Lux Lunae

Latin

Moon Shine

-

seeing you like this,

even for a second,

stops my sighs

within.

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Hot scene warning, I guess? Nothing explicit or NSFW, though, just implied.

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Edmund knew it was rather late, and so he decided to be as silent as possible in order to not wake the probably-sleeping Sanya, and slowly pushed open the door.
He then cursed his entire existence when the door gave a loud creak in the process. Why was everything always against him?

He'd expected to have to stumble to the bed in the darkness- only one candle was lit at night, though Sanya would've preferred much more illumination, and it wasn't cold enough for fireplaces yet.

His expectations, however, were not met.
What met him instead was the sight of about a thousand candles arranged artfully around the room- on shelves, on tables and chairs, on the desk and the dresser, on the window seat, and on every other possible surface.
It was quite a fire hazard, but it looked beautiful.

He would have worried about that very probable possibility of fire, when he saw that Sanya was there too. Not asleep.

She was sitting on the edge of their bed, a silver satin robe wrapped around her. No book or scroll in her hands, as there usually was.

Instead, she was looking at him intently, purposefully.

"Hi." She said softly, a little smile on her face. "Happy Birthday."

"Happy Birthday." He said stupidly before realising his mistake, blinking and saying, "Sorry, I meant- er- thank you."

"It's not a problem."

"Yes. Oh, er, listen- Jem-"

"Yes, I know." She cut him off, feeling weirdly tremulous. At least she didn't feel like laughing- or puking. Not much, anyway. "I thought his aunt and uncle could look after him for the night. He enjoys their company."

"Oh." He still didn't move away from the door. "Alright then, I was just worried- ah, and- he, er, he called me 'daddy' today."

Her eyebrows rose, and her grip on her robe involuntarily loosened. "He did? I- I'm so sorry, husband-"

"Ach-" Was what came out as Edmund saw that her tan shoulders were bare before he again took control of himself. Breathe. Breathe. He had to keep himself calm, steady, as usual. He had to breathe. "Er- it's okay, truly. I- I found that I don't mind- being his father. Figure. He really is a wonderful child."

"Oh. That's-" She could hardly speak, unexpectedly happy in that moment. "That- that's amazing. I am very glad about that, Edmund."

He was about to nod, when her words registered.
It was like he'd received a blow to the head, and he practically staggered over to her. "You called me-"

"Yes." She smiled shyly, biting her lip. "I called you by your name, Edmund."
It was a very nice name.

"Why?" He couldn't understand anything- not a single thing- she wasn't asleep, the candles, the softness, the smiling, the calling him by name. Why?

"It's your birthday, and I have nothing else to give you- nor any ideas for anything creative." She said apologetically. Well, nothing creative which could be given in hand, not really...or in public.

"Better than what Peter did, he just gave me about twenty years' worth of paperwork. Which was already mine, by the way." He rolled his eyes, sitting down beside her.

"Glad to hear I don't have the worst gift idea." She gave a small laugh. She then paused, as she wondered how to broach the topic of giving her gift. She should have rehearsed this, damn it. "Aren't you hot?"

It was getting a little warm in there, and he admitted so. He decided not to comment on the candles, though. He didn't want to ruin this.
Whatever this was. He didn't know what it was, and didn’t mind- it was a nice, peaceful, soothing moment with his wife, who had finally called him by his name. It was a very nice end to his nineteenth birthday.

"You- you can take off your tunic, you know."

"No, it's alright. I'll just change into my nightshirt, it's airy and comfortable." He shrugged. "It's not that hot."

And she thought she was oblivious.
So, she decided to take charge and said, quite forcefully, "Edmund, take off your tunic."

He turned to look at her, and blinked. Curiouser and curiouser.
"Why?"

"Because I'm wearing nothing under this robe, and I would prefer it if you mirrored my state of undress, at least half way." Sanya said, her voice impressively calm- even she was surprised by how calm and staid she sounded. Not looking at her husband, even though she desperately wanted to, and instead staring at a candle, she let her robe drop down another inch- revealing her biceps to be naked as well as exposing the tops of her bare breasts.

