**I DON'T OWN ANY CHARACTERS FROM THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. THEY BELONG TO C.S. LEWIS.**

Thank you to AnnCann for beta reading this chapter.


I stormed into my room.

"How dare he? What the hell was he thinking? Does he think I'm easy? Well let me tell you what-"

"Tell me what?"

I turned to see that Edmund was standing in my doorway.

"What do you want?" I snapped at him.

"Sorry," Edmund said, "I was just coming to check in on you. I heard you yell at Peter. In fact, I think all of Narnia heard you."

Edmund snickered at his own joke, but I wasn't in the mood.

"I'm. Fine. Now if you have nothing of importance to say, get the fuck out of my room!"

Edmund arched his eyebrows at me.

"Firstly I'm not in your room. I'm simply leaning on the door frame," he pointed out.

Smart-ass.

"And secondly, I understand that you are upset, but try to refrain from such language."

I snorted.

"Whatever," I huffed.

I slumped onto my couch and placed my chin in my hand. Out of nowhere Chestnut jumped on my lap and Runcas flew onto the top of the couch.

"Get off of me, you flea bag!"

I shouted at the tiger as I pushed him off of me.

"Ouch," yelped Chestnut, as he hit the floor. "What was that for? I was just trying to comfort you. And I have never had one single flea on me."

I softened my face and smiled weakly at him.

"Sorry Nut," I said patting my lap for him to jump back up, which he did. "I'm just a little upset is all."

"You want to talk about it?" asked Edmund, walking closer to me.

I had forgotten that he was still there.

"It's nothing," I simply stated.

Edmund plopped himself in a chair in front of me.

"Didn't sound that way to me."

I sighed. Edmund was someone I could always talk to no matter what. I just wasn't sure if it was appropriate for me to talk to him about his brother.

"Your brother is an ass," I said nonchalantly.

Edmund began to laugh.

"Well I know that. But something tells me it wasn't the fact that he is simply just being an ass that made you slap him."

I gulped. How did he know I slapped Peter?

"How did you-"

"I was walking back to the Grand Hall to inform you both that the council wanted to have a meeting. That's when I heard you slap him and then yell at him, before you stormed away."

"The council wanted to have a meeting?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, but I told them that something came up and that you two were unavailable. The meeting has been postponed for tomorrow morning after breakfast. So why did you slap my brother?"

Edmund didn't seem at all mad that I had hit his brother, who was also the high king. If anything, Edmund seemed amused.

I sighed trying to blow some hair out of my face.

"Peter kissed me," I mumbled.

Edmund didn't seem to hear me but Chestnut and Runcas did. They looked at me happily but my eyes shot daggers at them. They quickly returned to whatever it was that they were doing.

"I'm sorry," stated Edmund, "I didn't hear you. Would you like to run that by me again?"

"I said," with my voice rising, "that Peter kissed me.

Edmund placed a hand over his mouth stifling a laugh. I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms.

"It's not funny, Edmund Pevensie."

"Oh, I think it is," he said grinning. "Most girls would go weak in the knees, if Peter ever kissed them. To say that you slapped him, well that's quite amusing"

Before Edmund knew what was coming, one of my pillows from the couch hit him square in the face.

"So Ann, pray tell why it is that you slapped my brother?"

I bit my bottom lip and began to pet Chestnut's head for comfort. He began purring which calmed me down more.

"Ever since Kenny, I have been a little hesitant about men coming on to me."

I saw Edmund carry on expression on his face that I wasn't able to read. Fear?

"Ed?" I asked.

"Is this Kenny guy the same one that you have nightmares about?" he asked timidly.

"What, what do you mean?"

Edmund got up and sat by me. He took my hands into his and looked me in the eyes.

"What I mean is that this isn't the first time that I have heard that name. The first three weeks that you were here you would shout things like 'Kenny stop' or 'please Kenny I beg you don't'. Everyone was worried sick, but Peter more than anyone. He knew that there was something sinister about this Kenny guy, and that you feared him."

I was no longer looking at Edmund. I was staring at the floor with tears threatening to spill from my eyes. I couldn't say anything. If there was one thing I didn't want to happen, it was for the siblings to know of my past, especially Kenny.

"Ann," asked Edmund quietly, "are you alright?"

I didn't say anything; I didn't look at him. I blinked back the tears, but a small whimper escaped my lips. Edmund placed his hand under my chin and turned my face so that I was looking at him. I had my eyes closed so that he didn't know there were tears in them.

"Ann, please look at me.

No.

"Ann."

No.

"Please?"

Edmund was my best friend and I knew that he cared, but at this point it didn't matter.

"No," I whispered.

"Please?"

I pursed my lips together and tightened my eyes, before I opened them. I looked at Edmund who then pulled me into a hug. I couldn't hold it in. I began to cry into his chest and balled up some of his tunic in my fists. Edmund rubbed circles on my back and spoke gently in my ears. After a few final hiccups, I looked at Edmund and smiled.

"You're the best, you know that?"

"Hey, what are best friends for?"

We smiled at each other for a few seconds, before I rested my head on his chest. Okay, so maybe we didn't talk exactly about what was going on. But I knew and trusted that Edmund wasn't going to pry or press me to talk. And I wasn't ready to talk anytime soon.