AN: Hey. Sorry it took so long again. This isn't my best chapter ever, but some important things happen in it. Enjoy.

Chapter 11

The sunlight reflected off of his light hair as he lunged at a practice dummy. His beautiful blue eyes shone as he nailed the move, his sword tearing the straw man to pieces.

Anna dropped her eyes back to the book. She knew she shouldn't be staring at Peter, and she certainly shouldn't be caught doing it. Yet she was unable to keep her eyes and mind on the book. Both kept drifting to Peter. Could she help it if he was the most handsome man she had ever seen? And the kindest and the bravest and the funniest... Read the book!

Anna's gaze moved up of its own accord as Edmund, the second most handsome (and kindest and bravest and funniest) man she'd ever seen, took his place across from his brother. They began to spar. Anna tried to attend to her book but found herself unable to. The practice battle between Peter and Edmund was mesmerizing, beautiful, even.

"Anna?"

"I was reading!"

Cada sat down beside Anna, looking confused at her outburst. "Alright then. So what are you doing?"

"I told you. Reading."

"Without looking at the page? That's impressive."

Anna rolled her eyes. "If you must know, I was watching Peter and Edmund practice fighting."

Cada grinned. "You still like Peter."

Anna dropped her eyes. "I don't - I don't still..."

"You do. End of story. Is that him over there?" Cada caught her breath. "Look at Edmund."

"I'm looking at him. What is it that I should be seeing?"

"Edmund," Cada breathed, "He's gorgeous."

Anna stood abruptly and snapped her book shut. "I'm leaving!"

"Fine. I'll just stare at Edmund by myself," Cada said absently.

"I'm staying." Anna plopped down back down beside her. She studied Cada, who made no move to take her gaze from the Just King.

"Have you no shame?" Anna asked.

Cada shrugged. "I left it in my room, and I don't want to go back inside to get it."

Anna sighed.

"He's coming this way!" Cada stage whispered. She hurriedly ran her fingers through her hair. "How do I look?"

"Fine, Cada," Anna said, exasperation clear in her voice.

"Good!" Cada put on her flirty smile as the Narnian kings approached the two girls. "Hello, Peter. Edmund." She grinned coyly as she said the second name. Anna rolled her eyes.

The brothers returned the greeting.

Cada rose to her feet, standing much closer to Edmund than was strictly necessary. "You were amazing out there."

"It was just practice," Edmund said modestly.

"Will you teach me how to do that?" Cada batted her eyelashes at him. "You promised you would."

Edmund nodded. "Oh, you're right, I did. I had completely forgotten."

"Sometime soon?" Cada implored, resting her hand on Edmund's arm.

"Sure," Edmund said.

Anna stood and snapped her book closed once more. "I feel like a third wheel."

"I feel like a fourth wheel," Peter agreed.

Cada took her gaze from Edmund for a second to glance at the two of them. "Then let's make this carriage a bicycle. Talk to you later, Anna!"

And if that wasn't a dismissal, Anna didn't know what was.

She tucked her book under her arm and strode away, slightly irritated. Peter followed her. Soon, Edmund and Cada were far behind them, and it was only the two of them as far as they could see.

Peter spun to face her suddenly. "Can we talk?"

"We've got vocal chords, haven't we?" Anna asked sarcastically.

"I mean, can I talk to you," Peter rephrased.

Anna gave a slight shrug. The High King took this as a good sign.

"I was a fool," he said.

"Were you now?"

"Yes. I was a fool to ever let you go." Peter put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her with his beautiful, earnest eyes. "Maybe you don't love me yet. I don't care anymore. I miss you, and I want you back. I want things to be the way they were."

"You do?" Anna asked. It was all she trusted herself to say.

"Yes." Peter tilted her chin up and kissed her, sweet and gentle. And later, when recounting the story to Lucy, Anna would be forced to admit that she had kissed him back. But she was still the one to pull away.

"Anna?" Peter asked.

She shrugged.

"Don't you want to be with me?" he asked.

"Yes!" Anna breathed. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of her emerald bracelet out of the corner of her eye. "And no," she added, looking away. Edmund knew the color of my eyes, but Peter didn't...

"I need an answer," Peter said.

Anna shook her head. "I don't know..."

"It doesn't have to be now. If you need time to think..."

Anna cut him off with another shake of her head. "I don't need time." Edmund's bracelet glittered at the edge of her vision.

"I don't need time," Anna repeated, "And I don't need you. I'm sorry."

Peter's face hardened. "Oh. Alright then."

They were saved much more awkwardness by the sound of hoof-beats. Both glanced up to see Tumnus the Faun clopping hurriedly toward them, a scroll clutched in one hand.

"Tumnus!" Peter called. "What are you doing in Archenland?"

