His Majesty, Her Grace - Sequel to A Prince Caspian Love Story

Chapter 20 - Queen

Althea's POV

"Are you upset with me for telling them?" Caspian asks from his seat next to the window.

After dealing with the commotion on deck, Ed and Lucy joined us in the study to go over everything we've just discovered. We successfully found and caught the person who's been recklessly trying to kill me and most would take his attempts as confirmation of my royal bloodline, but if he overheard us talking in the office, it means nothing except that he assumed it was true.

"No, but I would've appreciated a warning and what do we do if it turns out to be a lie?" I ask, leaning against the desk.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, it's not like everyone in the world knows. If it's not true then we'll just explain our mistake to the crew and it'll be like it never happened." Caspian says.

It's strange. A few days ago I was wishing it to be a lie, but now all I want is for it to be true. I want to know my purpose, especially if it's being a Queen of a divided nation. I want to unite the people I hope are mine.

"We should question him," Ed suggests.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Caspian says.

"I think he's right Caspian. The longer we wait, the more time he'll have time to come up with elaborate lies to feed us. He could even try to convince the crew to be on his side, though I highly doubt that would work. We need to question him as soon as possible."

Caspian looks at me thoughtfully. I can tell that he's not sure how to go about this situation, but that something has to be done.

"Okay, but you two stay here." He says to me and Lucy as he heads to the door of the study.

"What? I'm not staying here." I argue but Lucy doesn't seem to mind sitting out on this one.

"Althea, if he doesn't feel like talking, we might need to resort to other methods. He did try to kill both of us after all, we have to consider that this could be a well-constructed plot."

"Caspian," I say his name sternly. "He tried to kill you. He tried to kill Ed. He pushed me off the side of the ship and tried to poison me. He almost succeeded both times. I'm not sitting up here and waiting."

I know Caspian is just concerned, especially since I'm still a bit shaken up by this last attempt on deck. That man could have killed me so swiftly, so easily if not for Caspian being there. His dark eyes are conflicted as he looks between me and Ed, wanting the young king to somehow back him up. I can't back down. I need to know if I'm a Queen and that man will hold the answer.

"Alright," Caspian says hesitantly. "Let us do the talking."

"Great! Let's go. You coming Lu?" Ed asks. Clearly being pent up on this ship has made him bored and this is the first exciting thing since Eustace becoming a dragon, which hardly seems beatable.

"I'm going to pass. Gael is probably wondering what happened."

Lucy leaves and the three of us go below deck. I can feel people stare at me when my back is turned and I do my best to ignore it as we travel to the brig at the very, very bottom of the ship. I didn't even know it was there. The room is filled with several inches of water that soak through my boots in no time. There's a large metal cell in the center of the room, the man is sitting on a crate in the corner of it, his hands fidgeting in his lap. He stares at us with angry eyes as we get closer.

"Has he said anything?" Caspian asks one of the guards.

"No. He did smash that other crate when he first got here." The guard explains. He points at the remnants of an empty crate which are pieces of wood floating in the murky water.