ignite me / p. pevensie

chapter forty-one

Seven years later

Using her foot, Rowyn kicked the door of her apartment shut and quickly rushed to the counter-top to put her bags of groceries down before her hands lost their grip on the paper. "Thanks for the help you dicks." Rowyn glared at Andy and Nathan who sat on the large white couch in their living room.

Andy stood up and smiled. "You are very welcome!" Her voice held too much sweetness as she came near to kiss Rowyn's cheek.

"I hate you." Rowyn bit down a smile.

"Pfft, yeah right and I don't want to fuck Tom Holland." Nathan called from the couch as he applied more purple nail polish to his toes.

Rowyn chuckled softly and began to unpack the bags with Andy's help. "Meet any cute boys at the store?"

Rowyn scoffed. "Fuck no." Rowyn grabbed a loaf of bread and put it away in the cupboard. The now twenty-three-year-old was currently in school studying art and music at the University of Cambridge. After months of arguments, pleading, and practically begging down on her hands and knees, her fathers gave her permission to attend school abroad. When Rowyn arrived overseas, she felt a sense of comfort being close to where Peter, if he were still alive, would've lived.

"What's up, Casper!" Nate exclaimed from his place on the couch. Once she had met Nate and Andy at school and developed a strong friendship with the two, she drunkenly confessed all about Peter, Narnia, and her friendly ghost named Casper. The pair, also drunk beyond belief, didn't question her and have since welcomed the ghost. Even though they had yet to truly meet him.

Rowyn rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha very funny, Nate." Rowyn said as she folded up the paper bags and put them away in the cupboard to reuse at a later date.

"I'm sorry, Rowyn." Nate glanced down at his phone which played some popular song that Rowyn didn't care to find out the name. "I still believe you about him I just wish I could see him for myself." Andy plopped down on the couch beside Nate and pushed her black hair up into a ponytail.

"Why would he suddenly leave you after having been by your side for so long?" Andy asked Rowyn as she hopped up onto their counter top and looked towards them.

While picking at her thumbs, Rowyn spoke. "I don't know . . . maybe he 'moved on' or something?"

Andy chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Yeah maybe, but why wouldn't he say goodbye at least? I mean, that's kind of a dick move."

Rowyn huffed out and pulled her gaze down to her lap. "Maybe he was never real and just some imaginary friend I created in order to cope with-" Rowyn took a deep breath and stopped talking. She wasn't in the mood to strike up a conversation about her mother and then have it morph into a conversation about Peter. Rowyn looked up at the mini mural—a smaller copy of the one on her bedroom wall back home—she had painted on a medium sized canvas that hung on the wall in their living room since both Nate and Andy thought it was beautiful.

"You good?" Andy asked after standing up and coming to stand near Rowyn. Andy looked towards where Rowyn was looking and grabbed her hand. "You want to talk about it?"

Rowyn took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as her throat tightened. "No," She was so grateful her voice didn't crack or show any sign of the way her heart twisted and her eyes burned. "I gotta study." She opened her eyes finally and hopped off the counter.

"We were gonna order Chinese. You want your usual?" Nate asked after finishing his toes and turned around to face Rowyn.

Rowyn forced a smile onto her face and nodded. "Thanks."

....

"Rowyn!" A scream echoed throughout the hall in a violent, ear-piercing tone. "Wynne, please!" Rowyn's blood ran cold as realization slammed into her chest. Standing in knee-high dark liquid, Rowyn sprinted towards the voice.

"Rowyn!" It was Lucy this time. "Please!" Another scream sounded and Rowyn knew in her chest that it was Peter.

Rowyn turned around as panicked chilled her veins. She couldn't pin point the direction as their screams of pure pain pierced through the air. Rowyn's feet took off in another sprint as Peter's heart wrenching scream sounded a little ways away from her.

"Peter!" She shouted out when Peter came into view. He was older. His cheeks bore a small amount of stubble and his jaw was much more defined than before. Her eyes widened when Jadis appeared behind him with her hand on his throat. Rowyn looked down and saw chains on his wrists and ankles. It was then when they suddenly appeared onto black sand as waves of dark water splashed onto their feet.

Her blood froze.

"No!" She rushed forward but just before she was close enough to touch Peter, hands emerged from the liquid beneath them and pulled her away and down. Then the sea began to rise.

"Ro-" Peter was cut off but a weak struggling breath to gain air as Jadis tightened her hold on his neck. Jadis' cold eyes watched Rowyn's every move as the liquid reached her chest and more hands pulled her back.

"Let go of him you bitch!" Rowyn struggled against the hands. The water was now at her throat when Jadis vanished and Peter came closer to her. Rowyn kicked the hands away and reached out for him as she struggled against the now thicker liquid. "Peter-" The liquid filled her throat and she became fully submerged in the liquid as hands wrapped around her ankle and pulled her down with a violent tug.

Opening her eyes in the liquid, she saw Peter struggling to swim after her. His face bore pain and worry as he couldn't get Rowyn in his grasp. When the metallic taste of the liquid around them burned in Rowyn's throat she realized it wasn't just a black liquid. It was blood.

"Rowyn!"

Suddenly, Rowyn's eyes opened again and she found herself being met with a bright light. Sunlight. Confusion was the first emotion to strike her mind as the scent of citrus filled her nose soon followed but a large arm tightening it's hold on her waist.

A nose brushed against her neck and Rowyn turned her head enough to see Peter sleeping peacefully beside her. "Peter?" She breathed out in disbelief.

The sleeping man hummed in response and opened his eyes. The bright blue that met her eyes was even more vibrant and breathtaking. "Is it morning already?" His thumbs brushed small circles onto her bare hips. Rowyn turned more so she was now facing his bare chest. Bringing a hand up to his cheek, her thumb brushed along his jawline and he smiled a few shades brighter than before. "You're perfect, did you know?" The tiredness that still laced his voice made it deeper and made her ache for him.

"I'm well aware of that, Peter." She responded and earned a laugh, which he muted with the pillow beside his head, from Peter. Rowyn traced his cheek more before leaning forward and pressing her mouth to his hard. Peter instantly tightened his hold on her and pulled her onto his chest as he rolled back so he was no longer laying sideways.

Rowyn positioned her knees of either side of his hips and her breath hitched. She could feel him—completely ready and pressed against her. "Please." She breathed against his lips when she forced herself away from him for a minute.

Carefully, Peter sat up and removed the sheet that had once covered their naked bodies and ran his hands down the soft skin of her back. As his fingertips glided down her scars, she shivered slightly which resulted in her pressing harder against him. Peter breathed out a small moan at the movement and squeezed her hips. "You're wicked, Fireheart."

Rowyn let out a small laugh and pressed a kiss to the nape of his neck. Peter moved his head to do the same and Rowyn squirmed and laughed. "Stop that tickles! You're stubble tickles!" Peter didn't listen he just smiled and continued to do it as Rowyn began to cry from her laughter. "Stop! Stop!" Her laughter increased and soon became a distant echo.