A/N: HI! Hope you guys like this chap! (I spent pretty long on it haha)

Chapter 13: Silence and Speaking's

Edmund's POV

It was like every other morning in the Dining Hall during breakfast in some ways, and in some ways it was a completely different atmosphere.

We were all sitting around, biting into our toast and sipping our juice as usual. Peter and Caspian were discussing some meeting they had later in the day, and Serena and Susan were talking about Susan's and Peter's trip up north.

Technically I was a part of the conversation too, but while I did occasionally react to something funny or give some remark as a response, my mind was not in the discussion at all. I could not help but glance at the empty chair opposite me where Lucy would always sit, as I know the other occasionally did as well.

Where was she right now?

Was she hurt? Was she captured by someone? Was she able to find what she was looking for?

As all these questions ran through my mind, I also could not help but be hyper-aware of another presence next to me.

In my peripheral vision I watched Ella silently chew her food, gazing at the table with a far-off, lost look on her face.

In all honesty, us being like this was killing me.

Of course I hated this rift between us, but every time I looked at her, all I could think about was how she was able to calmly stand in front of me and claim there was no need to find my sister who was in trouble.

No matter what noble reasoning she gave, at the end of the day, she sabotaged finding Lucy and in such a situation where time was of the essence, that delay she caused may have allowed something horrible to happen.

Honestly, what was she thinking?

It was not a question of believing in Lucy, it was a question of saving her life.

I sighed heavily, upset that even with Jadis defeated, things were even worse than before. Never did I imagine that once she was gone, I would end up sleeping in a different room from my wife and having to compete with her over seeing my child, not to mention my sister would actually run away from being cursed.

Suddenly, the sound of the chair scrapping against the floor startled me out of my thoughts. I turned to find Ella getting up.

"I'm going to get Talina for breakfast."

She spoke in the most disheartened tone, and I had never seen her so mellow and low. For a moment I felt bad, but then I remembered why she was this way in the first place, and I clenched my jaw.

"There's no need. Talina woke up early this morning and was hungry so I fed her and sent her to play with the faun caretakers and their children."

Indeed, the previous night I decided to have Talina sleep with me in the guest bedroom, as I was tired of Ella holding on to her all the time and not letting me see her. While there was no crib in that bedroom, the bed was still big enough for her to sleep next to me.

I remembered as I watched my little girl sleep, her tummy rising and falling slowly, how I thought about how much she resembled Ella.

How she was lucky she was oblivious to what all was happening with her family.

I could only pray by the time she got old enough to be able to understand situations, everything would be alright by then.

"Oh, alright."

Ella's soft but terse reply snapped me out of my thoughts again. I noticed Peter was refusing to look at her, and the rest just had a look of pity on their face.

Ella took her plate and glass and pushed her chair back in, heading towards the kitchens.

That was a habit of hers, usually we would let the staff clear our dishes, but she always cleared her own dishes herself.

Normally I would watch her do that with endearment, but at the moment all I felt was hurt and frustration.

I turned back and took a gulp of my juice, praying Lorenzo would find Lucy quickly and put my mind at ease, and for Aslan to give me the strength to forgive Ella.

All of a sudden, the loud sound of crashing plates resonated throughout the Hall. My head whipped to my right, finding a frozen Ella with shattered porcelain lying in front of her. At first I feared the worst; that she was not okay. But then I realized she was just standing, rooted to the ground.

I turned back to the others, and they were exchanging confused glances as well.

"Ella?"

Serena called out with concern, and I turned back to see if she had reacted or moved.

It was not like dropping plates was anything extraordinary, it could have just been out of carelessness. That was not the weird part, the weird part was how she was completely unmoving, still as a statue.

Her back was faced to us as well, so we could not see her face.

I then considered the possibility that she was having another vision, but even then she was never frozen when she had them. At first they were painful for her so she would shake a lot, but even once she got a hang of them, she would still tremble a bit or at least massage her temples.

This was definitely strange.

Finally, I decided to just investigate what exactly was wrong myself. Apparently I was not the only one with that idea, as while I got up and made my way towards Ella, so did Susan and Serena.

Once I reached her, I was rather taken aback to find an expression of shock on her face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly ajar, and she seemed to be staring at something right in front of her.

I followed her line of sight, but found nothing but the large engraved marble doors of the kitchen. There was nothing and no one in front of her.

I glanced at Susan and Serena who were standing on her other side, and they looked confused as well, meaning it was not just me who could not find what she was looking at.

