*WARNING*- This story contains the spanking of a teenage male. Don't like, don't read. You have been warned and I will not apologize for my work or its content.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Pevensie children, Narnia, or anything else affiliated with them, just the plot!


Edmund slinked up to his bedchamber, trying his best to avoid other people (mostly his sisters). He drew a bath and hopped in, letting the hot water calm his unease just a bit. Finding himself getting antsy, he washed quickly, got out, and dressed in some softer clothes, hopping into his bed and pulling the covers up over himself. He curled up small and shut his eyes. Maybe if he fell asleep, he could fast forward right into next week and avoid all the unpleasantness that would come with Peter's return home.

Suddenly, there was a knock at his door. "Enter," he called. Susan. She shut the door behind her and walked to his bed.

"Edmund," she said, "sit up, please."

"W…why?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"We're going to talk. Sit up, please."

Apprehensively, Edmund raised himself to a sitting position. Susan sank down next to him, then ordered him, "look at me. I need to be able to see your eyes while I talk to you." He slowly met her gaze and felt himself shrink a little bit under it. Susan studied him fixedly for a long moment, then said, slowly, "Edmund, I am very, very disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "Honest, Susan. I wish I hadn't done it."

"Done what?"

"Snuck away. It…it just kept on getting worse and worse. Peter…" He trailed off. "Peter is going to kill me," he finished, almost whispering.

"Peter is extremely displeased with you, yes. But he's not going to kill you."

"Just make me wish I were dead," Edmund replied miserably. "Susan…Peter said…Peter said he's going to belt me." Susan's eyes widened.

"When did he say that?"

"In the tent after you and Lucy left. I was leaving and…" Edmund swallowed hard, trying to hold back the emotions that he felt rising up all too fast. "He said that I should expect to feel his belt when he returns home."

"Hmmm." Susan was frowning. A good sign. Maybe.

"Susan, I know what I did was really bad. I'm not…I'm not saying I don't deserve to be in trouble." He held up both hands in surrender. "But…but…I don't want the belt," he finished in a small voice. "I…it's…"

"I'll talk to Peter," Susan said, "I'll ensure he's not angry when he comes in to discipline you. Perhaps the mention of the belt was him speaking out of anger in an effort to intimidate you. Which worked, obviously," she gave him the tiniest smirk, which disappeared so fast that Edmund wondered if it had ever been there at all. "But I didn't come in here to debate about your punishment with you. If it were up to me-and it's not, I'm leaving it up to Peter-you'd be over my knees right now. I'm still considering whether or not it would do you good to wait for Peter on a sore bum, though, to be honest with you." Edmund's eyes dropped to study his hands. "You've completely earned whatever it is that you have coming to you. What in the world got into you, Edmund?" She raised her voice the slightest amount. "You'ven't acted this way in…well, I don't even remember the last time."

"I just wanted to go with." His voice was sounding smaller and smaller by the second.

"Peter said no."

"I know, but—"

"No means no, Edmund. Look at me." Her eyes were hard, but not cold. "When we tell you no, it's for a good reason. Peter knew that the area he and his men are currently inhabiting is dangerous. They rarely pass through there. Did you see any other young man your age in Peter's company?" Edmund shook his head no. "No you didn't. Because that hunt was for adults. Peter is an adult. You are 13. Edmund, you could have broken your neck when that bear came after you. What were you doing in that area after dark anyway?"

"I wanted to come home."

"So you decided to try to make it here, by yourself, on foot?" Susan was aghast.

"No, no, I…I had a horse, but…I got lost. So I got off the horse and tried to walk a bit to see where I was going. And…and then I fell and landed up against the bear's place." Susan shook her head in disbelief.

"Did you bring a torch?"

"No."

"A weapon?"

"No."

"Edmund," Susan groaned. "Did you even think at all? You know better. Darling, do you understand the incredible amount of danger that you put yourself in? Not to mention the rest of the party. Edmund, what if some foul, vengeful creature had smelled the horses on you and taken off in search of them? Sweetheart," Susan took his chin in her hands. "Do you understand? Someone could have been killed."

"I just wanted to come home," Edmund was finding it harder to speak.

"Yes, and before you just wanted to go with Peter. Ed, love, there are going to be times in life when you are not going to be able to participate. It's not because we hate you or we don't want you to take part in the fun. On the contrary. We love you. We want to keep you safe. Peter is five years older than you. He has hours of combat training every day. He's been preparing for situations like the one you found yourself in last night since we all stepped foot in Aslan's camp. No, you look at me," Her hand returned to his chin when she noticed he had dropped his eyes. "We also need to discuss your treatment of Lucy the other morning. I'm eager to hear you justify spinning her head 'round into thinking that we could possibly ever care more about her sneaking biscuits than about you sneaking out of this castle. You made her cry, Edmund."

"Wh—what?"

"She avoided me all morning and when I found her, it took me 20 minutes to calm her down and convince her that we were not going to punish her and take away her sweets for eating a biscuit before breakfast. Edmund, you have made bad choices of late, but I thought you were finished being cruel. Especially to Lucy. She's your little sister; she's not going to question what you tell her because she trusts you. That was a really mean thing to do to her." She looked at Edmund for a response, but he was silent. "What's gotten into you?" Silence. "And all this so that you could sneak along on with Peter on a trip he told you that you weren't joining him on. It's inexcusable, Edmund."

"I'm sorry," Edmund could barely hear his own voice.

"If you're not now, you will be." Susan stood. "You stay in here. I'll send up dinner. You're not to leave your bedchamber until Peter comes home tomorrow. You'd better have a very sincere apology prepared." And she turned on her heel and left the room.

