Warning: This is the most intense chapter in the entire story and may not be suitable for all readers.

While not graphic like the prior chapter that required a warning, this chapter is much more intense, and I urge precaution. This is the last chapter that requires a warning in the entire story.

Proceed with caution.


After passing out from Jadis inflicting painful stabs throughout his body, Peter barely had a respite when he woke up to water being splashed on him. It startled him awake.

At first, the splash made him breathless, but mostly, it just made him bitterly cold. He noticed he was still in the throne room. He had only passed out momentarily. Quickly, the cloth was taking out of his mouth. He expected to feel more pain. Instead, Jadis just spoke to him.

"Do you know why I like having you around, Peter, dear?" Peter did not even have a chance to answer before she claimed, "Because you are so unlike the Narnians you rule. Certainly, you are different from your siblings. That was evident when you led the army against me yourself."

"It is what needed to be done," Peter said rather uncomfortably.

He typically blushed and shifted the conversation away from that aspect of the battle whenever it came up. His people seemed to want to glorify it. They did not know how afraid he had been. They did not know how much Edmund and Oreius had steadied him. They did not know how much he did not know what he was doing. All he did was lead the charge. This time, he just felt uncomfortable with her presence and her words.

"Ah, but only you were in the front. Where was Edmund?"

"I kept him in the back, and before you try to twist that into some distorted version of the truth, he nearly died to stop you. You can keep any other version to yourself."

"You seem awful defensive," she pointed out. "Are you trying to prove it to me or yourself?"

"I am just tired of you trying to play mind games with me."

"All I have done is speak the truth to you. How you take it is your own fault." There was something savagery about her tone. She loved how much she was messing with Peter, he could tell by the way her voice twisted and held delight. It revolted him.

"Can you leave me alone?" Peter asked, eagerly wishing for her to give him some break from her.

Something shifted in her demeanor. Her cruel playfulness vanished in a matter of moments. Peter could not even register the new threat from this change before she grabbed a hold of his throat.

Peter's breath caught in his throat. He pulled against his restraints, but he was nowhere near where her fingers were wrapped around his neck, cutting off his air.

"Do not take my calmness in speaking with you give you any false pretenses of what this is. You are my prisoner, and you will spend the rest of your days as such."

To that, she released his throat. He gasped for air. Her guards switched the chains holding him on the chair to shackles, as he was trying to breathe. The most protest he gave was weakly pushing their claws away until they bullied their way past his defenses. The shackles were on him in moments.

Once he was secure, Jadis grabbed a hold of his hair, pulling him to his feet. He tried to pry her fingers away, but her grip remained in tact.

"Follow me," she ordered. She released him, walking towards her throne. She was a bit of a distance from him.

He was left standing. Carefully, he eyed the exit. None of her guards were blocking the way out He was as steady as he was going to be on his feet. He just needed to get outside, he told himself. He could get help once he did.

Without waiting any further, he ran as fast as he could.

"After him," he heard Jadis order from behind him. It did not slow his pace. He bolted as fast as his exhausted body could carry him. "Do not allow him outside."

He followed the hallway until the grand doors that led outside were right in front of him. He did not even hesitate.

With all of his strength, he shoved them open the doors and pushed them close right behind him. The fresh Narnian air hit him immediately. It filled him with a vigor he had almost lost.

He wasted no time. He began his trudge through her courtyard as quickly as he could. He stumbled and tripped but as long as he could get further away from her, it did not matter the renewal of his injuries.

He was making good progress through her courtyard; he could see the ridge to the forest in front of him. It was only a few hundred yards out. He could make it.

That was when he heard it.

A whistling came from behind him, and he felt a sharp pain pierce him right in the back between his shoulder blades. He cried out in pain. It felt like whatever had stabbed him was deep within his skin. He collapsed to the ground. Every movement hurt the new injury.

It did not stop Peter from crawling. He shifted his arms, clawing himself forward. He heard Jadis and her followers approaching. He was desperate.

As he was crawling, he saw a tall shadow appear over him. He knew it was Jadis.

She just laughed as she reached down, placing her foot on his back, holding him in place.

"You are never going to escape me," she reassured. She yanked the blade out. Peter cried out. "Take him back inside."

"No!"

A centaur grabbed a hold of him, flinging him over his shoulder. Peter flailed against him, despite the pain in his back.

"Let me go!" Peter desperately pleaded.

It did not matter. As they neared the castle, Peter clawed and fought to get out of the centaur's hold. When he was within the castle walls, the door shut behind them, sealing his fate.

Peter froze when the doors shut. The finality was daunting. He had failed. He could not get out. And that realization hurt him terribly. Tears slipped down his cheeks. He was trapped.

But Jadis was not done with him yet. The centaur brought Peter back into the throne room.

"Fetch chains," Jadis ordered coolly. She was radiating a calmed fury. It was terrifying.

Once the chains were retrieved, Peter fought as they shoved him on the chair he was previously on. They chained his wrists and ankles. They also chained him across his torso, keeping his back pinned to the chair. Another chain came around his neck, preventing him from even moving his head too much. They tore open the top of his shirt, exposing his collarbone.

Peter fidgeted under the restraints; Jadis just seemed pleased.

She was handed a jagged dagger from one of her followers.

"You seem to fail to comprehend the permanence of your situation," Jadis said calmly. "Allow me to make sure you never forget that you are mine."

Peter pulled on his restraints, as she neared him.

"No, please, don't," Peter pleaded, as she placed the tip of the dagger to his collarbone.

"How else will you learn, dear one?"

With that, she pressed in and cut down. Peter screamed in pain. Tears left his eyes as she curved her blade across his collarbone.

When she was finally done, Peter felt the blood dripping from his new wound. Tears were dripping down his cheeks. It was done.

It was not until the guards unchained him and dragged him to his cell did he see what the damage truly was.

Jadis followed close to him. He was chained on the chair in his cell once more. This time, he was placed in front of a glassy sheet of ice. He could see his reflection nearly perfectly. Once the guards left, it was just Jadis and him in the room.

Only after the guards had gotten out of the way, he could see what she had done to him. A desperate sob almost left him.

As the two of them stared at his reflection in the mirror, she leaned in next to his ear, whispering, "Now, everyone will see that you are mine forever." Peter could not stop the shudder that left him.

He could not hide from it now. It was carved into his skin. His wound was pulsing red and deep. It would surely scar. Just like she wanted it to.

The bloody, puffed letters were carved: JADIS