"Ella, what-"

As Susan spoke and placed her hand on Ella's shoulder, Ella jolted, as if suddenly brought back to reality, and looked at all of us in a mixture of bewilderment and confusion.

"Um, I uh…sorry, c-careless fingers." Ella awkwardly gave a half-hearted laugh, and even she had to be aware of how obvious it was that she was lying.

I could make out beads of perspiration forming on her forehead, but before I could ask anything, she quickly bent down, muttering something about how clumsy she was as she started to pick up the broken plate pieces.

"Wait, don't-"

I spoke too late as I was interrupted by Ella letting out a yelp of pain, just as I knew she would from cutting her fingers with the sharp fragments.

I sighed, noticing 2 gashes on her left palm and her right index finger that were starting to bleed profusely.

Always the impulsive one.

"You've cut your hands pretty badly Ella, leave the plates. We'll get the staff to clear up the mess."

"No Su, this is my fault, I'll clear it up. I'm fine! They're just little scratches."

I rolled my eyes and bent down, grabbing her arm and pulling her up.

"Come on, there are medical kits in the kitchen."

I did not give Ella time to reply as I let go of her arm and walked ahead to the kitchen, knowing that if I looked at her or fussed over her, I would start thinking about how much she hurt me once again, and the idiot would probably bleed to death from not getting her hands treated.

The soft footfalls behind me let me know that she followed me, slowly but surely.

I walked into the kitchen and past the crew who was currently clearing up all their breakfast preparations. They all seemed a bit stunned to find me in there, but nonetheless greeted me to which I offered back my smile and nod.

Reaching the back of the large chamber, I opened a cabinet and scanned through the shelves, spotting the familiar-looking white box with a red heart painted onto it.

Taking it out, I turned to Ella who was standing behind me and, just as I suspected, watching me closely as she held her injured hands to herself.

"Sit."

I grabbed 2 high stools that were nearby and hopped onto one, opening the kit and taking out the bandages, cloths and medicines.

I made sure to focus on just the kit and her hands, unable to bring myself to actually look at her face. As I held her hand and wiped the blood from her palm, I realized that this was the first time in almost a week that I was holding her hand.

But it was not for the reason I wished it would be.

And while it always made me happy, this time I just felt incredibly hurt.

I knew she was biting her lip without even looking at her, and while normally I would scold her as she always ended up chewing the skin off, this time I just remained silent.

As I applied the medicine on her cut, my curiosity got the best of me and I just could not help but ask what I was thinking since she dropped the plates.

"So, what happened?"

While I was able to break the silence, I still could not bring myself to look at her, so I just continued staring at her palm as I bandaged it and waited for her reply.

"Oh, uh, I don't know, it was nothing. Just a slip of the fingers."

I knew from the nervous and hesitant tone in her voice that that was most certainly a lie. At that point, I had two options.

I could continue to pry and ask her what the real reason was, as I normally would.

Or I could just accept her answer.

After a moment passed, I decided to just nod and let us fall back into silence until I finished bandaging her hands.

Sadly, silence was the best option between the two of us now.

Lucy's POV

"So, tell me all you know about this curse."

After I got over my stupor of him rejecting my duel proposal, I jogged to catch up to him and decided to just get straight to the point.

"Mortis Telvol."

I rolled my eyes as he answered with just that, a completely straight expression on his face.

"I know what it's called, remember I was there when Jadis whispered that into my ear as she crushed my hand mercilessly. Thanks to you."

I muttered the last part in annoyance just loud enough for him to hear, which made him glance at me and then glance down apologetically before continuing to look and walk on straight.

"It means Holder of Death."

"Gosh, yes, I know what it translates to. But what does it mean? What exactly is the curse?"

"Well, what do you think it means?"

I groaned, really not in the mood for his game of guess and riddles. Nonetheless, I thought for a moment, deciphering what kind of curse Jadis could possibly be so keen to put on me.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?"

For some reason beyond my understanding, this made Keladry chuckle. He stopped and turned to me with an amused smirk on his face, riling up my irked sentiments once more.

"Don't you think if Jadis wanted to kill you, she would have just stuck her staff in you when you were in front of her?"

I huffed indignantly, not appreciating his tone of sarcasm.

How on earth was I supposed to know how that twisted, evil psycho thought?

Keladry crossed his arms and leaned a bit lower, so that he could look me square in the eyes. While a ghost of his smirk was still present on his lips, his eyes became serious instantly.

"Holder of Death doesn't mean you suffer death; it means you bring it."

With that, he stood back up straight and turned, resuming his walk forward.

Once again, he left me baffled, frozen and at a loss of words.

"Wait…what?!"

