I wrote this oneshot as a cathartic, smutty exploration of an alternate path, pairing Elizabeth and Legolas (Legoliz) from my story Lost to the Ages, and to make up for all the angst poor Legolas deals with in LTTA. I wanted to see the sweet prince happy, and this story assumes no romance between Thranduil and Elizabeth, just friendship, with a long-standing attraction between E and L. (Although I do give just a small twist of the angst knife to Thranduil in this. If Legolas has to suffer in LTTA, then the Elvenking gets to do it in this. Yes, I know I'm cruel. Sorry.)
There are a good many references to Lost to the Ages here, but I think it still works as a stand-alone, so you don't have to read that story for this one to make sense. :) I may come back and write a longer, more detailed multi-chapter tale at a later time with this pairing, but for now I'm marking this complete.
Hope you like it!
Legolas watched Elizabeth from the shadowed boughs of the tree he was concealed in, as he had taken to doing frequently over time. It began many years before when he had followed her trail into the woods, worried, and if he had to admit it, a little jealous over the gossip he had heard about her and his father being closeted in her room that time after the feast, unfounded though it turned out to be.
He had not realized how his feelings of friendship for her had grown so strong until then, how frantic with worry he had been when the first spider moved to attack her, and how swiftly he had let his arrows fly to prevent it. Though she laughed off the danger as though it were unimportant, he found himself in a near constant state of anxiety over her, obsessing about how few years of life she might have left. Her humanity seemed to render her even more delicate and vulnerable in his eyes.
Until that day. That horrific, terrifying, wonderful day. When she stabbed herself before his eyes and revealed her quick healing and immortality achieved through magic water she drank hundreds of years before he ever met her. Oh, glorious day! Never would he have to give her up to age and decay. She was like one of his own people, yet still with all the charm and allure in the ways of her own human kind.
It was when he had been faced with her imminent death and the sight of her blood that he actually discovered he was truly lost. Lost to her smile, her kindness. Lost to the feel of her in his arms when they danced in the way she taught him, all sensuality, enveloping warmth and desire. Things he had never much felt or even had an interest in before she came into his life. But he felt them now.
The stirring in his body was like the first, gasping breath when you broke the surface of a lake, hungry for air. Elizabeth was his air, and he was desperate to breathe her in. She was water, and he wanted to plunge deep and drown in her waves. She was the very essence of fire, consuming him in passion and a burning blaze in his blood. She was earth in that he wanted to plant himself in the rich soil of her fëa and entwine his own with hers. When the wind blew with the tantalizing scent of roses, she became it too, tugging gently on his hair as she liked to do to tease him.
Yes, tease him...everything about her teased and delighted his senses, but it wasn't only that. Her mind was just as alluring; her knowledge and wit, her insight and humor. Ah, her humor. There was never a time they were together when they didn't laugh, and he had a perpetual smile for days after he spent time with Elizabeth, to the point where his friends in the guard always knew when he had been with her.
It was a kind of madness. For the sixty years he had known her, he had slowly been going completely mad...and he knew, in every part of his being that he would never recover. His heart had chosen his path for him long before, but still he hesitated. There was one thing he was yet uncertain of...and that was what lay in Elizabeth's heart.
She loved him, he knew that much, he could see it in her every look and laugh and it shone from her eyes; but that was the caring of friendship. Did she even want more? Did he dare to risk the perfection of their beautiful friendship on the allure of romantic love and the prize of a possible life together?
That was the question he did not yet have the answer to, and why he had been delaying speaking to her. Since they returned from the battle at Dale, where he had felt a keen anger toward her for the very first time and strongly berated her for the gamble she took in coming to the battle and risking her life in fighting, they had hardly talked at all.
Oh, they had mended their quarrel enough to resume their usual activities together; sword training in the yards, evenings spent in the great hall around the fire with all their other friends, drinking wine and singing songs. But they hadn't spent any time alone, nor shared any private conversation. A rift had somehow grown between them, and he felt the claws of a wild-eyed beast of desperation beginning to take hold of him the longer things carried on without a resolution.
Winter had turned to spring, and then spring to summer, with Elizabeth spending more time in the woods. He followed her often, but he did not speak nor reveal himself. Sometimes he wondered if she knew he was there, when he would find rose petals thrown down in the path she trod. He had been teasingly calling her his English rose for more than a year, after she explained the meaning to him, and he half allowed himself to hope it was some sort of silent message to him. Although he was at a loss as to how to interpret it if it was.
