Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't... I also don't own the Narnian Calendar. It belongs to Elecktrum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for my story. Her own stories are awesome and you should go read them too.

Summary: A sorcerer challenged by Aslan. Love and friendship alike are tested by his presence. And the Gentle Queen faces her own challenge when the sorcerer's true colors are unveiled.

A/N: If you have not read the first eight stories in the A Light in the Darkness main story arc (Awakened, Shadowed, Revealed, Concealed, Rekindled, Refracted, Reflected, and Veiled), I highly recommend you do so for the full experience. However, I have included a quick summary of the previous stories so if you want to give this one a whirl on its own, you can.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Rash Words

The flickering torchlight cast eerie shadows on the cavern walls but the shadows held no terror for him. He would be more concerned if he were in the icy stone halls of the rough cavern above. Jadis was preoccupied with the Harfang Giants and the mischief Medea had caused among the Hags and two young sorceresses. That one would cause more trouble than her mother . . . unless Jadis tired of her ambitions enough to kill her.

He shook away the puzzling manner in which Jadis permitted Her daughter to visit Her though She had already driven off Her son. Turning into the narrow alcove, he ducked his head as the ceiling dropped but still moved at a swift clip. He could not risk it in Jadis' halls. If She caught him . . . It would be unpleasant, especially if She allowed Medea to contribute to his punishment.

Finally, he emerged into the little room.

"Markus dear, I wondered when you would come."

Only decades of control kept the shock from showing on his face as She emerged from behind the covered mirror. Self-preservation made him bow. "My Lady. I thought-"

"You are not permitted to think." Her wand was out, the torchlight dancing across its ice-like surface, but She did not touch him. Her pale beauty was too cold to inspire true feeling but perhaps that was because he knew of where She had come from and what She had done. Still he was always careful to feign some level of adoration when in Her presence. Adoration or at least awe would keep Her from pressing too close, hunting for the true limit of his power. Jadis circled him, a pale hand coming up to touch his hair, at first feather-light, but then Her grip tightened painfully, yanking his head back. "Are you so attached to the little Nymph, Markus? Perhaps I should have brought her here for you?"

"No, My Lady."

"I am your queen!"

She was not his queen. Her sister had been his queen and none held that position now. But only a fool would tell Jadis such truth. "My Queen, everything I did, every word I spoke to the Nymph was as you instructed. I merely thought it would be prudent to seek her out now to discover what damage has been wrought on the Narnian kingdom."

The wrath that had danced in Her eyes, that had transformed Her visage into one where beauty had been stripped away, vanished. Her eyelids lowered, half-concealing Her expression, as calm abruptly swept over Her. "Truly." She released Her hold on his hair and then yanked the covering from the tall mirror. "Then seek her out."

He bowed once more then focused on the mirror, touching his magic and calling forth the energy needed to conduct the spell. As the images played across the mirror's surface, he told himself he did not care when it showed a bedroom and a brown-furred Satyr with tall, corkscrew horns sitting next to the bed and its occupant. Another Satyr was packing up herb packets and bloody linens but only ragged breathing emitted from the patient he had been attempting to save. Even through the mirror, the pall of death hung in the air. The healer moved away, revealing her. Merry. Her breathing was ragged yet so weak that the coverlet barely moved with each breath. Her silver hair was matted and had lost its sheen. There were hollows in her cheeks and beneath her eyes. She had wasted away but still a faint smile curved her cracked lips as her frail fingers curled around the Satyr's hand. "Do not grieve."

"We should have found you sooner." He leaned forward to brush a limp strand of hair out of her eyes. "I should have pressed for King Lew to search for you as soon as the Archenlanders reported you had not reached their ship. And now I've lost you as well, little sister."

Merry smiled. "Some of me will stay with you, Loc. Do not grieve. I will feel naught but joy in His Country."

Jadis hissed in displeasure just as the Nymph grew still, her eyes open but her countenance was peaceful.

Markus jerked awake. More memories. He had not thought of Merry in a century. Now she haunted his dreams as much as Jadis did.

The cell door opened and she entered, once again picking her way as delicately and hesitantly as Lilly would have. The Gentle. He did not rise from the cot as she ordered the guard to unlock the outer cell door, permitting her to come closer. But, he could not ignore her as her question carried to him, "Was Kat right about you? Were you in love with Merry?"

