Emma turned to look at Tumnus, pressing one finger against her lips.

Tumnus nodded in understandment.

Emma looked around in desperation, not knowing what to do. There wasn't even a hiding spot in sight! Then an idea hit her.

In a less singsong tone of voice, she said, "Oh goodness, seems like you've got it wrong. I'm not Emma. I'm Lena Woodhouse, her best friend. I see where the mistake comes from, though. We quite look alike."

Which was not true, at all. Lena was medium-height, with strawberry blonde hair, green eyes and two cute dimples that always formed when she grinned.

"Of course, Miss Lena," Tumnus said, playing along. He was giving worried glances at Edmund's door, probably hoping that he would not come out. "I'm sorry."

Emma heard footsteps from the inside of the study room, heading toward the door.

Slightly gasping, she picked up her skirts. "I've got to go find Emma!"

She ran away as fast as she could. As soon as she turned the corner, she heard Edmund open the doors to his study room. She kept running until she was sure she was nowhere near the king. She stopped her sprints, and tried to catch her breath as she leaned against the wall.

"At least I'll burn those cakes with all the running I've been doing today," Emma told herself between pants.

She looked up at the roof, where a beautiful window let rays of sunlight shine down at her.

It had been a pretty eventful day.

Forgetting that the floor might've been dirty, she slid down, sighing in relief. She'd gotten out of trouble… for now.

She wasn't really sure why she even escaped both situations. If it had been the Emma from Archenland, she would've faced them both with her wittiness. But the current Emma seemed to be different than her former self. Even though she'd only been in the palace for two days, it seemed to have changed her quite a bit.

"I'm sure Emma will make a proper queen. It might not seem so at first… but she will."

Emma closed her eyes, remembering the words from Frank. Back when Frank first found out about the entire engagement, Frank wanted to talk with Edmund about certain things. She was sure it was about her, so she didn't put up a fight when she was asked to take a look around the castle.

"You should begin to get used to such big sights," Edmund had told her, half-smiling.

Emma, after giving Frank a knowing glance –who was simply staring out the window –had left the room. She wanted to make him know that she could not be tricked, but the fool didn't even glance at her.

Once outside, she remembered leaving the door slightly open, wanting to eavesdrop their conversation. Overhearing chats seemed to be her thing.

"Emma is a lot of things," Frank was saying. "Full of herself, selfish, immature, oblivious…"

Emma smiled at the memory of her initial shock once she heard those words. And the happiness that followed with Frank's later words.

"But you're really lucky to have met such a girl," Frank sighed. "She will always make you laugh, even if she doesn't realize it. And she's perseverant, bright and quick-minded. Once you get to know her really well, you won't want to part ways with her. And I'm sure Emma will make a proper queen. It might not seem so at first… but she will."

Clomp, clomp. Clomp, clomp.

Emma snapped out of her thoughts, inspecting with alarm the hallways. It was either a darned centaur or Tumnus. But after a while, the sound of steps died and she was left in silence.

As she was saying before, Cair Paravel seemed to be changing her. Before, she would do things based on her own benefit. Now, she seemed to be doing everything to please other people (and she also seemed to come up with stupid lies). Remembering her encounter with the Pevensies, she came to the conclusion that she was now failing miserably at what she would've triumphed before.

Emma didn't know what had gotten into her.

Maybe she did not want to disappoint Frank's words about her.

Maybe she didn't want to make Edmund change his mind about their engagement (prison seemed like a nightmare).

Maybe it was both.

Whatever it was, she was definitely changing.

"I've been looking for you."

Emma looked up, just to find Edmund looking down at her. Her eyes widened, and she quickly began to stand up.

"Stay there," he told her. "I'd like to take a seat, too."

Emma tried to smile. "How did you find me?"

"Tumnus saw you here," Edmund explained.

Emma's face darkened. So those steps had belonged to Tumnus…

"You don't seem like your usual cheery person," Edmund continued. "Was it because of your meeting with my siblings?"

Emma laughed. "Why would I be sad about that? It was simply grand."

Edmund stared blankly at her. "You stained Peter's favorite clothes."

Emma's smile disappeared. "Tumnus?"

Edmund nodded.

"That faun can't simply keep his mouth shut, huh?" Emma muttered.

Edmund laughed. "He's quite honest."

There was a small silence.

"And so are you," Emma replied.

Edmund turned to look at her quizzically.

"You were about to tell that Annabel girl about our deal!" Emma accused.

Edmund pursed his lips, looking away. "She's sort of special…"

"And so is Frank."

Edmund slowly nodded. "You're right."

"'Love can turn you into a fool'," Emma recited. "That's what my etiquette teacher used to say. She told me that sometimes it wasn't so bad to let yourself be enthralled by love… but on most occasions, you have to keep your guards up –such as this one! You can't be blabbering on about our deal with people."

"I'm sorry," Edmund murmured. His head snapped up. "Wait… did you say love?"

Emma nodded. "What else could've I said?"

Edmund gazed at her as if she was out of her mind. "Were you just saying that I am in love with Annabel Bennett?"

"Yes, that's what it seemed like," Emma affirmed. "According to what she said, you asked her hand in marriage a couple of weeks ago."

"It was five months ago," Edmund corrected. "And things have changed now-"

"Your Highness? Miss Emma?" a shy Tumnus called out.

The two stood up.

"What's wrong, Tumnus?" Edmund asked.

Tumnus stepped closer to the two. "It's time for Miss Emma to get ready for her ball."

Edmund's eyes lit up as he turned to look at Emma. "That's right, it's your party tonight."

Emma's lips curled upwards. How could've she forgotten of such an important detail?

"Go along," Edmund told her. "I don't want to delay you."

Emma nodded. "I'll get going."

Edmund smiled. "Of course. But I still owe you an explanation."

"Oh, please, I'm not the meddl-"

"I need to clarify things," Edmund insisted.

"Fine," Emma replied in a nonchalant voice. It wasn't as if she didn't want to know. Maybe Edmund had a love story of his own, and Emma was very curious to find out.

"See you later," Edmund told her, as Tumnus took her away. He then added with a playful smile, "It was nice meeting you, Lena Woodhouse."

Emma opened her mouth to speak, but decided to keep quiet. She didn't really have anything to say, after all.

Once they were out of earshot, Emma turned to look at the faun. "I was trying to escape from Edmund, why did you have to go and tell him where I was?"

Tumnus turned bright red. "I'm sorry, Miss. I just can't lie to a King."

Emma scoffed. "That's some loyalty... after all, you're lying to his royal siblings to get him out of a marriage."

Tumnus grimaced.


Note: Woo-hoo, fast update! I need to study, but I'm (a procrastinator) really enjoying writing this story. Just in case: sort of in the middle, the part where Frank is mentioned to be speaking, that's a flashback. Hopefully, you guys didn't get confused! Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed :)