Peter loved serving his people, he thought it to be his duty, and his siblings followed his lead. Usually, they would go out into the village that surrounded Cair Paravel and fix buildings. Susan and Lucy would play with the kids and Peter, Edmund, and Caspian would help fix their houses. Most Narnian villages that surrounded the royal castle suffered from attacks by those who disagreed with the royals. Usually the witch's shadow army. As a royal guest, Angelina was invited to participate in their crusade for justice and restoration of property. Lucy decided to drag Angelina with her to play with the kids. There was no way a young lady of her gentle complexion would have to deal with stone picking, and chopping of trees.
Children instantly surrounded the three ladies and danced around them in unison. Some grabbed Susan by the hand to show her dolls they made out of straw and string. Others jumped on Lucy's back and demanded that she be their royal carriage. Angelina wasn't very good with kids, they didn't seem to enjoy her company. However, Lucy was not giving up. She made Angelina read them a story and tell them about her adventures in Narnia.
"You see she is a keeper of Aslan's light!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Have you seen the mighty lion himself?" One of the children asked, her eyes glistening with excitement.
Angelina turned to the little girl and smiled, "yes I have."
"I heard that Aslan doesn't exist!" Another one said, and Angelina turned to his direction.
"Why, who told you such a thing, of course He exists, I saw Him with my own two eyes!" She enjoyed talking to the children about Aslan, and they seemed to be engaged in her stories.
"Is it true that you could kill us with just a strike of your hand!?" a little girl sitting next to her asked.
Angelina felt uncomfortable with the question, she could do so, but why would she. Not knowing how to explain it to the children she looked at them sympathetically before Lucy stole her spotlight by telling the children it was time to go play hide and seek. They all screamed with happiness and ran away, leaving Angelina with the thought of how dangerous she actually was.
As if reading her thoughts, Edmund appeared next to her, sitting down on the stone ground. "What's bothering you?" He asked, his eyes searching hers for answers.
"Have you ever actually considered how dangerous this light is. I mean you all treat me like I can control it." She shook her head, frustrated with the tasks and expectations everyone put on her.
"Can't you control it?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
She turned to him, "more or less. Sometimes this light goes crazy, like it has a mind of its own. In the woods, I had no idea I could do that. But then when the white witch came, I couldn't even talk back to her let alone defeat her!"
"Things happen for a reason. Maybe this battle was not meant to be won?" He looked down at her, noticing that his words had no comforting effect, "I trust you. You will find a way to control it." He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to himself.
"Well, I can't be around children anymore, they are afraid of me." She looked into the distance, knowing that she was never on good terms with kids, especially when she couldn't understand what they wanted from her.
Edmund smirked, "children don't like me either. See, I'm king Edmund of justice. In their eyes I am a brutal warrior who knows one thing; blood must have blood. Justice must happen."
"But you are not like that, you have the kindest heart I've ever seen," she said, almost teasing him about his soft nature.
"Thanks, but one thing I know, there are a lot of parts to me and they are not very pretty. Some might even call them scary." He smiled to her, hiding his fear of disappointing her.
"Well, our kids won't be afraid of you!" She quickly stood up and brushed her dress from the dirt that was on it, not giving him time to be shocked about what she said.
Edmund smiled looking down at the ground, he quickly stood up and tried to speak before she sprinted away from him. Smiling, Edmund ran after her.
Angelina ran down the Narnian grass fields laughing as the sun shined on her face, reflecting the brightness off her kind features. She closed her eyes and increased her speed, forgetting that her duties as the keeper of light exist. Wanting to run forever, never to stop, she fell onto the grass and looked at the blue sky. Edmund quickly caught up with her, falling on top of her, blocking the blue sky.
"You are blocking my beautiful view, darling," she emphasized the last word sarcastically in order to sound just a bit British and furrowed her eyebrows in disappointment of the sky being replace by his brown eyes.
He smirked, "I am your beautiful view, darling," he did the same and his smirk turned into a laugh as he fell into the grass next to her, taking her by the hand.
"I don't think I've ever seen this cheesy side of Edmund Pevenise." She closed her eyes again, taking in the fresh air of Narnia.
He looked at her, "what does it mean, cheesy? Like cheese?" He asked, confused by the way she talked.
Angelina rolled her eyes, "cheesy means that you're so sweet I get sick. You know, like when you eat a lot of cheese and its so good that it's bad for you?" He still didn't understand.
"I can't imagine anyone eating so much cheese that it hurts, why would anyone do such a stupid thing?" He asked, folding his arms on his chest. "There are a lot of sides you haven't seen of Edmund Pevensie. So you thought you could throw something like that at me and then run away like it's nothing?" He raised his eyebrows, moving away from the topic of cheese.
Angelina opened her eyes, "why what are you talking about, I could never dream of doing such a thing."
"Okay then, deny it I guess. I wonder what our children would look like. Would they have my good looks and your kind heart? Your smart brain and my magnificent accent?" He was laughing at himself for saying all those things.
