𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃 | ❝Hope is good, Hope will never disgrace, but make no mistake, Hope will hit you in the face!❞
In which the Just King becomes betrothed to a princess from a neighboring kingdom, only to fall in love with the prin...
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HOPE PONDERED WHAT HER father might say if she informed him of her unfavorable predicament.
Part of her supposed he'd be ridden with disappointment, but another, more reasonable part of her reckoned he'd find the entire situation hilarious. That was the kind of man he was. He never thought too hard about these kinds of things, a faithful believer in doing what the heart desired. He was laidback, too, walking the line of life with a bit of a swagger. Hope wished she was more like him: careless and compassionate in all the right places.
Hope slept under the stars for the first time in her life that night. It was strange. It wasn't exactly quiet, not with the everlasting singing of the cicadas and the trees rustling all night, but it was, indeed, peaceful. She felt closer to her father, who'd done this sort of thing for years, that night than she had since his death. Between that and her long, emotionally-taxing journey yesterday, she slept like a baby. However, dreams were not her friend last night. It seemed that as soon as she closed her eyes, she was opening them again to see the break of dawn, sort of like a long blink.
She awakened to a golden sky and fatigue weighing down on her. Her eyelids were heavy, her eyes burning with every blink. She would curse if she had it in her to. Of course, even when she was beaten up and exhausted, her body refused to let her sleep in.
On the bright side, daybreak was whimsical. She appreciated that no matter where she was, she could always look forward to the sunrise. It made her wonder if her father felt the same way when they were apart. Did it give him relief knowing that he and his daughter were watching the same sunrise every day before he passed? She hoped so.
Not many awakened as early as she did, perhaps because no servant busied themselves the way Hope did, even on a normal day. It was nice being one of the few people in the world that were awake. It was like no one else existed—just her, the infinite sky, and the whimpering boy beside her.
Wait.
Eyebrows furrowed, she sat up, yawning as she turned to the Just King. His entire body was tense as he twitched and fidgeted in his sleep. He'd likely be tossing and turning if he wasn't otherwise frozen with trepidation. Whimpers escaped him, and every so often, he'd mutter a helpless, "No... No!"
Worried, Hope tiredly called, "Edmund...?" She cringed at the croak of her morning voice. When he didn't react, she tried again. "Edmund, wake up."
No response. He was clearly having a nightmare, something no being on the planet was immune to. For a split-second, she wondered if Aslan had nightmares, too, and if so, what were they about?