"No."

"But she wasn't just someone you watched, was she?"

He stood but still didn't look at her. Clasping his hands behind his back, he deliberated how to explain. There was no easy way to explain. Why was he prolonging their interaction? "On occasion, I interacted with her. When she left Narnia's borders to explore the wild lands, I paid her court. It was a strategy to gather more pertinent information on Narnia's doings."

"It wasn't just that to you." The confidence with which she spoke was grating and forced him to look at her. She raised her chin slightly in response to his scowl. "You loved her, or at the very least, you grew fond of her." A hint of a blush crept into her pale cheeks and her hands tightened on her skirts but there was no hesitation as she pressed, "Were you the father of her child?"

"No!" Markus stormed over to the bars, some part of him enjoying the way the queen blanched and another part admiring the fact that she did not step back at his approach. The woman was driving him mad. "No," his answer came out on a ragged breath but still he continued, "no, I never touched Merry. I courted her, I flirted with her, and toyed with her but I was not the father of her child. Nor, your majesty, was I in love with her. She was a means to the end. No more, no less."

Blue eyes studied him. She bit her lip then took a deep breath. "You're lying. She meant something to you."

Markus glared at her. "She meant nothing. All I was interested were the seemingly unimportant details about the Narnian court she allowed to slip during our conversations. News about the royal family was important to Jadis."

Something in his tone seemed to upset her but he didn't care. He told himself he didn't care. She was not a little doe to be fed. She was a nosy, interfering noblewoman. But she stayed. She stayed but there was a new uncertainty in her eyes and her fingers twisted in her skirts nervously. "Is that why you gave me those books? To buy my trust?"

He clenched his fists but did nothing to hide his scorn as he raked his gaze over her, taking her measure. Then he sneered, "Do you believe every man not your brother approaches you with an agenda?" He scoffed and added, "No wonder you behave so shallowly, smiling and preening, that you only attract those suitors who see you as a pretty bauble to be displayed on occasion and kept locked safe in your bower at all other times."

Her skin turned fiery then paled as her eyes narrowed with fury. "Oh! You are . . . You are . . . Vous n'êtes qu'un crapaud dégoûtant!" Then she spun, her long black hair and her blue-grey skirts flaring, and stormed out of the dungeon.

Markus watched her go. He didn't know what she had called him but she had certainly not meant it as a compliment. The glares of the guards he easily shrugged off as he returned to sit on the cot. But the hurt he had briefly glimpsed in her eyes bothered him. He should have treated her more gently. He should have remembered the lesson of Lilly.

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The evening meal had been delivered and taken away again before he had another visitor. Markus looked up, an apology at the ready, but it was not the doe-like queen who entered. Instead, her dark-haired brother came in and clasped in his pale, ink-stained fingers were two familiar books. Markus' eyes closed and he sighed.

"My sister asked me to return these to you."

"She is finished with them?"

"Yes." There was a heavy pause and Markus opened his eyes to find the younger man watching him shrewdly. "I'll not ask what you said to upset my sister if only because then I'd be obliged to skewer you and while you are yet imprisoned but not sentenced, that would be a breach of the law. However, I hope that you did not upset her intentionally otherwise I shall be obliged to forget I am anything but a brother."

"It was intentional in so much as any words spoken in a rash moment are intentional. But I regret that I did not restrain those words before they wounded your sister." Markus walked across the cell and accepted the books with a heavy heart. When would he learn to control his temper? Turning away, he glanced at the walls of the cell, which were closing in on him, but to blame them for his behavior would be no better than blaming Jadis for all of his crimes over the long years. He doubted, no, he knew that Aslan would not accept such an excuse.

He heard the young king giving orders and the groan of the heavy dungeon door. "King Edmund."

"What is it, Markus?"

"Please offer my apologies to the Gentle."

"And what shall I tell her you are apologizing for?"

"She will know."

There was no response save for the closing of the door. And Markus was alone once more. His gaze traveled over the cell again as he returned to the cot, books in hand. He preferred to be alone. A little voice inside laughed and whispered Liar.

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What Susan said: "You are a disgusting toad!" (Thanks to M.M. Chris for providing the French translation.)

A/N: Please Read and Review! As for the question posed in the last chapter . . . well, you'll find out. ;) Leave a review and let me know what y'all thought about this one.