- Chapter 35 -
Lucy was the first to wake up. She tiptoed through her bedroom while she was getting dressed so as to not wake Camden.
The Duke of Durham had been staying at Cair Paravel for the past week and a half to keep an eye out for his friend. He hadn't admitted it, but Lucy knew that there was another reason: he also didn't want to face his mother. His father, King Alfred of Durham, had died fighting for Narnia in the Rose War a few days ago.
Lucy could see that Camden was barely making it by. There was no way he would be able to face a mourning mother.
Out of the goodness of her heart (and because she couldn't stand the thought of someone being alone so soon after the death of a loved one), Lucy had offered to let Camden stay in her room. He had declined her invitation at first in fear of intruding. But in the end, he accepted under the condition that he slept on the couch.
So now, she stood and examined him. His brown hair had been tousled into disarray and his mouth was open mid-snore.
She turned toward the bathroom and began washing up. Then, she went to the wardrobe to pick out her dress. A pretty red and orange dress with long, flowing sleeves was hanging at the far end of the rack, and she immediately picked it up. Lucy loved how she looked in those colors.
Forgetting she wasn't alone, Lucy stripped down and began changing. She first put on her bra which Susan had bought for her from a shop owned by female centaurs. Her sister had insisted that she begin wearing one. It was annoying, but she dealt with it. If her perfect sister could wear one and not look the least bit uncomfortable then Lucy could too. She finished pulling on the rest of her undergarments and then slid on her dress.
Something fell to the floor and clattered behind her. She turned to see Camden sitting on the couch. He had dropped the book he was reading on the floor. He winced at the noise.
"Well, good morning," he said.
Her eyes narrowed. "How long have you been awake?" she demanded.
No answer.
"Let me reword that: how much did you see?"
"All of it," he replied.
"Camden!" she whined in embarrassment. "You could have cleared your throat or something!"
"Goodness, lighten up."
"Excuse me?"
"I was kidding before. I didn't see anything. I woke up when I turned over and my book fell off my lap."
Lucy felt relieved. She could only imagine how embarrassing would it have been if he had been awake the whole time!
She turned back to the mirror to examine herself one more time before heading downstairs for breakfast.
00000000
Breakfast was normally a meal with light conversation and laughter, but one could practically feel the stress radiating from Analiese.
"What's wrong, An?" Susan asked.
"Nothing," she replied far too quickly.
Susan eyed her sister-in-law carefully. "Analiese, really."
"I'm just worried about tomorrow," the blonde admitted. "Aslan was present for all of our coronations, even Adela's. But what if he doesn't show up for this one?"
Peter, who sat beside her, placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing to worry about. The twins are to be crowned prince and princess whether Aslan is there or not."
"Everyone here knows that there is nothing more official than Aslan's blessing at a coronation. If he's not here, then that means-"
"That Adela is the next heir," Edmund finished. He was staring down at his plate. This was the first time he had spoken the entire morning. "Look, I don't mean to take away anyone's spotlight, but my daughter was born first."
Avaline pinched his arm. "Not now."
"No, he's right," Analiese said. "That's my point. If Aslan isn't there to set things straight, we'll be fighting the same battle as Miraz and Caspian. Our grandchildren and great grandchildren would fight to the death for the throne. We can't allow that."
Analiese's words seemed to sink into everyone's minds all at once.
Peter stood from his chair. "Well, maybe we need to settle this now. Edmund, your daughter is the eldest, but is she most fit for the throne?"
Edmund leaned his head back and guffawed. "Right. And I'm assuming that you think your infants are a better fit?"
"As a matter of fact, I do."
The dark-haired king dropped his fork onto his plate dramatically and stood, his hands leaning on the table. "How so?"
Peter was about to answer when Susan yelled, "Enough!"
They all stopped to listen to her. "Does it really matter which child gets the throne? I think that's up to Aslan, and if we don't see him tomorrow then I'm sure we will see him someday. The kids aren't even a year old yet. Let's just let them be kids before we pressure them with things such as this."
And everyone agreed.
00000000
It was late afternoon that day, and Edmund and Avaline had gone out for a walk in the garden. It had been a long, long time since things between them had been so peaceful. Almost a year.
