For King and Country ⭒Caspian x Reader⭒

Chapter 19

Caspian and I sat in the advisor's room in the deep of the night. The torches and hanging candelabras weren't lit, so the room was cast in the eerie glow of singular candles, whose flames wavered in the breeze flowing in from the open window.  A grandfather clock ticked ominously as if counting down to destiny.

Caspian paced the room back forth, rubbing his face as exhaustion painted its weary picture over his face. I leaned my head against the high-backed chair and closed my eyes as the silence set the atmosphere on edge. 

There is quiet and then there is silence. Quiet is a field at dusk, where the grass tickles your ankles as you breathe in the scent of the honeysuckle in the air, but silence is like the stench of death and disease. Every part of your body tenses and the intense urge to run overwhelms every sense.

"When are they going to be here?" Caspian said, frustration tinging his voice. 

"Can't be too much longer,"  I said, peaking through one open eyelid. 

After we had returned to the castle, the Board of Advisors sent Caspian a note requesting an urgent meeting and summoned me as well. We had sat there the better part of an hour waiting to hear footsteps outside of the door, but no sound came. Despite the uproar of the night, the castle was silent. It was like Vidalia was a beast who would attack if a sound was made, and Cair Paravel was hiding in the shadows, clamping its hand over its mouth lest its breaths grow too loud. 

"We're going to have to advance sooner than we thought," Caspian paused staring into nothing, he ran both of his hands through his hair. 

"There are still battalions that haven't made it here yet though," I said. 

"I can't sit here and let us get picked off one by one-" Caspian began.

The door swung open and the advisors filed in. Naerhys was like a brewing storm and sat across from me, looking down her angular nose at me. I was ready for the lightning to strike. Reepicheep climbed up onto the table and gave his customary, flourishing bow.

"Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice, My King," Theodric said, easing himself into his seat. He folded his hands to rest on his round belly, as the other advisors found their seats and settled in.

"Any word? Have they caught the perpetrators?" Caspian's eyes scanned every face in the room feverishly. 

Theodric sighed, "His death is confirmed. We found the body, but...his head was not attached to it. No sign of the soldiers who committed the act."

My heart sank at the thought of Destrian's head used as some sick trophy for those soldiers. What was their prize? Devastation? Despair? 

Caspian covered his mouth with his hand and looked at the seat at the table that sat empty. Destrian's seat felt haunted as if his ghost would take its seat any moment to cast his brutish judgment any moment.

"I will go out and look for them myself. This is the second successful attempt on a noble's life. This isn't the price of war, this is cold-blooded murder," Caspian said, his entire body rigid.

First, Sorin was murdered in what felt like a lifetime away, and now Destrian. Nobles that held close positions to Caspian. They were being methodical. They didn't pick a stray squire or stablehand to slay, but those with influence.  They were trying to dismantle the foundation of the Narnian monarchy. 

"We're going to insist that you don't," Naerhys intoned, "They want us vulnerable. You have taken too many risks already. They would love nothing more than to find you in an accessible location, such as the forest."

Fury brewed underneath the regal mask Caspian wore around his courtiers, "Am I here for decor then? Inspire my soldiers to bleed for me while I lounge on my throne?"