"You made invitations."

"Yes, dear."

"For a ball?"

"Yes, dear."

"For me?"

Susan huffed. "You make it so difficult to be in a good mood, Liana!" rolling her eyes, the young queen folded up the yard of silk she had been looking at and tossed it onto the bed. "As I was saying, you've already worn green to the ball we held a month ago, and blue to the one before that. Perhaps you should wear red this time."

Liana gaped at her. "Susan, I'm afraid you don't understand what I mean. Th-the ball has invitations!"

"Of course it does. You're marrying a king! Did you think we were going to put up a sign at the door?" Susan glared. "You said yes, you knew this would happen!"

Liana groaned and buried her face into her hands, ignoring Susan as she sighed and left the room with the cloth. In any normal circumstances Liana would have been horrified at her conduct, but currently she felt like screaming. Balls, invitations, decorations, greetings, letters; it was all getting to be much more than she had anticipated when she had said yes to Edmund over a month ago. Logically, she had known it wouldn't be easy, but she had expected something small. Perhaps a dinner or some sort, her appearance at a few balls, and that was that. Her status as a commoner certainly hadn't changed, and yet Susan seemed to be throwing an engagement ball fit for a queen.

"Dinner will be served soon, Healer Liana," Lyra's quiet purr interrupted her thoughts. Liana jumped, forgetting that Lyra had been in the room with them. The cheetah looked a little sympathetic. "Perhaps you would like to take a walk and clear your head before we go down."

Liana winced. She had taken a walk the day before, with Edmund, an hour or so before dinner. She knew that he had known how busy the gardens were at such a time, but the hesitance in his voice when he had asked her had made her unable to say no lest he take it as a rejection. His smile had been uncontrollable after that, and Liana had calmly borne the stares and whispers until she had reached the safety of her room, whereupon she had collapsed onto the sofa and shut her eyes for over an hour, unable to sleep but unwilling to move.

"I think I'll just go directly to dinner, Lyra," said Liana weakly. "I feel a little ill."

Lyra inclined her head slightly. "We could always ask for your meals to be delivered here if you are not willing to go down, Healer Liana."

"I don't want to cause a fuss."

"Should you truly fall ill there shall be a greater fuss," Lyra stood from her perch at the foot of the divan and padded towards the door. "I shall go see to it. The King is out until tomorrow."

"He is?" Liana frowned. She had been in the Houses since sunrise and hadn't seen Edmund the entire day. "Where is he?"

"There was a sighting in the village a few miles away, and he went to see it for himself. Also, I believe the queen had been insistent on taking him for a fitting of some sort," there was no mistaking the humour in Lyra's tone. "Of course, your safety came above all so she had to reschedule it."

Liana giggled. If there was one person who hated all the fuss more than she did, it was Edmund. But whereas she was concerned about the effort that was being put into her engagement, Edmund wanted everyone to hurry up just so they could get married. Liana smiled fondly at the thought; his excitement was anything but annoying.

Seeing that she was preoccupied, Lyra slipped out of the door and it shut behind her. Liana locked it and stepped back, sighing as she picked up a few dresses that lay scattered on the floor. Susan had gone through her cupboards first, throwing to the ground over half the clothes Liana owned and declaring them completely inappropriate for the fiancé of a king. Liana was sure that by the morrow Susan would have an army of dressmakers ready to make her as many clothes as any woman could want. She smiled despite herself and unwillingly kept the dresses aside instead of putting them back. As much as she disliked the notion, Susan was not wrong. She was King Edmund's betrothed and it would not do for her to look as poor as she truly was.

Or pretended to be, at least.

Liana squeezed her eyes shut at the thought, as if the mere pressure could take her mind off such things. Talking of finances made her glance at her desk, where a sealed letter lay. The handwriting was unmistakably that of her brother, but Liana hadn't had the courage to open it. It sounded pathetic, but she had hoped that Edmund would be with her when she did, since in her last letter she had once more asked for her nieces back and also informed him of her engagement. She knew he would not object, since an advantageous marriage had always been something Rinas had wanted her for, but she also knew that he was still sore over her rejection of the Count, despite the fact that she had also written to tell him for her injury at his hands. Still, if Edmund was not returning until tomorrow she knew she couldn't delay much longer. Sighing, she sat down and tore open the letter.

Dearest sister,

It gives me great joy to hear of your engagement. I always knew you would do well for yourself and our family, despite that last failed attempt. Nevertheless, we will not dwell on the past, and I did promise you that once we stepped foot on Narnian soil we would put all of those mistakes behind us. I will only remind you to be careful of your heart, since it will not do to get attached to a king. We all know how fickle they can be.

Your engagement opens many doors for Merda and Salayna as well, and I hope you know your duties as an aunt will remain what they always were. I am putting both children on a boat back for Narnia as I write this, and they shall be with you within a fortnight. The nurse you hired will accompany them, of course, and I am sending some meagre finances and a few tokens that I am sure my wife and our mother would have wanted you to have for such an occasion.

My camp is deployed here until further notice but I look forward to being able to attend your wedding. Once again, dear sister, congratulations.

Rinas

Liana shuddered as she put the letter down. Trust Rinas to bring up the past when she least wanted to relive it. Still, his reaction was better than what she had thought it may be. He hadn't mentioned the Count, and his tone was as formal and doting as ever. Liana loved her brother more than any other being in the world, but she could not forgive his faults. Materialism was one of them.

"Not that you're much different," she muttered to herself as she tossed the letter back onto the desk and leaned back in her chair. A glance at her discarded dresses made her flinch. She didn't want to be materialistic, but she had always been so. Edmund could look after her, he loved her and as he had proven time and again he would do anything for her. As far as suitors went, he was ideal, for who could do better than a king? She wouldn't even have met him had it not been for his title, but she knew without a doubt that had she met him as a street beggar in Tashban, she would still love him just as much.

