Hey guys! Edit of chapter 7 is now up!
Hope you enjoy and please review!

Chapter 7 "The Bonds Between Us"

The Monarchs of Old had joined them only three days ago and, with one obvious exception, the six of them were deeply close already.

Lucy and Caspian had become as close as siblings. Lucy saw in Caspian someone who never ignored her opinion or diminished her for being a little girl and in turn, the prince saw Lucy as the little adorable sister he had always wanted to have.

As much close as those two had become, it was no comparison to the relationship the Valiant Queen had with the Archenlandian princess. They were the best of friends, so alike in personality and opinions that they knew eachother better than themselves.

In Caspian, Edmund had finally found someone as cunning as he was. With Caspian in his life, his ability to tease other people and emit sarcastic comments was finally challenged. They bonded over that, quickly becoming the best of friends.

When it came to Ed and Beth, the other four royals had placed bets on when would they act on their obvious crush for eachother. Regardless, they were both cunning, clever and had a love for teasing, so they had become really good friends.

Peter had taken an instant liking to Beth when they met and, when he heard of how he escaped to help them, he had grown to admire her inmensely. Perhaps they were not the best of friends, but they both appreciated the other opinion's inmensely and would talk about their lives in court in detail, especially the Golden Age, which Beth was very interested in.

Caspian had tried to gain the High King's approval but, whether it was because he attacked him when they first met or because of the obvious crush the telmarine prince had for her sister, he had failed so far so it was fair to say there was a great amount of competitiveness between the two of them.

Susan wasn't sure of how to feel about Beth. Of course, she thought a great deal of her leadership wise but, as petty as it may sound, she had always been the person Edmund went to in the moments of need so it was a big change of routine when he started seeking for the princess' help instead. She didn't want to let go of Ed just yet so, as illogical as it may sound, she had her reservations against the archenlandian' girl.

"Thinking of a certain Telmarine Prince?" a teasing voice called behind her and Susan turned from her place at the entrance of the How to roll her eyes playfully at her sister, trying to ignore how the blush crept up her cheeks.

"I would laugh, Lu, but the jokes about Caspian are becoming quite old" Susan answered as calmly as she could. However, she had been stripped away from all calmness by a certain telmarine prince with haunting, beautiful brown eyes so she wasn't very succesful.

"Well, Your Majesty, you haven't taken your eyes off him for the last hour so you can forgive us for assuming" Beth smirked as she walked beside them with her bow and arrow. Beth had in fact noticed that Susan wasn't as fond of her as the rest of the Pevensie were so she was as respectful as she could with her. Except when it came to teasing, of course.

"You're delusional" Susan deadpanned, trying to change the subject as she noticed Caspian at hearing range "Are you going to the archery fields, Beth?"

"Yes, your Majesty. Care to join?" Beth stopped a few steps from the two queens, glancing at the elder one expectantly.

"Yes but I must warn you that if you call me 'Your Majesty' again I will have to shoot you" Susan spoke gently yet with a note of sarcasm. There was no need to be the only one who was still 'Your Majesty' "Lucy, do you want to continue practicing with the bow?"

"I would love to but I'm supposed to meet with Peter" Lucy said resignedly before brightening up considerably as she smirked "You two have fun, though, unless you don't think you will without Ed and Caspian"

Susan blushed, looking back at the princess utterly scandalized. Beth, however, was smirking at the queen.

"You do know you are going to pay for that, right?"

"Yes, I know, but for now I'm just going to enjoy my great expertise in teasing" Lucy retorted happily before skipping away.

"Your sister is very cunning for her age" Beth laughed as the two archers walked towards the fields.

"She is indeed, though I'm still unsure whether that's a good thing" Susan quipped, both girls giggling as they made it to the fields.

Around 50 narnians were waiting for them to start shooting, their eyes expectant on the princess and the queen.

"All yours, Susan" Beth mumbled quickly before rushing to stand beside two dwarves.

