This is a story that I've had bobbing around in my head for a while now and I'm really excited to finally start it.
It takes place during the Horse and His Boy, except its more Pevensie-centric and I've played around with a few different plot lines, basically one major plot line, which you will see once you read... haha.

I don't own anything other than my OC which is Cecilia Lune (also I understand that King Lune's last name isn't Lune and therefore Lune isn't technically her last name, but I happen to feel as though it rolls off the tongue very nicely, so think of it as a hyphened name, like Mary-Kate, except people call her Mary as a short form.)

Heartless

The first time that Edmund had ever met her was at the coronation party.

The whole night was a bit of a blur of dancing, drunken fauns and Peter being his annoying self-now, 'High King' self. Edmund was on his twentieth eye roll of the night as he listened to Peter retell the story of saving Susan and Lucy from the wolf at the river, it was possibly his favourite story to tell –it being the first time he ever dirtied his sword- and because of this Edmund had heard it more than a hundred times, all different versions of course, each one getting more magnificent than the last.

Of course, it was just the little things that were annoying him these days. The family was definitely stronger now, which they were all thankful for. Though he had a sneaky suspicion that he would never feel worthy of his family's trust again, he made a vow to do all that was in his power to gain their trust back, if not for them; for him.

Edmund felt a slight nudge at the side of his arm and turned to Susan who gave him an eye raise, reminding him that it was rude not to listen. She got more like mom everyday.

There were two childish squeals of laughter when Peter got to end of the story heard over the hearty chuckles of the older lords. Edmund turned to Lucy's direction, knowing that one of them belonged to her.

Her eyes were wide and sparkled with the sense of magic, while her curls bounced with her bobbing head. She was turned to another young girl beside her and they were both laughing at what seemed to be their own inside joke. The girl was nothing special-he hadn't really expected to see other children at their coronation... though there were many-she had brown eyes and fair skin. She was petite, slightly taller than Lucy and her puffy red gown looked too big on her. A thin, golden circlet sat atop her brown, shoulder length, curly hair, which he could only assume meant that she was the daughter of one of the Kings who had come. The thing that had most stood out to Edmund was that she had a loud annoying laugh that was beginning to give him a headache.

He turned from them and directed his attention back to Peter as he explained how exactly the White Witch was vanquished.

"And then Ed comes out of nowhere and just hacks her wand right in two!" Edmund could feel his face heat up and knew instantly that his ears were bright red with embarrassment, and suddenly his mashed potatoes were the most interesting thing ever. "I swear, if you could have seen the look on her face... it was priceless. Of course then she went and stabbed him." Peter's voice dropped off in the end and Edmund looked up to see that all the eyes at the table were on him.

"Nah, it was nothing I can't handle, Pete." he threw the table a smirk and everyone laughed before turning back to Peter for the end of the story.

A muffled laughter came from Lucy's direction and Edmund saw that she and her new best friend were once again trying to cover up peels of laughter. This was really beginning to annoy him; if he had to listen to Peter then so did Lucy.

He leaned slightly over his plate and snapped his fingers in her direction, her head swung towards him, her lips turned up into a great big smile. "Lucy" it came out a little harsher than he meant, as her smile quickly faded and her new friend's eyes were narrowed as she watched what happened. "Maybe you should start acting like Queen and actually listen to others instead of being extremely disrespectful and giggling to yourself over there." Edmund raised his eyebrows to show her that he was serious, and her face etched with sadness. He instantly felt bad and tried to throw Lucy a smile, but she was didn't see it as her eyes were on her plate.

The tension was broke when something orange flew into his peripheral vision and hit him square in the forehead. Lucy's friend threw her head back and laughed at her good aim, causing Lucy to spurt into laughter as well. Edmund looked down at the baby carrot that now sat in his lap and back to Lucy, who was having a hard time staying on her chair while holding onto her friend. He looked around the table, making sure that no one was paying them any attention.

He fought the urge to throw the carrot back, but knew that Susan would definitely catch him. Placing the carrot beside his plate, he tuned back into Peter, who was once again telling another story. His curiosity getting the best of him, Edmund glanced back over to Lucy's friend, who was waving another carrot at him with a menacing look. He rolled his eyes, and adjusted his circlet, hoping that would send the message that he was the king in the situation.

