The island they came upon next was volcanic, from the looks of it. Reepicheep scanned the stretch of land intently as they rowed ashore, searching for any sign of life. "I doubt there's anything to find here of your six lords, my liege," he stated, looking over to Caspian in the other longboat. "It doesn't seem as though there's anything to find here at all."

"I agree," Caspian replied. "But as we cannot pass by without attempting to find food and water, it wouldn't hurt to look for clues." The Mouse Chief nodded. Caspian turned back to his own companions. "Adeline, I want you and Reepicheep in charge of finding food," he said, to which the blonde nodded. "The three of us will go look for any sign of the lords."

Eustace scoffed. "I think you mean the four of us." The only response he got was incredulous looks from the others in the boats. He groaned. "Come on, please don't stick me with the rat."

"I heard that!"

Pointedly ignoring the poorly contained laughter around him, Eustace sunk back into his seat to sulk. "Bloody big ears."

"I heard that too."

Once ashore, the group split up, per Caspian's instructions. Under the lead of Adeline and Reepicheep, the crew ventured towards the mountains in pursuit of food, while Caspian, Edmund, and Lucy went in the other direction to look for traces of the six lords.

As they walked up the stony hills near the beach, Edmund threw worried glances over his shoulder. Adeline had gone off unarmed, refusing to accept any weapon offered to her. He had tried to argue with her, had reminded her that they did not know what sort of threat lay in wait. She had not listened.

"Looks like someone's been here before us," Caspian said. He knelt by a rock and gave the rope tied around it a tug. It seemed stable, with no humidity to make it slippery and the rock large enough to hold some weight. They would not fall if they attempted to climb down into the cavern below them. "Do you think it's worth seeing what's down there?"

Lucy bit her lip uncertainly. "It's always a risk, going below ground," she said. "But there's only one way to find out if one of the lords did this, isn't there?"

"I say we go." Edmund shrugged, starting the climb down. "If we do end up stuck down there, Adeline will be along soon enough to berate us."

And that was a point that neither Caspian nor Lucy would refute.

The cavern really was beautiful, splotches of sunlight reaching in through holes in the roof and reflecting in the pool of water. Leaning closer, Lucy frowned. "What is that?" She pointed to something shining at the bottom, the rays of light barely reaching it.

"I… I think it's a gold statue." Caspian knelt beside Lucy, intending to reach into the water, only to have his hand slapped away. He gave Edmund an inquisitive look. "What's wrong?"

Edmund frowned at the water. "How would you go about bringing a solid gold statue down here?" Caspian's eyes widened and Lucy's hand flew to her mouth. Ripping a dry root from the wall, Edmund nodded solemnly. "It looks as though he was reaching for something." He dipped the root into the water, and barely had the end touched the surface before a crackling sound reached his ears. The root turned heavier as the gold climbed higher and Edmund dropped it quickly before the transformation reached his fingers. His mind raced, as did his heart. A spring that could turn anything it touched into gold…

"He must have fallen in," Caspian noted, taking in the way the man, as Edmund had stated, looked as though he had been reaching for something.

Lucy's heart clenched. "Poor man," she said, only daring to take a few steps closer. "How terribly frightening it must have been."

"This was not just any man," Caspian said quietly, pulling back. He swallowed thickly and pointed to the golden shield beside the statue. "That crest was a symbol for Lord Restimar." He bowed his head as a sign of respect to the man he had never known, a man his father had trusted enough for Miraz to banish him. It saddened him that he would not be bringing him back home.

Lucy gasped. "Look, in the water!" She walked around the pool, staying a safe distance from the edge. "It looks like the sword you got from Lord Bern, Ed." She turned around to face her brother, only to find his expression similar to that of someone whose thoughts were far away. "Ed?"

"What?" Blinking, Edmund raised his eyebrows at Lucy, who gave him a wary look.

"The sword, in the water, it looks like yours," she said. "It hasn't turned to gold."

Edmund's gaze followed to where she was pointing. "It has to be one of the seven," he said, speaking aloud what all three of them were thinking. "Maybe I can—"

"Please, be careful," Lucy warned as he pulled his own sword and dipped it into the water. She watched with a bated breath as he managed to hook it under the hilt of Lord Restimar's sword and carefully balanced it as he pulled it out of the water. "Perhaps we shouldn't—" her warning was cut off as Caspian grasped the blade before it fell into the water again— "touch it." She sighed, looking down at Lord Restimar's statue again. Was there anyone in Narnia who missed him, she wondered. Had he been married? Were there children still waiting for their father to return, even though they were grown? Lucy knew what that felt like, after all, waiting for a father to return home. She had been lucky enough to see the day he did. Lord Restimar's children, if there were any, would not. "He must not have known what hit him."