She had admitted her faults to him, and he had seemed to think that her preoccupation with her future and the way she wanted to live her life helped his chances. But he didn't know the full story. Liana bit her lip and glanced at the letter again. Not too long ago she had told him that she had secrets, that there were things she was not ready to tell him. It was true: she could never be fully honest with him, not after her dream about Aslan, but she didn't want to hurt him. If their wedding happened before he left, there was no way they could avoid inviting someone from her home country. It only took one person and one name to tell everyone what she had done, and then chaos would ensue. She would have to tell Edmund, and soon. Banishing every noble from her wedding was impossible and he deserved to know the truth regardless of the consequences, since they would affect her and no one else.

!

"You did well today, Edmund," Orius's voice was low as the trudged through the forest. "I always knew you would be an excellent hunter."

Edmund snorted. "I always thought I would hunt animals, Orius, not humans."

"That man is worse than a Dumb Beast," growled the centaur. "My wife told me of Healer Liana's pain. The child did not deserve what he put her through."

"Nor did the woman we had to pry him off of," said Edmund darkly. His hands clenched into fists. "Did you-"

"There are not many women in Narnia with eyes that blue and hair that dark," interrupted Orius somberly. "I saw what you saw. An unfortunate coincidence."

"Coincidence?" Edmund snorted. "He's infatuated with my fiancé. We both know it, might as well say it."

"And now that we have caught him we can make sure he never sees her again," Orius patted Edmund's bank gently. "Be easy, Edmund. Healer Liana will be safe now. You ought to ride ahead so you can tell her the news yourself."

Edmund shrugged off his friend's arm. He had a splitting headache and he knew this was Orius' way of offering him rest, but he couldn't take it. The Count was finally in custody, bound and gagged and tossed atop one of the horses with guards on either side. He wasn't going anywhere, but Edmund couldn't bring himself to trust anyone. Not after what Ronas had done.

"I want to meet with the other prisoner when we get back," he said gruffly. "Perhaps now that we have caught his friend he will be more willing to talk."

Orius merely inclined his head in assent. "Young Ronas was a good warrior."

Edmund shook his head. "He cared about status too much," he said wearily. "But he was a good friend too."

"Until he tried to hurt Healer Liana," murmured Orius. "This must be difficult for you."

Edmund shrugged again. "Lets try and return to Cair Paravel before sunrise, shall we?"

"As you wish, King Edmund."

!

The click of the door as it shut caused Liana to wake up immediately, but she was careful not to move. Her hand closed around the dagger that she kept under her pillow and she fought to keep her breathing even. Her room was dark, and though she knew Lyra was outside she couldn't help but bite her lip anxiously. The sun hadn't even risen yet. She was debating whether or not to sit up and start screaming when she heard a grunt as someone collided with the desk. She let out a breath and sat up, pushing the covers off and reaching out a hand to touch Edmund's arm. He winced when he saw that she was awake.

"Sorry," he sounded exhausted. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Its alright," Liana frowned. "What happened? You weren't supposed to be back until the morning."

"We found him," Edmund turned back to the desk and continued fumbling with the light armour he was wearing. Liana froze at his words, her fingers still wrapped around his forearm. "He was in some house, a few of his men were holding an old woman and her family hostage. Apparently he had taken a fancy to one of the daughters," he sounded disgusted. "We caught him before he hurt her."

His words jolted Liana back to her senses. Her breath caught in her throat. "Is she alright? Do you want me to take a look at her? Should I-"

"She's fine," he interrupted. He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "We had Lias. He made sure she was fine," Edmund finally gave up on the chainmail shirt and turned to face Liana, holding her face in his hands and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I'm sorry I came in here, but I had to see you and tell you myself. Peter wants to question him personally tomorrow, and he may ask you to come as well. I couldn't stop him, I'm sorry."

"When did you get back that you had time to meet Peter?"

"Less than fifteen minutes ago," Edmund looked sheepish. "It wasn't much of a meeting. I opened his bedroom door and told him what happened, he threw a pillow at me and told his guard about the meeting he wanted to have and went back to sleep."

Liana couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "You interrupted the High King's sleep. You got what you deserved."

Edmund hummed in reply and kissed her hair. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Liana sighed. "You're not hurt at all?"

"No, love, just a headache."

"Do you want something for it?"

"Just sleep," he kissed her neck this time.

His words were slowly becoming mumbles. Liana took a deep breath and willed her shaking hands to steady themselves before gently pushing him back slightly and beginning to undo his shirt. "Yes, you're exhausted, you need rest."

"Perhaps I should return to my room," his voice was reluctant, and he made no effort to move.

Liana resisted the urge to smile. "You just caught the man who was trying to kill me, Edmund," she helped him take off the mail and tugged him towards the bed. "I think I can allow you to break the rules tonight."

Edmund gave her a tired smile. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Liana shook her head laughingly and settled under the covers, allowing Edmund to pull her against his chest. She gave him a quick kiss. "I'm glad you're safe."

"As am I," he laced their fingers together. "Did you have a nice day?"

Liana's smile flickered, but Edmund's eyelids were drooping and she knew he hadn't noticed. She squeezed his hand. "Sleep, Edmund. We can talk in the morning."

Edmund mumbled a reply and buried his face into her hair, sighing in contentment. His grip was a little tight, and Liana made a note to ask him about it in the morning. She bit her lip and soothingly ran her fingers through his hair, willing him to sleep and give her one more day before she had to explain everything to him.