"I just want to know what is so important she couldn't have a servant delivering it," Lady Danielle said, trying to open the chest they were transporting while they took a break.

"I don't think it's our place to pry," Lady Thea reminded her. She knew what was in the chest, she had placed it there herself, and if Lady Daniele found out the plan would most definitely fail.

"And I don't think it's our place to be delivering things and yet we are," Danielle replied. Giving up on picking the lock. "We are ladies of the court, not errand boys,"

"She's the Queen. She can ask of us whatever she likes," Thea reminded her. "And it's not as if she asked we deliver this to the northern border. We're going to Glasswater Creek. It's beautiful down there, I am positive we'll have a nice time. Perhaps we can even extend our stay. The Queen won't be back for a week at least, she won't notice if we take a little longer to return," Thea said, making the idea as appealing as she could. That was the plan, to keep Lady Danielle away and give time for Prince Dean to arrive from Datram and persuade his brother to break things up with Lady Danielle. Not really a plan, more like a hand-down of problems, but better than doing nothing.

"It does sound good," Danielle agreed. As much as she liked it when the Queen was away, she liked even better the idea of defying her orders. And if Lady Thea was encouraging it and the Queen had anything to say when she got back, she could always blame it on her.

They arrived at Glasswater Creek late in the afternoon and were invited for tea by Lady Roselynn, who was more than pleased to see Lady Thea and extremely surprised to find Lady Danielle beside her.

"So what brings you two to Glasswater Creek?" Lady Rossely asked as the tea was being served.

"Can't I just pop by to see a friend," Thea said with a warm smile. She hadn't seen Roselynn since her mother got sick which was the reason she had to move back to the Creek.

"Of course you can. But something tells me that's not what brought you both here today," Lady Roselynn replied. A polite way of acknowledging a fact the three of them knew: she was not friends with Lady Danielle. It was clearly not just a friendly visit if Danielle showed up, right?

"The Queen sent us on an errand," Lady Danielle said. She liked Lady Roselynn, she thought she was a very nice girl, but Lady Roselynn did not like her. Not just because she had found her to be irritating and a bit of a bully when she first got to Cair Paravel, but because Danielle had made a move for Lord Peridan when he started courting Roselynn.

Lady Thea stood up and went over to the table where Orithia, the Queen's guard who had been tasked with escorting them to Glasswater, had placed the chest. "She sends you this,"

Roselynn stood to take a look at it. It had caught her eye when Orithia placed it down, but she didn't want to seem too eager. "I had been wondering why you brought that in,"

"There's also a letter," Thea said, taking out of her dress pocket the letter she had written, detailing the Queen's plan and the part Roselynn had in it.

Danielle stood up as well and joined the two Ladies. She had not been made aware of the letter or its contents, but she didn't find it too surprising. After all, she knew the Queen didn't truly trust her.

"She said you should open it first," Thea said, glancing discreetly at Danielle. Roselynn understood what she meant.

"Very well," Lady Roselynn said, very intrigued as to what the Queen could have sent her.

She broke the seal and found a letter along with a key inside.

"I assume this opens it," she said placing the key beside the chest and went on to read.

"I see," She folded the letter back and placed it in her dress pocket. "Oh, but where are my manners, you two must be tired from the journey. I'll show you to your rooms so you can get some rest and then we can all have dinner afterwards,"

As she led them to their rooms she asked about their journey and then inquired about the gossip she'd been hearing.

"I heard some rumours about you and Prince Darren," she turned to Lady Danielle. "Is it true you two are to be married?"

"It's true," Lady Danielle said unable to help a giggle and a girly smile. "He asked me to marry him,"

"Wow, that's... that's very surprising," Roselynn said, slightly shocked. "But such good news," she added quickly. "Congratulations," She said enthusiastically and gave Danielle a big hug.

"Thank you," Danielle replied. "I'm very excited about it,"

"Of course you are, he's such a good catch. You're so lucky. To be honest, I never thought he would ever marry anyone, you know what they say about him, but he must really love you to have asked you,"

Danielle nodded with a smile.

