Disclaimer: I only own Adelinde and a few other characters.
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Chapter Seven
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Adelinde turned back to face the party, her face red from the biting wind. She could see Peter prying himself away from a very pretty brunette girl, saying, "I am sorry, my Lady, but it would not be proper to spend the whole of the evening dancing with you."
She smiled, obviously no longer reluctant to let him go, and disappeared onto the floor in attempt to find some kind faun or handsome lord, or, perhaps...a black-haired King.
Adelinde shook the thoughts away as Peter approached her, standing in the doorway. He gave a sweeping bow and said in a tone that hid laughter, "My Lady, I would be honoured if you would accept a dance!"
Adelinde grinned at Peter's joking tone, and took the hand he held out to her. "The honour would be all mine, Your Majesty," she said, sweeping back into the hall with Peter at her side. They stepped onto the floor and Adelinde could see that the brunette girl was, in fact, dancing with Edmund. She swallowed the lump of jealousy in her throat as the turned to Peter.
As the musicians began to play, Adelinde could feel something. It wasn't the typical pit-of-your-stomach/gut feeling, but it was definitely there. Peter's hands would tighten on hers at different moments, and he would get a...look on his face. Adelinde would turn and she would see Edmund dancing with the brunette girl, very close to them, as if he would try to speak to her. But her never did.
When the song ended, Peter was a moment in releasing Adelinde's hands. When he did, he bent down and whispered in her ear, "Meet me in ten minutes in the Eastern corridor. I'll be waiting."
And then he was gone. Gone to dance with another girl, or gone to get drink, or gone to...do what? Had he been serious? Should she meet him? What if Edmund found out?
No! He doesn't care! And with that, she decided she would meet Peter.
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"Peter?" she asked quietly, opening the door at the end of the hall. He was there, just like he said he would be. His tunic was slightly wrinkled and his hair was mussed. She could tell with just one glance that he was drunk.
Drunk or not, he grinned at the sight of her. He strode up to her and pulled her close to him. "I wasn't sure you'd come," he murmured into her hair. She hugged him back, slightly unsure of what she should be doing.
"Why did you ask me here, Peter?" she asked, pulling away from him. She looked up into his eyes, which looked gray in the dim torchlight.
"I-I just wanted to see you...away from all the activity," he said, touching her cheek. His eyes looked so tender that she wasn't so sure about him being drunk anymore.
Although she didn't want them to, thoughts of Brae's words floated into her head...he would approve of this. She stood there for what seemed like hours, staring at Peter, as he did at her. Her eyes traced every inch of his face.
Finally, she moved. She reached up and placed her hand on Peter's, holding it to her cheek. The place where he was touching her seemed oddly hot, as if his hand were a harsh branding iron instead of the large, strong hand of Peter Pevensie.
With slow movements, he came closer, leaning down to her. Mirroring his movements, she leaned up. He moved his free hand to the small of her back, bowing her body against his. They stood like that for what seemed an infinite amount of time, before Adelinde placed her free hand on the back of Peter's neck, and pulled him the rest of the way down.
Their lips met with a touch that, although feather light, sent Adelinde's head spinning. They came apart for a moment, before Peter came back down on her mouth with redoubled force. The embrace was wonderful, but short lived.
A sound echoed off the stone walls of the corridor as another door along the hallway was pushed open, and out stepped none other than Edmund Pevensie, pulling on the hand of the brunette girl from earlier, who was giggling uncontrollably.
When they saw they were not alone in the hall, the couple stopped. The girl, who was obviously very drunk, giggled harder and said something about, "Not wanting to interrupt."
Edmund's face went white with shock, then red from embarrassment. "A-Adelinde?" he choked out, as the couple pulled apart, "P-P-Peter?"
Peter was the first in the room to recover his wits. "What can I help you with, Ed?" he asked, cool as ever.
"Y-you could tell me why- how-" he seemed incapable of completing a sentence, until he spat out, "What in all of Narnia is possessing you, Pete!?"
"Why should something be possessing me, brother?" Peter asked. Peter assessed the look of white shock on his younger brother's face. "Edmund, could I speak to you alone for a moment?"
"O-oh, alright," he said. Then he looked uncertainly at the two women in the room.
"Adelinde, could you escort Lady...?"
"Marina, Your Highness," said the woman, curtsying low, and showing a good deal of cleavage in the process.
"Ah, of course," said Peter, tactfully looking away from the woman's exposed flesh, "Please escort Lady Marina back to her chambers, if you will?"
"Of course, Peter!" Adelinde said, receiving a very dirty look from Lady Marina for her use of the High King's first name.
As Adelinde stepped away from him, he took her hand and pulled back for a quick moment. He kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "Later."
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While Adelinde lead the giggling Lady though the labyrinth of corridors in Cair Paravel, her mind dwelled on Peter. What was he speaking to Edmund about? She decided she would ask him later.
It was then, just passing the library, that she realized that Lady Marina was speaking to her.
"Qu-quite sorry about that, dearie!" she giggled, hiccupping slightly, "I-I didn't mean to interrupt you and K-King Peter! But- Well, King Edmund is such a gentleman!" She swayed dangerously as she walked, making Adelinde worry if she would tip. A conk on that stone floor would not improve the Lady's judgment. "H-he thought I was drunk – drunk! Can you believe it? – so he insisted that he escort me back to my chambers! It was so thoughtful!"
She paused for breath for a moment and looked at Adelinde, as if expecting a response. Adelinde only nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor.
"By the gods, girl! Are you mute?" exclaimed Marina, throwing her hands skyward.
"No, I am not," said Adelinde, "I, unlike you, have not had one drop of wine tonight, and therefore, my jaw is still able to close."
The next five minutes of their journey was silent.
"So, Ma'am," said Marina, suddenly formal, despite the slight slur in her voice, "How is it that you came to call His Majesty the High King, by his first name?"
"Because he asked me to," said Adelinde shortly, "Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy all asked me to call them by their names, as they find it confusing to be referred to as 'Your Majesty'. They all are, after all, 'Majesties'."
"But why did any of Their Majesties give you the great honour of allowing informalities? You're just a peasan- Ah!" The last exclamation was because Adelinde had turned on her heel and planted herself in front of Lady Marina.
"Listen close, my Lady," she said, putting as much venom into the last two words as possible, "I may be 'just a peasant', but I will not stand to be insulted merely because I am of lower rank than you!"
"I-I apologize, Adelinde!" said Lady Marina quickly, "I-I did not mean to offend you-"
"It does not matter!" said Adelinde, taking another step toward the Lady, "You are drunk! You will not remember a moment of this conversation in the morning. When daylight arrives, you will forget you ever spoke to me and go back to your pathetic superiority complex. You will go home, where you order your servants around without a second though!"
"N-No! I won't! I-I've changed!" sobbed the drunk woman.
"People do not change," said Adelinde with finality as she walked away. As her own words replayed in her head, she felt a stab. She wasn't quite sure of what the feeling was, but she though it felt like loathing mixed with despair. If she would have been able to find a word to describe her feeling, she would have discovered, deep within her, that it was guilt.
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I feel like I should make this chapter longer, but I don't know what to do. Grr... Anyway, sorry this took so long. I was having major problems with this.
Review!