Chapter 12: Strawberry Sunsets
Lucy's POV
"Wow."
Serena simply smiled, her hands clasped in front of her.
Before us was a room filled with every imaginable weapon. From crossbows and arrows, to swords of every size and form, to shields and barricades, to catapults and axes.
"Serena, this is incredible!"
"Well, I said I'd have it done by the morning."
Edmund looked around in awe, before looking back at Serena and gulping slightly.
"Look, Serena, I'm sorry I doubted you-"
"It's alright, Kind Edmund. You had every right to."
Edmund smiled and took Serena's hand, "No, I don't. You're going to be my sister soon, I need to learn to trust you if you're going to enter this family and become one of us."
"I'm glad you're willing to accept me." Serena replied with a wide, toothy beam.
From behind Edmund, though, I noticed Ella watching Serena closely, a peculiar expression on her face. Almost as if she was trying to decode Serena.
Strange.
"Right, now how are we going to make sure they don't take our toys again." Lorenzo muttered, picking up a dagger and flipping it in the air playfully.
"Oh I took care of that as well."
Peter was about to ask her something, but she put her hand up, "Remember, you cannot ask me anything. Just trust me."
He let out a breath and nodded sheepishly.
"Right, this is all good, but Serena, we have a wedding to plan! Only 11 more days! Come on!" Susan exclaimed, a big smile on her face as she grabbed Serena's arm and dragged her out of her room, causing Serena to giggle and follow her.
My heart twisted to see Susan trying to act so happy and cheerful, when I knew just how broken she was on the inside.
"I'm going to go check on Talina and Ella." Edmund spoke as he followed behind Susan and Serena. Both of them were still asleep, one because it was her nap time, and the other because she was still weak and tired from the incident that occurred the day before.
Peter and Caspian then left to attend some important council meeting to do with rebellions in the North. That just left me to my own devices for the rest of the day.
I walked out to the little lake behind our castle, a piece of parchment and charcoal in hand. Back in England, I had a little sketch book which was filled with random drawings. But here, since I no longer had that book, I was only left with pieces of parchment papers. But I didn't mind.
I sat by my favorite Oak tree, which had pretty swirls and circles in its bark, which was why it as my favorite, and looked out across the lake.
I took in a deep breath of the crisp air, just soaking in the tranquility of the atmosphere. Sitting here, life seemed so…simple. And easy. One could almost forget that there was an impending war, and enemies and bad things out there.
That was what I loved about this lake, even for a little while, I could pretend everything was okay, that Narnia was fine and safe, and life was perfect.
And so I placed the parchment upon my lap, and brought the charcoal to it.
I didn't know how long I sat there, all I knew was that my fingers were completely black from shading in the details in my drawing. Once I was done, I sat back and sighed, rotating my now aching hand. I closed my eyes and leaned against the tree, letting my mind drift away into my little land of dreams.
I was back in Finchley, and I was helping my mom make some carrot stew. We were laughing away, she had just made a joke about forcing dad to eat his carrots, when there was a thud from upstairs.
"Knock it off, you two!" Mom shouted, as we both knew just what exactly was happening upstairs.
Edmund and Peter could never go 10 minutes without fighting and beating each other around; but at least now it was in a brotherly way, instead of an antagonizing way like before.
I was smiling to myself, thinking of how perfect life was.
"Mum, I'm home!" Susan called from the door, her footsteps getting louder as she approached the kitchen.
"Oh there's my beautiful daughter!" Mum exclaimed, running up to Susan and kissing her on the cheek.
"Mum, the carrots are getting too soft." I called out, watching them boil as I continued chopping the celery.
"Look at you, Susan. Such a beauty. Oh I'm so proud of you, you're the best daughter in the world."
I felt my heart sink a little, but I decided to ignore the feeling, "Mum, the stew."
"Oh Mum, stop it. It's not like I do anything, I'm just naturally like this."
It was getting harder to breath, and I turned around, "Mum, the carrots are over-boiled."
"Oh shut up Lucy!"
I felt tears sting my eyes as I jumped back at her sudden outburst.
"Honestly, you're such a nuisance!"
"Yes, look at you, and look at me." Susan joined in with my mother, a vicious smile on her face.
"Such an ugly, useless daughter!"
"You'll never be as beautiful as me. I'm perfect, and you are nothing."
"You shouldn't even exist."
"You're nothing. Nothing. Nothing."
"LUCY!"
I awoke with a jolt, my heart racing and my lungs burning. I looked up into warm blue eyes.
"Oh, Keladry, it's you."
I used the back of my hand to wipe off the sweat from my forehead, all the while willing my heart to calm down.
"Are you alright, Your Majesty? I saw you moaning in your sleep. You seemed troubled."
I sighed, finally calmed down, and sat up straight, noting how close Keladry was, crouched in front of me.
"Just…a bad dream. Thank you for waking me, Keladry."
I looked around and noticed that the sun was touching the lake's horizon.
"Oh my, I've slept the entire day away!"
"It's alright, nothing much happened today anyway. Pretty boring, if you ask me." Keladry chuckled, and it made my heart flutter, the smile on his face made him look so dashing.