"Wh- OH. I- oh. Alright." He nodded- now wondering if he had fallen asleep at supper.
If he had- this was turning out to be the best dream he'd ever had.
Obeying his wife's words, he pulled the tunic over his head and dropped it on the floor. "You really-"

"Yes." And her voice was emotional and husky and honest and it stirred something in him. She went on, candidly, "Doing this with you- I never used to think during it, my mind went so blissfully blank. I just- I just did, and I enjoyed and I felt pleasure- like I'd never known it. You made me feel so light, Edmund- so lo- so cared for and worthwhile. So yes- yes, really."

"Say it." He said, still not daring to believe his good fortune. This WAS a dream. "Please."

Her face turned towards him, just a little but her eyes were still downturned. "Fuck me, Edmund Pevensie?"

He liked her saying his name. He liked it a lot.
"Oh, I will."

He saw her lips curve up into a smile as they moved closer to each other.

"Excellent." She whispered, pushing her hair to one side, leaving her neck and shoulder uncovered, and she licked her lips.

"And thank you for the gift- gifts." He murmured, lowering his mouth to her exposed shoulder.

"You're welcome." She breathed-
and as lips touched skin, she could no longer find the will nor could she even want to find the will to keep holding her robe around herself, and thus she let it drop completely- letting skin touch skin as well.

--

"Uhnn..." Sanya moaned weakly as she turned over in bed. "Thneit."

Edmund was unable to make head or tail of her utterance. He'd been awake for hours.
He had been looking at her since he had woken up- he’d been watching her in her slumber, so peaceful and at rest and simply beautiful. Usually, it was soon after he woke that he began to stress about the work that he had to do- but having her there, next to him, with her warmth and shifting every few minutes to be closer to him- it had been soothing.
"Pardon me?"

"Shunlight." She groaned, hiding her face in her pillow. "Don't like shunlight so early."

"Really? So Sunshine not a nickname I can use for my wife then?"

"Noooo." She mumbled, pushing her head further into her pillow.

"What about Moon? Moonshine?" He asked, absently tracing patterns on her bare back.

"Why nickname?"

"I thought it was Jem who didn't know verbs."

"Well," Sanya yawned and turned, now on her back. Her eyes were open just barely, just enough to see a silhouette of her husband’s pale, lean form next to her. “Thanks to you, he knows most verbs- it’s only ‘be’ verbs he doesn’t know now.”

"You're welcome, and your sleepy morning voice is very attractive, for your information."

"Well, that's not a compliment I've heard, in all my years of being a Princess." She said, but smiled drowsily at him. His freckles were so lovely- he was so lovely. "I'm sorry I fell asleep right after, by the way."

"Please." He stretched his arm over her stomach and pulled her close to him. "If anything, that was an indicator of how much I tired you out, and thus a compliment."

"Now that I just awoke and now that I am secure enough with you, I can tell you that you are a very strange man, Edmund Pevensie."

"If you can call me that, why can't I call you Moonshine?" He asked, as she snuggled into his chest- morning afters really did make them un-awkward with each other.
She was so warm, as she pressed up against him, and they were both so close to each other. It made him feel even cosier, and- and even more at ease.
She was warmth.

She looked up at him, a disbelieving smile on her face. "Because that's your name! What you want to call me is a variation of my horse's name. And homemade alcohol."

"That is not how I came up with it, I wasn't even thinking of alcohol-" He protested, making up his mind not to tell her why he'd thought of it.
He'd wanted to use it when he had seen how ethereal and other-worldly she'd looked last night, asleep and naked and bathed in the shine of the moon, "and also, I plan on having you a lot longer than you do that horse."

She frowned, "Are you seducing me by telling me that Moonlight is going to die in a few years?"

"Well, twenty or so, to be exact."

“And you want to be sleeping with me even when I'm…thirty seven?”

“‘til death do us part, Moonshine.”

She rolled her eyes, though his words had made her heart sing, before kissing him, wanting to let him enjoy his birthday present some more.
After a while, she pulled away, unable to hold her tongue, "Alright, husband. Now listen, I know your official birthday party was a private supper with your siblings, but...was the afterparty good enough?"
Was I good enough?

"You've been good enough- you've been beyond good enough from the start, my-" He stopped quickly.
For a moment, he'd been about to say 'love'. Strange- he really had to stop reading the sappy romantic fairy tales to Jem. Clearing his throat, he ended, "my wife."

