"The northern border is calling for help! Peter! Wake up!" Lucy burst into the High King's bedroom. It was an early morning and she still had a night wear covered with the cape, in case she would meet anybody but her siblings on the corridor. Luckily she didn't. Peter opened his eyes wide in a surprise, as it was very much not like his sister to act with such a panic. He took the little piece of parchment she held. That was a note from the leader of the village that had been previously attacked. It said: "The giants have returned. The mountains shake from their steps and the trees fall. Please, help us!"
"How did you get it?" Peter jumped out of the bed. Lucy rolled her eyes.
"The messenger brought it a moment ago. Hurry!" She didn't have to ask further as her brother was already calling the guards and soon the order of gathering the troops spread all over the castle. Peter and his hussars set off barely an hour later, leaving the astonished guests in the care of the remaining three rulers.
"It was so sudden," wondered Susan, concerned. She was worried what the calormenian prince would think of them now. Narnia was supposed to be a perfectly peaceful land! But the unhappiest person was Corin, who was stopped in the last moment by one of the stables. He intended to slip out and follow Peter and when the troops were getting in the formation, he got caught on stealing a pony. Now he was brought to the two queens, who thrilled on the very idea of the boy succeeding in his attempt.
"How could you do something like that?" The prince stood before them, looking down and not knowing what to say. Lucy sighed. "If you were so bored that looking for danger seemed to you like a great adventure, you should have come to me in the first place. I thought we were friends." She said sincerely.
"I wasn't looking for danger!" He opposed. Seeing that nobody really shouted at him, he relaxed a bit. "It's just..."
"What?" Lucy encouraged him. They sat on the sofa in the corner of the Throne Hall, placing the boy between them.
"You never had time for me lately, so I thought I might be of some use to the high king!"
Both sisters exchanged their looks and shook heads.
"Corin, Corin," sighed Susan. Lucy felt a hint of guilt.
"We know the tourney was occupying all of us greatly,' she started. "But hey, have you forgotten my request from the other day?"
"I haven't!" The boy cheered up. "My list is almost ready, but I am not sure it is relevant anymore. At least half of the shooters just left with the High King."
"What list?" Susan perked up. Lucy revealed her plan and soon she and the young prince started a discussion about the archery, to delight of the last one. Susan shook her head with amusement.
"You both are amazing. But I won't let you eat breakfast in this outfit." She checked Corin's dirty shirt and hands. Lucy suppressed a chuckle.
The rest of the remaining week they spent on both, preparations for the tourney's final and Susan's and Edmund's journey. Edmund decided to take Mr. Tumnus with them, and only Lucy knew it was after the suggestion of Peter that the faun needed to not see queen Lucy for some time. Finally, queen Susan announced that Corin was also to join. Mostly, because Lucy asked her for it, besides she also wanted to relieve her sister from the duty of constant taking care about the young prince. As for Lucy, if the circumstances were different, she would have gone North with Peter. Now however "somebody has to stay in Cair Paravel and keep an eye on everything," she said, hoping she didn't sound too joyful. In fact, all Lucy was thinking that the moment was that she would finally be left alone and free. Finally, the day of the departure had come and after hugging her older sister for goodbye Lucy felt that for the first time in her life she could understand Susan. Her body was burning from inside.
"Am I her lover? Is she mine? Does she..." Having these thoughts constantly on her mind, as soon as she could lock herself in the bedroom, Lucy created the portal and walked through, feeling as if her heart was about to jump out of her chest. It was the sunset time, both in Narnia and in the Sanctuary and the last one welcomed her with the cascade of colors reflecting on the ice caves. Lucy ran down the path towards the palace as fast as she could. Jadis was on the terrace, and seeing the slim silhouette approaching, she stood up immediately and soon Lucy was panting in her embrace, shaking from happiness. Jadis brought her up and for a moment held in the air, before letting her hide again in her arms. She led Lucy inside and as soon as the door closed, she pulled her to the wall and kissed passionately. This time Lucy was bolder, seeing the queen's desire was as great as hers, she slipped her own dress down, and noticing Jadis eyes widening from both, the surprise and longing, she kissed her deeper.
"You too..." Lucy whispered in between the kisses and couldn't refrain a loud moan, feeling Jadis' lips moving down to her neck.
"Not here..." Jadis took her in her arms and carried up the stairs to the bedroom. Lucy recognized the big bed and before she was able to think, Jadis took off her own dress. How it was possible that powerful and feared 'White Witch' could at the same time look so stunning and gentle? Appeared in Lucy's mind, although she was too overwhelmed to think much. Jadis was taller and heavier than her but now, her naked shoulders, soft breasts, the fine lines of the neck, the shoulder bones and the entire perfectly shaped figure, made her appear very subtle, to not say fragile. She pulled her long hair to the back and leaned over Lucy, caressing her in a way the girl felt she would either faint from ecstasy, or scream. She did the last one.