He rubbed a hand across his forehead in agitation. Why did he continue to hesitate? This was the closest he had gotten to her on their woodland jaunts, as she was just beyond where he sat in the low branches of a tree. Today she had gone to a solitary spring that he had shown her once, that few others knew of. It was one of the only water sources in the entire northern woods that was safe to touch and drink, and even warm enough to bathe in.
"Legolas!"
His head shot up and swiveled to the side in surprise. So, she did know he was there. He felt a smile pull at his lips as he jumped down and landed silently on the ground, turning to walk to her when he heard a loud splash and stopped, shocked by the flash of pale skin he had unmistakably seen when she jumped into the spring. His eyes scanned the nearby rocks, and he quickly realized she was swimming without her clothes.
Her head broke the surface of the water and she swiped the drops of liquid from her face and smiled. "Come join me, my prince, the water is lovely!"
He could clearly see the bare skin of her shoulders above the surface of the spring, while her long, dark hair floated around her in a concealing black cloud. The Prince of Greenwood was frozen in place, too entranced by the sight before him to move either forward or back.
"Are you swimming...naked?" he asked hesitantly.
She leaned her arms on the stone edge of the pool and rested her chin on top, studying him with a smile. "Yeeeessss. Do you bathe with your clothes on?"
He swallowed and shook his head. "No, I do not."
"Well. There you go then." She leaned her head back, baring an expanse of pale throat and her upper chest. He knew he should really turn away, but he honestly couldn't, too mesmerized by the vision that greeted his gaze.
She looked at him and smirked, a challenge in her gray-green eyes. "Take your clothes off and come in here with me; you can think of it as a new cultural experience of public baths like I once told you about. There's no one else around to see….just us."
His lips parted in surprise at her words. "You want me to...join you? In the nude?"
Elizabeth laughed and tilted her head. "I suppose you could jump in with all your clothes on, but that seems rather cowardly." Her eyes crinkled with suppressed mirth. "Are you afraid of me, Legolas? I'm only a woman, it's not as though I can overpower you or force you to do anything against your will. And I promise to keep my eyes closed until after you're in, if that helps."
He narrowed his eyes at her obvious tactic but firmed his mouth, decided. "Fine, I will come in with you, if you wish it, but I hope you are aware of what you are risking with me. I am made of flesh, Elizabeth, not stone."
Though there is a part of me that more resembles the stone, just now, he finished silently. He sat down next to the pool on one of the larger boulders and began removing his weapons and boots.
She turned and swam lazily across to the other side of the pool from where he sat and scoffed. "I risk nothing with you, my sweet and innocent prince. If anything, you should fear my corrupting influence."
He rolled his eyes, though she did not see. "Innocence of action does not equate to ignorance of the mind, lady, and I have had an age to acquire knowledge compared to your brief centuries. I am very well educated in all you imply. Perhaps you had best be warned my blood runs hot before you attempt to tease me any further."
Peeling off his tunic, he turned slightly and was treated to the sight of Elizabeth's bare back and bottom as she swam away from him, and he felt the staggering force of desire hit him like a punch in the gut. "Sweet Elbereth, give me strength," he breathed.
Turning over, her hair surrounding her again in a dark mass, but doing little to hide her form from him, she examined his lean-muscled arms and chest with interest even as his eyes were glued to her body, entirely bared to him in the clear water. Lifting a brow, she turned away.
"Leggings off too, you must embrace the experience fully. If I'm in my birthday suit, you have to be as well, that way we're equal."
He yanked his pants off, muttering too quietly under his breath for her to hear. "Equal? There is nothing equal about this. If we survive this madness without my ravishing you, I shall call it a miracle."
"Hurry up," she urged, grinning when she heard and felt the splash when he jumped in. His head broke the water, and he zeroed in on her immediately with the focused stare of a hunter, swimming forward until he had her pinned against the wall of rock, his hands resting on the stone on either side of her, hemming her in.
He looked down at her and smirked, water dripping from his soaked braids and cascading down his face and muscled shoulders. "It's really lovely weather we are having on this fine summer day, don't you think, my lady? Though it may perhaps rain later."
She laughed, resting her hands flat against his chest. "Oh, do you truly expect it will rain, Legolas? I think the heat may drive it away."
