Lokane/Janduil Prompt#1: Generosity for lianaslane

Prompt: Thranduil gives Jane a gift and Loki is not pleased by that.

Author's note: There's no real chronological order to these drabbles. Some will be purely Lokane, some purely Janduil, others a mix of the two, and some will be Lokanduil (LokixJanexThranduil).

Warnings: Light sensuality.

The necklace of rubies around her neck burned like fire in the light of the candles. In their depths, they were ever-shifting, morphing effortlessly from one shade to another, from the red of autumn leaves crushed underfoot to the liquid flames of the sun at twilight, and then to the deep, dark red of blood. It sat only lightly on her neck, tight but not uncomfortable against her skin, the cold metal warmed by the pounding of blood through her veins, perfectly showcased by the low neckline of her gown.

Jane wasn't sure the choker, while absolutely beautiful, was entirely appropriate for a simple guest of the Elvenking. When he had presented it to her, it was only slow thinking on Jane, that and pure shock, that had stopped her from coming up with an excuse to refuse the gift. If the stares she was getting were any indication, she wasn't the only one who was shocked by the Elvenking's generosity.

Said Elvenking was sat at her side, in a high set chair, intricately carved with antler motifs. Jane privately wondered what was with all the antler motifs and decorations around the Elvenking's palace. Compensating for something maybe?

Jane smiled at the thought. Beside her, Thranduil watched her attentively, intrigued by her smile. In the months of their acquaintance since he had secured the All-Father's permission for Jane to prolong her visit, he had often watched that slow, wry smile stretch her lips and wondered what lay behind it. Was it amusement? Mockery? Or did imaginings of a more pleasant nature sometimes tempt her attention away from the waking world?

It had been some months before Thranduil could admit, either to himself or to others such as his son, that he possessed an interest in the fragile but steely little mortal woman. She was as lovely as a flower in the Spring, but filled with all the burning tempestuousness of a fire-drake. She possessed all the curiosity of an elfling, yet had a wisdom and maturity despite her youth that made her seem so much older than her mere thirty solar years. Their many conversations together had tempted and teased, rather than sated, his desire to know her more. And another desire licked at the edges of their interaction, he was certain of it. She was as drawn to him as he was to her…

"What, pray tell, is making my Lady smile?" he asked quietly. Jane jumped slightly, glancing up at him with her doe-ish eyes wide and surprised. Truly, she had been far in mind from the feast, meant to welcome the return of both Thor and the All-Father to their halls.

"Oh." She paused, clearly reluctant to speak her mind for once, before her smile returned. "I was just wondering, Your Majesty, about the decor. Why all the antlers?"

Thranduil smiled to himself. "The antlers are a symbol. The proud Elk and the noble Stag, and their kindred, are symbols of my line and my house," he explained.

"Ah," Jane nodded. Again, that bewitching smile.

"Why is it that I sense there is more to your thought than you wish to tell, Lady Jane?" he asked, a slight teasing tone to his stern voice, as Jane smirked.

"There may be," she admitted. "But that would be telling."

"I am a King. Surely my commands are enough?" Thranduil retorted, deliberately invoking her defiant spirit, watching as it sparked in her eyes as she replied.

"Wild horses couldn't drag it from me, so I doubt you could," she stated archly, making Thranduil chuckle. Clear as a bell, the sound reverberated through the feasting hall, making all pause in their conversation to take in the sight of the mighty Elvenking and the diminutive mortal woman, clad in flowing red silks and the King's gift, conversing so intimately.

Too intimately for some guests' liking. Jane felt a familiar gaze on her, and inwardly shivered, but refused to do anything else but ignore it, her attention taken up by the powerful and challenging man beside her. "It's a secret I will take to my grave," she continued, as Thranduil's laughter lessened, and he reached for her hand.

Almost against her will, Jane's lungs tightened and her dress felt far too tight. Her body was as taut as a bowstring, and she swallowed hard, conscious of the gazes of all on them both, but most especially of one, sat not far away, his single fierce eye glaring in disapproval, and if she didn't know better, jealousy.