"Ed," she began. "There's still one thing I don't understand about the disappearance."
"Yes?"
"Well, one night after dinner, while we were staying in Durham, I took Adela upstairs to bed. But I found your crown - the one you said you're missing - in my room. It was covered in blood."
Edmund stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at her with wide eyes, speechless. After several moments, he turned and continued walking.
"Ed?" Avaline said, running to catch up with him. "Edmund!"
He ignored her still. Irritated, she shoved his shoulder with her palm.
"Edmund!"
The Just King turned sharply on his heels. "Avaline, there are some things that you don't need to know."
"Ed, if you were hurt then I do need to know."
"Some things are best kept secret," he replied indifferently as he started to stroll along the path.
But Avaline wasn't done questioning him yet. Her eyes turned down in pain. She tried to make herself understand why he was keeping something like this a secret.
"I thought we were past this," she said in a low voice.
Not even his steps faltered as he answered. "Past what?"
"The lies."
"I'm not lying."
"You're not telling me the whole truth."
He turned and grabbed her face in both of his hands, catching her by surprise. "There's a reason for that." To change the subject for good, he grabbed both sides of her head, pressed his lips to her forehead, and went on his way.
00000000
"Do you think she'll like it?" Susan asked her sister-in-law. She was worried out of her mind that Lucy wouldn't like the decorations and plans Susan had spent so many hours working on.
Lucy's birthday had already passed during their time in Durham, but due to the circumstances, she hadn't had a proper party. Back in England, turning sixteen years old was a big deal. The Pevensies had carried that tradition into Narnia with them. Now, Narnian teenagers celebrated with big parties on their sixteenth birthdays.
Lucy didn't know that they were throwing a birthday party for her. It was going to take place the next day during dinnertime. The day after that would be the twins' coronation. The timing would be perfect and all of their guests would have no trouble making arrangements to travel to Narnia for two nights.
"Oh, she'll love it!" Analiese assured her. "I love the violet flowers."
"You don't think they're too much, do you? It took me hours to find the perfect shade of purple flower."
"They're perfect."
The birthday celebration was to be held in the great hall, as were most of their parties. It was going to be a grand event. Peter and Susan had never gotten the chance to celebrate their sixteenth birthdays in Narnia. Edmund had tried to opt out of the "attention fest," as he called it, but he eventually ended up with a party anyway. Susan refused to let Lucy go without one.
After arranging a few more cases of flowers and setting up placemats and eating utensils, she was done.
"There's something missing, I just know it," Susan commented as she examined her work.
"Queen Susan, nothing is missing from this part except Queen Lucy," Caspian joked.
She brushed off his words. "She'll be here. She's Lucy, it's not like she has any plans!"
00000000
A day passed and it was half past four in the afternoon. Lucy had just woken from a long nap. She'd fallen asleep directly after lunch for reasons that she couldn't explain. She went to sleep last night and woke this morning at the exact same time as usual, but she had been incredibly tired all day.
Lucy yawned and stretched her arms above her head. She slid off the side of her bed and opened the door to her closet. She had changed into her pajamas for her nap, and now she had to rewash her face, brush her hair again, and find a new dress to wear.
Someone knocked on the bedroom door. Lucy turned, confused. It was nearly dinnertime. Nobody visited her much after three in the afternoon.
Still in pajamas with tousled hair, she opened the door to find Susan standing with a smile that stretched across the entire country. That smile faded almost as quickly as it came when Susan took in what her sister was wearing.
"Lucy!" she exclaimed. "Why are you in your pajamas?"
Lucy jumped in surprise. She had no earthly clue as to why Susan had changed moods so fast. "I was taking a nap. Why?"
The older girl looked to the side and rolled her eyes. "Really?" she said to herself.
"Yes, Su, really! Why do you care?"
She gave no answer. Instead, she grabbed her younger sister by the hand and dragged her back into her bedroom. The door shut behind them. Susan pointed to the bed and told Lucy to sit there, then rummaged in Lucy's closet.
