Edmund's POV
I thought more about my revelation of Simon's motives for lying. I had left the group to take some time for myself. I knew better than to let my temper get the best of me, at least this time. Besides (Y/n) seems to trust him so...still, I'm not entirely sure if we can trust him. I'll forgive but I won't forget.
The professor decided to continue his examination of the soot he found in Simon's chambers and continued to look for the temples location. He said it was his way to make up for covering up for Simon. Turns out he did know more than he led on. Not like he was good at hiding it. Either way, it wasn't my place to dismiss his work so Adaline allowed it. It at least gave us a break which I greatly appreciated. Adaline and Simon went off to talk, understandably so, leaving me, Lucy and (Y/n).
"You think they'll be long?" (Y/n) asked, "I mean I get they have a lot to talk through, with Simon opening up and all but they aren't going to leave us alone for too long right?"
"Like you said, they have some personal issues they need to discuss. They can leave us alone for as long as they like, we're free to do as we please," I said, sitting down next to Lucy. She gave a perplexing looking to which I responded with "within reason of course."
"Right, well what should we do?
"We could walk around, Terebinthia is known for their trees, and we can look at the courtyard and garden," Lucy suggested.
"Yeah let's do it!" (Y/n) said happy to do something that wasn't indoors. I sighed getting up and stretching. I wanted to sleep but it was a little too early to retire right now. Just a few more hours.
"Sure we got nothing better to do."
We walked off, enjoying the view of the flora and the world underneath. The castle was a little higher up, overlooking the village and other parts of the kingdom. Terebinthia was rich with its foliage and the trees were magnificent. They were big and wide with tops that feathered out beautifully, creating the perfect amount of shade. (Y/n) seemed to be enjoying it the most, attempting to climb a tree but failed. Lucy and I exchanged a curious look and chuckled.
"Here, do you want help?" I asked cooly. I knelt down and put my hands together as to give her a boost.
"N-No it's fine- oof!" She said landing back down on the ground after trying to jump up to grab a branch.
"Come on let Edmund help you, he won't bite," Lucy said. I flashed a toothy grin and then bit down on my own teeth to tease (Y/n).
She stood there staring me down. Just when I was about to get up she stopped me. "Oh okay fine, just don't move," she said rolling her eyes and stepping on my hands. Fickle fickle. "Okay now!" I pushed her up as she jumped, grabbing on the branch and swinging her leg over to pull herself up. She adjusted herself and sat, dangling her feet from above.
"Wait a minute, I thought I said no more climbing trees for you," I said putting hands on my hips, raising my eyebrow at her. Damn how could I forget?
"And yet you helped me," she said slyly. Lucy smiled and then looked at me with a smirk.
"She's right you know, you even offered her help-"
"Shut up." I looked up at (Y/n), feeling that oh so familiar fluttering feeling in the pit of my stomach. She looked at the view of the trees and hills and the vast ocean beyond with such wonder. It was almost adorable, almost. She looked happy, with that beautiful smile never leaving her face once.
"I'm surprised you could climb in that thing," I said looking at her dress. It was now a little scruffy and dirty but still looked good.
"Me too honestly, your boost definitely helped, I wouldn't have been able to climb the tree without you, so thank you Eddie," she said softly. Her words burned my cheeks making me look at the ground. Damn it.
"Are you coming down? We haven't gotten to the courtyard yet," Lucy said, "Don't you want to see the rabbits" (Y/n) eyes widen and she nodded.
"Rabbits?! Okay I'm coming down, um-"
"Here I'll catch you just try not to break my ribcage this time please," She rolled her eyes and nodded. I positioned myself, looking up to make sure I was I'm the right place.
"I'm ready."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'll catch you, honest," I smiled. She hesitated but sighed.
"Okay..."
She leaped off and yelped. I held my arms out and steady my stance, anticipating her weight. When I felt her body hit my arms, I instantly tightened my grip around her, feeling my knees bend. My chest rose and fell, feeling this warmth surge through my core. Her hypnotic breathing placed me in a trance. I took in all of her features making me feel weak. Her hair was messy and her eyes were frazzled, yet she had that same smile on from before. She was beautiful. Very much so.
