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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

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𝑨 𝑳𝑨𝑩𝒀𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑯 𝑶𝑭
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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐏 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐒 hid the vibrant colours of the sunrise in the sky. The swirling darkness spiralled up and lingered in the air like a local raincloud, but the rainfall from the day before had made way for a clear sky. The soil however, was still muddy and every time Peter took another step, his boots made just as much as a squishy sound as the hooves of his horse.

From this distance, Peter couldn't tell whose bodies were now a smoldering pile of bones and ashes, and he felt nauseous and dreadful that he had no idea what had happened here. He cast a glance at Rosaleen and Lucy, both seated atop of his horse Atlas and in a state somewhere between dozing and dreaming, but both jolted awake when the squishy sound of the mud turned into the wooden clack of Anvard's drawbridge.

Peter and Rosaleen had come across Lucy when they had set course towards Cair Paravel to deal with the Rosaleen Reflection, but when they had seen Lucy's distress and haste, they had already known that the citadel of the four thrones had fallen before she had even said it. The three of them had set course towards Anvard instead but with the menacing sight of the dark smoke in the distance, they had no idea what to expect as they reached the guard tower.

Had King Lune accepted their formal apology? Or was the burning pile the result of their two armies clashing?

Peter swallowed to fight away the lump in his throat while Rosaleen fiddled with the reins of the stallion and Lucy shifted a bit uneasily as she sat behind Rosaleen.

'High King Peter,' the guard said with wide eyes focussed on the lion's head of Peter's sword, but it wasn't until the guard bowed from his waist that Peter knew it was a good sign and he let out a breath of relief.

'What happened here?' Peter asked while the guard let his eyes wander over Rosaleen and Lucy; bowing a second time when he recognised the Valiant Queen of Narnia.

The guard followed Peter's gaze towards the smoke cloud. 'There was a battle, your Majesty. The Narnian army got ambushed by the Calormene Empire. Archenland honoured the allegiance and we won, but only barely, there were many losses.'

'The Calormene Empire,' Peter repeated between a huff, his eyebrows deepening into a dark frown and the guard nodded slowly.

'King Lune, King Edmund and Queen Susan could give you more details, your Majesty. They're inside the citadel.' The guard stepped aside to let them through and Peter's frown disappeared when he heard his siblings' names; they were alright.

Peter led his stallion further by hand over the cobbled path, shifting his gaze to his side to look up at Rosaleen as he could see from the corner of his eye her hand ghosting over one of the scars that reached till her neck. They had found Lucy's healing cordial and Rosaleen's twin swords in the secret fortress of Stormness Head, but the gashes on her back hadn't healed completely; they had turned into a maze of scars.

Peter reached up to take Rosaleen's elbow, gently pulling her hand away from feeling the scars and he gave her a reassuring squeeze when he saw the concern swimming in her green eyes. 'I dare to bet that Alexander and Seren are alright too,' he said, but Rosaleen flinched when he mentioned Seren since in her mind she instantly saw him unrolling his whip as he kneeled in front of her, a wicked smile playing around his lips before he set course towards the other end of the room. She could still hear the crack of when the whip slashed through the air and she shrunk as the echo of the agonising pain taunted her as well; her scars itching and burning as if in a nightmare.

Rosaleen tried telling herself over and over again that it hadn't been Seren, but during her capture for weeks, they had forcibly taught her to fear the Archenlander in an instinct and it was hard for her to let go of that terror.

Peter's expression dropped as soon as he saw the fear and pain flashing over Rosaleen's face, and while Lucy didn't know all the details of her capture yet, Lucy comfortingly rubbed the blonde's upper arm as she could see the shivers rolling down her spine.

'They'll be alright,' Lucy said, repeating her older brother's words as she mistook Rosaleen's fear of Seren for fear of their wellbeing, and Rosaleen forced herself to give a faint nod.

'Of course,' she said, her voice barely audible over the sounds of the lively castle town; shops opened their doors and windows, neighbours greeted each other, horses whinnied, and the blacksmiths fired up their forges. Even after a fierce battle, life went on, perhaps even more exuberant than when Rosaleen had last been here. As if the realisation that life could be over in a flash had hit the townspeople with an iron hammer.

Peter, Lucy and Rosaleen stopped in the middle of the courtyard that had been turned into an improvised field hospital and the pained groans of those who had been injured during the battle drifted through the air, carried along with the soft gusts of winds. The white tents popped up like strange wildflowers on the grey, black and red tiles while the servants and nurses ran off and on with wooden buckets filled with crimson and fresh water, cloths of dirty and clean fabric, all the while as beads of sweat trickled down their concentrated faces.

