ignite me / p. pevensie

epilogue

Peter brushed a piece of Rowyn's hair behind her ear and kissed the side of her neck. "When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are to become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No . . . don't blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn't sound very exciting, does it? But it is." Rowyn quoted as she read from the book open on her lap. Peter kissed more of her skin, traveling from her neck to her shoulder. "Pete-" She breathed out and lifted her head up from the book as he pushed more of her hair away from her shoulders to kiss more skin. "I'm trying to read." She playfully pushed him away from her with a smile as he chuckled.

"You expect me to resist you?" Peter cocked an eyebrow as he moved his weight to his left arm as he laid on his side.

Rowyn shut the book and tilted her head at her husband. "I thought you were the one how wanted me to read to you?"

Peter sat up and moved his body close to hers so she nearly sat in his lap as he held her waist. His thumb traced her mouth. "I do but you're just so . . ." Rowyn met his eyes as her hands gripped at the white tunic he had rolled up on his arms and tucked into his pants. Suddenly, Rowyn pushed her weight onto him and pushed him down to the grassy beneath them with her on top of him. "Beautiful . . ." He finally managed to say as her hair fell in honey curtains around his face.

Rowyn smiled at him and leaned down enough to pressed her lips to his. Every kiss now felt different. After being apart so long, Rowyn realized how much the small gesture meant to her. When she thought about love, she always expected a simple kiss to soon pale as time went on, but with Peter every kiss made her feel like she was a burning fire. A fire that burned just for him. And Peter felt the exact same way.

His hands squeezed the golden material of her dress as she slowly pulled away. "Hey, are you happy?" Rowyn questioned as she brought her hand up to hold his cheek.

Peter moved a hand away from her waist to hold the hand on his cheek and maneuver her palm to his mouth where he placed a small kiss. "More than I ever thought I could be . . . you?"

Rowyn bit her lip and looked up at the sunflowers that spread for a few miles around them. "Um-"

"Um?" Peter moved his head up as he failed to stifle a laugh.

Rowyn shook through a laugh against his chest and kissed his jaw. "I'm extremely happy." She sat up so she now straddled his waist as he sat up and held her close to his chest, only being far enough away to see each other. Rowyn ran her hand down his arm a few times. "I never expected it to be like this." She smiled softly at his chest as she bit her lip.

"Never expected what to be like this?" Peter questioned.

Rowyn met his blue eyes and her heart twisted at the way they nearly sparkled in the sunlight. "Love." She stated. "I use to be worried that I would marry someone who didn't value or appreciate me—someone who subjected me to staying at home and cleaning the house, raising the children, providing sex without a complaint—someone who didn't treat me that way you treat me . . . every time you look at me, I feel it . . . I'm your equal and you do a damn good job at making sure I know it. You never force me to do anything, you value me—love me. You make me want to live, Peter. I don't know what I would've done if I never went to Narnia—if I never met you."

Peter brushed her jaw with his hand. "Aslan told me something interesting a few years after arriving in his Country . . ."

Rowyn's eyebrows grew closer. "What did he tell you?"

"The blood-oath—it only works, or is even possible, if the two souls wishing to converge already share the same material—the same energy." He told her.

Rowyn grew more confused. "What?"

"Even if we never went to Narnia, I still would've fallen in love with you . . . I use to dream about a girl with honey-hair, freckled cheeks, and violet eyes. I grew infatuated with this girl that held a permanent residence in my mind and when I came here and saw you—saw that you were her . . . everything made sense. Even on Earth, you were the only one for me. Even if we didn't come to Narnia, I never would've found someone who came anywhere near to the fiery-haired woman in my dreams—you've always been it for me even if I didn't know who you were or you didn't know me." Rowyn's eyes burned a bit as she smiled. "I've been in love with you since the moment you appeared in my mind, I just didn't realize how much until I saw you as flesh and blood—as a physical being who stole a part of me that no one else ever could." He smiled softly at her and leaned forward to kiss her cheek where a small tear had began its decent down her skin.

Rowyn fiddled with the ends of his hair behind his head and pulled his mouth to hers. He instantly pulled her closer and leaned forward, holding her back, and placed her against the grass, careful to not fully crush her under his weight. "I'm never gonna be able to explain to you just how much I love you . . ." She whispered against his mouth when they pulled away just to keep their mouths touching.

Peter smiled and pulled away enough to run his eyes down her face and brush the side of her neck with his hand. "We have a lot of time . . . I'm sure you'll be able to." Rowyn laughed quietly underneath him and pulled his mouth back down to hers.

And it was perfect. Him. Her. Everything.

And although they didn't know what every new day would hold, they knew it would be perfect because they were together. After everything they had lost, they were now infused forever and nothing could take that away from them.

Rowyn pulled away from the kiss enough to look him over just as he did her. Then, with a wide smile upon her mouth, she told him, "I'll tell you tomorrow."