Susan smiled at the archers in front of her, controlling herself from doing anything unroyal like rolling her eyes at the young princess "I'm sorry for the delay, my friends. Please start and try to do your best; I shall be studying your abilities to see whether there's room for improvements"

They all nodded with a smile before standing in front of the targets. Susan waited for them all to focus before walking behind them, studying them closely.

"Lower your elbow a little bit" Susan instructed and smiled as Beth shoot perfectly "Excellent, Beth"

"Thanks Susan!" Beth beamed at the Gentle Queen and she walked away to watch the faun next to the princess, thinking that maybe she had no need in harboring any negative feelings against the Archenlandian.

"Beth!" Ed's shout was heard suddenly and both leaders turned to watch the Just King frantically running towards them from the How "I need your help right now!"

"Ed, calm down. What happened?" Elizabeth chuckled, trying to counteract the panic in the boy's voice by being as calm as possible.

"I was writting and well, I happened to drop my inkpot all over the table" Ed's stammer was cut off by an enraged scream that, supposedly, came from the mighty High King "Where a map of the telmarine' castle happened to lay on"

"God, Edmund, how are we supposed to get another one?" Susan exclaimed, stress overwhelming her as she thought of the disadvantage that implied to them. At Beth's chuckle, the elder queen frowned at her "And what are you laughing at? This is serious!"

"Relax Susan, I brought a copy Caspian and I made during one of my visits, just in case anything like this happened" Beth was all relaxation as she grabbed Ed's hand "Come, let's fix this mess"

Ed stared at their hands for a second before snapping out of it and following her to the How.

Susan chuckled, shaking her head to herself as she continued helping the narnians. She had never seen Ed that happy so, if she forgot about her pride, maybe she could get to like the princess.

Overall, the Narnians needed few instructions so Susan quickly went through each of them. As she helped the dwarf at the end of the line, she noticed another person had joined them.

Caspian.

Susan faltered, her stomach feeling like it was home to a thousand butterflies as she studied the telmarine prince. He was only wearing a white shirt, his brow furrowed in concentration as he aimed a crossbow at his target.

The queen walked towards him, trying to focus on his technique as much as she could. She felt herself blushing yet again.

"Do you need help?" Susan asked, smiling amusedly when Caspian jumped in surprise.

"Oh, hello Susan" Caspian smiled warmly at the queen, whose cheeks were tinted pink against her will "Actually, I think I'm improving"

Susan stepped closer, following his gaze towards his target. He had shoot two arrows into the second ring to the center and one at the edge of the third.

Susan smirked and wordlessly aimed, making a perfect shot.

Caspian's eyes widened as he gazed from the target to the self-satisfied queen as she calmly lowered her bow.

She them looked at the prince with a smug smile "Do you think you can do it better?"

Caspian snapped out of his daze, smirking back as his eyes brightened at the challenge "Actually yes, I think I can do better than that"

Susan took a few steps back and motioned him to shoot. Caspian threw her a look before focusing on the target. He then raised his crossbow, taking his time, and shot, the arrow landing in the third ring to the center.

"No!" he groaned in frustration and walked to retrieve the arrow.

Susan stared after him, captivated by how passionate the prince was. It was the first thing she had realized of him and what actually had made him stand up from every other men he had met during her reign. All of the men who had tried to court her were beautiful and charming, but also fake and indifferent towards their people.

Caspian was so different from them that she was actually afraid of getting too close to him. She didn't want to fall for him just yet.

Susan shook her head as if to clear it before walking towards the prince.

"Here, let me help you" Susan spoke as she walked behind him. Noticing how tense he was, she placed her hands on either of her shoulders, trying to ignore the warmth that burned under her fingers.

"First thing is to relax. Lower your elbow...now raise your other hand" Susan instructed him as she walked in a circle around him. She then stood behind the prince again, resting a hand on his lower back, her voice dropping to a whisper as she was welcomed by his intoxicating scent "Take a deep breath. Now shoot"

His arrow landed right beside Susan's. They both smiled widely before gazing at eachother.

"You are a much better archer than me, I have to admit" he smirked, makimg Susan laugh "Thank you, Susan"

Caspian's gaze was intense, lighted by the fire he always seemed to have within. Susan's smile slowly melt off, completely bewitched by him.

