Chapter Five

Despite going to bed fairly late, Cor found himself rising just after dawn. In truth, he had slept poorly with so much on his mind. It was so early that no one was about on this fateful wedding morning, even with all there was to do. Cor was grateful for it; he needed some time to think.

He wandered outside and found a tree to climb. In a few moments he was up among the fragrant green needles, panting a little from exertion. He caught his breath and sat and thought. He wanted to say marriage was pointless—look at what it was doing to Corin for no good reason. Neither did he see the need to marry Aravis to tell her he loved her. What difference should a label make aside from causing a lot of trouble? In the still of the morning, Cor was also brutally honest with himself. The idea of marrying and becoming so adult was more than daunting. He wasn't ready for it yet.

On the other hand though, he had to acknowledge that Erech was very happy, and there had been moments when he thought about marrying Aravis. He couldn't really imagine doing anything but spending the rest of his life with her. He sighed and leaned back against the trunk of the tree, stretching his legs along the branch and folding his hands behind his head. It was an unsolvable problem, wasn't it?

Just as he came to this conclusion, a noise from below distracted him. At first he thought that Aravis had ferreted him out, which she had a talent for doing. When he looked more closely, however, he saw that the woman at the foot of the tree was fair, and he recognized her as Queen Lucy.

As chance would have it, she stopped underneath his tree. Cor was debating whether to break his solitude and hers by hailing her when she began speaking.

"I don't know why it should matter so much. He had to get married sometime. But I didn't think it would be so soon. We were supposed to have ages yet together. I was going to forgive him! Of course I was—we wouldn't even have gotten into that situation if he hadn't made such a big fuss about Dar. Or if he had said—" She broke off, covering her face.

Cor bit his lip, trying to decide what to do. He had already heard too much to declare himself. Also, if he was honest with himself, he wanted to hear what she was going to say. He decided to wait.

Lucy tipped her head back and Cor could see that her eyes were full. "Please, Aslan. Please help me accept this. Please help me be happy for my friend. I don't even know why I'm upset by this. Maybe you can help me understand why the thought of watching Corin say those vows is so heartbreaking." She paced a little at the foot of the tree, her arms wrapped around herself. All at once she stopped, her eyes wide. "I can't be in love with him. We're friends. We've been friends since we were children. You can't fall in love with your best friend."

"You can!" Cor wanted to cry. "You can become friends with a person you despise and fall in love with your friend. It is all possible." In the end though, he didn't say anything. He sat and watched.

Lucy shook her head, and when she spoke again her voice was tearful. "Oh Corin, you foolish, foolish boy. It was just a quarrel. We would have made it up—we always do. But now what will happen to us? You'll be married to her, when maybe one day we could have—" she broke off, shaking her head. "Aslan, you have to help me make it through." She wiped her eyes with another sniff and then peeled herself off the tree trunk. She walked carefully back to the castle.

Cor hung from the tree, staring after her open-mouthed. All this time he had been thinking of Corin being true to himself, not surrendering the possibility of true happiness to a girl he didn't love.

Clearly it was more imperative than ever to stop the wedding. But how? Cor thought desperately. He certainly couldn't betray the queen to the world. If there was one person who needed to know however, it was Corin.

Cor leapt from the tree and hurried toward the castle. One the way he met Aravis coming to find him. She looked pale and tense, her arms hanging stiffly at her sides.

"Cor!" she cried, more with relief than with frustration. She gripped his sleeve. "Where have you been? Everyone's looking for you."

Cor took her by the shoulders and smiled into her face. "All is not lost, Aravis," he announced and he kissed her.

There was a question in her eyes when she pulled away, but she never got to voice it. A page came trotting up behind her looking wide-eyed and frazzled. "Your Highness," he breathed, "You are needed. The delegation from the Seven Isles feels most insulted that they have been seated after the Terebinthians. You must come at once!"

Cor rolled his eyes and with a look told Aravis that they would talk later and followed the page. He fully intended to sort out this matter and then find his brother, but one supposedly urgent problem led to another, and though Cor was bursting to get away, he couldn't find a moment to make his exit. As a result he came rushing into Corin's rooms moments before they had to be downstairs.

"Where've you been?" Corin asked with a pettish frown. "I've been up here all by myself…"

Cor pulled up short, blinking at his brother. In a moment the saw what Corin would become in this marriage—spiritless and dull. Gone was Corin's boundless energy, the mischief in his eyes. Left to this fate, Corin would grow to a paunchy and complacent middle age.

