cribellate | narnia au;

[She raises her head, imperious, like a queen.]

"Sir, he goes where I go."

[The tone of her voice says that she will not stand for arguments on this.]

[George smiles at that, curling his finger under her chin.]

Then I'll be satisfied, my queen.

Yes?

Good.

[She holds his hand as they go back, almost until they’re at the tents, and it’s less quiet the rest of the way. Certainly, people comment on it; they say clearly that Lucy is brighter, so perhaps whatever it was that was bothering her bothers her no longer.

She stays cheerful as they arrive, through the welcomes and the changing and the eternal endless parades. Her apartments are less expansive, her guard expected to quarter with the rest of the Archenland guards, and there are formalities to their relationship.

The first dinner is an enormous party, wild, and the oddest thing happens - it’s George who attracts attention today. It gets worse over the next few days, when a maid begins to flirt with him - persistently, constantly, sending extra sweets to him and giving him care and the extra consideration of a woman who sees what she wants.

It’s on the morning of their third day that Lucy opens the door to find him with a flower behind his ear and this girl talking to him and she opens her mouth, closes it, and feels a green viper of jealous sting her.

Do you not have duties, Lucy asks, ungenerous, before she scoots away with a blush and a look at George, again.]

Perhaps I should have sent you home.

[George has been out of sorts since they reached Archenland. The routine is different. He no longer sleeps at Lucy's side, and the manners of the court are different. He feels like he has to learn a whole new protocol, and it's not comfortable.

The attention is almost worse, even if it is mostly positive, but eventually that gets easier to handle.

Flirting and anything related has always been sort of a mystery to George. When girls are flirting with him, he mostly can't tell, and that's not something that he's developed since arriving in Calormen. So when the maid talks to him, sends him sweets, tucks a flower behind his ear, he doesn't at first see anything to it.

Not until he sees the look on Lucy's face as the girl scurries off.]

Majesty?

[She looks at him, confused, practically bumbling. Boys. Boys are so stupid.]

Are you carrying on a romance of your own?

[Her eyebrows are up, and she’s jealous, but she’s also trying not to be unkind.]

[George's brow furrows, and he takes the flower from behind his ear.]

No? Your majesty...

[He glances down the corridor and leans closer, his voice lower.]

You know you have my heart.

I know.

But she is very forward.

[She scowls.]

No one would say a thing if you kissed her. They would commend you.

[But if he kissed Lucy where anyone could see-

-they have a complicated affair.]

[George feels that complication too. Even more now that they're separated more than usual. Especially with Lucy's lordling flitting about.]

You wouldn't, though.

Is she really being forward?

George.

She would kiss you now, if you only bent down a little.

[Oh boy, George.]

I miss you.

Oh.

[Beyond his general obliviousness, George's definition of "forward" likely doesn't match Lucy's.]

I miss you too.

[He didn't think he would, so much, not when he can still see her every day.]

[He looks down the hall.]

You ought to come in.

[He doesn't ask if she's sure. He knows her better than that by now. Instead he nods, and smiles in a way he only smiles for Lucy.]

After you, majesty.

[This is a smaller room than the one back home, and the moment the door clothes she practically launches herself on him, kisses him on the mouth, and kisses him again, tangling her fingers in his hair.]

By the Lion, I thought that my heart would stop when I saw her with you.

[George wraps his arms around her and lifts her from her feet to kiss her.]

You didn't really think that I would want her, did you? When I have you?

[She kisses him, and kisses him, and kisses him.]

No, I would never imagine you leaving me.

I would never imagine-

[But there's another kiss.]

But I have missed you so much.

[George laughs as she kisses him, and he spins to sit on the bed with her in his lap.]

Tell me we don't come to Archenland often?

Because there are too many thunderstorms.

[Lucy is terrified of thunder, finding her way under beds or into Peter's bed, as though she is not an adult.]

And I can't hold you when they come.

[He kisses the corner of her mouth and then along the line of her jaw.]

If one comes while we are here, I will find you.

[She lifts her chin, so he can kiss her neck, and runs her hands down his shoulders.]

I will trust no one else.

[George's kisses are lingering, moving in a slow path down her neck to her shoulder.]

If one comes I will find you. Let anyone try to stand in my way.

Yes?

[Her heart flutters, and she shifts a little into his lap, and bends her head, over George's curls.]

Please don't forget that. Come find me, always.

Always.

[His answer is murmured against her skin, but then he pulls back to look her in the eye.]

I will always come find you. Always.

[Not only in a thunderstorm.]

[She nudges him a little, this hands, so she can stand, and she takes her time, now. Undressing, most of the time, it's complicated, because there are ties and stays and laces. But she starts with her overdress, undoing the ties, and then pulling it off.]

You must pay attention. You will need to help me put it back on.

[She reaches behind her and tugs at her stays.]

And perhaps take it off.

[George huffs out a soft laugh. As if he isn't drinking in every detail of this moment.]

Believe me, I'm paying attention.

[He watches her fingers as they move, and his mouth goes dry, so he swallows and smiles a little. His voice is gruff.]

Very close attention.

[She takes her bodice off, and then all that’s left is her petticoats and her white chemise. She tugs that off her shoulders so she is bare from the waist up. She looks like she has been made from marble, her skin is so creamy, her nipples rosy.

Her skin is flushing with heat.]

Should you like to touch?

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