The rest of the dinner passed relatively uneventful. It was much easier to tune out Lucy and her random out once they dismissed themselves early going off to play somewhere and Edmund managed to talk to a few other world leaders. His favourite so far was King Lune, the happy man who ran Archenland. King Lune had a six year old son who was being kept busy by a nanny as his mother had died recently and an older daughter who was apparently 'somewhere around here'. And though the old king had mention his daughter's age relation to Edmund's a number of times adding that 'she'll make a fine wife to a fine king one day' with a hard pat on the back, Edmund was able to steer the conversation away (before he knew it, he'd probably accidently agree to an arranged marriage) by asking a generic question about Archenland's army; launching the King into several long war stories which brought them right to the end of the meal.

After the meal, Edmund was standing off to the side, discussing country alliances with a dwarf when King Lune found him once again, a large smile plastered on his face.

"Ed, M'boy!" Edmund couldn't help but chuckle at the older man's very red face, "just came to introduce you to my daughter! Finally tracked her down, though it took a while, she's seemed to take quite a liking to your sister. Cecilia, over hear sweetheart." the king beckoned to someone who appeared to be having troubles getting through the crowd and after what seemed like forever (Ed had almost forgotten why and who he was waiting for), Lucy's petite friend in the red dress ran to her father's side.

"Yes Daddy?" she asked, tipping her small head of frizzy curls back to look at her father,

"This is King Edmund, dear. I think he's the only one you haven't met yet." The little girl looked over to Edmund and an almost evil smirk twisted onto her face, her eyes lit up with excitement. "This is my daughter, Cecilia Lune." She bowed her head and held her dress out in a curtsy,

"Very pleased to make your acquaintance." she said in a high voice. When she met his eyes again, Edmund was seriously afraid.

That was when he knew.

He hated this girl.

Six years later...

Cecilia Lune swung her long legs up on her seat crossing them Calormen style. Her long velvet skirts spilled over the edges and pooled on the floor. She fidgeted with the thick silver sash tied around her gut trying to remember the last time she breathed.

She felt out of place—too old. A sixteen-year old should never feel old... it's like a rule. She saw a blur of her twelve-year old brother chasing the newly fourteen Queen Lucy around Cair Paravel's grand hall, perfectly decorated in shades of pink for the special occasion. However as out of place as she was; she was happy to get out of Archenland for the time being as her father had made it his personal job to find her a suitor.

She sighed, looking at the large face of the clock, relieved to find that there were only a few more minutes until Edmund got out of King Meetings and could rescue her. Cecilia loved Lucy-she was her best friend... when they were alone. But when she was surrounded by all of Lucy's younger friends, she couldn't help but remember that she was a whole two years older than her.

Rubbing her temples with her fingers to ward off another migraine caused by childish squeals and screaming, she made the split decision to get the hell out of there. Cecilia picked up her skirts and watched her feet actually land on the ground (she didn't need to draw more attention to herself by falling while trying to escape). Once she was sure that she wasn't going to trip on flat ground, something she did often, she quickly glanced around, making sure that the coast was clear as Lucy was surrounded by daughters of lords and kings, and slipped out of the room unnoticed.

Knowing that she had to get out of this dress, Cecilia quickly made her way to her room, only to find that her lady's maid, Heather, packed her only gowns and... more gowns. Beginning to panic slightly, she searched the barely filled wardrobe in her guest room for anything wearable, only to find a few of Susan's old dresses that were sure to be too big on Cecilia. Not that she didn't love all her pretty dresses, but ever since the goose hunt for a suitor began, her pretty dresses were upgraded to tighter, more adult, gowns. She wasn't sure what the difference between a dress and a gown was, but Heather had told her on many occasions that there was one.

As a thought struck her, she ran out the door to Edmund's room, a few doors down, for she knew that he had a few of her riding clothes stowed away at the back of his wardrobe. Edmund's door was ajar as he had yet to return from whatever meeting he was in with Peter. She bypassed his desk and bed and pulled the thick doors of the wardrobe open. It was so deep that she ended up on her knees on the floor with her long arms stretched to the very back, wiggling her feet back and forth to reach out further as her fingers finally brushed upon something soft and feminine and she snatched what ever it was up.

