Peter
She was delicious.
As sweet as the richest wine from the Marshes, her lips just as lush to touch as they were to the eyes, her hair felt like crude silk in my hands, and her tongue in my mouth warm enough to remind of my hearth's roaring fire, and she was tempting just as much.
And I, weak and raw in my soul, fell to that temptation. I stumbled and tumbled upon evil, let my selfish, mortal desires mold and break my soul, pierce my courage, and burn the control in the flames of lust.
Weak.
I was weak.
Aviso rolled me to my chest, his grip harsh and brutal and unloving. He despised me and he showed it passively. I writhed as Kaios pinned my legs and Aviso tied my wrists behind me. They hauled me to my feet, sturdy arms locked with mine, dragging me forward like a goat being taken to be slayed. I growled at them, thrashing, but they merely pushed me towards the armoured guards. And the men shoved me into the carriage. The door closed and locked and I lied down.
She was delicious and tempting.
And I too weak to resist it, the lusting desire.
No.
No, I wasn't strong. Not as my brother was.
It was the winter after Edmund's seventeenth birthday, and my dear loving brother was finally of marriageable age—at least, by Ovorphion standards. Ambassadors from Ovorph, the distant island nation had visited last year. And to my and my siblings' delight, they were open-minded and a party not uncongenial. Our views matched on several topics. Rumours of advanced war machinery building in Ovorph had travelled to the East Coast years ago, and their sole female ambassador took liberty to broach the subject. We wined and dined lavishly in the Eastern Hall, sounds of celebrations filling our ears. And I, under the infliction of wine, never noticed Edmund's discomfort.
Not when he spilled the wine, and then hastily left the table to fetch a dry cloth, but Susan had implored him to sit down. Not when he hissed and squeaked, receiving suspicious glances, only to give them a dismissing wave. Not when his face flamed red, and knuckles blanched around the glass he was gripping tightly. Not when he whispered my name. I had only squeezed his hand, ensuring the party would end soon. But when he'd teared up and left abruptly, I resolved to go after him.
Susan stopped me.
And soon, I was dining with my friends and family, having not another care. I didn't notice when the female ambassador left.
That night, ready to collapse on my bed and fall into a dreamless slumber, I was sauntering through the west corridor of our Wing. I passed by Edmund's door, thought if I should check on him, but judged by the silence that he was fast asleep. I had turned the knob to my room when the growl came.
"Get out now!"
I, along with the guards on duty, was already running towards his chambers when a flustered and very improperly dressed ambassadress was pushed out of the room. My eyes widened at her sight.
"Leave," had said my brother's voice, still invisible beyond the door. A bundle of clothes was thrown at her. And the door clamped shut.
I watched her, befuddled, as she hastily wrapped herself in a robe and was then carefully escorted away by Edmund's guards. My own guards persisted to stay with me, but I dismissed them. "Send Achemus," I said before they left, knowing Edmund needed a friend.
But I, as a brother, had to try.
"Ed?" I said, knocking at his door.
The door opened, unexpectedly, and I stood frozen for a second. Before he threw himself at me and cried out his griefs. He only slept after talking to Achemus for almost an hour.
I knew then: he was stronger than me. He always was. Always.
Presently, I sat up clumsily and straightened when the door opened. Surprisingly, Kaios maneuvered his large body in through the narrow door.
"Ah," he said, finally managing to be stuffed in, and closed the door promptly. He looked at me.
"What?"
The carriage rolled forward in answer and I could do little to counter the force with my hands tied. My head bashed mercilessly against the seat behind me. The fluffier cushions saved me from the worst, but some of them were stone-hard. I growled in frustration, kicking the seat in front of me again. An identical boot-print was drawn beside the first one. And I smiled in satisfaction again. But no Edmund teased me this time.
"Child," said Kaios.
"I'm sorry?" I feigned surprise, but the insulted look was true.
"You're a child," he repeated with conviction. "A fool to refuse Selene. A fool to then cry after knowing the pleasure to have her to yourself." He sighed. "Turn around. your coat is covered in mud."
"No."
He sighed again, exasperated. "Trust me, King. you don't want to look like a slave in front of Tromin."
Truly, Galma was a beautiful country. The journey from the docks to the palace was long, and we passed several terrains, crossed a slanting hill, and followed a curved path around a mountain I did not know had existed.
The Varalace valley, where I had fallen to temptation, was only the barest glimpse of the extent of the allure. The valley was barren, the river cutting along the mountain's path had long so dried, leaving a shallow chasm that ran across the rolling hills surrounding the valley. The place was dusty and the white houses almost too luminous and bright to be looked at. But the beauty, however, lay in the small patches of green protruding out of the most unexpected and uncertain places. Like a rose blooming in the desert. A river to quench the wanderer's thirst. The likelihood of finding the green, dancing trees was slim. And that made every sight special.
