Disclaimer- I so do not own Narnia, it's sad but true.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Prince Rabadash stood in front of the royals and made pleasantry as I stared on with a very judgmental look. I leaned over to Tumnus and whispered. "If he is no one to be trusted then why do the kings and queens allow him to come?"

"Ah, yes well he is the Prince of Calormen which the largest, most powerful country in our world, Lina. You do not want to be on Calormen's bad side. This is why they tolerate him, I suppose. He is also here to court Queen Susan, Lady."

My eyes shot from the Prince to Tumnus. "You must be joking."

He shook his head. "I am afraid I am not.. Every prince and king from every country wishes to court the Gentle Queen but he is the only one who has been invited at her personal guest."

"But if he is as horrible as you lead me to believe how could Susan ever even think of marrying him?" I looked to my friend as she mingled with the prince. He flirted with her ever so slightly in a courtly manner but he still seemed cold and arrogant. No, this was not the man for Susan.

Mr. Tumnus sighed. "Because Queen Susan wants to keep peace between our land and the Prince's. A union between them would turn out to be a very profitable one for both countries." He told me.

"But at what cost?" I shot back. I looked to Susan's kind face once more. "Susan is not an idiot, if you know of his character surely she knows as well."

"She has heard the rumors of Rabadash but Susan-being the Gentle Queen-she will not let her opinion of him be tainted by stories that she does not know to be complete fact. She must learn how he is on her own."

I sighed and threw the bangs out of my face for about the billionth time since we got out onto the balcony. Man, the wind was acting up that day. Perhaps it was a sigh for trouble? I dared a glance at Rabadash. He was walking (well strutting was more like it) into the great hall with Peter walking next to him. As he passed me his deep brown gaze drifted to look me square in the eye. He winked at me before continuing on. A gust of wind blow past once more. Yes, it was a sign of definite trouble. Hurricane Rabadash had made land.

------------------------------------------------

I was in the archery field, practicing for the tournament later that morning. I strung yet another red feathered arrow and let it lose. It make a thawk sound as the arrow found it's target in the outer most part of the red bull's eye. I nodded in satisfaction and repeat the process. This time the arrow made it's home a little closer to the center of the red center of the target. With that I set the bow down and took a deep soothing breath. I had been practicing for a good hour now and I needed to rest my eyes or I was sure all I would see were targets soon enough. I went over to the chair that was set up under a sort of tent kind of thing, grabbed my book, and began to read. I thought about going back up to the castle but then quickly rejected the idea. Rabadash had been here for only four hours and he already gave me the heeby jeebies.

I just couldn't be around his sickeningly fake, sickeningly charming personality for more than ten minutes without getting a head ache. I would have to talk to Susan about this whole courting deal they have going on. I mean, she has to see through his disguise, right? I just had to talk to her tonight after the ball. Yes, another ball with which I must wear a brand new custom made ball gown that Susan had the seamstresses whip up especially for tonight. "Perhaps we can still find you your Prince Charming yet." She said. I smiled at her comment but knew it would not be coming true. I had already found my Prince (well king) Charming in her elder brother but I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her about that just yet. I had to find out what Peter thought about this whole thing first. He probably thought nothing of me but I'm used to it so I wasn't letting my hopes up too much.

A moment later I heard footsteps coming down the grassy hill that led from Cair Paravel. I looked up to see... I couldn't exactly tell who the some one was with the sun directly behind them, all I could make out was a silhouette. I could tell the person was tall with an amazingly good body. The person became closer and I gaged at who I saw. Rabadash strutted over to my tent and leaned against the poll holding the canvas over it. He smiled at me wickedly and all I could do was smile in return as to avoid being rude.

"Prince Rabadash." I greeted him with a nod and then realized that I probably should courtesy so I stood and did so. He still smirked at me, I stood there looking awkward as always and trying to not show him how disgusted I was to see him so close to me. I could not believe the effect this man had on me. Never had I full on disliked someone so fast besides Kate Bosworth but that was just because she was dating Orlando Bloom so it didn't really count.

"What is your name, Lady?" He said in what I assumed to be his courtly tone.

"Lina." I told him simply. He took a step toward me, grabbed my hand, and kissed it.

