IMIRA
I hated her. I hated her and yet I went to see her.
I waited until I was sure Peter had fallen asleep and snuck out.
Weird, I know. All my sneaking around had always been done to see someone I liked, and now here I was, going to see the person I most despised.
The walk down to the prisons is long and the prospect of encountering bats makes me paranoid. Glorious. I do my best not to scream as I run under the few trees that stand in my path hoping no bats will fly above me. I should have grabbed a torch. Meh, too late to turn back and get one.
Bats don't scare me, they just... okay, maybe they scare me a little. But only because you never see them coming. The bats themselves aren't frightening, I can look at one and I won't run away. But if they start flopping around my head making those shrieky sounds... now that's a different story. Luckily, I make it to the prisons without running into any of them. Let's just hope I'll be this lucky on the way back.
I find four guards sitting outside the gate, two fauns, a satyr and a minotaur.
The satyr spots me first and stands up, the other three follow in his lead.
"Your Majesty,"
"Good evening," I greet them.
He looks confused by my presence.
"Can we do something for you?" the satyr asks.
To be perfectly honest, I don't know what I'm doing here, it's not like I want to see her. But there's just something inside me, call it vanity or a sense of superiority, that has compelled me to come.
"I just need to see our prisoner. I won't be long," I explain.
The satyr grabs a torch and starts leading the way.
I climb the stairs that led to the last level, the level where important prisoners are to be held. Not that we've ever had any important prisoners to hold before her.
The satyr, whose name I did not ask, looks unsure as to if he should stay, but a simple thank you suffices to dismiss him.
I knew she was being treated fairly, I just didn't expect this level of comfort. Her cell is as comfortable as any Datramite soldier's quarter, if not more. It's furnished better than a poor peasant's home. Heck, it even has an ocean view!
She has been provided with clean clothes, food and a warm and comfortable bed. She's better off than I was for my first journey north.
The only other prisoner in this block, besides her, was her mother. Neither could complain, they were being treated with honour and dignity. And yet, despite being provided with clothes she could change into, she still wore that white dress. Only now it was much dirtier. What, did she roll on the floor?
Her hair, loose and wild, spread around her like a lake of fire. She was sleeping.
Well, duh, Imira, of course she's sleeping, it's the bloody middle of the night! Ugh, what am I doing here? This is a mistake, I should go back.
I shake my head at my own silliness and turn towards the stairs. A sleepy voice stops me and I find myself being instantly irritated.
"Come to gloat?" Danielle says, sitting up lazily.
So she wasn't sleeping after all.
I roll my eyes at the comment before I turn to face her. I can't let her hold this sort of power over me. Just do what Peter said. Do what Peter said.
"No," I replied calmly, a slight hint of annoyance in my voice.
"Then why are you here?" she demands.
Well, that attitude isn't going to get you anywhere.
I don't have an answer, so I just stare at her thinking about what I should say. Do I even want to talk to her?
"Well, I'm very busy, I really don't have time for this,"
This is humorous. "Busy with what?" I ask with a little laugh.
It seems to annoy her. Good.
"That's none of your business," she says through gritted teeth. "So unless you came to release me," she lifts her arms and then lets them drop on the bed. That's right, she didn't even stand up. The impertinence.
But I can't help but chuckle at that last part. Why on earth would I release her? "You wish. You deserve to be here,"
"Deserve," she huffs and finally stands up. "Deserve," she repeats with a hint of poison. "Like you know anything about deserving something. You don't deserve anything you have,"
Where did that come from?
Maybe it's because it's late, but I am finding her comments amusing. Disrespectful, but amusing. "And, let me guess, you think you do,"
"We both know I do," she glares smugly at me.
"Did Darren deserve to be bewitched?" I ask, somehow managing to remain calm. Probably because I find her mildly amusing.
"I am not a witch," she says, offended.
"Never said you were. But you're close enough,"
She glares daggers at me.
