Glenstorm's council was the most important to Sophie. She would need his help for even the littlest matters if she would have to be treated as who she was. And so, she and Thomas journeyed back to the castle. She locked him in his stall and gave him his lunch, since he never ate unless she was around. That made her feel important in the middle of all the chaos going on. She did have a friend that she could turn to in times of need.

Déjà vu hit her once again as she ran to the castle, trying not to trip over the ends of her dress, and entered the dining room that was empty except for the king and the Professor. "You should have started without me." She smiled as she took her usual seat on Caspian's left, opposite to the Professor.

"We could never, dear," said Professor Cornelius.

"Not without you," continued Caspian.

"What happened with the Council?" She asked after they started to eat to break the silence that took over.

The Professor and Caspian looked at each other as usual. "They found your voicing out of opinion to be really bold," said Caspian. 

"They want a proper coronation ceremony," said the Professor. "On the day you were born."

"What!"

Sophie should have expected this. Damn that council, she thought. 

The original agreement had been on having the coronation in the first place, and when the topic came to whether she wanted to take over the kingdom, she decided on continuing her lessons and to make her decision in time. But she had assumed that the ceremony would be in a couple of months, definitely not in two.

"I showed them the prophecy when they came to my study one by one. It seemed that they needed more proof to what there was, which is what is expected of them. You are the Lost Legacy and no doubt can change that," explained the Professor. 

Sophie smiled. She liked her title but hated being called a princess because she believed her to be only Sophie Adams - an orphan, a person in need of help, a loner and a human being.

"They happen to believe that the sooner you get crowned, the sooner they could handle the diplomatic relations," Caspian explained and noticed Sophie nibbling on her lower lip, which she only did when she doubted herself. "We can keep it small. There is no need to call the entire world as we had for the ball. It will be the council members, a few important dignitaries, the Fae ambassadors and us."

"But we have to send out word to other kingdoms that you are the Heir of Narnia."

"Saints." Sophie leaned back on her seat. "I cannot believe that this is happening. But....we don't want to offend the members of the Council." She sighed. "All right. Bring it on." The two of them smiled reassuringly, happy that Sophie was getting used to this. "But nothing fancy, and we are not spending a lot on this. I know that you like to keep lavish parties but we're not spending more than necessary on this. I don't want you to....I don't want to spend on me."

"You can look over the arrangements if you want to." 

"You can decide what you want to wear and how you want your crown to be."

"And there is the royal painting." 

"Oh yes," Caspian said, disappointed because he hadn't had his painting done. 

The Professor constantly reminded Caspian to get it done because he had avoided it for as long as possible. The young king had always postponed it because the last time the painter was in town was the last time Caspian saw his father. Superstitions and feelings were inevitable, but seeing how happy Sophie's painting had made him, this would be a different time. It had to be.

"Why haven't you had your portrait done yet?" Sophie asked.

Caspian sighed. "I do hate myself in paintings. There is something very strange about seeing yourself in them." He told her his other concern, not wanting her to think low of him if he told her his concern, because he had another news that he needed to tell her.

"Don't worry." She held his hand that rested on the table. "You have company now."

"Together." He smiled, tangling his fingers with hers.

"Together."

Sophie locked the horse back in his stall and stole a glance at her own horse at the far end. He hadn't even known that she had been there, resting his eyes for a while after years of restlessness. He had known who she was while she didn't even know her true name.

As she entered the dining room, she saw that the food was already served, but the Professor and Caspian hadn't started eating. Guilt surged through her because they had been waiting for her because she had stormed out earlier. "You should have started without me." 

Caspian turned his head to face her, his heart leaping to his chest. Just the sight of her was enough to make his lonely heart fill with grace. "Not without you."

They began to eat in the silence. The two men wanted to give Sophie her own time to come to peace with the truth. It would have been unacceptable to anyone. Caspian wanted to break the ice but was stopped by the half-giant. 

Sophie decided to do it instead. 'I apologise for storming out earlier." 

"It's completely all right, dear."

Sophie looked at Caspian for assurance, wanting to know that she hadn't disappointed him in any way. "We understand," he said as he held her hand.

"Thank you. Truly. I don't know what I would do without both of you."

Right at that moment, with a perfectly imperfect timing, the leader of the Talking Mice of Narnia walked in. "Goodness gracious!" He exclaimed as he entered the room and started to hop onto the surface of the table. "I apologise for entering while you were eating. But I needed to get this out as soon as possible. Of all the time we have known each other," he started speaking with his gaze on Sophie. "You would have found out that I am fairly loyal." He took his rapier out and knelt in front of her while holding it in his hand. "All of Narnia and all the Narnians pledge their allegiance to you."