Lucy slid off Atlas' back, immediately unhooking her healing potion from her belt as she set course towards the nearest tent. Her heart couldn't stand hearing all those pained sounds when she had the means to cure everyone in a blink of an eye, and she worked swiftly while Peter and Rosaleen brought Atlas towards the stables. When the two of them returned to the courtyard, Lucy had turned into a blushing mess as those who she had healed expressed their gratitude towards her, standing in a half circle around her.

'There's no need to thank me,' Lucy said with a wide smile, her cheeks colouring to a shade of pink roses as she made a small curtsy.

Peter just laid a hand on his younger sister's shoulder to ask her to come along to search for their other siblings, Alexander and Seren, when a nurse came up to them.

'Thank you for your help, your Majesty,' the woman said, giving Lucy a grateful smile that only lasted shortly as she added, 'but you should hurry inside now. If I may be so bold, there's one more who needs your help: Master Seren got gravely injured, he barely lasted through the night. He's in the physician's chamber, with our King and your siblings.'

Lucy's blush disappeared instantly and she nodded. 'Of course I'll heal him.' She glanced at Rosaleen who showed her and Peter the way to the chambers after a small hesitation as she was nervous and terrified to see Seren again.

Just like most doors inside the castle, the physician's chamber door was made out of cherry wood and the bronze-coloured hinges barely made a sound as Rosaleen pushed open the door, but the movement caught the attention of almost all who were inside. Rosaleen's eyes immediately fell upon Seren who laid in the bed she herself had occupied only several weeks ago when she had been poisoned by the sand bandits.

Seren looked awfully pale, almost as white as the sheets he laid on and his eyes moved restlessly behind his closed eyelids while his fingers clawed into the white fabric of the bed. His lower abdomen was bandaged but the blood still seeped through it as the bandages were drenched as well as a side of the mattress, and Lucy spurted farther inside.

'Rose,' Alexander said surprised, rising up from his chair by the worktable and Rosaleen tore her eyes away from Seren as soon as she heard her brother's voice. 'You're here,' Alexander added and Rosaleen ran towards him, throwing her arms around him as the fear that had haunted her during her capture flowed out of her.

'I thought I would never see you again,' Rosaleen said between heavy sobs, hugging her brother even tighter. She had thought she would die down there in the secret fortress, never being able to say goodbye to her loved ones.

Alexander embraced her just as tightly. 'I'm here, I'm alright,' he said, though he gave Peter a curious look over her shoulder, wondering why she and Lucy weren't in Cair Paravel, but the Rosaleen in his arms felt more like his sister than the one they had left behind in Narnia. His brainwashed sister had barely shown any emotion towards him, too preoccupied with wanting Seren to overthrow Lune to even acknowledge her own brother, but then something dawned upon Alexander. Perhaps she hadn't been brainwashed at all, perhaps there were more mirroring creatures hiding in plain sight. If they could have taken on Silas' appearance, why not Rosaleen's as well?

Alexander strengthened his grip on his sister. 'You never escaped did you? You never were in Cair Paravel,' he said and tears started to flow over his cheeks when he could feel Rosaleen nodding against his shoulder.

Lucy in the meanwhile, let a droplet of her healing potion fall into Seren's half-open mouth and she hung the glass vial back on her belt before skipping towards Susan and Edmund, reuniting with her other siblings in a hug as well.

Madoc removed Seren's bandages, both he and King Lune looking on in wonder as the juice of the Fire Flower healed the deep gashes of the creature's claws, and a healthy colour filled up Seren's previous palenes. His eyes stopped moving behind his closed eyelids, his limbs relaxed and then he opened his eyes, slowly taking in his surroundings.

'Welcome back to the world of the living,' Edmund said with a grin as Seren pushed himself half up, his fingers feeling the spot where his injury had been and he focussed upon Lucy who stood next to Edmund.

'Thank you, Queen Lucy,' Seren said and a twinkle appeared in Lucy's blue eyes.

'My pleasure, but please, call me Lucy.'

Seren smiled, nodding as well as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. 'Wait,' he said, a frown appearing between his eyebrows. 'You're awake and here in Castle Anvard.' His gaze travelled over those gathered inside the physician's workplace, his eyes lighting up when he spotted Rosaleen hiding half behind her brother.

'Rose, you're here too,' Seren continued but as their eyes crossed, Rosaleen shrunk and her breath hitched in her throat in the wrong kind of manner.

All but Peter frowned in confusion when they noticed her strange reaction whereas Peter felt awful for her and he tried drawing the attention away from her as it seemed like Rosaleen wasn't ready yet to tell everyone what happened.

