Sorry for the delay. Things are picking up at work and I'm moving into a new house in just a few days. So, I've been using my spare time to pack. But here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 17

Narnia

The next morning, Meri went about her daily routine with the Dryad that usually helped her. She knew it was a day like any other and that she really shouldn't feel any different, but she did. She knew why too. Babbo Natale had both called and treated her like a Princess. Her own babbo had called her a Princess all her life, so had her Aunts and Uncle even Caterina had called her Princess. But there was something about Babbo Natale, an outsider, someone she didn't know, calling her a Princess that seemed to mean more.

Now, living in Cair Paravel with a Dryad acting as her Lady in Waiting, Meri actually felt like a princess. She wanted to speak to someone about it. Her mother would have been ideal, but Meri didn't know how she would have responded to King Edmund's gift and she really didn't want to bother her or speak to her if she rejected it for some silly reason. And it was as equally possible that her mother would have rejected the gift as it was that she would have accepted it. Not knowing which of the two her mother had done, it was best to leave her be for now.

"Maybe Aunt Lulu is available?" Meri whispered to herself.

"What was that?" the Dryad asked.

"Oh. Nothing. Actually, do you know where Queen Lucy is?"

"I think she is at breakfast, my Lady."

Meri smiled. "Thank you, Friend, for your assistance this morning. You did lovely work. I'm off to find Queen Lucy now."

The Dryad curtsied as Meri left her room.

"Good morning, Kou," she greeted the guard outside her door. Unlike Sara who only ever had Bea guarding her as the Hound refused to let anyone else do it, Meri had a rotating stream of guards. Today it was Kou, the white Tiger. Meri would never claim to have a favorite, but she did enjoy Kou's company the most.

"Good morning, Princess Meri." Kou was also one of the few Narnians who had always insisted on calling her Princess—Jagar and Nalsa were the other two.

Meri smiled. "You really don't have to call me Princess, you know. I'm just Meri."

"You are King Edmund's daughter. Daughters of Kings are called Princess," Kou replied.

"He is right. You should learn to listen to your Guard more, Princess," Nalsa said.

Kou nodded his head in thanks to the Wolf.

"Wait. Nalsa? What are you doing down the guest's quarters?" Meri asked.

"I am guarding my King," the Wolf said with what could only be described as a wolfish grin.

"What's Edmund doing in Mamma's rooms this early?" Meri asked without thinking it through. Once she did, however, she wished she hadn't. "Oh. Oh." Her faced pinched.

"Yes. King Edmund has mated with Lady Ileana. Finally."

"Princess Meri, you are distressed. Has this news upset you?" Kou asked.

"No. No, I'm not upset. It's just…" She paused to find the right words in order to properly describe what she felt as a human to a couple of Narnians. "I told Mamma I was fine with the idea of her fancying King Edmund because he's Babbo in our time and I am. Fine, I mean. I am fine with it. I just… I didn't expect this exactly."

"Expect what? Mating?" Nalsa asked.

"Why would you not expect them to mate, Princess? Mating is natural amongst a bonded pair," Kou added.

"Yes. I've been suggesting to King Edmund that he mate with Lady Ileana for weeks now."

"Ugh. Please, *fermare," Meri said. "I do not want to hear the words mating, King Edmund, or Lady Ileana or any variant thereof in the same sentence again or in any adjacent sentences."

"Do you not wish for them to…?" Nalsa purposefully left the word out but her meaning was clear enough.

"I simply do not wish to talk about it, or hear about it, or even think about it. We humans tend to overlook and ignore the fact that our parents once…mated..." Meri cringed, "…in order to make us."

"But that makes no sense. How else would you have been made?"

"That's not the point."

A door opened behind Meri and Sara came bounding out with Bea close behind. Kou took a few steps back so as to not be crowded in the hall. Sara spotted Nalsa immediately and threw her arms around the Wolf's neck in a hug. It was a testament to how fond Nalsa had become of Sara in that she showed no outward sign of disproval or discomfort at the sense of familiarity. Sara then turned to hug her sister.

"Bea says Eddie is in wit' Mamma. Can we go wake 'em together?"

"No," Meri said quickly. "Why don't we let Mamma have a little lie in this morning, while you and I have breakfast together? We haven't had much time for just the two of us lately. You've been spending all your time with Eddie." She took Sara's hand and began leading her away from their mother's room.

"That's because he's fun to play wit'."

"And am I not anymore?"

Sara shrugged and giggled. "You've become all growd up."

Meri huffed. "Well, I don't think I want to be grown-up at all this morning. I'm going to ask for extra maple on my toast."

Sara's eyes went wide with delight. "Can I have some too?"