They leaned forward slightly, completely ignoring anything but the other so, when they were interrupted, they both jumped slightly.

"Queen Susan!" a faun called from his spot. The queen and the prince stared at eachother for a long moment, deep down wishing to be left alone with eachother.

"I will see you later, Caspian" Susan finally said, her voice slightly wavering as she felt herself blushing yet again.

"Of course" Caspian smiled before walking away from her.

Susan stood frozen for a second, haunted but those captivating dark eyes and beautiful' hispanic accent.

Peter paced around his chamber, his eyes wearing a crazy yet determined look.

His brother was dead, as simple as that.

"Pete, I heard your scream. What happened?" Lu asked as she walked into the chamber calmly. She knew her older brother had a tendency to blow things out of proportion.

"Edmund, that's what happened. He destroyed the Telmarine' castle map and now I don't have any information to plan an attack!" Peter exclaimed, turning once again to the destroyed map, as if hoping it would magically clean itself. When he saw it was still dripping ink, Peter wanted to throw something.

"Where is he now?" Lu asked, joining her brother to gaze at the map as well. She grimaced at it's sorry state.

"He can leave to the moon, for all I care" Peter snapped, sitting on a chair and burying his head in her hands.

"Maybe he went to look for Beth in the hope to find a solution" Lu hesitantly commented.

"If he went to Beth, it's not because of that" The High King rolled his eyes as he recalled the numerous glances his brother and the princess had exchanged when they thought the other wasn't watching. The crush they had for each other was so obvious it was almost painful "Besides, how would Beth be able to help?"

"Well, maybe that's because Beth has a copy of that map" a third voice said and both royals turned to smile at Beth as she entered the chamber with a rolled map in one hand, dragging an embarrased Ed behind her with the other "During my last visit an year ago, Caspian and I made a copy of that very map to entertain ourselves and, as you will notice, we added a few details"

Peter rushed towards the princess, rage completely forgotten. He opened the map and gasped as he took notice of the details, which went from the number of guards at each wall, to the height of the walls and the fastest way to key places, like the armory or Miraz's chamber.

Peter was struggling so much to believe his luck that he was actually speechless for a moment.

"You" Peter hugged Beth tightly "Are an angel!"

He then rushed to his now clean desk and quickly got to work.

Beth laughed at the High King's relief and pulled Ed forward, motioning him to say something.

"Is everything forgiven, brother?" Ed asked weakly, gulping when Peter turned around. He would usually be amused by Peter's outrage but his brother had actually been quite scary this time.

Peter playfully frowned at him "It is but I hope that you realize Beth is a keeper. I would have had to kill you otherwise"

The Just King and the Archenlandian princess blushed deeply, looking at anywhere but eachother. Peter went back to work with a satisfied smile.

And then, the princess recovered.

"Well, I worried when I heard the legendary High King screaming like a teenage twelve-year-old but if this is how I'm going to be repaid, next time I won't be as helpful" Beth said, the two youngest monarchs laughing while Peter blushed deeply "Now, if you excuse me, I believe I have an army to train"

Lucy ran and hugged the princess while Peter smiled at her. Beth hesitated but then kissed Ed softly on the cheek and left without looking back.

The three monarchs silently watched walk away, Lu and Pete in amusement, Ed in utter infatuation.

"Brother, be cool" Peter warned jokingly. He smiled widely when Ed turned to look at him, a dopey smile on his face "You look about to declare your love for the girl"

"Oh shut up" Edmund snapped, not as harshly as he normally would.

"You do realize she feels the same way about you, right?" Lu intervened as she straightened her skirt in a nonchalant way "If you are as smart as you say you are, I hope you act on your feelings already. And before tomorrow, because I would very much like to win the bet"

Peter, who had momentarily forgotten all about attack plans and telmarine' castles, laughed when Ed looked at him with a scandalized glance "You can't blame her sarcasm on anyone, she takes it after you"

"I'm speechless" Ed said with a laugh when he found his voice. He turned to the High King sheepishly "Do I have any choirs scheduled for this afternoon?"