"Happy to hear that, truly." Bright brown eyes sparkled at him, as she traced the freckles on his back. She had always loved his freckles. They were like stars. "You have the day off, na?"

"I'm the King, I can do what I want."

She gave him a look.

"Yes, I've the day off, why?" Edmund sighed, both of them now on their sides and facing each other.

‘Facing’- they were staring, gazing at each other, even if they wouldn’t admit it.

"Peter and Lucy agreed to look after Jem the whole day," Sanya informed him, and pressed herself closer to him, her breasts pushed against his lean chest, and they both gasped softly at the touch, “so perhaps you should start working on seducing me without mentioning my beloved Moonlight dying."

"Is seduction really necessary?" He asked quietly, his hands slipping under the cumbersome comforter which covered her. "You seem eager enough already."

"Oh, well." She bit back a moan as his fingers dipped into regions which made her brain both fry and feel blank. "It's the day after your birthday, I shall give you a pass, just for today."

"Thank you for your benevolence, my Queen." He murmured, before finally throwing off that infernal comforter.
-

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you, you have me to thank for your wife bedding you again."

"That is never something a person wants to hear from their brother." Edmund looked up from the proposal he was drafting. "What do you mean?"

Peter shrugged, putting the stopper in the ink bottle, "I told her that she was almost eighteen, and you two already have a child, so there's really no reason to withhold sex."

"First of all, why are you talking with my wife about our sex life? Since when do you even talk to her at all? Second, it's her body, she can do what she wishes. Third, having a child and going through pregnancy aren't exactly synonymous. Fourth, we've had sex on one day- well, two technically- in the past three months and that was my birthday." He said, ticking off each one with his fingers.

"So you two are back to being celibate again?"

"Well, yes. And also, you forget that a toddler sleeps between us at night. Even if she wanted to," and she did want to, he was rather sure, because he wasn't blind enough to not notice how she would stare at him when he would get dressed, it was the same way he would stare at her as well, "opportunities are hard to get with our son right there."

"Speaking of the toddler-" Peter started, now looking serious. "Orieus was asking- quite a few people are asking- will Jem be the official heir to the Throne? He is the first child of us four- but he isn't the firstborn, so I don't know-"

"Of course he will." Edmund said immediately, tone final. "He's my son, Peter, I don't care if Sanya didn't give birth to him, or that he doesn't carry either of our genes, he's ours."

"And you were so proud that you were the only one who didn't fall under his charm and cuteness-"

"Yes, well, that was before he started calling me-"

"Daddy!"

"Hey, Jemmy!" Edmund beamed as his son climbed into his lap.

"Jem. JEM is his name." Sanya sighed as she came behind Jem, looking tired. "I should hit Lucy for calling him Jemmy- well, at least it wasn't Jimmy."

"You look exhausted, dear sister-in-law." Peter said, surveying her. "Not at all the radiant bride you were a year ago."

"I was glowering and frowning and st-stu-stuttering throughout the entire ceremony, so that's a lie." She scowled at him, and dropped into a chair beside her husband, and hid how disconcerted she was. It had been a year? Already? How? "What are you two up to?"

"Oh, er, the tribes who live on the coast of River Winding Arrow, they want more coin in exchange for the fish and resources they sell to us." Edmund answered, looking over the top of Jem's head to look at the papers.
Did she expect something from him for their anniversary? He sure hoped not- how had it come so soon, anyway? Time was a very sluttish thing, indeed, and waited for no one.

"Then give them, they are poor and needy, I've read about their settlement." Sanya said, frowning. What was the point of ruling, if one couldn't help their people in the time of need? She had married, relocated, practically given her life away simply because it had been for Rihaaya’s well-being. Some more coin out of a Royal Treasury was nothing. "Come on, I've studied a bit of economics, I know you can spare something."

Her brother-in-law spoke this time, "It's not just about what we give them-"

"For them, it is." The Princess said earnestly. "They're needy, and we're- you're not. What else do you need to know?"

"It's a question of authority and not-" Peter tried again.

"Half your population's diet is almost exclusively fish. If they stop supplying, what are you going to do, Peter, go and fish from the Great River yourself?"

Edmund was proud of himself for not laughing out loud at the outraged look on Peter's face. But he was sure that he looked amused and so busied himself with looking at what Jem was doing- which was rumpling up his recently tailored tunic. Susan was going to kill him.
Not that he’d let her, of course. He- and Sanya- would never let anyone hurt their son.