"Not that I care but, I am curious. Why do you despise me so?" I ask. She has nothing to lose so she can finally be perfectly honest with me.
"Why do you think? It's what you deserve," she says with disdain.
I frown in confusion. What I deserve? What did I ever do to her? (Other than being a little snobbish)
"You took everything from me," she elaborates, leaving me even more confused.
"I've never taken anything from you," I reply baffled.
"You took everything. Everything I ever worked for, everything I ever dreamt of, you came and you took it all away," she points an accusing finger at me.
Dis. Res. Pect. Ful.
"I did what?"
"Oh, don't feign innocence, you knew I had the claim on King Peter. I got here first. If you had stayed in Datram where you belong, if you hadn't come to Cair Paravel, if you hadn't kissed him that day when they were training, he would have been mine,"
What the hell is she talking about?!
I start laughing. Honestly, this is ridiculous. The claim on Peter? What are we, children? "You are delusional,"
My laughing definitely annoys her. "And you are a spoiled bitch! He liked me! If you hadn't thrown yourself at him, he would have married me. He was mine,"
Where does she pull these ideas from?
"Mind your tongue," I warn her sternly. Her eyes turn a little scared. "And what are you, five?" I laugh a little. "He is not an object, he's a person. He doesn't belong to anybody. And even if he did, he was never yours to begin with,"
"But he was," she insists. "Everything was going perfectly until you kissed him that day," she takes another step towards me. "You took him away from me with your," she falters, seemingly stuck for words, "with your inappropriate enticing,"
Inappropriate enticing? At this, I have to laugh. "He was with me all along, he never loved you,"
She doesn't buy it.
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you,"
Alright, enough of me.
"So, what? You chose to retaliate by enticing my cousin?" I use the same word as her. "You did know he was just playing with you, right?"
Maybe she didn't and that's why she-
"Of course I knew. That's why it was the perfect plan. He was going to use me so I decided to use him," she makes a pause and when she speaks again, her tone takes a gentler turn. "But then things changed. We fell in love with each other. But your constant meddling and questioning made him turn his back on me. I had to free him of your influence,"
"By bewitching him?!" In what world is that a rational thing to do?
I didn't consider it, but our bantering woke up her mother.
"Danielle, say no more!" the woman says before Danielle can incriminate herself even more.
"But I-"
"Silence girl!" her mother admonishes, effectively silencing her for now, and then turns to me pleadingly. "She does not know what she's saying, Your Majesty. She's very tired,"
Oh, Danielle totally knew what she was saying, but I'm not about to start a discussion with her.
I decide to ignore Danielle and talk to her mother. Maybe if I'm nice to her, if she feels like she owes me, she'll be compelled to tell the truth later on.
"I trust you are both being well taken care of?" I ask even though the answer is evident.
"We are, your majesty," she bows slightly and I hear Danielle huff. Her mother throws her a reprimanding glance but I ignore her and offer her mother, the woman who bewitcher Dean and Roy, a smile.
"If you need anything, just tell the guards," I tell her and then turn to leave.
But of course, Danielle cannot leave it alone.
"I need to see my husband," she cries as I walk past her, holding on to her cell bars.
This psychopathic little...
"Who?" I turned to her feigning ignorance. I refuse to acknowledge it. And it's not like that's going to last.
She narrows her eyes at me.
"I'd like to see my husband," she repeats through gritted teeth.
I turned to stare at her one last time and do my best to contain my anger. "I bet you would," I whisper before reaching for the torch next to the stairs.
My heart is racing just like earlier today, only this time the cause isn't love.
The guards wish me a good evening, but I just nod at them, certain that if I speak I will start rambling about my hatred. I nearly made it out in good humour, but then she had to go and be disrespectful. And that last bit about her husband... Does she honestly think she'll remain married to Darren?
I begin to feel sick. Physically. My stomach hurts. It's the anger I know. I blame her.
I make it to the castle without even thinking about the bats, and when I do see one flopping about nearby, I don't even bother panicking. I'm too pissed off to care.
