"Fleeing already, your Majesty? I would have thought you'd be used to their arguing by now."
"Very funny, Lord Marnon," the queen of Narnia replied icily, though her expression was warm. "You are, as usual, off the mark. It is not the eternal arguing of my council that I find unendurable so much as its, ah, subject matter."
"Ah." Marnon gave the young queen a sympathetic look. "Marriage again?"
"Their perennial favorite topic of discussion. We've nothing pressing to discuss at the moment, and so their minds to turn more… domestic matters." Queen Swanwhite sighed before removing her coronet and running one hand through her hair in exasperation. "You would think they would at least have the decency to discuss it in secrecy, as is customary."
"Give them time, your Majesty. You're young; they expect you to jump at the thought of marriage to a nice young lord."
Swanwhite snorted. "Marnon, you of all people know that I would be the worst thing to happen to a nice young lord."
Marnon heard the slightly bitter undertone Swanwhite had nearly successfully buried under her customary cynicism. Turning slightly, he watched as she turned the coronet over in her hands, her expression thoughtful. She'd become quieter and more thoughtful, he had noticed, since her coronation. "I know," he said in reply, but he left the cynicism out.
She noticed, and her eyes narrowed. Casting him a measured look, she moved to stand next to him at the balustrade. "I know you do. Which is why I'm here, rather than hiding in the north tower or some other predictable place." She saw his confused look and smiled briefly. "I like to give my counselors some chance of finding me."
"Ah."
"But why I'm here… we have known each other for quite some time, haven't we, Marnon?"
"Since your birth, your Majesty."
"Hmm. You do know that I regard you… that is to say, you are one of my closest friends…"
Marnon flinched. "Please; may I?"
Swanwhite seemed almost as pained as he was. "Please."
"Your Majesty, I have nothing but the greatest respect for you, but if this is an offer of marriage, I must decline."
"I thought you would," the queen said after a brief silence, her voice quiet. She slumped, resting her elbows on the marble railing, her face turned out towards the sea. She toyed pensively with the coronet. "I do not think that I could, in honesty, marry anyone but you, Marnon."
"Nor I you, Queen Swanwhite." He rested his own elbows on the balustrade and matched her gaze. "I love you- have loved you- since you were very young." He felt rather than saw her stiffen at this, but he kept his eyes trained on the distant horizon as he forged ahead. "But I cannot marry you. I- I would lose myself in you. You do not realize your own power, I think." He shrugged. "You are so strong, you burn with such fire; you cannot help but consume everyone around you."
"It is what I am," the queen said softly.
"It is, your Majesty." He turned his eyes from the sea to rest on her face. "I love you, Queen Swanwhite, but you… I would make no king, and no husband for you. I could be a king, perhaps, or a husband to you, but not both at once. Not for you."
"Hmm." Her face was very pale, and that thoughtful look had entered her eyes again. "It may be that I am doomed to rule alone. You say you will not, and I do not believe there is another who can. I would consume them, as you say."
"You would rule alone most excellently."
She gave him a warm, if sad, smile. Pensive, Marnon thought. He saw her withdraw into herself. "My dear friend," she said, before placing the coronet back on her head.
The silence that followed was different than any silence they had shared before.