Again, I was fighting back the bile from raising up into my mouth. His lips were as cold as his eyes which made me shiver. He smiled once more as if he believed I shivered for a completely different reason. I tried to keep my facial expression indifferent in front of him. I would totally hate if I offended him and things got a little rough between Narnia and Calormen but then again I wasn't trying to led him on or anything like that. Eww, no.

"And what brings an exquisitely beautiful lady like yourself out here on a day like this, Lady Lina?"

"I was practicing for the tournament." I told him. He chuckled.

"Tell me, what is it that you have entered in?"

"Archery." I said.

He chuckled again like that was a joke. Which it wasn't. I see nothing funny about archery perhaps his sense of humor was different.

"Are you any good?" He questioned.

I felt anger in my chest but I kept my cool. "I'm decent, nothing compared to Queen Susan but I am decent." I told him. He lifted one eye brow at me and took a step closer. I took a step back but only got cornered to one of the tent polls. He kept coming toward me and stood inches from my body. I couldn't help but gasp slightly at his close proximity.

"Oh, Miss Lina. I would say you are a far, far cry from decent." He said in a deep, sexy voice. He reached up to stroke my cheek but I jerked away from his touch. I managed to worm my way around the prince without touching him.

"I do not think those comments are appropriate, Prince. Especially when you are courting the queen and my best friend." I almost snarled at him but it only came out as kind of harsh. He, unsurprisingly, chuckled and stepped closer to me.

"Oh, don't worry my dear Lina. I am still courting Susan but that does not mean I cannot have a little fun along the way, now does it?" In a flash, he grabbed me around the waist and pressed me close to him so we were chest to chest. He leaned down to kiss me but I managed to smack him, hard, on the cheek before he could do so. He stopped his attempt and just stared at me. In his shocked state, I managed to push him off of me. I scoffed at him and gave the prince a glare I didn't even know I was capable of.

"You will not touch me, again." I actually snarled this time. With those last, cold words I turned on my heels and stalked away from him. I heard him chuckle at my retreating back.

"Ah, we shall see about that."

----------------------------------------

I ran. I ran as fast as I could up to the castle. I ran past fauns, centaurs, and other knights and princes on my retreat to my room. I had to get away from everyone. I rounded a corner too fast and smashed right into a hard chest. Steady arms caught me so I did not fall to the ground and make what happened even worse. I shot my gaze up to see Peter staring down at me with concerned eyes. "Lina? Are you alright?"

I nodded. "Yes, no, I don't know." I told him while trying to catch my breath. Never before had a boy (let alone a man) tried anything like that on me especially not one that was supposedly courting my best friend. I was in a state of shock at the vileness of Rabadash.

Peter's grip on me tightened as he looked around us at the people scrambling through the corridor that we were currently inhabiting before pushing up the door nearest us and ushering me in. He closed the door, turned around, and took me by the arms again. "What happened?" He asked of me.

I did nothing but shake my head. "Nothing, I am fine. It was no big deal." I said. Something in his eyes told me he didn't believe me.

"Lady, you are crying. Something most have happened to cause those tears." He stated. It wasn't until that moment that I knew he was right. My vision was blurred and my skin felt blotchy. I had been crying this entire time. Oh gosh, I hoped I managed to restrain the tears until I had left Rabadash on the field. "Lina?" Peter prompted. I looked back up to him and wiped fiercely at me eyes. I couldn't tell him what transpired between Rabadash and I. Knowing Peter, he would make a huge deal of it and start something with the most powerful prince on the entire planet. I couldn't and wouldn't be the cause of something like that. I just stared into those darn amazing blue eyes of his and lied.

"It's nothing, I- I just miss home a little bit, I guess." I said with a half butt smile. He looked down at me with sympathetic eyes and sighed. Before I knew it he had wrapped me in his large, muscular arms and was comforting me. I wrapped my arms around his waist as he began to stroke my hair and whisper little reassurances into the top of my head. Eventually the water works stopped in my eyes and my breathing returned to normal. I pulled my face away from Peter's chest and looked at the small water marks I had caused to appear on his tunic.

I looked up at him and mumbled a sorry. He smiled at me and continued to stroke my hair. "That is more than alright, Lina." He told me. We were quiet for a while as we gazed into each other's eyes. "If you want me to, I could send someone out to find a person who might be able help in sending you home. That is if you wish it." I stared up at the High King as if he just asked me if I wanted a butt kicking instead of being sent home. I began to shake my head like a mad woman.

