Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any of the characters associated with it.

Chapter 2: Speak Up

We walk down to the dining hall quickly, my stomach grumbling as soon as I see the amazing food that lines the table. Peter gestures for me to sit down first once we get to the table, like he usually does, before Malina pulls out my seat for me.

"You must be starving after your massive holiday." Pff, holiday.

"Holiday? It would please you to know that we didn't have any kind of holiday. Everything we did was work related."

"Even at night?" I almost spit out my wine. Almost. This stuff is imported from Calormen and tastes amazing, why would I want to waste it?

"Malina!"

"What? I was talking about your nights spent drinking wine and reading. What are you referring to?" I send her a glare. She just smirks and chuckles slightly under her breath.

"MOTHER!" I jump slightly.

"What's wrong?"

"Can I eat now? Father just took a bite." Really? That's why you screamed?

"Of course you can. You know the rules." She smiles brightly before she begins to dig in.

"Ed? Have the spies you sent out reported back yet?" Peter asks eloquently over the murmur of voices. My glance flies over to Edmund immediately. He freezes, a leaf of lettuce hanging out of his mouth as he looks at Peter with a blank expression. He clears his throat as he rights himself and looks Peter in the eye.

"I did.." he hesitates. Peter's expression hardens.

"You did but…" Peter encourages. Ed fiddles around for a second before looking down, playing with his fork as he speaks.

"They couldn't find anything. No tracks, no traps – absolutely nothing. It has all come up clear. It's almost like the creature vanished into thin air." He looks back up to Peter as do I. He's not going to like that news. I watched his facial expression change several times before he relaxed himself.

"After dinner, send them back out to scout the border entries. Ensure they let no one enter or leave if they look even mildly suspicious. We need to find this creature." Edmund nods in agreement.

"Will do – that's not all though." Peter freezes. I look at Edmund with worry. Oh no…

"What else has happened?" Pete asks calmly, far too calmly in fact.

"All of our trainees went missing the other day without a trace whilst out on the practice course and no-one has been able to find them." I watch this news travel through Peters brain as his mind seems to tick over. It's as if someone switched a switch in his head. Level headed Peter was gone instantly. His eyes flash from calm to anger in a split second.

"WHAT!" Peter shouts standing up from his chair as his hands bash on the table landing on his plate of food. I can see instant blood but it doesn't seem to concern him at the moment. "Why didn't anyone inform me of this before now?!" he shouts at the court members sitting at the table. There's a lot of murmuring suddenly - "You were meant to mention it." "No, you were!" "Wasn't someone meant to send the raven?" - before I hear hooves behind me and glance over. Oreius begins to walk over cautiously, his face full of a strange fear. Oreius doesn't scare easily, but if I was in his shoes, I'd be pretty terrified of the High King right now too. Peter obviously hears him also for he flies over to him before gesturing for him to follow him outside. Oreius' eyes meet mine with a pleading look, I just shake my head though. He drops his head in quiet defeat before following after Peter. I can hear him shouting from the hallway but can't actually make out any words which I'm rather thankful for if I'm being completely honest. When Peter loses his temper, he loses it big time.

Susan looks at me and speaks quietly through the murmurs. "You had better go and talk to Peter, Ashley. You're the only one he will really listen to." I know she's right, but I really wish she wasn't. Maybe I can take Bree for protection? For Aslan's sake, get it together, Ash! He's your husband!

"Okay, you stay here, Bree. I'll come and grab you once it's time for bed, alright?" I say as I brush hair away from her face. She nods once before looking down at her plate quickly, her eyes brimming with tears. I will have to deal with the upset daughter a little later.

"Would you like us to take care of the twins and put aside some food for you and His Majesty later, Ashley?" Kabella asks me whilst carrying two empty plates.

"Please," I reply with a general glance in her direction. "Okay, I'll be back soon. Be good." I kiss Bree's head before strolling off to my sure doom. Angry Peter is certainly not my favourite Peter in the world. The hallway is dark, only the few torches lining the walls give any sort of light. The screaming gets louder as I round the corner before I spot them. Peter has his back turned to me, but I can see Oreius' face clear as day. The usually peaceful and harsh faced Oreius has been replaced with a polar opposite Oreius. He looks a bit like a puppy who has just been told off by his owner.

"...lieve you haven't told me about the trainees yet! Oreius, what in Narnia have you been doing to fix this? This is ridiculous. I've been in charge for four years now! You should understand my position by now and know what is expected of you when I'm away! The safety of my family and country depends upon the new guards and people doing as I say. I need these spies sent out immediately and I need you to track down these trainees wherever they may be and get them trained! Have I made myself clear?" He straightens up and nods once, his face an open book for once.

"Yes, High King Peter. I will get right onto it." With those parting words he leaves in the opposite direction, heading straight for the front door. Peter puts his head in his hands once he's gone before throwing a hand through his hair and flopping down on the couch behind him. He puts his fingers to his temple and rubs it a bit with his eyes closed, taking deep breaths in and out; obviously trying his best to calm down. His hand is red with blood too, but he doesn't seem to be paying any attention to it. I take a deep breath in myself before taking a few cautious steps towards him.