"Perhaps," Edmund agreed, staring down at the still surface. So beautiful. So powerful. "Or perhaps he was onto something." It may as well have been a mirror. There was nothing disturbing the water, no wind to move it to ripples. Any passerby likely would have dismissed it as nothing. He would not. He knew magic, knew the power it could bring.

Lucy met Caspian's eyes briefly, both of them watching Edmund carefully. "We should go," she urged quietly. "Adeline will be getting worried." She started towards the rope, only to find that neither Caspian nor Edmund had moved. "Come on, we have to get back to the others."

"Think about it, Lu," Edmund said, paying her no heed. "Whoever has access to this pool would be the most powerful person in the world." He picked up a seashell, quickly dipping it into the water and dropping it onto the ground. Entranced, he watched as it turned to gold before his very eyes. "We'd be so rich, Lucy," he whispered reverently. "No one could ever tell us what to do, we would never have to go back to Aunt Alberta."

Caspian stepped closer, subtly adjusting his grip on Lord Restimar's sword. "You can't take anything out of Narnia." He knew that Edmund, the Edmund he had grown as close as family with, was well aware of that. There was a steely glint in the eyes of the man before him, a threat that shone through so clearly he fought not to flinch.

"Says who?"

Lucy took a step back. The voice speaking was not her brother's. Her brother, while certainly able to intimidate people, had never in his entire life sounded threatening, not really. He was a diplomat, all his threats were often veiled with civility and grace. The darkness in his voice was unlike anything she had ever heard from him. "Please, we really need to go."

Her words fell on deaf ears.

"I do."

Edmund stood, gripping his blade tightly. "I'm not your subject." He advanced on Caspian, well aware that he could and would overpower him. He was the best swordsman in Narnia. No one could defeat him.

Unable to do nothing but watch as Caspian's demeanour changed in response to Edmund's, Lucy wondered how long they had been gone. Adeline had to be wondering where they had gone off to. Shuffling nervously, she could not help but think that it could be a while before they were found, even once the others started looking. Please, Adeline. Help.

"You've been waiting to challenge me," Caspian spat. "I know you have." He walked in slow circles, never turning his back on Edmund. "You doubt my leadership."

"As do you, and with good reason." Stepping up to Caspian, Edmund held the younger man's gaze. "Sitting on a throne that isn't yours, unable to make choices because you're terrified that they'll hate you, how does that feel?"

Furious, Caspian raised his sword. "You're nothing but a child!"

"And you're a spineless sap!" Edmund shook his sister off as she tried to pull him away. "I'm tired of playing second fiddle to everyone!" He lifted his own sword higher. "First to Peter, then to you, when neither of you was ever—"

Bringing his sword down to clash with Edmund's, Caspian would not hear another word. The clang of metal on metal echoed in the caverns, ringing in ears. Somewhere, far off, he could hear someone, Lucy, speaking. Her voice was nought but a distant whisper, unintelligible words floating together. Caspian parried as Edmund struck again.

"That'll be enough now."

He blinked. The voice was new, crystal clear against his conscious, cutting through the haze. Gasping for breath, Caspian lowered his sword and took several steps back from Edmund, who raised his own sword higher in the direction of the voice. Following where Edmund was looking, his stomach turned to lead. "Adeline, I—"

"Lucy, take Caspian and leave." The blonde kept her eyes locked on Edmund's form, noting how he refused to meet her gaze. "Take the rope with you." No one moved. "Now."

Jumping into action, Lucy grabbed Caspian's arm. He limply followed her as she led him over to the rope and quietly told him to climb. Before she followed, Lucy turned back to Adeline. "You're unarmed," she whispered, holding out her dagger. But Adeline shook her head.

"Go, Lucy."

Reluctantly, Lucy followed Caspian above ground, pulling the rope up. She looked down into the cavern, wondering just what state they would be in when they came back. If they came back at all.

"Drop the sword, Edmund."

"You can't tell me what to do, no one can."

"That has never stopped you from listening before."

Edmund held the sword higher as Adeline came closer. "Stop." She did not listen, the tip of the blade resting against the hollow of her throat before she finally came to a halt. He could not let her ruin everything. One had tightly clenched around the shell, the other steadily gripping his sword, Edmund watched the thin trail of blood run from where metal met skin. It would be so easy, just thrusting the blade forward and taking the spring for himself.

"You won't kill me, Ed."

"You don't know that."

"But I do." Adeline laid the back of her hand against the flat side of the sword, lifting it out of the way as she stepped closer. He faltered for only a moment before the edge of the blade came to rest against the side of her neck. One swipe and she would be dead. Edmund would not kill her though. Perhaps the entranced version of him thought he would, but there was no world in which Edmund would ever allow himself to do such a thing, cursed or not. "You told me so," she continued. "Whispered it, like it was a secret."

