A/N: HI. Yes I have been away forever, yes I am a complete jerk, and yes I am sincerely, truly sorry. I have been so swamped with university and scholarship applications and interviews and just all sorts of stuff so it's been hella crazy. BUT I am back and now my schedule has freed up more which means I can get back to properly paying attention to this. There's also a little bit of good news at the bottom ;)

So yeah, hope you enjoy this chap!

Chapter 10: Rifts and Tiffs

Serena's POV

"ELLA!"

I flinched at the loud boom that echoed through the corridor, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to. Caspian, Ella and I were in the common office chamber, currently going through some trade documents that Peter wanted us to check out. We glanced at one other uneasily, Ella taking in a deep breath and Caspian just looking at her with a glint of pity in his eyes. 3 seconds later the owner of that loud shout barged through the door.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

Edmund stormed in and stood right in front of Ella, and the later swiftly stood up, a couple of inches keeping them apart as she looked up at him unwaveringly.

"You know why I did it."

"What gives you the right to cancel the search party order I sent out?"

Edmund's back was currently to me but I could still tell he was seething. Ella's face remained stoic, and her shoulders square.

"You know how our laws work Edmund. Any member of the royal family is able to cancel orders, and Peter put us both in charge of this matter. As long as there is no unanimous decision on a certain action, plan or order, it will not-"

"I know our laws Ella, I don't need you to educate me on them. I meant what were you possibly thinking when you did that. That search party was to find Lucy. My little sister is out there in trouble and you're just sabotaging us trying to find her!"

"For the last time, Ed, Lucy does not want to be found. It's funny, you would think you'd know your own sister better. She would never cut us off like that unless completely necessary. Think about it, think of the lengths she went to to make sure we couldn't find her. What if she really does need to do this on her own, what if us finding her would just make things worse? We need to find out more about this curse and Coriarkin first, so we can get a better idea of what this is all about. But if you-"

"ENOUGH!"

By this point, Caspian and I were completely frozen. I knew Edmund was mad, and I've seen my fair share of this couples' squabbles, but I had never heard Edmund shout at Ella like that.

"Ed, maybe we can discuss this-"

"Stay out of this Caspian."

I glanced at Cas, noticing how he seemed a bit offended but at the same time, he knew this was something we could not exactly interfere in given the heat of the situation.

"There are some things that you do that I don't always agree with, but most of the time I let it slide. But this, this is crossing the line Ella. Lucy is my sister, and she is in danger. I am finding her no matter what, so don't you dare try to sabotage my orders again."

Edmund spoke icily and by the look on Ella's face, it seemed he was glaring harshly at her. He then turned around and started to make his way to the door before Ella stopped him.

"No."

Ed froze, and I gulped.

It was needless to say the tension was thick in the room, but for some reason I had this horrible foreboding feeling that this argument and this whole Lucy situation was not going to end well.

"I understand your concern as her brother. I understand you want her to be safe. But I'm choosing to believe in Lucy and respect what she wants. She doesn't want to be found. If it was something she could not handle herself, she would never leave like this herself. I'm sabotaging your order, but did you stop to think you may be sabotaging her mission by going against her wishes?"

Edmund did not turn around, but I saw him swallow hard. His fists were clenched and it seemed like he was biting his tongue.

"I'm sorry Edmund, but I can't let you send those out those search parties."

Silence followed those words. Seconds passed, and while I felt like saying something to try to disperse the tension and calm down tempers, for some reason words could not come to me. Finally, with his back still to us as he faced the door, Ed replied.

"If anything happens to Lucy, I will never forgive you."

With that, he exited the room and I turned to Ella to find her shed a single tear.

Lucy's POV

It felt like someone had just punched me in the gut.

My mouth suddenly went dry, my brain unable to string together words for me to speak. My legs felt numb and my palms felt sweaty. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts but one thing was very clear to me.

Keladry had jumped down from the tree and was standing a few feet in front of me.

The same Keladry who betrayed me.

The same Keladry who tried to kill my brother.

The same Keladry who got me into this whole mess.

That was all it took for me to see red and before I even knew what I was doing, I found myself charging forward with a yell, swinging my sword at the blonde boy in front of me who had just saved my life.

But he was swift, and just before I got to slice his throat, he drew his sword and struck it against mine.

Now that I was closer to him, I was looking straight into his eyes. The same deep blue eyes that once made my heart flutter and made me swoon, but now just made my blood boil.

But it was not his eyes that made me livid in that moment, it was the fact that after everything he did to me, he could still look at me unfazed, as if he felt no remorse and had no emotion.

I yelled and struck again, and he blocked my strike once more. This continued for a while, with me screaming in frustration and delivering blow after blow, and him just blocking my every blow calmly without a single sound. My arms were getting tired, but he did not seem bothered at all. Unfortunately, one of my blows was too weak which resulted in him throwing me off balance and me landing on my back.

I looked up to find myself staring at the tip of his sword, panting harder than ever. I still could not make out any emotion in his face, but now I was not angry anymore. Now I too felt nothing for the monster before me.

"Go ahead, run me through." I spat, making sure the venom was clear in my voice.

Keladry quirked his brow and paused for a moment before withdrawing his sword and sheathing it.