'Now we're all here and awake,' Peter started, 'you should also know why we're all here. Cair Paravel fell.'

Everyone immediately focussed on Peter, though Seren's gaze lingered on Rosaleen for a little bit longer but she couldn't look at him for a second time.

'What? How?' Edmund asked, taking a step closer to his brother as he uncrossed his arms.

'We were infiltrated,' Peter explained. 'There are these creatures called Silver Reflections, they can take the appearance of everyone they have ever seen and one of them pretended to be Rosaleen.'

'The Rosaleen Reflection and Estrella led a whole group of them inside the castle, there was nothing I could do. Most of our soldiers were here, just as they had planned,' Lucy added, the guilt washing back over her as she remembered how the water nymph had given her own life to protect hers. 'Daphne bought me enough time to escape,' she said in a whisper.

Seren rose up from his bed, the squeaking sound of the wood interrupting Peter and Lucy before the both of them could continue. 'It wasn't you,' Seren said to Rosaleen, finally understanding why she had seemed brainwashed and he desperately tried to catch her eyes again, but she kept dodging his gaze.

'You were still captured. I'm so sorry,' he apologised, quickly walking over to her but he froze in his step when she bolted away from him.

'I was, but please, don't come any closer,' she said, her voice sounding choked up from the tears and she stared at her smudged shoes as she wrapped her arms around her own shivering body.

'Rose? What happened?' Alexander asked, shifting in front of her and bending his back a bit so that he could catch her downcast eyes.

Rosaleen took a deep breath, telling herself once more it hadn't truly been Seren and she slowly looked up. However, when she looked past her brother, into Seren's hazel coloured eyes, the fear squeezed shut her throat. She couldn't breathe while her body and mind embraced itself for the agonising pain of the whip's strike that she expected any moment. She couldn't do this, and since this time she was not being held in place by chains, her instinct told her to run, to flee, to get away from him, and she spun around on her heels.

Alexander tried grabbing her wrist but she was too fast and she sprinted out of the physician's chambers. 'Rose, wait,' he called after her before the heavy door fell into its lock again, but she didn't stop nor did she return. Alexander turned to face Peter while he saw a hurtful expression falling over Seren's face out of the corner of his eye as well.

'What was that all about? What happened to her?' Alexander asked Peter, demanding an answer.

'She looked as if I had hurt her,' Seren said with a crestfallen face.

Peter hesitated for a moment but then he said, 'In a way, you did.'

'What do you mean? I swear I didn't hurt her intentionally,' Seren defended himself when he noticed Alexander's suspicious glare and he held up his hands.

Peter clenched and unclenched his jaw, the muscle moving under his skin as he weighed the options until he made a decision. 'It might not be my place to tell you, but you all deserve to know, you most of all, Seren.'

A tight knot formed into Seren's stomach by Peter's serious tone. 'What do I need to know?'

'Rosaleen was tortured, her back was whipped open, even worse than the Reflection's at Cair Paravel, but it hadn't Lune who tortured her like the Rosaleen Reflection claimed. When I was inside Stormness Head, I saw her torturer while the real Rosaleen hung bloodied in chains. It was you, Seren. The Silver Reflection had taken on your form and all that time Rosaleen thought you had been whipping her.'

Seren opened and closed his mouth a few times as he tried processing that information and he ran a hand through his dark blond hair. He stumbled back a few paces until he could sit down on his bed with trembling limbs and he could feel the empathic gazes of the others burning on his skin. 'It explained why she looked at me as if I'm a monster,' he said, burying his face in his hands as he leaned with his elbows on his knees.

'I'm sorry, Seren,' Peter said, 'it was beyond cruel of the Silver Reflections to torture her like that.'

Seren let out a hum but still didn't look up and Peter decided to leave him be for a moment and he focussed on King Lune.

'Your Grace,' Peter began, 'I'd like to formally apologise─,'

',─there's no need for that,' Lune interrupted him. 'Your siblings already apologised as well. You were being deceived by mirroring creatures we didn't even know the existence of. Anyone could have fallen for their deception.'

Peter shook his head, stepping closer towards Lune. 'Still, I want to apologise. I treated you, your kin and your kingdom horribly, despite your claims of being innocent. Can you forgive me?' Peter offered the other King his hand and Lune didn't hesitate to clasp his own hand around Peter's underarm.

'Of course, High King Peter. Narnia and Archenland have been allies since the beginning of time. The Silver Reflections needed to have come up with a better ruse to cause a permanent rift between us,' Lune said with a warm smile and Peter let out a relieved chuckle as they let go of each other's arms again.