Resurfacing from the wardrobe, she found a very tall Edmund standing over her, His eyebrows were raised in amusement and his circlet was lopsided on his short, dark curls,

"Oh, hello." She tried downplaying the situation with a smiled and a batting of her eyelashes,

"What the hell are you doing?" okay, so it didn't work.

"I was searching for some of my clothes, and just how long have you been standing there? You could've helped! Chivalry isn't all dead!" She was sitting Calormen style on the floor sorting through her found clothing

"It is when you are trespassing and rummaging through my wardrobe." He smirked

"Why? What have you got in there?... you know I thought that I felt something silky..."

"Was it this?" he reached down and pulled a girl's robin egg blue tunic from her pile. Cecilia's face lit up,

"Oh! I thought I lost that!" she smiled at Edmund, and took it from his hands, holding it out so he could see it fully, "the one with the wide, half-length sleeves." She paused and waited for him to say something like 'I'm so happy for you! You've been looking for it forever!' but he didn't. He just stared at her with a blank expression, "you know, it brings out my eyes." She batted her eyelashes in emphasis.

"But, your eyes are brown."

"Edmund they're not brown. They are deep and soulful and the blue makes them look bright and beautiful. And don't you forget it." He rolled his eyes as she hugged her new found treasure to her body.

"Yes dear." His tone was bored and sarcastic which only made her angry.

"You know, Ed, you could be a little more amenable as I am your guest." She shot him a dirty look as she stood up

"You're not my guest. I would never invite you to stay. You're more annoying than Peter when he gets back from a raid."

"Well, then why do you decide to force me to keep you company?"

"I don't force you! You're the one who can't stand Lucy's parties and forces me to keep you company."

"I am offended. Lucy is my best friend, and to suggest that I don't enjoy my time with her is awful. I simply feel sorry for you for not having any friends!" she threw her top back at him, "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to have fun with my friends!" she stormed out of the room, leaving her pile of riding clothes on the floor, no caring that Edmund knew full well how much she despised all the other Princesses at Lucy's party.

Edmund, awe-struck, stared after her, until he was sure she was gone, he burst into laughter. Still laughing as he pushed all her old clothes to the back of his wardrobe.

It wasn't a secret that Cecilia wasn't his favorite person in the world (she wouldn't even be on his top thirty list) and it was even less of a secret that he wasn't her favorite person either. However, they each found each other's company extremely entertaining and they also loved the fact that the fights they got into annoyed everyone else in the castle.

A week after the celebration, Cecilia and Corin had stuck around after all the other annoying (in Cecilia's opinion) Princesses had left and the four youngest royals found themselves lazing around the water's edge in the sunshine after Lucy had deemed it their 'Day in the Sun' Day with a look so pure and happy on her face, that it sent everyone into rounds of laughter over their breakfast toast.

"Mmmm... this is nice." Cecilia moaned softly. She was lying in the tall grass next to Edmund, letting her skin soak up the sun, he was just trying to sleep and she kept talking. Corin and Lucy's squeals and laughter could be heard in the background as they chased each other around, "they never stop do they?"

Edmund made a muffled noise. He was trying to hold his tongue, but she was seriously getting on his nerves.

"It's all that young energy you know. They could chase each other for days."

Ed rolled his eyes, "What about all that energy you had this morning?" he finally asked,

"It's on reserve right now." she laughed a little, but stopped when he didn't join in.

There had almost been nine minutes of blissful silence when Cecilia started talking again,

"It's awfully hot though. I mean I know it's the summer and all that, but my lady's maid didn't pack me very light dresses... or I suppose I'm supposed to call them gowns now. DId you know that my father is--"

"You know what Cecilia, I don't really care. Now I'm trying to nap here and you can't shut up, can you?" Edmund snapped, "And if you're so hot then just go in the water!"

"Just because you're a year older, doesn't make you the boss of me!" She shot back, "I'm not your sister. Thank Aslan."

"No, but I am your king. And I order you to go swimming if that means that you'll shut up."

"But my dress is too heavy Edmund. You weren't listening were you, you see--" Cecilia stopped talking though, because she realized that once again, he wasn't listening as he lay back down and covered his eyes with his hands in an attempt to block the sun enough to go to sleep.

She was pouting and humph-ing when a thought struck her.

