A/N: Hey everyone! So sorry to burst in here and in the middle of this amazingly fun-to-write fanfiction but I would like to say something important. This chapter was co-written by my best friend and beta xCatiex. Now... before I post every single chapter on here, I do run it by her and ask her if she loves it. Not likes. LOVES. If she does, then I post it. So really, it is up to her that this fanfiction was even posted in the first place. So can you please PM her to thank her?
Another way you can thank her and I AM sorry that this is SOOO long, is that you can read her story "Collide". I approve it the same way she improves mine. We even collab! Therfore, if you truly wish to thank my best friend, you WILL read her story.
Love you all and again, SO SORRY for how long this blasted A/N is!
Good day,
Sammye lol xox or Lady Samantha the Caring of Narnia ;)
"Edmund, must you really follow me everywhere?" huffed Lucy as Edmund trotted beside her, his left arm around her shoulders.
"Until your wedding, yes," replied Edmund. "Then you are rid of me." He smirked then and Lucy resisted the urge to swat at him. Sometimes her older brother irritated her immensely.
"You're acting like Peter," commented she when they finally stepped through the front gate of the castle and into the royal grounds. Edmund stopped then and his arm slipped off of Lucy's shoulders, hanging once more by his side.
"How am I acting like him?" he demanded. Although Peter had been both Lucy's and Edmund's role model when they were younger, sometimes being compared to him was not always a good thing. He had been known to be a little overbearing at times, always playing the role of Father when Father had not been around.
"You are being overprotective, Edmund. I turn 16 tomorrow, I can take care of myself!" said Lucy, stalking away from him.
"No you can't! You are only 15 turning 16, you're too young and frail and-" Edmund began to retort but Lucy whipped around and stared at him with fire in her eyes, the skirts of her riding dress dancing against the grass. Edmund instantly fell silent.
"How dare you call me frail!" Lucy interjected. "May I remind you that you and I led a battle, dearest Edmund?"
"But that was when you were older," protested Edmund. "You're younger now."
"That should make no difference. I am perfectly capable of protecting myself whether I am 24 or 15-going-on-16!" yelled Lucy, stubborn as a mule.
"Lucy, please be reasonable. It's just a precaution. The whole bride cannot see the groom before the wedding thing. It's not like you're going to be forever barred from Caspian or out from under my watchful eye! It's just for two more weeks!" Edmund tried to explain but with every word that fell from his lips, the fire in her eyes grew.
Then suddenly, it disappeared. Her eyes and expression grew calm.
"You're right," Lucy said in an overly sweet voice, smiling at her brother. "You're not like Peter."
Edmund sighed, relieved.
"Ahhh, thank you Lucy!"
"YOU'RE WORSE!" shouted Lucy next, her face twisting with anger and she began to stomp away from him, wiping furiously at the tears of frustration that were teeming down her face.
"Lucy, please wait up!" called Edmund, racing to catch up with her since she was now running to the stables. He watched her throw open the stable doors and run inside, only to hear her terrified scream a moment after.
Picking up his speed, Edmund burst into the stables to find that Lucy was in the arms of a man whose face was in the shadows. She was beating his chest with closed fists and her eyes were shut tight with fear. Edmund reached for his sword but remembering that he was not wearing it, he reached for a staff leaning up against the nearest wall.
"Unhand my sister you knave or I'll run you through like the dog you are," hissed Edmund.
"You wouldn't do that to your own future brother-in-law, would you?" chuckled the voice. It was only then that Lucy stopped struggling against the man and opened her eyes.
"Caspian?" she asked, lowering her fists. The man's response was to kiss her on the mouth passionately.
"CASPIAN!" yelled Edmund. "Let her go! This isn't supposed to be happening. You are not supposed to see her until the wedding!" He lowered the staff and ran his right hand through his messy hair with exasperation. He watched as Lucy and Caspian pulled apart, Lucy blushing and breathless.
"This wasn't my idea. You know that I was to be here with Eustace," said Caspian. "You saw me a moment ago."
"And I was supposed to be going for a ride with Eustace as well," said Lucy, eyebrows coming together as she thought. "Lydia said so."
"You don't think that Eustace and Lydia did this, do you?" asked Caspian of the two other royals.
"They are so in trouble," growled Edmund in response. He looked down at the staff in his right hand. "When I get through with them, there won't be any them left." He looked up and saw that Caspian and Lucy had vanished.
"Hey, where did you go?" he called, spinning around. In the next second, a stallion flew past him and out the doorway of the stables. It was Destrier, Caspian's stallion and Lucy and Caspian were riding him bareback.