Their smiles faded to seriousness, a tension and energy vibrating invisibly in the air between them. Slowly, he lifted one of his hands and cupped her cheek, encouraged by the openness he read in her eyes.
"I've missed you desperately, Elizabeth. You don't know how I've been longing to spend time with you, just the two of us."
She lifted a teasing brow. "I hate to be the one to tell you, Your Royal Highness, but following me silently through the woods doesn't exactly equate to time spent together, even if it has been just the two of us."
He shrugged and grinned, unrepentant. "Twas better than nothing." He drew a breath and released it slowly. "In truth," he said, quickly growing sober, "I wasn't sure you wished to be near me again. After I berated you outside Dale… I must ask you to forgive me for my anger. You did not deserve it..."
She raised a hand and rested her fingers against his mouth, stopping his words. He kissed her fingertips, then wrapped his own fingers around her wrist and moved her palm up to his lips, holding her eyes with the intensity of his gaze while he kissed her there. His bright, blue-eyed regard bore searchingly into her, laying bare all that he was feeling, and declaring his longing and desires without speaking a single word aloud.
With a small sound, she pulled her hand away and wrapped her arms around him, bringing her body flush against his and making him groan at the electric feel of their bare skin sliding together, even as he pulled her tighter to him when his arms closed around her.
With her ear pressed against the wall of his chest, all she could hear was the pounding of his heart, racing against the pounding of her own. Her fingers slid across his upper back in a light caress and further down, following the line of his spine, a half-strangled groan spilling from his throat at the temptation of her touch.
"Elizabeth, don't," he pleaded. "I'm not strong enough to..."
"Touch me, Legolas, please. I want you to."
He reached for her chin and tilted her face up to his, studying her eyes keenly. "Let there be no misunderstanding between us… You want this? If we follow this path we flirt with now and join our bodies, we will be wed in the ways of my people, Elizabeth, and no going back. Would you belong to me forever and become my wife?" He smiled and stroked her face, still searching her eyes. "You have my heart, Elizabeth Seymour, but do I have yours? Do you love me as I love you?"
She drew a deep breath and nodded solemnly. "Of course I love you, you adorable, blind fool of a prince. I have loved you for so long, but you're taking too bloody long to do anything about it, like a typical elf. I was finally desperate enough to attempt to seduce you today, just to move things along."
A smile spread across his face at her words, and he laughed joyfully, lowering his head. "My beautiful, sharp-tongued English rose. My love." Taking her lips with his, he kissed her slowly, tugging at her full bottom lip with his teeth before sweeping into her mouth, seeking her tongue. She dueled him alluringly, and he groaned again at the feel and taste of her, dropping his hands to cup her bottom and pull her tightly against the place he burned most for her, pulsing between them.
"I think.." she said between kisses, "we should get out of the water for now, so we can touch each other more easily."
He nodded, continuing to kiss her. "That is a fine suggestion, but where?" He lifted his head, glancing around before he looked at her again, a hesitance in his expression. "Elizabeth...we can wait and do this properly, if you prefer. Exchange betrothal rings; get married a year hence, according to tradition."
She reached down and wrapped her fingers firmly around him, thumb moving in a slow circle and smiling teasingly at his shuddering intake of air. "Do you truly want to wait? Because it doesn't feel like it to me." Elizabeth pressed her lips to his chin, then to the corner of his mouth, whispering her words against his skin. "You're the woodland prince, Legolas, so take me in the woods and hang everything else."
Looking down into her eyes with a passionate hunger, his voice dropped deeper. "As you wish, my lady. It shall be my absolute pleasure to do your bidding." He swooped her up in strong arms and strode to the steps leading out of the water, and she wrapped her arms around his neck while he walked, kissing his face and along the edge of his pointed ear, making him nearly pant with desire.
Laying her on a patch of soft grass near the spring, Legolas leaned down, kissing his way across her neck and collarbones, to her breasts. He settled down and proceeded to worship her body, kneading and sucking the sensitive peaks of her nipples, then sliding his fingers between her thighs until she was moaning and thrashing beneath him in desperation.
"My prince, please...don't tease me any longer."
Kissing across her belly, he slipped his fingers through her dewy wetness and inside to test her readiness, shuddering with need at the feel of the hot slickness there. Meeting her desire-filled gaze with his own, he moved up to cup her face tenderly and gathered her against him.
