A/N: Hello everyone! Before anything, I just wanted to say that if any of you lovely readers doesn't like pseudo-explicit scenes, feel free to skip half of this chapter. Anyway, enjoy!

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Chapter 18

Eirene woke up two hours before dawn. She was restless; she spent all night hoping Lucy would be back with the company of her siblings, but most importantly, with her brother. She wondered how he grew up to be like. Did Caspian have their father's looks, just like Eirene did? Or did he resemble their mother? What had he been up to all these years?

It had finally stopped raining, and Eirene dressed as quickly as she could. She grabbed a cloak to keep herself warm in the wee hours of the morning, but she suspected that by noon humidity would rise and she'd need the cloak no longer.

She stepped outside her tent and saw how the evaporation of the morning dew. She made her way towards the improvised stable, enjoying the fresh air and the clarity of the morning after heavy rain.

By the time Lucy reached the stable, Eirene had been already pacing it for half an hour.

"Oh, Eirene!"

"Good morning, Lucy. I wanted to see you off, and thank you once again," Eirene said, as she began helping Lucy set up her horse. She failed to notice Edmund, standing right behind them.

Lucy was already on the horse when she noticed her brother.

"Ed!" she said, surprised. Eirene turned too and felt her insides stir when she saw him.

He was squinting his eyes, with sunlight hitting him exactly on the face. It allowed Eirene to notice details she hadn't been able to observe before. She breathed in shakily. His hair had shy tints of red that gave his dark mass of curls dimension. His eyes looked like burning caramel under the sunlight.

"Well, I'll be back in a blink! Tomorrow at noon at most. I hope that when I see you again it is with good company," Lucy said excitedly.

"Be safe, Lu," Edmund said, and Eirene bowed her head slightly.

Edmund patted the horse off and both watched as Lucy rode away, into the forest in the direction of Glassware Creek.

The distance between them burnt them both. When Lucy was out of sight, Eirene turned around to him. She watched as he clenched his jaw, his facial muscles flexing gracefully. Eirene noticed how the light morning breeze moved his white linen shirt and plastered it to his body. She made the silhouette of his arm muscles and once again felt everything within her stir. How she longed to touch him.

For a second she let her mind imagine how it would feel to run to his embrace and to dive her hands into his curls and pull his face close enough for her to kiss him. For a second, she also let herself imagine how it would be if the kiss transcended into something else—

But she cleared her throat, and her mind, too. She knew that had to address other things before she could listen to her physical needs.

"Edmund," she said his name, and felt every syllable burn her mouth, "I need to speak to you."

Edmund turned around gracefully.

"Whatever you need," he said, sincerely.

"I—well, I perhaps need to apologize first. Yesterday, I overheard that—"

But Eirene was interrupted by Reepicheep and his mice running between the tall grass towards them and calling loudly for them.

"Your graces!" Reepicheep said from far away. Edmund's heart dropped, something's wrong, he thought immediately.

Reepicheep caught up to them and stood on his hind legs, heaving from the sprint.

"Excuse the interruption, my lady," he said, "but we need your help, Edmund."

"What's wrong?" Eirene asked, alarmed.

"Oh, not to worry your grace," Reep said, still panting, "it's just, we need all hands on deck. Two lookout posts are about to tumble down from the harsh storms of the previous days—"

"What do you need help with?" Edmund said immediately, turning to the mouse.

"We need manpower, your grace," Reep said, starting to turn around, "time is of the essence."

"Where to?" Edmund asked, ready to bolt in that direction.

"This way, your grace!"

"Edmund!" Eirene called in his direction before he left. She couldn't help the feeling that he was avoiding talking to her.

He stopped in his tracks and looked back at her with particular seriousness. He knew that he had to explain things to her. He now understood that she had the right to know what he did. There was no point in keeping her in the dark.

But he also knew that the news he would disclose to her was sensitive. They needed to speak in a quiet and secluded place. He tightened his lips.

"The lake. Today, in the afternoon?"

Eirene quickly scanned her memories for a nearby lake. She remembered it was a few meters within the woods, a body of water that was somewhere between the size of a pond and a lake, but it was the source of water for all of the camp. Eirene nodded.

