The Chronicles of Narnia: The King and The Servant

~ Chapter 9: First Kiss And Other Matters ~

"There's something that I want to try. Bear with me, please?" he asks slowly. I nod. He hesitates again. I hear him take in a deep breath before he slowly moves towards me.

I take in a very long shaky breath myself. His lips are inches from mine, I can feel his sweet smelling breath on my face as he breathes heavily too. Just a tiny bit closer...bang! My head whips around. That sounded an awful lot like my front door slamming. I bet it's Bella. I groan with frustration. Why me?

"Ashy!" I hear my irritating, little sister cry out as she runs into the room in – tears? She immediately jumps into my lap, almost knocking Peter out cold in the process; almost. Curse my annoying little sister! Send lightning bolts and thunder to teach her a lesson about interrupting her older sister while she's trying to receive her first kiss!

"Bella, what's wrong?" Her ceaseless crying is not usual. She's generally a very calm child. I stroke back her black hair as she cuddles innocently up to me. "Sorry!" I mouth over Bella's shoulder to a very perplexed looking Peter.

He mouths back "That's alright, Ash", but I can tell from his face that he's upset. I want to burst into tears and throw Bella off me so I can get my first kiss with the gorgeous King, but Bella is really upset and panicked over something. Her needs are a lot more important than my own at the moment. We wait. Wait for her to do something, say something. Her silence is eerie; almost like she's gone into a state of shock.

"Bella? Isabella what happened?" I ask urgently, my nerves kicking into gear. She finally looks up at me, her brown eyes flooded over with more tears. Her whole body starts to shake in my arms as ear piercing cries begin to fill the room. I hold her close to me, my body automatically shaking with the sudden stress. "Hush, Bella. Calm down, sweetie! What happened?" I repeat worriedly.

"A lady...burst into th – the...house...a – and she...tried to...grab...me and she...st – stole Mr. Snuggles," she cries out. Someone tried to kidnap Bella! My eyes grow wide and I glance over to Peter. He's instantly looking straight into my eyes. I know what he can see. Panic, worry, annoyance, but most of all...anger. Oh there's so much anger, not only in my eye's like I suspected though, oh no, Peter's eyes are filled with a roaring rage too. I'm not quite sure why though. I'm not sure if Bella's like a little sister to Peter or not. I don't know whether Peter feels a connection with her that makes him so angry to the fact that she was about to get kidnapped or whether it's the whole concept of someone trying to kidnap a seven year old child. The grip that Bella all of a sudden has on my stomach is what brings me out of my thoughts. I look down at her and wipe away the fresh tears that have flown freely down her cheeks with the pad of my thumb.

"Don't worry, Bella; I'm never going to let this happen again – to either of you," Peter promises. Either though he's directing his speech to Bella, his full and utter attention is on me. His eyes lock with mine in an intense gaze, which is why I don't notice when he comes up beside me and puts an arm around my waist protectively. I look down when I notice Bella's wailing stop. Peter's hand is ever so lightly stroking her back. She seems to relax at his touch, something I have never seen her do before. I glance over to Peter and see that he's still looking at me. I blush a little bit as he runs his thumb along the contours of my face.

"I've never seen Bella relax at a strangers touch before," I tell him amazed. I look down to prove my point and notice that she's peacefully asleep. One glance at the moon dial tells me all I need to know. It's one am. I look over at Peter. He doesn't seem too concerned with the time, much to my amazement. "I'm going to go upstairs and put Bella into her bed. I'll be right back," I tell him as I stand up. He stands up with me and goes to sit on the sofa. I smile and quickly carry Bella up the staircase and to her bedroom. I open up her door as quietly as I can and walk into her tidy bedroom. I pull back the sheets to her bed and gently, as not to rouse her, put her down on top of the white sheet. My hands reach for the doona before they drag it up over her, tucking her in securely. There we go. I kiss her forehead tenderly before I focus my attention at the door.