"Elizabeth, I swear by Eru Iluvatar to love and cherish you through all eternity and beyond, as your devoted husband."
She smiled, her eyes filling with tears. "Legolas, I swear by Eru Iluvatar to love, honor and adore you for all our days and beyond, as your very devoted wife."
His own eyes growing misty, he leaned down and kissed her softly, joining their bodies in one smooth thrust of his hips that had them both moaning in delight. He hovered just above her mouth, staring into her eyes in wonder while he adjusted to the overwhelming feeling of being so deep inside her and becoming a part of the woman he loved.
"Elizabeth... Meril nin." (My rose.)
She wrapped her legs around his and gripped his strong shoulders, loosing herself in his beautiful eyes of brightest blue and meeting his movements with her own. "My fairy tale, elf prince...I love you so," she whispered in English. "I have been yours since our eyes first met."
Kissing her again and again, his hands roaming her body and touching her everywhere, his movements gradually increased to a quicker pace, their breaths coming faster as they rocked and moved together, Legolas breathing his surprisingly seductive words of gentle command into her ear.
"Tolo an nin, Elizabeth." (come for me)
She gasped, her eyes never leaving his as the first waves of her peak rushed over her, and her body's desperate, seeking grip on him swept him along with her, both their sounds of ecstasy muffled when their lips met in a deep, passionate kiss.
Legolas lifted his head, inhaling deeply as the final part of their bond completed and he felt the overwhelming beauty and completeness of her fëa entwining with his. Smiling in wonder, Elizabeth looked at him questioningly.
"That's….What was that, Legolas? It feels...I don't know."
Turning to his back after another moment so she could lay on top of him comfortably, he caressed her face and kissed her. "That was our bonding you felt, which is the way of marriage for elves. I am a part of you now, as you are part of me. Whether we are physically together or not, we can never be separated in spirit. We are one."
She nuzzled against his chest and yawned. "Why do I feel so sleepy all of a sudden?"
He stroked his fingers through her long, damp waves. "It is from the effort of the joining, and expected. Rest, and I will keep watch over you, beloved."
Elizabeth kissed his chest over his beating heart and closed her eyes, quickly falling into a deep, restful sleep. Legolas smiled as he felt her slip into unconsciousness, fully attuned to her and reveling in being able to feel her emotions as clearly as his own.
The day was certainly turning out different than he had thought it might, and he had never been so thankful. The woman in his arms was a precious gift, and he intended to cherish and love her in the way she deserved.
He grinned, thinking about the future. When the time was right, he would gladly give her all the elf babies her heart desired, just as he knew she had desperately longed for. Hadn't she said dozens? Well, if that's what it took to make her happy...
He kissed the top of her head. Perhaps it was time for a renewal of new life in the Greenwood, with his vibrant young wife.
As to his father and what his reaction might be….
He would think about that later.
The Prince of Greenwood the Great smiled in perfect contentment, pulling his lady more firmly against him and drifting into daydreams of all the years of joy that lay ahead of them.
~o~
When Elizabeth awoke, she was lying on her back with her head nestled on Legolas' firm arm, with him lying on his side watching her. She turned to nuzzle against his bare chest then lifted her head for his gentle kiss.
He smiled broadly and she grinned back and giggled. "I don't think we're going to be able to wipe the smiles from our faces anytime soon. Do you suppose anyone will be able to guess what we've been up to just from looking at us?"
He chuckled, his hand running along her side and exploring the alluring curve of her hips into her waist. "Elves can tell when someone is married or unmarried simply by looking them in the eye, so yes, others will immediately be able to discern 'what we've been up to', as you put it."
She blushed and looked down, switching to English. "Oh. Well, that's rather embarrassing that the king will know just from gazing into your eyes or mine. Do you suppose he'll mind if I call him Daddy now? I've always had an irrational urge to."
Legolas laughed and pulled her closer against him, rubbing his nose against hers and quirking a teasing brow. "Perhaps not, as long as you don't tell him what it means, since he does not understand us when we speak in your tongue."
Elizabeth bit her lip and ran her fingers through his silken, golden hair with a mischievous smile. "I would like to teach you something new in the language of married love now, if you are willing."
He looked at her curiously and smiled. "Of course I am willing. You may teach me whatever you like. I shall be your eager student."
"Excellent," she said, pushing him to his back and moving down his body.
