𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍 || 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑎𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑎𝑛

CHAPTER 10

꧁ Skeletons in the closet ꧂

Narnia had a funny way of reversing the course of events: one moment you were facing a terrifying dragon, and the next you were sitting next to it, around a bonfire.
In a few hours the impossible had happened. The crew had discovered that the golden beast was really none other than Eustace, who had been tempted by a cursed treasure that had turned him into a dragon. Thus it was decided that the royals, Elizabeth and some other sailors would have spent the night on the beach and, the next morning, they would have looked for a way to bring the dragon Eustace with them, considering that, given the new dimensions, he couldn't get on the ship anymore.

✵✵✵✵

Elizabeth had decided to sit a little farther away from the fire than the others. She rested her back on a rock and hugged her knees, gazing into the flames. The events of the past few days were still vivid in her mind, the fear of losing someone else she cared about still had an iron grip on her heart.

Caspian had stopped listening to Edmund and Lucy bickering for a while now. His gaze was fixed on the young woman who, in such a short time, had managed to win his heart. The King could not continue to see her like this, it was clear that she was suffering and it seemed that there was nothing that could ease her pain.
Without thinking much longer, Caspian got up and went to sit by her side.

"Who did you lose?" he asked her calmly, capturing her attention.

"Mh?" she murmured, turning to him.

"Before, in the cemetery, you said..." he started.

"I know what I said." she firmly said, moving her gaze back to the fire. "I don't want to talk about it." she then added.

"All right," he nodded. "Why are you afraid of fire, then?" he tried again.

"What is this? An interrogation?" she replied sharply.

"No." he stated quietly. "But you can't bottle everything inside. It'll kill you." he told her.

The woman sighed but didn't say anything else. He was probably right, but she couldn't find the word nor the courage to speak.

"I never met my parents. They were murdered shortly after I was born." Caspian started telling her. "I was raised by my nurse. She was an old, stern woman, but she was nice to me." he chuckled. "She used to tell me stories about the Old Days of Narnia, the time of the Great Kings and Queens." he said, as a melancholic smile appeared on his face. "I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be a great king, someone my parents would be proud of. The king that Telemar deserved, that Narnia deserved." he told her.

"You are a great king." she reassured him, looking at him with her head rested on her knees.

"Maybe," he nodded. "Maybe I am. Maybe I am not." he said.

Elizabeth open her mouth to correct him but he did let her speak. "Every night I see my father in my drams. He's angry at me. He sees me as a failure. Every night he repeats me the same three things, that I'm weak, that I don't deserve to be a king and that I don't deserve to be his son." he explained.

The woman didn't know what to say. She wasn't expecting something like that.

"But the point is, that even if he screams at me and insults me, I don't want this dreams to go away, because I miss him. I miss him more than anything. And I don't even know why since I've never known him. But I do." he told her, as he looked in her eyes and gave her a sad smile.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a while, each of them lost in their thoughts, as they looked at the flames dancing in front of them.
Elizabeth wanted to comfort the King, but she couldn't find the words to do it. He had trusted her, opening his heart and letting her give a look inside. Maybe now it was time for her to open hers.