"Now why would I save your life just to kill you?"

I frowned, to which he stuck out his hand, making me scoff. For a moment I considered whether this was some sort of twisted joke or trick. But he just remained like that with his outstretched hand, still without a trace of emotion on his face.

I glared at him and pushed myself off the ground, to which he just recoiled his hand and gave a stiff nod. I made sure to put some distance between us once I got up, my guard still up.

"So, what are you doing here? Are you following me?"

I had to figure out some way to get rid of him. I had already tried to kill him and that did not exactly work. Jadis was long gone but that did not mean her darkness was vanquished completely, especially considering this stupid curse she gave me. And Keladry was not good news at all.

"Well, yes and no. I was actually looking for you."

Before I could reply, for the very first thing I was going to say was that he clearly had some plan to help Jadis even after her demise, he quickly continued.

"I'm not Jadis' pawn anymore. She's gone. And I need your help."

I did not even bother holding back my scoff. In fact, I was on the verge of laughing.

Was this guy for real?

"You think I'm going to help you? You really think after everything, I'd help you? The minion of my greatest enemy."

"I do think so, yes, because you need my help as well."

My smile slowly faded away, and I remembered that he was the one who led me to Jadis. He was there. He probably knew everything about this stupid curse.

Keladry glanced down at my hand, which I immediately clenched and hid from his view.

"It hurts doesn't it? Not piercingly, but like a dull throb that you kind of get used to."

I swallowed hard at his very accurate description.

He was going to use this to blackmail me, and it was not like I had any other option or source of help.

"Why should I believe you? How do I know this isn't another trick? You may still be helping Jadin since he hasn't been captured yet."

"Jadin is dead."

That caught me by surprise. I raised a brow, deliberating whether this was just another lie.

Why was his face so bloody unreadable?

"Proof?"

He shrugged, stretching out his arms and looking around.

"Well, I don't exactly have his body here with me do I? Guess you'll just have to take my word for it."

Wow.

I shot him a glare and shook my head, turning around.

"Follow me and I chop your head off."

I heard the quick footfalls behind me and suddenly a hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. My instinct kicked in and I raised my sword, pointing it right at his neck. His hands quickly came up in surrender, and for a moment I thought I saw a glimmer of desperation in his eyes.

Just a moment though.

"Alright, I'm sorry, clearly not the time for a joke. But I swear, Jadin is dead. Jadis tied his life force to hers so that she could be stronger and have his powers as well, which is why when she died, so did he."

I clenched my jaw, my sword still steady at his throat. A part of me considered whether he was actually telling the truth; it did sound like something Jadis would do.

"I never willingly fought for Jadis. I was her prisoner, and she threatened to kill my siblings if I did not follow her and do what she wanted. That's why I did all her dirty work, including betraying all of you. I had no choice."

"All of this could just be another lie."

"Or it could be the truth. You know who my father is, he served Narnia to the death. I would never willingly try to bring down this kingdom."

That part was true, I did know his father since he was a soldier in our army, and he was indeed a man of great honour. That was even why we decided to take in Keladry in the first place, but clearly that was not a very wise decision.

"Jadis promised me that if I did all she asked of me, she'll let my little brother and sister go. But she's dead now, and I have no idea where they are. I need to find them, and I can't do that myself."

I took in a deep breath, processing whatever he was saying. He could tell I was thinking hard, and he was no idiot to think I would just believe whatever he said so easily.

"I know what the curse is, I know why she gave it to you and how it works and everything. And I know where Coriarkin is as well. I can help you find him and get rid of the curse, but all I ask for in return is for you to use your resources to find my siblings."

And that was when he did it.

That was when he let his guard down, when I could suddenly see all the emotion he was hiding for so long. I could see his eyes turn soft in that split second, and look as sad and vulnerable as ever.

My sword was still at his neck, and his hands were still raised in surrender. I glanced at my other hand which held that horrid scar, thinking about how badly I wanted to get rid of it and just return home so that my family would stop worrying about me.

"You said you knew about the curse. Well then tell me. Tell me everything you know."

Keladry shook his head slightly, licking his lips.

"I need to know you'd help me first for sure. Lower the sword, and I'll tell you everything."

My sword-bearing hand twitched, and I wracked my brain hard, considering all my options and all the consequences of whatever action I took.

It was weird, normally I would never even consider killing someone who was defenceless or in surrender; that was like killing in cold blood for me. But this time, this time for some reason the idea did no repulse me at all. In fact, a part of me felt it was only right, and I had to do it.

I could kill him right here and now, the man who betrayed my family and kingdom.

But that could also mean killing the only person who could be able to help me with this curse.

Finally, I made my decision.

I lowered my sword.

A/N: So like I mentioned above, I am really sorry for such the long delay and this chapter may not even be good enough to make up for it. BUT I have some good news! I will be posting a chapter every day for this week, and next week onwards every 2-3 days at least. I've already planned out everything according to my schedule and stuff. And I'm going to try really really hard to not be an ass and actually stick to this proposal haha, so please stick around and have faith in me!

Also just wanted to thank everyone who's been supporting this series and me, you're the reason why I write and I hope I can continue providing content worth your time and support. Much love 3

As always, please don't forget to leave a review! Constructive criticism is always appreciated :)