"No, no. I don't want to go home. I-I It'll take some time to adjust to Narnia. But I know for sure that I do not want to leave." I told him honestly. Peter smiled down at me and I did the same to him. I noticed that he still had his hand gently caressing my cheek. I felt an embarrassing scarlet blush rise up to the spot he touched and all I could do to save myself a sliver of some sort of cool factor was to look away from his gaze.

"Lina." He stated my name and I had to turn my eyes back up to him. His smile grew a little bigger. "I'm glad that you want to stay."

I dared a little chuckle. "Yeah, me too."

------------------------------------------------

"Lina, you are beautiful!" Lucy shrieked behind me. I jumped half way out of my skin and turned around to see the thirteen year old girl standing in my doorway with a dress of midnight blue. She wore her normal bright smile on her face that gave me a little warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. I smiled back at her.

"Not as beautiful as you, little queen!" I teased her with a mock bow. She giggled hysterically for a moment before calming down.

"Well hurry up! I must get down to the ball to greet the guests but I will see you soon!" She said before scurrying out of my chambers and down the hall. I chuckled at her and shook my head. The girl had so much energy.

I looked back to the full length mirror in front of me and stared down at the dress Susan had made for me. It was stunning just as all the dresses Susan picked out for me were. It was a rich red color with a wide scoop neckline that was accented with a sort of gold braided trim. The sleeves were tapered to fit my skinny wrists but the rest of the sleeves puffed out. The skirt went out wide and cascaded around my feet in a wide circle. My favorite part of the dress was the belt that Susan gave me to wear. The gold belt had gem stones of all kinds embedded into the center of the large, square links that made up the belt. To be honest, I was sure the the jewels on the belt would cost way more than the rent for my penthouse back in New York for the next twenty years. Dang.

With one more flick of my fingers to get the curls that had fallen in my face to behave, I left the room. I had finally figured out the way through the corridors and halls that led to from my bedroom to the great hall. Once you figured out the way it wasn't that much of a difficult task. Five minutes of walking and I made it. Once again the hall was lit brightly while everyone in it (except for a few, that it) was aglow with merriment. I took a look around and saw that Peter, Susan, and Lucy were all mingling with the most important of their guests (aka the ones who wore crowns on there well groomed heads). What struck me as strange however was the Edmund was nowhere to be seen.

He should have been there to help bare the burden of small talk for his other siblings but then again he didn't seem to be the type to make aimless chit chat. I sighed and looked about the room. My gaze stopped when it was returned by someone else. I narrowed my eyes at Rabadash's look that was directed at me. What was his problem? He was courting Susan, the most beautiful girl on this planet or any other one and he was looking at me like I was... I don't know, something, I guess. That prince had issues but then again I'm sure they all did. He managed to hold my gaze as I rambled on in my head and made his way toward me through the crowd. I panicked and started walking away from him and straight through a large group of people. Thank God, I was so short and everyone around me so tall. It was hard to see me going through there. I dared a look and saw that he was still in pursuit.

I sighed and looked around, trying to find a way out. That's when I saw a tall figure with dark brown hair standing alone about five feet away from me. I quickly went over to Edmund and grabbed his arm. He looked down at me with a confused, concerned look.

"I need you to dance with me." I told him honestly. He furrowed his brow at me but still nodded his head, took my hand, and led me to the dance floor. A new song was starting so we took up position and began the dance. I looked at my feet as we waltzed around the floor. I heard Edmund sigh and lift my chin.

"What did I tell you last time? Look up so they think we can actually dance well." He told me as he rolled his eyes in annoyance. I chuckled a little.

"Right." I said. We lapsed back into silence as the music drowned on. The awkwardness of our fight still sat between us. It was basically the elephant in the room.

"I'm sorry." I said. I didn't have to explain what I was referring to. He already knew what I was apologizing for.

Edmund nodded his head and said "Me too."

"Good." I said. "Because I really hate trying to avoid someone, it's completely exhausting." I confessed with an over exaggerated sigh. Edmund then proceeded to roll his eyes at me again.

"Truly, it is, Lina. Truly it is." He paused. "So why did you need me to dance with you?"

