A/n: Caleb is a completely stuck-up bastard in this chapter. Arrogant. Almost like Jace from TMI. Which means there's a TMI reference, a Harry Potter reference, and a Dorian Gray reference, oh yes. See if you can spot them!
~Narrator's POV~ (A/n: Plot comes before characters in this chapter!)
Caleb was found cleaning his twin blades in the morning. He effortlessly twirled them like a drummer would his drumsticks, and managed to not inflict one single cut on his skin. His skills had stunned many warriors on the battlefield, but Edmund, who was striding towards Caleb, was unmoved and less impressed.
"I see you've recovered now." Edmund snapped.
"Good morning, Edmund." Caleb drawled. "And yes I have, thank you for asking."
"I don't think I'm the one you owe a word of thanks to." Edmund frowned.
Caleb was oblivious to Edmund's knowledge of the hurtful words Caleb had spoken to Lucy. "Yeah, next time I see Aslan, I'll tell Him." Caleb joked.
"I meant Lucy!" Edmund returned angrily. "Don't you have any sense of gratitude? She saved your life! If it weren't for her, you'd be disintegrating in that bloody demon's digestive juices by now!"
"So this is what you're upset about." Caleb snorted. "You're worried about me."
Wow, what a bastard, Edmund thought. "Couldn't you have thought twice before saying anything hurtful or doing anything rash?" Edmund glared reproachfully at Caleb. "If you had any conscience at all, you'd be decent enough to apologize." Edmund left the room when Lucy showed up instead.
"I thought you valued me." Lucy had a hurt expression on her face.
"Lucy, I –" Caleb spluttered.
"Goodness, I even thought you liked me!" Lucy cried.
"And I do! I do!" Caleb hollered impulsively, frightening Lucy who broke into sobs and ran away.
Caleb returned to his room and punched his fist against the wall, but it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Well, he didn't think he had the right to feel hurt, compared to how he hurt Lucy.
Great, he thought, now you've ruined your chances by disrespecting a Queen of Old.
He should have just apologized and offer to make up for it. But why were the words so hard to say? What was getting in his way?
"You and your blasted pride." Caleb's back was turned, but he could hear Edmund's angry voice reprimanding his impulsive behavior.
Edmund was right. Having been rescued by a girl was a severe kick to Caleb's ego. He wanted to smack his forehead for trying to maintain his stupid dignity and 'manliness' instead of making amends with Lucy. How could he?
"Still not admitting your mistakes, I see. Well, the Merpeople's Queen and her Court has requested an audience with the four of us, and Caspian agreed to it. Now hurry up." Edmund vented.
Caleb had better be on his best behavior.
The Mer Queen – well, being Queen certainly had its perks – could take human form and walk on land. She was seated at a high table, and motioned for Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and Caleb to take their seats, whereas the rest of the Dawn Treader crew was on board.
The Queen had politely greeted the monarchs and a viscount who made an effort to look jolly. She served them wonderful food, and even wine. The men drank the wine gladly, but Lucy didn't. She was suspicious of the Queen. She seemed all a little too excessively polite and inquisitive of how they had managed to slay such a terrorizing demon. The Queen had detected Lucy's uneasiness – Lucy was frowning.
When Caspian said though they were grateful for the exquisite hospitality, they had to continue with their voyage, the Queen did not attempt to hide her menacing tenacity with polite speeches; instead she barked sharply at the Narnians.
"What an untimely departure!" The Queen snarled, then, quickly plastered a broad smile on her face. "Why, though, my lords may take their leave, but she," she pointed at Lucy with one of her peculiarly long fingers, "must stay."
The Queen snapped her fingers and some guards in her Court stood by the door, preventing the Narnians from leaving.
"I know that I will not leave my sister here in your Court," said Edmund, alarmed but maintaining a calm composure and speaking in a collected manner as the diplomat he was, "and since there is nothing more to be learned from either her or any of us, perhaps you could do us the favor of releasing her?"
The Mer Queen smiled. It was a beautiful, terrible smile. She was a lovely woman; she had that inhuman loveliness that mermaids did, that was more like the loveliness of hard crystal than the beauty of a human. She did not look any particular age: she could have been sixteen or forty-five. Edmund supposed there were those who would have found her attractive — not only mermen, but human men too, had died for love of the Queen — but she gave him a cold feeling in his chest, as if he'd swallowed ice water too fast. "What if I told you she could be freed by a kiss?"
It was Lucy who replied, bewildered. "You want Edmund to kiss you?"
As the Queen laughed, the icy feeling in Edmund's chest intensified. Edmund knew Lucy didn't understand the Merpeople. He'd tried to explain, but there was no explaining, not really. Whatever the Queen wanted from them, it wasn't a kiss from him; she could have demanded that without all this show and nonsense. What she wanted was to see them pinned and struggling like butterflies. It was something Merpeople did to humans of all races: dulled your senses, your emotions; the sharp, uncontrollable, pitiable responses of human beings were to mermaids like fresh blood to a vampire. Well, if they had existed at all, thought Edmund, who, unlike Eustace, read fiction involving vampires and djinns and other fantastical creatures. Out of all foul races, the Merpeople he now had to deal with topped them all. Edmund was disgusted by the Queen's masochism.
"In spite of his charms," the Queen said, flicking a glance toward Edmund — her eyes were blue, like Lucy's, but not like Lucy's at all — "that kiss will not free the girl."
"Well, I can't kiss Lucy." Caspian said warily, looking apologetic. He knew there wasn't anything he could do. Manipulation wasn't something he could battle using swords.
"No," said the Queen with a reinforced tone in a voice like the soft slice of a knife. "That is not what I want."
