Author's Note: Okay, I'm making Aceline go back in the next chapter. And, I've finally decided what's going to happen when she does. Ace's seventeen in this one. Thanks for the reviews! Sorry this took so long.

Queen Emily the Wise: Okay, the changes are in this chapter. Hope you don't bash me. Oh, and thanks for the songs you suggested!
bookworm2011: I don't need OCs right now, but you're still welcome to post. I'll probably use him/her later on in the story.

Inspiration: The All-American Rejects's "Dirty Little Secret", Katharine McPhee's "Over It", LAX Gurlz's "Forget You"

Quote from Chapter: "Ace, can I tell you a secret?"

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Tuesday is Secret Day

It was a Tuesday when Lucylita told her her secret...

Aceline remembered the day quite well. She had been walking in the direction of the apple tree, her sketchbook tucked under her arm and a pair of gloves sticking out of her pocket. Her eyes were looking at nothing particular. She passed an open door where Lucylita sat, staring straight at a wine glass. The Princess stopped and walked back, hoping to speak with her friend. She entered the room and opened her mouth to speak, but she promptly forgot what she was going to say as the Lone Islander snapped her fingers and the glass exploded.

A gasp escaped her lips as her sketchbook fell to the floor. Lucylita jumped up from her chair, looking alarmed, but not as alarmed as herself.

"How did you - I mean, the thing - it exploded - And you just snapped your fingers - And - " Aceline knew she was rambling, but she didn't care. She had just seen one of her best friends make a glass explode without even touching it! By the Lion, she had a right to ramble!

"I can explain," Lucylita said. She walked passed her and closed the door, her hand locking it. The Princess grew suspicious. What was so important that couldn't be told with an open door? She took a step back as she faced her.

"Look, I know you're suspicious," she said. She sat down in the chair and pulled one in front of her. "You might want to sit down," she added, gesturing towards the seat. Hesistantly, suspiciously, she sat, clenching her crossed knees tightly with her hands.

"Well?" she asked. The older girl was caught off guard with the question, much to Aceline's surprise. In the four years that she had known the nineteen-year-old, she had come to realize that Lucylita always had something to say. She waited patiently until Lucylita opened her mouth.

"Have you ever of something called the Watcher?" she asked, eyeing her critically. The younger female shook her head, giving her a quizzical look. Her friend sighed, placing her head in her hands.

"This is going to take a while," she said, looking back at her. "Okay, let me start from the beginning."

"The Watchers are a group of people chosen by Aslan to protect, or watch over, other people," she said. The Princess still couldn't see the connection.

"And...?"

"I'm your Watcher, Ace," Lucylita said. The younger girl's eyes grew wide.

"W-What?" she asked. Aceline's mouth had dropped open and her hands had fallen off of her knees.

"I'm your Watcher," was the calm reply. The Lone Islander had turned white, as if it had cost her to say her secret out loud. Silence rang out in the empty room, in which neither of them could look the other in the eye. The purple-eyed girl was fidgeting with the laces of her dress (this had become a habit of hers) and finally looked up.

"Are you always protecting me?" she asked.

"Yes," Lucylita said. "Remember that time you nearly fell off the cliff?" Aceline started to say that that never happened to her when she realized that she nearly did fall off a cliff once, when she was thirteen. She had been exploring with a childlike enthusiasm when she had slid in the mud and, because of some higher being, had nearly slid off the edge. The Princess remembered someone grabbing her from behind, but when she had turned around to thank them, no one had been there.

"That was you?" she said, surprised. Lucylita nodded and said: "I didn't want you to fall off. It wasn't your time to die yet."

"My time?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"Your time is years from now. For Watchers, you don't die until it's your time. Like me. I died, but I came back and I'm about as alive as you." The Princess's head felt muddled and she raised her hand to her forehead in thought.

"This isn't a dream, is it?" Aceline asked, feeling stupid at asking the question. As an answer, Lucylita reached over and gave her arm a good pinch.