As the sun made its way across the sky, temperatures and humidity rose. Eirene was thankful for the sun since it helped her brighten her spirits, but heat confused her thoughts.

Why did Edmund he ask her to come to the lake? Why such a secluded place?

Her mind raced with a million questions, and she couldn't seem to be able to respond to any of them. Pacing no longer helped to calm her mind, and the heat didn't help any of her stress. Eirene settled under the shade of a tree that stood in one of the flanks of the How.

She panned over the camp, her mind still busy. It was then that her eyes inevitably fell on Edmund's silhouette.

Watching him felt like a balm soothing her chaotic mind. And it truly was difficult to focus on anything else when her only sight was Edmund Pevensie amongst Minotaurs, bears, and giants, helping move wooden structures around camp. Her eyes were glued to him unintentionally.

From that same distance, she was able to make out how his entire body was covered in sweat, and how his shirt stuck to his body. She was also able to make out perfectly well his muscles when he helped to lift heavy rocks to make watch-out posts. With the shy stolen looks she got from him, she watched him roll up his sleeves, and how the veins in his arms were more prominent now because of the heat. His cheeks were now scarlet, his freckles disguised themselves in his blush. She saw him take a jug of water and chugged it down. He wiped the sweat off his brow with his forearm.

Eirene felt like she had been staring for far too long, and just as she was about to turn away, her eyes were met with Edmund's. Her whole world shook, and her cheeks turned scarlet just like his, except that hers were red out of embarrassment.

How rude and inappropriate of her to be watching him—she knew that, and yet she was still unable to turn away. Edmund refused to break the locked gaze as well. He grabbed a cloth and patted his hands against it, getting them clean. All without breaking eye contact with Eirene. His mouth was agape as he stood tall, tilting his head backward as she watched her.

Eirene remained bewitched until she saw Edmund mouthing the word "lake". Eirene nodded and Edmund turned to say goodbye to the Narnians he'd been working with. Eirene saw him eventually get lost in the scrubby start of the forest. She gathered a deep breath herself before following him.

After she exhaled deeply, she let go of every other distracting thought. She'd ask him about what she'd heard the previous night first, nothing more. She repeated that to herself over and over as she made her way across that same path that Edmund had gone through.

Air had a particular way of whistling around in Narnia, making lullabies with any object it encountered. Light filtered through the forest cover, the warm dying rays of the day. Eirene was able to make out the glistening lake up ahead of her. She took another breath in, feeling the cool breeze weigh with the humidity that the lake brought to it.

She advanced further into the forest and saw Edmund standing by the edge of the lake, his back facing her. He watched the small waves coming to shore, somewhat lost in his thoughts, too.

Eirene made her footsteps apparent when she stepped into the gravel of the lake, but Edmund didn't notice. Still, a few feet ahead of her, she watched how he took his shirt off without much thought. As hard as she tried, she couldn't take her eyes away from his figure.

As Edmund left his dirtied linen shirt on a rock, Eirene snapped out of it. She called out to him before he started stripping off any further.

"Fancy a swim?" he said after Eirene called his name. He didn't wait for an answer, though. He simply took off his boots and dived into the lake.

He felt the cold water splash against his reddened skin and felt a swarm of relief. He opened his eyes, finding that the water was crystal clear. The golden hour rays plunged into the water as well, giving it golden clarity. He knew there only was an hour or so before dark, so he enjoyed the underwater view. He submerged himself, with everything else melting away. There were no thoughts, nothing but that instant.

Eirene waited for a second, and she watched Edmund's upper half of his body emerging from the water, his bare and freckled back towards her. He ran his fingers through his wet hair as if he remained unaware of her presence.

"It's quite refreshing here," he said, his head turned back halfway.

"Is that supposed to be an invitation?" Eirene asked, humor within her question.

"If you'd like," he said plainly. His words shook her, riled her, and pacified her at the same time.

Eirene would have been lying if she said that her thoughts were clear and focused on simply asking him his conversation with Lucy. Her eyes kept looking at the beautiful canvas of defined muscles of his back, water dripping off every crevice on his skin. His shoulders were wide, painting an outline that trailed down just over the top of the water, over his lower hips and his pants.

Eirene knew that she had a choice to make. She could leave, as she should, and consult him on another occasion. Or she could stay, and give in to what her instincts were telling her to do.

