"Peter!"

Edmund's distant voice dashed across Peter's ears. It startled him. At first, Peter thought he had imagined it, for he had been blindfolded for what he could only guess had been hours. He thought his brain might have been playing tricks on him. He had been craving any other sound other than the rattling of his chains.

As his heart dropped in the doubt of having heard him at all, Edmund's voice called again: "Peter! Where are you?" His voice sounded young, raw. Scared.

Hope scattered across his heart. Edmund was here. It did not matter how he was; Peter only cared that Edmund was there. Peter tried to call out to him. The gag tied between his teeth prevented from much sound to come out. He yelled all he could nonetheless, praying that Edmund would hear him. His throat was uncomfortably dry and raw.

"Peter!" The voice was closer this time. Chains rattled and yells only became more desperate.

The door slammed open carelessly, smashing against the wall with a loud thud. Peter etched forward to hear Edmund's footsteps. Despite not hearing any, he heard Edmund's voice say, "Peter."

He sounded so young. So terrified. The gag was untied behind his head, and Peter was able to breathe properly again.

"Ed, you're here," Peter said with a relieved voice. "You have to get me out of here."

"What did they do to you?" Edmund asked. His voice almost sounded hollow to Peter, and Edmund was not helping him out of these chains.

Peter answered his question regardless, "It's the White Witch. She is back." He felt shame flecks across his face. She had used him to come back after all. "She is just as horrible as you always said."

"Oh, Peter," Edmund's voice sounded off now more than ever. But Peter did not realize what it was until Edmund's hand touched his cheek.

Peter leaned into the touch, craving to be comforted by him. Only as he did, he felt the hand that was touching his face. It was cold. The fingers were long and thin.

They were not Edmund's.

With harsh recoil, Peter slammed his head on the back of the chair he was chained to. The only confirmation that he had been correct was the blindfold being ripped off his eyes to reveal Jadis right in front of him.

His hope crashed down around him in a matter of moments, leaving him feeling a hurtful sting to his eyes that nearly brought on tears. It felt like a punch in his gut.

"If I had known that all I had to do was let you hear your brother's voice to make you like this." She gestured to all of him before she had a bit of a chuckle and continued, "I would have done it sooner."

Swallowing the emotions that had gathered in his throat, he sharply looked away to gather composure before he redirected his attention back to her when he was ready. She just had a smug smirk on her face.

"You will be much easier to deal with than Edmund ever was."

He shifted uncomfortably at the sentiment.

"How has Edmund been?" She asked. Peter pulled away the best he could at her question. "Is he still quiet? Keeps to himself mostly?" Her prying made Peter nearly squirm. She had no right to ask about Edmund.

He gave her no answer. Instead, she leaned in closer to him. He pressed his back to the chair to get away from her. It did not seem to matter. She had closed the distance between them. Her hands clawed onto his forearms, preventing him from raising his hands to even pretend to push her away from him.

Instead, after fidgeting once, he stayed completely still, unsure if he was even breathing anymore.

"Whatever did you do with him anyway? Made him a slave under your whim, I suppose," she insisted.

With a small squirm, Peter pulled to get away from her only once more before answering.

"He is King alongside us," Peter quietly said.

"You made that traitor a King?"

Peter flinched at the word traitor, remembering how much the White Witch had wanted to murder Edmund just for being that word.

There was a twisted laugh in her voice. She asked, "Did he ever tell you about our time together?" Peter waited with bated breath, uncertain about what she could say next. "Did he ever tell you how we first met? How he almost immediately offered you and your sisters in exchange for the power I could give him?"

Her face warped into a wicked smile when he gave no answer.

"Oh, I see he is still keeping secrets from you after all these years," Jadis said with finality to her voice. She backed off, taking her hands off his arms and taking a step back.

That stung. Cut through most of the defenses Peter had to protect himself. He did not want to think that his brother did not trust him.

Edmund has proven he trusts you countless times, he tried to remind himself. However, even he could not ignore that her words carried their own weight that her strength could never match.

"I know enough," Peter said, feeling a bit better the more he spoke. "I trust Edmund entirely. You will not divide again."

She waited a moment longer than he expected she would. It made Peter unsettled just having to stare at her. It seemed she was either considering his words or giving him more time to speak.

When he did not, she placed a finger to chin, tapping a few times before saying, "What is interesting is that I never divided you in the first place." She paused, allowing her words to sink in. "Your brother came to me. When I offered him the chance to be Prince at the price of bringing you three to me, he was all the more willing. Did he not try to have you leave the Beaver's dam to come to me?"

The worst part was that there was truth in her words. Edmund and Peter already had their problems when they were back in England. They had fought and hardly were on the same side. Even further, Peter remembered all too well that Edmund had tried to get them to go to the White Witch.

Her words left him breathless and with an eerie pit in his stomach. He did not want to have to remember his brother's worst moments. Most of all, he did not want to hear it from the White Witch herself. Edmund should have been able to tell him if he chose to.

But her words still made his heart ache in a way it had not for nearly five years now. He did not want to think about how Edmund had chosen power and a stranger over him, even if Edmund had not realized the extent of what he was doing.

They had skirted around the topic for the most part. The four of them had briefly discussed his meeting with the White Witch while discussing his capture, but never in great detail. Maybe I should have pressed him more about it, he thought.

"No," Peter was speaking before his brain fully processed it. Jadis perked up with clear intrigue. "My brother has made mistakes, but you will not change how I feel about him."

All Jadis did was offer a chuckle, saying, "There is much you do not know. I am certain the truth will change how you feel soon enough."