"Get back here!" Edmund roared. "Lucy Pevensie, I order you!" But he knew his efforts were futile. This was seconded by the sound of Lucy's joyful laughter drifting to him on the wind. He watched as Caspian and Lucy vanished into the forest, the bright rays of sunlight reflecting off of the leaves as they bounced back from being pushed aside by a galloping Destrier.
"Aslan is going to kill me," moaned Edmund, leaning the staff back against the wall.
-Meanwhile-
Caspian and Lucy were flying through the forest atop Destrier at speeds that were making Lucy slight nauseous. She had never gone that fast before.
"Caspian, can you please slow down a little?" she had to yell over the thundering of Destrier's hooves. Luckily Caspian heard her and slowed Destrier down to a trot before the stallion stopped completely. Sliding off of his back, the King held out his hand so that his beloved could slip down beside him. Instead he realized that she already gotten off by falling. Apparently, he hadn't realized when he had boosted her onto Destrier that she was sitting sidesaddle and at the breakneck pace they had been going, Lucy had slowly been falling off.
Reaching down, Caspian helped right her and then he leaned her against a nearby tree, placing a soft kiss upon her forehead.
"I missed you," he whispered, his voice velveteen against Lucy's skin. The Queen shivered and smiled.
"I missed you too." She could barely say the words, just the brush of his lips on her skin made her scorch like fire. She felt his lips pull into a smile before he spoke again.
"How much?" he asked her, his voice turning husky.
"Much more than you could ever know," Lucy murmured into his neck.
Caspian chuckled then, responding "Oh my love, I do believe you are mistaken."
Lucy bit down on her lip, feeling completely intoxicated by Caspian's presence. His voice sent shock waves through her making her stomach feel as if it were full of angry bees.
"Caspian?" she asked, surprised at how weak her voice sounded.
"Yes, my Queen?" His voice had grown much softer although it still seemed to vibrate through every part of Lucy's body.
"How mad do you think Edmund is?" she questioned him, her voice barely more then a whisper but somehow Caspian heard her.
"I think he's probably more mad at himself than us right now," answered Caspian as his right hand reached up to cup her cheek. Lucy felt like the tips were shooting tingles into her skin, where he traced her cheek, a trail of tingles would follow and a blush would rise.
After a moment of blissful silence, Caspian finally spoke again. "Lucy, love, do you trust me?"
"Of course," she answered without hesitation but confused with Caspian's question.
"Then please do not be alarmed when I do this," replied Caspian, who then proceeded to pull off his shirt. Lucy was about to make a sarcastic reply that he did that all the time when he suddenly wrapped his shirt around her eyes and tied it to make a blindfold.
"Um… Caspian?" began Lucy warily but she felt one of his fingers fall upon her lips, silencing her. When his finger left her lips, she felt both of his hands hold on to her wrists. He then began to slowly pull her forward.
"Come on, Destrier. Keep up," Caspian teased his stallion, who trotted up to be beside them. Lucy could feel the heat coming from the stallion's body and reached a hand out of Caspian's grasp, laying it instead on Destrier's side. She could feel his heart beating, strong and steady.
"Where are we going?" Lucy asked Caspian with a confused laugh. Caspian chuckled in response and continued to lead her forward.
"You'll see. We're going to have fun." The anticipation for what was to come in his voice was apparent and she felt her own body begin to buzz with excitement. Lucy stumbled slightly then and she felt Caspian's arms immediately reach out to steady her.
"Are you alright?" he asked her, concern laced through his silken voice.
"I'm fine," she laughed, steadying herself. "Perhaps you shouldn't have blindfolded me."
"You are exceedingly less graceful when blindfolded," responded Caspian. Lucy stopped then and put her hands on her hips. She heard Destrier stop beside her.
"Are you calling me clumsy?" she asked of his Majesty. As if to emphasize her question, Destrier snorted and stomped a hoof.
"Less graceful is what I said, my dear. However, if you want to make it the bluntly honest way… you are more clumsy when you are blindfolded," said Caspian. Lucy could hear the smirk in his voice.
"You're impossible," she sighed. "Now let's walk on to whatever doom you are sending me to." Caspian laughed and Destrier continued to walk beside them again. They continued on for a while until Caspian spoke again.
"Now wait right here for a moment," he commanded, halting her forward trek by stopping walking himself. Lucy bumped into his chest with a thud.
"And if I don't?" she asked defiantly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Lucy puckered her lips in a pout when Caspian's answer was a chuckle that made his chest rumble.
"Then you will have ruined the surprise, my love," he said, lightly caressing her scowling face.
Lucy tapped her slippered foot impatiently.