She swallowed, realizing that she couldn't take her mind off Edmund's body, much less when the memory of that almost-kiss that was still fresh on her lips. As she began to breathe in, she realized she had made a highly inappropriate choice. She knew it, and yet she didn't have the willpower to fight it.

As he stretched his arms over his head, displaying his artist-sculpted arms and shoulders, Eirene took her hands to the top knot of her dress. As her hands riddled down, she felt an electrifying warmth filling her whole body. She didn't know exactly what kind of effect Edmund had on her, but she was about to give in to it, fully and completely.

She exhaled fire when she let her dress drop under her shoulders. The fabric thudded against the pebbles, leaving her dressed only in a sheer nightgown. The sound made Edmund turned his face around again, the afternoon light contouring his profile lightly. Eirene removed her boots and walked over to the shore of the lake.

She basked in the feeling of the cold water up to her ankles. It was a nice contrast, compared to the flames roaring inside her body. She was able to make out her nipples hardening from under her flimsy undergarment.

Eirene kept on walking into the lake, the tips of her hair dampening as soon as the water reached her waist. Her gown started weighing on her shoulders, and a cold breeze made her shiver.

Before Eirene could reach Edmund, he swam again to the farthest part of the lake, where his feet no longer touched the lake bed. He closed his eyes as he slowly submerged himself. Edmund breathed out and within those chaotic oxygen-filled bubbles, he saw a silhouette close to him. It was Eirene swimming next to him, her white nightgown colliding against her body, giving her the appearance of a mermaid.

He held his breath a little bit longer while she emerged to gather another breath. He watched move her dress about, some shadows teasing to reveal intimate parts of her body. The water caressed her body, and it seemed an otherworldly experience.

Edmund swam as close to her as his lungs allowed him. He emerged to the surface briefly to gather a breath. When he dived back in, he followed Eirene's dancing dress to the shallower part of the lake. Her hair was flowing freely, hypnotizing, and somewhat petrified in the liquid.

When Eirene emerged, Edmund followed suit. Their feet touched the sandy bottom, and if they stood, the water reached up to their hips once again. When she stood, he did too. He watched as her dress clung around her hips and thighs as she advanced. The fabric of her left shoulder had fallen but revealed nothing.

Eirene, perfectly aware of his wandering eyes, smiled slightly. She slowly submerged herself back into the water as Edmund remained standing.

Eirene swam around him, and Edmund's mind was already rushing with all the possibilities of that situation. His mouth fell open as he figured his pants clung to his skin as well. Given the characteristic visibility of water in Narnia, he was sure that Eirene was able to make out every inch of his body.

He felt flames licking his entire skin, and figured the sight of his lower body. It was no sight to be ashamed of, he was sure enough, but he didn't know if it was the proper moment for it.

Part of him wanted to dive back into the water and cover his manhood—the decent part of him would have. But she had accepted his invitation to swim after all. She took off her dress out of her own free will. Edmund figured that in that case, decency most likely wasn't in her mind neither.

He knew that there was no better cure for a heavy mind than a few minutes of intimacy with someone; a moment where he could get lost among the sensations of his skin and someone else's. The moment where sweat and summer heat didn't matter but instead accentuated the intensity of the act. And how he longed for intimacy with Eirene.

Eirene emerged eventually, her chest heaving, standing only a few meters away from him. Edmund desperately wanted to feast on the scene, on her beautiful olive skin, radiating in the sun. Instead, his eyes remained glued to hers. He noticed how her eyelashes are were shedding water droplets and had to inhale deeply.

Eirene in turn enjoyed watching Edmund from relative proximity. His brown eyes were painted gold around the edges, a reflection of the remaining sunset. His mouth was half-open, with pink pultruding lips. His face was red from his exposure to the sun's rays, but the look suited him. Everything about him was a sight for sore eyes.

She let her eyes trail down into his defined abdomen, just as she had imagined it was. Her eyes had trailed further down, although the water now covered his lower body. She'd seen his excitement when she had been underwater, and that sight inflamed her in turn. Fire, she was sure, now lived in between her legs.