Uncaring and unaware of any disapproval, either from his guests or his subjects, Thranduil snared Jane's hand and lifted it to his lips. He pressed a courtly kiss to her hand, while beneath where his fingers held her wrist, he trailed a subtle caress across the inner face. He felt her tremble with satisfaction as he replied, low and intimate, "That day, I pray, is a long time off yet."

Later that evening, Jane escaped Thranduil and his unnerving presence to the blessedly empty and dimly lit corridor outside the feasting hall. Once again, her fingers drifted across the hard stones of his gift to her, and she felt her mind slip away, down into remembered sensations of hard lips against her skin, and long fingers caressing the thudding point of her pulse on her wrist.

"That is a very beautiful necklace, my Lady. Who gave it you?" a familiar, and vehemently disliked, voice demanded commandingly. Jane stiffened and spun to find the All-Father watching her from the shadows of the archway to the feasting hall, his single eye all but blazing. His piercing gaze made her just as uncomfortable as Thranduil's heated eyes, and she fought the urge to fidget like a child caught doing something naughty.

"King Thranduil. He learned that it was my birthday today, or would have been back on Earth, and gave it to me as a gift," she explained coolly, refusing to lose her composure in front of Thor's father. Since their mutual agreement to be just friends, she had hoped that his father might be less disapproving now she was no longer a threat to his plans for Thor and Sif, but he looked on her often with either disapproval or disdain. When he was around, that is. This was the first time she'd seen him since she and Thor left Asgard to come to Middle-Earth.

"How…generous," the All-Father drawled. For a moment, memories of a pale, dark-haired trickster intruded and Jane mentally flinched. So often, she saw more of Loki in Odin than she ever did in Thor, and she often thought of the reprobate God of Mischief. She knew his death still hung as a shadow over Thor, and she didn't like admitting it, but over her as well.

For days now, ever since her stay in Mirkwood had been lengthened indefinitely, she had been having dreams at night, some heated and so explicit Jane blushed to think of them, others cold and threatening, others almost warm and convival, full of conversations with a long-dead war criminal and psychopath. Jane didn't want to ponder how insane it made her that she dreamed of Loki, when he was dead, when he was responsible for so much evil, and yet a part of her was drawn to her host.

Reminded of it, and of the disapproval she'd felt all evening at their closeness, the All-Father's words made her bristle. "Yes, very generous. The King has been nothing but kind and welcoming to me. Unlike some I could mention," Jane replied pointedly, Dorwinion wine and pride making her reckless. With that, she turned on her heel and walked away but not before the All-Father's words made her pause, just for a moment.

"Thranduil has better taste than even I gave him credit for. A fiery gift for a woman made of fire," he called to her, almost tauntingly, with an edge of suggestion that Jane dismissed a moment later. She walked away without another word.

Loki watched her go, and he could see his words had affected her. He'd known allowing Jane to remain in Thranduil's care had been dangerous, but he had not found any excuse to refuse the Elf's request without arousing suspicion. What would the All-Father care about one insignificant little mortal?

He had contrived an excuse to visit after several months, and what he saw, he liked not one bit. The King and Jane were much closer than before, and his spies told him the King was much enamoured of her.

It seemed that despite the dream visits he had made to Jane, the dark encounters that had eventually given way to nightly conversations and the passionate interludes as the little astrophysicist gave in to her repressed desire for him, believing it safe in her dreams, Thranduil's hold over her was only strengthening.

I'll have to pay her another visit tonight then. Time to remind her who she belongs to…

As Jane walked down the corridor to her rooms, she felt a ice cold breeze lift the curls of her hair, caressing the nape of her neck through Thranduil's gift, and shuddered. Oh well, there goes any hope of a dreamless sleep tonight then…Jane sighed, even as her hand came up once more to drift across the result of Thranduil's generosity at her throat.