"You'll need to take those off, by the way," added Caspian, as if noticing for the first time that she was wearing shoes. Lucy could hear the crunching of rocks underneath his riding boots. Rocks? Where were they? And what that was loud rushing sound?
"Caspian?" called the Valiant Queen, taking a few hesitant steps forward. "Caspian, where are you?" She reached her hands out in front of her.
"I'm right here love," came his voice in answer, oddly sounding very far away. Lucy ripped off Caspian's makeshift blindfold and whirled around, trying to find the source of his beloved's voice.
To her surprise, it was his boots that she saw first, laying upon a cluster of rocks. Following the direction they were pointing, she looked up and saw her King standing knee-deep in a calm river. An amused giggle escaped her lips.
"Lucy, what did I say about the blindfold?" chided Caspian gently. Mist was spraying all around him and being shirtless, he looked like some sort of water god. Destrier was taking a drink nearby, about ten feet down the river.
"I'm sorry, it's just I heard rocks crunching and I heard rushing and I thought-" Lucy tried to explain but Caspian cut her off by holding up a hand in a universal stop signal.
"No need to explain dear," he said with a smile. "Now take off your slippers and come join me!" With that, he reached down and splashed at her with a wave that almost reached the skirts of her riding dress.
Lucy screeched with surprise before quickly reaching down to pull her slippers off as quickly as she could. Once off, she endured the pain of running over sharp rocks that made up the beach of the Ford of Beruna and jumped into Caspian's awaiting arms."Are your feet quite alright?" Caspian asked as he carried her bridal style further into the water."Yes, quite," said Lucy, giving him a quick kiss. "Now let's go swimming!" Sliding out of his arms, Lucy front-crawled further into the water, fully clothed. Caspian smirked at the sight of his fiancée, floundering about like a fish and laughing like a hyena. She really was a character.
"Come on Caspian!" she called with a giggle, reaching her arms out towards him.
Caspian dove into the water, swimming over to Lucy's waiting arms. Once he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her closer towards him, brushing her cheekbone with his lips.
"Lucy," he murmured against her wet skin. She shuddered, although not from the cold water.
Destrier had turned away from the edge of the river then and had decided to lay down in the grass that grew at the edge of the forest glade. Since he was bareback, he was comfortable and allowed to do this. Lucy looked from Caspian's face to Destrier.
"Here boy!" she called. "Come into the water with us!"
The stallion's ears pricked forward but Destrier showed no inclination of rising from his spot.
"Here boy!" Lucy continued to call.
"He's not a dog, you know," broke in Caspian.
"I know… I just want him to come swimming to cool down," answered Lucy.
"Did you consider that maybe he is cooling down in the shade of the trees?" asked Caspian of his fiancée. Lucy stopped calling Destrier and turned in Caspian's arms so that she was facing him again.
"No."
"Well, there you go," said the King sarcastically which earned him a splash to the face. "HEY!"
"You started it!" shrieked the Queen with laughter, reaching up on her tiptoes (since their feet could still touch) and kissing him on the lips. His arms tightened around her waist more and Lucy suddenly felt that she wanted nothing to more than to stay nestled against his warm chest like this forever.
Destrier snorted at some butterflies that had gathered around him back on shore. This made Lucy and Caspian break apart, Lucy giggling. The two royals watched as the butterflies danced around the stallion's head and near his ears, making them flick back and forth.
"Having fun, boy?" called Caspian with a laugh to Destrier, who returned the call with a look of annoyance. He continued to snort at the butterflies until they flew away.
"Looks like he's not having fun," answered Lucy for Destrier who neighed his agreement with her. She laughed again, the sun that reflected off the water cast patterns upon her face and lit up her eyes.
"Would I get brownie points if I told you how gorgeous you are right now?" asked the King of her.
"How do you know what brownie points are?" asked Lucy.
"We had a version of your Cub Scouts here in Narnia when I was a young boy. It was more of a group for young noble boys in my father's palace. I was head of the group since I was the prince."
"So in other words, all you little noble boys had a gang?" clarified Lucy.
"It wasn't a gang per say," said Caspian defensively. "Just a group."
"You're just a group," said Lucy, retorting.
"That doesn't make any sense," laughed Caspian.
"Sometimes comebacks don't make any sense," said Lucy.
"I guess that's logical," allowed Caspian, before he spun Lucy in his arms. "Now let's go."
They swam out to the middle of the river. Neither of them could touch and although the water was clear as glass, it was also freezing. But neither of the royals noticed this as they splashed each other and dove into the water. Caspian found Lucy a shell at the bottom of the river and placed it on the chain that hung around her neck, asking that she wear it on their wedding. She agreed, smiling.
