~By the Lion's Mane: The Call~

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Six

We sailed along the narrow current for several more days, until the glassy green sea was merely an emerald strip on the western horizon. All around us was the Silver Sea, as we had come to call it. Each day we took a sounding to see how deep it was, but it remained the same for about four days. But on the fifth day, the water got suddenly shallower, and the next day even more so.

By this time, I knew our journey was nearly at its end and that there were only a few more days until we found the World’s End. And each day, my sense of urgency grew stronger, and... dare I say it? I had dreams, each night in those few hours of sleep. And they were always the same. I dreamed of a sea of white, a tall wall of blue, and footprints leading away in the sand. And now I knew that the first thing, the sea of white, was this Silver Sea through which we were sailing. And I knew that the other things must be yet to come, and for some reason the footprints filled me with a deep, irrational unease.

On the evening of the sixth day of sailing on the Silver Sea, when we took our measurement of the depths and found how shallow it was, I knew that the Dawn Treader wouldn’t be able to carry us much farther. We had maybe one more day of sailing before we would run aground, and I wondered what we’d do then.

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When I went to bed that night, I tossed and turned as my body hummed with energy. Intoxicated with the strange water, I lay staring up at the planking on my low cabin ceiling, thinking about the time, and how, so quickly, it was suddenly gone.

Because I knew right at that moment, just like I knew Edmund and Lucy would come to me as Aslan had promised, that now they would be leaving again. They may not have known it then, but I could feel it in my bones. That night was to be their last in Narnia, and I was lying here, wasting it with useless attempts at sleep.

Closing my eyes, I struggled to calm myself and took deep breaths. But all I could see was Edmund. I was abruptly hyperaware that he was just a few walls away, and it almost seemed as if I could feel him, hear him breathing.

I threw back my sheets with a sudden determination as my heart raced like it did before a battle. I quietly opened my door with trembling hands and crept down the narrow hall, clad only in my nightclothes. I avoided all of the squeaky floorboards, being as silent as I could manage in my state.

When I reached his door, I took a deep, shaky breath, my heart still pounding, and then gently pushed it open. He was awake, lying on top of his sheets on his bed, still fully clothed and a candle lit on his bed stand. His eyes darted to me in the doorway, and he quickly sat up.

“Rosie?” he whispered.

I stepped inside, quietly shutting the door behind me. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep tonight, I just couldn’t. Not with…” I stopped, biting my lip.

His dark brows knit together slightly. “What is it?” He asked, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, but remaining seated. “Not with what?”

I took a shaky breath.  “I… I’m…” I stuttered, not able to say what I needed to. How could I just say something like that? Put everything I was thinking into words? Edmund stood now, closing the short distance between us.

He took my hands and looked into my face, his eyes burning intensely. “What is it?” he asked again, even softer this time.

I just couldn’t say it. Edmund’s dark eyes were searching mine as I spilled out my thoughts. When I stopped, I could see his puzzlement.

I dropped my eyes from his penetrating gaze. “I want to... I...” I whispered almost inaudibly.

“What do you want?” he asked softly, tucking the red curls that had fallen in my face behind my ear.

I looked at him, my green eyes meeting his brown ones. Then I looked back down, feeling my blush turn to fire, but saying it anyway, just barely audible. “I want you.”

I heard his breathing hitch just slightly. There was a terrible, painful moment in which he was completely still and silent, and I felt myself panic and wonder why I had even come.

But then he tilted my chin back up, and kissed me. He kissed me slowly and sensuously, and his fingers running through my hair. I breathed in deeply, melting into his body, and circled my arms around his neck. One hand ran down the back of my neck and onto my shoulder, tracing designs onto it. The he was pushing my robe back off of my shoulder just slightly. He traced kisses along my jaw, slowly down my neck to hover over where my pulse was pounding, and onto my shoulder.

Then he whispered into my ear, “Is this what you want?” I nodded slightly, breathing shakily as my heart pounded in my ribcage. “Are you sure?” he whispered again.

I nodded again and then said, “Yes, I’m… I’m sure.”

I could feel him smile as he kissed my collarbone, and barely heard him say, “Good. Because I want you too.”

He began to tug at my other sleeve, while I un-buttoned his shirt, and then slipped it off. His bare chest was beneath my fingertips, and this made my heart gallop even faster.

I unbuckled his belt, and then he slid my robe all the way off. I immediately felt exposed in the flickering yellow candlelight, and tried to cover myself. I looked away from him, embarrassed by my skin, freckled from so many days spent out of doors and scarred from battle.

But then he was taking my wrists, pulling my back to him again, saying, “Don’t try to hide yourself, Rosie. You’re beautiful.”

He pulled me onto the bed, and then leaned over to blow out the candle, wrapping us in darkness.

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A/N: Ok, I was really unsure about this chapter and how y'all would react D:  Hopefully you won't hate it or me, haha. Anyway, more to come soon, hopefully. Thanks for reading!