The insults I repeat in my head. Over and over and over. If I don't say them, if I just think them... I sigh, it's a step forward in the right direction.
Less angry but still far too annoyed to go to sleep, I decide I need to do something to calm down. There are only two things that can accomplish that: talking to Peter or watching the twins. I am not about to wake Peter up to bother him with my problems, so I decide I shall go to the twins.
Watching them is pretty calming and they still have a bit of that baby smell (I'm sure it'll disappear soon, what a shame). I nearly fall asleep watching them, but, since I do not wish to wake up to a painful neck, I decide to return to my own bed.
I take my boots off before entering the sitting room and drop them by the door. I leave my cloak in an inconspicuous chair along with my dress, remaining only in my nightshirt, and open the next set of doors, the ones that lead to the bedchamber. Someone will put it all away tomorrow and Peter will never-
"Where did you go?" Peter asks and I gasp.
scaring the hell out of me.
"You scared me," I say, pressing a hand to my chest, trying to calm down my accelerated heart. "I thought you were asleep,"
He has his right arm flexed and his hand behind his messy hair.
"I was. But then I woke up. Where were you?" he repeats.
I do not feel like lying. Lying just causes problems.
"I went to see Danielle," I admit, climbing into the huge bed.
His brows furrow in confusion.
"Why?"
I sigh.
"I honestly don't know, it just made me feel sick," Why did I go?
"Don't torture yourself. Green is not a good colour on you,"
"I look great in every colour,"
He rolls his eyes and laughs a little. "That's not what I meant,"
"I know what you meant," I say and then roll over to his side and hug him.
"Did you speak to her?" he asks. Still curious.
"I did,"
"And?"
I huff. "She's mad. She targeted Darren just to spite me,"
I feel him shift and when I look up at him I find him looking at me. "You're kidding,"
"That's what she said," I say and give our conversation a thought.
"Maybe if I had been nicer to her this wouldn't have happened," I hypothesize.
"You saved her life, I'd say that's nice enough,"
"Yes, you'd think that would count for something,"
"She'll be gone soon enough," Peter says and places a hand on my back.
I sigh. Not as soon as I'd like.
"What will you do tomorrow?" He asks after a while.
"Tomorrow? I don't know. Whatever Henry says I have to do. Though I'm fairly certain I have to attend the same meetings you do,"
"Don't you want to spend time with your brother?" he asks. I shift to look up at him once more.
Of course I do. But I also want to help him.
"Sure, but we've got responsibilities. I don't want to leave you alone to it,"
"Spend the day with him, spend some time with the twins, I've got it sorted," Peter replies.
"Peter," He doesn't have to do everything.
"Really. Someone has to entertain them, right?"
Well, he's not wrong there.
"Alright," I crane up my neck to reach his lips. "Thanks,"
I thought Susan liked my cousin.
"Hold on," she said in a little outrage. "No one is killing anyone,"
"She bewitched us!" Dean bellows.
"That doesn't mean we should kill her," Susan counters.
"If she had bewitched you, you wouldn't be saying the same," Dean counters. "What if she had bewitched one of your brothers? What would you think then?"
Ooo, good question.
"Her bewitching the Kings of Narnia would have been an entirely different matter," Susan responds.
"So this is about status then?" Dean raises his eyebrows at her. "If we were Kings of our own countries, would you have her killed then?" he challenges.
"Dean," James placed a hand on our cousin's shoulder and calls him off. "Why don't you let Queen Susan share what she'd do?"
Susan looks at Peter, but he too wants to know her answer. "All I know is that we cannot have her killed,"
"So she just goes free?!" Dean objects.
"Of course not," Susan amends. "I just don't think death should be the first thing to jump to,"
"If you'll allow me," Peter intervenes, saving his sister. "I think the first thing that should be addressed is the matter of the marriage,"
"Actually," Edmund says with a clear voice, making all heads turn. He hasn't talked much. He got tired of the bantering and went to sit by the window to think. "I think that should be dealt with at last,"
I frown. "Well, I think that's the first thing we should amend,"
My comment goes ignored and I go back to the game Darren and I have started playing.