Finally, Susan found what she was looking for. She reentered the room and held up a dress for Lucy to see. It was a light pink ballgown with a puffy skirt and three-quarter sleeves. She had never seen it in her entire life. Lucy wondered how it had gotten in her closet.
"Why am I wearing such a fancy dress?" she asked.
"Because, sometimes it's fun to dress up!"
This was the first time Lucy had paid attention to her sister's own outfit. She too wore a different dress than she had earlier in the day. Hers was dark yellow - almost brown - and rather plain compared to Lucy's.
"Now get to work, Lu! What are you waiting for? Go brush your hair. And please, Lu, if you value my sanity, I would suggest putting some effort into your appearance. Perhaps attempt to curl that bird's nest of yours."
Lucy rolled her eyes as she headed toward the bathroom. But she was still confused as to why Susan was making her do this. Ten minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom with the slightest bit of makeup and curled hair (as curly as her stick straight hair could manage, that is).
"See?" Susan commented as Lucy walked out. "A little hard work goes a long way."
Then, she led her out of the room and to the great hall. What Lucy found downstairs stunned her into near disbelief. She found all of her friends and family wearing nice clothes and the entire room decorated in flowers.
"Susan, what is all this for?" she asked.
Before she could answer, Avaline hopped in front of her, Adela on her hip. "Happy sixteenth birthday, Lucy!"
"Thanks, Ava," Lucy smiled. "But my birthday was weeks ago."
"Only a week and a half ago," Susan said. "I decided that you were getting a party whether your special day passed or not."
Adela leaned away from her mother and reached out her arms to Lucy. "Wucy."
Lucy raised her eyebrows. "I don't understand how she can talk and pronounce things so well at such a young age! It's amazing!"
"Lu Lu!" the baby demanded.
"Okay, okay!" Avaline laughed and passed Adela to her aunt.
Lucy headed into the crowd of guests with Adela in her arms. Everyone oo-ed and aw-ed over the little girl. To Lucy's amusement, she appeared to enjoy the attention.
When it finally was time for the socialization to die down temporarily and for the real celebration to begin, Peter climbed up to the third step on the giant marble staircase. He held a glass of wine in his hand.
"Good evening, everyone. We are gathered here to celebrate the birthday of my sister, Queen Lucy. It gives me great joy and sadness to see her growing into her title of Valiant Queen."
Peter continued his speech until the baker came in to discretely whisper to him that the cake was ready. He gladly stepped away from the crowd to get it. When it was brought in, he announced that Lucy got to cut the first piece.
After all the guests finished their cake, it was time to dance. Lucy stepped onto the floor alone, but not for long.
Camden came to stand in front of her. He wore a smile on his face. "Lucy, would you like to dance?"
"Well, of course," she smiled back.
Since it was a more upbeat song, the two of them danced apart from each other but still together. She couldn't help but laugh at her friend's terrible attempts at dance moves that only the most experienced dancers could try. He knew he was bad, which made it even funnier.
"Lucy, I'm trying to be hot here," he joked while faking an upset expression.
"It's not working," she shot back in a fit of laughter.
He bent over at an angle and shook his backside. It reminded Lucy of when she was in primary school and learned to do the chicken dance. The memory was distant, but still there.
This sent her into hysterics. "Camden, you're so embarrassing!" She covered her face with her hands.
He smirked. "Hey, don't fight the power."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The dance is the power and you're fighting it. You need to stop."
"Dear heavens, you're crazy!"
Finally, the night was coming to a close. The music was quieting as was the chatter around them. Plates were being cleaned up and people began to leave.
At the end of the night, Lucy was content. She was sure that this had been her best birthday yet. So she fell asleep with Camden on the couch across the room, thinking happy thoughts and getting excited over the coronation tomorrow.
A/N: Lol so I thought this was going to be the epilogue but then I thought it would be great to add in Lucy's birthday party. I had a few ideas for it. Also, I thought it would be good to add in the part where they fought over the heir to the throne. That's a big part of the next story and I thought I should add that in as a sort of an early sneak peak.
The actual epilogue is next chapter though, for real this time! Thanks again for all the reviews. Tell me what you thought about this one, especially the Lucy/Camden moments.