𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒂: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒈𝒆 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑰𝑰 (Narnia fanfic)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟗 | 𝑳𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 |

"They could have us arrested," Lady Phoebe said in an outraged whisper. Henry had gotten out barely a sentence of what had happened and Phoebe was already panicking. 

"Queen Imira wouldn't let that happen," Henry said trying to be reassuring, even though he wasn't entirely certain. 

"Queen Imira is not here. We are. And we are holding three men hostage. Two of which are Princes!" she pointed out, still in loud whispers even though they were alone in the study.

"This was all Prince Dean's idea," he reminded her, but she did not feel one tiny bit calmed.

"To hold Prince Darren here. Not to have himself locked up as well. And now Lord Roy too? We can't do this, Henry. We must let them go," Phoebe insisted.

"Something has happened to them. I do not know what, but something's off about them. We can't just let them go. Who knows what they will do. I found Prince Dean and Lord Roy fighting one another, if we let them all go, they are going to kill each other,"

"I like the three of them all the same, but I hardly see how that is our problem," Phoebe said, worried not just for herself but for all of their family.

"Queen Imira left me in charge of this. She cannot return to find the three of them have strangled one another because then, I guarantee you, we'd be in deep troubles,"

"What about Prince Dean's guards? What's stopping them from killing us in our sleep and freeing the prince?"

"I said to them I was acting under King James's orders,"

"Henry!"

"I am. He sent the Queen a letter saying to do whatever was necessary to make Prince Darren fall in line. I am acting on her behalf just... taking a few liberties along the way,"

"And they bought that?" Phoebe asked incredulously.

"The twenty pieces of gold I gave them might have had something to do,"

"Twenty?!"

"Each,"

Lady Phoebe was not pleased. At all.

She paced the room nervously. "Is it safe to assume Queen Imira will reimburse us for our troubles?"

"Probably," Henry shrugged and proceeded to tell her everything that had happened since he last saw her.

What had happened was this.

Prince Dean, posing as Prince Darren, went back to Cair Paravel and summoned Lord Roy the morning after his snooping to find out what he had found out, only when Lord Roy showed up he said there was nothing wrong and then professed his undying love for Lady Danielle and said that if Dean's brother wasn't marrying her, he would. This struck Prince Dean as very odd behaviour, but he figured things were finally turning around and decided to go and end things with Lady Danielle on behalf of her brother. She may have not yet returned from Glasswater Creek, but all he needed to do was inform her parents the arrangement was off and then take his twin back home. For all he cared, Lord Roy could marry her ten times over.

Prince Dean found her father was gone, where precisely, her mother did not elaborate, but Dean figured he only needed to tell one of them. Her mother took the news all too well and then offered Dean, who she thought to be Darren, a cup of tea. Dean graciously accepted, failing to notice the moment the woman spiked the beverage with the same love potion she had used the previous night on Lord Roy and over a week ago on the real Prince Darren.

You see, Danielle and her mother had been administering small amounts of love potion to Prince Darren (following Danielle's near-drowning incident) in order to keep him interested in her. However, in order to get him to agree to marry her, they had to use a larger amount. The woman figured the effects must have worn off and, in order to keep him in agreement to the marriage, resorted to giving him the entire vial figuring nothing could go wrong. And so, Prince Dean left profoundly enamoured with Lady Danielle, despite being unable to point her out of a crowd, and went to tell Lord Roy he was marrying her. Lord Roy, under the influence of the exact same potion, was outraged at the prince's claims and threatened to out Prince Dean if he did not relinquish his love for Danielle. A fight ensued just as Lord Henry was checking in on the Prince and when Dean ordered Lord Roy should be locked up as well, Henry had to comply. Henry talked Roy into going back with him to his estate and sort out along with Dean Darren who was to marry Danielle, only when they got there they left him in a room claiming they were going to fetch Prince Darren and then locked the door from the other side. When Henry finally asked what was going on and Dean said he was the only one of them who was going to marry Danielle, Henry knew something very wrong was going on. Admittedly, he panicked and ordered both his guards and Dean's to lock up the Prince, claiming he had both King James's and Queen Imira's orders and, with a hefty bribe, Dean's guards complied.

Phoebe sighed. "I do not like this," she pointed her finger at him. "I do not approve of this," she said, emphasis on the not, "But I also cannot think of a solution," Henry nearly sighed.

"Everything will turn out just right," he said, trying to reassure both her and him.

She nodded, trying to convince herself this would not end up with their heads on the end of spikes. Kidnapping not one but two royal Princes? This did NOT look good.

"You should get going and think of a reason why Prince Darren won't be seen for a while,"

"Yes. I am already thinking of something," Henry said, laying a kiss on her hand. He was smart enough not to try and kiss her lips.

"And take Becc with you. I do not want him to get mixed up in this mess,"

"He already knows too much, he has seen Prince Dean and probably heard what's going on. He could tell someone," Henry said, already at the door.

"How am I supposed to deal with everyone? The prisoners and the guards and the children..."

Henry nodded. It was a lot for one person to take care of. "I shall send someone to help you," he said before leaving her with three prisoners, four guards and two children.

"Aslan, give me strength not to kill him," she whispered to herself and went to deliver breakfast to their captives.

Phoebe's day was stressful but ultimately uneventful. Henry did send someone to help her as he had promised in the for of Imira's Guards, Orithia and Nick, who were less than thrilled they were to play glorified babysitters to Lord Henry's children, but quite intrigued when they were told about the men he had locked up in his estate.

As the good soldiers they were, they did not question their orders, but they did speculate on the way as to what had happened that made Lord Henry keep two Princes and a Lord locked up in this house.

Henry had a very stressful day as well, but differently: he worried someone might find out what he had done before Queen Imira got back and that he might end up being locked up as well.

Miraculously, he managed to get through the day without anyone knowing the wise and Phoebe managed to deliver the Prince's meals without much trouble.

Meanwhile onboard the Splendour Hyaline everyone was having a jolly good day. Lucy was learning how to sail, Peter and Imira were learning how to tie all sorts of knots and having a friendly sword match on the deck, the captain had caught great wind, and the sailors were glad they didn't have to row. At Cair Paravel, Susan and Edmund were getting along better than usual and were enjoying a quiet evening playing board games and talking about how nice it was not having to worry about running into a kissing Peter and Imira. And at Datram King James was getting anxious about the lack of information from Dean and feeling pressured by the Acanthean King who insisted the honour of his kingdom had been insulted.

Like their captives, neither Henry nor Phoebe slept very well that night. It was as if they could sense the real troubles were only just getting started.