Licking her lips, Eirene reduced the space between them to mere inches. Her questions about the conversation she'd overheard the previous night suddenly became irrelevant. She couldn't even remember them. The only thing she wanted was for him to strip her off her clothes, and feel his skin against hers.

Both had known the bliss that having another person's body could bring to their own in the past. Yet, this craving seemed different; deeper and somewhat greedier than anything they had experienced before.

It became clear at that moment that they both wanted one another just as much. But it was all just a game of seeing who would give in first.

Edmund let his eyes trail down her eyes, onto her lips, and her chest. Edmund noticed how her gown had now fallen down both her shoulders. It still held on to her upper arm and her silhouetted breasts. He was able to make out her shiny olive skin under her clothes and wondered how it would taste on his lips. Edmund wet his lips with his tongue.

Edmund extended his hand to her, slowly. His palm was wide open towards her, his fingers already somewhat calloused. The shy light from the sunset outlined the trail of veins connecting in his forearm. Eirene extended her own to take it, accepting his invitation.

It was an endless show of electrical shocks when their skin touched one another. Half of her body felt the sparks trailing up and down, and her mind was blank, thinking of nothing but his touch.

"Won't you pull me closer?" Eirene said as she leaned her head on her right shoulder. Without any more thought, Edmund reduced the distance between them, and both the tips of their noses were now touching.

"Would it be fair if I touched you?" He asked lowly, "would you want me to?"

Eirene said nothing. Instead, she took his elongated fingers and placed his palm on her shoulder. His thumb touched her neck. She craned her neck to the opposite side, goosebumps erupting in her skin.

"You needn't ask," she gasped lowly.

At her command, Edmund slid his hand down her shoulder, watching her close her eyes at his touch. He grabbed the rim of her nightgown and tried to pull it down to her hips completely.

Ariadne placed her hand in the middle of her bosom, stopping the trajectory of the fabric. Edmund immediately stopped and took his hand away from hers. He said nothing, searching her expression.

"Kiss me first," she instructed. "Please."

Edmund did as she bid, and found her nose against his.

"Would it be fair of me to touch you, too?" she said.

"Please," Edmund sighed huskily, "do."

Eirene placed her hand at the point where his jawline met his neck. She followed that line with her index finger until it reached his lips. She trailed them as she felt Edmund's hand reach to the back of her head.

She sighed as she realized how badly she'd wanted this moment to happen. She closed her eyes as leaned closer to him, her nose touching his upper lip. Edmund immediately opened his lips slightly, but Eirene wanted to tease him some more.

She felt his hot breath on her skin. The idea of feeling that same breath in other parts of her body made her yearn for him even more.

Edmund's hand was still at her head, and he began to caress it in slow circles. He inclined his head to the side, and Eirene fully opened her mouth. Eirene wanted to keep on tempting him even more, but she was the one who was about to lose all patience.

She eliminated any centimeters between them and reached for his lower lip. It was softer than she could have ever imagined—and tasted like freshly fallen snow. She dwelled deeper into his mouth, both her hands grabbing him by his jawline.

Edmund nibbled on her upper lip for a while, before switching to her lower lip. It was full and tasted like roses. Eirene dipped her tongue inside his, and he lunged his own into her mouth.

The sounds of their kisses blended with the water around them, with the ripples and the waves. She could feel his pulse, throbbing at his throat. He could make out her ache in every breath she drew in surprise when he bit her lip. He trickled his hand along her neck, feeling her heartbeat there, too. She slowly moved her fingers and began to decrease the speed of the kiss. It made Edmund feel like he had lost all gravity around him.

When Eirene opened her eyes, and slowly pulled away from him, a smile appeared on her lips. She looked at Edmund, still with his eyes closed, and placed her forehead against his. His eyebrows were knitted together, and his lids shut tightly.

He began to move his hand from her neck to her waist. He slowly opened his eyes and Eirene caught his hands in her own. She grabbed both of his wrists and spoke with a voice that was somewhere between a sigh and a moan.

"I want you to touch me— just do it slowly..." she said, running the palm of both her hands against his and intertwining his fingers with hers.

"Take your time," she continued and used his hands as a base to pull her entire body closer to him, not just his face.

Edmund began to lower his body back down into the water, and Eirene alongside him. He sat on the sandy lake bed, his legs extended in front of him. Eirene knelt in front of him, too.

