Althea's POV
"I'm going to get some sleep. Are you going to come?" Lucy asks, yawning. All I want to do is say yes, but I can't.
"Not yet. Drinian wants to see me." I explain.
"Why?"
"Star navigation."
"Since when did you do that?" She laughs.
"It's a new hobby. I'll explain later." She nods and walks off. I shake myself awake and climb the stairs to the upper deck where Drinian is already waiting, holding the wheel steady.
"Perfect timing. I want you to calculate our longitude and latitude." He hands me a piece of parchment and quill, but I don't need it. I memorized all the longitude and latitude lines ages ago so all I have to do is use the stars to pinpoint our exact location. I look up at the clear sky for a few seconds, double and triple-checking my calculations.
"You're a few degrees south." I'm about to explain that it's precisely 4.2 degrees but I decide against it, just in case I'm wrong.
He raises his eyebrows and doesn't say anything. I get the feeling he still doesn't think I know what I'm doing. I sigh and continue, "It's 4.2 degrees off. That star there, the one I assume you're aiming for, is shifted because of the time of year. If you steer just a little to the right, you'll be heading directly east."
He looks at me like I've suddenly become a minotaur or something. Deep laughter erupts from behind me followed by softer clapping. It's Caspian.
"I told you Drinian." He says, resting a hand on my shoulder.
"You certainly did your majesty. If she continues to make me look incompetent, I may just have to appoint her first mate." Drinian says complete straight-faced. He turns back to the wheel, subtly steering a few inches to the left.
"Come on." Caspian chuckles while grabbing my hand and starts to pull me down to the main deck. Thankfully there are only a couple of men still up, so I'm not worried about people staring.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"I don't know. I just want to spend time with you."
"Well, we can't go back to our room. Lucy is sleeping in there." I say and he frowns. I guess he forgot, Lucy and I have been sharing the room since she arrived, I would never let her sleep in the barracks with a bunch of sweaty men, not to mention she's a queen and shouldn't have to anyway.
"We could share my very roomy hammock." He suggests.
"With all the crew around? Definitely not." I scoff at him. That would be extremely embarrassing and in my nightclothes? Certainly not.
I lace my fingers through his and lead him to the front of the ship instead. We climb the stairs to the empty upper deck and sit against the ladder the leads to the dragon's head. I rest my head on his shoulder and sigh.
"What's the matter?" He asks, rubbing comforting circles on the back of my hand.
"Nothing, it was a sigh of content," I say and he nods slowly.
Aside from my missing aunt, everything is just the way I want it to be. Lucy and Edmund have returned, giving me friends to talk to again. Caspian has finished his goal of peace, at least he almost has, but more importantly, he doesn't have to leave anymore. His absence got harder and harder every time he left. I missed having someone who understands me. Someone who cares for me, not because of worldly reasons, but because of me, just me.
"Caspian?"
"Hm?" He hums.
"I—" I sit up straight as the words get stuck in my throat.
It's been three years and I've known it for so long but he was always gone when I wanted to say it the most.
"I love you."
The long-awaited phrase tumbles out of my mouth so quickly that I'm not sure I actually said it.
His eyes widen slightly and they're completely blank like he hasn't fully registered what I said, or can believe it. The silence drags on making my insecurity shatter any bravery I have left. His eyebrows narrow suddenly and determination swirls in his dark eyes. He lets go of my hand and grabs my face roughly, but not so much as to hurt me. He's breathing heavy and I take in every detail of his face, a warm jittery feeling spreads all over me, his gaze never breaking away from mine. He has the same expression as the first night we were together at the castle. I could never forget it.
His breath mingles with mine for a split second before my eyes flutter shut and I melt into his kiss. He pulls away but barely, the words 'I love you' rising from the back of his throat in a melody my ears have been longing for. A euphoric feeling unlike any other pounds in my heart as all my senses are consumed by him. I can't breathe but I hardly notice. It's a good thing I'm sitting, otherwise, I would be afraid of my legs giving out. My hands migrate up, grabbing messy hand fulls of his hair. He gets the message and his hand slips under my leg, pulling me up to straddle his lap. He breaks away from me, his mouth traveling down my jaw to my neck, leaving small love bites trailing to my collarbone. His name slips out in a gasp and he comes back giving me one last fervent kiss before we part.
"Althea, you have no idea." His voice comes out in a whisper, his chest heaving. My lips feel slightly swollen and my mouth is too sore to ask what he means.
We settle down after a few seconds, my head is resting on his shoulder, my face nestled into the crook of his neck while he mindlessly strokes my hair. The only sounds are that of the waves crashing against the boat and the occasional creak of wood from the deck. I catch myself dozing off once or twice before he insists we get to sleep.
"You'll be awfully sore if you sleep in this position." He smirks making me roll my eyes at him.
We walk down the stairs, doing our best to stay quiet and not wake up any of the crewmembers. He leads me to the room we used to share, no longer trying to convince me to join him in his hammock.
"Goodnight Althea." He says, his voice low and husky.
"Goodnight Caspian."
~
When I wake up, Lucy is gone. I slip on my boots and vest and take a quick look in the mirror.
"Oh no," I mutter. The marks left by Caspian are still very visible, some more than others, but nonetheless people will still see them. I brush my fingers over them and immediately flinch away, cursing quietly. This has never happened before so I'm not sure what to do, maybe Lucy will know.
I pull the collar of my shirt high enough to cover everything and thankfully it doesn't look that odd. I make sure the coast is clear outside our room before leaving and making a b-line straight for Lucy, who's sitting across the ship sewing something.
"Lucy, I need your help," I explain, fiddling with the collar nervously.
"What's wrong?" She asks.
"Well, it's sort of... um." I don't know how to go about explaining it without embarrassing myself. Her eyes flicker down to my neck and she bursts into a fit of giggles.
"Lucy stop! You're embarrassing me!" I cry, but not loud enough to gather attention.
"And why do you think I would know what to do?" She asks, still laughing at me.
"Who else would I go to? Reepicheep?"
"You have a point, but there's still nothing that can be done. You just have to wait until they go away." She says, trying not to laugh any more than she already has.
I sigh and sit next to her.
"So are you going to tell me who did that to you?" She asks, clearly already knowing the answer.
"Who do you think?" I ask spurring on another bout of laughter. "What're you sewing?"
"It's the vest you lent me, I hope you don't mind but it's a bit too big for me." She explains holding it up for us to look at.
"Can you sew mine later?"
"Sure."
I leave her to work and wander around the deck until I spot Eustace tucked between a pile of supplies.
"In England, we have mouse traps and that sort of thing." He says to a seagull that's perched on the barrel in front of him. "Speaking of food you don't know where I could get any do you?"
"Uh, why are you talking to that bird?" I ask.
"Well, I just naturally assumed he could-" Tavros cuts him off with uncontrollable laughter from the upper deck. He must've been listening to our conversation.
"He's talking to birds!" He howls.
"He's a loon that one." The crewmate beside him says. Tavros claps him on the back a bit too hard making him run into the railing.
I'm about to offer Eustace to get some food with me but he shoos the bird away and looks rather upset. I decide to just leave him alone and go bother Edmund instead.
~~~
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