Last chapter: a little longer than the others. Enjoy and REVIEW!

BTW, I dont' really tie up my loose ends. Sorry for that.

Lyana came around soon after a drop from queen Lucy's magic potion bestowed upon her by the magnificent Aslan. She lay recovering on one of the fallen stone pillars in the tomb.

"You are awake," Caspian remarked suddenly, appearing at the girls' side.

Noticing the vacated mirror that had just moments ago held the White Witch's visage, Lyana looked up at him with relieved eyes.

"I knew you would not make a pact with the White Witch. You are far to kind for such a thing." Caspian only scoffed at her flattery.

"Kind? I have been called many things, but kind is not one of them. I… I wanted to kill my uncle! He's a murderer and a liar, and he deserves it… but how could I even think such a thing if I was kind?"

Lyana was taken aback by the broken monarch's confiding in her, though she was pleased he felt some sort of connection between them. She certainly did.

The way he moved, spoke, gestured, smiled… all those things, Lyana watched and adored. She couldn't let him think about himself this way.

"You just lost your way. It is easy to do so when the path is dark and unclear. You are in charge of making very hard decisions… and you can only be commended for what you have done so far."

This strong need to touch him is overwhelming…

Lyana reached out her pale hand and placed it on the side of Caspian's face, her fingers lying against his soft, dark hair. She'd never even conceived touching a male so intimately before this. Although this conflict between her native people and the Telmarines was hard on her, she couldn't ignore her instincts, which had been telling her to reach out to him this whole time.

"Lyana…" the exotic way he whispered her name made the girl blush, just before the four Pevensie children walked through the stone arch.

"The Telmarines are coming. They've completed the bridge across the river."

A gasp was heard around the circle, as the staggering Narnian army exchanged looks of worry.

"We have to find Aslan!" Lucy declared, walking over to Lyana and taking her hand. "You're friends with the forest, right? Couldn't you have the trees tell us where he is?"

The admiration the young queen held for her made Lyana uncomfortable. There were far too many people depending on her. Not just people… Narnians.

"The trees in these parts haven't spoken for many years. I don't think-"

"You have to try." Susan stared unwaveringly straight into the frightened unicorn-whisperer's eyes. The gaze turned from sensitive to harsh and demanding.

"Please, stop," Lyana pleaded, earning herself the gazes of all the Narnian's in the room. They were mumbling amongst themselves about the failure of the last scheme and how they shouldn't trust this white, foreign girl.

The leers of the creatures in the tomb was taking hold of her. She could feel the pressure from their eyes weighing down on her shoulders, like the weight of the world weighed on Atlas' shoulders.

Some looks held contempt, others reverence, disbelief, skepticism and annoyance. The only eyes not fixed upon her were those of Caspian. His soft brown gaze held the calm, refreshing waters of free spirit, and she was glad when her senses finally rested upon him, however, the demanding howls of the creatures forced her to flee the underground fortress.

"There goes our only chance of finding Aslan," Peter looked irritably from his sister, Susan to Edmund. Lucy had been the one to instigate the unicorn-girl's fear, so surely she could not go to fetch her. The most obvious choice would be Caspian, but he hadn't spoken up once during the uproar.

"I'll go," Edmund volunteered, removing his sword so that he could approach the girl without looking threatening. He wondered if the ethereal girl remembered him from the night she'd saved him from the tower.

***

The young king found the blonde princess right where he expected she would be; trying to talk to the trees to save the kingdom of Narnia from the plundering Telmarines.

"Lyana, was it?" he asked curiously, testing to see if her emotions were still full of fright as the moment before she'd fled the chamber.

"I'm Edmund, by the way," he continued, walking towards her. She ignored him, but only pressed both hands further against the tree bark.

"I know who you are. You are one of the sons of Adam." Edmund only strolled closer to where the girl was standing by the tree. Before he could place his hand on her shoulder, she moved to another birch, breathing in deeply before touching its harsh surface.

