Adalina couldn't sleep; she knew she wouldn't be able to. Not with him so close by. She could feel his eyes on her. She wanted to sleep as far away from him as possible, she had suggested she sleep on the other side of the room, but Susan wouldn't hear it, she wanted them all to be close to each other, to keep warm and to look out for one another. Adalina didn't have much to fight with; she wasn't ready to tell Susan about what happened. So there she lied, right in between Susan and her favorite person. She had kept her back to him all night, but it was starting to get uncomfortable and Adalina would do anything to get some sleep right now.
Slowly and carefully she twisted her body around, her hips leading. Before her head could follow she knew Caspian was awake, she could feel his breathing on her back, but it was too late to go back it would be obvious. She didn't want to give him any signs that he had hurt her that much, she had too much pride for it, and she would be admitting that she cared about him more than he did about her, which however true was not something she wanted to let him know about either.
Taking a deep breath she followed through on her roll. Her golden brown eyes were instantly met with pitch black orbs staring back at her expectantly. She wanted to roll back, there was nothing in the world she wanted to do more than just hide again, but she was paralyzed. Her mind couldn't control the muscles in her body any longer.
Her mind screamed at her to get away, it hurt too badly just to look at him. Those eyes flooded her mind with the memories of just a few hours previous; she could see the scene playing out on the glassy spheres like a projection on a screen. Just turn away, just turn away, turn away turn away turn away! But she couldn't. Something behind those eyes were willing her to stay. She had kept a straight face as the conflict in her mind raged on, but she feared it would break soon.
Caspian's brows began to form a small wrinkle as he watched her. His lips starting to move although it took Adalina a moment to register that he was speaking.
"You are shivering." The words were flat in her ears; she could not sense a single emotion behind them.
Still she remained paralyzed, staring into his eyes. It wasn't until his hand reached out for hers that her body jolted back. It was an instinct, her body was doing it to protect her and she didn't even realize it, she felt as though she had absolutely no control over herself right now.
As her eyes continued to examine Caspian's she saw the confusion flash at her reaction, then he started thinking, she could see it all working itself out behind the black sheen. Her heart started to race, she could feel it pounding away in her chest, the blood pumping in and out, faster and faster. Now would be a good time to turn away! She had to escape before he connected all of the dots. He knew her too well not to see it. Still her body couldn't find the strength to break their gaze. Her face was cracking; she could feel it start to slip as more of the puzzle was put together in Caspian's eyes. The tears began to swell behind her own eyes, ready to spill any instant. Just as it all started to unravel a rustling came from behind her. Adalina seized the opportunity and found control of her body, jerking her body up and breaking Caspian's intense gaze to look around curiously at where the sound was coming from. She saw Lucy roll over, snuggling closer to Susan and settle back into a peaceful slumber again. Adalina's heart rate finally began to slow and she eased her body back down, facing Susan. As soon as her head hit the small mound of blankets she squeezed her eyes shut letting the waterfall of tears she had been holding back spill out. Her body silently shuttered with sobs. She bit her lip, trying to keep the sounds in, the coppery flavor of blood seeped from under her tooth from the pressure. Her body grew exhausted soon from the strain she was putting on it and she was finally consumed by slumber.
The How was up and running at dawn. The Pevensies and Caspian were all up at the first sign of light. Susan was pacing around the small room gathering and organizing all of her and her siblings' belongings, Lucy assisted her as she was needed as the boys assembled the intricate belts full of various sharp objects around their waists. As they started for the door Susan noticed Adalina still snuggled underneath the warmth of the large wool and fur blankets.
Susan turned back, slowly approaching the small heap, ready to wake her when a muscular forearm shot out in front of her, holding her back.
"Let her sleep a little while longer." Caspian said retracting his arm. Susan nodded and followed the rest of her siblings out of the room. Caspian paused, not following the rest of them, but looking back at Adalina. She looked at ease; her face was relaxed, without frown lines or wrinkles; peaceful. A narrow ray of light, shown through what seemed to be a make shift window, landing directly on her forehead. It lit up her whole face; the golden brown of her flawless skin seemed to glow. The top of her head sparkled as the light reflected off her already shiny nut brown hair. God she is beautiful, Caspian thought. For a moment he thought about crawling in beside her and waking her up properly. But then he remembered that they weren't going to do things like that anymore.