Peter rolled his eyes at his brother's question but still searched on his desk for the choir' list. Peter then glanced at his brother with a smirk "You are scheduled to train the swordmen with Beth"

Ed paled and cursed before running out of the chamber, his curses becoming more distant as he made his way out of the How.

"Can we agree that he is cursing because he left Beth's side for five minutes?" Peter chuckled as the two siblings stared after their retreating brother.

"I'm sure we can agree on that" Lu chuckled with a smirk.

He still hadn't been able to figure out the way around the How and, as he struggled to find the exit, he cursed on his poor sense of direction for the first time.

He also cursed his siblings for messing with his head. He really liked Beth but it so happened that, beauty aside, he really enjoyed her presence. They were very similar so the conversation between them was always interesting. Regardless of his feelings, they were really good friends, so he was terrified of messing that up.

When he finally made it to the training fields, the Narnians were already practicing, Beth walking amongst them to analyze their techniques.

Ed rushed to Beth, panting heavily. It's not that he was out of shape, it so happened that the anxiety and conflicted feelings were messing with him badly "Hey, sorry I'm late"

"It's okay, I've just put them in pairs for practice" Beth smiled reassuringly "I thought we should see how much skills do they have"

"Clever move" Ed mused "What have you seen so far?"

"Of course it was clever" Beth scoffed jokingly. She took a sip of her water' canteen before offering it to Edmund "I like what I've seen. I also want to teach some of them the archenlandian' fighting style, which I wanted to discuss with you all later. The telmarines will already be thrown off by the variety of Narnians but if we also mix up our styles of fighting, I think it could really improve our chances"

"If the others disagree, that's because they are idiots" Ed exclaimed as he unsheathed both his swords. He looked at the princess with a smirk "Let's give them a show, shall we?"

Before the surprised princess could answer, Ed turned towards the fighting couples with an excited gleam in his eyes "Everyone, gather around!"

Once all the Narnians were in a circle around them, swords, axes and knives unsheathed and eyes expectant, Ed motioned Beth to speak. Beth smiled at him before facing the crowd, Ed behind her "Narnians, we have an idea to discuss with you. Something that I've noticed is that once we face the telmarines, something that will give us an advantage over them is the variety we have amongst our ranks. Centaurs, fauns, dwarves and wild animals, you've always fought as one regardless of how different you might be. Telmarines do not understand that, so they've always fought the same way"

"The idea the princess here had is to combine the narnian and archenlandian fighting styles" Edmund stood beside the princess, who tied her braided hair into a ponytail before unsheathing her sword "Princess Elizabeth will show us their fighting style and those willing to learn it will be scheduled into practice with her. Are there any questions?"

A shy looking young faun took a few steps forward "Will you be fighting her, Your Majesty?"

Ed smirked. Beside him, Beth was retrieving a shield from one of the fauns "Certainly. Why?"

"I feel sorry for you, Your Majesty. The princess is the best shieldmaiden we've ever seen" the faun muttered embarrasingly, making everyone laugh shockedly.

"That's because you've never seen me fight, my friend" Ed smirked good-naturedly and raised an eyebrow at his opponent as they stood face to face "Are you sure you want to fight with only one sword, Your Highness?"

"Of course I am, my king" Beth smirked back, as she made some movements with her sword, finding its balance "This is the traditional Archenlandian dance. While your Narnian' style is all about attacking, ours is more graceful, since it's all about dodging and finding the perfect moment to strike. Yours perhaps is the fastest but ours is the best in some ocassions, especially when your opponent is stronger than you. Besides, I thought I would actually give you a chance to win"

Both leaders encircled one another, focused only in the other. Ed growled playfully as their audience laughed once again "Bring it on, Princess"

Depending on the partners, a duel could be perfectly alike a dance. Ed and Beth were cunning and analytical so, while Beth was more graceful in her movement and Ed seemed more focused in disarming her using his strength, it was still a duel quite beautiful to witness.