'Thank you, I'm glad to hear that. This may be too soon, but regarding Cair Paravel. . .' Peter's voice drifted away as he wasn't sure how to word the favour he wanted to ask for.

Lune nodded thoughtfully, his gaze wandering over the Pevensie siblings before another smile decorated his face. 'Archenland will help. We drove back the Calormene Empire to their homelands, let's force those Reflections out of our kingdoms as well.'

'Looks like we have another war to plan,' Edmund said with a mischievous grin but when Seren stood up from the bed again, everyone silenced.

'Before we do that, I need to find Rose,' he muttered, taking the shirt that Madoc handed to him and he quickly pulled it over his head to cover up his bare chest.

'I'm not sure if that's a great idea,' Susan said carefully. 'She could freak out if she sees you.'

Seren paused in his movements for a second. 'Right. Will you come with me, Alex? You're her brother, she trusts you.'

When Alexander agreed, Seren headed towards the door, swinging it open and walking barefoot through the hallways with purposeful strides as Alexander followed on his heels.

'I think I know two locations where she might be,' Seren said over his shoulder. 'She loved the castle's flower garden and the music room with the grand piano the last time we were here.'

'Let's try the music room first,' Alexander said, knowing his sister's mind. 'Playing the piano helps her to relax, to shut herself temporarily off from the outside world.'

Seren nodded, turning his gaze forward again as they ascended the spiral staircase, going all the way up to the third floor. The light of the morning sun fell through the arched windows at their left and the polished cherry wood under their feet shimmered as if it had been made out of rubies instead. The dust particles originating from the velvety green curtains danced through the sunbeams like golden glitter, but apart from the softly whizzing breeze of wind sneaking inside through the open windows, the area remained quiet as they neared the music room and they began to wonder if Rosaleen would be there.

'Perhaps she went to the garden after all,' Alexander began but his words faded away when he looked inside the room and saw his sister sitting on the white leather stool in front of the piano.

Rosaleen had pulled up her knees towards her chest, skillfully balancing on top of the stool as she had wrapped her arms around her legs and leaned with her chin on her knees. She stared with unblinking eyes at the shimmering black and white piano keys, and Alexander blocked the door opening by sticking out his hand before Seren could walk towards her.

'I'll talk to her first, alright? Wait here,' he said and Seren nodded, although his heart felt heavy by seeing Rosaleen like this.

Alexander announced his presence by calling her name as he set course towards her and she looked from the piano keys, the palm of her left hand rubbing away the tears on her cheek.

'Mind if I sit next to you?' he asked, gesturing at the stool and she shook her head.

'Of course not.' Rosaleen dropped her feet back to ground and moved a bit closer to the edge to make room for him. The leather squeaked as Alexander sat down as well and he struck a G minor chord on the piano, the sound bouncing off against the high and curved walls of the room until it faded away again.

'Seren wants to talk to you,' he said as he laid his hands on his own upper legs .

Rosaleen's eyes grew a bit wider as she turned half in her seat to look at Seren who lingered in the door opening, but then Alexander told her to focus on him again.

'I'll be here with you all the time. If he even dares to lift a finger at you, he'd wish he had never been born, alright?'

Rosaleen managed to crack a small smile, though her eyes still stood fearfully wide. 'Alright.'

The both of them stood up from the piano stool and Alexander beckoned Seren to come on in. He walked as slowly as he could, keeping his hands half-raised in a comforting manner but Rosaleen's eyes darted through all of the room.

'I don't know if I─.' Rosaleen stopped talking when Seren halted in front of her with a meter's distance and their eyes locked. His swam with sadness, guilt and empathy whereas hers only displayed terror. Seren felt as if someone had trusted a dagger in his heart, twisting it a few times as well as they tried to carve it out of his chest.

'Rose,' he began in a soft tone while Rosaleen tried to compose herself. 'I'm so sorry for what they did to you. Please know I'd never have hurt you, I love you, and seeing you in this kind of pain and hurt just by the sheer look of me, breaks my heart. You don't deserve this. Perhaps over time you can learn to trust me again, but I will not force you. For now, I promise you won't see me again unless you want me to.' Seren took a small step closer towards her and although every muscle in her body stiffened, Rosaleen forced herself to keep standing as he reached for her hand; his fingers brushing as soft as a bird's wing against hers before he retreated again.

'Goodbye. I will always love you,' he whispered, his hazel coloured eyes full of tears, but then he disappeared out of the room.

Alexander pulled his sister in a hug when she burst out in sobs again and as she was enveloped by his arms, Rosaleen wished Lucy's healing cordial didn't only cure physical injuries, but mental ones as well. . .

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