She moved closer to him, and leaned into his ear, placing her left hand at the start of his back, and her right elbow on his left shoulder.

"I want to savor this—savor you," she whispered in his ear.

Before Edmund could reply, she placed herself exactly on top of him, tempting both him and herself in the process.

As she held herself on top of him, her knees being her main support, she realized that she could feel their desire then. She could act on it, too. It was simple enough—she only had to undo the lace of his pants and lower herself down exactly as she was. It was just a matter of a single movement—

Edmund kissed her, guessing her intentions. He bit her lips and knotted his eyebrows again. He moved his hand to slowly trail her gown off her thigh. Eirene sighed as he did. He raised a hand to her buttocks, pressing her harder against his chest. But his movement was met with restraint. He stopped.

Instead, she took his hands and placed both of them on her breasts. Edmund had both his open palms against her and looked intently as he began caressing her.

"Slow, remember?" she said but gasped as he moved his thumbs around her nipples.

He then moved his hands down her torso, tightening his grip. He leaned in to kiss her again; this time with less patience than the last. Both their breaths were beginning to accelerate, and his hands were tight around her hips. Ecstasy was only a movement away, and they both knew it. And it showed incredible restraint from them both to resist the urge.

Eirene moved her hands from his face, down his neck, and onto his chest. He placed both of them there for a while. She bit his lip and moved her left hand onto his back. She moved her right hand slowly down his stomach, feeling his muscles tighten as she did.

She trailed it down to his navel and resisted the impulse to reach down and stroke his manhood. She hadn't touched it just yet and only felt it graze her arm as she kept on caressing his lower abdomen.

She couldn't help but let her fingers fiddle with the lace of his pants. She undid the lazy knot but didn't pull it open.

Not now, she kept thinking. She wanted to enjoy it, enjoy him as much as she could.

She sighed and pulled away from the kiss.

"I hadn't realized how much I wanted to do this," Edmund sighed as he regained his breath.

"Me neither," Eirene said gasping and smiling as she leaned back into his lips and kissed them again. Tongue, teeth, and lips, all tangled into a romantic mess. When she felt his respiration increasing once again, she pulled away.

"But I want us to do this right," she said, as she pulled both her face and body away.

Edmund opened his eyes, but his lips remained divided. Eirene stood from her sitting position and placed both feet on the lake bed. Water rushed down her body and her dress, and Edmund admired the sight. This time, he was able to make up the exact figure of her chest, her pointed nipples, her narrow waist, and the way the fabric sank exactly between her legs.

She began to walk towards the shore of the lake, past him without a word. Edmund turned his torso and kept looking at her. He'd seen female bodies before, but never had any of them seemed as flawless as hers.

"Stay," he said after her, "let's finish what we started—" he pleaded.

He heard Eirene giggle.

"It seems the Just King is impatient."

She reached the shore of the lake and bent down to collect her actual dress. She paused her movement and turned to look at the King. She then turned her complete body towards him. She smirked.

She slowly began to pull her wet gown down her shoulders, crossing her arms to do so. She kept on pulling it down her breasts but covering them with her forearms. She pressed them together, trying to cover her nipples as she finished sliding the dress off from her waist. It fell from her hips in one quick plop. It lay at her feet, and Edmund was able to take her in fully.

She moved her arms away from her breasts and began to put on her dress once again, never losing eye contact. She stepped over her skirt and pulled it up to her waist. She slid her arms into the sleeves. She grabbed its sides and pulled the strings to begin tightening it around her figure.

Edmund watched hungrily from a distance as she finished dressing.

"I'll see you later on, your majesty," she bowed and smiled as she did. She then walked away from him and heard him rise from the water as well.

"Later today?" she asked, in the same tone he had asked her before.

Tilting his head backward, Edmund nodded.

She quickened the pace before anyone saw them returning together. The thirst still burnt deep between her legs. Her mind was blank, rid of any thoughts of danger or duty. There was nothing more than the phantasmagoric sensation of Edmund's lips on her own and the rest of her body pressing against her.

It was clear to her that they needed to finish what they started—that very same day, if possible. But she only wanted to tease him a bit more, to savor the moments a bit longer.