Floating ||Edmund Pevensie FanFiction||

||28||

"Would you like me to speak with her instead?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright, but first, you have to let me open the door, love."

"Oh."

Edmund reopened the door, meeting a furious flare in the lady's eyes. She definitely didn't take kindly to having a door slammed in her face.

"My apologies, Ma'am," he remained composed in his approach, "I don't suppose Charlotte's ready to have a chat just yet."

Her face fell at his words. "Wha— what do you mean she's not ready?"

Edmund scratched the back of his head. "I could take a message if you'd like, I'm certain I could try to put her at ease."

"Well, it seems I've come all this way for nothing," she shook her head in disappointment, prattling on in a rant, "I shouldn't've, I don't know what I was thinking — I skipped work for this, and money is scarce in these times — and some boy is forbidding me from even seeing my own niece. How could I possibly trust your word? You could be lying!"

Edmund bit down on his tongue, maintaining his forbearance with her. "I hear your frustration, Ma'am, you made sacrifices coming down for a visit, but you ought to understand that she may not adjust just as easily — it's quite abrupt, after all."

"Well, I don't understand, we've spent enough time apart," the lady huffed in petulance, "you know nothing about us, and it's not your place to know! I shouldn't even be explaining myself to you — I don't know you! It's highly inappropriate for you both to be cohabiting anyway, who knows what you've been doing unsupervised when your aunt goes to work! Where is your uncle?"

The two siblings' blood boiled at her pugnacious allegations. Edmund shot a glare at the lady, fleetingly glancing at Charlotte sideways, a silent signal that he was about to let his mouth run wild.

"It took you this long to come down here and question her living arrangement?" His words were sardonic with derision. "It's no wonder she came running here in the first place. You're hardly in the position to talk — and don't bother speaking to my uncle, he's as neglectful as you've been!"

"I say!"

Lucy marched to the front door, her presence startling the woman as she contravened her claims. "Listen here, my brother would never do anything of the sort! Charlotte's been sharing a room with me, you'd've known that if you'd just visited once, or even asked Aunt Alberta, which you clearly failed to do."

The lady fell silent at their castigations. Even Eustace was astonished at his cousins' boldness towards an adult, cowering with wide eyes at the foot of the stairs. Then again, they were adults during their reign.

"Now, if you're only going to question my credibility as a gentleman, I refuse to entertain your baseless claims any further," Edmund prepared a handful of force in his fingers to slam the door, "We'd love for you both to communicate with each other — believe me, Ma'am — but your approach is just driving her further away, you might as well leave. Good day."

"Wait— please..." She beseeched with her palm out apologetically, and Edmund paused instantly.

"You're right — I apologise — I was out of line," the lady acknowledged, much to Charlotte's perplexity, "I just feel foolish showing up here and hearing that she practically loathes me, it isn't as if she hasn't told me that before... Was a hard pill to swallow, that one... Something told me it was time to reach out to her, I'm not certain..."