Oops. I wasn't exactly going to tell Edmund what was going on with Rabadash. I had a feeling that was telling me that the younger of the kings would react worse to the news than his elder brother would. I glanced around trying to think up another lie (which wasn't the norm for me, I never lie) to tell him.

"I-I" That was a great lie there, Lina. Really smart. Now you sound like an idiot instead of just being a liar and lying to a couple of kings. I finally thought of something and the words just tumbled out of my mouth. "Okay, so I just wanted to patch things up between us after what happened yesterday." I told him. He looked at me with a raised eye brow and I just shrugged my shoulders.

"That was very subtle of you." He responded.

"Yeah, well I try."

The song ended and the couples quit their waltzing around the floor. Edmund released his hold around my waist and bowed low to me. As customary, I awkwardly curtsied

"You know, Edmund, you really shouldn't bow anymore. Well at least not to me because you are making me look foolish when I must curtsy back." I told the younger king.

One corner of his mouth pulled up in some sort of smile or another. "Alright." His brown eyes shot up to look behind me before they shot back to meet my own blue ones. "I see you are well taken care of and will take my leave." He smiled at me and nodded to whoever was coming up behind me. I took a deep breath and turned around to see Peter coming toward where I stood.

I walked over and met him half way. "How do you like playing host?" I inquired of him.

"Ha, well I cannot complain." He told me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I know I couldn't do it. At least, it's not terrible for you."

He raised his eye brow to me and leaned in close to whisper in my ear. "No, you don't understand. I cannot complain. Mr. Tumnus scolded me for looking as if I was sulking earlier."

I laughed and he joined me. "Ah, well what can I do to make this evening better?" I asked the high king.

He grinned down at me before looking over to where I saw his sisters to be having a conversation with Rabadash. I couldn't help but scoff at the sight of him flirting with Susan after what he did this afternoon. It is sickening and Susan did not deserve to be played like that by a complete slim ball. We would definitely be having a conversation after this. I was still looking at the three of them when I felt Peter entwine his fingers with mine. I looked down at our hands then up to the king's face. "Walk with me." He said. I smiled and nodded that I would go.

We walked out of the loud hall and into the silent beauty of the gardens, holding hands the whole time. My heart sped up a bit at his touch but that was nothing unusual. I just needed to calm down. I freaked out too much, I always freak out like a total-

"You look beautiful tonight." Peter punctured through my rambling thoughts and snapped me back into the present. I felt another blush come up in my cheeks but thankfully it was too dark for him to notice.

"Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself." I said. He just looked down at me with that perfect Peter smile plastered on his face. His thumb began to trace small circles on the back of my hand as we kept our gazes locked.

Peter's smile faded into something more serious and he looked at me as if he were searching for something in the depths of my face and eyes. "Lina, if I said I wanted to kiss you right now would you be offended?" He whispered.

Oh. My. God. What does a girl say to that? NO, OF COURSE! But I didn't want to be totally lame and just simply say 'no'. My mind went blank as I looked into his eyes and what came out of my mouth was "I'd be offended if you didn't."

Before I knew what was going on, Peter bent down and placed his lips gently on mine. This day sucked so bad, but this moment, this kiss; it made every thing better and I was nothing but happy. Peter broke the kiss a few seconds later but did not move away. Instead he opted to rest his forehead against mine. I chuckled out of the happiness I felt for being so close to him. I looked at the king and smiled. "Thank you." I said like an idiot. Jeez, I sure knew how to screw up perfect moments.

Peter laughed a little and stroked my hair. "You, my lady, are more than welcome." With that, he pressed one more quick kiss to my lips. I smiled a little wider at Peter and did something I had never done before in my life: I let myself be totally and completely happy.

I know it's lame and so childish to say but I felt like I had found my real life fairy tale in Narnia and with Peter. I was never one to believe in fairy tales or happily ever afters or whatever before but being here has converted me into a believer. How could it not? But the thing I hated about fairy tales was that they never showed you what happens after the furry little animals sing a cute little annoying song at the end. After the screen fades to black, that's when the fun begins in a story. And trust me, my screen was fading to black and my not so fun fun was beginning

Aww, I love this chapter. lol. Things are starting to heat up. Let me know what you think please. Thanks for reading!