Lucy ran through the icy land. The snow stuck to her dress and the wet fabric was slowing her down. She left Mr. Tumnus unconscious, lying against the table, after the sleeping potion she added to his tea. He was too drunk to notice it and she couldn't risk. Panicking, Lucy felt if she doesn't find a way to either convince him or to make him forget the events of the evening, everybody in the Sanctuary would be in danger. She could imagine it vividly. Her siblings watching her day and night. The animals spying on each other to find those who knew the passage. She reminded the little foxes and their careless talk about the party.
"Jadis!" She stood at the palace door and called as loud as her voice let her. To her relief the queen immediately ran down and a second later she was panting in her arms. "I don't know what to do, I am so sorry..." She was crying out everything that happened. Jadis held her and didn't speak a word until the girl calmed down.
"If he got the potion I remember, he should sleep till sunrise, but we cannot risk." Jadis rushed to another room that was apparently something like a kitchen. She returned with a little bottle."
"This will make him forget everything that is related to the present me. I made it recently, thinking one day it may be needed for such an occasion. Just pour a drop in his mouth when he sleeps." Her eyes fell on Lucy's necklace. The girl understood. She took it off and handled to her.
"I know it belongs to you." She confessed with a hint of guilt. How could she be so reckless? Lucy couldn't even explain, why it felt so important to wear it in the first place. Jadis turned the crystal in her hand, the sparkling fitted her dress and the snow outside.
"Who would expect they remember so little things?" She murmured and gestured at something outside. As if answering an inaudible call, two reindeers ran to the entrance, pulling her sleigh.
"I'll take you to the gate. It will be faster."
They jumped on it and the sleigh rushed to the cave without any word from the queen. Lucy looked amazed.
"How do they know what to do?"
"They know me well." Jadis smiled and gazed at Lucy's naked arms. "Now, we cannot let you get a cold again, can we?" She leaned over her and placed a soft kiss on Lucy's lips. It was the first time someone kissed her. She hadn't even imagined how that could feel, unlike Susan, talking constantly about Rabadash, and she definitely wouldn't expect the rush of joy and magic like a beam of light flying through her and making her shiver. Now all Lucy felt, was how badly she wanted to kiss her back. But they were already standing by the portal and reluctantly she let go of her. Jadis' hand caressed her face, the soft fingers traced the line of her cheek, lips' corner and wandered down to the cleavage. "That was my gift to you."
Lucy looked at her with question. Jadis smiled mysteriously.
"Let's say, you will never get sick again. That's a promise." She caressed now her naked arms. "That's a lovely dress." She smiled.
Until that moment the girl didn't even realize she didn't feel the cold anymore. At all. She gasped in surprise. Before she crossed the gate, Jadis stopped her once more and her slender fingers ran through Lucy's hair, letting it fall down freely.
"Be safe, little queen."
"I will come back soon." Lucy jumped through.
"What happened?" Mr. Tumnus woke up. It was a sunny morning and the hot tea and a plate with freshly fried eggs waited for him at the table. He massaged his hurting head. He couldn't recall how he got there and why queen Lucy was making him breakfast? Not that he wasn't happy to see her. But the last thing he remembered was asking her to dance at the ball. Or he didn't?
Lucy smiled to him. She still had her white, formal dress, although it looked definitely dirty on the bottom. Lucy was known to be the one who cannot wear bright colors without making them dirty after five minutes. Apparently it included even the most royal queen's outfits. He found it disarming and would be very happy at that morning, if his stomach wouldn't make him very uncomfortable. And ashamed.
"Do you remember that calormenian wine? I think it is too strong for fauns." Lucy giggled and drank from her cup of tea. He also noticed she must have made some order in the room. Everything looked particularly clean.
"Too strong? You should see... ouch." Jumping off the bed appeared to be a very bad idea. He fell back into the sheets and looked at her concerned. "I didn't do... anything embarrassing, did I?"
Lucy shook her head and laughed. He breathed with relief.
"I must head back to the castle. Will you be alright? I'll see you soon."
He was again snoring before she finished the sentence.
She reached Cair Paravel with a hint of anxiety. What if everybody has been wondering about her disappearance for the entire night?
"There you are! I hoped the calormenian wine didn't knock you out like your sister." Peter greeted her at the dining table. To her surprise he was sitting there alone and didn't seem very concerned. He only checked her out from the bottom to the top and smirked. Lucy's dress was a mess and her hair... Susan would say it was profaning the crown. Peter in fact found it amusing and even impressive, finding Lucy being actually conscious and able to eat. Unlike Susan and Edmund. And most of the guests. Lucy grabbed the plate with pastries and devoured them with a great appetite. Until now she didn't even feel how much starving she was.
"So," her voice got merry, as apparently nobody was worried about her. "The ball was successful; I presume?"
"Successful!" Peter laughed. "Edmund challenged Lord Peridan for a duel on the pier and they both fell into the sea. They would have drowned if not the intervention of mermaids. Susan asked Rabadash to present his archery skills as nobody could stand his poetry anymore. At some point he started to sing, so we found his shooting off the balloons much less harmful. And he was doing that pretty well, so well that later during the night I saw Susan and him kissing in the dark corner of the tent. But what about you? I saw you leaving with Mr. Tumnus hand in hand. Is there something you would like to tell me, little sister?
"There isn't." She stated with certainty, to her discontent feeling her cheeks blush.
"Really?" He examined her dress one more time. "Judging on the way he always stares at you I would assume he at least proposed." He teased.
Lucy very much wanted to throw a piece of cake at his face.
"He didn't! And stop with these jokes, will you? Why is everybody pairing us up anyway?"
"Because he is obviously in love with you." Peter's tone got serious. "And you seem to be the only one who doesn't see it."