Meri smiled mischievously. "We'll have to hurry before Mamma can stop us. And maybe, after breakfast, we can go see Bianca and Sugar." Sara's excited squeal could be heard halfway down the hall.

XXX

Lena woke slowly. She took note of the arm tucked beneath her head and of the other wrapped around her bare waist. She could feel Edmund's bare chest against her back and the warmth of his breath on her neck, among other things. But unlike the last time, she was not startled by this and in fact wholly content with it.

She rolled softly in his arms until she was facing him. He moaned and pulled her closer as though she was trying to escape. She stretched up to kiss his chin.

"Good morning," she whispered.

His hand slid along her backside and down her the back of her thigh before coming back up to rest in the dip of her hip.

"Is it morning already?" he murmured.

"''Fraid so."

She let her hands glide along his body now, feeling every familiar scar and noticing a few that were missing. She longed to linger in bed and explore more fully the details she had missed in her desperation to be with him again, but from the hushed voices outside her door, she knew their daughters were up. It would only be a matter of time before Sara tried to come crawling in bed with them. It would be best if they had clothes on at that point.

Edmund had other ideas. "We could make this a great morning."

His hands roamed once more as his lips found that tender spot on her neck; he was a quick study and Lena was tempted to give in. The voices outside the door had faded. The girls had left, but Lena knew they'd be back. She gently pushed Edmund off, rolled over, and sat up.

"We can't."

"Says who?"

Lena threw her legs over the side of the bed and stretched. He crawled over to nibble at her hip before leaving a trail of kisses up her side. He turned her mouth towards his when he finally reached it. He was a very quick study. Lena reluctantly pulled away.

"Edmund, we really can't do this now."

"I still haven't heard a valid reason as to why not."

He actually managed to pull her back down on the bed when he kissed her that time. And it was much harder for her to pull away.

"The girls are up. Meri has managed to distract Sara for now, but that will not last and we don't want her running in here in our current state."

Edmund propped himself up on one arm, accentuating some of his features. Lena couldn't stop her eyes from following the curve of his chest down to where the sheets still covered his lower half.

"Nalsa will keep her out until we are decent."

Lena snorted in a very un-ladylike manner. "I am sorry to be the one to tell you, but your Guard has become soft where it concerns Sarina."

"I heard that," Nalsa said from the other side of the door.

"But can you deny it?" Lena asked.

There was a low grumbling growl but no rebuttal. Edmund laughed and Lena tossed him his trousers and shirt.

"You will have to make the walk in those, I'm afraid. I have nothing here that will fit you properly." Lena pulled her own dress on quickly, knowing that he would procrastinate more unless she was dressed.

"Or, I could just be Narnian about it," he said.

"What does that mean?"

Edmund grinned. Then he made a great show of throwing the bed coverings off of him. He left his clothes on the bed and made his way to the door, stark naked.

"Edmund, you can't!" Lena exclaimed realizing what he was about to do.

"Can't I?" His hand was on the handle and he cracked the door open. Lena rushed to push it closed.

"You have daughters in this castle. Young daughters. Going Narnian around them would be highly inappropriate."

Edmund released the door and instead pinned Lena against it with his body. "I was never intending to go Narnian for the sole sake of our daughters. I just wanted you within reach again."

He kissed her fervently, pulling her back and onto the bed where she straddled his lap. He had the ties of her dress undone before she knew what was happening, and the dress halfway off before she managed to wheedle her way out.

"You are never going to make this any easier, are you?"

"Not if I can help it."

Lena bit her lip and laid her head on his shoulder. "Trust me, if we got started again now I wouldn't be finished with you by the time Sara came running through that door. And I really don't want to explain to her the sort of adventure that Mamma gets to go on with Eddie that she doesn't."

Edmund sighed and nodded. "But we will get to finish this adventure later?"

"Oh yes." Lena smiled. "We have many, many more adventures to go on."

He nodded again and kissed her forehead. He gently lifted her off his lap and made for the door.

"Ed."

"Hmm?"

"Your clothes."

"Oh. Right." He dressed in a hurry and gave her one more quick kiss before leaving.

1951, Somewhere in Eastern Europe

Lena stared in the steam-clouded mirror at her blood-splattered face, her blood-stained hands, and her silken dress torn and smeared with blood.

She blinked and wiped a hand across the mirror.

Her face wasn't splattered with blood. Her hands weren't blood-stained, they were just raw from scrubbing. And she wasn't wearing a silken dress that was torn and smeared; she was wearing a towel.

Had it really only been twenty-two hours since they fled the Polkovnik's residence? Had it been so short a time since the Polkovnik's hands had been on her? She turned to view the bruises he'd left behind. They were an ugly blackish-blue. There was another one on the inside of her thigh that hurt when she walked; Little King hadn't noticed that one yet.