Cor dispelled this image with a shake of his head. "Don't do this, Corin," he said. "Lucy loves you."

All the color drained from Corin's face. "What?" he whispered.

Cor quickly related what he heard the Queen say. He watched his brother's face for the moment when it would light up with eagerness, but Corin only grew thoughtful.

"She never actually said she loves me," he observed.

"She as good as said it!" Cor cried, both amazed and exasperated. "Isn't that enough?"

"I don't know that it is," Corin answered, turning away to check his reflection.

Cor took him by the shoulders and forcibly turned his brother round to face him. "She's getting there! You've loved her for ages—you don't realize how hard it is to admit you're falling in love. You think you know a person and how you feel about them and then suddenly everything changes. Understanding that you no longer want to be friends for life but want to spend the rest of your life by their side takes courage and acting on it takes daring." He trailed off as a sudden realization struck him. He added in a stunned murmur "And we are not all as daring as you."

"So what are you saying?" Corin frowned, jolting his twin back to the present.

Cor rallied himself, his voice reverberating with passion once more. "What I'm saying is that Lucy may only just be realizing her feelings for you have changed. She may not leap first as you did, but all is not lost. You don't have to go through with this."

Corin stared at his brother, his eyes round, and, for the first time in a long while, full of hope. Cor found himself leaning forward, waiting for what his brother would say.

Just then Corin's manservant rapped on the door, calling "They're waiting for you downstairs, your Highness." The expression vanished as quickly as it came, and Corin's face fell into indifference once more. "We have to go," he said. "Father's waiting. I can't disappoint him." He turned and pulled the door open.

Cor didn't quite know what was happening. Had Corin really turned away from the possibility of Lucy? Bold, breakneck Corin? How could he? He followed dazedly in his brother's wake.

Aravis grabbed his sleeve as he passed her by the door of the royal chapel. When he turned she raised her brows in query.

Cor stole a glance at his twin, then turned back and cupped Aravis' elbow, drawing her to the side. "I think Queen Lucy might be falling for Corin," he murmured to her. "I told him, but he's still going through with it." As he drew away he saw the shock in Aravis' face. He pursed his mouth regretfully.

She tightened her grip on his sleeve and shook her head ever so slightly. Her eyes were wide as if with panic. Cor moved to reassure her, but everyone started to process inside, and Corin was halfway down the hall. He bent to kiss Aravis quickly on the cheek. "I love you," he promised her. They were the only reassuring words he could think of to say.

He joined Corin at the side entry to the chapel. "Corin," he whispered fervently. "You don't have to do this."

Corin didn't answer. His expression was blank. As he walked into the chapel, his stride was unusually stiff and wooden.

Cor took his place beside his brother, staring at the scene with amazement. Could this really be happening? He kept expecting to wake up at any moment or to hear his father's jester laugh and say it was all a farce. But the jester did not appear. Instead the duke's daughter came marching down the aisle and the wedding began in earnest.

Cor did not pay attention to the ceremony. Instead he looked at the faces in the crowd. He had to know if anyone found this as surreal as he did. He found even more quiet disapproval than he expected. King Edmund was studying the scene with a look of great concentration, while King Peter's jaw was set and his mouth was in a grim line. Queen Susan was looking very anxious for "her boy," not doubt informed by her husband, who was pulling worriedly on his beard. At the end of their row was Queen Lucy, who was sitting very still, looking pale and determined. Last of all, his eyes landed on Aravis, who was watching the scene at the altar with a mixture of horror and sorrow. Cor had a flash of sympathy for her. He wanted to reassure her, but he was powerless where he stood at the altar.

The Galmian girl recited her vows with a false, coy shyness which made Cor shudder with disgust. He imagined Aravis saying her wedding vows, how seriously she would take the ceremony but how her eyes would be secretly sparkling. With that picture in his mind, he didn't see how Corin couldn't recoil. But his twin stood still as a statue, almost as if he didn't understand what was happening.

Finally it was his turn, and the officiant prompted him. "Repeat after me, your Highness: I, Corin, Prince of Archenland."

Corin shook himself and echoed, "I, Corin, Prince of Archenland…" Cor noticed that his voice wobbled and broke.

"Do solemnly swear…"

"Do solemnly swear…" Corin's hands twitched at his sides.

"To take thee as my wife from now forevermore."

"To ta—to take…" Corin trailed off in a gasping stutter. He looked around nervously at the assembled guests. Cor saw his eyes land on Lucy. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out except a strange croaking. Then he said in a rush, "I'm sorry. I can't." And he fled down the aisle of the chapel.