They dodged, parried and blocked for a some minutes, both of them trying to disarm the other but taking their time. On the one hand, they were dueling to show the Narnians the Archenlandian' style in detail. On the other hand, they were having too much fun.

Finally, Ed slashed his sword at Beth's side but she blocked just in time, reaching and pulling his sword forward by the hilt, in that way desestabilizing him so she could easily place her sword next to the king's neck.

The princess and the king panted slightly as they gazed deeply into eachother's eyes for a long moment. For the first time, they were feeling more than a deep crush for eachother. It was an intense attraction and it threw them off place, never havong felt that way for anyone before.

Finally, Beth chuckled slightly, slowly withdrawing her sword and gazing at the amazed crowd with a humble smile "That's how you fight in our style"

The narnians snapped out of it and clapped loudly at the victorious princess before those who wanted to learn the style stepped forward so Ed could write them down for training.

"That was interesting" Ed finally said when they were left alone. Dinner time had come so the both royals had voluntereed to take the spare swords and shields back to the How. The attraction they had felt while fighting had returned in full strength, so both teenagers were slightly stunned "I feel humbled"

"Glad I could shrink that enormous ego of yours back into a normal size" Beth teased as she piled up the shields.

"Speaking seriously, though" Ed sobered as he reached out and grabbed her hand in his. They stood closely face to face, Beth's smile gone too "I don't think I've ever met anyone like you, Beth. You are amazing"

Beth gulped, her eyes never leaving his. She desperatedly wanted to sink into the moment but she was painfully remembering she hadn't told him about how she also lived in England. Not that she was ashamed of it but it was difficult to talk about and besides, she didn't want to start anything with him without being completely honest.

"You can't say that when you don't really know me" Beth muttered, slowly stepping away from him, heart breaking at his painful' expression.

"Why do you say that?" Ed asked carefully, trying not to show any pain in his voice.

Beth looked at him for a long moment, her eyes full of grief. She had told people about England but she had never told anyone except Caspian about her brother. And she had never told anyone about the way she made it to that world.

She took a deep breath. It was finally the time to let go of her fear of the past and for some reason, she couldn't imagine telling anyone but Ed about it.

"I was born in England. On November, 18th in 2012, my mom had given birth to a baby boy so I was on my way to meet him" Beth said as she resumed picking up the shields, obviously not wanting to meet Ed's eyes as she told her story "My father...well, he was an evil man. That day he was angry, I don't really remember why anymore, but he let go of the steering wheel to hit me and our car veered to the snow. I woke up in Archenland"

Ed didn't know what to say. He never imagined she would tell him something like this. However, the only thing it did for him was to increase the admiration he felt for her.

"Beth, I'm so sorry" Ed spoke finally, walking forward and resting his hand on her shoulder. He tried to show no compassion or mercy since he knew that would be no useful.

Beth looked at him with a sad smile, keeping any tears at bay "I don't care what happens with me, this two years here have been the best of my life. What I worry about is my brother. I'm terrified of having left him alone with that monster"

Ed wordlessly hugged her. Feelings aside, she was one his greatest friends amd it hurt him to see her so sad. He couldn't change his past but he could show her he would be there for her no matter what so he poured all his support on that hug, smiling as she relaxed.

"Thanks, Ed" Beth breathed as they pulled away. She then looked up to smile sadly at the boy "Have I spooked you away yet?"

"I think you are underestimating me" Ed smirked as he pulled away. He lifted a spare sword and handed it to the girl "Let's try this again. Two swords this time"

Beth's eyes gleamed at the challenge. She took the sword and swirled it around as she tested the balance before circling the king with a smirk "I don't know, Ed, I don't want you to start doubting your skills as a swordsman. Too many defeats might do that for you"

Ed rolled his eyes, but sill grinned as Beth regained her cheerful' demeanor "Just attack, princess"

This time, they both fought in the Narnian style. It still strongly resembled of a dance, but a much more aggresive this time. It was much faster this time, for they were both rushing to disarm the other and steadily, the attraction between grew once again.