"How come?" James turns to Edmund.
"From what my brother has told me, it was a conundrum getting her out of Galma, to begin with. They only managed on the grounds she was Datramite by marriage and therefore Your Majesty had a claim to her. If we declare the marriage annulled, you lose all sense of power her being your subject has granted you,"
Oh, well... we hadn't considered that.
"I don't wish to remain married to her," Darren protests just as he's about to make his move. "I want her out of my life,"
"And she will be," Edmund says. "Once we figure out what to do,"
"We should have her killed, that's what we should do," Dean raves and he and Susan go back to arguing and Edmund goes back to ignoring us all.
I wonder what he's thinking.
EDMUND
The crime should fit the punishment, but what punishment would be merit to what Lady Danielle Danielle had done?
Death seemed too harsh a sentence. Out of the question. Should it be an eye for an eye then? Should we do to her what had been done to them? That seemed fair but rather unlikely if not impossible. Maybe... exile? Would that work? Would sending her away be punishment enough?
But exile where? We do not want her here, Darren will most certainly not want her in Datram (I'm fairly positive he'll be going back to), and sending her back to Galma seems to easy. She would get to continue living on, unbothered, in her comfortable position. The only consequence would be her being forbidden to return and even so, why would she want to return when everyone knows what she's done? Surely no one will want her here. And surely she will not want to be here.
Locking her up is another possibility, but then again, where? And, to what end? Clearly not in here, for the Duke of Galma will oppose that. Datram, perhaps. She could be held there. That is a possibility, but, for how long? And, what would happen after? I'll have to bring this up with James.
As of other possibilities, letting her off with a simple reprimand is not an option either. What she has done is terrible. Sure, no one had been physically hurt, but she deprived Darren of mental and emotional freedom. What punishment can ever atone for that?
Perhaps exile northwest... no. She wouldn't survive in the wilderness alone. We might as sign her death sentence.
A combination of all maybe... An eye for an eye, but with a twist. Roughly two years she bewitched Darren's mind. Perhaps a two-year imprisonment could be the equivalent. Either in Datram or in Galma. That is a minor detail. One that will have to be sorted out between all the parties and authorities involved. It seems fair to me. The punishment is somewhat equivalent to the crime. A banishment could be added. That ought to appease everyone. Plus a public apology.
Yes, that's it.
Apology, imprisonment and banishment. All in that order. Added, of course, a declaration of their marriage as a sham. We would forgive the ship incident. That was just to give a bigger reason to bring them both here. We would even seem benevolent in doing so. She would be grateful. Her parents would be grateful. The Duke of Galma will be grateful. We could also forgive her running off on her duties. Imira didn't even want her to begin with. We would only charge her with bewitching Prince Darren. Unfortunately, Lord Roy's experience would have to be disregarded. Otherwise, he'd have to face punishment for breaking and entering. I'd say she's been punished enough. We could all overlook that.
The matter of Prince Dean's is another issue that will have to be accounted for. Darren had no complaint against the measures his twin had taken, the kidnapping and all. In fact, he had thanked him. But even if Darren was his brother, Dean had impersonated him. Is that a crime? I'm not sure, I'll have to look it up. But regardless if that was a crime or not, should he reveal to all his shady methods in demand of justice for having his own mind messed with? The potion had not been intended for him, but that did not negate his experience.
Seeing as he is a Prince he will definitely seek retribution.
Ah, but maybe we won't have to disregard Lord Roy! Not when the house he broke into actually belongs to us. Yes, that's an interesting way to look at it. Then we can charge Lady Doninger for his and for Prince Dean's bewitchment.
They are separate people with separate crimes. Lady Danielle was not here when that happened.
