I'm very, very, VERY sorry for taking so freaking long to post this chapter! I truly am!

I wanted to post this about two months ago but out of lack of time and inspiration I didn't. I will do my best to continue posting on a regular basis instead of taking so much time.

This was a very complicated chapter for me write because many things are involving to shape the story.

I hope you like and enjoy it! :D

This is the longest chapter so far (2, 500 words) but I think I owed that to everyone reading this, if there's still someone...

Chapter 9

"The promise of the prince"

Bridget left the dinning room hand in hand with the prince and with teary eyes. She felt like crying like a child, but she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Fevian. Her pride, or what was left of it thanks to Queen Alva, was the reason of it. She never cried in public. Ever. Bee didn't even remember if someone ever saw her cry. Perhaps only her mother when she was a little girl, but not anymore. If she wanted to cry, she swallowed all her tears until there was no one around her. Only then, she would cry and sometimes when she finally was alone she didn't feel like crying anymore.

And this time wouldn't be an exception to a life-long habit she had, so she once again swallowed her tears and put on a brave face to cover how broken, lonely and sad she really felt at that moment.

Now more than ever she wanted to return home. But she had no idea how on earth she was going to do it.

"Bridget, slow down" Fevian whispered next to her.

Only then she realized the presence of the prince next to her after the time she spent lost in her thoughts. Fevian had already let go of her hand, and now he was trying to stop the girl, who started to walk quickly down a corridor aimlessly, going nowhere. The sadness and the shame she had felt when she exited the dinning room disappeared in an instant, allowing anger to replace them.

"My mother had…" the prince started but she didn't stop walking.

Fevian hurried to catch up with the raging girl and placed a hand on her shoulder to turn her so she would face him. He was kind of surprised to see her so angry, but he knew she had all the right to feel that way.

"My mother had no right to treat you the way she did" he started again. "I am deeply sorry, Bridget. I feel it is my duty to apologize in her place. And I do hope she personally offers an apology to later"

She was looking daggers at him with a gaze he had never seen in her eyes until that moment. Not even the day they met, and at that time she behaved nowhere near nice or kind to him. He slowly took his hand off her shoulder and she continued to walk away from the dinning room and from him.

"If you are intending to return to your bedchamber, my lady, you are going the opposite direction"

Bridget didn't even care that he called her "my lady" again, she was already angry so there was no problem. But his words made their effect instantly, because at the moment she heard that, she froze right on the spot and turned to face him.

"But I'll be glad to walk you there, Bee" the prince said with a smile.

He was relieved to see that she kind of half smiled to him, even though she clearly was still upset. Not with him, but she was still upset.

They walked through many halls and staircases to reach Bridget's room. It was a complicated route and Bee tried to pay attention so she could walk alone in the castle without needing to be escorted by Fevian all the time. Not that it bothered her, but she wasn't sure if maybe it bothered him.

"We have reached your quarters, my lady" he said teasingly as he opened the door for her, accompanying his statement with his characteristic cheeky smile.

Bridget appreciated the fact that he was trying to cheer her up a bit so she didn't complain about him calling her my lady again.

"Thanks, Fevian" she whispered, walking past the prince without even looking him in the eyes.

Bridget entered the room and closed the door behind her but the prince didn't go away after she did that. He waited there. He knew there was something really troubling the girl and he was sure that it was much more than his mother's awful behavior towards her that night.

He then heard something. A sound so difficult to listen he almost had to stop breathing to hear it clearly. Sobbing. He could her Bridget's sobs coming from the other side of the door.

The prince raised his had to knock, so that he could ask her what was wrong. He really wanted to comfort her but he knew it would be too straightforward and even indecent of him to do so. Not only was it inappropriate to be with Bridget alone in her room at such a late hour, but they also didn't know each other well enough so that he could come in her room when she clearly wanted to be left alone to cry at peace.

That was why he lowered his hand and walked away.

Even tough she was feeling as miserable as was humanly possible; Bridget had to admit she had a fabulous night's sleep. The room had a perfect temperature to sleep well, not too cold and not too warm, and the bed was amazingly comfortable. It was big, it was cozy and the sheets were so soft!