"Urgent news, your majesty."

"What is it?"

"It's the Telmarines. They've declared war."

Peter paced at the front of the room. Anna, Cada, Cadin, King Lune and the other three Pevensies watched him silently. Little Corin ran around the room playfully, unaware if the danger upon them.

"The notice," said the High King, gesturing to the scroll on the table, "Says that the Telmarines' reason for war is personal offense against the royal family. I don't get it. When have they been 'personally offended'?"

Edmund and Anna exchanged nervous glances and shrank down in their seats.

Susan picked up on this. "Edmund, Anna, do you have something to say?" All eyes in the room flicked from Peter to the two teenagers.

"What?" Anna exclaimed, "Nothing, nothing."

"Anna..." Susan warned.

Anna laughed nervously. "Well, we kinda, maybe, sorta have a little tiny bit to do with this. Just a little."

Edmund sighed and told the truth. "Anna kissed the Telmarine princess's husband to make... someone jealous, and I punched him in the face. To be fair, he did kiss her first."

"So you punched him?" Lucy asked, dismayed.

"He was only protecting me," Anna explained, "The Calormene-Telmarine creep wouldn't leave me alone."

"That's so brave," Cada said, throwing Edmund an admiring glance.

King Lune gave his niece a warning look. "Now is not the time."

Cada looked deflated and sank back into her seat beside her brother.

Peter closed his eyes in concentration and held up a hand to get everyone's attention. "So let me get this straight. Anna kissed a married man to make me jealous? How could you do something so stupid?"

"I didn't know!" Anna said defensively.

"He was the one that kissed her first," Edmund pointed out.

"And she kissed him right back! I saw the whole thing," Peter replied. "Now, because of *her* foolishness we've got a war on our hands."

Edmund rose to his feet. "You can't blame her for this," he said, keeping his voice level, "There is no way Anna could have seen this coming."

"So you think she was right to kiss the prince then?" Peter shot back. "Do you think she should have had a whole affair with him? Do you think Anna should have moved to Telmar and returned to us in fifteen years, pregnant with the Calormene-Telmarine prince's son?"

Anna gasped. "What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"No, I don't think Anna should have ever kissed the prince," Edmund said, glossing over Peter's and Anna's other comments. "Yes, that was foolish of her, not to mention terribly improper. If she absolutely had to make you jealous, she should have used someone she'd known for more than five minutes. She could have asked a male friend to help her. But Anna didn't know he was a prince. And you must remember he made the first move. This war cannot be blamed on her."

"She kissed the husband of a Telmarine princess. Even if she didn't know, it doesn't change the fact that she did. And she did it all to make me jealous, which was a childish thing to do. Face it, Ed: Anna messed up."

Edmund's gazed hardened. "I have as much blame in this as she does. I punched him. If Priscana hadn't noticed him unconscious, she wouldn't have found out about the kiss."

"You punched a man hard enough to knock him unconscious?" Cada breathed admiringly. "You must be so strong."

Cadin elbowed her in the ribs.

Susan spoke up to fill the following silence. "Look, it doesn't matter whose fault this is or isn't, and we haven't got the time to debate it anyway. Narnia is in danger. We have to act.

"Have the fastest horses readied," Peter said. "Tonight, we're riding to Cair Paravel. The others in our party can go back later."

"Cada and Cadin, go tell the stable boys to prepare the horses," King Lune whispered. The siblings nodded and hurried away.

"We need a plan," Edmund said.

"He's right," Susan agreed. "Any ideas?"

Edmund began to pace. "What do we know about the Telmarines' reasons to fight this war?" he asked, "Are they looking for a reason to conquer our country? Maybe they think we could be a powerful enemy and want to destroy us as much as possible. It could be that they're really only fighting us to defend their royal family's honor, but somehow I doubt this."

"The Just King speaks the truth," King Lune said. "The Telmarines wouldn't have started this war just over a simple misunderstanding."

"They didn't know it was a simple misunderstanding, though," Anna pointed out. "Priscana wouldn't listen."

"And they do say that Priscana is spoiled by her father," Susan added. "She could have made him declare war as revenge."

"Maybe," Edmund said, "But is it possible that they planned the whole thing?"

"I was thinking the same," King Lune agreed. "Maybe they wanted to conquer or crush Narnia, but first needed an excuse for doing so. The husband of the princess makes advances toward the Narnian Lady. She tries to push him away, but he is persistent. Soon, one of the kings notices and fights the prince. The prince is injured, or pretends to be. Priscana comes over and twists the situation so that it sounds as though he was wronged. There's the excuse."

"But why did they target Anna?" Lucy asked. "Why not Susan or me?"

