The Lost Queen

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Twelve: Coronation, Wedding, and Despair

Anna stood in the front of the crowd in the throne room of Cair Paravel, donned in a beautiful blue-green satin gown and her red hair pulled into an elegant braid as the music began to play, announcing the approach of the four new rulers of Narnia. As Peter walked with his siblings through the room with Aslan, he grinned towards her, giving her a small wink.

Peter, after he'd told her he loved her, confessed that he had been listening to her and Susan's conversation that day in the tent. Although she blushed violently at the thought of him hearing everything that she'd said that night, she was glad that he knew. And the revelation that he felt the same way made her heart soar. Nothing in her entire life could have prepared her for this moment or the events that had surrounded it. They had been sent away so not to get involved in a war, only to end up ending one.

After getting approval from Aslan, Peter had told her that he was granting her lordship over the large forest north of Cair Paravel called Owlwood, knowing she wasn't going to be satisfied with just sitting around the castle, but wasn't about to send her too far away.

With a smile back at Peter, Anna watched as Aslan turned towards the awaiting crowd, all of whom seemed to be holding their breath. Tumnus the faun, along with the Beavers, approached the four Kings and Queens, carrying the crowns that had been fashioned for them.

"To the Glistening Eastern Sea," Aslan began, "I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant." Lucy beamed in delight as Tumnus placed a beautiful silver laurel to her hair and he smiled back at her before moving back to the Beavers to lift a silver crown off of the pillows.

"To the Great Western Wood," Aslan continued in his booming voice, "I give you King Edmund the Just."

Edmund grinned towards Anna, who fought a small smile as she remembered her words from . . . had it just been a few days ago? It seemed like weeks, she thought musingly as Tumnus placed the crown on the younger King's head.

"To the Radiant Southern Sun," Aslan added, "I give you Queen Susan the Gentle." Tumnus placed a ring of golden flowers onto Susan's head before retrieving the last crown, a golden one, and moved to the eldest Pevensie.

"And to the clear Northern Sky," Aslan concluded, "I give you King Peter the Magnificent." The moment that Tumnus placed the golden crown on Anna's best friend's head, the throne room exploded in cheers and laughter. "Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen. May your wisdom guide us until the stars rain down from the heavens."

"Long live King Peter!"

"Long live King Edmund!"

"Long live Queen Susan!"

"Long live Queen Lucy!"

Anna cheered with the rest of them as the coronation ended and the celebrations began. As she stepped through the room, many of the Narnians stop to bow or nod in respect to her.

She hadn't noticed Peter following her until he had taken her hand, squeezing it tightly as he grinned down at her. "Did you really think I was going to let you slip away?" he asked, tilting her head up. Anna smiled towards the High King.

"Am I that obvious?" she asked, her eyes twinkling. Peter chuckled and took her hand as a slow waltz began to play.

"Dance with me?" he questioned and she nodded as he led her out onto the dance floor, taking her into his arms as he placed his arm around her waist and took her other on, leading her in the dance.

No one dared interrupt the High King or Lady of Owlwood as they moved silently on the dance floor, neither one of them speaking, but revelling in the first dance that they ever had with one another. Anna, though hesitant at first, laid her head down on Peter's chest, her eyes closing at the feeling.

She couldn't help but marvel at the strength of the feelings that swarmed through her as Peter held her in his arms. She had known that she had been in love with Peter for so long that sometimes, she doubted that she would ever be able to confess to him the depths of her feelings for him. To learn that his feelings for her were just as strong as hers was something of a shock and something she was still coming to terms with.

"Did you ever think that we were going to end up this way?" Peter asked so softly that she almost didn't hear him. Raising her head slightly, she smiled up at him.

"No."

"Liar."

Anna laughed as she laid her head down on him once again. "Never." She never could have, in her wildest dreams, imagined all of this. If someone had told her that she would have fought alongside Peter and Edmund in a battle against a witch and that her friends would be the rulers of a magical land, then she probably would have told them that they were crazy.

But then again, if she told anybody that this was how they spent their escape from the war, then they would probably lock her up in a mental institution so fast it would make her head spin. She smiled at the thought as she looked up at Peter.

"Did you?" she asked and he chuckled, shaking his head.

"I never could have come up with something this crazy," he replied, tweaking her nose affectionately. "Just promise me something, Anna." She looked up at him expectantly. "Don't leave me."

She chuckled. "I won't, Peter, I promise." As he twirled her around before catching her free hand and drawing her against him, she sealed her promise with a kiss, wondering how she could have gotten so lucky.

--

It was four years, almost to the day, before High King Peter and Lady Anna were finally wed. The summer that she turned sixteen, the entire country was in high celebration for the royal wedding. Invitations were sent out to all of the surrounding nations to attend the wedding of the High King to his queen.

Anna was a bundle of nerves on her wedding day, so much that Susan, more than once, had to go into her bedchambers and calm her down. Her gown was made of the finest Narnian silks with pearls sewn into the bodice. She wore the necklace that was her present from Father Christmas and the veil fell around her like a waterfall.

The day that she took Peter as her husband, Anna felt as though everything were finally in place, as though all was right with the world, as though nothing could spoil it. But she should have known that their happiness was too wonderful for it to last.

Their marriage lasted eleven years before everything was torn apart. She had eleven wonderful years with her husband and their siblings—for Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were her family as much as they were Peter's—before they were taken away from her.

Despite Anna's fears, Bridget had not fallen that day in battle and the High Queen and mare had ridden faithfully together since then, even though Bridget was getting on in years and had borne two foals, one of whom had foals of her own now.

