there will come a soldier, who carries a mighty sword. she will tear your city down, oh lei-oh lai-oh lord
Coralia nearly dropped the letter into the bathtub. She was taking her time bathing because it was well past one in the morning and she was the last one.
There was no way. She would've known. Her father couldn't keep the secret that long. He was messing with her for sure. Not to mention that the letter had definitely been tampered with. It was hastily sealed, and Wicus Findlay always took care with his letters. Now to think of who cared that much to look through such a personal letter. As far as she knew, there was no one in town who was so interested in her life that they would read a private letter.
Hell, there was no one in town who was interested in her beyond what was under her bodice. This was someone closer to her. Dantus would never. Maybe the Narnians checked mail to make sure nothing dangerous was being sent to their knights. She doubted it. But really, would Dantus read something addressed to her? If he had changed a great deal since she was gone, then maybe. If he hadn't, then maybe he'd break into it as a joke. Either way, there was a high chance that he knew her heritage now. Did it matter? It shouldn't be a secret. But the thought that Dantus possibly knew before she did was upsetting.
Who could she bring this to? The physician? They hadn't spoken since the day after the ball, so he probably wouldn't care much. She and Edmund were apparently not on great terms
at the moment, considering how he hardly spoke to her during training. Dasia was asleep already. The other knights would be interested maybe the next day, but not enough to be woken up about it.
Edmund would probably still be awake. He would at least pretend to be interested. But not just then. Not after what he'd done that morning, not after how he excluded her during training. Going to his rooms at this hour meant either being turned away or having to have a deep conversation that she didn't have the energy for.
Damn that fucking King Edmund. She couldn't stand him, especially not lately. She decided
to just go to sleep and talk with Dasia the next day.
How she ended up knocking on King Edmund's door just minutes after that decision, she did
not know. But she had already knocked and there was no turning back. After waiting a minute, she turned around. It was a stupid idea in the first place. Of course he wasn't awake. What would she even say to him? There was nothing that—
In a split second, she was standing in the dimly lit bedroom of King Edmund. She would've thought she had teleported if not for his strong — but gentle — grip on her arm.
"Care to share why you're here at this time?"
Coralia took a deep breath and held out the letter for Edmund to read. He took the pages and lifted a candle towards them. After an agonizing couple of minutes, he handed it back to her.
"That's new."
Coralia nodded, looking up at him. She was getting better at the eye contact thing. It was easier in the dark, especially now that he couldn't see any blushing he may cause. And cause it, he did. The eye contact was easy because it helped her not to look at the pants hanging low on his hips. Somehow the man had managed to strip himself of his shirt even after she dressed him in pajamas. So there they stood, looking at each other in silence.
She looked him up and down, then raised an eyebrow.
"I promise I didn't do it just for you this time. I was overheating. Unless you'd like me to keep the shirt off."
"Your Majesty, I need you to focus for a second. I just found out something about myself that changes my life and could potentially help Narnia in a war. I'd love it if you could stop trying to make me blush right now."
"Noted." Edmund sat in his desk chair and motioned for her to sit on his desk.
"I'm sorry, I just didn't know who to come to about this. Especially since the letter had already been opened when it arrived," Coralia rubbed her eyes, growing even more tired.
"Who opened it?" Edmund urged. "If someone is reading your private things, I will find out who."
"I don't know who. I was thinking it could be someone from home, but there's no way to prove that. Besides, I have much more to think about than who knows about my... abilities. It's not like it's a huge secret. I just need to train them and figure out who will be able to help me."
"Let's go to the library. Right now."
"It is so late, I don't know how well that would go over if we woke one of your siblings."
"Oh, relax. I'm the king, I can do whatever I want."
•
The two had spent over an hour looking through the library for books on practical magic and how to use it. So far, they had acquired an impossibly heavy stack of thick books with ripped, yellowing pages.
Edmund picked up a book with a lock on it.
"How am I supposed to use that, I don't have the key."
"Use magic," He grinned. Coralia rolled her eyes. He moved to put the book on the table, but it slipped from his hands and fell to the floor with a deafening BANG.
"Oh, for Aslan's sake, Your Majesty!" Coralia dropped her head into her hands. She crouched down to lift it back up, but the book must have weighed sixty pounds. The king crouched to help her and together they got the book onto the table with another loud slam.
There was a slow creaking sound and the sound of boots hitting the stone floor.
"Is this a bad time to mention that the archivist's quarters are connected to the library?"
"Yes, it is a very bad time!" Coralia whispered harshly. Edmund grabbed her hand and led her farther into the library, rather than out the exit, which was blocked by the library's manager. The man was calling out to whoever had broken into the library, threatening them.
The windows were soon long gone and no longer offered any light from the moon. They were in pitch black, but Edmund seemed to know the aisles like the back of his hand.
He paused, panting from all the running they'd done.
"Are we lost?" Coralia whispered.
"Not at all," Edmund lied. "Just catching my breath, is all. This way."
He started off again, walking this time. Coralia didn't let him let go of her hand, afraid she'd lose him in the dark and never return.
She wanted to deny that she was enjoying wandering the library alone with him, holding his hand, but she couldn't. She was afraid that he would hear her heart beating five times as fast as it should've been.
