The How was filled to the brim with Narnian soldiers working away furiously; making weapons and armor. It was like nothing Adalina had ever seen before. A whole race working together, as much as Telmarines wanted to appear as if they were all on the same side, unity had never existed with them. It ran in their blood to betray each other for their own benefit. Adalina knew it was in her blood too, but she tried as best she could to push that part of her to the back of her mind and she knew Caspian did too. He was different than all of the leaders before him; much like his father, he had a heart.
Adalina had heard about the How many times, she knew what it was just as much as Caspian did so she decided to that it was unnecessary of her to follow them, she could look around later. Right now she just wanted to meet the Narnians.
"Caspian" she whispered as he grabbed a torch, preparing to lead the Pevensie's through the dark tunnels. Her voice immediately caught his attention and his head spun around, meeting her gaze.
"I think I am going to stay here, I want to meet some of the Narnians."
"You don't want to come along?" Caspian looked a little disappointed; he took it personal that Adalina didn't want to join them.
"I know where you're taking them, I can see it later." At that comment Caspian's face fell even more, so Adalina quickly added "come meet me later, I think you can find me." She gave him a little smirk, reassuring him that she didn't want to ditch him so quickly.
"Don't get into trouble." He replied, giving her a knowing look before turning and leaving.
Adalina just stood there, not really knowing where to start. It wasn't like a social event at the castle; she didn't already know everyone's name, their noble status, and family fortune, not that that is even relevant to this particular scenario. Feeling a little overwhelmed, Adalina considered just giving up on her little exploration and following Caspian. A deep voice boomed from behind her making her jump at the sound.
"You look lost." A large centaur was looming over her.
"Well, I guess I am sort of." Adalina recognized him from earlier; he had walked along side Caspian and Peter for a short while on their way to the How.
"How may I assist you then?" His voice was still a little daunting, but he was very nice.
"Well, for starters, what's your name?" It obviously wasn't the answer he was expecting, but Adalina saw this as the perfect opportunity so she was going to take it.
"Glenstorm, I am the head centaur. And what may I ask is your name young lady?"
"I am Adalina, I am not head of anything, I was just trying to find Caspian and sort of ended up here."
Glenstorm laughed, turning away a little and beginning to walk away. Adalina was confused: was it something I said? He didn't look offended.
"Adalina" her name caught her attention once more. She turned to look in the direction it came from and there was Glenstorm, just a few feet away from her. He let out a low laugh again and waved his arm at her to follow. She quickly collected herself and caught up to him.
"So, you are Adalina?" she nodded "Well, I have heard so much about you."
"You have?" This really threw her though a hoop, how had he heard so much about her? She had just met him.
"Yes, I have. You see the past couple of days Caspian and I have worked together very closely. When work is to be done, well, he is all about work, but when there is time for rest and all you have is each other for entertainment, well, he talks. And his favorite subject is you." She smiled inside, she had no idea Caspian spoke of her at all.
"What did he say?" curiosity sprouting in her eyes.
"Only the truth: that you have a beautiful smile, a big heart, and maybe a temper."
Adalina immediately stiffened up, her brows scrunching together, lips pouting. "A TEMPER!"
Glenstorm just laughed again, ignoring her reaction. Stepping into another room, just as bustling with Narnians, he looked down at her again, cocking an eyebrow. "Would you like to meet some Narnians?"
This lifted Adalina's spirits again. How did he know what she wanted, she had yet to tell him that is what she had been trying to do earlier.
She just gave him a wide grin and nodded her head.
Glenstorm lead her through room after room of the How introducing her to just about every Narnian they came across. It was wonderful, they were wonderful. Each of them had a different story and a different talent, they were such a diverse bunch, yet they lived together in such harmony. Adalina was thoroughly amazed by the end of the day. She thanked Glenstorm for his introductions and wished him a goodnight before heading down a new tunnel.
As it came to the end it opened upon a small ledge in the front wall of the How. She stepped out looking in awe at the breathtaking view, you could see forever from up there. The cool night air had just began to blow, the sun only half visible now, an orange glow lighting up the sky. She closed her eyes, just feeling: feeling the warmth of the setting sun and breeze of the crisp night. God, how wonderful this day had been. Then she felt two large hands slide around her waist and a hot breath whispered in her ear "found you."
She spun around in his arms, taking hold of his face; she instantly smashed her lips on his. He tightened his grip around her waist pulling her closer to him. Her hands moved back, clutching the soft curls on his head, pushing their faces together as closely as their bodies were. Breaking apart, their lips still touching slightly, Adalina breathed heavily, "I missed you".
Caspian just stared deeply into her eyes before capturing her lips once more. It was quicker than the last one, but it held just as much passion and intensity. Adalina let her hands slide down his cheeks and over his shoulders. They rested on his strong chest, which was currently covered by his chain-mail jerkin. Adalina could see the lust in his eyes; they were so dark they looked black.
"I have wanted to do that since the first time I saw you today."
