𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄, 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 ✯ 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ✓

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄: 𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐀

★────── ✦✧✦──────★

'But,' Rabadash says with a wicked smile, 'I don't want you two together anymore. I want her alone.'

My heart skips a beat when two Calormene enter the cell. With menacing steps they stride towards me and I try to duck under their grasp as they reach to grab my arms. I kick at the legs of one, but he easily avoids it while the other grabs me from behind. I try to fight them but my wounded shoulder stings with every movement I make, weakening me and slowing down my movements. I cannot win this fight.

The bastards lift me up and drag me out of the cell.

'Give her the thing she wants us to give,' Rabadash orders before they're out of range.

'Susan!' I scream, but my efforts to escape out of the death-grip have no use; Susan is left alone with the Calormene tiran.

'Let me go!' I yell but my words turn into a scream when one of the men presses his thumb right into my wound. Tears fill my eyes and I gasp for air.

They open a door, but till my surprise it doesn't lead to another cell. The room could've been fit for royalty, if it weren't for the gigantic wall of ice protruding from the marble floor. Something moves inside the ice, but before I can comprehend what it is, the Calormenes push me roughly inside and I stumble over my own feet, falling with a thud on the floor.

I raise myself up but the door behind me is already closed. I'm trapped, again.

'Come closer, dear,' an icy voice travels through the air and as if I'm stuck within a nightmare, I slowly avert my gaze to the wall made of ice.

A tall woman with pale skin and blonde hairs looks at me from within the ice barrier. Her facial features are sharp and her eyes remind me of those of a cat, but they're not warm and kind like Aslan's. This woman's eyes are cold, yet there is a strange sort of fire in them.

'Come closer,' the woman orders again and the wall seems to glow brighter; a blue light rises up from within the barrier, illuminating the room with an icy hue. The temperature drops and my breath creates small clouds in the air. Something inside me warns me I shouldn't listen to the woman, but my feet are no longer my own. I walk closer towards the woman, unable to take my eyes off her. My thoughts become slurred, as if a mist is swirling inside my mind, but when I walk past a broken staff, protruding from the floor in the middle of a blue circle, it clicks. This woman is Jadis.

'Closer,' Jadis whispers again, and somehow her voice no longer feels like a threat as it fills my mind. The pain in my shoulder disappears to the background and with unblinking eyes, I stare at Jadis as she gestures at something at my side.

'Drink,' she says with the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. 'Drink, and you'll never be lonely again.'

How can I say no to that? Her voice is like gentle bells ringing and her eyes are so understanding. Still without taking my eyes off her, I reach for the goblet standing on a small table next to me. The liquid in the cup is transparent, but it smells like vanilla and oranges, and I drink it all, gulping it down in one sip. My vision clouds over and it feels as if I'm slipping into a dreamless sleep.

✦★✦

Elvira's brown eyes are clouded, controlled; she is one of them now. Her face is expressionless as she gazes up to meet the wicked smile of Jadis.

'Who am I?' the witch asks the Telmarine.

'The Queen of Narnia,' Elvira answers without hesitation and Jadis' smile grows even wider.