Chapter 8: Finding Out The Truth

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Ella's POV

And so we continued to train like that every day for about a month. Edmund and I would train for about 2-3 hours in the mornings and then we would head to lunch, sometimes even together. We knew Jadin and his army was getting closer and closer to Narnia every day, and so we both trained as hard as we could.

We never really talked during our sessions. He would usually just give a few directions in a professional way and then I would do it. Still, I was a fast learner. I was getting better, faster and stronger. Maybe I would be able to take down this Dark Wizard...maybe....Or maybe I would help him take over Narnia. But why would I do that?

Today, Edmund told me that we could finally engage in a proper sword fight together. He said that it would be a test to see how much I had learned over the past month. It started out slow. We were mostly just circling each other and trying to swing at open areas. But after a while, it turned into an all-out battle. He swung at me many times, but each time he did that I was able to block his blow. I then fell to the ground, and tripped him with my leg, causing him to fall onto his back. But he immediately rolled over and jumped up.

I had to admit. He had really good reflexes. At one point during the fight, I briefly felt a strong sting in my stomach, but I ignored it. I continued slashing my sword out at him. Finally, I disarmed him of his sword and held my sword to his neck.

I had won!

He smiled at me. It was a genuine smile.

My heart gave a funny flip. That was the first time he had smiled at me since I had been here. I felt pain return to my stomach and his smile quickly left his face and was replaced with a frown as he glanced at my stomach, which I was holding. I glanced down too and saw blood.

A lot of blood.

I glanced back up at his worried face and my vision started to darken. The last thing I felt was two strong arms catch me and someone calling out my name as everything went black....again.

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As I opened my eyes, I found myself in my bedroom. It was dark outside, so I guessed that it must be nighttime right now. I slowly got into a sitting position and slouched against the soft pillows that were behind my back.

Just then, Edmund came walking into the room. Seeing that I was awake, he sat down on the bed next to me.

"How are you?" He asked, looking into my eyes.

"F-fine," I said slowly through a hoarse voice.

Edmund just nodded at this reply. He seemed very nervous about something. Like...something was really bothering him.

"What's wrong?" I softly asked.

"The wound that you had was pretty deep. So the nurse had to stitch you up. And to do that, she had to remove your tunic. And...she saw...something. Which she then told me. Are they real?" He asked.

"Are-are what r-real?" I stuttered. I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I didn't want him to know anything about them.

He looked me straight in my eyes as he slowly lifted up a corner of my top. I was in the two-piece nightgown and the top was just above my waist. He didn't break eye contact with me as he continued raising it up to reveal my bare stomach. I would have screamed at him for doing something indecent like that, but the look in his eyes told me to just be quiet. He quickly stopped lifting up the corner of the top and I saw what he was talking about. I squeezed my eyes tight and swallowed hard.

A long, stitched-up scar ran across my stomach, but that was not what he was looking at.

Several burn marks were spread across the lower part of my stomach. It wasn't rocket science to figure out that these were man-made. He looked up at me in horror and shock and I just gazed at him with sorrow and shame in my brown eyes.

"Who did this to you?" he whispered. He looked so concerned.

I was confused. Why did he care? I thought he loathed me. Wasn't this the same guy who wouldn't mind me dying against Jadin? Wasn't this the guy that was mad at me becoming the next White Witch? Wasn't this the guy who considered me filth?

But there was so much worry and care in his brown eyes that I finally gave in.

"My-my father," I whispered back, I didn't want to meet his gaze. A tear strolled down my cheek as I recalled the nasty, horrible memories. There were so many of them that I couldn't even count.

Edmund reached out and wiped away the tear with his thumb, cupping my cheek in the process. He turned my head towards him. His hand was so soft but strong all at the same time. He stroked my cheek lightly with his thumb as he spoke.

"Tell me about it. It's better to let everything out then to keep things bottled up. Trust me. I know"

I stared into his chocolate eyes and nodded slightly. There was something about the way he gazed at me. It was like I could trust him, which was weird because he was the person I hated the most here in Narnia.

"M-my father was an alcoholic. He had just started drinking a couple months ago and he would come home, drunk every night and come and...hit me. He would hit me and my mother, saying how we were worthless and stupid. Then, it turned more violent as he started to use...hot iron rods...instead. He would burn us and beat us up. M-my mother tried to get a divorce, but he refused. One night, they were arguing and he was starting to hit her. Somehow, he got his hands on a gun and was threatening to shoot us both. The irony is that night, he was not drunk. I could tell that he knew exactly what he was doing. My aunt and uncle came home right as he was pointing the gun at us and my uncle tried to get the gun away from him, but he shot him in his left leg. My mother had locked me and my sister in my bedroom by this time. Emily was only two when this was happening. All I could hear, while I was in my room, was shouts and gunshots. The next thing I knew, my mother ran into the room and grabbed me and my sister and we all ran to my aunt's house with my Aunt Cass. She told me how he had killed my uncle and was going to try and kill her, Emily, Aunt Cass and me. We stayed at my aunt's house after my mother reported to the police about the murder and abuses that my father did. The police caught him and he was imprisoned for life. But...every night, I think about how he burnt me and my mother, and how he murdered my uncle. I can't get his face out of my head. And t-that iron rod..."

By now, I was shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. Edmund gently wrapped his arms around me and I laid my head against his chest.

"I'm so sorry Ella. I didn't know. If I did, I would have never called you those nasty things. You're not filth. You're one of the strongest people I know. It's okay Ella. You're safe now. Shh. It's alright. I'm here. I promise I won't let anything hurt you ever again. I promise I'll always be there to protect you. Shh. Ella, you're safe. It's alright. I'm here."

He continued to whisper sweet, reassuring things into my hair while rocking me back and forth. I was still sobbing but at the same time, I was rather confused at his sudden change towards me. He had always been so cruel and mean and harsh towards me. He never smiled or spoke properly to me. He had never even called me by my first name. So why was he here now, holding me and promising to protect me?

Though I was confused by his actions and I was still upset by the sudden memories I had from my past, I couldn't help but feel safe in his arms. He was right. It did feel better to let everything out.

He gently laid me down after my sobbing stopped and I was falling asleep. I felt a soft pair of lips upon my forehead and I heard him whisper Goodnight Ella, before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep once again.


Awwwwwwww! Even though finding out about Ella's past is terrible, her and Edmund's little moment was beautiful! <3 I love it, and hope you guys did also! Comment, like and share, please! :)

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