I don't ever want to live in a lifetime where we never met.

Shaking his head, Edmund took a step back. She followed, seamlessly. "You're wrong." Her calm unnerved him. Did she not know that her life lay in his hands, balancing on a sword's edge? He held the power, he had the upper hand.

"I've kept a secret from you too," Adeline admitted. He flinched, still refusing to meet her gaze. The evil knew his weakness, after all, knew what would happen if he did. But she knew his weakness too. "Do you remember that day when your brother kissed me?" Edmund could not even look at her, turning his eyes from her to anything and everything around them. The hand holding his sword wavered but did not drop. She smiled. "I left something out, you know, when I told you what happened."

Nausea threatened to overwhelm him. Don't listen to her lies. Had he not always listened to her though?

"I didn't tell you, because we were going into battle and you weren't ready."

"Tell me what?"

"After he kissed me, before we returned to the How, Peter told me you were in love with me."

The world dipped under his feet. He felt like he was falling. Everything was spinning, twirling. Nothing felt real. "But I was second to him then too."

"No, Edmund." She walked closer still, the blade at her neck shaking precariously. Whether he liked it or not, he was fighting against himself. "I told him that I returned those feelings, Ed," she murmured, prying the shell out of his grip. "I loved you then, just as I love you now." He did not resist when she lifted a hand to his arm and lowered it gently. The sword hung limply in his hand, scraping against the ground.

"You'll still kill me," Edmund rasped, looking at his feet, looking anywhere but at her. "You loved them too, and you killed them anyway."

Swallowing thickly, Adeline nodded. "I did." Her voice wavered for the first time. "But I refuse to make the same mistake with you as I did with them."

Fingers at his jaw forced his head to turn. Face to face with her, Edmund fixed his eyes on her forehead. "And what mistake was that?" He felt exhausted.

"I didn't talk to them," she whispered. "I didn't look them in the eyes as I tried to remind them of what mattered." Adeline threw the shell away, hearing the splash as it hit the water. With her other hand free, she gently cradled his jaw. "Look at me, Edmund."

He did.

What I want is a spitfire who will fight with me even when I'm right just because we have fun debating with each other.

He remembered saying the words, remembered the feeling of being on the edge of something. He had barely even known what the words meant then.

Someone who will put me in my place and challenge me and stay up with me all night watching the stars.

He had come to know, though. It was something he would never forget, for as long as he lived and then some. Never.

I want the one who knows me, all of me, and loves me even though she's aware of all the horrible mistakes I've made!

He wanted to be loved. He wanted to be loved by his best friend.

Where did Annie go wrong? She was nice.

Even Peter had known. Peter had told her before he even knew it himself.

Annie was amazing. She just wasn't right.

No one would ever be right. It was not possible for anyone to come even close.

You want gold eyes and wicked smiles and the scent of sunshine and wildflowers.

With a loud clang, the sword slipped out of his hand. Edmund paid it no mind. His hands settled on her waist, clutching at the loose fabric of her tunic. A lifeline. A lifetime. He had loved her for so long, for hundreds of years, without even realising it. She loved him too. A lifeline. A lifetime.

Even if she had not told him, something simply made sense about it. He had been her first choice, always. He had been the first to be taught by her, had been the one she shoved a battle-axe at. She had told him and no one else about her past. When she needed someone to lean on, she turned to him.

Perhaps he was second to Peter in many ways, perhaps the Narnian people saw Caspian as their true leader. But he, Edmund Pevensie, was first to Adeline.

She stepped into his kiss, the movement so natural that one could believe they had hardly ever done anything else. Her hands moved from his jaw, one settling at the back of his neck while the other held tightly to the front of his shirt.

Rather than holding on to her tunic, Edmund relaxed his grip and rested his hands flush against her sides, careful not to move them higher or lower. She may have been unarmed, but she was still capable of hurting him. With a gasp, he withdrew from her and opened his eyes. The bleeding had stopped, but the trail of mostly dried blood led to the cut he had given her. "Adeline—"

"It wasn't you," she whispered, holding him still when he tried to back away. "The insecurities may have been yours, but the person who did this was not you." They were words she had started to associate with her past, words she could connect to Edmund's theory that perhaps she had been affected by the Witch's curse all those centuries ago. Words he had told her, that he needed to listen to himself. "If I'm to carry any scar," she continued, "then I'm glad it is from you."

"Why?"

Adeline pressed up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. "Because it shows you stopped," she said quietly. "It shows you care enough to stop, even when something tries to tell you not to."

"I love you."

"I know."

"You love me."

"I do."

He kissed her again. He never wanted to stop. The others were waiting, he owed them an apology, but he could not bring himself to pull away from her just yet. He had felt out of sorts when without her before. How on earth was he meant to be apart from her now? "I love you," he said again.

"And I love you."