"They didn't mean to put so much pressure on you, you know. It's just… with the war and all, things get a little tense. My brother Peter is a bit touchy at times like these," Edmund explained. To his utter surprise, the girl Lyana smiled at him.

"I can see why. He's fought to save Narnia before, and now I have the fate of the world on my shoulders."

"Someone's got to do it," the freckled boy responded jokingly. He received another smile from the girl.

"So… I heard that you're engaged to Caspian," he started, nonchalantly, hoping that the question wasn't too intrusive. He was curious about the girl, and so far, she'd been a complete enigma.

"Yes. For the good of my people." The look in Lyana's deep sapphire eyes was melancholic and Edmund became confused. He knew from history books and such that loveless marriages were common among royalty, but this girl was a beautiful Narnian. Surely she could marry for love?

"Are you in love with him? Caspian, I mean."

"A strange question. I do not know what love is, exactly. I have only known the greed of the villagers in Daytaria, and the passion of the unicorns. Anything else is foreign to me. I do not mean to be ignorant-"

"No, no, it's actually quite refreshing. You know, I was once an adult," the young boy stuck his thumbs in his belt and puffed out his chest. Edmund had never known magic until he heard Lyana laugh at his gesture. When she did, the forest seemed to come alive.

"Refreshing? How so?" Lyana, tired of talking to dead, lifeless trees, retired to a bed of moss and motioned for the boy-king to sit beside her.

"Well… when we, my brother and sisters, I mean, used to live in Narnia, we'd been at Cair Paravel for close to thirteen hundred years. We thought we knew everything back then, 'specially Peter and Susan." Edmund rolled his eyes as he recalled their superiority over the two younger Pevensie children. He sighed.

"Have you ever known love, Edmund?" Lyana's hair billowed around her wistfully, like a white sea of rose petals dancing before her ice blue eyes.

"I'd like to think so, but when you live forever, it's more fun to become an observer."

Lyana's gaze fell on the forest floor. It must be hard to be such an old soul trapped in one so young looking, she thought wistfully, taking in a breath of sweet air before returning to her feet.

"I think… I could. Fall for him, I mean." Lyana sighed into the sweet wind before jumping at the sound of a horn far off towards Aslan's Howl.

"That's Susan! Come on, they must be in trouble!" Edmund urged, pulling the pale girl to her feet and racing back to their friends.

When the two arrived back at the fortress, the Terlmarines were already canvassing the field just outside. A surge of fear rushed through Lyana at the sight.

"No more games. We've got to find Aslan. Lucy, you and Lyana go ahead. We'll hold them off."

Immediately after Peter had spoken, a presence appeared at Lyana's side.

"Go now," Caspian whispered, leaning his forehead that perspired with worry over his fiancée onto her soft blonde hair.

"But Caspian, I don't know where to go-"

"I have faith in you," he replied just as softly as before, his tone radiating confidence and assurance. Then, to seal his belief, he placed a kiss on her hair, then her forehead, then her lips. It didn't last long, but it gave Lyana all that she needed before riding off into the forest with the youngest Pevensie behind her on a horse.

"Are you and Prince Caspian going to get married?" Lucy pried, offering up a subject that wasn't exactly relevant to the fact that they were speeding through the forest to save Narnia.

"Yes," Lyana replied briefly, gracing her fingers over her lips where Caspian's had been only moments before. She savored the taste silently before she was interrupted once more.

"That's good, because I can tell he fancies you."

Lyana blushed at the implication, however, she also basked in the emotion washing over her. To have the admiration and affection of another human being was… incredible.

The two princesses didn't have long to spare, however, because no sooner had they left the safety of the stone keep did they have Telmarine riders on their tail.

"You can feel Aslan, I know you can," Lyana encouraged Lucy, as the young queen looked hesitantly over her shoulder at her surrogate guardian.

"What are you going to do?" she began uneasily.

"Buy you some time," Lyana explained reluctantly, knowing that the odds facing her were slim to none. She would be battling six armed men on horseback.

