. The dirt moved with her feet as she spun on her heels to face Caspian, his skin almost gold in the firelight. "Why? Why would you offer to do such a thing when it could cost you your life?" she questioned.

"There are two reasons," he admitted, shortening the distance between them by two steps. "First is for your kingdom. I have seen wonders I thought only alive in books, and I will not let my uncle kill something so beautiful." He took another step closer and for some reason, their hearts began to race beneath their chests unbeknownst to the other person.

"And the second?" she prompted, and his smile was hopeful but almost despairing because he thought, for a single moment, that it wouldn't be reciprocated.

"What other reason could there be?" he asked as if the answer should've been obvious, when the answer made her heart, her lungs, and her brain stop functioning. "It's you."

And just like that, she wanted to cry. No one had ever said something so beautiful to her and she wanted to cry but they were running out of time as she let the water line her eyes but swore it wouldn't go any further.

"Why me?" she muttered, and he took another step closer, actually he took two, now standing so close to her that she was forced to look up at him as he brushed invisible strands of hair behind her ear and his accented answer was like honey as it flowed into her ears.

"Other than the fact that if your brother fails, you are the best chance at defeating Miraz, because I have seen the way you care for your siblings. They've called you different and treated you that way, but you've never treated them otherwise. I will not fail you. I will trail behind them and keep them safe should they need it. You can trust me, Elodie," he promised as she searched his eyes and while she didn't find a lie, she found them cloudy as if he was hiding something.

"There's more," she deduced. "What aren't you telling me?"

He chuckled at that as his thumb stroked her cheek and she felt like she was floating.

"Of all the things you can't figure out, is it that hard for you to figure out that I care for you? And that I'd rather get hurt myself saving your sisters than watch you get hurt instead."

"But if I fight Miraz, I won't be escaping that battle unscathed," she pointed out and Caspian's eyes looked pained.

"I know I can't stop you from that, but I can stop you from this. Let me go in your steed," he begged and Elodie couldn't take it anymore. 

She couldn't take not knowing. She didn't want it, she needed to know if it was as if she'd read about in books. She needed to know what it felt like when she stretched herself up on her tiptoes, when she wound her fingers in his hair and when she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his.

Elodie thought she scared him at first when he didn't move but it only took him all of a second before he started kissing her back, his lips soft and gentle on hers but no less passionate as he held her face in his hands as if it was the most precious treasure in the word. His hair. If his skin was already as soft as it was, she could barely imagine what it would feel like after it was washed. And she could feel his muscles in his arms, in his back, in each finger he had on her. It wasn't perfect considering the circumstances of what was happening around them, but as far as storybook expectations go, it was a pretty perfect first kiss.

And when she finally pulled away, not that she wanted to because she realised how right her books had been that the right person's kisses were highly addictive, her hands had ended up holding his face and his ended on her back as he held her to him, trying to keep her as close as possible for as long as possible.

"The three of you better come back alive or I swear, I will kill you myself," she promised, and Caspian looked unbelievably confused.

"I don't understand. How could you possibly -"

She cut him off with another kiss that he hungrily reciprocated and was equally disappointed that this one was much shorter than the first.

"Come back alive and I promise I'll explain. I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Just come back to me."

His expression was both grave and determined. "You have my word."

And she spared his lips one more glance, knowing better than to give into her desires at this moment because if she did, they might've stayed there all day.

And she never felt this before. Sure, she'd been worried for her siblings when they did something stupid or went off to perform heroic feats to save, but the nerves, the fear she had that Caspian wouldn't return were like nothing she'd ever felt before. And it confused her greatly.

And all she could do was walk away from Caspian, never knowing the longing glance he sent before running off that conveyed the fact that he felt exactly the same as she did.