For King and Country ⭒Caspian x Reader⭒

Chapter 3

"Please cooperate. I'm begging," Morgan said; leaning down on her saddle to whisper into her horse's ear. The mare bucked as she held tight to the reins, "I'm gonna cry...I'm gonna cry!"

I stifled a giggle as the girl managed the horse. Every morning, Morgan had archery practice that I had made a habit of tailing along to. Peter was always intent on pushing her into her potential and his newest idea was teaching her to hit the target while on horseback.

Peter was gesturing for her to move farther back before taking her shot at the end of the field.

"If he makes me move again," She left the thought untouched and canted back more. I reined in my horse behind hers to get a view of the shot. As a ward of war belonging to the Narnia court, I hadn't been given the ok to wield any deadly weapons quite yet, so I settled for watching Morgan and peaking through the fences in the training courtyard to get a slice of the action.

Morgan strung her bow carefully and positioned the arrowhead to the ground. Her eyes fluttered closed for just a moment; drinking in the crisp morning air. The rough leather of her riding boots dug into the horse's sides and she was off. The strings groaned as she pulled them back as far as her arms would stretch and with a thwish the arrow whizzed towards its target. It peeled through the wind, but the closer it came to the target it began to veer off track.

"Hey!" The speck in the distance that was Peter cried out. He dropped to the ground as the arrow pierced the air where he had been standing.

Morgan whipped around to me with a hand over her mouth; eyes wide. The sparkle of laughter lit up her eyes, "It's not funny." She said; trying to keep her face straight.

"It's funny," I responded coughing to mask the laugh that bubbled in my throat. Morgan nodded her head concertedly as Peter stalked up to her horse.

"What was that?" He said; breathing heavily and shaking his head.

"This was your idea," Morgan said; straightening the strap of her quiver.

"No-"

"You are the one who said I should try it on horseback-" Morgan and Peter bickered back and forth as we headed back from the fields to the palace, but that was standard for them. When they weren't sneaking around the palace together, they were having a spat over something inconsequential. In my past week in Narnia, I had already seen Morgan threaten Peter with a fork in the middle of dinner when he told her that he thought Reepicheep walked funny.

We passed our horses off to the stable hands and made our way into the palace gardens. A small table was set up under the shade of weeping willow and Caspian sat at the head with a small breakfast and a mass of papers in front of him.

The last time that we spoke had been that night in the astronomy tower, but what was there to say? He might have offered me a cursory nod if I crossed him in a hallway, but his initial warmth slipped into indifference and the doors stayed closed so I couldn't peer in.

"You should pay someone to balance the books for you," Morgan said; sinking down into a chair

"I could employ you. Maybe that would keep you out of trouble," He said; staying concentrated on the numbers that swam over the parchment.

"I'm busy," She closed her eyes and basked in the sprinkles of sun that dappled through the curtains of leaves that dripped off the ancient tree, "Who else would our tortured prisoner spend time with?" She opened one eye to peer at me and grinned.

"Hmmm," His eyes flitted over to me for a moment. The air between us was stale like a room that had sat unopened for years.

I sank into my seat next to Morgan t join her in the sunbathing; arching my neck back exposing it to the warm light, "I love the sun." I whispered.