His eyes fly open as he looks up annoyed. "What now?" He shouts. His whole demeanour changes as soon as he sees me though and he goes back to the position he was in before. "I'm sorry," he mutters quietly, looking down at his hands which are resting together on his lap. He grimaces as he finally realises what happened to his hand. He rips part of his shirt off and wraps it around, wincing at the obviously painful cut.

"You should be." His regrettable eyes meet mine as I speak and he opens an arm for me on the love seat. An invitation to join him. Emolise walks past in the same minute with a plate of food. I quickly ask her for a wash cloth, bandage, and some water before I accept Peter's gracious invitation and take a seat next to him. His arm curves around my left shoulder before he pulls me into his side, but I pull it off and instead grab his hurt hand and start to unwrap the cloth.

"Why can't people tell me things when they happen? We would've come back early and instantly helped them search. " I rub his shoulder and neck slowly a few times. I feel his whole body relax within a minute.

"You just need to learn to not get so worked up over everything. They did the right thing. They sent people out to look straight away. If they don't find anything immediately it's not their fault. Think about how long it took us to find the twins when they went missing! It doesn't help that we're both beyond tired. Maybe we should have an early night. Head up to bed for a good night rest?" He grimaces.

"Maybe." He's silent for a moment and from my vantage point his face is a blank space. He's not giving me any ideas on what he's thinking or how he's feeling. Hooves ring through the hallway suddenly as I glance over to the centaur walking towards us.

"Here, Ash," Emolise says as she puts the items on the side table next to me.

"Thankyou," I respond before wetting the cloth and starting to clean off the blood off his hand. The cut doesn't look too deep thankfully.

"I can't help, but feel like there is a reason for this threat," Peter starts, "What have we done? The only things I can think of is that we killed The White Witch and Starstone." A few servant girls walk by then, laughing about something although as soon as they spot us they all go quiet and look at us with solemn faces. Not good.

"Let's talk about this in private. Come." I grab his hand and pull him to his feet before grabbing the other items and walking with him over to one of the main courtyards. No one is here at the moment since it's night time. All the flowers are tucked away for the night while a few fireflies circle us. The small trickling of the fountain can be heard over the peaceful silence. I sit down with Peter on the stone chair and continue to clean his wound using the tiny bit of candlelight I have.

"Why did you want to speak in private exactly?" I look up at him. He's giving me a confused look, as if he's trying to read my mind.

"Because we shouldn't be talking about killing people with servants walking around us constantly. Most of them are brand new. We don't want to be scaring them away." He smirks.

"You're probably right."

"What are your thoughts on all of this though?" I ask him as I finish wrapping the cut and play with his wedding band instead.

"I think we need to go back and evaluate all of our moves. They wouldn't be after us for no reason whatsoever. We have to have done something to bring about this motive."

"I'm not sure we did anything to have caused this or brought it on. Unless it is revenge," I respond.

"Revenge for what though? Killing Starstone? They attacked us on our engagement night. We didn't kill Starstone till well after that night."

"We could be over thinking this. It could be that they just want the throne."

"Then they would've come in a group and killed us all while we were surprised. We were not expecting this. By taking the surprise element out it's just giving us a chance to get prepared for whatever is to come." I huff.

"Well what other options do we have then, Pete? Do tell me because every other option I've given here you've just turned down."

"I'm out of options. Hopefully the spies can give us some details. Maybe they'll find something at the borders. As for us now, we need to act like everything is completely normal for the sake of our children and the country. We can't let anyone know what's going on and panic them all. I'm sure a lot of the court people are worried right now, but we must ensure that we go about our daily life as per usual. What these creatures want is to create fear, we can't give them that satisfaction." What he's saying makes complete sense; although I would still like to know exactly what's going on.

"Okay. I do agree with that. You're going to need to make amends with everyone in that dining hall though." Peter grimaces before nodding.

"Is dinner still going?"

"It is, but the girls offered to put some food aside for us and look after the children until we're ready."

"Come and face the crowds with me?" I laugh and toss my gaze over to him again.

"Sure. Whatever meets His Majesties ideals," I tease. He shakes his head at me before pushing me off of him so he can stand. He grabs my hand once he's up before we walk back over to the dining hall.

"Well look who comes back after his temper tantrum. Feeling better, Petey?" Edmund you idiot.

"Maybe if people told him things before dinner he wouldn't have to fly off the hammer at all," I remark quickly back before Pete has a chance to say anything.

"Enough you two. I'm sorry everyone for getting angry. There's just a lot going on and I had to take it out on someone. Usually I would prefer it to be just Edmund, but it just comes out sometimes." There's a murmur of forgiveness around the room before we start eating again.

After dinner we head upstairs, both Peter and I being stuffed from the ride home from Beavers Dam earlier in the day. Anna and Brenton are out like lights once I put them in their cots. Their soft snores ring out through their otherwise dead silent rooms.

"Mother? Could you please read me a story?" Bree asks politely as I enter her bedroom to say goodnight. She's holding a book closely to her chest though I can't see the title of it from my vantage point.

"Of course I can." After reading to her for a while, I give her forehead a kiss before heading into our bedroom. To be honest, there is no better feeling in the world than lying down on your own bed after having slept in random beds for a month. Peter pulls me close to him, his arms wrapping around my body, before we both fall asleep.

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