I let her down the minute I felt Lucy's presence again. It grounded me, much to my dismay but it was needed.
"Not bad, considering last time," I said, grinning like a fool.
"Yeah, I think I liked it better this time around" she said dusting her dress off. Before I could retort Lucy spoke up.
"Okay let's go now." She tried to contain her smile but we both caught a glimpse before she turned on her heel and lead the way.
"Oh they you guys are, the maids said that you were headed to the courtyard but when I got there you guys weren't so I thought we'd wait," Adaline held up the mirror, showing Simon waving.
"Well (Y/n) wanted to get a better view of the kingdom," Lucy said glancing at me and (Y/n). We shared a flustered look, trying to ignore what just happened.
"Is that so," Adaline and Lucy exchange that same look from yesterday. Bloody hell. Simon was just confused, looking at me for answers.
"We wanted to let you guys have you time together and thought we'd walk around to pass the time, where are your rabbits by the way?" Lucy asked sitting next to Adaline on the bench.
"Oh right, Splash and Puddle are right over here," Adaline placed Simon down and went over to a part of the courtyard surrounded by a lattice fence. She opened the gate and two rabbits hopped out.
"Awww they're so cute!" (Y/n) cooed, walking over to the rabbits. Lucy joined and the girls gushed over Splash and Puddle. Splash was a black and white rabbit and Puddle was a brown rabbit. Both extremely soft and cute. I picked Simon up and handed him over to Lucy.
"Thanks Edmund."
"Yeah don't mention it," I sat back down on the bench and stared off into space, getting lost in my thoughts. (Y/n): her laugh, the ways her eyes seem to glow, the way her hair frames her face, how she looks in that dress, the way she kicks her legs back and forth when she sits- Adaline broke my train of thought when she sat right next to me. I sat up straighter and kept to myself, feeling awkward around her.
I had talked to Adaline before, I mean I've known her for three years but I've never gotten close to her, we were only acquainted.
"Hey Edmund, why aren't you with the others?" She asked looking at Lucy, (Y/n) and Simon laughing together with the rabbits.
"I could ask you the same thing," I looked at her, grinning.
"Well I just wanted to check on you, are you okay? " she asked looking at me.
"Yeah I'm fine," I said nonchalantly, subconsciously staring at (Y/n). It was quiet for a moment. Then she spoke again.
"You really fancy her don't you," Adaline said quietly so that only I could hear. I turned to face her quickly, unsure of what to say.
"What-"
"Oh come on Edmund, I see the way you two look at each other. Don't think I didn't notice how you talk with (Y/n) or how you choke on your food after you two flirted yesterday."
"Flirting? No she was teasing me, she always does-"
"Same thing, she's flirting with you and you flirted with her I saw it!" Adaline was eager to get me to spill but I wasn't going to budge.
"Well you were mistaken...besides it's not like that. She says I'm practically her best friend," I said feeling a little sad. I wanted to be more.
"Do you feel the same way?"
"No-no I mean, (Y/n) is one of the few people that I've ever been close enough to call a true friend."
"But is she more than that to you?" I didn't answer so I just shook my head.
"Edmund be honest with yourself, answer me truthfully," she looked me in the eyes, "do you fancy (Y/n)?" I felt her words shake me. I've known how I've felt since that night on the Silent Marauders but I didn't really know until yesterday. And now having to say it...I didn't think I could. Not a chance.
"I already did, I said no," I stared her down.
"You shook your head no, you didn't say anything. Look it's not really my place anyways and I'll respect that. However you should tell her or else how is she going to know how you feel. You might lose your chance," she looked at me with an empathetic tone, placing a hand on my shoulder. I took her hand and put it back in her lap.
"I appreciate it Adaline but um it's not going to happen."
"You can't hide your feelings forever Ed,"
Watch me. "Thanks Ada but I'm good." I got up and walked over to the group and sat down.
"Oh Edmund you decided to join us?" Simon teased. Lucy and (Y/n) looked up at me with wondering eyes.
"Yeah yeah don't make yourself feel too special," I looked over at (Y/n) who had Splash at her side, petting her gently. She then let go of the small rabbit and she hopped over to me, rubbing against my hand. (Y/n) smiled.