Managing to somehow keep his temper, the Magnificent said, despite his hands being clenched into fists, "Stay silent. You do forget your place, Sanya-"

"I am Queen of two nations, King Peter, so you forget yours." Her tone was icy, and her eyes flickered between blue and brown. "High Queen of one, and Queen Consort of the other- and both nations joined together because of my husband and I."

Should Edmund take lessons from her in taking down people with savage retorts?
But then again, he was already quite proficient in that.

"You haven't been crowned Queen of Rihaaya yet, Mo- Sanya." He decided to remind his wife, knowing he was safe from any bodily harm because of the child who was sitting on his lap and now pulling at his hair.

"A matter of two months, I get crowned when I'm eighteen, and my parents will just rule as Regents in my absence after. I will be High Queen." She said, and it was the most queen-ish Edmund had seen her.

"Be that as it may, you are still a child-"

"You became High King when you were fifteen, and you have the gall to call me a child?"

"Stop it now, both of you." Edmund said, in case this got uglier.
Quiet, antisocial Sanya having such active friction with his proud brother wasn’t something the Just thought would ever happen.
But, Sanya was born and raised royal, after all, he supposed she was entitled to a bit of conceit and pride. And, well- Peter could be very aggravating indeed.
“Jem’s getting upset.”

That immediately stopped the two High Monarchs' burgeoning animosity, Peter taking away Ed's papers and staring at them intently.

Sanya swallowed, and absently patted her son's curls for a moment as she calmed.
She then turned to her husband, "Right, er- Edmund, I came to talk to you about- would you mind if I spend this Christmas in Azraq with my family, and bring Jem along? They have not met him yet, and I have not been able to visit Rihaaya at all this past year, either."
She had missed them. Her brother, her parents, her home. It was a wonder she had lasted an entire year without getting on Moonlight's back and galloping back home.

"Oh, I don't mind at all, enjoy and I’m sure Jem will love Azraq. Would you want me to come as well?" He asked kindly, quite certain she would say no. Why would she ever want the reason for her leaving home, be with her as she visited her home?

"Oh-" Truthfully, the Princess had been about to answer in the negative, because obviously she did not want him along, when she remembered her mother's words- 'You two need to behave like a married couple, which you are.'
She didn't hate Edmund's company, anyway. She tolerated him far more than she tolerated interactions with other people, except her baby brother and perhaps Lucy. And travelling alone for almost two weeks with their toddler- even a toddler as sweet and adorable and wonderful as Jem- did not seem appealing.
"Yes, why not? You might prefer the weather there, it's not a freezing iceland like it is in Narnia."

Thankfully- he internally thanked the Lion- Narnia was a freezing iceland no more.
However, Rihaaya was a tropical land, while Narnia was not, and it was common sense to know that a Rihaayan winter was not half as cold as a Narnia one.
"Well, it is true that I'm not fond at all of the cold." Edmund nodded- was this her way of telling him she did expect something for their anniversary?- before turning to his brother. "D’you think you and our sisters will be able to hold down the fort without me?"

"You can leave this very second if you want to." Peter scowled, still pissed off.

"Actually, I will leave." Sanya smiled tightly, the thoughts of it being their wedding anniversary and staying in the same room as Peter being rather off-putting. "You two work and look after Jem, and I might get in some sparring, I'm very out of practice."

"Bye, Mumma." Jem waved a little sadly as she kissed his cheek in goodbye.

"Bye, baby, I'll see you in a bit." She promised, before turning to her husband- and finding no words at all, as usual, she merely nodded at him before scampering off.

"What a bi-"

"Look after Jem for a bit, Pete, I just have something to do." Edmund placed his son on the table, kissing his hair absently and even his words to Peter were distracted- and he then rushed after his wife.

"And that, my dear nephew-" Peter sighed, leaning back in his chair, "is why I didn't get married- no, don't touch that, that paper's important!"

-
-✧･: °*✧*°:･✧-
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(Ed’s really had the best birthday of his life, kudos to Sanya.
Picture added on 15th October 2023, though chapter was originally published on 24th October 2020.)
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Reminder, as I announced on my Instagram story, new chapters will be up thrice a week now- Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday's!

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