Mea Culpa

VII

His eyes shot open as he took deep breaths, trying to make sense of his surroundings. He found himself in what he assumed to be the throne room. Seeing around in a daze, he found Arthur seated next to him. Caspian's sudden movement caused the king to look up. Seeing his son, a wide grin stretched across his face, and he reached his hand out, only to poke his face.

"Is it really you...?" he whispered.

Caspian smiled weakly, "Yes, Father. It is me. I am home."

{~~♡~~}

He tried hard to explain to his father and Wensly of what he had witnessed during the period of time that he was trapped in his mind. They were unsure of what to believe, but it was not the craziest thing they heard in the past few weeks.

Caspian left out the part where the Shadow Princess had shown him the memories, it was something he needed to confer with Wensly in private.

He stood up. "Father, if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to." Arthur nodded, and so Caspian stood up, gesturing for Wensly to follow him.

As soon as they were out of hearing range, Caspian explained what he had seen in those memories. Wensly was shocked at hearing the prince's words, it was difficult to grasp the fact that there was something about the Shadow Princess that was unheard of from anybody. The two headed towards Caspian's bedchamber, where – as usual – was the file containing the information on the queen's passing.

"Your Highness," Wensly stammered uncomfortably, "What has this got to do with our current situation...?"

The prince snatched it from under his covers and opened it, showing Wensly the contents.

Queen of Miradowin, Beatrice Everard, was found dead in her room. Her son, Caspian had viewed the murder, however he was too young to understand, and he will most likely be unable to recall the events of that day.

Knights of the court – as they were on duty – had sworn they saw shadows dancing, or moving, on the castle walls. These theories were later dismissed, and the guards fired.

They looked up. "Don't you see?" Caspian asked, "Shadows! Do you not know who represents shadows?"

Wensly gasped. "The Shadow Princess?" he exclaimed in shock. Caspian nodded.

"She killed my mother. And it adds up with what I saw in her memories. She said: 'I already did that years ago'. I was thinking at that time to make that woman pay for hurting the Princess..."

Here came the silence. Not one word was spoken between the two. It was so quiet that Caspian could hear his own heartbeat in his thoughts. They stared at each other, realizing that both had come to the same conclusion:

The queen died by the hand of the Shadow Princess.

They are both connected somehow.

And...

Beatrice was hiding something, which led to her murder.

{~~♡~~}

"My lord, what do we do?" asked Wensly, in a panic. He was pacing the floor, hands on his head. He sat down on the prince's bed, desperately looking for an answer.

Caspian said nothing. He was trying hard not to break down in front of the poor man because he had uncovered something, which made him want to scream at his deceased mother. "We need to read more, figure out more clues. Hopefully something in this file can lead us to someone or something that can explain what my mother was hiding." Flipping the file open once more, he read on: