Hello small ones!
this is only a teeny tiny chapter, another building relationships bit. But stick with me, some more interesting stuff is coming, plus the emergence of our beautiful Caspian!
Please review, it makes me write faster :D
enjoy meow x
Chapter Four
Aurelia lay that night, a night that had turned cold, Peter's arms around her from behind and tried to switch her mind off and sleep. It wouldn't come though, so she lay playing with the gold ring on her finger. It was only in the last couple of hours that she had noticed the promise ring still rested on her finger. Aurelia shifted as she slept, and Peter shifted with her, as though they were joined by a magnet. Many thoughts ran through her head. Peter and she had fallen back into their relationship as though they had never been apart. She knew everything about him, his habits, and his personality and had altered herself to fit him, as he had also done for her. They were perfect for one another. Aurelia loved him more than anything and now, with her family gone, he was all she had left to love. He and his siblings had become the only people she could call her kin. And she knew they couldn't stay. She felt it, in her heart. They would come, save Narnia and serve their purpose, that's how it was. What would happen then? How would she survive once more without Peter? He'd left and a year later she'd died. Aurelia sat up straight, suddenly panicked as she remembered it. A big black hole of nothingness. No warmth, no feeling, no colour. No love. The breath caught in Aurelia's throat and she began to breathe quickly, too quickly. Peter felt her leave his arms and sat up, his hands on her shoulders.
"Aurelia?" Peter's voice was soft, so as not to wake the others. Aurelia relaxed at the sound of it, but mentally slapped herself. She had to learn to deal with life without him around. But his warm arms around her softened her heart and she leaned up and kissed his cheek.
"I'm fine. Just a bad dream," Aurelia nuzzled his neck and ran her hand up his leg. He moaned and kissed her fiercely on the mouth, but pulled back before she could deepen it.
"Don't try and maintain control, Peter not now. Just let go," Aurelia whispered and tried to kiss him again, but he pulled his face back and looked to his sleeping family. He shook his head and stood, pulling her up and into him. She sighed thinking that, if they didn't do this now, they never would and he would leave again and her body would be aching for a touch that she could have had. Peter grabbed her cloak off the ground and slung it over her shoulders. He pulled on her hand and they ran. They ran and ran until they had run deep into the forest and found a clearing that looked like it had been kissed by the moon itself. Aurelia walked ahead of him and spread her cloak on the ground, then turned and looked back at him. He'd frozen in his spot, his pale skin bathed in the moonlight and Aurelia smiled, never seeing a sight more beautiful before in her life. She sat on her cloak and looked at him, still frozen. His eyes gleamed as she lay back on the cloak, stretching her arms above her head. Peter smiled and slowly walked over to her, sitting next to her and hugging his legs to his chest.
"It's cold tonight," he murmured, glancing at her. Aurelia sat up and hugged him around his waist.
"I know something that will make us warm,"
Peter shifted and turned so he was facing her.
"You want to, now?"
"If not now, when? After tonight we may not live another day. Every day we're here is a day we might die in battle,"
"We're not married..." Peter sighed, turning away from her. Aurelia hugged his waist tighter.
"We spent fifteen years getting close and refusing our bodies their right because of propriety. But we're never going to get married. And in my eyes, we are bound together, marriage ceremony or no,"
Aurelia showed him the golden ring that shone on her hand. He took her hand and studied the ring and then kissed it, laughing softly, "When I was back in my world, I thought of nothing else. And you know, everyone at court thought we had already..."
"But we were waiting..."
"For the right moment,"
There was a silence and the two listened to the tree swaying, it almost sounded as though the trees were talking to them, giving their consent and promising to protect the two, as they finally consummated their love. Peter turned and kissed Aurelia softly on the mouth. He looked at Aurelia and then wound his arms around her and lay her down on the cloak. Aurelia sighed and the two joined their bodies together in the love that had reached from across the worlds. As they joined they both knew that their love would last forever. And it would tear them apart.
The ford at Beruna was a complete dead end and it didn't even look promising as the Narnian sun shone down on it. The Telmarines had decided to build a bridge over it, probably to better access the Narnia lands and take them over in this war between the old and the new.
The group hid in the bushes and watched in disappointment.
"Maybe this wasn't..." Susan began, but Aurelia nudged her and shook her head, glancing at Peter whose expression was positively stormy. Trumpkin sighed, stood and began walking back the other way. He looked back at the group.
"Perhaps we should be trying a different approach," he said. Peter looked at Lucy and nodded her forward to lead them and the group walked in silence until they reached the gorge again. Once there, Peter looked over it and pulled Lucy beside him.
"Now, where do you think you saw Aslan?" he asked. Lucy groaned and scowled up at him.
"Peter, I don't think I saw him, I know I saw him," she walked forward a few feet. "It was right..."
Lucy screamed as a weak piece of the grass fell away and she tumbled down. Everyone yelled her name and leapt forward. But Lucy was simply standing, dumbstruck staring at the water below her.
"Here," she whispered. Looking down, they saw a steep and narrow path going slantwise down into the gorge between rocks. Everybody jumped down into the gorge and headed down the path, onto the river. Lucy slipped, but Trumpkin caught her and watched her closely as they crossed. They got over and found that the day had slipped by, so set up for the night in a more protected clearing. Peter helped Edmund collect firewood and watched Aurelia help the girls prepare for dinner. Edmund stared curiously at his brother.
"Okay, what is it?" Edmund piled his arms with wood. Peter snapped back to reality and rolled his eyes at Edmund.
"What do you mean?"
"Something's... not wrong but different. What happened?"
"Nothing," Peter said, but a small smile crept onto his face, one that he couldn't hide from Edmund. Edmund dropped his firewood and looked Peter in the eyes.
"Does this have something to do with you and Aurelia sneaking off last night?" Edmund's smile was infectious, but Peter couldn't talk about this. Not until him and Aurelia had discussed it first. But Edmund knew that it had happened, simply from the look in Peter's eyes when he looked over at Aurelia. Edmund patted Peter on the back.
"I'm happy for you," he said and gathered his firewood again, taking it back to the girls. Peter stopped and ran his fingers through his hair. The problem of his and Aurelia's relationship becoming a distraction was surfacing once more. But this time it wasn't about him chasing her or about her trying to refuse him. It was him trying to keep her from slipping away again.
