A King and his Queen
A King and his Queen
BEYOND THE DREAM
“I don’t care about Mary bloody Holdsworth!” Peter protested to Susan, “I’m not dating her, I’m not interested in dating her, and we are not going to talk about her anymore, alright?”
“Really, Peter, I don’t know why you get so upset about me mentioning a girl who just happens to fancy you.” Susan said dismissively, brushing her hair in front of the mirror inside her room.
Eight months had passed since Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, tumbled through the wardrobe. They had struggled since that day to try and recover from the jarring return to the real world. On some days Peter would feel as old as time, and others still a boy who had none of the experience of a King, let alone a High and Magnificent one. The lives they led in a land called Narnia were but memories, both ecstasy and torment in one. For what happened in Narnia, could not happen here.
“Perhaps for the same reason you get upset when I ask why you sit alone so often, Su, when there are clearly many who would seek your company.” Peter said as he took the brush from her hand, forcing her to pay attention to him.
Susan stood and turned to face him in a flash, her eyes flaring with anger, “What is it you want from me, Peter!?”
“For fifteen years, you were my Queen, Su.” Peter gasped desperately, clutching her arms, “You were my moon, my goddess. You were mine. How do you expect me to pretend our life did not exist?”
Susan hitched as if the words stung her far more than she wished them to, “How can you even speak of that here, Peter? We were filthy. We were wrong. It wasn’t right!”
“It was my life!” Peter screamed at her, furious tears in his eyes, “You were my life! We were King and Queen! Edmund and Lucy were our brother and sister, and we were their mother and father. We were mother and father to all of Narnia, Su. We deserved what we had! It was not wrong!”
Susan slapped Peter hard, screaming as tears streamed down her face. Eight months. Eight months she’d avoided this discussion. Eight months of silent tears in the still of night, when the moon and the stars could almost make her believe she was back there. Back in that world, in his arms, surrounded by his unwavering love.
“Well it’s wrong now!” Susan screamed back at him, sobbing furiously, “Why are you doing this, Peter? We are brother and sister here. We are neither King nor Queen. We are not magnificent or gentle. We do not rule over a beautiful dream. Wake up, Peter. This is reality.”
“If it was just a dream, why am I still awake now, feeling exactly the same for you now as I did then?” Peter cried, daring to cup her face, “Why when I even try to fight it, I still remember the first time I looked at you and knew you were a Queen? You were my Queen.”
THE FIRST TIME
“And to the radiant southern sun, Queen Susan the Gentle.” Aslan spoke with a powerful resonance, “And to the clear northern skies, I give you ... King Peter ... the Magnificent.”
The four monarchs sat upon their thrones as Aslan turned to speak to them. It was a truly defining moment for Narnia, and for themselves. They were no longer mere children. They were warriors, healers, rulers.
At that moment Peter turned to Susan and without wondering why, he reached his hand across to her. She reached hers to him and in the middle their hands clasped. A small smile passed between them along with a knowing glance. The crowns upon their head had signified a change or perhaps a realization of a change that began the moment they set foot in Narnia.
When the time came to dance, Peter performed as expected with a beautiful dryad spirit. Yet all the while his thoughts and eyes were only on one other. On the same eyes, the same soul he’d searched out at the end of the Battle of Beruna. The one he’d rushed to save from the wolf, Maugrim.
The first time Peter smiled at Susan, in a way that one would smile from the blissful realization of eros love, was the first time he asked her to dance in a way that was not at all brotherly. He asked as King to a Queen. A King to his Queen.
“Might I have this dance, my Queen?” Peter asked, his hand held out toward her in wait.
“You may, my King.” Susan smiled softly, taking his hand and moving gracefully into his arms to share a dance.
Peter’s eyes were locked on hers as they moved in time to music he heard only in his heart. She returned his gaze, while smiling in that subtle, graceful manner he adored so very much. His heart felt light, perhaps light enough to float. His feet moved without guidance, matching hers in perfect synchronicity.
Susan’s eyes were locked on his as they moved in time to music she heard only in her heart. He returned her gaze, his eyes twinkling with a smile meant only for her. Her heart felt light, light enough to soar. Her feet moved to his lead, matching his in perfect synchronicity.
Little did they realize that they were the only couple dancing. Even Edmund and Lucy were paused, hands clasped as they watched Peter and Susan dancing. All in attendance were fixated on the majestic sight of the Magnificent King and his Gentle Queen. The fauns had stopped playing their instruments, and yet the King and Queen still danced in time to music they heard only in their hearts.
For some this day had been for coronation. For Peter and Susan it had been more akin to a wedding. When the dancing stopped, the couple could not be parted. Peter’s hand clasped Susan’s without relent. Their fingers were interlaced and for the entire evening, one would not venture without the other.
Neither Edmund or Lucy thought it strange. It simply seemed right. Though their own love would grow in time, Peter and Susan were bound to a higher covenant as mother and father of Narnia. It was a covenant sealed with their coronation. But it was not the only covenant sealed that night.
“What is this, Peter?” Susan asked him as they stood on the balcony adjoining the throne room.
“It is ...” Peter said, staring at where his hand clutched hers.