"This is your room," Roselynn stopped at a big yellow door, "but you must tell me everything at dinner. How he asked, what you said, just everything. Ah, we could even help you plan the wedding, oh, this will be so much fun!"

"I will, yes, that would be nice," Danielle said, glad Roselynn was sharing her excitement. She hadn't felt a genuine congratulation from Lady Thea, and let's not even mention Queen Imira's reaction, but hearing Lady Roselynn's enthusiasm made her feel very nice. She was finally going to get what she wanted.

"Three to four days I can come up with plans and activities, but I don't know about an entire week," Roselynn said.

"We just need to allow Prince Dean to reach Cair Paravel and convince Prince Darren to end things with her," Thea said.

After dropping Danielle at her guest-room, they had convened at Roselynn's.

"I know we don't like her but is this sabotage really necessary? Perhaps Queen Imira's efforts would be better spent getting used to the idea. She seemed very happy when she confirmed the news,"

"I know, but it appears this has more to do with Datramite politics than with Imira not liking her,"

"Really?"

Thea nodded. "Did you not you hear the rumours about Prince Darren and that foreign Princess?"

"There are always rumours about Prince Darren and some other girl whenever he returns to Datram. You know how he is. That's why I was careful to believe those rumours about marrying Lady Danielle. I've always thought of him as more of a..."

"Deviant?" "Free spirit,"

They said at the same time and shared a laugh.

"Exactly,"

"We were all surprised when they announced it. But it seems he led on this Princess and now it's causing tensions in the west. Imira tired to persuade him otherwise, but it proved unproductive, so she called for backup,"

"In the form of Prince Dean,"

"Precisely. She believes he is the only one capable of changing his mind,"

"I see. So what we have to do is keep her out of the way until that happens,"

"That's right,"

"I think I can do that," Roselynn agreed.

A few days later in Cair Paravel...

Five minutes. Nothing. Then minutes. Nothing. Fifteen minutes. Not a trace of him. Susan's soup had grown cold waiting for Edmund to show up for dinner and she was now feeling cross. Tonight it was just her and her brother and he didn't show up. She did not know whether to be mad at him r worried something might be wrong.

She asked guards and servants if they had seen her brother, but none of them knew where the King was.

"Lord Peridan, would you happen to know where King Edmund is?" Susan asked. "He didn't show up for dinner,"

"I do not, Your Majesty. I was in the library," He had lost track of time reading a book and was now running late for his own dinner. But seeing as he lived alone and Lady Roselynn was away, he figured dinner could wait a little longer.

"I'm beginning to grow worried," Susan said. "Last I saw him he said he had a score to set with you so I figured you might know something. I have asked several guards and servants, but no one seems to know where he is, which is very strange,"

"Ah, yes. I met with him after lunch, but I haven't seen him since," Lord Peridan said. "He did mention going down to the beach, so you could try there,"

"The beach. Of course. Why did I not think of that?"

Like his oldest sister, Edmund enjoyed being alone. And one of the few places they could find solitude was the beach.

"But that was hours ago," Lord Peridan continued. "He should have returned by now,"

Susan looked at him worriedly. Instead of easing her worries, he had doubled them.

"I could go look for him if you want," he offered. He did not like seeing the Queen worried.

"Oh, would you mind?" Susan said, pleasantly surprised.

"Not at all," Peridan said, ignoring his empty stomach.

"Thank you. I'll accompany you to the stables," Susan said. "In case we run into him," 

Lord Peridan nodded.  

The moon was almost full and the wind was blowing from the south and Susan and Peridan were waiting on the threshold for his horse to be saddled. They were discussing the upcoming knighting ceremony when they spotted half a dozen hooded figures riding towards them.

"Are we expecting any visitors?" Lord Peridan asked the Queen, keeping his eyes on the approaching ridders.

"Not that I am aware," Susan replied, stretching her neck and trying to make out who they were.