She wasn't even sure at what time she woke up, but by the look of the sun it was before noon.

Following her stomach's protest, she dressed up quickly with one of the many dresses Fevian ordered to be sewn for her by the palace's tailors, and began to wander around in the castle until she finally found the kitchen.

There she found a young servant girl who gladly prepared her some pancakes covered with delicious strawberry-flavored syrup. It was quite a long time since she ate such delicious pancakes. Only her granny Diane, her dad's mother, used to make her the best meals ever (pancakes included). She truly was some sort of kitchen goddess, but it was quite some time now since she passed away.

The girl who cooked them, Dina, was an Archelander, Bridget learned when she began to talk to her. Her parents were natives from a land above Narnia named Archeland, but they decided to move to Narnia in order to get her daughter a better life. They were really poor back in Archeland and they were lucky enough to get jobs for the three of them in Cair Paravel. Apparently King Tavian was a generous ruler and a very gentle man, opposite to his "charming" wife.

"How old are you, Dina?" Bridget asked just when she was finishing her pancakes.

"I'm fifteen years old, my lady"

"Please stop calling me my lady. I've told you, you can call me Bridget or Bee, if you like"

"You have a very beautiful name, Bridget"

It seemed everybody in that world had a different accent even though they all spoke the same language. There was Fevian with his strong, thick accent, that if compared to a language from her world, Bridget thought sounded a bit like Spanish or Italian maybe. And Dina with her soft way of speaking, delicate, without such a strong pronunciation as the prince, almost as if she was singing the words out of her mouth. But they both had in common this strange yet nice way of saying her name, it sounded different pronounced by an English accent.

Bridget thought for a moment she liked better the way Narnians spoke her name as the people of England did, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she kicked it out, regretting even thinking about it.

"You too have a pretty name, Dina. Is it a common name from your country?" Bridget said, bringing her mind back to her conversation with the young servant girl.

"Yes. My grandmother was named Dina, and my parents decided to name me after…"

Dina suddenly stopped talking and made a quick reverence to someone standing behind Bridget. She turned to see who it was and saw the gorgeous woman of exotic beauty Fevian barely could keep his eyes off the night before.

"Lady Isicara. Good morning" Dina said, still with her head down, afraid to look the lady in her eyes. "How may I help you?"

"Good morning, girl" she answered, with an even thicker accent than the one Fevian had when he spoke. Maybe it was because she wasn't a Narnian Telmarine like him, but a Telmarine from Telmar "I just wanted to come and let you know that his majesty the prince and I are going to have a picnic this afternoon in the woods. Please prepare a basket with some bread, cheese and champagne."

"Of course, my lady"

"And don't forget to put some fruits in the basket as well"

"Yes, my lady"

Lady Isicara smiled at Dina and then looked at Bridget with a look she couldn't quite figure out and without anything else to say, the lady left.

"She… is a nice woman" Bridget said sarcastically.

"She is very kind, I've heard"

"She's not as kind as the say, I've seen"

Dina laughed at her remark, but quickly put a hand on her mouth to stop laughing because it wasn't right for a servant to laugh about a lady.

"So, Dina" Bridget started. "Do you want me to help you prepare the basket for the lovebirds?"

Dina laughed again and nodded.

It was nice for Bridget to be with Dina and talk with her. She was sure they would soon become friends and as for the servant girl, it was nice to talk to someone in the castle who treated her nicely, like Bridget did without even knowing her very well.

It was past midday and Bridget was still in the kitchen with Dina, talking and laughing with her when Fevian came in looking for her.

"Bee, here you are!"

Dina immediately made a reverence as the prince walked into the kitchen.

"My prince" she muttered.

"Good afternoon" Fevian said to Dina, but then turned to face Bridget "Would you like to take a walk with me?"

"Yes, sure"

The prince and the girl had been walking for quite some time in the gardens of Cair Paravel and in the apple orchards. The orchards had dreamlike, stunningly gorgeous trees filled with bright-red apples hanging over their heads.