The valley ended in a smoother and plainer terrain, with almost no hills in sight. The clouds soared above idly as we crossed the open grassland. With no trees to shadow us from the sun, the riders hissed and growled in the heat and the itch from the sun's scorch. We stopped, at Aviso's command and Malar's evident dismay. The riders and the horses were allowed water and they drank it hastily enough to choke. Then soon enough, before I could even set my mind on a possible escape route, we were galloping again, watching the blades of grass as they lashed to and fro beautifully in the wind blowing inland from the sea. I wondered, oh, yes, I did, if this was the wind aiding my siblings' sail. Had they discovered Selene's trickery? Were they, at this very hour, sailing to Fiemàn, to me, for my freedom? Or were they too far? Had they given up? I shook myself. Nonsense.
'He's gone…there was no point.'
My sobbing breaths made Kaios turn. "Miss your family?"
I turned away, determined to not let him see my tears.
Gazing out of the window, I realised we were out of the grassland and ascending up a slope. Oaks surrounded us as we followed a crooked path up the hill. I spotted wild beasts there: a golden deer was drinking water from a small lake when it flinched at our sight and vanished into a thicket. A bear, beavers, rabbits, tigers, robins and ravens, and—And lions. They, of course, did not share even a fraction of Aslan's sheer glory. But I felt—oh, I felt the air thin and my tears dry. I felt peace, knowing, knowing He was with me. Always.
After the hill, we followed a circular path around a mountain. Its peak was hidden beyond the clouds its sheer height surpassed. I had poked my head out of the small window, staring at the clouds as we passed. But Kaios pulled me back in, rolling his eyes and huffing at me. I frowned and continued to gaze out of the window, rubbing the glass that he'd rolled up with my tied hands. Fog hovered low above the ground. The trees were damp with dew and I shivered in the cold, even with the coat on.
Kaios offered me his cloak but I declined his offer. He shrugged and wrapped it around himself securely, as if jeering me over my own foolish pride.
I then rested my head against the window and closed my eyes.
And I slept.
I woke to a weight dropping heavily against my arm. I was still dizzy and hazed, and my tired mind assumed the most probable possibility. "Ed. Eddie, it's time to wake up," I said with my eyes still closed, trying to shake my brother awake.
You wake up first, you dolt, I'd expected him to say.
"Not your brother and certainly not 'Eddie'."
I jostled awake, startling away from him. But the cloak wrapped around me restricted my movement. My hands had been untied. He stretched his hands and pulled up his feet to rest on the seat in front of us, crossing them at the ankle, yawning loudly.
The carriage was darker than I remembered and I realised dusk was breaking through the sky.
"We stopped for two hours when you were asleep," Kaios said, resting his head on his crossed arms, closing his eyes. "We're almost there. So, you might want to make that crow's nest look regal."
"What?" I said, confused. But then I realised. The cloak dropped on the seat as I pulled out my hands to comb my dishevelled hair.
Kaios opened one eye to look at me. "We could be friends, you know. If you could only see her for who she really is."
He closed his eye again. I stared at him. "She tried to burn my only brother alive."
"She could have burned the whole castle."
I clenched my fists, supressing the wish to punch his teeth out. "She drugged me, tortured me—"
"She hasn't so much as cut you. Even after you stabbed her."
"She—she—that girl! Razia!"
"Razia has been taken care of. She's alive."
"But she—she—she—"
Kaios opened his eyes and turned to me. "She what, Peter? Yes, yes, she's cruel. She's viscous and likes to kill people. But when she loves, she just loves. If you accept her, you can have your family and kingdom back. you can have your freedom back. And you can have her. The greatest prize there is."
I shook my head. "You can't fool me. Why do you even try? I know you want Narnia. She wants Nar—"
"No, Peter. Her father does." He closed his eyes again and settled on his seat, crossing his legs again, head dropping back with a content sigh. "But she only wants you."
I rebuffed him and he shrugged. I wrapped the cloak around me again, then realised it was Kaios's, and squarely threw it at him. He never moved. I rolled my eyes and rubbed the window to get rid of the dew.
When I could see through the evening darkness clearly, I gaped.
I was sure the castle had not been that big five years ago.
My eyes shifted to the iron gates standing open with so many people awaiting our—no, my arrival.
And there, back straight as a pole, I saw the King Tromin. He looked somehow older than the last time I saw him. Mere days ago.
"That man," hissed Kaios without moving or opening his eyes, "will be your death."
OOOO
Author's note: Well? Oh, and I remembered it was Thanksgiving in America this Thursday! Happy Thanksgiving to all the American folks then!
Response to P: To your kind, kind words, I can only say, THANK YOU!
With love,
~Pacifia