He had to think about what it was that made him decide that for a second. Oh yeah, people knew. Why was that so important to him? It itched at Caspian that people knew and he didn't know exactly why really. He felt a little guilty about their relationship he knew. Sometimes he felt like he was taking advantage of her and just being selfish. After all, it was her who would be ruined if more people found out. She would not marry well, she would be a social leaper, and she would not be allowed to stay in the castle any longer. But then again, that didn't apply to right now, did it? Nobody here would frown upon their relationship, would they? In any way what Caspian really worried about was that they may get too attached to each other and when Caspian was forced to marry, he may break her heart. And possibly his too.
Shaking away his thoughts, Caspian finally left the room to join the Pevensies, leaving Adalina to sleep, basking in her single ray of morning light.
Caspian was coming from Stone Table room, he felt compelled to stop there after leaving Adalina. Finally on track to meeting up with the Pevensies, he crossed through a room full of Narnian soldiers working hard to make weapons and armor. From directly in front of him Peter appeared, walking briskly towards him.
"Caspian, a scout spotted a Telmarine soldier in the woods this morning. Miraz knows our location; we are assembling in the Stone Table room immediately. Go on ahead, I will be there shortly first I need to wake Adalina, everyone needs to be there." It was rushed and as soon as he was done speaking he moved to leave. Caspian suddenly stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
"Allow me. It won't take long." Caspian spun around on his heels and headed off before Peter could tell him no.
When Caspian entered the room once more he noticed that Adalina hadn't moved one bit, even her face remained how it was when he left. Once again Caspian had to resist lying down beside her. As he leaned down to put his hand on her shoulder she abruptly flinched. Caspian curled his fingers back, away from her and watched her for a minute. Her peaceful face contorted into one of pain and displeasure. She let out a soft whimper, which made Caspian's heart drop. Then her supple pink lips parted and she whispered "Caspian". It sounded heartbreakingly sad and was accompanied by a lone tear, which just made Caspian's heart drop even further. Caspian paused and took a deep breath, releasing all of the air from his lungs before his hand reached her shoulder at last. He slowly and soothingly rubbed the area, not wanting to upset her anymore. His heart ached from seeing her in that pain, and to think it was his fault too! He didn't know for sure of course, but he figured it had something to do with what had happened last night.
Gradually her heavy lids began to lift from her electric eyes, with the sun on her face they were almost yellow, she looked like a cat waking from its nap. Caspian was relieved to see the smile that crept on to her face as her eyes met his. He smiled back, lost I her presence for a split second before her mind seemed to be flooded with emotion and she leapt back from him, brows narrowing at him, distrustfully.
"What do you want?" she spat. Caspian was disgusted with himself for managing to turn her into this. His heart raced nervously and he no longer could look at her. He quickly righted himself and called out "Meeting. Stone Table. Hurry." as he scrambled out of the room.
Adalina got worried when she heard the news that Miraz had found them. And now there was all this arguing about attacking the castle. For some reason Adalina hadn't been ready for this. They were talking battle already; they had only been there a couple of days. It was soon. Why she had thought this would take longer she didn't know, maybe it was that she wasn't ready to fight. Maybe she had just wanted to escape the castle and not really fight for anything. But how could she believe that now? She had seen the Narnians, she had talked to them and listened to their stories and got to know them. She couldn't hold back and not stand up for them now.
Caspian interrupted her thoughts with a demanding voice. "Adalina, you lived there too, tell them this is a bad idea!" Caspian was trying with everything he had to back up his opinion. Apparently Adalina held more cards than she was aware of because suddenly all of the Narnians eyes were on her, looking at her with anxious eyes. Her first instinct was to get nervous, but then she remembered what she had just thought about. This would be the perfect time to show that she was ready to stand up for the Narnians.
Adalina gave Caspian a defiant look, shaking her head slowly. "We have to stand up to Miraz, show him that we cannot be put down as easily as he thinks. We can't stay here and hide until he finds us."
Caspian looked shocked; she knew he had expected her to back him up. He didn't speak, although he looked like he had a lot to say.
