Seasons Pass
Spring's Sailing
"Your Highness," Caspian the Tenth murmurs to King Edmund. "I must ask..." He pauses for a moment, staring out over the waves as the Dawn Treader cuts through the water. "I have often wondered... why did none of you four ever marry? You ruled during the Golden Age of Narnia. The laws state that you need not have married a human. Surely any dryad or naiad or someone would have consented to be your spouse. Why then did you never marry?"
For a long time, Edmund does not answer. Memories of long ago bring to life an ache in his chest. For a moment, a stinging bitterness rears up inside him like a serpent. It is only the memory of Aslan's tears that help to soothe away that bitterness.
"Peter never married... well, the woman he loved... she was promised to another. That's another story altogether. Lucy was in love with someone, but she wasn't old enough to marry him before we left. Susan... I think Susan was waiting for some better looking than the princes that were offered. As for me..."
Again that burning fills his heart, that bitter pain of loss and regret. He had never forgiven himself, though even Aslan did not blame him. It was Lucy who eventually got him to come back from the depths of despair afterwards, but he was never the same. Not after what happened. Not after losing her to the Witch who was brought back the first time through black magic and Peter's pride, though it had been an accident. He had forgiven Peter. But not himself. Never himself. Not even now.
Closing his eyes against the sting of tears, he begins to tell the story to Caspian.
Oo8oo8oo8oo8oo8oO
A/N: I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia. I love comments and reviews. I love knowing what my readers think. So give me some loves!