It was middle of the night when exhausted but overwhelmed by joy Lucy lay in Jadis' embrace, not being able to stop caressing her skin, her fingers circled the soft spots and she felt Jadis' beating heart, at first slow and steady, but speeding up when she touched the most sensitive places.
"Aren't you a playful little queen?" Jadis took a deep breath and moved, so she was now lying on her side, and returned the caress.
Lucy's breath fastened again. She felt as if Jadis could touch her deeply inside, coming through her, reaching directly her heart. Was that the Great Magic? She asked herself. But Lucy had no magic powers when Jadis shivered under her touch and her kisses. Lucy thought there must be something even more powerful between them and not yet daring to call it love.
'Although it must be love', she thought at dawn, as they, still tangled together, watched the brightening sky.
"I think I should let you sleep for a while,"
Lucy smiled dreamily and kissing Jadis' chin, she gazed at her, thinking that face had never looked softer and brighter.
"You are so beautiful," she whispered and refrained a giggle as Jadis clearly appreciated the compliment. Her eyes were shining and the lips parted slightly from the frequent kisses.
"So are you," she replied and let Lucy snuggle closer, stroking her hair that was now getting tangled with her own the way it would be hard to tell them apart.
"You are glowing like a star," Lucy added.
"It's because of you, my little queen," Jadis whispered back. Lucy blushed from joy. Those words meant to her more than "I love you" from anybody else.
In the late morning Lucy had to return to Cair Paravel. At first, she was amazed by the silence of that, so crowded the previous day, place. Cair Paravel seemed to be way too big for just one queen. Empty corridors, bedrooms, and especially the vast throne hall, were now cleaned up and somehow unfriendly. She felt she didn't fit there at all. Lucy announced she would be spending her time in the woods, training. Moreover, she sent messages to all the available tournament participants from Corin's list and some more, to report to Cair Paravel the next week. That one week gave her a wonderful excuse to 'disappear' from the castle. And from Narnia, but the last one remained her secret.
"So, you want to tell me that you plan on being here for the entire week?" Jadis smirked, as they sat together later in the evening. Lucy appeared in the Sanctuary with a big bag of spare clothes and her bow with as big supply of arrows. The queen looked at all of that with amusement and a disturbing thought came through Lucy's head that maybe she should have asked first." A soft, but deep kiss chased that thought away.
"You should be careful. I may get used to you being here too much and won't let you go home," Jadis said with her usual playful tone, but Lucy felt the pair of strong arms surrounding her. She snuggled to the tall figure.
"This is my home. I mean..." Wasn't she too bold?
Jadis tensed for a moment.
"As long as you want it, little queen." She replied after a hesitation.
Lucy noticed it was not easy to talk with Jadis about feelings. The queen's affection was visible in her movements, in her smile or the way she looked at Lucy. But she never asked her anything, neither she spoke about love herself.
"The queen smiles much more since you are here, your Majesty," said Asbjørn. Sometimes he visited them and sat in the snow, letting them lean on his soft, white fur, like on a living, big couch, and they rested, watching the sunset, or the shooting stars over the lake.
"You have never made the shooting stars before," he said once to Jadis and Lucy gasped, realizing that everything there was indeed Jadis' personal creation. Lucy forgot the story of the Sanctuary and somehow still treated the place like a part of the Wild Lands of the North. She asked Jadis about it.
"He is right; this is all my world. My lake and my stars. Anything you wish for?" She asked merrily, like the other time. Lucy happily joined the game.
"Can you create an ocean? With stars reflecting in the water?" She said spontaneously, thinking of the beach near to Cair Paravel. Jadis straightened up and for a moment Lucy was afraid she didn't like the idea. But then she sat up herself, as the view before them started to change. At the beginning it seemed like a part of the frozen lake melted, revealing water coming up from under the ice. And then the water spread on the horizon and all of it so strangely fitted the land that after a minute Lucy could swear the sea was there from the beginning. Although she knew it wasn't. She gasped and stared at Jadis, whose entire figure was glowing. The queen turned to her, grinning with pride. Lucy couldn't find the proper words, so she just jumped forward and hugged her tightly.
"It is so amazing!" She shouted and felt her chin being pulled up for a kiss. Asbjørn quietly stood up and removed himself from the area.
"I am glad you like it," Jadis kissed her once more and they lay in the snow. Lucy wished the time would stop.