"Guess that answers my question," she mumbled as she rubbed the spot.

--------

It was a Tuesday when Artymis told her her secret...

Since she was thirteen, Aceline had seen the "looks" that her friend and a certain Dar Tapfer gave each other when they thought no one was looking. It was quite stupid, she thought, to think that no one had noticed. Darrin and she had known that Dar had liked her in a more than friends way from the moment they had met.

Everything had pretty much started when she was coming back from the kitchens, taking a huge bite from an apple. Her Archenlandian friend appeared out of nowhere, looking flustered, her tan face a bit pale. She grabbed the Princess and dragged her into a room, shutting the door behind her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, unnerved by the alarmed expression on Artymis's face.

"Ace, can I tell you a secret?" the older girl asked, but from the tone of her voice it clearly stated that she would tell her no matter what. Aceline nodded, her forehead creasing.

"I kissed him."

"Kissed who?"

"Dar." A pair of purple eyes grew impossibly wide that day as they stared into the golden ones of her friend.

"Are you serious?" she asked, her tone implying the very meaning of seriousness. The Archenlander nodded, looking both excited and scared.

"And what did you do afterwards?" she continued.

"I ran, of course! I just kissed him out of nowhere and he just gaped at me," Artymis said, sitting against the door, biting her lip. Then she continued to ramble.

"What if he never wants to speak with me again? Or what if he's too embarrassed to speak with me? Or what if - "

"Calm down," was the quiet order. Aceline sat next to her friend, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"He won't do either," she reassured her.

And she was right.

A week later, exactly five months before the Princess's eighteenth birthday, the Lone Islands hosted a ball. Darrin and she had just finished talking when they decided to go out to a balcony to stargaze. (This was a favorite hobby of theirs.) The two walked to a random balcony and they gaped at the sight that awaited them.

Dar and Artymis were there, kissing each other as if there were no tomorrow.

Aceline shared an astonished with Darrin, whose mouth had dropped open. He straightened his tunic while she adjusted her neck ribbon. Then, the only Archenlander whose lips weren't occupied cleared his throat.

The two sprang apart, looking flustered at the smirks their friends gave them. The youngest of the friends walked to the other female, an amused smile on her face.

"So, Artymis...Is Dar a good kisser?" she teased, pleased to see the color rise in her cheeks. Dar flushed an adorable red while his brother doubled over laughing. Once the laughing fit was over, he clapped his twin on the back.

"Well, we knew it was going to happen," he said, his tone saying that he knew exactly what was going on. Artymis smoothed out her skirt, not daring to look at anyone.

"You did?" Dar asked quietly. Aceline giggled.

"We did," she smirked.

--------

...And it was a Tuesday when she decided to keep her secret.

There were many handsome young suitors that visited the Islands. Some of them were perfectly riduculous, calling her the "Narnian rainbow that shines in the South" as they put it. Others were decent and she became friends with some of them, even after they showered her with thanks for refusing them when a few of them married. She was interested in any of them.

Except for James Kieran.

James was a distant cousin of Dar and Darrin, a year younger than the twins. Amazingly, he looked almost nothing like them, only inheriting the Tapfers's piercing green eyes. He was light-skinned with blonde hair and a lean physique. There was something...different about him, though the Princess could never figure it out. The Archenlander never tried anything with her.

The four walked off the balcony, Darrin and her smirking as Artymis and Dar walked hand-in-hand. She shared a look with Darrin when James appeared, smiling slightly. He bowed to Aceline, who grinned.

"May I have this dance, my lady?" he asked.

"You may," she smiled. He lead her to the dance floor, where he took one of her hands in his one and placed the other on her waist. Her stomach fluttered slightly, but her expression remained impassive. She looked up at him as he towered over her (he was five foot eight while she stood at five foot two) and was delighted to see that James was smiling at her.

The song ended, but he didn't let go. Instead, he merely stared at her and said: "Will you take a walk with me? Out in the garden?" She nodded, taking his arm as he offered it. Aceline flashed a smile at Artymis, who raised her eyebrows. The twins looked suspicious, searching her purple eyes with their green ones for an answer.