They were equals in every way and as Ed disarmed Beth, he could think of nothing else.

They stood silently for a few seconds, staring deep into each other's eyes as they regained their breath. For the first time, their feelings were obvious to the other and while it terrified them completely, they also were quite exciting.

Beth finally smiled breathlessly "Do you wish the army had been here to witness your victory?

Ed shook his head, all amusement gone as he slowly placed his hands on her waist "I couldn't be happier of them being gone"

Beth chuckled slightly before the both of them leaned forward towards the other, closing their eyes in the process.

Just as their lips brushed against one another, Beth gasped painfully.

They both snapped their eyes open to stare at her side, where there was now an arrow.

Ed looked around frantically, finding the responsible hidden at the edge of the forest. As he realized he had been caught, he immediately retreated on his horse.

Edmund was feeling an intense rage. Not only had they been discovered but also, they had shot the girl in his arms cowardly.

He felt a desperate urge to follow that coward idiot and teach him a lesson but then a quiet gasp made him forget anything by the girl trying to stay awake as she held both hands on her injury to stop the blood from flowing.

Edmund quickly nodded at the faun standing on the guard position before scooping Beth into his arms.

"Stay with me, okay Beth? I'll take you to Lucy and you'll be just fine" he hurriedly said as he run as fast as he could towards the How and into the nursery.

"I trust you" the princess whispered, losing color by the second. She tiredly rested her head against his chest.

Ed shook his head, using his concern as fuel to run faster. He couldn't let that beautiful girl die.

When they entered the nursery, Lucy was already there looking anxious but with her cordial ready. She motioned her brother to lay the girl on a cot as she rushed towards them with rags and water mixed with her healing potion.

"Ed, what happened?" Lucy was all business as she carefully inspected Beth's injury. The princess gasped painfully and gripped Ed's hand.

"Heal her first. I will tell you about it later" Ed tried to be as calm as he could for Beth's benefit but it was hard when considered how panicked he felt.

The youngest queen nodded before glancing apologetically at the pained teenage girl "Beth, I have to extract the arrow before I can clean and wrap your wound, okay? Both the water and the bandages have drops of my cordial so you're going to feel better instantly"

Beth nodded before glancing at Ed. He smiled as reassuringly as he could and gripped her hand even tighter, his other hand running through her hair "I'm not leaving. I promise"

When Lucy took the arrow out, Beth's eyes were filled with tears but she controlled herself for screaming as she wanted. She didn't want to scare any of the siblings even further.

Lu quickly cleaned and wrapped the wound. She then smiled at her brother "It wasn't too deep a wound and you brought her quickly. That was essential"

"So, I'm going to be fine" Beth whispered as the pain left her completely, though she felt strangely tired. When Lu nodded brightly, Beth sighed in relief "You both are life savers"

Ed smiled in relief at her words and only then did he notice he was still brushing his fingers through her hair in a soothing way. He hesitated but, since he didn't really want to stop, he continued caressing her hair. Beth snuggled into her cot and smiled contentedly at him.

Suddenly, the nursery's doors were thrown open, and a deeply concerned Caspian entered, followed by Peter and Susan.

"Beth!" Caspian exclaimed as he stood beside Edmund. The two eldest monarchs stood beside their younger sister. The telmarine' prince gazed between Ed and Beth "What happened!?"

Ed shifted uncomfortably, not really knowing how to begin. Beth gazed knowingly at him before slowly sitting up, wincing as she did so but shaking her head at the five pair of arms that reached forward to help her "Why don't we go to the Stone Table' room? It contains the largest amount of deep magic in the entire How so I will heal faster. Beside, we can talk there without being heard"

The five of them agreed and Ed helped the injured girl out of the cot. He slid an arm around her waist so she could lean against him but still, he couldn't help but revel in the welcoming warmth.

"We have to finish what we started back at the fields" Beth mumbled as they walked slightly apart from the other four.

Ed had to chuckle at that "We will. I promise"

As Beth regained colour while she laughed, Ed sighed, truthfully believing for the first time that she would be okay.