"Oh, that's good then." I smiled back, when suddenly, a loud grumble was heard.
"Are you hungry, Your Majesty?"
Oh kill me now.
I could feel my cheeks get hot, and I consciously wrapped my arms around my stomach.
"Here," Keladry reached down, and only then did I realize he had a basket full of fruits, "Would you like a strawberry, My Queen?"
He held out the strawberry, and the way his eyes twinkled in the sunset made me glad that I was already seated down, for my knees would have gone weak if I were stood up.
I took the strawberry with a smile, "A knight of Narnia, plucking fruits?" I chuckled teasingly.
"Like I said, today was a very boring day. I finished off my duties a few hours back, and King Peter let me off for the rest of the day."
I nodded in understanding before biting into the juicy, delicious strawberries. Narnian strawberries were the best, they were huge, like the size of my hand, and so sweet.
I must have been really famished, for I just devoured the strawberry. It was only after a few moments did I realise that Keladry was still watching me, and in that second I wanted the earth to swallow me up.
"You um, you have…"
I didn't understand what Keladry was saying, but suddenly, he reached out and his thumb wiped some strawberry juice from the corner of my mouth.
Our eyes never left each other's all the while that he did that little action, and I could swear he was able to hear my heat race.
Keladry suddenly snapped out of our little gaze and blinked, looking down as he cleared his throat, "That's, um, that's a very lovely drawing, Your Majesy."
"Huh?" I looked down and remembered that I had been sketching the lake, "oh, yes, thank you."
"I never knew you drew." He smiled, causing me to chuckle.
"Up until few days ago, you didn't even know me."
He laughed and nodded, "Good point. But now that I know of your talent, perhaps one day you can draw me?"
Suddenly, he caught himself and stopped smiling, almost as if he realised he had been joking away with the queen of Narnia.
"Forgive my lack of formalty, Your-"
"Oh, no, please," I spoke before I could help myself, "It's alright, I like you this way."
I like you this way?
Really Lucy?
Really?
Keladry simply grinned, little crinkles forming by his eyes that were simply adorable.
"It's, um, it's getting late, Your Majesty. We should probably head back inside."
I nodded, a little disappointed that our little magical moment was over.
He really did have the most intriguing blue eyes.
Peter's POV
I took in a deep breath before knocking firmly on the door 3 times.
I heard some shuffling inside, before the door finally swung open.
"Oh, Peter!"
"Peter? What ever happened to Pete?" I teased, putting on a flirty smile.
Flirty?
Oh god.
Serena laughed to herself, "Sorry, hello, Pete."
"Right, Rae, I was just wondering, if you'd let me accompany you to dinner."
Did that sound like a dinner date for just the two of us?
"Not just the 2 of us though, I meant dinner with the whole family."
Wait, now does she think I would not like to have dinner just with her?
"Not that having dinner only with you would be a problem."
No, now you sound stupid because-
"Pete!"
Oh great, she caught me rambling again like the idiot I am.
You're a bloody High King of Narnia, Peter the magnificent, and you can't even talk to a girl properly.
"I'd love to join you for dinner with the family." She replied with a grin, an amused look in her eyes.
I smiled and stuck out my right arm, which she then took.
As we crossed the balcony leading to the segment of the castle where the Dining Hall was, we looked out to our right, where the Great Eastern Sea could be seen, orange-hued in the sunset.
"This is such a beautiful view." Serena loftily spoke, a gentle smile gracing her lips.
I simply looked at her, my heart fluttering at how beautiful she looked in the warm glow of the sunset, "yeah, it is."
She must have realized I was looking at her for she simply looked down, and that same adorable blush that I loved appeared on her cheeks and neck again.
Perhaps it was the romantic atmosphere of the sunset view from the balcony, or the fact that the warmth from her hand was seeping through my sleeve, but something in me just snapped and I could not contain it.
"Actually, would you like to have dinner, just the 2 of us?" I suddenly blurted out on our way to the Dining Hall.
NO!
DAMN IT PETER!
YOU REALLY CAN'T CONTROL YOUR MOUTH CAN YOU?
SHE'S GOING TO THINK YOU'RE SOME FICKLE PRI-
"I'd love to."
I looked down at her, pretty shocked to say the least. She simply smiled back, as if it was the most casual thing to ask of her.
"R-really? That's, um, that's great!" I looked ahead to find Trumpkin passing by.
"Trumpkin!" I called out, as I approached him.
"Yes, Peter?"
"Tell the others Serena and I won't be joining them for dinner. And ask the kitchen to prepare a basket of food for us, send it to the garden canopy."
A/N: TA DA! 3 chapters back to back, that's why I havent uploaded this long. I was actually working on these 3 chapters, and I wanted to upload them together because I had to write them together, instead of separately, or else my train of thought would have been broken.
Anyway, I hope you liked these 3 chapters; I worked pretty hard on them. Sorry if they don't seem as good though, my mind's been a little distracted with other stuff lately, but nonetheless, I did put in quite a lot of effort into these chapters despite them not being me at my best haha.
Still, thank you to whoever reviewed, and please please please do continue to review. I love constructive feedback and I'm always dying to know what my readers think of chapters.
SO PLEASE REVIEW!