"I have wanted to do a lot more than that!" She gave him a rather suggestive look and then began to push him backwards until his body hit the wall. Her hands began expertly undoing the buckles on his jerkin.
"You know somebody could walk out here any moment." his voice held no fear or anxiety in it.
"I don't care Caspian. I need you." She tugged the jerkin from his shoulders, letting it fall to the ground and began to trail kisses all over his neck. Caspian's head fell back, eyes closed, breath heavy. Adalina continued with the kisses, going over the tops of his shoulders, pushing away the fabric, and behind his earlobes, which she knew drove him absolutely mad. Unexpectedly his head shot back up, his hands set down a rough grip on her shoulders, eyes boring into hers once again.
"I need you too." And to Adalina that said a thousand times more than the 'I miss you' she'd never get.
Caspian spun them around, pressing Adalina to the cold stone wall. He began ravishing her mouth while his as his hands roamed over her body, fingers brushing her skin over the material of her dress. Adalina slid her hands under his shirt, feeling the tense muscles of his chest. Moving her hands back down she massaged his bare sides before her fingers found the hem of his trousers. She lightly traced the line where the fabric met skin. Caspian let out a moan into her mouth. Finding a new wave of frenzy he expertly unlaced all of Adalina's over dress. He tore at the fabric as Adalina unknotted the laces of his trousers. Once his trousers were loose she lifted his shirt over his head, her mouth leaving his for only a moment. Caspian moved his mouth down her face, wet lips leaving a trail over her jaw down to the nape of the neck. He nibbled at a soft spot there until he heard a soft moan escape her. He continued farther down, pushing away the material of her under dress from her shoulder. His mouth laid kisses over the area, still pulling the fabric down farther until a small pink nipple showed. He captured her breast in his mouth, tongue swirling over the sensitive area, flicking at the nipple. Adalina's body arched into his touch, her nails digging into his bare shoulders. Loud moans escaped both of them.
Adalina pulled Caspian's face back up to meet her lusty gaze. "Now, Caspian, I can't wait any longer, I need to feel you."
His only response was gripping her hips, pushing her up the wall so her feet barely touched the ground, pressing her against the wall with his body and finding the ends of her skirt, gathering it up around her waist, with his hands. Adalina pulled down his trousers freeing his hard manhood. Caspian took hold of her thighs and positioned himself at her entrance taking a long look into Adalina's eyes before thrusting into her.
Adalina was lying on her back, Caspian's strong arm propping her head up lightly. They lay silent, basking in each other's glow, staring at the starry sky above them. The cold stone of the How wall lay beneath their naked bodies, Adalina's skirt thrown over their lower halves.
"This day has been perfect. I finally found you, I got to meet all of the wonderful Narnians, I'm nowhere near that beast you call an uncle, and I even got you all to myself for a couple of hours." Her eyes remained on the deep blue night, a content smile staying in place as she spoke.
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Caspian queried adjusting his position so that he could look down at her face.
"Why haven't any night watchmen come out here on duty?" he hadn't thought about it before for that long, but now it had really struck him that someone should have come out here a long time ago.
Adalina giggled a little bit, she loved seeing Caspian confused. "Well, I may have asked Glenstorm to vacate this particular ledge for a little while." gazing up at Caspian with an amused expression on his face.
"You didn't tell him why, did you?" now he was a little bit worried, she could tell.
"No, I didn't have to."
"What do you mean? He knows?"
"I take Glenstorm to be rather smart; I assume he picked up on it from all of your babbling. Which reminds me. So I have a temper, huh?" she moved closer to him, propping herself up with one elbow, eyes just mere slits from her glare.
"Now don't take it like that. And don't change the subject. Do you know for sure whether or not Glenstorm knows about us?"
"Does it really matter? I mean the Narnians aren't the council, why is it still so bad?" Adalina had been holding that question in the back of her mind all day long. She didn't really know what made it come out, but she sure as hell wanted to get an answer.
Caspian looked frustrated, a hand coming up to shield half of his face, finally sitting up fully his elbow rested on his knee.
"Does it not matter to you anymore? Do you not want your personal life to be personal?" His hand snapped off of his face as he jerked his body in her direction. Adalina hadn't expected such a reaction. She was at a loss for words briefly.
Finding her voice she finally gathered a response. "It's not like I want to go and tell everyone! I just don't see why we have to hide it like it is some deep dark secret that will destroy Narnia if it ever got out!" The words came out a little harsher than she thought they would, but the subject was proving to be sensitive for the both of them. Obtaining nothing but deep breaths in response from Caspian she broke the tension with a low whisper, "It's not like we were that good at hiding it anyway."
"How do you mean?" his gaze snapping back at her, he looked like he was intending to interrogate her.
Adalina let out a frustrated growl "He shouldn't have left this up to me to tell you."
"Who?" searching her eyes for some clue as to what she knew that he didn't.
"The professor! The professor saw us! We were careless! Miraz would have found out soon enough."She shouted it, she shouted it all, she couldn't help it, he was pulling at her strings.
