Metamorphosis || Edmund Pevensie

Chapter 15: Trust Is Earned

"Explaining to someone that I was cursed with this existence and having to pass on my burden on to them....it didn't feel right. It still doesn't. It is bad enough that Oreius had to carry it with me and so did the other Narnians in a way, but I won't let anyone else bear the load with me."

"That doesn't make sense and you know it as well. I know that you were scared. I get it. But didn't you think that you owed me that much?" He asked softly and she couldn't look at his chocolate brown eyes without melting. "Ten years, Dhruvika. Ten." He breathed out as he wrapped his arms around her.

Edmund didn't let Dhruvika go as both of them sat down on the floor facing the entrance of the balcony. They gazed at the moon while he asked her the questions that he had already asked her but that time, he got the answers that he wanted. "I cannot believe that even Oreius has kept this from us for so long."

"It wasn't his fault. I asked him not to."

"You shouldn't have."

"I had to."

"Why? Why didn't you come to us? Why didn't you...." His voice trailed out as he thought about completing the sentence or not. "Why didn't you come to me?"

"Would you have? Helped me....if I came to the castle with Oreius as a teenager?"

"What made you think that I wouldn't? That we wouldn't?"

Dhruvika was asked the same question by Oreius multiple number of times but she could never give him an answer. "I'm different. I'm an outcast and-" Edmund closed her mouth with his hand and shook his head. "I...." She sighed after he took his hand away. "I didn't know. I just...."

He sighed, burying his face in her hair. "Well, now we will never know."

"Please don't say anything to Oreius. He has been my parent and that is all that matters."

"I won't." He promised. "What if I wanted to carry the burden?" 

"You shouldn't have to." She played with a button on his tunic as she listened to the sound of his steady heartbeat.

"But you can't make that decision for me. What if I hadn't caught you on the balcony? What if you hadn't decided to accept my friendship and what if you left right now?" Dhruvika smiled as the memory of being embarrassed came back to her. "It hurts to think about that."

"I know. But I didn't."

Somehow, the topic changed to their favourite foods and Edmund revealed that he loved oranges more than anything. "But they are never in season and it is hard to procure them to the castle. Sometimes I sneak into weddings and other festivities just so I can be whoever I want to be."

"And nobody recognises you?"

"I can hide well. More than well actually."

She smiled at his mischievous side. "So who are you when you are with me?" She asked as she played with the protruding threads of her dress, knowing that she would blush at his reply.

He smiled before leaning forward and kissing her once again. It lasted only for a few seconds but it felt like eternity for both of them. They were grateful for each other's presence and finally understood what everyone told them about the greatness of feeling the way that they did. "Myself." 

Dhruvika blushed just as she had predicted, but she didn't turn away from him. There was no point hiding her feelings anymore. "Do you think that...."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me."

Just listening to him say that, she realised that she was attracted to his voice and she knew that he could never find that out. "Do you think that....we will still be together in the decades to come?" 

"What makes you think that we won't?"

"I'm not exactly human, Edmund. I'm not royalty either."

"But you are."

"Not in this world, no. I can't think about the life that I could have had and I don't think that Carmis would reverse the curse now and-"

"Wait. Carmis is alive?"

"Yes."

"And she is in Narnia?"

Dhruvika told him about what happened after he left the lake. She told him how Carmis sneaked up on her and threatened her. "She tried to manipulate me and I was going to talk to you about this before you said that you wanted to talk."

That made Edmund think about something. His eyebrows twitched together and Dhruvika could see that he was thinking about important matters. "Come on." He stood up and gave her his hand. "We are going to talk to my family."

"No, Ed-" She started to shake her head as fear engulfed her.

"Trust is earned, Ruvi. And I think that I have." He took her hand in his and curled his fingers with hers. "Come with me." He beckoned to the door and started walking towards it but she stood where she was. "Come on."

"What if they don't like me?" It felt strange to say it aloud but it was one of the reasons that she refused to meet the Pevensies in the first place. What if they thought that she was different from them? Ed burst out laughing at her bewildered expression. She scoffed at his amusement. "Thank you for the concern."

"I'm sorry but you are scared that my family won't like you?" 

Edmund wondered why women were so different from men. Dhruvika really wouldn't have to worry about somebody not liking her company. Only a fool would think that way. Dhruvika was....light. She was vibrance itself and radiance in every way possible.

"Susan was talking about marriage earlier." She started hesitantly. She knew that she was jumping the train but they had to talk about the elephant in the room. "What if I'm not fit for you in their eyes and-"

"Just....come." He put out his hand and she took it without thinking twice. She was going to be with him. What could go wrong?

He shook his head slightly at her concern. She wanted to be worthy of him and how could he tell her that he was trying to be the same since the moment they started talking with each other. He knew that he told her that he wouldn't talk to Oreius but he knew that he had to. And it was a talk that was completely different from what Dhruvika thought.