Chapter 20.

Telling everyone what had become of Eustace was the highlight of my day. They all FLIPPED out. It was hilarious.

Er . . . I mean it was a dark time for us, a very dark time indeed.

Anyway, Caspian, Lucy, Rhince, Gael, Drinian, Reep, Tavros, Edmund, and I had gathered around Eustace, just staring. I was still having trouble processing that the great beast in front of us was actually the same snotty little brat from a few hours ago. I tried to keep in mind that I did cry when I thought he was dead, but I couldn't stop laughing.

"Alas, poor Eustace," I professed dramatically. "I knew him well."

Eustace let out a growl, making me jump slightly. With his massive teeth, he tried to pry something off his arm. Edmund and I were directly in front of him, making me slightly nervous. What if he sneezed fire or something?

I looked closely at his dragon arm. There was a golden arm band that was quite a bit too small for him, stuck on it.

"He must have been tempted by the treasure," Ed said when Eustace extended his arm to show him the band.

I rolled my eyes. "Go figure. You had one job, Eustace! To stay put!" I looked around. "I vote we all pitch in to buy him a leash of some kind."

Caspian spoke up in response to Edmund's question. "Everyone knows a dragon's treasure is enchanted."

Eustace shot Caspian a dirty look, narrowing his huge blue eyes and snarled slightly.

"Well," Caspian amended. "Anyone from here."

"I'm not from here and I'm not that stupid," I pointed out. I couldn't help but smirk at Eustace. "Karma's a bitch, kid."

I received a very rude sounding snarl, which made me jump back a couple steps, grabbing onto Edmund's shoulders from behind, using him as a human shield.

I chuckled nervously. "I'm just kidding." I paused and for good measure threw in, "Handsome."

Eustace rolled his eyes at me. Yep, even as a dragon not much has changed.

I let go of Edmund and stepped around him back to my original place. Now that our lives weren't in danger, I wasn't feeling very friendly towards him. The image of him looking at me as if I were an item kept popping in my mind. I was scared if I looked in his eyes, the Edmund I truly cared for would be replaced by the bewitched one with crazy eyes.

I thought back to when we were being carried by the dragon—er, by Eustace. I almost told him how I felt . . . I shook my head slightly to clear it. Now wasn't the time to be focused on him.

My eyes went back down to the cuff on Eustace's thick, scaly arm, which looked painful as it dug into his rough skin. I gave him a sympathetic look, all jokes aside.

Lucy slowly walked up to Eustace, who watched her warily. When she reached her arms out for him, he immediately held his arm out. Quick as a wink, she pulled the gold band off. He roared in pain and shook his arm hastily. Even as a dragon he was still whiny.

Lucy, grinning at him, reassured that the same Eustace was still in there, walked away carrying the cuff.

"Is there any way to change him back?" Edmund asked Caspian.

"Not that I know of," he said unhelpfully, looking to Drinian for an answer who shook his head slightly.

"I hear plastic surgery does wonders," I commented. "Though his nose might be a little fake looking." I received odd looks from everyone and Eustace gave a low growl.

"Aunt Alberta will not be pleased," Edmund said solemnly. Eustace gave an indignant huff.

Despite myself, I burst out laughing. "No, no, it'll be fine. Having your son become a dragon is every mother's dream. Though I hear the housework is a real pain in the ass."

Lucy giggled and Rhince covered Gael's ears.

"Sorry," I apologized to them. "I don't have a filter."

"Sorry about the hand, old boy," Reep said, speaking up for the first time. "I can be a little overzealous at times."

I raised my eyebrows but didn't say anything. I wondered what he did to his hand . . .

"The boats are ready, Sire," Tavros called in his deep voice as he stood on the shore.

"We can't leave him alone," Lucy objected.

I agreed. "Yeah, you wouldn't believe what happened last time we did. He got turned into a dragon."

"Well, we can't bring him on board, Your Majesty," Drinian replied dryly, ignoring my jab.

"Well, if we leave him he could bite off his tail by accident or something!" I protested. "Then if we find a cure he'll become human and won't have a—"

Caspian quickly cut me off, coming up behind me and putting a hand over my mouth. "Drinian, you and the others take one boat back. The rest of us will stay here till morning and . . ." he paused as I struggled to pry his hand off, screeching the whole time. "Work out what to do."

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I licked his hand and he yelped, yanking it away.

"You licked me!" he said angrily.

"Well it was no picnic for me either, Your Highness," I muttered darkly, stomping back to Eustace and Edmund, who was grinning.

"Shut up," I snapped.

"I didn't say anything!" he protested, trying to hide his laughter.

"You were definitely thinking it though."

Rhince interrupted us. "But you've no provisions," he pointed out. "And no means of staying warm, Your Majesty."

That stumped us for a whole three and a half seconds until suddenly a huge gush of fire shot out of Eustace's mouth on a thick piece of wood lying on the ground. We now had a nice, toasty fire.

"You were saying?" Reep said, sounding proud.

We all laughed, the tension easing slightly. Eustace smacked his dragon lips awkwardly, as if the fire had tasted weird.

I snorted and patted his thick, scaly arm. "There's nothing like the taste of throwing up a bonfire, eh? Try and cough up some marshmallows too next time though."

Eustace made an annoyed face at me, which was ten times funnier in dragon form.

I sighed. "You know, I always thought being a dragon meant you had a better sense of humor but obviously I've been disappointed. I wish you became a hyena, then you'd have no choice but to laugh at me."