Caspian slammed his fist on the hard stone. Running the same hand through his hair in an attempt to calm down, he strained his voice to keep it from yelling, "Exactly how many people know about this? Because last time I had checked it was zero, but obviously my information was not up to date."
Adalina sighed, she couldn't lie to him, she never had been able to, but god how she did not want to give him the answer to that question right now.
"Three," it was almost a whisper; Caspian looked like he thought he had heard her wrong, so she gave it another shot. "Three people know. I told Susan earlier today." She said it clearly this time. She looked down, averting his eyes. Just minutes ago she had felt like nothing could destroy this day and now she felt horrible, she felt ashamed even though she knew she had done nothing wrong.
"Susan! What business does she have in knowing?"
"In case you haven't noticed she happens to be the only girl my age here! I just wanted someone to talk to!" Adalina throw the skirt off of her and went about gathering up her other garments.
"I thought you had someone to talk to!" He pulled his trousers back on.
"About you Caspian? Who am I supposed to talk to about you?!" She slid her arms through the sleeves of her under dress.
"I didn't know you needed someone to talk to about me!" He yanked his shirt over his head.
"What do you expect? Am I just supposed to bottle up everything?!" She tightened the laces on her skirt.
"I thought we were best friends!" He stomped his foot into his boot.
"Well maybe we ruined it!" She threw her hands in the air, letting them drop to her sides loudly as she let out a deep breath.
"Then maybe we shouldn't do this anymore." Caspian buckled the last buckle on his jerkin. His last statement came out low and calm, which scared Adalina. He was serious.
"You really think so?" her voice had settled now, her words coming out almost whispered due to the swelling of her throat. Tears were on the brink of falling, but she refused to let them go, not in front of him at least.
Caspian headed for the opening that lead back inside the How, pausing he turned his head to the side, catching Adalina's gaze just barely from the side.
"It's for the best."
And then he was gone. So Adalina let the tears flow. Her abdomen tightened, she thought she would be sick. She sunk to her knees, crawling over to the wall, laying back on it for support.
How did I let this happen? It wasn't supposed to go that far. We fight all of the time, why did it turn out like this now?
Adalina let the last few tears fall from her eyes before she wiped her face with the back of her hand. Taking a deep relaxing breath, she just stared out over the mass expanse that was Narnia.
Lost in her own silence, she didn't hear the footsteps coming up behind her.
"You're certainly not the night watchman."
The voice startled her. She looked up to see who it was and was surprised to see Peter standing above her. Quickly trying to gather herself she stood up, brushing off her skirt.
"Sorry. That's my fault; I asked not to be disturbed." She spoke meekly, still feeling the stain of tears on her cheeks.
"No need to be sorry, I just didn't expect you to be up here is all." Peter couldn't seem to catch her eyes, she kept them down, something he didn't remember her doing when they were traveling. "If you don't mind me asking, are you alright?"
Adalina didn't really know how to respond. She hated lying, but she definitely didn't want to relive what had just happened.
"I will be." It was the best she could do; she just wasn't in the mood to spill her gusts out.
Peter moved forward, taking a seat on the edge of the wall, dangling his feet off. Adalina didn't know why, but she followed. They sat in silence, just staring off into the distance.
"What do you see in me?" Adalina suddenly spit out. She had always had a problem with 'word vomit'; even now she couldn't help but say what was on her mind.
Peter's eyes grew so large she thought they might explode, he swallowed hard. "Susan?" Adalina nodded.
"Well, first of all you are beautiful."
She shook her head in disagreement. "I look like any other Telmarine girl."
"If all of the other Telmarine girls look like you, then I applaud your race for creating such creatures." Peter looked a little easier now, and dare she say, she might have heard a bit of sarcasm in his last statement.
"You certainly know how to flatter girls don't you?"
"I have had a bit more experience than I may appear to have had."
"Is that really it? I mean about me. Is it just my looks?" She didn't even know why she wanted to know so badly. It was like something was in her mind just pushing questions out of her mouth.
"No, I'm not that shallow. I know I don't know you very well, this is the first time I think we have ever really talked. Anyhow, you are confident, and you have a beautiful smile. And your voice, your voice is comforting and easy to listen to. It probably didn't seem like I was, but I listened to you talk when we were trying to find Caspian. Anyway, we should probably head inside, Susan set up a room for us in the west tunnels, its best we all sleep near each other." Peter stood; Adalina just stared at him with a blank expression on her face. It started to get to Peter; his words came out a little messy and hurried. "I am going to find a night guard for up were, you should definitely get some sleep. Goodnight."
Well that certainly was a different Peter. He isn't so bossy when there is no one to boss around.
A cold breeze blew, the chill in the air told Adalina it was getting pretty late. So she took Peter's advice and went inside. Thankfully the Pevensies were sharing a room with her and Caspian; she didn't know how she could face him anymore. Adalina had a feeling she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight, and it wasn't for a good reason.