Edmund certainly didn't want to stay here forever. The only person who could kiss Lucy was…Caleb. Edmund's jaw dropped a little then. Caleb was speechless too. His eyes darted everywhere.
Edmund looked back at Caleb. Caleb was probably a good person, Edmund thought. Just reckless and thoughtless at the worst times.
It was the Queen who interrupted Edmund's thoughts, leaning forward so that her white neck and breasts were displayed above the neckline of her low-cut gown. "While this is all very amusing, the kiss that will free the girl is the kiss that she most desires," she said. "Only that and nothing more."
Edmund frowned and met the Queen's eyes with his own. "Why are you doing this?"
"I rather thought I was offering a boon," she said. "Desire is not always lessened by temporary and short-lived negative sentiments. Nor can it be bestowed, like a favor, to those most deserving of it. Now, my lady may not be surest of her feelings," she turned to Lucy, "but I do remind my guests that forever is an awfully long time, and if you were to spend it here, I cannot guarantee you happiness."
Caspian was still talking, saying something, angry again. "You don't have to do this, Lucy, it's a trick—"
"Not a trick," said Caleb, out of a sudden. The calmness in his own voice surprised him. "A test." He looked directly at Lucy.
"The fulfillment of desire shouldn't bother my lady to such an extent." The Queen lounged back and observed like a sleek, amused cat. Lucy looked uncomfortable and was clenching her fists tight, on the other hand, and really had just wanted to get out of this place. "Don't we already have someone who's willing to kiss the girl?" The Queen feigned concern. "Pity. It's just a kiss."
"That's right," Caleb narrowed his eyes. "It's just a kiss."
Caleb took a step toward Lucy, who didn't move away. The ice in Edmund's chest turned into liquid fire; he clenched his hands at his sides as Caleb took Lucy gently by the arms and looked down into her face. She rested her hands on Caleb's waist, as if she'd done it a million times before. Maybe she had, for all Edmund knew. Edmund wouldn't be surprised if Caleb fancied Lucy, but she wouldn't like him back, not after what he'd done. Edmund crushed his thoughts of Caleb's possible affections towards Lucy – if he had cared for her, he wouldn't have hurt her.
Lucy's hair slipping over her shoulder. Edmund looked away fast, and caught the eye of the Mer Queen, glimmering with delight: now this was what she was after. Their pain. Their agony. The awkwardness of having to kiss even when they hadn't properly reconciled yet. Edmund would not forgive Caleb until he lowered his pride and apologize to Lucy as any man would.
The rest of the world fell away until it was just Caleb and Lucy, as if they stood on a spotlighted stage in an empty auditorium. He put his hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. She had stopped biting her lip, and her cheeks were flushed, her eyes a brilliant blue. He could feel the tension in his own body, the effort of holding back, of not pulling her against him and taking this one chance to kiss Lucy, the woman he somehow had a certain degree of feelings for.
"It's just a kiss," Caleb said, and heard the roughness in his own voice, and wondered if she heard it, too. Not that it mattered – there had always been girls. He had asked himself, in the dead of night, staring at the walls of his room, what made Lucy so dear to his heart. She was beautiful, wise, strong, valiant. There was no Caleb Waters more real than the one he saw in her eyes when she looked at him.
"I'm sorry, Lucy." Caleb reached down and took Lucy's hands, and whispered in her ear. "I truly am. You saved my life."
Her eyes fluttered shut. "I forgive you," she said, and the softness, the anxiety in her voice almost undid him. Her eyes were still closed, but she shivered, and leaned into him, and it was permission enough.
His lips came down on hers. And that was it. He wasn't even sure how he felt about Lucy, because he had never really been in love before, so even if he were in love with Lucy, he wouldn't have known it himself, and same went with Lucy. Her arms came up around his neck and he pulled her against him, and she was soft and pliant but surprisingly strong. His hands flattened against her back, pressing her against him, and she was up on the tips of her toes, kissing him as fiercely as he was kissing her. Be with me. Want me. Stay with me. These were some of the thoughts that ran through their minds as they, unwittingly, held their respective first loves in their arms.
Caleb heard a soft hiss of laughter — the Mer Queen — and it jolted him back to reality. He pulled away before it was too late, unlocking her hands from around his neck and stepping back. It felt like cutting his own skin open.
Lucy hadn't quite been able to process what she had just done. Her lips were parted, her hands still open. Her eyes were wide. Behind her, Edmund was gaping at them, looking as if he was about to throw up. If Peter had been here, he probably would have hit Caleb by now. But Edmund was much calmer. He wouldn't be rash or act on impulse like Caleb would.
Caleb tried to read Lucy's face — how did his kiss make her feel? She looked as if she wanted nothing more than to turn around and run away, but the Merpeople was the only race known to lack the ability to lie, so Caleb had known that his kiss was the one Lucy had most desired. Why his? He pondered. Conflicting, mixed emotions put an inscrutable expression on his face.
Lucy was now aware that she had wanted Caleb's kiss. But she was eager to know what he felt about her. But there was no answer on his face, so she glanced away from him, looking embarrassed.
Edmund was sort of relieved the kiss was over. He whirled on the Queen. "Was that good enough?" he demanded. "Did that entertain you?"
The Queen gave him a look: special and secretive and shared between the two of them. "I am quite entertained," she said. "But it is indeed a pity you don't feel the same."
A/n: I quite like how this turned out. What do y'all think?
Face claim for the Mer Queen is Karlie Kloss. Just thought that you should know.
Teaser for the next chapter:
And then she kissed him with a kind of readiness that resembled water crashing through a broken dam – unstoppable, invincible.
A/n: Ooh! Ooh! Who kissed? Caslyn? Or Caleb and Lucy maybe? Or a new couple? Till next time, fellas!