The walls started closing in once again as Sophie couldn't breathe anymore. 

"I'm sorry." She pushed her chair back as she stood up from the table and walked out of the room, holding her forehead the entire time. She walked in the direction of the kitchen but realised that they would find out soon enough. She could keep the memories from the past year rather than messing it up by acting suspiciously because of the fear built up inside her.

Locking herself in her room instead, her hands immediately went in search of her sketchbooks. The want to turn back time altogether came out as the stinging in her eyes. This was not at all what she had wanted from life. 

Her hands stopped midway of the sketch of Beruna when Sophie realised that Caspian must have felt this void in him when she had called him by his title on the night of the ball. She needed to apologise to him.

Well, the North tower was there for a reason.

The sun set and the stars brought the darkness along with them. The moon shone through the night and it was time for Sophie to go to the one person that felt like home at the North Tower. "Hey."

"Hello," he said, turning around with a big smile on his face. "I got the blanket this time." Caspian reminded, pointing to the one on the floor. "Don't want us to get cold."

They had started to share a blanket every time they met for the need of being close to each other after the day 'The Forbidden Prophecy' was revealed. The two of them had spent all their lives alone. Not anymore.

Caspian and Sophie sat down next to each other, shoulders touching each other in the tease of being consorts, their backs leaning against the wooden door. He wrapped one side of the blanket around her shoulders as her eyes were fixed on his determined ones. He tugged on the cloth to give her the warmth she would need and then kissed her forehead. 

Sophie couldn't help but close her eyes then, feeling her stress reduce as he had intended it to. Being with Caspian went against everything she stood for. She had never wanted to marry or trust someone with her heart because it would all end in only one way. But Caspian was her exception. 

 "I need to tell you something." She couldn't keep it any longer. She had been wanting to explain herself earlier but couldn't bring herself to it. "About today. I'm sorry I took my hand away. I know that you were trying to help me and I don't have anything against it. It's just that...." she sighed. "Now this may sound really stupid and childish on my part."

"I'm sure that's not true." He smiled, politely.

She explained the nightmare as she stared at her hands, not being able to meet his eyes after what she had told him. She was painting him as the villain when he was the opposite character in her story. But maybe she was the villain all along.

"Sophie," he said softly. His hands reached to make her look up at him with a gentle lift of her chin. "I would never do that. Not even in my wildest dreams. You are too important to me....and not even a force such as the one you have described can make me do it." 

He thought of taking her hands to reassure her but wasn't sure how comfortable she would be after the nightmare that she had explained it in detail. He did not want to make her feel like she was unsafe around him especially not now.

"I know that. It's just that....it felt so real! I don't know how I could even think that way but....I don't know, Caspian. It felt very real and I've been scared before. This was nothing compared to it. This was....cold and distant and...."

"It was just a dream, and I'm here right now," he said. "Without the sword, of course."

Sophie couldn't help but smile. "That was a bad joke." She playfully hit her arm. Caspian tried dodging it but allowed her to get him. He needed her to smile after all the baggage that she was carrying with her. 

"I wanted to talk to you about something as well," he said after some time. If Sophie could tell him what was bothering her, he could tell her what he should have several weeks ago....in time.

"Are you okay?" She asked, instinctively.

"I'm not sure. Sophie, everyone that I've ever loved has left me. I don't blame them, but I just fear that you might do so one day as well." His eyes were filled with the pain of his past as he was saying the words that he always wanted to get out.

"Hey." She placed her hand on his cheek. "I'm not going anywhere."

He took her hand in his and kissed her palm. "I don't want to lose you."

"You won't." She placed her forehead against his. "You're stuck with me, pal, and there is nothing you can do about it." She succeeded in making him laugh and then, they started talking about their days when she remembered what Glenstorm had told her. "Was it like this when you were to be crowned?"

"I spent most of my life in the castle. I was used to it by the time my coronation came around."

She nodded. "I don't think I could ever get used to it."

"You don't have to then."

"I don't deserve you," she mumbled.

"Don't say that. I thank my heavens every day that Trumpkin and Reepicheep found you when they did. Otherwise we wouldn't have met."