Anna remembered when the rumours of the White Stag had come to the castle, that it would grant any wish of those who caught it. But she didn't particularly want anything; she already had everything that her heart desired. Still, she rode with her family that day into the forest that had started everything so long ago.

She was racing Peter when they noticed the girls had turned back for Edmund, who had slowed. "Come on, Ed," Susan said, her voice tilted with laughter.

"Just catching my breath," Edmund to her.

"Well, that's all we'll catch at this rate!" Susan said, her blue eyes twinkling as the royal couple rode back towards them.

"What did he say again, Susan?" Anna asked her sister, amusement evident in her voice, but it was Lucy who replied.

"'You girls wait in the castle, I'll get the stag myself!'" she said in a perfect imitation of Edmund's tone back at Cair Paravel. Even Edmund joined in the laughter just as Peter noticed the strange tree that was standing near where they were.

"What's this?" he questioned. Anna slid off Bridget to join her husband, slipping her hand into his as they gazed up at the tree. Their siblings walked towards them, frowning slightly. "It seems familiar."

"As if from a dream," Susan whispered softly as she stared up at it. "Or a dream of a dream."

Lucy's eyes widened as she stood deep in thought for a few minutes, gazing up at the tree. "Spare Oom?" she whispered, a hint of remembrance in her voice. Before anyone could stop her, she suddenly took off through the trees, as per her usual habits.

"Not again!" Susan complained as they raced after her. Anna paused to retrieve Susan's horn from her saddlebag; they tended to need that gift whenever they left it behind.

Once she had the horn in hand, Anna hurried towards where Peter and the others had gone. "Peter?" she called for her husband, but there was no answer. Panic rose through her as she pushed her way through the trees, searching for her family.

"PETER!" Anna shouted, terror plunging through her, straight into her heart as she raced wildly around for any sign of where her husband had disappeared to. "Susan! Lucy! Edmund! Where are you?"

Suddenly, her hand pushed against something and she realised that she had met a back of a wardrobe.

Something trickled through her mind as she pushed against it, trying to find her way through. There was something familiar about this and a part of her knew that somehow, Peter and his siblings had been lost to her. They had been taken away, back to their world. And she was left alone, in Narnia.

--

It was hours before the High Queen returned to the castle alone and her ladies questioned her endlessly about the whereabouts of the other Kings and Queens, but Anna only told them that they were gone, unable to tell them what had happened. She wasn't even sure how it had happened herself or why she was still here. After all, she had arrived in Narnia with Peter and the others, so why was she still here and they were not?

Once she had revealed that their beloved rulers were gone, Anna was left alone to her grief and she fell onto the ground, sobs racking her body and she screamed endlessly for Peter, her beloved husband, her sisters, and her brother, not letting herself get up until she had run out of tears.

But she couldn't force herself to leave her bedchamber until Aurora, one of her nymph ladies who was also her dearest friend, came into her chamber hesitantly. "Your Highness," she said hesitantly upon seeing the High Queen sitting so brokenly on the ground, "Aslan is here to see you."

Anna raised her head towards Aurora and nodded mutely; she had known he would be here, had expected him to come from the moment that Peter had been ripped away from her. "Bring him here," she requested. She had no desire to leave just yet.

The moment that Aslan entered the room and the door closed, leaving them alone, she shrieked at the great lion, "Why did you do this?"

Aslan sighed as he moved closer to her, but she took a step back, the anger and pain in her heart too great to be kind right now. "It was his time, Anna," he said softly, his eyes looking at her sympathetically. "It was all of their time."

"Then it should have been mine!" she hurled at him, snatching up a crystal figurine that had been a gift from the King of Archenland and throwing it against the wall, shattering it to pieces. Aslan didn't even flinch. She didn't care that she was being childish; she was furious.

"I'm sorry, but it wasn't, High Queen," he told her kindly. Anna raised her head to look at him, feeling much like a girl of twelve than a woman of twenty-seven. "Fifteen years ago, when you first arrived her, you asked me why you were brought here. Do you remember?"

Anna paused, her mind travelling back to that day on the cliff, when she had stood with Aslan, staring over at what would one day her and Peter's castle, where they would share happiness and joy. "You told me that I was needed here, to one day protect Narnia."

"And that time is now," Aslan said quietly, walking towards her again. This time, Anna did not move away. "I chose you, because you were meant to be High Queen and now it is up to you to protect it from the ones who will seek to destroy this land. I cannot leave it leaderless."

For a moment, Anna stood silenced, the despair for her lost husband almost riding her down. But Peter had brought this country together and all of them had kept it together. Now it was up to her to keep the legacy that they had kept together.

"When will I be able to return?"

"You already know the answer to that." Aslan looked at her quietly and she reached up and clutched the necklace that had been given to her by Father Christmas so long ago. When her journey was finished, the necklace would see her safely home. "Anna, I am sorry for what has happened, but this . . . is the only way. I promise you, you will see them again."

"I know." Anna raised her head to look at him. "I promised him that he would never lose me . . . but I never prepared myself for losing him."

Aslan had no answer for this as he moved towards the door, the sadness evident in his face. When he was almost to it, he turned around to look at her again. "The giants will start their attack first," he said quietly. "Prepare your people as best you can for them, for this is only the first of the coming battles that will ravage our land."

Anna looked towards Aslan, wanting to say more, but he was already gone and she looked down at the broken glass, moving to clear it up. Her country was fragile, left in the hands a queen who had never planned a battle or led diplomacy. She and Peter had never discussed what would happen if she were left to defend it.

"I'll protect our kingdom, Peter," she whispered as she cleaned up the glass. She had to . . . otherwise Narnia was going to end up just like that figurine; only a broken remembrance of itself.