"You know what Edmund, you are right. I think I will go for a dip." she stood and he made a pleasant "mmm" noise. Rolling her eyes, she began un-buttoning her thick dress-gown. It wasn't that bad. Because she was wearing a thinner slip dress underneath it that would be perfect to swim in, so she wasn't doing anything bad really. She pulled the bow at the back to loosen the sash and the gown began to droop and gape. She stepped out of it and in a sudden inspiration she tossed in onto Edmund. That would show him to be rude to her.

Edmund felt something thick and heavy land on his stomach and for a moment he had no idea what to do/ what it was. He opened his eyes and sat up slightly to investigate. What ever it was it was the exact same blue of Cecilia's dress (gown). Fingering the material, he found that the there was a mixture of velvet and silk. He heard a splash coming from the water and looked up at it and there was Cecilia soaked head-to-toe and definitely not wearing her dress (gown) that she was a moment ago. In fact from far away it looked like she was wearing nothing at all. Edmund's cheeks instantly flushed at the thought of that, but he quickly snapped out of it and realized that it was up to him to stop her from splashing around in the water in a much too thin and revealing cream coloured slip.

He got up, luging her fifteen pound dress with him to the waterside. Lucy and Corin had run into the forest somewhere, which he was secretly glad for so that he wouldn't have to explain anything to them.

"Listen," he began, turning his head to look at the other direction, while his arm stretched out to her, trying to hand her her dress (gown) back. "I think that you should put your dress back on." Cecilia laughed,

"Jeeze Edmund, it's not like I'm not wearing anything. I'm doing just what you told me to, except that gown was much to heavy, as you can probably tell, for the water, so I improvised."

"Uh, yeah. How exactly do you walk around in these things?" He turned back to her, forgetting momentarily to not stare at her, giving her the opportune moment to splash him in the face. "HEY!"

"Oh, come on Ed, it's not like anyone is around. Loosen up will you?" she ducked under the water once again and swam away from the edge, "I bet you can't catch me!" Her evil smirk twisted onto her delicate features once again and he looked at the dress (gown) in his hand. That's when she knew she had him. He shook his head slightly before he pulled his tunic off and jumped into the water.

Laughing and clapping, Cecilia tried to swim away, while kicking waves into his face to deter him, but he was much too strong for her.

He quickly made up their distance and she screamed-giggled when he yanked her foot, sending her whole body towards him and he laughed when she splashed wave-after-wave of salt water at his face. After a few minutes of the combination of kicking, screaming, laughing and splashing, he had finally grabbed her, his arms around her waist and her hands pressed up against his chest.

"Caught you." he said with a laugh. They were both so still and the waves around were still erratic around them.

What happened next, neither was quite sure. But somehow the motion of the waves pushed both of them forward and their lips met in their first kiss. It was soft and tender and Edmund really didn't want it to end. However, with one strong shove he fell backwards under the water, giving Cecilia just enough time to escape. When he resurfaced he could hear her laughter as she swam back to the water's edge. He smiled in a nostalgic way and followed her back. They were just coming out of the water when Corin suddenly ran from out of no where to them in shock.

"What were you doing?" He yelled,

"Just swimming," Edmund shrugged as he pulled his tunic back on

"I'm telling!" and before either of them could catch him, Corin raced back to Cair Paravel. Right to Susan.

"I'm sure it will be nothing." Edmund assured Cecilia as he tied the bow on the back of her dress for her. "He's over reacting."

"What've you two been doing?" Lucy asked as she walked over with a bouquet of picked flowers in her hand,

"having too much fun apparently." Susan's harsh voice cut through the summer air like a knife, making both Cecilia and Edmund's hearts drop to their stomachs.

Sue grabbed Cecilia's arm (too strongly) and began to pull her back to the castle muttering something about how she needed to start 'acting like a lady, young lady'. Cecilia managed to turn herself back to Edmund as she was being dragged and mimed gagging on her finger. With a smile and a wave, she turned back to follow Susan, nodding intently so that it would seem like she was listening.

Cecilia's smile somehow made Edmund laugh and as he stood by the water with Lucy (who was giving him a very strange look), he began to feel his heart start rising back up.

"somewhere along the road,
he lost his soul to a woman so heartless
how could you be so heartless?"

Heartless- The Fray (a Kanye West cover)

So this is a little backstory to the story I suppose, I think that I may actually put a few flashbacks in it as it goes on.

Anyways... please READ & REVIEW!