"How could you not see him?" Peter asked, disbelief in his voice. He turned towards his brother "I know for sure you were trained to keep an eye on your surroundings, especially in times of war!"

Ed shrugged from his place beside Beth. The both of them sat on the steps leading to the Stone Table, their family surrounding them "I'm human, Pete. I wasn't paying attention"

As annoyed as he felt by the High King, Caspian had to admit Peter had a point. They both had been trained to be permanently alert so, what distracted them that they could not see that coward coming after his best friends?

Caspian frowned at them, deeply focused. They were hiding something, of that much he was sure, but he couldn't figure out what exactly.

"There's something you're not telling us" Susan finally quipped, looking sternly at both Beth and Ed. Caspian forced himself to keep his eyes on his friends. That was not the time to be distracted.

"What would we not tell you?" Beth asked as innocently as she could despite her blush"We were training and when I stopped for a second to rest, I was shot. End of the story"

"We really need to focus on the big picture here. The telmarines have spotted us, we need to come up with a plan of attack" Ed added in support.

Lucy shook her head, wearing an amused smile "No, I'm not buying it. Do any of you believe them?"

Su, Peter and Caspian all shook their heads in unison, entertained by the other two' frustrated groans. The latter then noticed how together they were sitting and how they were holding hands. Until now, he had assumed it was because Beth was still weak but only then was he noticing how comfortable they seemed with eachother, as if some of the tension was gone.

"You kissed" Caspian said bluntly, his smile the brightest yet as he took Ed's and Beth's look as a confirmation.

"We did, okay?" Ed snapped, finally out of patience. Beth closed her eyes in trepidation while the other four laughed "Can we discuss the other matter first, please? I'm sure you will have plenty of time to make our lives miserable after it"

"Does this mean I win the bet?" Lucy squealed excitedly.

"It sounds like a plan" Peter smirked before growing serious "But you are right, we do need to focus"

Caspian nodded and stood up "I will gather the leaders of each group"

He glanced amusedly at the two blushing teenagers before walking away but, before he could take five steps, her voice spoke.

"I will go with you"

Susan approached him with a smile. Caspian tried not to make eye contact with Peter, he was sure that as unsatisfied as he was with the prince, he was even more crossed by the fact that Caspian was infatuated by his sister.

Caspian didn't bother questioning it. He was sure Peter knew of his feelings for the Gentle Queen.

"Are you okay?" Susan asked suddenly as the walked down the tunnel towards the entrance, where the narnians waited for news.

Caspian glanced at her with a surprised, yet grateful smile "Yes, why do you ask?"

"When Beth was shot...you looked frightened" Su replied softly and Caspian did he best to shrug nonchalantly as he gazed forward.

"Beth has always been there for me. When Miraz began to actively seek for more power, Beth and her oldest brother Tor were the ones who kept me sane" Caspian began nervously, painfully aware that he had never been this open with anyone "She is the closest thing I have to a sister so at the thought of losing her, I really didn't know how would I cope"

Susan rested her hand against his arm, her piercing blue eyes shining gently as she smiled reassuringly "She has you, so I'm sure she will be just fine"

"Thank you, Susan" I smiled gratefully. She returned the smile before withdrawing her hand from his arm, Caspian almost whimpering at the loss of contact.

"Though my brother could taking a more active role in that deparment, considering the recent developments" Susan added, both of them chuckling quietly as they arrived to the entrance.

"What happened your Majesties?"

"What is the plan?"

"Is Princess Elizabeth okay?"

Caspian held up a hand, asking to be allowed to talk. Slowly, the crowd gathered in front of him quietened and stared expectantly at him

"My friends, Princess Elizabeth is alright thanks to Queen Lucy's cordial. However, this new development means our location's been discovered by the telmarines"

The Queen of Old stood beside him, her gaze calming.

"They will be here soon enough" she said "We ask the leaders of each company to join us in a war council' meeting. We need to decide our next move"

Hope you guys liked!
I won't be editing/updating until the 16th, since that's when my last exam is scheduled to.

Stay tuned and cheers for reading!