He walked to the edge of the steps and readied to draw his sword in case they were enemies. "Who goes there?" He asked once the ridders came to a halt.

One of them, the one at the lead, dismounted. He approached the light and drew back his blue hood.

"Edmund," Susan said and went towards him.

"Who else?" He smirked a little.

"Where have you been? You didn't show up for dinner,"

"Just down at the beach. I lost track of time, but look at who I ran into," he turned back.

The other ridders had dismounted as well and one of them approached.

"Prince Darren. But..." Susan looked back at the castle. She had just asked if he had seen Edmund.

"It's Prince Dean, actually," the prince bowed and kissed her hand. "You mistake me for my brother, it happens often,"

"I thought it was Prince Darren as well," Edmund said. "The resemblance is uncanny, isn't it?"

"It is," Susan couldn't help but to stare. If he hadn't said, she could have very well gone with her evening believing it was Darren. "You truly are identical," she said with a nervous laugh.

"We are twins," Dean said, amused by the Queen's staring.

"Alright, Sue. Quit staring," Edmund said, making her blush, but she remained unable to peel her eyes off him.

Seeing as the King had returned and that Queen Susan would soon be too occupied with him and Prince Dean, and not wishing to interrupt, Lord Peridan went to the stables to inform the young faun he would not be needing his horse after all and then headed to his own dinner. 

"Even your voice is the same," Susan said, still amazed with Prince Dean's similarity to his brother.

He smiled at her and chuckled a little.

"Yes, they're twins. I believe we've established that," Edmund said, feeling uncomfortable at how his sister kept looking at the Prince.

Prince Dean, however, was living for it. He hadn't experienced that reaction in years, and receiving it from Queen Susan was very flattering.

"So, about dinner," Edmund said, changing the subject.

"Dinner, yes. I have been waiting for you all this time," Susan finally turning her eyes away from Dean and her attention back to her brother.

"You didn't have to do that," Edmund said, feeling bad he had kept her from eating.

"Of course I did, we agreed to have it together, Ed. But now that you're here, you should both come in and have dinner. You must be hungry,"

"Thank you. It was a long ride," Prince Dean said and followed Susan and Edmund inside.

She was about to invite Lord Peridan to dine with them, but she only then realized he was gone. She felt a little disappointed he hadn't said goodbye, but she was very intrigued by what had brought the Prince there that she did not give it much thought.

"What brings you to Narnia?" Susan asked.

Prince Dean sighed heavily. "My brother. My brother and his disregard for discretion. I'm afraid we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle back home,"

He explained what had brought him there over dinner. From the letter Imira sent him to the political tensions it was causing in Datram and including the instructions King James had given him. Susan did not wish to meddle so she simply listened, but Edmund agreed with Prince Dean that something strange was happening with Prince Darren's decision making and told him of his experience with him while they went ghost hunting.

"And she is gone now?" Darren asked, referring to Lady Danielle.

"She is," Edmund said. "But Aslan knows when she'll be back. It could be tomorrow, it could be in a couple more days. Who knows,"

"Then I must speak to my brother this very night,"

The servant announced Prince Dean as he entered his brother's home. Luckily, he was alone.

"Brother?" Darren said surprised and stood up at once to greet his twin with an embrace. "What are you doing here?" he said cheerfully as they let each other go.

"Darren, what the fuck?" Dean said tiredly and disappointedly as the doors closed, leaving his brother very confused.

"Pardon?" 

"You heard me, brother. What were you thinking?" Dean repeated, more disillusioned than upset.

"I don't-"

"Think? You don't say," Dean said unhappily.

"I have no idea what you're talking about,"

"Allow me to enlighten you then," Dean said, going to the little bar his brother kept by the window and serving himself a drink he knew he'd need to get through the conversation. "You come home, say you're gonna leave this girl, give a foreign princess false hopes putting us in a tight spot with the Acanthæans, and then come here and we hear you are to marry her," He brought the drink up to his lips with his left hand and took a sip. With each sentence, his tone grew more serious. "Do you realize the position you just put us all in?"