He felt a nervous fluttering in his heart. He felt a compelling to clutch her to his chest and protect her from the world. He felt a growing need to share with her something he was still trying to understand.
“It is ...” Peter continued, turning his gaze from the night sky to her eyes, “It is the most unexpected ... most ... wonderful feeling I have ever known in my life, Su. It is love beyond sense or understanding. I could not stand here and claim it to be anything else. The moment you became a Queen, you became my Queen.”
“And you became my King.” Susan said, her eyes glistening just slightly with emotion.
Peter clutched her hand to his lips gently, kissing her slightly cooled fingers. He exhaled a desperate breath, opening his eyes to gaze at her once more. The need in him grew with each moment. The need to seal, to realize, to expel the silence and replace it with proclamation of love.
“Su, you are my Queen. Tonight I celebrate, I proclaim my love for you. Tonight I declare that my heart is and ever shall be yours.” Peter said softly, his eyes locked on hers as their hands joined, “I vow to honour you and only you as the Queen of my heart. As long as I live, I know I shall never love another as I do you. I vow to stand magnificent, if only you stand beside me as gentle. I know not where this love was born, but I know now that it can never die. As the crowns bind our lives in duty, so too do they also bind our hearts. The circle of my crown and duty shall be the circle of my love for you; unending. This, I promise you, my Su.”
Susan smiled as tears slid gently down her cheeks. She could barely comprehend the words he spoke to her heart. He was all she saw. He was her world, her King, her love, her being. His words had come as naturally to him as their love had come to them tonight. She could only repeat the words in kind, and hope his heart would be as full as hers was now.
“Peter ...” Susan began to say, her voice graceful but tinged with emotion, “... you are my King. Tonight ... I acknowledge your love for me and proclaim it returned in fullness for all eternity. I vow to honour you and only you as the King of my heart. I swear to honour and obey you in all things, trusting in you to love and guide me with a purity of heart that I know you possess in bounty. As long as I live, I shall never love another as I do you. I vow to do all I can to stand beside you, to be gentle so that you might always be magnificent. I know not ...” Susan paused, her tears and emotion stifling her for just a moment before she could continue, “... where our love was born, but I know it lives and shall always live from this moment on. As the crowns bind our lives in duty, to serve and honour our lands and subjects, so too do they also bind our hearts. The circle of my crown and duty shall be the circle of my love for you; unending. This, I promise you, my Peter.”
Both King and Queen let out soft gasps of emotion. Neither was free of emotion or the silent tears that stained their cheeks. The depth and power of their covenant was simply too much to bear without letting their emotion show. As if to seal this covenant, Peter stepped forward, cupping Susan’s face as he leaned in, brushing his lips across hers.
“My love will always be you, my Su.” Peter said with obvious emotion, his breath upon hers.
Susan could not answer before he pressed his lips against hers. The air left her as she felt the first and truest kiss of her life. She had given her heart and soul to her King, and he had given his to her. His hand pulled her by the small of her back as he kissed her with growing surety and passion. There, in the moonlight, a King kissed his Queen. A Peter kissed his Susan. And in that kiss, two hearts became one.
THE BEAUTIFUL DREAM IS OVER
“No, no, no!” Susan cried, shaking her head as Peter clutched her arms in her bedroom, the night of their covenant seeming a true lifetime ago and a world away, “I don’t want to hear anymore! Stop it!”
“No!” Peter screamed at her, trembling with the depth of his emotion, “No! Eight months! Eight months you have denied me! You have denied us! You made a vow to me! You promised me! As long as you live!”
“I do not live!” Susan screamed at him, sobbing and shaking, “I do not live! I died the day we came back to this world! I died, Peter!”
“Oh, Su.” Peter sobbed, pulling her into his arms and clutching her with all his might, “Su.”
Susan could not speak, she was far too wrought with sobs. She let out a low, painful cry and buried her head in his chest. He knew her pain, he was her pain. All he wanted was to carry her back through that wardrobe and take back the life they were so cruelly denied.
“I know it is different here.” Peter whispered, struggling to resemble anything magnificent, “But my vows remain true. My only love is you, my Su.”
The proclamation of his love did not serve to give her any comfort. If anything it only served to heighten her anguish. She let out a louder cry and suddenly pushed away from him.
“Wake up, Peter. Wake up.” Susan cried, shaking her head, “The dream is over. Wake up. The crowns are gone, the circle ended. Wake up.”
She pushed past him and rushed from the room. Peter let out a rather pained cry, clenching his fists and falling back onto her bed. He let out a loud, angry cry, slamming his fists on the mattress. He did not care who heard. He did not care who fussed. He only cared that everything he loved was gone. His love, his crown, his duty, his beautiful, beautiful Narnia. It was all gone. The King was no more. The man was once more a boy. The dream was over. The beautiful dream was over.
- To Be Continued -
Well that’s if anyone likes it! Otherwise it’s a one-shot. I’ll let you be the judge. I feel like I’ve started in the middle. After their lives in LWW and before the events of PC. I do have an arc in my head for this story, but I’m a little out of my usual waters here so I’ll only continue if people want me to and reference what I feel could have happened in LWW and should have happened in PC. Thank you for reading!