Lucy sighed heavily.
"I do. Last night he got drunk and confessed. I walked him home and made sure he went safely to bed. It was a long way home," she added observing her brother's skeptical look. "I don't feel this way about him and I never did. I guess he should know it by now."
"Poor lad." Peter commented. He nodded and smiled to her. "I understand. And if an occasion occurs, I talk reason to him."
"Thank you brother, but that's my task."
Peter nodded again. If only Susan could be equally mature in those matters!
"I will go to see how Susan is doing. They really kissed, you say?" She giggled and left the dining room.
Susan was in her bedroom, still sleeping. She murmured in protest as Lucy energetically opened the windows. Lucy herself got already changed. She put her crown to the coffer and her white outfit got replaced by the usual, dark blue one. She also combed her hair and made one loose braid, falling softly on her back. And she swore to herself to take a bath as soon as she gets some more peace.
"So? Tell me everything!" She started when her older sister seemed more like being able to talk. Susan also had headache. Lucy chuckled, thinking if she was the only one immune to the wine in entire Narnia.
"I never thought I could ever feel this way about him, you know?" Susan spoke dreamily. She stretched her arms and gracefully shook her head the way that a few curls of her hair swung over her cleavage. Lucy watched it amusedly. It was one of things she could never learn.
"So... do you really love him?"
She enquired with a hint of worry. The idea of her sister marrying Rabadash caused an unpleasant sensation in her stomach. She didn't like the calormenian prince at all. His smooth way of motion and sweet words resembled her one of the drama acts the fauns and faeries performed sometimes for their entertainment. Was Susan really believing him?
"He told me many things about himself last night, you know? How his own country doesn't understand him? His love for beauty. Deep in his soul he is an artist."
"But not a poet, I hope?" Lucy couldn't resist and a big pillow landed on her face.
"Alright, his poems are horrible." Susan admitted.
"So what is it then, what you feel?" Lucy insisted.
Susan looked her intensely in the eyes.
"I just have this thrill when I hear his voice. When I see the passion in his eyes. This... hunger, like he wants to kiss me forever. To kiss and..." She giggled and blushed. Lucy resisted from rolling her eyes.
"He desires you. I know." She concluded coolly. Susan looked irritated.
"You don't understand. You are still a child when it comes to these matters. But some day, you will see." Her voice returned to a dreamy tone. "It's like your body suddenly wakes up and longs for a touch, a caress... and it is so strong that it takes your breath away. You shiver and you are feeling hot. And somebody's hand on yours, or a soft kiss, feels like a flow of magic running through you and you just want to beg for more.
Lucy's lips turned to be completely dry. Each of Susan's words hit her directly in the heart and she felt there was no rest for her anymore. She swallowed heavily, trying to control her breath and bring it back to normal. To change the subject, she told Susan what happened at night with Mr. Tumnus.
"Poor him. But he had it coming." Susan's cheerful voice revealed she wasn't worried. "but tell me, isn't there really nobody special in your life? You often seem so distracted."
This time the pillow hit Susan's face and Lucy left the room.
That afternoon she went to check on Mr. Tumnus. The faun was sitting in the yard and looked much better. At the sight of Lucy, he jumped off the chair and they shook hands in the funny, old fashioned way, reminding Lucy of her childhood times. But then they stood in a knee deep snow. Lucy took a deep breath to push that though away. Mr. Tumnus still looked at her with embarrassment and a sort of shyness in his eyes he didn't have before.
"The more I try, the more I don't remember anything from yesterday. Or from the night. I even can't recall the ball! It never happened to me before, what must you think of me?"
"Dear friend, you are not so different from at least one king and one queen of Narnia,", she laughed sympathetically. After she told him about Susan and Edmund he cheered up at once. They shared the afternoon tea and a delicious cherry pie like in the old times and Lucy felt very much relieved that the things between them went back to normal. Of course, there was still that strange warmth hidden in his eyes. But now, without the wine, he didn't have the courage to reveal his feelings anymore.
The tourney's great opening ceremony took place in the evening. Lucy felt like she had a constant fever and knew it wouldn't go away until she gets to the Sanctuary again. She must go there at least for a while... at night? Maybe? No. The reasonable part of her took over. This needed to wait.
"King Edmund on his own, two feet. How was the swim?" She mocked him as they gathered in the throne hall. Edmund gave her a stern look and didn't answer. Lucy, Peter and Susan couldn't control a discreet chuckle, which didn't make Edmund feel better. He was very pale and had a distant, grim expression. Apparently his headache was worse than theirs. Lucy looked at his clenched lips and suddenly a picture from the past appeared in her mind. She thought about that little boy in Beavers' house, who sneaked out to run to the White Witch's castle. To Jadis.
'I have felt it in you.'
Mr. Tumnus was also sitting among the guests and waved at her happily when their looks met.
'I want to feel her under me struggling. She deserves that, you know?'
Edmund continued the welcoming speech after Susan. Her turn was the next. She could hear her own heart beating loud as drums in her ears.
'I am not under a spell!'
The voices in her head got louder and Lucy felt dizzy. As everybody turned to her awaiting that she closes the speech, Lucy slipped from the throne.
"Lucy! Queen Lucy? She needs some fresh air, quickly!" Came from everywhere. She felt being carried outside and the evening sea breeze brought her relief.
"I am alright." She reassured the astonished crowd staring at her. "I just need some rest." She excused herself and, as everybody still suffered from the last night's ball, they looked at her with understanding. She passed the stairs and turned unnoticed, using one of the side doors, opened mostly for the royal cooks. Right behind it, in the back garden, something shimmered in the air. Before anybody saw it, Lucy vanished.