She rested her head against his shoulder, feeling the comfort of the world that the stars had promised her of. "Remember when we talked about our scars the second time we came here? I never thought that the Prophecy would end up being about me." She shook her head slightly as she played with a loose thread on her dress. "Did you ever think that we would be where we are right now?"

"No, I didn't. But I did realise that I had feelings for you and that....you were an important person in my life." They looked at each other for a brief moment before they started talking about something else when Caspian said, "I'm not a bad cook either."

"Oh really? You still haven't kept up your end of the deal if I remember correctly." She reminded him about the deal they had made. He had to sing for her because she had never heard him before.

Caspian's eyes widened as he realised the same. "Oh, yes! I completely forgot."

"Good that I'm keeping track then." =

"Is it okay if we cook for everyone tomorrow?"

"Do you think Nina will let us in?" 

Nina was quite strict about rules. She didn't let Sophie help around in the kitchen anymore, and though the youngster told her that she found it strange not to be with everyone, Nina had replied that she couldn't be around and get her and the rest of the staff in trouble.

"I didn't even think about that."

"We could misuse our power." She joked.

He laughed. "I wish," he said. "But I do have a plan."

Sophie was reading a book now, waiting for the clock to chime midnight when she saw a light coming from the window. It kept moving around in a wide circle of dimness, making her walk up to the window to see where it was coming from. It blinded her eyes at one point but when she blocked her eyes, it stopped. Whoever was controlling the light stopped doing whatever he did.

It came from Caspian from the top of the tower, who had wanted to make up to Sophie for how everyone had been acting. He waved at her, wanting her to come to the tower. She smiled to herself and closed the book that she was reading.

"Hey Cas," she said as she entered the tower. "I'm sorry for barging out of the room today." She scratched her right eyebrow. "I....I don't know what came over me."

"I understand. It's okay. We know you need time, and I only want to be of help during this time."

Sophie was eternally grateful for having met Caspian. She didn't know when exactly she realised that she started to have feelings for him but she wouldn't have had it any other way, and it had nothing to do with his position as the King, but rather of him as a kind person. "I don't want things to change, Caspian. Ever. After what happened with Reepicheep today, I'm scared. Terrified, even," she said once they sat down next to each other.

"I'm afraid that they will, even if you don't want them to," he said. "But I'm here with you." He gave her a polite shoulder bump.

"And I'm really grateful for that." After some time, they started to talk about their day. "I met Glenstorm today. Cas, I'm really really sorry about that day at the ball. I addressed you with your title and I know that must have hurt. It was not my intention to break your heart the way I did....but it was necessary from my part."

"I'm not going to lie. It did sting a bit."

"I'm sorry."

Caspian saw Sophie look like a child when she apologised. Her lips would wobble and her doe eyes would soften. He simply wanted to kiss her right then but he would keep his distance. They had been strangers and had become friends with each other. To break that all up by romantic feelings with quick acts was not how he would go forward with their courtship. 

"Your apology is accepted," he said. "But I did catch you off guard."

"Don't apologise. You didn't do anything wrong," she said. "How did you flash light into my room? Where did the light come from?"

"I didn't want to use it but I thought that you would like to see it." He brought out a flashlight and spun it around in his hand once.

"That's an electric torch!" She exclaimed as he handed it to her. She hugged the torch and almost started to cry, reminding her of the Other World too much. It would have seemed strange to anyone but she was seeing something from the modern world after more than a year.

"Edmund left it behind. I guess he forgot that he had left it behind in the tower during the raid that we did on Miraz. The guards knocked every door down and found it behind one. He must have used it to lock the door to escape."

Somehow the topic came towards birthdays and they started planning Caspian's. "I have never celebrated my birthday before. It was usually just me and the nurse. My Uncle never cared about me in any way that mattered. But I know that he counted every year down."

"I'm sorry." She could see the hurt in his eyes. Having to live every year not knowing which one was your last was a feeling that was familiar to her. But Caspian had to live with that fear being another person. She couldn't imagine his plight when he found out that his uncle had murdered his father ."We can have a small party," she said, trying to change the topic, trying to lift his mood up. "If you want to, of course."

"Anything is okay with me." He held her hand in his. "As long as it is with you."

She entangled her fingers around his hand and he did the same. "What did I do to find you?"

"Something good, I hope."

Caspian cracked some good jokes and Sophie knew that it wasn't as bad as hers. Trumpkin had once challenged her to go an entire day without making a joke and thank goodness, she had won. She had a favour that she was holding him to and she could use it whenever she wanted.

And she did, when it was the most needed. 

Soon.