"Hey! How come my accent isn't magnificent?" Angelina lightly slapped his shoulder.
"Because I'm British, love. Clearly that is the superior English." He turned to her and pulled her into a hug. She watched as the crinkles by his eyes formed from his bright smiles, tracing his lips with her finger and trying her best to not kiss them. As a joke, he bit her finger, and she slapped his arm. Only a month ago she wouldn't dare act with him like she did in that moment, and neither did he. It was strange to her how quickly everything changed.
He leaned on the palm of his hand, which he placed under his head to keep it from falling onto the ground, "so, you want to have children?"
"I believe any young woman in her right mind thinks about it at one point in her life, and I am in my right mind. You know it is about time I took some responsibility-" she kept rambling in order to avoid the serious turn the conversations was taking.
He smiled, "no, I mean you want to have children with me?"
Her eyes widened. She didn't know how to answer such a question. How in the world he could be so straight forward was beyond her. Perhaps it was the mixture of confusion and the fact that for the past hour she watched him trying to build a roof and throw his shirt to the ground because the weather was too hot. Whatever it was, she swore that if it was London in 2016, and not Narnia, she'd kiss the hell out of him.
"I mean I was hoping for a marriage before that, but yeah, eventually, why not?" She started fidgeting with her fingers to distract herself, somehow the grass beneath her was of at most interest to her in the moment.
Feeling him turn away and lie on his back, she took a quick glance at him as she heard him speak, "yes, eventually, I suppose."
Deciding to forget the conversation all together, she decided to do the same as him. Lie down on her back and look at the sky. Angelina could see the white clouds flow away from the sky and replaced by darker ones. It always seemed to rain somehow, on a good day. However, she didn't mind, she loved rain. Burying her head in his chest she closed her eyes, thinking of her duty. It was hard being the keeper of light, but she managed to pull that off somehow.
She wished for a second that they weren't moving slowly. Wished she could kiss him whenever she wanted to and he her. She knew that taking it slow was for their own good though. Not wanting to do anything he wouldn't want to do, she pulled herself away and stood up. Temptation was far too strong.
"Back to the castle?" He asked, putting his hand behind his head and leaning on the grass.
"Are you not coming?" She started walking.
Edmund smiled, "no I'm just going to admire you some more from down here."
Angelina instantly turned around walking back to him, "that's what you said to me when I got on top of Philip that one day."
"You know," Edmund stood up, "Philip doesn't let just anyone ride him. He would never let Johanna ride him." He pulled her back to him and removed a strand of loose hair from her face.
"Speaking of Johanna, anymore strange thoughts about her?" Angelina asked, raising her eyebrow.
He looked at her and cupped her face, "I think the thoughts of you replaced the thoughts of her pretty quickly. Even when I didn't remember you, you were constantly on my mind."
"That's good to know," Angelina looked down at the ground, "what if you ended up with her though?"
"But that didn't happen. I'd never be with her, no matter how my mind told me, my heart was always with you." He wrapped his hands around her, rocking her back and forth in his arms and smiling down at her, like they were in a dream.
They walked back to the castle together hand in hand, the Narnian's looked at them. Some smiled, others stared with confused looks. Children were skeptical about approaching them. As Edmund leaned down to pick up a doll that a little girl dropped, Angelina smiled at the scene. There was an absolutely sweet side to Edmund that he naturally showed at the right time. He would be an amazing father.
She didn't see the man behind her who pulled out a knife and ran straight at her screaming.
Before he could stab her, Edmund quickly pulled out his sword and drew it into the man's body. He fell into the ground with his eyes wide. "Death to the liar!" He screamed.
"Who sent you!" Edmund asked him.
Looking into the kings eyes, the man laughed out, "long live queen Jadis!"
He was shocked by the mans words, his nostrils flared. Edmund was angry. A thought of hitting this man crossed Edmund's mind, but with the Narnians all around him looking at the scene unravel, he decided not to. Taking his sword out, Edmund took Angelina by the arm dragging her back to the castle. He knew that he didn't kill the man, he only wounded him, knowing all the vital organs and where they were. Still, he wished he aimed his sword straight for the man's heart.
"Make sure this body is taken care of, I will inform king Peter of this attempted assassination and arrest." Edmund said to the guard who ran up to him. Angelina didn't even have time to react, all she could do was calm Edmund down from his heavy breathing. She took the sword out of his hand, which he was still clinging to.
She cupped his red face, "it's okay, it's over-"
"How can you be so calm! He tried to kill you, what if I wasn't there, what if he would have stabbed you-" he pushed her hand off his face and took it into his own hand.
Angelina smiled, "but I didn't die, and you were there."
"I could have lost you," Edmund pulled her into a hug, scared now that she wasn't even safe in Cair Paravel.
Although disturbed by how easily Edmund stabbed the man without even thinking twice, she knew now that he would do anything to protect her like he swore a long time ago. Real danger was now haunting her, the white witch sent her spies to kill her.
Edited: 4/22/2020