The knock on the door made her jump. "Lena? Are you all right?" Edmund asked.

All right? No. She wasn't all right. How could she be all right?

"Yes. I'm fine," she lied. "I'll be out in just a moment."

She looked around. She didn't have anything to wear except the clothes Little King had picked up for her that morning. She never asked how he got them exactly; money was tight. The trousers were a little big but comfortable. The blouse was a perfect fit. She slipped into them easily and left the bathroom.

Lena grabbed the complimentary comb from the table just outside the bathroom door. This hotel was much nicer than the one they'd been in that morning, but still, all they had was a comb not a brush and that was the one thing Little King hadn't thought to acquire. Lena would have to do her best to work through her tangle of wet hair with nothing but a comb.

Little King stood by the bed, his papers spread before him, and his back towards the bathroom door and Lena. She didn't mean to let her eyes linger on his backside, but she couldn't seem to help it. Had his trousers always been that fitted around the buttocks? He looked over his shoulder at her and she quickly looked down at her hair, pretending to be fixated on the knot that was there. She was furious with her cheeks for turning red and betraying her.

It had just been sex. Granted, it was rather good sex. At least, she supposed that's what good sex felt like; she'd never actually felt anything that intense before. And surely he didn't really mean what he'd said; though, she'd never known him to say something he didn't mean. She was very confused by it all. She wondered if he'd want to have sex again that night and if he did, would she let him? She might get more clarity in her feelings if she did let him, but then, if he said those words again would that give her clarity or just confuse her more? She really didn't know what to think and she was beginning to feel a mild jabbing pain behind her eye. Wine would alleviate the pain, but they had no wine.

Lena jumped when Edmund gently touched her arm.

"Sorry." He quickly removed his hand and stepped back. "I'm sorry. Oh, I'm so sorry, Lena. I…"

"Fermare. Please." Lena did not want to hear him apologize for something that wasn't his fault. And she didn't like seeing that guilty look on his face either. She'd much rather see the look he'd had in the early hours of the morning when he…

Something turned and twisted in Lena's stomach at the thought. She shoved it aside and walked past him.

"What's all this?" she asked.

Edmund closed his eye and pinched the bridge of his nose, an action he instantly regretted. There were many things he regretted lately. Principally among them were drinking a bottle of vodka with a head wound, and failing to protect Lena the way he should have. He'd been too slow, too careful, and too blind to keep the Polkovnik's hands off of her. As a result, she had to do something she never should have had to do. She had to kill. He also regretted sleeping with Lena not once but twice within the last twenty-four hours, and only because he'd done so while under the influence of a bottle of vodka and with bruised, potentially broken ribs and he couldn't fully devote his full care and attention to worship her body and her mind the way she deserved. They had yet to talk about what they did last night…or that morning. And had he really told her he loved her?

"Edmund?"

Lena called Edmund's name louder and laid her hand on his arm when he didn't respond to her question. He looked up at her and saw the fear that was still plainly evident in her eyes. She didn't need a self-pitying fool right now, or a love-sick boy. She needed someone she could rely on, now more than ever. He shoved all other thoughts aside and joined her at the bedside.

"This is everything I could find at the house. I was hoping to find something I might have missed."

"And have you?"

"No," he said regrettably, once more feeling like a failure. He ran a hand through his hair.

"And no wonder. How can anyone read this? It's all symbols and strange lines." She picked up a paper to examine it more closely.

"It's Cyrillic."

"Another language?"

"Of a sort. It's the same language different alphabet. Not every language uses the same Latin-based alphabet we do."

She set the paper back on the bed. "This world is so much bigger than I ever thought possible."

Edmund didn't say anything. What could he have said? Nothing would make the world seem smaller or less frightening. There was nothing he could say or do that would ease the tension he saw building in her shoulders. Well, maybe there was one thing he could do, but now was not the time for that. Later. Later there could be more, much more, a lifetime of more…

If he hadn't screwed that up. If his failures didn't prevent that from happening.

"What does this mean?" She had picked up another page and was studying it. "This symbol is repeated several times."

Edmund banished the thoughts of more from his mind and moved in closer. "That? Oh, that doesn't mean anything. It's a stray mark."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because I've seen it before."

"Where?"

"On the…" she paused, swallowed, and began again. "On the Polkovnik. He had this right behind his ear. I remember thinking it was a very odd place to have a scar."

"You're certain?"

"I nibbled on his ear enough for it to ingrain on my brain," she said with more disgust than bitterness.