"Yay Edmund's here!" Lucy cheered.
"Hey Ed, what were you and Adaline talking about?" (Y/n) asked.
"Nothing really, just talking about...stuff," I focused my attention on Splash as to not say anything lame.
"Like about the mission or-"
"Yeah it was about our ride and all. We are good to go." Of course it was a lie but its for the best.
"I didn't think you would be good with animals,"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I said looking at her with a playful smile.
"You should see him with kids and babies, they love him," Lucy said grinning ear to ear, scratching Puddle's head. Simon busted out laughing
"Edmund? With kids? Now that's a sight I want to see,"
"Me too, are you actually good with children? "
"No but for some reason they like me, and I hate it. I don't necessarily hate kids I just don't want to be swarmed by them. That's more of Peter's forte. He loves the attention," I said placing Splash in my lap.
"Yeah Peter and I go down to the village and play with the kids sometimes. Susan gives them swimming lessons and Ed likes to read to them and sometimes how to sword fight."
"You're giving children weapons?" (Y/n) looked at me with a judging look.
"The youngest is 9 or something it's fine," I waved my hand nonchalantly.
"Yeah until they lose an eye or something," Simon said mocking me. The girls giggled and I sarcastically laughed.
Adaline soon joined us and we continued to tell anecdotes of our siblings or weird things we did as kids. It was a nice break from everything stressing us out at the moment. I didn't realize how much we needed this.
Professor Mumford found us after dinner and brought us over to discuss his findings.
"So I took a closer look at the soot found in your room Simon," he said looking at him, "and it confirmed our theory about the magic being corrupted." He paused and glanced at me before continuing. "I did some experimenting and found it had traces from the Queen of Charn... "
"The white witch..." I said feeling this vile acidic feeling brew in my stomach. It sent shivers down my spine. "Yes but the good news is that I was able to use the soot and make a protection pendant, but it needs to be blessed by Aslan himself for it to work, so I suggest to take it with you and perhaps you'll come across him," I took it from his hand and looked at it.
The pendant didn't look like much but I get a feeling we might be able to use It against Simon's other self if we can find Aslan. Wherever he is.
It was a small glass jar on a black thread with the soot, pine and salt inside it.
"I didn't know you practice some magic professor," Simon said.
"I'm not as active with it as I use to be but I can do little things," he said smiling with his eyes.
"Thank you, what about the temple? " (Y/n) asked.
"There's a sun temple in the desert, a little ways past the oasis I believe," he brought us over to a different map from earlier and showed us where he marked the spot.
"Brilliant, thank you sir," Lucy said. Mumford then rolled it up and handed it to us.
"It's the least I could do, I want to make things right in any way I can," he said solemnly.
"It's alright now, really," Adaline said hugging the professor. It was sweet and all but I was thinking about what our plan of action would be now. What do we do once we catch up with him? Also we got to give the other Simon a nickname.
"It's late, we should get to bed and rest, we got some more planning to do tomorrow. But we should enjoy our day off before we start sailing," (Y/n) said. I yawned feeling the very tired. I nodded hoping that I could get some solid sleep tonight.
We all headed to our rooms after we said our goodnights. I was looking forward to our day off tomorrow as it was not often to have an entire day that wasn't full of responsibilities. I toss and turned in my bed. My thoughts went everywhere until they eventually went to (Y/n). I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head, trying to ground myself.
I thought about what Adaline said. It seems like no matter how hard I tried to deny it, she kept ignoring it and tried to give me advice about my feelings towards (Y/n). If Adaline knows, will the others find out, will (Y/n) find out? I don't know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing.
Either way all I knew was my head wouldn't stop replaying what Adaline said. How is she going to know how you feel. You might lose your chance. I didn't want to lose (Y/n) to anyone. Then I thought about Simon. How much the two of them talked and were often left alone. I mean he's in a mirror so I don't think much could happen but still...what if (Y/n) falls for him? I didn't want to think about it as it made my stomach churn and my heart ache.
I hate it. Ugh how does anyone deal with this, why do people even want romance if you end up feeling like this? It's a scam if I've ever seen one.
- ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 14 -