The High Queen's Caretaker (Caspian x Reader)

CHAPTER 7

*Trigger warning : mentions of assault*  (re-upload. I unpublished it because it was too short. now I think it's okay)

"Let's go?", he said, holding the doorknob. Y/N followed him silently. He cracked the door open and peeked into the hallway. He tugged Y/N out with him and tiptoed across the hallway.

"Where are we going? Chamber wing's that way", Y/N whispered.

"Trust me', Caspian whispered back. He let go of Y/N's hand and went under the tapestry.

"Uhh, are we playing hide and seek?"

Caspian shushed her from behind the tapestry. He fumbled with the bricks and felt along for the loose one. His fingers finally reached the familiar crack and he pushed one side to pull the brick out of the wall with the other edge. He then reached his hand inside the newly revealed hole and felt for the concealed doorknob before turning it towards him.

Y/N just stood there awkwardly, waiting for Caspian to call her. She heard the sound of bricks moving and the satisfied "Aha, found you", from Caspian before he pushed the tapestry behind him to reveal the brick wall opening towards them like a door.

Y/N's jaw dropped and she almost squealed in excitement. She resorted to hopping in place and cupping her hands to her mouth.

"A secret passage!", she mouthed almost breathlessly. Caspian beamed and jerked his head toward it.

"Come on, before someone walks in on us", he whispered. Y/N climbed into the raised passage and Caspian followed suit before closing the wall behind them as quietly as he could.

Y/N's hand found his arm in the dark. Her grip was hard but he could tell it was out of excitement. He felt very proud to have been the cause of that excitement.

Technically she was excited because of the secret passage but he was the one who showed it to her in the first place so he had every right to puff out his chest and smile in pride.

"I can't believe this exists", she chuckled. Her voice was trembling with energy and he could tell she was grinning from ear to ear but he wanted to see her. He realized his lamp had burned out moments ago.

"It's so dark", Y/N said. Lighting the torch from her phone. The light was cool compared to the usual oil lamps.

"Hello", Y/n said enthusiastically.

"Hello back", Caspian replied. He took the folded blanket from Y/N and held her hand to lead her across the passageway. He didn't need to considering she was walking right beside him. Still, Y/N clutched his hand back and gave it a nice squeeze so he didn't pull away.

Earlier, Caspian walked through this passage in a bad mood. Now, he was strutting through with a smile and an even smilier Lady Y/N beside him.

"I can't believe this is real, where does that lead to?"

Their walk was littered with Y/N's questions and Caspian's trivia. He loved indulging Y/N whenever he could. The look of excitement in her eyes was precious, and her energy was contagious he couldn't help but be giddy himself.

Caspian stopped. He realized he was leading her directly to his room when they were climbing the stair under the trap door. They should've taken a turn minutes ago to come out to the Chamber wing's main corridor but he was too distracted telling Y/N how only very carefully selected people knew about the secret passages.

"What?", Y/N asked.

"Y/N, I don't want you to take this the wrong way...", he said slowly. Y/N tilted her head as a question. Caspian took a deep breath, his heart thrumming anxiously. He really hoped she'd understand that he didn't ever want to disrespect her and bed her for a night.