Edmund had to shove aside his own disgust and anger as an image came to mind of Lena's body pressed against the Polkovnik's while his hands roamed her body freely. Lena had thought they'd been alone for their private concerts, but Edmund had been there; he was always there and he saw everything.

He stepped forward some more and picked up a few pages himself. His eyes quickly scanned the documents. Lena was right; that symbol was everywhere. More specifically it was everywhere the document made a reference to a particular person.

"Brilliant, Lena. I think these markings are meant to represent the Polkovnik. And this document outlines an exchange."

"What sort of exchange?"

"I can't work that out yet. It goes back and forth several times though, between the Polkovnik and this other person I can't identify."

"The rat?"

Edmund looked up from the papers and fixed his eyes on her. "Possibly. Probably. They keep arguing over the value of the exchange."

"And they put it in writing?" she asked skeptically, and for good reason.

"The Polkovnik did at least. They probably didn't want to chance a phone call or a face-to-face meeting."

Edmund went back to pouring over the papers on the bed with new vigor trying to connect this new bit of information with the old. Lena went back to combing through her hair. She took a seat away from the bed and watched him work absentmindedly. The top few buttons of his shirt were open and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. She could see his arms flex slightly as he picked up two pages and scanned them again with his one eye; the other was still swollen shut but already looking much better than it had that morning when she stitched it.

He set one page down and reached for another, but he reached too aggressively. He winced and held his side. Lena decided she disliked the look of pain almost as much as she disliked the guilt. She'd definitely much rather see the look she saw only ten hours ago before they left the hotel. She found herself wondering how many other women had brought that look on.

She had to concede that he was attractive. She'd be an idiota not to. She had seen how the eyes of other women followed him around the room. She saw how they smiled a little brighter when he spoke to them. She knew their touch lingered a little longer than was necessary. But he never reciprocated, at least, never when he was around her. Still, Lena knew that morning hadn't been his first. He'd been too confident in his movements, too sure of his touches.

Lena couldn't fathom why that irked her so much. He'd clearly not been the first man she'd lain with, even if he was the first one to make her enjoy it and wish for more. Did she wish for more? She'd never remember all their names, but she'd never forget their faces. It's what she did; it's all she did. If only she'd done her job with the Polkovnik then Little King wouldn't be hurting like he was.

Lena didn't know she was crying until it was too late. Edmund was already kneeling before her telling her everything would be all right, that she was safe, and that nothing and no one would touch her again so long he was there to protect her. He made promises he shouldn't have made. And he apologized for things that weren't his fault.

"I should have given him what he wanted."

"No. I never should have let it get that far."

"'You will give me what I was promised.'"

"What?"

"That's what he kept saying. 'You will give me what I was promised.' I should have given it to him."

"No. You didn't promise him anything."

"I did," she cried. "With my dancing and my kissing I promised him something I couldn't deliver. I kept thinking about Meri and what she would think of me if I did. And I… I just couldn't. I couldn't make occasioni with him."

"No, you…"

Whatever he was about to say, Edmund didn't say it. Instead, he pulled back and stared at her strangely.

"You… it was you," he said.

"What?"

He ran a hand through his hair and turned towards the bed. Lena understood.

"No! No, it wasn't me." She jumped to her feet. "I swear, I've never seen him before. It's not me. I didn't do it; I'm not a rat," she cried in Italian.

Edmund turned back to her and took her face in his hands.

"No. No, you misunderstood." He leaned his forehead against hers. "You were the exchange."

"But I never…"

"Listen to me, Lena." He pulled back to look her in the eye. "The Polkovnik made an exchange for you."

She sniffled, trying to collect herself. Her? But how? Why? What for? She didn't know she'd spoken aloud until Edmund answered.

"For me."

"What do you mean?"

"Those other men," he said slowly, the pieces falling together so clearly now. "The ones I dispatched, they were the Polkovnik's men. They came in uniform when everyone else was in suit and tie, and they arrived just before the party ended. I thought it curious, but I brushed it off thinking they were simply late; I was focused on trying to find something useful before…But I was never going to find the rat there; I was never meant to find him."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Polkovnik's men were there for me. They came to kill me while he…"

"But how could they have known?" she asked. "Did the rat tell them?"

Edmund nodded. "Yes."

"But how? Who else knew besides you, me and Dan…?"

"Daniels," Edmund finished her trailing thought. "Daniels was the only other person who knew of the operation. We kept it small, contained."

"But then…"

Lena felt the air escaping her. If Daniels was the rat, then how could they ever be safe? He knew where they would go.

"We're not safe here," Edmund said, seeming to have read her thoughts. "We need to keep moving. We need to get to London. I'll drive."

*Translations

Fermare: stop