Fevian had intended to have this walk with Bridget so he could get to know her better, and maybe he would understand what was going through his friend's head.

He asked about her family, her home, what she liked to do, to eat… he asked about anything he could think of and Bee gladly answered all his questions. All of them.

She also got to ask some questions about the prince's life and the two of them felt great as they were walking back to the castle, for they knew each other a little better.

"I never thought you would believe me so quickly" Bridget said still a bit surprised about the good reaction she got from the prince as she told him her story. Sure, there were a few shocked faces but it was an overall good reaction. Much better than the one she had expected. "I had been thinking a lot of how I was going to explain this whole mess to you without making it sound… well, just plain stupid"

"No, I still find it crazy" Fevian said "But you haven't given me a reason not to believe what you say. I didn't know if you were trustworthy at some point, because I was sure you were hiding something, Bee. But now that I know what that was…"

"You find me trustworthy again" she smiled.

"I do" the prince answered, still thinking a lot about what Bridget told him just a couple of minutes ago.

To sum all up, she was from another world, more specifically, England. She was the daughter of a disappeared Narnian Queen who handed her magical horn to her, which she blew and ended up in Narnia without a way to go back.

It was quite a strange story, but again, he didn't doubt Bridget's words because she was someone worth trusting. He knew that now. He had been surprised, of course, and he probably displayed some interesting facial expressions as Bee told him everything. And by Aslan, what wasn't possible with some Narnian magic?

"So, you've tried to return by blowing the horn again?"

"Yes, that was the first thing I did. As you can see" she gestured to all of herself "It didn't work"

"So, I can see blowing is just a one-way travel" he said with a cheeky smile.

"Don't joke about this!" Bridget couldn't believe that he even teased her in situations like that one "I really want to go back home!"

"We gave you such a good impression?"

Again, that cheeky smile and the sarcasm!

"No, this is a nice place… But I miss my mother and Alice and Caroline. I'm just not used to this world"

"I'll help you, I promise"

"But how?"

"I am not sure. My only idea right now is the old lamppost. Legend tells your mother and her siblings entered Narnia from some place around that lamp. Maybe we can find you a way back from there"

"It's a good idea, it might work" Bridget said filled with excitement. At last a chance to return home! She didn't want to sound too rushed to leave, but she couldn't help but ask "When could go?"

"Not soon. My parents are still upset that I left the other time and there is going to be a ball held here in Cair Paravel in about two weeks. I have to stay here at least that time"

Bridget felt a little down with that, but she could see in her friend's eyes that he actually wanted to help her. She already survived a couple of days there, she could hang on a little longer. She just had to avoid the Queen to survive…

"I promise you, Bridget, as soon as the ball is over and the guests leave, you and I are going to leave as well. I promise I will help you"

The prince's dark eyes were fixed on her as he spoke that oath and she knew he wasn't' going to break that promise.

"Thank you, Fevian"

He smiled and made a small head reverence to her.

"You welcome, my princess"

"Really?" Bridget exclaimed, annoyed. "We just got passed the my lady stage and now you are going to start calling me my princess?"

Fevian couldn't help to burst out laughing and at the end neither could her.

"Well, Bridget, you are a princess. But if you don't want me to call you that way, I shall not do it"

"Hey, could we keep this entire thing as a secret? Please?"

"If you want to"

"I do"

"Fine" he said with a smile. "Now, let's go back. I am quite late for an appointment I have" he spoke with excitement and his smile grew even bigger.

"Oh, we wouldn't want you to be late for your appointment..."

I hope everyone likes this one.

So now Fevian knows the whole thing... I really didn't know how to write the scene where Bridget spills the beans, so I left it for you to imagine as well as Fevian's "display of interesting facial expressions".

In the next chapter we'll have Fevian and Cara's picnic (3) as well as a little treat for Bee, which comes along with fierce green eyes, tanned skin, dark hair, more sexy looks and a turban :)

Please tell me what you think. What you loved. What you hated. Ideas. Whatever, just comment