The light from the full moon illuminated the gardens with a silvery glow. The Princess's silver dress looked the purest white. Their shadows were like oddly-shaped black holes.

"Look at that," James said suddenly. She looked at him and saw that he was staring up at the sky. She followed his gaze and saw thousands of twinkling stars looking down at her.

"They're beautiful," she breathed.

"They are," he agreed and pointed at one. "There's the Ship."

"And there's the Centaur," she added, pointing to one next to it. They had stopped walking by now and no longer stood arm-in-arm.

"Do you like to stargaze, your Majesty?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Very much, my lord," she answered, still looking at the stars. Aceline's gaze dropped down to him and she met his eyes. The same fluttering feeling filled her stomach and she had to look away.

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine." Just as she said this, a drop of water fell on her head. Her forehead creased as she looked up at the sky. Two drops fell from the dark sky and landed on her cheek. In a moment, the rain started to come down, soaking them to the skin. James grabbed her hand and dragged her to shelter. The Princess, who loved the rain, immediately stepped back in the pouring water.

"Your Majesty, come out of the rain," the young man said. She looked over her shoulder at him, her black hair hanging like damp, dark silk curtains on her shoulders.

"Why? It's only water," she said. To show them that she didn't care if she got wet (and because she was still mischievous despite her seventeen years), she spun around the rain, her arms held aloft like a ballerina. She heard a laugh behind her, and for a fleeting second, she wondered if he was laughing at her. But a second later, she found herself dancing with him, following the rhythm of the music of the faraway musicians.

Aceline felt light on her feet and looked at him, a task that was nearly impossible as drops of water clung to her eyelashes. She wondered what people would think of her if anyone saw her dancing in the rain. Then she realized that she didn't care.

The rain started coming down harder and harder until they finally took shelter, laughing as they did so. The make-up that she had been wearing had been completely washed away. She wrung out some of the excess water out of her hair.

"Oh, my maids are going to have a fit when they see me," she giggled. James looked at her with a quizzical expression.

"They will?" She nodded.

"They claim I look more "beautiful" with make-up on." The Archenlander ran his eyes over her and smiled.

"I think you look more beautiful with no make-up at all," he told her. The Princess stood there, stunned as he walked away. She had been called beautiful on an almost daily basis - her suitors usually said it in hopes to flatter her. But they sounded grander, more sincere, from the lips of James Kieran.

She walked back to her room in a daze, not really in a mood to go back to the ball. A stupid-looking smile was on her face and she wasn't paying too much attention to her surroundings. As such, she crashed into Felicity when she entered her room. The maid gaped at the sight of her.

"Your Majesty, what - " She ushered two other maids, Mary and Anne, towards her. Mary started to dry her hair while Felicity helped her with her soaking dress. Anne went to choose a nightgown. The three girls were perplexed at the dreamy expression on the Princess's face. Mary led her to the seat in front of the mirror and picked up a brush.

"Are you alright, milady?" she asked as she tried to untangle the knots in the girl's hair.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine," she replied. Aceline picked up another brush and ran it through a part of her hair. She stopped as she observed herself in the mirror. She tilted her head left to right almost vainly. She smiled at her appearance, but then frowned. She was being completely conceited. She pursed her lips and thought of what James had told her.

I think you look more beautiful with no make-up at all...

A tiny smile tugged at her lips as she slipped into her nightgown. She hummed to herself and almost skipped to her bed. She pulled the covers over her body. That night, she slept with a placid expression on her face.

-gets ready for flames- No, but really, flames are welcome. I hate myself for writing it. James is going to play an important part in the story. Don't worry, Ace and Peter will get back together.

Random Fact: I didn't make up Dar and Darrin's last name. "Tapfer" is German for "brave".

OCs Used:
Artymis Wolfe - Dark Wolf Goddess of the moon
Lucylita Temple - Queen Emily the Wise