Now the real question is, who bewitched Darren? Was it all Lady Doninger's doing, or did Danielle plan it all?
What a conundrum.
Maybe it was all Lady Doninger's idea and Danielle was oblivious. In that case we'll have to charge only her mother, but, how would we find out? They are mother and daughter, they will try to protect each other. And since Danielle wasn't here when Lord Roy and Prince Dean were enchanted, they could say she had no idea and that it was all the mother's plan! Maybe it is. Or maybe it was all Danielle's plan and her mother was just looking out for her. OR they planned it all together.
So many possibilities and not enough facts. Thinking about it gave me a mild headache.
I try to distract myself and stare at the chessboard from across the room, analyzing the match Imira and Darren had started playing. Meanwhile, on the opposing couch, Lucy and Queen Hayley were entertaining the twins while Peter and James attempted to stop Susan and Dean from discussing. I thought they liked each other, but apparently, I was mistaken. Imira and Darren chimed in from time to time, but they mostly stuck to their game.
I joined the conversation once in an attempt to redirect Sue's discussion, but that didn't work out as I planned, so I gave up on it. Better to let them have a go at it and not get stuck in the middle like Peter and James.
I paid little attention to the conversation now, they were mostly just repeating themselves, and focused on the chess match. Move and counter move. Imira seems to be losing the game.
Games. Life is just one big game, isn't it? And Danielle and her mother can play this game in many ways. If they play their cards right, Danielle might even go unpunished.
And then it hit me.
"How stupid we were," I exclaim and get on my feet at once.
"Ed?" Lucy turns questioningly at me.
"Don't drag us with you," Imira jokes as she somehow manages to capture Darren's last tower, but when she hears I don't play along, her smile vanishes and she turns her attention to me.
"What is it, Ed?" Peter asks, seemingly glad Susan and Dean have stopped fighting to stare at me.
"We imprisoned them together," I say.
"So?"
He doesn't see it.
"So? So we gave them the perfect chance to get their stories to match," I explain.
"You didn't question them before?" King James asks me.
"I questioned the mother, but she wasn't in a sharing mood," I inform him.
"And did you question the girl?" James asks.
I nod. "She said she had no idea what we were speaking of,"
Imira huffs. "That is absurd. I talked to her and she said she did it all to spite me but then fell in love with Darren and when he tried to break up with her she attributed it to me meddling and so she decided to use the love potion on him. She knew very well what she was doing," she says, as if it were the most evident thing in the world.
"And you didn't tell us before?" I ask her a little annoyed.
"This happened last night. We've only just started discussing the matter again,"
Alright, maybe she's right. But I do need to get one thing clear.
"So she used the potion on Darren and not her mother?" I ask. This part is crucial.
"Oh, I see where you are going with this," Imira stands up.
"You were wondering whose idea it was," Peter realizes.
"Danielle's obviously," James says in the same manner as Imira explained it all. "But we do need to figure out the extent of her mother's role in all this. Apart from bewitching you and Lord Roy," he adds, turning to Dean.
"Then let's question them," Susan says, flicking her hand.
"Right now?" Hayley asks with a frown. She hardly participates.
"Why not?" Susan replies.
"The sooner we do it, the sooner we can get on with the trial," Dean points out, earning a surprised look from Susan.
"Although I do appreciate your enthusiasm," James turns to them both, "Would it not be better to question her at the trial?"
"I agree with King James," I declare. "I think we should separate them now and question them before the court tomorrow,"
"While I concur with you both in questioning them before the court; isn't tomorrow a little hasty?" Peter asks. "If we are to hold a trial we are going to need to make preparations,"
"And we need to decide which one of us is going to judge her," Imira adds.
I thought the answer was obvious. Apparently not.
"Why don't we discuss this over dinner?" Susan suggests.
"Good idea, Queen Susan," James says.
Dean mutters something about killing Danielle, earning yet another glance from Susan, and then we all head for the last meal of the day. And, hopefully, the last discussion.