"You're too obvious," Edmund said. "If either of you were in trouble like Anna was, half of the men at the party would spring to your defense in less than a second. The rest would come in a minute. Anna is a little more… inconspicuous."

"The Telmarines knew one of the kings would defend Lady Anna," King Lune added, "because they are both very fond of her. King Peter and Lady Anna have been romantically involved –"

"Not anymore," Peter interrupted curtly.

"But at one point," King Lune said, "And everyone can see how much King Edmund cares about Lady Anna, just by looking at them together. If I may be so bold, it seems to me as though Anna holds both of the Narnian kings' hearts."

"You may not be so bold," Edmund and Peter said in unison. Anna just blushed and ducked her head.

"I think I get what the Telmarines were going for now," Susan said. "This is assuming that what you are supposing is true, of course."

"It makes sense," Lucy agreed. "If that had been their plan, the only way it could go wrong would be if either Peter or Edmund didn't see her."

"And they did see me," Anna said. "Edmund punched the prince out and Peter…" She turned her gaze on the High King. "What were you doing, Peter? I know you saw us – you said it yourself. Why didn't you try to rescue me?"

Peter said nothing, so Edmund answered for him. "He stomped away after he saw you kiss him back. I passed him as I was walking, and that's how I knew something was up. He didn't see things turn ugly."

"I see," Anna said, raising an eyebrow.

"Look," Peter interrupted, "All of this is getting us nowhere. We have to act now."

"That's what we're doing," Edmund replied. "We're trying to come up with a plan."

"But first, we need an army," Peter said. "We'll ride through the towns collecting troops."

King Lune stood. "Archenland will stand behind you."

"No," Peter said, "This is our fight, and you don't have to-"

"It's in the treaty," King Lune interrupted.

Peter opened his mouth and closed it again. He couldn't argue with that. He'd signed the treaty himself, scarcely a month ago.

King Lune continued, "I won't be able to come with you, as Archenland has its own problems to attend to. But I will arrange to send a representative in my place."

"Send me."

The Pevensies, Anna and King Lune turned their heads to see Cadin standing in the doorway. His face shown with determination. His sister stood behind him, looking as surprised as the others. Even Corin paused in his playing to see what was going on.

King Lune shook his head. "No, Cadin. You're too young."

"I'm not too young. I'm fifteen. That's older than all of they were when they fought the White Witch," Cadin argued with a gesture to the Narnians. They all sunk back in their chairs with Don't bring me into this looks on their faces.

"I won't allow it," King Lune said. "I promised your parents -"

"My parents are dead," Cadin shot back.

The Pevensies and Anna looked away as sadness flickered across Cada's face.

"Cadin -" King Lune began.

"Send me with the army," Cadin said, stepping forward. "Please. It's time that I proved myself."

"You don't need to prove yourself, Cadin," Lucy said softly, rising and crossing the room to him.

"Yes, I do," he replied, taking her hands. "You are Queen Lucy of Narnia. The Queen Lucy of Narnia. And if we are ever to marry in the future, I need to be worthy of you. I won't allow myself to wed you otherwise."

"Oh," Lucy said, a mixture of emotions showing on her face. Cadin pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead gently. Everyone else looked away, as if to give them a moment of privacy.

Anna inadvertently met Peter's eyes. His gaze hardened and he looked pointedly away from her.

Anna sank down in her chair, crestfallen. She hadn't wanted to get back together with Peter, but she didn't want it to be like this. I wish this whole thing had never happened, Anna thought. I wish I had never fallen for him in the first place. If I hadn't fallen off that stupid cliff... or if I had known it was Edmund who saved me all along... Anna jerked her head up suddenly. She glanced at the Just King out of the corner of her eye. If I had known it was Edmund, Anna thought, Would I have fallen for him?

"Alright," King Lune said, pulling Anna from her thoughts and reminding her of more pressing matters than her love life, "I give you my permission to go. Do not disappoint me."

Cadin did not allow a smile to pass his face. He nodded gravely. "Thank you, Uncle."

"Then I'm going too," Cada said, stepping forward.

King Lune sighed. "Not you as well."

"I mean it," she said. "I know I'm not the most serious person ever. I'm flirty and flighty and I don't usually care in the least about things like wars. But Cadin is my little brother, and I'm going with him."

Anna smiled, feeling a surge of respect for her friend.

"And besides, it'll give me an excuse to spend more time with Edmund," Cada added with a flirtatious wink, ruining the moment.

"So it's settled," Peter said. "Edmund, my sisters, Cada, Cadin, Anna and I will ride for Cair Paravel tonight. We'll gather our army once there. Archenland's troops may be sent whenever you see fit," he added to King Lune.

"I'll arrange for them to start out right away."

"That is much appreciated." Peter stood and began to walk towards the door. "Gather your things. We're going back to Narnia."