His Majesty, Her Grace - Prince Caspian Love Story

Chapter 12 - The Queens

Althea's POV

"Are you okay Lucy?" I ask. Both queens look behind them, not expecting me to have followed them.

"Yes... I'm sorry about your friend." She says, her shoulders dropping. I don't know how to respond so I just lightly smile. It's kind of awkward silence until Susan speaks up.

"Althea, why don't you come to get cleaned up with us?"

"You know my name?" I ask. I've only really talked to Lucy so I didn't expect Susan to know me.

"Trufflehunter talks a lot." Susan laughs.

The three of us walk out into the main cavern where Trufflehunter comes up to me.

"Goodness Althea, what happened?" He looks at the fresh blood coating my hands and dress.

"I'll explain, it's a long story." Trumpkin says from behind me. "Go get cleaned up."

I nod as Lucy takes my arm. The two girls lead me to another side hallway and take me to their private quarters. There are two large beds in the center, one light orange almost peach-colored, and the other silver. Lucy brings me to the side of the room to two large jugs of water and a washcloth.

"Are you trying to tell me I'm dirty or something?" I ask and Lucy doubles over in giggles.

"I mean, if you don't want to get washed up, that's fine too."

"No no, I do."

Lucy walks away to Susan, who's digging around in a trunk for something. I rinse my hands, having to scrub at the dry spots before using the cloth to clean my face. I dunk my hands in the second jug of clean water and start brushing my fingers through my hair. I then try to use the cloth to wipe the blood out of my dress but I quickly realize that it's useless. I turn back around.

"I don't suppose..." I stop talking when I realize that Susan is already holding up a clean dress for me.

"You seem to be the same size as me." She says.

"Your highness I can't-"

"Please, just call me Susan." She smiles at me. Walking over and handing me the dress.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. There aren't many other girls around so just let us have some fun with the only other one here." Susan says.

"And I would love to do something with your hair afterward," Lucy says. I feel embarrassed. I've never had girlfriends before, other than my aunt and mom but do they really count? Trufflehunter was the only other person who's ever done anything with my hair and even that was when I was a child.

"Okay."

They step out of the room and I put on the new dress. I instantly feel better after getting out of my mud and blood covered one. The new dress is a deep blue, the long sleeves have slim white lace around the cuffs, neckline, and hem. I've never worn something so nice before and I feel funny wearing the dress of a literal queen.

For some reason, Caspian's face pops into my head. I feel bad about just leaving him at the stone table without saying anything, but I just couldn't be in there anymore. Peter and Caspian spend so much time fighting when we should be working together. It's neither person's own fault, I just don't understand.

"Are you okay in there?" Susan calls from outside.

"Yes, sorry!" I call back.

They both come back inside, Susan flops onto the bed while Lucy looks at me.

"I think some small braids coming together in the back would look good, don't you Susan?"

"It's whatever you want Lu."

"Don't I get a say?" I laugh.

"Nope." They say in unison.

I sit through a torturous hour of Lucy being indecisive before she finally decides to just go with the first idea. However, I did enjoy being able to talk with both of them. Susan even offered to teach me how to shoot a bow tomorrow morning so that'll be exciting, even though I'll probably fail epically at it.

"So, Althea how long have you known Caspian?" Lucy asks casually.

"Um... Not long, only a few days longer than you." I feel my cheeks burn a bit at the unexpected mention of his name.

"Well, he certainly seems smitten with you." She giggles.

"What! We're just friends.."

"Doesn't seem like it to me," Lucy says, finishing up my hair. Does it really seem that way? I mean, I've never really thought about it before. He gives me goosebumps every time he touches me and my stomach does a summersault when I see him. Do I like Caspian? I don't know, that would be weird, wouldn't it? Lucy is just being nice, he probably wouldn't even feel the same way.

"Are you okay?" She asks.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Thank you so much, both of you. For the dress and everything." I say, standing up from Lucy's bed.

"Of course, we must do this again soon. After everything is over with." Susan says.

"I'd love that. I'm going to head off to bed since it's getting late." I nod and head for the door.

"Bye," Lucy says.

I step out of the room and start to close the door behind me. I faintly hear Susan scolding Lucy before it's closed completely. I head back down the hallway into the main area. A few Narnians are still up either working or conversing with one another. I make my way down to the sleeping chambers. It's almost completely full except for a few spare beds, including my bed in the corner. Caspian's bed is empty aside from his cloak which is haphazardly thrown on it, his sword and armor aren't here so he must still be out. I crawl into bed and it takes me a while to fall asleep, everything just feels very overwhelming right now. All the Narnians that were left behind, Miraz's army is on the way, and I don't even know about Caspian. I slowly but surely drift off to sleep, still thinking about him.
~~~
Sorry this chapter is a tad bit late in the day. I'm going to do a second update later since this one was a bit short so go ahead and read that one too!
Don't forget to vote, comment suggestions, and follow for future updates and fanfics.