But it would be a worthy sacrifice to see the Aslan reign once more.

With that, Lyana hefted one leg over the back of the black steed and landed swiftly on her feet, facing the Telmarines in her bedraggled nightgown with an old blade of Caspian's.

His sword fit easily in her small, smooth palms as she poised to defend her position on the hilltop. Slowly, her opponent's numbers were becoming smaller and smaller as Lyana clashed her steal with theirs, holding her courage strong within her as they attacked relentlessly.

One quick blow to her side left Lyana sprawling in the dirt. She threw her blonde hair over her shoulder, only to have it grabbed from behind by an enemy soldier. He slipped the blade in front of her neck, making a small red slash in her alabaster skin as he jerked her hair.

Lyana let out a cry as the remaining soldiers approached, ready to take their prize, however, the sound of desperate hoof-beats alerted the gruff men that someone was coming.

Before she knew it, Lyana was being hoisted onto a horse from behind, and her opponents were dropping like flies.

"Are you hurt?" Caspian whispered, lifting one hand from the reins to graze the slash on his fiancé's neck.

"I'm fine," she assured him as they rode silently back to the keep. Lyana reveled in the feeling of having Caspian hold her so close. The magnetism she felt between herself and her prince was undeniable, and even in the midst of something as dark and brutal as war, she could still feel a blossom of hope.

Perhaps love can be born from darkness, she thought in wonder as she rested her hand on Caspian's.

What they found when they returned to the front lines was less than spectacular.

"Peter and Miraz are fighting to the death," Edmund informed them bluntly as the chaos ensued. Caspian gritted his teeth as his uncle pounded a fierce blow into High King Peter with his armor faced cuff.

But when Peter finally had Miraz on his knees, Caspian tensed beside Lyana. She looked up into his conflicted brown eyes.

"You don't have to do this," she whispered, understanding the choice that he was faced with.

"I know," he responded curtly, taking Peter's sword and brandishing it as if to strike his helpless, bloodthirsty uncle.

"But I am not like you," Caspian admitted, slamming the blade into the stone courtyard angrily, and stepping back from his kneeling uncle, who was bowed shamefully on the ground at his feet.

Lyana sighed in relief, although deep in her heart, she knew that Caspian would not have done such a thing.

The battle raged on, however, as the traitorous Telmarines struck viciously at the unprepared Narnians, breaking the silent truce enacted during the duel between the two kings and attacking mercilessly. Lyana raged through the torrent, searching helplessly for respite as wave after wave of Telmarine soldiers attempted to vanquish her.

Blade against blade, friend against foe, the Narnians held off until at last, a glimmer of relief found them as the forest roared to life. Lyana's face lit up with wonder as the trees began hoisting their roots out of the soil to tear down the enemy trebuchets.

The young queen must have found Aslan, Lyana thought hopefully as the Narnian forces drove the Telmarines to the river.

**

When at last Aslan and the Narnians had taken the day, Lyana, the four kings and queens of old, and Caspian knelt before the great lion.

"Rise, kings and queens of Narnia," he softly demanded, his deep, powerful voice echoed over the water as the Narnian soldiers relieved the Telmarines of their weapons. Lyana and Caspian had stayed dormant, silently waiting for his approval. It was not long before he rose to the occasion.

"You two as well," he softly demanded, calling forth the new king of Telmar and his soon to be wife.

"Your friends have told me much about you," Aslan began, inclining his head towards Lyana who curtsied shyly in the presence of such a powerful Narnian. Apparently Aslan had employed the unicorns to take queen Lucy to safety after the final steps of the battle.

They have not forgotten me, Lyana thought wistfully. She missed them and their soothing presence in such trying times.

"They tell me you not only protected them with your magic, but also the humans, and for that, I thank you. Your marriage has my blessing," the great lion continued smiling as best as a lion could towards Lyana and Caspian who stood side by side amongst the Pevensie children.

