A/N: Next chap, just as promised, and there's more to come. ;)
Chapter 12: Muddy Waters
Edmund's POV
"I'm not sure about this Susan."
"Come on Peter. It's tradition that a wife moves into her husband's home after the wedding."
"But you're a Queen, Susan. You can't just leave Narnia. Why can't you and Craig live here?"
"Well, Craig says he doesn't want to depend on me and he wants to support me as a husband. And I respect that. I want him to be able to stand on his own feet and not rely on my status. Besides, it's not like I'm going to stop looking after Narnia. I'll just do it from Galma. In fact, it's better this way because now I can ensure better diplomatic ties with Galma, so this actually holds more benefits for Narnia politically, seeing that Craig's father was a member of Galma's court."
Peter looked at me hesitatingly and I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. On one hand, I was really happy that my older sister was getting married, especially to someone as decent and noble as Craig. However, there was this element of her moving to Galma…
"I guess it would be alright then." Peter finally conceded, though he still did not look so happy.
"Thank you Peter. I assure you, I will not neglect my duties to Narnia. Oh, I better tell Craig the good news!" Susan exclaimed happily before running out of the Council Room.
"Are you sure this is alright, Peter?"
Peter sighed and nodded slowly.
"I don't think it will be such a big problem. Like Susan said, this would improve diplomatic ties with Galma. And there's nothing wrong in Narnia gaining another ally."
I nodded understandingly and turned back to my paperwork regarding Archenland's trading proposal.
"Ed, can I ask you something?"
I turned back to Peter who looked a little worried.
"What?"
"Is everything alright with you and Ella?"
I took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly as I put down my quill and leaned back in my chair.
Ella.
It had been a week since our fight and since then we hadrarely spoke to each other. We had never had an argument this serious and she was just acting more and more suspicious. The night of Lucy's birthday, after Craig proposed to Susan, I tried to find Ella to make up with her but she was missing. The whole week, she barely spoke to me and always seemed busy. Whenever we were together, she would never talk to me and her mind was always preoccupied. I tried my best to not believe something waswrong was going on, but the facts were too obvious.
"I don't know Pete. I really don't know." I honestly replied.
"Did you try talking to her?"
"At first, yes. But it's no use. She's hiding something, Pete. She's acting all secretive and weird. Sometimes I don't know if she's…" I trailed off, hating what I was about to say.
"If she's?"
"If she's having an affair."
The last thing I would ever think of happening was for Ella to have an affair. The one thing I knew about her was her loyalty. But at the same time, I had never seen this secretive and suspicious side of her, and it was honestly scaring me.
"I don't know how a marriage works, but I think it's rather obvious that it's wrong of her to be hiding things from you. I suggest you have a serious talk with her. Before things get out of hand."
I nodded and sighed.
I hate it when Peter's right.
Ella's POV
Who knew that when you offer a few relationship tips, you'd suddenly become the Love Guru?
The whole week after Lucy's birthday, I was juggling between Caspian and Lorenzo.
On one hand, I had to help Caspian deal with his heartbreak. Apparently, he wanted Susan to be happy and thus didn't want to break Craig and her up. I personally found that ridiculous but Caspian was always stubborn and now he wanted me to help him move on from Susan. So I had to be there whenever he needed a shoulder to cry on or he needed to express his sorrow. Not that I minded, he was my friend and I would always help him, no matter what.
On the other hand, I had Lorenzo who was hopeless when it came to impressing Camilla. I had to practically coach him on how to talk to her or even flirt with her. Again, not that I minded. Lorenzo was like my brother and I wanted him to be happy with Camilla.
I also had to help Susan with her wedding preparations. Apparently, she was going to live with Craig in Galma and so he wanted her to move there before their wedding so that she could grow accustomed to the new lifestyle. Being the only married lady in the family, Susan decided to come to me for advice on how to manage a wedding and even her marriage-to-be, but asked me not to tell anyone about it as she didn't want to seemstupidand naive.
All of this made me as busy as ever. But what upset me the most was I was neglecting Edmund so much. He always tried to talk to me and ask me what was going on, but I always stayed true to my word and after making promises to Lorenzo, Caspian and Susan, I couldn't break them and tell Edmund. But it did make me feel horrible that I was hiding things from my husband. But I didn't worry much because I knew he would understand. He would never suspect me of anything.
One night, as I was getting ready for bed, Edmund walked in with a worried expression on his face.
"Everything alright, Ed?" I asked as I fluffed the pillows.
"I should be asking you that."
I was rather taken aback by the coldness in his voice. His eyes were hard as ever and his entire body was rigid as he stood in front of me, his hands clenched at his sides.
"What do you mean?" I asked, turning to face him fully.
"You know what I mean. You've been acting funny all week. So you tell me. Is something wrong, Ella?"
Edmund never took on such a harsh tone with me and I was rather aggravated by it.
"What are you…"
I was interrupted by three loud knocks on the door.
"Edmund!"
Edmund sighed and went to open the door to reveal Lucy
"I need your help with these documents, Ed. Peter's too busy and this is really important."
Edmund nodded reluctantly and followed Lucy out, but not before turning to me with a glare which clearly said "this discussion is not over".
As he walked out, I recalled his words and how he had talked to me.
Was he honestly angry that I was busy this entire week? It's not like he was any different. He was always busy but that didn't make me shout at him.
Edmund was acting different. He was never this cold and mean to me. Something was definitely up.
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