Eustace growled, looking alarmed at the very thought.

***
That night, everyone was curled up by the fire, laying down getting ready for bed. Caspian and Edmund were talking as well as Lucy and Gael. Reep was snuggled up close to the fire and Eustace was doing the same.

I, however, was sitting down by the water freezing my butt off. My mind was too active to even think about sleeping, and conversing with anyone wasn't on my list of things to do.

I watched the waves as they crashed onto the shore, thankfully I was far away enough that I wouldn't get wet. In the distance, I could see the dark shape of the Dawn Treader.

I laid on my back and stared up at the stars, which looked breathtakingly beautiful. The constellations were clear as a bell. I stayed like that for a while, listening as the talking died down and then stopped completely. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the ocean, letting it lull me.

"You're going to get hypothermia like this."

I shot up, whipping my head around to look behind me. Edmund was walking down towards me.

"You scared me!" I accused, attempting to slow my breathing as he sat down next to me.

"Not my fault you startle easy," he said with a smirk.

". . . Ugh. Fair enough. So what are you doing? I thought you were asleep."

"I couldn't," he admitted. "Not until we talked."

I moved my eyes downcast. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Rose, don't you dare be like that," he said, sounding frustrated. "I wasn't in my right state of mind, you know that."

"I know," I agreed. "But how do I know that that's not how you really think of me?"
He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Like I'm something you can buy and own," I said softly. "Something for you to control."

"I could never think that!" he said angrily.

"There's no way for me to know that," I snapped. "What if once you have me or whatever you decide you're tired of me and then just leave me for good?"

He stared at me, his mouth parted, looking as if he couldn't even begin to describe what he was thinking.

He did though. "I care about you so much it . . ." he stopped, trying to find the right words. "It feels like I'm not truly alive unless I'm with you. When you're upset, all I want to do is make you smile, if someone hurts you I want to hurt them and then hold you until the pain goes away. When you laugh it's like I can never feel any ounce of sadness or anger ever again." He took a deep breath. "And I know you care about me just as much."

I opened my mouth and closed it, unable to answer.

Damn it . . . he wasn't making this easy for me.

"You care too much to stay angry at me," he continued. "Or to not trust me anymore."

"You don't know that," I protested through gritted teeth.

"What were you gonna say to me earlier?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Warning bells went off in my head. Play it cool. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Right before Eustace showed us who he was, you wanted to tell me something. What was it?"

Mayday, mayday, abort mission, ABORT MISSION!

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said coolly. Damn I was smooth.

Yes you do!" he insisted furiously. Never mind, I wasn't at all smooth. "Damn it, Rose, you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"No I don't," I mumbled, pulling my legs up to my chest and resting my head on my knees.

"Rose," he said, his voice so soft my legs felt like they'd turned to jelly.

Don't break, don't break, don't break.

He shifted so that he was sitting directly in front of me. I lifted my head up and met his eyes. He looked calm.

"Rose, tell me how you really feel."

The way he spoke to me . . . the caress in his voice.

"Please, Rosie."

Oh damn it all to hell and back!

"I'm in love with you!" I burst out. "There, happy?"

He stared at me, his face devoid of any emotion.

"I am in love with you, and I hate it! I have no control over it and I do not want to get hurt."

Still no response.

I smacked the ground with my hands. "Stop staring at me with those eyes!" I hissed. "It burns!"

I laid down with an exasperated sigh and covered my face with my hands. I wanted to dive into the ocean and not come up.

I felt something hovering over me so I slowly removed my hands to see Edmund moving on top of me, his hands on either side of my head.

"Finally," he whispered, a smile on his face. "I thought I'd be here all night."

I opened my mouth to attempt to defend myself when he cut me off, kissing me with a surprising amount of force. It threw me off completely. My eyes widened and my heart felt like it would fly out of my chest and into his.

After three seconds of trying to recover from the shock, my arms went around his neck and I pulled him down on top of me, kissing him back. His hands went down to my waist and he held me tightly as I wrapped my legs around his. His mouth moved against mine, more urgently than any other time we'd kiss. It was amazing. I slid one hand into his hair and my other wandered down to his chest.

Then a thought occurred to me. I took my hands and gripped his shoulders, reluctantly pulling my lips away.

He made an indignant noise, which I ignored.

"What does this mean?" I asked him breathlessly.

"What does what mean?" he probed, also out of breath. He gently brushed a lock of hair out of my face.

I raised my eyebrows. "So do you feel the same way or . . .?"

"Of course I do!" he said as if there wasn't even a question.

"I gotta hear you say it," I insisted.

He sighed, though he was grinning. "Rose," he began. "I love you."

"Finally," I teased, hoping my heart wouldn't jump out of my chest. He kissed me again, this time slowly, drawing it out more.

This time, he pulled away. "Okay, you're freezing. Let's go back."

I made a face but didn't argue. My body felt numb and it was getting to where I could see my breath.

To our surprise, Reep was talking to Eustace. He was speaking so quietly I could barely hear. Eustace lifted his head up look at us and I smiled at him. He shifted his eyes and laid his head back down, listening to Reep once again. I thought I heard something about pirates.

Edmund set up his thin blanket and we laid down on it. I practically curled up on top of him, my head on his chest with my arm around his neck. I had my leg slung over his. He held me tightly with his arms around my waist.

The last thing I heard before I drifted off into a comfortable, dreamless sleep was Edmund's steady heartbeat.