Your worst fears || The Chronicles Of Narnia

23: We treasure your love

Peter fell to his knees, a look of disbelief and worry on his face as Edmund's sword slipped from his hand.

After a moment of two he saw Susan kneel beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Peter?" She whispered, and everyone could hear she was fighting tears.

"She's right." Peter whispered eventually, but he didn't look at Susan.

"What do you mean?" Lucy questioned, frowning as she knelt on the other side of her older brother.

"Me loving Edmund puts him in so much danger." Peter choked. "My love for all of you puts you in danger, all people have to do is hurt you to hurt me."

"Peter stop it." Susan sighed. "We treasure your love, it means the world to us, and we love you too, don't ever forget that. You have a right to love us, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"But my love has hurt Edmund!" Peter all but sobbed. "That hag is hurting him to get to me!"

"And I am sure you would take his place no matter what." Susan said gently. "But there is nothing you can do, nothing any of us can do..."

"Except go to the stone table in a week." Lucy finished with a sigh.

Peter slowly shook his head. "I can't wait a week." He whispered.

Susan sighed. "If I'm honest I don't think any of us have a choice." She breathed. "The hag obviously took Edmund somewhere we wouldn't find him, so there's no point in looking. And as much as I hate to think of what she could be doing to Edmund, there isn't a way we can rescue him."

Peter finally looked up at her, tears filling his eyes, but even he nodded. "I know." He whispered, his heart shattering at the very sentence. But he knew there was nothing anyone could do but wait... and it was going to be a very long week.

☆☆☆

Edmund sighed a little as he was dumped on the cold, stone floor of wherever it was they were, wincing when the stone scraped along his palms, causing them to bleed. "What do you want with me?" He snapped, glaring up at the hag.

"I need to use you to hurt the High King." The hag said casually. "He got his memory back and destroyed the source of the magic, so what better way to get revenge than by hurting his everything, his world, his baby brother."

Edmund swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. He could very well imagine Peter blaming himself for loving Edmund, agreeing with the hag when she said it was his love that put Edmund in danger, and his heart broke. "You won't get away with this." He hissed.

The hag laughed. "I don't want to kill you." She told him. "I'm not the type to kill for revenge, trust me. I will return you to your siblings when the week is up."

"They will kill you." Edmund muttered as he slowly sat up, still feeling rather exhausted.

"They wouldn't dare." The hag grinned. "Not with the threat of your death if they so much as lay hands on me."

Edmund swallowed hard, putting on a brave face and glaring at the hag.

"Brave arent you?" The hag almost laughed.

"I've been through enough to know when to be scared." Edmund muttered. "Now is not one of those times, seeming as you arent going to kill me. I'm not scared of you."

"I wanna hear you say those exact words this time next week." The hag smirked.

"I'll make sure to memorize them." Edmund replied sarcastically. "I've got a good memory, I'm sure it won't be hard."

The hag continued smirking at him. "I admire your courage, I really do." She said. "I also admire your sense of humour, but I'd watch what you say if I were you, it might not end well if you say something that offends me."

"And what would offend you?" Edmund snapped.

The hag only rolled her eyes and pulled a length of rope from nowhere it seemed, walking behind Edmund and tying his hands behind his back, the ropes so tight they were already irritating Edmund's skin.

Then she grabbed a length of cloth and shoved it in his mouth, tying it behind his head. "The very sound of a traitors voice annoys me." She whispered in his ear.

And that hit a nerve in Edmund, his heart skipped a beat, and a look of shame flashed in his eyes. He lowered his head, taking a deep breath and breathing out around the gag, forcing back tears as best he could.

"That's what I'll use against you." The hag continued whispering. "Because deep down you know you deserve this, you know you're nothing but a backstabbing little traitor, who deserves nothing but endless pain and eventually death, isn't that true?"

Edmund forced back a sob, squeezing his eyes shut and not making a sound or moving a muscle.

"Surrender to me, because you know you deserve it." The hag hissed in his ear. "Surrender to me, because you know you're a traitor and you must be punished for causing your siblings so much pain."

Edmund opened his eyes and nodded. "I'm a traitor." He said slowly. "I deserve to be punished for what I did."

The hag smirked. "You are now under my spell." She whispered. "Everything I say you will do, everything I say you will believe. What are you?"

"A traitor." Edmund repeated.

"And what must happen?" The hag said.

"I must be punished for what I did to my siblings." Edmund breathed.

"Exactly." The hag whispered. "You are under my spell until you are returned to your siblings, the only thing that can break that spell is being held in your brothers arms."

Edmund did nothing, said nothing... he only stared ahead at the stone wall of wherever it was they were.

"And now." The hag said, standing straight and smirking. "Now the fun begins."

☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡
Updating twice for Abby and because I wrote three chapters today 👀😂