You know it's finals week when writing just spews from your fingertips.


"You…you're awake."

Mairin took a steady breath. It was the boy, the King. She turned to see him standing in the moonlight, shadows sharpening the strength of his jawline and giving a strange glint to his eyes. He made no move towards her, and she could sense no ill intentions from the air around him. Part of her felt the urge to run away, as she had in the forest. But this was different, she was in, she realized, his home. He would have the advantage.

"Um…yes. I am." Not the greatest beginning to a conversation with a King.

He ran his hand through his dark hair. Mairin shifted on her feet, an awkward tension arising.

"I…I'm sorry. For earlier." She could see the truth of it in his eyes. His hand ran through his hair again.

She did not know what he was expecting back. She didn't know kings to be very apologetic. Though she couldn't say that she knew many kings. Was she supposed to apologize? Fat chance of that.

They stood there, unmoving, unknowing what to do next. Mairin rubbed the back of her neck.

He stepped toward her. She took an involuntary step back. The boy considered her a moment before gesturing to turn to the hall on her left.

"Come, I'm sure you're famished." His voice was firm, more confident than his apology. He was clearly more used to making commands than giving apologies. He walked by her, making sure to keep a distance and without meeting her eyes.

Not knowing what else to do, she followed.

They walked in silence until they came to a large wooden door. Within was a warmly lit room, with a small fire blazing in the hearth. A door was just closing on the other side of the room as they entered, evidence that they were not alone in the corridors that night. Mairin wasn't sure if she felt better knowing that, or not.

The boy—the King—guided her to a chair near the hearth, where she promptly sat, feeling more awkward than she could ever recall being.

He moved about the kitchen—at least that is what Mairin assumed it to be—with the ease of someone used to grabbing a midnight snack without anyone being the wiser.

In no time, there was a loaf of bread and a small spread of unfamiliar jams before her, the King sitting directly across from her already munching on his own portion.

She purposefully avoided looking up as she cut herself a slice and began to slowly eat. Her stomach seemed to suddenly recognize her hunger upon the first bite, and before she knew it, the majority of the loaf was gone.

He was staring at her, she could feel the weight of his "kingly" gaze.

"Thank you for the food…your Majesty." She mumbled to the table. Any and all confidence she had felt in the woods earlier left her at that moment. She felt like an intruder to this place.

"Erm…you're welcome." There was a pause as he cleared his throat. "I suppose now would be as good a time as ever to properly introduce myself, and you yourself." His voice was warm, she could hardly resist looking up into his smile.

"My name is King Edmund. And this, if you couldn't tell, is my home, my castle."

His hand was stretched out across the table, waiting for her to shake it.

Would he just forget about his minor interrogation in the woods? Forget that she was, for all intents and purposes, a suspicious foreigner unwelcome in his lands? He did not seem the type to forget much. It would do her no good to pretend it had never happened, Mairin considered.

She took his hand in a grip equally as firm as his. He didn't try to test her strength in the momentary handshake as many men she'd met had. She felt herself sit up straighter as a bit of her confidence returned.

"My name is Mairin. And I, if you couldn't tell, am a bit lost." She couldn't help but feel a twinge of victory as she saw his mouth twitch at her purposeful echo of his own introduction.

"A bit better of an introduction than in the woods, I daresay." She smiled, offering the figurative olive branch.

"I truly am sorry for that. I did not mean to frighten you." Two apologies in the course of an hour—she must be one lucky girl.

"I see your sister got through to you." She vaguely remembered him referencing the female voice when they were in the small recovery room during her brief foray into consciousness earlier. She was relieved to find her memory correct when his eyebrows raised.

"So you were awake. Lucy thought you were trying to wake up."

"Yes…I wasn't sure if it was a memory or a dream, though. She was nice, your sister."

His eyes lit up at the mentioning of his sister. "Yes, that would be Lu—Queen Lucy—she has a talent for healing. A talent for being nice that seems to avoid me a times, to be honest."

"Queen Lucy? She rules with you? You are…married?" Mairin suddenly didn't quite like this place as much as before-which wasn't saying much after her ever so warm welcome.

He laughed, shaking his head. "By the Lion, no. Lucy and I rule with our elder siblings, Queen Susan and King Peter. And no, they aren't married either." Edmund chuckled, as though the very thought were ludicrous.

"So there are…four of you. Two Queens…two Kings…" Her confusion was only met with another chuckle.

"It is confusing, yes I know. My brother is the High King and does most of the work, I'm more like an annoying wallflower."

That startled a chuckle of her own out of her. "Of anything you could be considered, King Edmund, I doubt you would be a wallflower."

"Perhaps I was understating myself, though I often wonder if it would be better to be a wallflower. No, I have my tasks and responsibilities here as much as my other siblings." He glanced towards one of the high windows adorning the walls in the room.

"The sun seems to be rising. My siblings are like to be rising soon, as well. If you wish, I can take you to meet them." His smile was friendly and his voice warm, but Mairin felt the command in his question. Their easy conversation could not hide the fact that he did not know who she was for certain—she could be a threat to him and his siblings, for all he knew. Meeting the boy's royal siblings was not a request, it was an opportunity for him to keep an eye on her, and for the other King and Queens to interrogate her as well.

She nodded, what choice did she have?

"Wonderful. I'd imagine Lucy is already up and wondering where you got off to. Let us go, then."

So she followed the young King, off to meet a family of royalty who, despite their apparently friendliness, likely trusted her as far as they could throw her.

Though, throwing her off the battlements or some such would be pretty far.


Thank's for reading, next update to come soon! (already written and everything, crazy right?)