Fire and Ice(Narnia Book 3)

Chapter 18 Empathy

(Edmunds POV)
"Mallymkin." I breathed, frowning in confusion as she flinched at the sound of her own name.

"I prefer ally." She replied stiffly, tossing her white locks over her shoulder and running her hands over the fabric of her dress, smiling as she toyed with a few of the crystals. "Do these look familiar? They should, seeing as they're exactly the same as the ones my aunt wears. You remember her right? How could you forget, she only ruined your life."

"I'm a king of Narnia. Does it look to you like my life has been ruined?" I inched away from her a bit towards my sword which was lying on my bed a few feet away.

She didn't seem to notice as she continued toying with her dress as though she was in her own little world. "But your family doesn't quite look at you like they did before, do they?"

I scoffed, rolling my eyes while doing my best to keep a good poker face. If I don't let her bother me then she has no power. "No, they dont." I paused long enough to watch a smirk spread across her face. "They look at me with more respect for overcoming an evil, wicked temptation."

"Have you?" She barked out a harsh laugh. "You truly believe you've overcome it? Have you already forgotten about the dreams?"

"There nothing more than figments of my imagination. They help me remember that i'm stronger than-"

"Blah, blah, blah. None of that is true and you know it." She glared at me, taking a step closer. "They don't remind you of your strength, they remind you of your weakness. Its... consuming. You're still guilt ridden.  You're full of shame and cowardice and guilt because you know, deep down inside you know, that what happened didn't bring out your 'strength', it brought out your true colors. You were going to bring your whole family to the White Witch for a pathetic chance to sit upon someone elses' throne and feel like something more than you were- are- for two seconds. You didn't abandon the belief you had in Narnia, you abandoned the belief you had in yourself, and the moment you made that decision," She clasped her hands together and sat down slowly on my bed, smoothing out her dress. "You lost yourself, forever. My aunt really only tried to help you get what you wanted."

I took a few deep breaths between clenched teeth, mentally calming myself enough to get words other than those laced with pure hatred to come out. "You clarify that shes your aunt so many times in a single conversation one might assume you were proud of the fact. You and I both know thats not what it is though."

Her eyebrows quirked up, as did her icy, almost purple lips. "Is that so? Go on then, tell me why I bring it up so much."

"They don't care about you, you know." A new voice called from the doorway. I spun around and found myself face to face with my older brother who had his hands raised and was easing into the room. "Its not because there's something wrong with you, its because they're incapable of feeling anything other than hate."

"I was so hoping you'd join the conversation at some point. I wanted to personally thank you for not paying enough attention to your staff. Without your help I never would've gotten the blood needed to free my mother. How does that feel, knowing you helped out the enemies? I guess you and your brother really are alike."

He continued speaking as though she had never interrupted. "You want their approval. You dont feel good enough for anyone or anything, and I understand where you're coming from." She laughed. "I do. I had the weight and responsibilities of an entire kingdom on my shoulders when I was fifteen years old. I barely even had myself figured out at that point and already I had to figure out how to be a king. I felt like a complete and utter failure when I let Edmund stray from his path. I thank Aslan everyday that he had enough strength and assurance in himself to break away and get back in line."

"Don't pretend its the same situation." She seethed.

"You haven't done anything wrong here."

"Are you kidding?" She wailed, rising to her feet. "Im here to corrupt your pathetic excuse for a brother! I poisoned your sister, even though I was originally aiming for your wife. Still think I've done nothing wrong?"

"Yes." He insisted, stepping a bit closer to her, causing me to smirk as she took a shaky step back. "You only did what you were told to do. None of this is your fault. They're your family, what were you suppose to do?"

"Stop." She demanded, holding up her hands. "Stop right now."

"You can do good. You can be a good person, I actually think deep down you are good, you're just doing what you think you have to to get their attention."

"No." She shook her head, looking down with a twisted facial expression, seemingly speaking to herself as though she was trying to convince herself. "Thats not true- I - no."

"You dont have to fight for out attention."

"Stop!" She dug her fingers into her hair, tugging.

"You're worthy of our attention, if you just ask." 

With that last phrase she let out an ear splitting shriek and waved her hand frantically around her frame, disappearing into a cloud of black mist, her voice fading out as the mist slowly dissipated into the air. 

"What was that?" I exclaimed, grasping Peters shoulder and turning him around to face me. 

"Empathy."

"What? Why would you say those things to her?"

"I was empathizing. Its a way to break down the mental facade she's built up and confuse her enough to give us a one up. I'd say it worked fairly worked."

I laughed, patting his shoulder. "Yes, I'd certainly say so. What do we do now?"

He smiled a bit, pushing the door back open and stepping into the hallway. "We continue our search for the remaining allies and wait for their retaliation."

"Mmm." I hummed, following him towards the staircase where the others were rushing towards us. "That should be fun."