Hi all! New chapter is up! We get to learn a little more about the mysterious voices Peter heard...


"I cannot believe that the announcement has been made."

"Well, it was only a matter of time till everything changed. Did we really expect that naive boy to rule us until his son could?"

Peter frowned. It was clear that the man and the woman were talking about him and the other rulers. He hid himself behind a nearby wall so that he wouldn't be seen. Somehow, he knew this conversation wouldn't be good.

"But we didn't want things to change this much, did we?"

The woman's voice laughed. "As far as we need to be concerned, the more the merrier!"

"Wh….What are you talking about?"

"There was one ruler before. We had to make sure that he didn't find out about our doings. But there are five of them now. Guess how easy it will be to continue our work right under their noses. They would be too busy arguing with each other to even notice our petty work." She scoffed. "Do you think it is easy to share power with each other?"

The male sighed, "We were better off with Miraz. It had been easier then. We didn't have to

stay underground so much."

The Kingsguard then gave the sign for a clear way, indicating that Peter could continue on his way. He had to abide by the new rules set by the five of them, but he planned to come back and find the two speakers. Even if the two of them were done with the new rulers, Peter wasn't done with them.


Once Peter reached the castle and was back within its safe walls, he heard loud arguments from the informal hall. He quickly stopped by to see the four rulers at different ends of the room. Lucy and Edmund were seated on different sofas while Caspian and Susan remained standing.

"What's going on?" Peter asked, closing the doors behind him.

Edmund was the one to speak, "Susan thinks that the taxes for the crops should be reduced."

"Because we need the farmers to work with their willingness! We cannot charge such a high tax because they are the ones feeding all of us," she responded.

"But we have already reduced it from the unfair bargains that Miraz had set up," Lucy added. "We talked about this for days before coming to a conclusion."

"I'm trying to convince everyone to turn to a different issue at our hands right now," Caspian said. "The shipments received from the traders are missing certain items. They believe that there are looters present near the sea shores."

"How is that any different from the tax issue?" Susan started to argue once again.

"It is different because we have missing Narnians here!"

Susan blinked. "What?"

Caspian took a deep breath. "Glenstorm and Trumpkin sent a list of names of the Narnians that seem to be missing for weeks. Nobody can explain what could have happened to them or why they haven't reported for duty."

Lucy covered her mouth with her hands. "We must look into this at once. I don't care if we have to split the work between us. I can't sit still if we cannot find our people."

"Lucy is right," Peter spoke. "She has also given us an idea on how to deal with the new cases."

All of them came to an agreement when Edmund and Caspian decided to look into the matters. Susan left with them to give her inputs, leaving only Lucy and Peter in the room. She started to flip through a book at a great speed that made it clear that she wasn't reading the words carefully, or trying to read at all for that matter.

"Lucy?" She didn't look up, but her shoulders shook. Peter walked over and sat beside her. He hugged her with one arm and closed the book in her hand. "It's alright. We'll figure this out. We always do."

She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I know." She sniffled. "It seems strange that nobody is able to provide any information about the missing people. I hope that….I hope nothing bad has happened."

"Nothing will," he said. "You are taking too much stress upon yourself. It doesn't look good on you." He managed to make her smile a little. "Remember the time….during the Golden Age when you promised that you would host the best Christmas ball ever and that led to you stressing yourself out too much? Well, this is similar to that."

She nudged him playfully and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you for the best shoulder pillow ever."

Peter rested his head on hers. "Anytime."


After the discussion about the latest news was done, Susan and Caspian spent some time in the castle gardens and admired the beautiful flowers. Every single one was abloom and showing off their brightest colors. The wild pinks, oranges, reds, yellows, whites, and purples surrounded her as she took in the fresh air. She squeezed his hand with her head leaning on his shoulder. She was surely messing up her hair but she didn't mind. The silence was all she needed. Nothing could ruin this moment for her. Nothing except–

"Susan!"

Her loud siblings.

Of course she loved her siblings but sometimes she needed some space.

In the quiet.

With her fiancé.

Alone.

She turned to see Peter running up to meet them. She couldn't help but notice the delight in his smile, which in turn made her smile back.

"Hey Susan! Do you think we could meet in my room later tonight?" Peter asked, his smile outshining the sun.

"Of course," Susan replied. "May I ask why?" Her smile also began to spread bigger.

"It's a surprise." Peter winked and quickly walked off before Susan could ask any follow-up questions.

This worried Susan quite a bit. Sometimes her siblings' surprises were a little much. But she agreed and saw him off, finally alone with her fiancé.


When the sun went down, Susan retired into her room. Many things crossed her mind: the council meeting, the walk, Caspian's smile. She had put on her night robes when Peter knocked on the door. Of course being Peter, he didn't wait for the 'come in.'

"We really need to work on that," she thought to herself as she looked up at him.

"I thought we were meeting in your room? Getting impatient are we?" Susan raised her eyebrow at him.

"You're right. I couldn't wait any longer," Peter said as he entered the room. He was holding a small wooden box in his hand. But she didn't recognize the wood from any of the trees in Narnia. "I have something for you. Consider it an early wedding gift."

Her eyebrows furrowed at that. Peter giving her a gift? Times have really changed. "What is it?" She asked, getting more curious by the second.

He softly handed the box to her and she impatiently opened it up to see a ring. It wasn't an extravagant ring of any kind, but a simply crafted one. She liked its subtle details as well as the small diamond in the center.

"It was our mum's ring," she heard Peter say behind her. "A little something from Finchley, so when you get married you will have a part of it with you."

"How did you get it?" Susan wondered aloud.

"Father gave it to me before he went off to war. He had told me how it had been passed down for generations in our family. He had asked me to hold onto it in case he didn't make it back from the war." Peter smiled fondly at the memories he held. "He told me to give it to you one day, and for you to someday pass it on to your daughter," Peter smiled looking into Susan's happy eyes.

She embraced him, squeezing him as tightly as she could. "Best surprise ever," she whispered for only him to hear.


In an unknown location in the local town, the two strangers stood in the dark corner. "The Magnificent king was spotted in town near our location," one voice in the dark said.

"Do you think he overheard us?" Another asked.

"He better not of," the leader announced to their crew. "Because the last thing I need is the pesky royal teenagersgetting in my way."

"And they won't," the other said. "No one will, or at least…"

"They won't live to."


Awww the gift from Finchley is soooo cute! But what will happen with the mysterious strangers? I will see you all soon with the next chapter to find out! Stay tuned!

-23LucyGrace