Queen Elizabeth the Courageous

Chapter Seven - Trust

        "Wake up deary, wake up" Jadis groaned as she felt this immense pain in her head. "Come on now, wake up"

"5 more minutes" She whispered before feeling someone pricking her and she shot up glaring at whoever it was. "How dare you" She snapped. "Do you know who I am?" She snapped again.

"Oh yes I do Princess" The hooded figure said. "The question is, do you know who I am?" It asked her.

"How am I to know that when you cover your face like a coward" She said sharply. It chuckled quietly before a boney hand reached up pulling the hood back. Jadis's eyes widened at the hideous creature. It chuckled at the Princesses expression smirking at her.

"I was beautiful once you know, until that wretched Lion changed me" She snapped to the Princess who leaned back in disgust.

"What are you doing here now?" She questioned her.

"Making sure that he doesn't ruin that beautiful face" She whispered reaching her boney hand out to Jadis who just leaned further back away from her. The creature brought their hand back away from Jadis and she leaned back forward looking a the creature.

"What are you talking about? You better that making some sense and quick" She told the creature quickly making it smirk widely.

"Tell me beautiful, are you a spring or winter person?"

"Jadis has been gone for a long time" Penny said worried as 5 of the 6 siblings stood in the throne room wondering where their sister was. "We have to go out there and find her."

"I can get the Griffons together" Lance said. "We could find her easily from the sky" He said.

"The trees are to thick, you'll never find her up there" William said. "I'll take the centaurs, there's no one who knows these woods better than them" William said to them.

"Where do we even begin to look?" Digory questioned. "Who knows how far she went before she stopped and in what direction." He said.

"What are we supposed to do? Just leave her out there?" Penny asked. "She's our sister, she could be in danger" Elizabeth listened to all of them not knowing what to do when the door opened making them all turn to see Jadis walking in. "Jadis! We were so worried" Penny yelled running to her sister pulling her into a tight hug. Jadis held her back just as tightly looking a her other siblings before looking into Elizabeth's suspicious eyes.

"Where were you Jadis?" Elizabeth questioned as she let of Penny.

"Does it matter?" Lance asked. "She's back" He said smiling widely at her.

"No it does matter, where were you Jadis" She said sternly.

"Liz" William said. "Give her a break, she looks tired. Can't this wait?" He questioned and she shook her head.

"No, it can't" She said walking to her sister. "You look beaten up, where were you and what happened?" She snapped.

"That's enough Elizabeth" William snapped walking in front of her stopping her from going any closer to Jadis. "It does not matter. She's back, she's tired, she needs to rest" He told her sternly.

"Go on Jadis, go get some rest" Digory said speaking up knowing if she stayed here much longer than something bad was going to happen. Jadis nodded listening to her brother before walking to her room Penny following her.

"Just give her some time before you interrogate her" William snapped walking off. Elizabeth sighed looking at her two brothers. Lance looked at her before leaving and she looked to Digory.

"I love her Digory, she is still our sister" She told him quickly.

"You just don't trust her" He said and she looked down shaking her head.

"No, unfortunately not" She whispered to him. "I want to but I can't. Something tells me that she just can't be trusted" She told him and he looked at her.

"I know, I get the same feeling" He whispered and she looked at him quickly. "I feel terrible that I can't trust her, my own sister. But it's like you said, something just tells me that I can't trust her either"

"We have to be careful Digory, don't tell anyone else alright?" He nodded. "And whatever you do, don't be alone with her" He nodded again and she looked to the thrones.

"Do you think he'll ever return?" He asked her.

"Yes, but I don't think he'll come back in time to save this family" Elizabeth said and he sighed.

"We should have gone home." He said. "Maybe then we would still be able to be a family" Elizabeth placed her hand on his shoulder and he looked at her.

"We can still be a family, there still can be hope. We just have to stick together and stay strong and true to ourselves." Digory smiled at his sister and she smiled back before hugging him tightly. "Never give up hope Digory, no matter what happens" She whispered in his ear and he nodded against her holding her tightly. "It's going to be alright Digory, we're going to be just fine. There is nothing stronger than the love between family, between siblings."