I ran back to his side and started at him in bewilderment, walking briskly to keep up with his long strides. He seemed unfazed by my outburst however, just looking straight ahead with his usual stoic face.

"What do you mean I bring death? What, like the people I touch die? Am I bringing a plague? A natural disaster? Stop walking!"

I finally got fed up with how he just kept walking and ignoring me, so I yanked his shoulder and spun him to face me once more.

"What does it mean, how am I going to bring death?"

Keladry licked his lips and looked around, his hands planted on his hips. It was as if he was thinking of a way to explain himself, and I let him take that time because what was going to say was literally my fate, so I needed him to be crystal clear.

"Jadis has always wanted to destroy your family from the inside. She's tried countless ways, as you very well know. And finally she saw a way that meant sacrificing her life and compromising Jadin's. She discovered a curse, and you were the perfect host for it."

"So you're saying… I'm going to be the one to destroy us?"

"Essentially, yes. You are cursed to bring death to your family."

My heart plummeted into my stomach, and suddenly it became hard to breathe. My mind felt like a whirlpool of thoughts, and while I tried to process everything, one thing still didn't make sense to me.

"Wait, no, what would be the point? Why would Jadis allow herself to die first before seeing our destruction?"

Keladry paused for a moment, and he seemed to have a look of pity or sympathy in his eyes as he looked down at me.

"I guess ultimately her hatred for your family overwhelmed her desire for power."

I looked down, considering what he said.

It was true Jadis loathed our family endlessly and would do absolutely anything to see us defeated, but would she go to the extent of letting herself die?

Her hatred may have been passionate, but so was her desire for the throne, from the very start.

"Listen, I know it's a lot to take in. But it's not a hopeless situation. Coriarkin was the one who told her about the curse, and he's the only one who knows how to reverse it. Once we find him, you'll be alright."

I could not help but scoff, Keladry may have been trying to be encouraging or optimistic, but it was definitely not working considering how I strongly desired the ground the swallow me whole at the moment.

"IF we find him, and even if we do, what if it's too late? How long do I have before I'm full-on death mode?"

"That, I'm not sure of. Sorry."

I took a deep breath, processing everything once again. I did not even care about myself or what eventually happened to me, but I could not let anything happen to my family.

I could not let myself kill them.

"Keladry, if anything happens and we don't reach Coriarkin in time, I need you to kill me. I need you to kill me the moment you see the curse take over me. Do you understand?"

"Lucy, I-"

"My family will help you find your siblings, so don't worry about that. They may be hard to convince at first, just like how I was, but I know they will help you once they see you are telling the truth. But please, please don't let me anywhere near them if I succumb to the curse."

I had never sounded so desperate or vulnerable in my life, but that was exactly how I felt in that moment. I peered up at Keladry, praying fervently that he would listen to me and make sure I did not cause my family to die.

He was my only resort.

He stared at me for a moment, seemingly conflicted, which puzzled me a bit as I assumed he did not really care whether I lived or died so long as he got his siblings back. I looked into his eyes, begging him with my own.

I needed to hear him agree, I needed his word.

"Swear to me. If you are as good as you claim to be, then swear to me. Please."

Finally, he nodded shakily.

"Say it."

"I…I swear. I won't let you hurt your family."

I sighed, relief flooding over me as he spoke that sentence.

Oh Aslan, please make sure he sticks to his word.

"But it won't come to that. I assure you, we will find Coriarkin and get you cured, and then you can find my siblings as a thank you."

In that moment, I could not help but smile at the way he looked at me with passionate sincerity. But I caught myself and immediately put back my stern expression, slightly ashamed at myself for letting him see me so desperate a few moments earlier.

Desperation was weakness, and I could not afford to let him see me weak.

"Yes, well, that's still to be seen. Don't think I trust you completely yet."

"I never said you did."

Again his smirk returned, but only for a moment before he, for what felt like the umpteenth time, turned back forward and continued walking.

I pursed my lips as I watched him walk away, but while for a few seconds all I thought about was how I hated that deceitful smirk of his, thoughts about the curse started to wander back again.

What if after everything, I failed and the curse ended up taking over me.

I glanced down at my palm, the black scar laughing back at me, and clenched my fist to hide it, as if that erased it completely.

No.

No matter what, I would never let anything happen to my family.

Even if it meant ultimately sacrificing my own life.

A/N: I'm starting to write the chapters a bit longer just because this is the last story and it's pretty long so I hope that's okay! I also hope you guys liked this chapter as it was pretty hard to write. As always, please don't forget to leave a review, constructive feedback is very much appreciated :)