On the contrary, Edmund didn't seem to be acting any different from how he normally did. He was always calm and collected, which was something Coralia would never achieve.
That damn archivist must have been flying or something, because he was suddenly very close.
Edmund decided that running was no longer an option. He pulled Coralia around a corner and knelt down to help her up onto a bookshelf. He grabbed her by her legs and pushed up as she grasped frantically for the top of the shelf and climbed to lay flat on top of it.
Moments later, Edmund was laying flat next to her. The librarian was in the aisle right below them, looking around the bookshelves. Coralia peeked over the edge of the shelf to make sure that he wouldn't see them. Edmund grabbed her hair and pulled her head back out of view of the librarian. She would be lying if she said it didn't turn her on.
She stayed face down, waiting for what felt like hours before the archivist gave up. Edmund held his hand up to stop her from moving until the man's footsteps could no longer be heard.
He helped Coralia down off the shelf and they stood in the aisle for a moment. Coralia concluded shortly that Edmund had no idea how to get back to the library's entrance.
"I thought you said you kn—"
She was suddenly pushed back into the shelf, hitting her head on a particularly sharp-cornered book. But any pain went to the very back of her mind. Everything else quickly followed. All of her brain was required to process the feeling of Edmund's lips on her own.
She didn't even have enough time to kiss him back before he pulled away.
Coralia was not going to have that. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back towards her. To Hell with propriety and honor. If he could sneak into Princess Ailee's bed after a political meeting, he could kiss Coralia for more than half a second in a dark library.
Edmund's hands holding her close sent a shiver through her body. Not a shiver, though. It lingered. Like a hum in her chest that ran down her arms and up into her skull. She felt stronger. Edmund must have felt it, too, because he seemed to grow bolder. His gentle hands moved from her back to her hips, his lips switching from her mouth to her throat. He ran a hand through her hair, gripping it close to her scalp and pulling her head back. So he had noticed her reaction before, even though she had tried to hide it.
She was overcome with this mysterious hum, and it only seemed to spur Edmund on more. She could only imagine what hour it was, so she gently put a hand on his shoulder and lifted his chin so that he could see her. "We need to go back." Coralia whispered. "It must be almost sun-up by now."
"You're enchanting, Cor," Edmund looked into her eyes, smiling. "And you're also correct. Let's find our way back."
It hit her then. Enchanting. "Oh, my God." She muttered. "Your Majesty, I am so sorry."
"Whatever for? I've been waiting to do that for weeks."
She examined his face. He seemed to be genuine, but she had the lingering feeling that she may have spelled him by accident. Forced him to kiss her. She followed a few steps behind him for the next half hour before they made it back to the front of the expansive library. Sure enough, the black sky had already started turning a dark purple as the sun began to rise above the Great Eastern Ocean.
She paused to grab a few of the books they'd picked out, including the heavy locked one. It called out to her.
After parting ways with the king, she hauled the books up to her room and hid them under her bed. She didn't want Dasia to ask any questions. Just minutes after she returned, Dasia woke. It was sunrise, after all. All of the servants were starting the day. Dasia didn't have anywhere to be for the next fifteen minutes, so Coralia made sure she didn't leave early. Fifteen minutes was enough time.
Coralia explained the whole situation about her heritage and how the letter was tampered with. Dasia was still somewhat dazed and asleep, so it took the faun some time to process what Coralia had said. When she did, she jumped up and grabbed Coralia's hands. "This is wonderful! Who is going to help you learn?"
"I'm not sure. I've taken— I'll be taking some books from the library today to see if I can earn it off paper." Coralia decided to stop herself from speaking of the night in the library with Dasia just yet. Maybe later, but not at 4 in the morning. She dressed and headed off to the servant's breakfast.
After eating quickly, she hurried to the armory to polish Edmund's armor. She had about two hours before the king had to get up and prepare for the day. Two hours to try to figure out what to say to the king, how to act around him, and how he would act. Hopefully he'd act like nothing had happened. But maybe she didn't want to pretend that it hadn't happened. But she couldn't do anything until she got her magic under control. What happened the night before was not safe, for her or the king.
"What did that armor do to you?" A voice from behind her made her drop the cloth she was using to polish the armor. She had been so deep in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the dent she'd made in Edmund's chest plate.
"Don't shock me like that!" Coralia frowned.
Ruzan the minotaur — and culprit — laughed. He patted her rather roughly on the shoulder and began to walk away.
"Ah, Ruzan, wait," Coralia called after him. "Do you remember my first day as King Edmund's bodyguard, when you and the men asked me about my parents?"
"Yeah, we all thought your mother was some kind of siren or something crazy like that. Why?"
"She was a sorcerer. My father wrote me and explained."
Ruzan pounded a fist against the wall.
"What's wrong?" Coralia suddenly grew worried. "Is there something wrong with magic here?"
"No, I just owe Zavier forty gold coins."
That night, Coralia told her father's story to the rest of the knights. Far too many coins were passed around between the knights, but they were all so excited about it. They told her that they couldn't wait until she was trained and could show them tricks. Coralia was less happy about her magic. Her anxieties had sky-rocketed since the interaction in the library. It was as if she'd put Edmund under a spell.
She didn't allow herself to think any more about the subject. She couldn't have herself falling in love.
•
"slowburn" literally i lied sorry but i promise it'll be kind of slow