"Thank you," Lyana finally managed, gazing anxiously at Caspian to observe his reaction. Now that Miraz was no longer in control and half of the royal advisors were gone, there was no longer a need for the marriage. It would most likely be the first of his many decrees to come.

"Thank you, sir, but-" Caspian began, meeting Lyana's hesitant blue stare with a concerned one.

"-I will only marry Lyana… should she choose to be my bride."

The forest princess's face lit up and Caspian noticed it immediately and took her soft hand into his own.

"I do," she whispered, intertwining her fingers with his.

**

"We can't stay for the wedding?" Lucy complained, flopping down on Susan's bed in the Telmar keep. The Pevensie children had decided to meet with both the Telmarine prince and his fiancée to discuss possible routes to return to England.

"You know we can't," Susan retorted, trying to talk some sense into her sister.

"We don't belong here Lu. Caspian can take it from here," Peter spoke up, looking warily from Lucy to Caspian, who stood with his hands crossed in front of him, simply listening.

"It's alright Lucy. It just means next time I see you we'll have something fun to talk about," Lyana offered, taking a seat beside the young queen, letting her blonde hair billow out behind her.

"What's done is done. Aslan is sending us home today."

**

"Where do you think they went to?" Lyana asked innocently that night, deciding to cast protocol and tradition to the wind as she sat, without a chaperone in Caspian's room-now the suite of the king.

"Home, I guess," he responded tacitly, moving to sit beside her on the bed, taking the brush from her hand that was absent-mindedly combing through her luxurious hair.

"What is wrong?" she asked curiously, taking his nervous hands into hers and trying to find an answer in his deep, thoughtful eyes.

The candle light only flickered in response as he averted his gaze.

"I don't know if I'm ready," his voice was full of doubt and worry at the events ahead.

"To be married or to be king?" she smiled lightheartedly, squeezing his hand reassuringly and using her free one to tilt his chin towards her. Once more, her blue eyes searched his.

"How do you do that," he asked with mock curiosity, accepting her concern as he began to brush her hair once more.

"Do what?" she laughed.

"Make me feel like I can do anything?"

Lyana blushed and turned her head bashfully from his watchful eyes.

"All I do is let you be you. You can do anything!" she sighed, hoping that he would finally see the light. He only smiled and leaned towards her, capturing a light kiss from her surprised lips. She loved the sensation. It sent butterflies flitting through her body and made her excited.

"Marry me," Caspian whispered, pushing her back on the bed and clasping her hands in his- pinning them above her head.

"Too late. I'm already engaged to someone," Lyana quipped leaning up to receive another kiss that took her breath away. The King however, pulled away, leaving her wanting.

"Oh? Tell me about him," he pressed, waiting for her response as he rested, poised over her body that lay prone beneath him.

"Well, for starters, he's crushing me," she began, speaking in a slightly strained voice as if to prove her point. Caspian chuckled deeply in response and rolled off to one side, making certain he could still hold her close to him.

"-and he's always on my mind," she continued, the blush on her cheeks growing ever brighter as she lay next to him… in his quarters, alone.

"-and every time he kisses me, my heart sings-"

Before she could finish, Caspian closed the distance between them and graced her with the kiss she'd been longing for. His lips touched hers with confidence, softly moving against her small, pink mouth that tasted sweet… just for him.

"Do I know this man, that intrigues you so?" Caspian pried mockingly, planting soft kisses lower and lower on her neck.

"Yes," she whispered airily in response, answering his questions even if they were silly and rhetorical.

"He is a lucky man. And if he loves her as much as I do, he'll be by your side always."

Lyana was shocked to here those words out of his mouth.

There it is again… love. I… I…

"I love you," she murmured, as if her words were meant for his ears alone, for all eternity.

Caspian moved forward so his arms could encircle his fiancée. The moon set quietly over Telmar as the king and his bride fell asleep in each others arms.

Sappy ending, I know, but I hope you liked it. I started writing it like, in November of last year! REVIEW!

~DMar