Peter had taken Adalina's answer to be the end of the argument. He turned to Glenstorm, "If I get your troops in, can you handle the guards?"
"Or die trying my liege."
Then Lucy's quiet voice cut in. "That's what I'm worried about."
"Sorry"
"Well you're all acting like there are only two options: dying here or dying there."
"I'm not really sure you've been listening, Lu."
"No you're not listening! Or have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch, Peter."
"I think we've waited for Aslan long enough." Peter turned and left. Slowly others started trickling out behind him. Adalina could feel Caspian's gaze on her and stayed were she was, waiting for the Narnians to disappear. Susan had lingered a little while, she look as though she was waiting for Adalina. She got up, giving Adalina a glance. The look Adalina responded with let her know that she was not ready to leave yet though. Taking a swift look at Caspian, Susan nodded her head seeming to understand.
Once they were alone Caspian moved in on Adalina.
"What was that? You know how many guards protect that castle! You are out of your mind if you think we can pull this off!" Caspian was now face to face with Adalina, eyes boring holes in hers, hot breath leaving his mouth at a fast pace.
"I think you aren't giving the Narnians as much credit as they deserve. They can do this Caspian, we can all do this! Why don't you have faith in them?!" She stood up, pushing him away from her as if repulsed by him.
Caspian stumbled back, recovering promptly. "Why are you so anxious to fight?!"
"Because I believe in the Narnians and I can't stand by and watch Miraz run all over them. I am disgusted that I am part of the race that tried to exterminate theirs!" They had both started shouting after the first words were exchanged. It was inevitable, if they clashed in any way it always turned into a shouting match.
Caspian didn't seem to have a rebuttal to her last comment. Staring in his eyes Adalina saw something. It hadn't been visible before and she could barely see it now, but it was there.
"You're scared aren't you?" Her tone was still a little hostile. Caspian just pulled his eyes off of hers and focused on the ground, still not responding.
"Now is not really the time to start being scared, don't you think you should be past that stage by now? I mean look at you; you have ran away from home, rallied an army, stole weapons from your uncle's army and now a little fighting is scaring you?" Caspian looked up, focusing on Adalina's eyes once again. Her voice had calmed down, even begun to verge on the encouraging side.
"Caspian, you have already risked everything to get this far, how can you stop helping these people now?" She left the questioning look on her face linger. When Caspian hesitated to answer she dropped her shoulders and turned to leave.
"Maybe there is one thing I still don't want to risk" Adalina froze as his words cut through the silence. As she turned back to look at him his eyes found hers, projecting a powerful gaze. He was definitely trying to imply something here.
"If you don't continue to support the Narnians, you'll lose it." Adalina almost ran out of the room.
She was walking down the tunnel briskly, merely focused on getting away. Watching her feet move in front of her, she didn't see Peter walking towards her. When he put his hands on her shoulders to prevent her walking right into him she jumped, not anticipating the touch.
"Listen, we're attacking tonight. I was wondering if you could… just, make sure Lucy is alright while we're gone." Peter stumbled on his words a little, he was definitely nervous, maybe even scared as well. 'Men' she thought.
"What do you mean while you're gone? I'm not staying here." Adalina had really hoped that Peter was above this. Leaving her out of the battle, which she supported by the way, just because she was a girl.
"It's going to dangerous; we don't need to risk want we don't have to." Peter was trying to put it nicely, but Adalina saw it for what it was and she would not stand for it.
"I know it is dangerous, Peter. And you as much as you can't risk, you can take all of the help you can get. I know how to fight, I am not some pampered noble who sits on her ass and has servants and guards surround here all day! I can fight! I am a valuable asset Peter."
Peter looked unconvinced; she could see that he didn't want her there. Just as he opened his mouth, about to deny her involvement, a dark shadow approached from behind and interrupted.
"She is right. She can fight; she was trained by the best. We need her there." Caspian spoke to Peter, as the last words left his mouth, then turned to Adalina, placing his hand on her shoulder, giving her a supportive glance.
"Now, if we are to attack tonight, we must plan and prepare swiftly, there is no time to waste." Caspian said, motioning for them to go and begin the preparations.