Edmund curled up, pulled his covers back up over his head, and cried.


The siblings at the Cair tried to keep themselves occupied as the evening and the next morning and afternoon dragged by. Being banned from leaving the castle (Edmund, from leaving his room) was taking a toll on all of them. Lucy practically lived out of doors, but now, she could not even step out into the garden. She sulked about the corridor, terribly tempted to run outside just for a moment to breathe the fresh air. "Don't," Susan's voice made her jump.

"I wasn't—"

"Don't," she repeated. "Trust me, you don't want to do anything to make Peter more upset. Don't, Lucy. Go to the library. Go stand out on your balcony. Go cook…something. Peter will be here in a few hours. Just…behave."

"Uuuggghh!" Lucy stamped her foot and plodded away. Susan rolled her eyes, but in truth, she was as bored as Lucy.


At seven o'clock that evening, on the dot, the siblings heard the faint jangle of reins and harnesses and the shouts of men's voices approaching the main entrance of the castle. Susan and Lucy ran to the corridor and watched as the long line of men and horses rode toward the stables.

About 20 minutes later, Peter appeared over the hill and came striding towards the entrance. The girls, who would usually run out to greet him, stayed put inside the corridor, not quite sure what to do. Their usual elation at their brother returning from an expedition was replaced by apprehension. Would he yell at them? Demand they go to their bedchambers at once? Refuse to speak to them at all?

But when Peter reached the girls, his face broke into a warm smile and he exclaimed, "Come here!" Lucy darted into his arms and Susan followed, a bit more hesitant. He picked Lucy up and hugged and kissed her. "How are you?" he asked tenderly. "I missed you. Susan," he set Lucy down to pull Susan into a full embrace. "You alright? How did the rest of your time go?" He kissed her cheek.

"Fine," Susan spoke quickly. "Edmund is upstairs."

"Have you all eaten yet?"

"No," Lucy shook her head. "I'm hungry though. Shall I run and tell Mathilda to whip something together quickly?"

"Please ask Mathilda to prepare supper, yes," Peter chided her gently. "Just for the four of us. I've missed being in the company of women." He smirked at Susan. Lucy cocked her head to the side, quizzically.

"But Edmund's a boy!"

Peter and Susan's eyes widened, and then they all burst out laughing, Lucy giggling more simply because her brother and sister were. Then she was scampering off to find the cook.

Peter turned to Susan as their laughter died down. He drew her into another hug, this time holding her closer and longer than he had been able to at their initial greeting. "Are you alright?" he asked her again. She nodded before pulling back to look at him.

"Are you terribly angry with us?" she asked quietly. Peter shook his head.

"No. Not angry. Well, I'm angry with Edmund, but I also need a meal and my bed. That will resolve itself. I'm not angry with you, Susan." He ran his thumb across her cheek. "There is a conversation that will need to be had between us at some point, probably tomorrow. Tonight, I just want to be in all of your company. It's good to be home."

"We're glad to have you," she gave him a small smile. He knew that she was not expecting what their "conversation" was going to entail. He pushed away the thought. No use in focusing on it right now.

"Dinner in 30 minutes!" came Lucy's voice as she flew around the corner. Peter ducked behind the other side of the wall just as she came into sight. "We're having…" Her voice trailed away as she looked around, confused. "Where did—"

"Ha!" He jumped out from behind the wall and Lucy jumped back and let out a bloodcurdling scream. Susan gasped, her hand flying to her heart.

"You!" Lucy charged him, her teeth gritted in a little snarl. "Great!" She raised her little fists. "Oaf, Peter Pevensie!" And then she was pummeling his stomach, his jaw, his arms. Peter laughed loudly, trying (not very hard) to evade her attack.

"I'm going to go tell Edmund to wash for supper," Susan spoke, but neither of them heard her. Peter was too busy swinging Lucy around. She screeched with laughter.

Susan turned and made her way up the stairs, shaking her head. She was relieved that Peter had made it home and that he wasn't in a sour mood. All that was left was the conversation he had said that he wanted to have with her, but that was not something she was worried about; it couldn't be very bad at all; it rarely ever was. She reached Edmund's bedchamber and rapped on the door.


To be continued!


A note to Pinstripe :) I totally hear you about Peter and Susan's dynamic and about the conversation that they had to have had after Susan addressed Peter's behaviour in No Excuse. And I completely agree that they probably did have one, due to their excellent communication and whatnot. That being said, No Excuse was set a year after the Pevensie's coronation; Peter was 15, Susan was 14. Peter is 18 in this story, so three years would have passed since that incident.

Now I'm certainly not saying that Susan has never spanked Peter again since that moment, absolutely not. Our Peter can be quite a bit much at times and there is no one better to set him straight than Susan :) For the sake of consistency and the timeline, though, I probably won't get very into the depths of that conversation here. I struggle to quite find a place for, "Susan, we said 3 years ago when we talked about this that our terms for discipline were if either of us did a, b, or c." if that makes sense. I think Peter is miffed enough at the fact that Susan put Lucy in danger and the issue will be able to stand alone enough without them needing to talk over terms and conditions again. And Susan will understand. Truth be told, I think she'd be equally upset with Peter if he were to try the same thing. But we shall see :)

Maybe I'll end up writing a sequel to The Temper Tantrum or No Excuse that will explore a little more in depth the creation and development of the siblings' dynamic: Peter being in charge, the sibling's reception, Peter and Susan's dynamic as equals but also Susan as his little sister. That would be fun :)

I hope that all makes sense!


To all: Thank you so, so much for your support thus far. I'm so excited to see where this goes and how it ends up wrapping up!

All my love. -Cas xx