sweat trickled down from her hairline to the collar of her nightgown. A faint throbbing arose in her right shoulder and all that had happened, thundered down on Lucy's mind with the strength of a tidal wave.

'Rose,' Lucy whispered, her gaze flying around the hospital wing that she instantly recognised as Cair Paravel's, but she was all alone here. Guilt bubbled up in her chest as she weighed the possibility that Rosaleen was still imprisoned.

Lucy pushed the blankets away and a shiver ran down her spine when her bare feet touched the cold marble stones.

'Hello?' she called out to the descending darkness, but no one answered her. The castle seemed eerily silent. After taking a deep breath, Lucy pushed herself off the bed and set course towards the oaken doors of the hospital wing, but before she could open them, the water nymph Daphne swung them open from the other side. Both let out a yelp in surprise and Daphne put a hand on her heart to calm it down. Her blue hair cascaded gracefully down her back and a twinkle appeared in her eyes when she registered the person in front of her as Lucy.

'Queen Lucy,' Daphne said, a wide smile tugging at her lips and she dropped in a curtsy. 'Bless Aslan, you're awake. But you shouldn't be out of bed yet, you've been unconscious for nearly two weeks.'

'Two weeks?' Lucy repeated with a gasp and her heart continued to beat just as fast as after the surprise of the suddenly opening doors.

'Your shoulder wound got badly infected, your Majesty. It took me a while to get the fever and infection out of your body.'

Lucy's hand ghosted over her shoulder that had luckily started to heal and she tried to make peace with the amount of time that had already passed. 'Where is Rosaleen? Did they save her?'

Daphne rose up from her curtsy and nodded. 'Lady Rosaleen is perfectly safe, she's right there in the bed next to yours.'

Lucy spun around on her heels, her nightgown fluttering around her posture, but the bed next to hers was empty and Daphne frowned.

'That's odd,' the naiad said but then she let out a sigh. 'She probably left again without my permission. Do not worry, your Majesty, I'll find her, but you should get back into bed. Rest, heal, regain your strength.'

Lucy cast a thoughtful look at Daphne, the hallways beyond the hospital wings were still strangely quiet. 'Where is everyone?' she asked.

'On their way to Anvard, your Majesty, to wage war.'

Both turned back to face the doorway though, when the sound of footsteps rose up in the distance. The footsteps grew in strength and number as if a whole army marched through the castle and Daphne pushed Lucy behind her back when Rosaleen and Estrella appeared in the door opening. They were flanked and followed by dozens of Narnians, but Lucy knew something was off when all of their eyes lit up in a flash of silver at the same time; all but Estrella's.

'That's unfortunate,' Rosaleen said when her gaze fell upon the awake Lucy. 'You could have had a peaceful death in your sleep.'

Daphne pushed Lucy towards the wall with the secret servant corridor. 'Run, your Majesty,' she ordered, taking a defensive stance and the water in the carafe on Lucy's nightstand flew towards the nymph's outstretched hand, but Lucy shook her head in bewilderment, the tears springing in her eyes as she looked at Rosaleen.

'Rose, what are you doing?'

Rosaleen smirked. 'Taking over Cair Paravel now that there's almost no one here to defend it.'

Daphne let out a low growl and she transformed the bubble of water into a string, rolling it out as a whip towards the blonde who dodged it at an unnatural speed. 'Go, Lucy! Get out of here, to live and tell your brothers and sister what happened. Run!'

For a moment, Lucy's eyes shot between Daphne and Rosaleen, her heart torn once more when she had to leave someone behind to save herself, just as when she had to leave Rosaleen behind in the hands of their abductors. A tear escaped out of the corner of Lucy's eyes, but then she turned around and sprinted towards the servants' corridor hidden within the walls.

Lucy ran through the maze-like tunnels as fast as she could, eventually reaching the courtyard with the secret staircase leading all the way down towards the beach, but when she looked up at the castle, she knew Cair Paravel had fallen as the dark sea stilled for a moment to honour its lost and gone water nymph. . .

•✶•━━━━━━━━━━━━•✶•