"I-"

"You don't," he pointed at him with his left index finger whilst holding the drink. "You don't because you are a selfish prick who only thinks about yourself," he said harshly.

"Oi," Darren walked towards his brother, "You don't get to come here pointing fingers and waving accusations at me when I have done nothing wrong,"

Dean laughed drily. "You... you've done nothing wrong?" He shook his head disbelievingly. "Because of you the Acantheans are mad at us," He took a step forward. "Because of you, all the years we've spent working on improving our relations with them are going up in flames," another step and he was up in his brother's nose, "because of you, we could go to war," He said the word war with the gravity it deserved. And rightly so, for their cousin, the King of Datram, was facing much trouble for the insult the Prince had caused. 

"You've done nothing wrong," Dean mocked.

"Hey, don't blame me for James's problems. They were pissed when they found out they weren't getting their stupid alliance through Imira,"

"They were," Dean acknowledged. "But she handled it gracefully and made peace with them. A delicate peace you endangered when you went home, kissed their princess, and then came to announce you were to be married. Do you even realize how disrespectful that is? Or the way you made the kingdom look?" He simply did not understand de decision-making process of his twin, if there was any. 

"Since when did you become so involved in politics?" Darren changed the subject, unable to answer the questions.

"You know, just because we look the same doesn't mean we are the same," Dean said. The irresponsibility of his brother bothered him greatly. Not only because it was unbecoming of a member of the royal family, but because they looked the same and people often thought they were both alike not just in looks but in personality. "Grow up, Darren. You can't spend all your life trying to get laid,"

"At least I get some. You should try it sometime. It might get that sick out of your arse,"

Dean ignored the comment. He wasn't as easily provoked as his brother. "Well, I hope she's worth it because James is taking your Duchy away," He, of course, referred to the Duchy of Ardenton. It rightfully belonged to Imira, but after she 'died' it had gone to him. When she returned it went back to her, but no one made a big deal of them sharing rights to the land. Especially after she became Queen of Narnia. They all thought they could just avoid the subject and spare themselves an argument. Clearly, it wasn't such a good idea after all.

"He what?!" Darren said in outrage.

"You've been stripped of it. It's gone. Well done," Dean said, taking a seat in the largest chair of the room. "Well done, indeed, brother,"

"He can't do that. Ardenton is mine by right,"

"Actually, it's not. It's Imira's," Dean reminded him.

"When she died, it was bestowed to me by our uncle," he, of course, was referring to the late King James. "It was one of his last decrees, he cannot undo it. Imira has no need for it. She's a Queen!"

"And James is the bloody King! He can do whatever he likes and you know it. Which brings me back to that girl," he took another sip from his drink, "He forbids your marriage to her and commands you to return home to sort out this mess you've created,"

"She has a name," Darren said irritated.

"I don't care," Dean said with a burst of mocking laughter. "I don't care what her name is or where she is from, how rich or how pretty she is or how good she is in the sack, you are not marrying her. You will return to Datram as our cousin instructs, and sort this mess out with the Acanthæans," he said firmly. It wasn't a discussion, it was a command from the King himself, there was no arguing.

"Yeah? You're gonna make me?" Darren challenged.

"Only if you put up a fight," Dean said calmly, emptying his glass.

"You and what army?" Darren mocked.

Dean shook his head and sighed as he placed the now empty glass down on a side table. "Darr, there is no reason to fight over this," He hadn't come for that.

"You're right," Darren stood up. "There isn't because what you speak of will never happen. Regardless of what you or James or anyone else has to say about it, I am marrying Lady Danielle. So you might as well wrap your heads around it because there is nothing you can say that will make me change my decision." He said adamantly. "Now, you are welcome to stay here as long as you want, you know where the guest rooms are, but if you are going to keep bringing this on, you might as well go back to Datram and tell James to figure something else out because, like it or not, I am marrying Lady Danielle,"