~o~
Elizabeth grinned and folded her hands on Legolas' chest, resting her chin there as she observed his wonder-filled gaze with satisfaction. He stared with glazed eyes, unseeing up into the leafy canopy overhead and still trying to recover his breath. Finally, he met her eyes, his lips lifting in a lazy, appreciative smile that made her laugh.
"That was…. I… You… Just...amazing. How did you know…?"
"Recall I was once married," she said with a shrug, tickled to hear her always eloquent and well-spoken prince struggling to find words. "Even though it was only for six years. Such knowledge was quite common in the lands that I come from, though I have had very little use for it until now."
His eyes gleamed brightly as he rolled her to her back and looked down at her with anticipation, his hand trailing fire over her skin as he grazed his fingers across her belly and further down. "As I mentioned before, I also have a good deal of accumulated knowledge, which... I now find I'm desperate to lavish on you, my beautiful and mysterious human." He nipped the soft skin next to her navel with his teeth and smirked when she gasped. "Let us see what manner of lovely sounds I can draw from you now..."
~o~
They walked back toward the halls holding hands as the sun was setting in the west, and Legolas kept glancing at Elizabeth until she tugged on his hand.
"What? Why do you keep looking at me that way?" she asked.
Stepping close, he lifted her high against him and spun around, burying his face against the fabric of her gown covering her breasts, then loosening his hold and allowing her to slide down the front of his body while he kissed her. When her feet touched the ground once more, he cradled her face in his hands and grinned.
"I was just thinking about all those beguiling little noises you make when you are lost in pleasure. I think I'm quite addicted to them."
Pulling away with an embarrassed blush, she started walking down the path again. "Oh stop, Legolas!"
He caught her hand in his and kissed it. "That isn't what you asked me to do earlier," he murmured, laughing when she leveled a narrow-eyed glare in his direction.
"Keep it up and I shall devise some manner of repayment for your merciless teasing, husband."
He nodded, shooting her a considering look. "Yet I know you are kindness personified, just as you know I have always been a merciless tease. Whatever you devise will be something I am likely to enjoy, therefore I shall make a concerted effort to further provoke you to see if my theory is correct."
Elizabeth laughed, one brow raised. "What if it involves something exotic, like restraining you with rope?"
His brows climbed. "Well, that sounds...intriguing." In sight of the halls, he pulled her against him, kissing her lingeringly before they entered the city. Sighing, he took her hand, guiding her across the walkway leading into the caverns.
"I suppose we had best go and see my father and have it out of the way."
Slowing her steps, she stared up at him ruefully. "Must I do the in-law greet now?"
"Yes, Lady Elizabeth, I believe you must," he said with a look of resolve. "You are a princess now, and it is only right you appear before your king and inform him of it."
"I suppose when you put it that way, I must." She looked up at Legolas curiously. "You have not yet told me what our living arrangements shall be. Will we stay in my rooms or yours, or someplace entirely new to both of us?"
"Mine are much larger and finer than yours, more than sufficient for two people, so I will have your things moved on the morrow if that is to your liking."
"I have no objection," she said with a shrug, falling silent as they came upon Feren outside of the throne room.
"Is my father here, Feren?"
The captain bowed and shook his head, shooting a curious look between the two of them. "No, my lord, he has already retired to his private chambers for the evening."
Legolas thanked him and took the path to his father's rooms, feeling the roiling, fearful emotions of the silent woman beside him. Ducking into a shadowed alcove, he pulled her against him in comfort.
"Elizabeth," he said chidingly, "do not worry so. You know my father likes you well enough."
She curled her fingers into his suede tunic. "As an amusing human, but I'm not so sure the king will like me as a daughter and wife to his son."
His expression took on a hint of sternness when he took her hand. "Then let us get this over with, for your fear is far worse than what the reality will be, I assure you."
When they reached the royal residence, Legolas knocked softly and pushed the door open when the Elvenking's voice called a welcome. He was sprawled comfortably in a plush chair before the fireplace, a glass of wine on the low table beside him while he perused a scroll, with several more sitting beside the wine.
His cool, blue gaze immediately took in the sight of Legolas and Elizabeth once they stood before him, noting their joined hands before he examined their faces intently. He set the scroll aside and picked up the crystal glass, sipping his wine and staring at the woman's eyes over the top of his glass before turning his attention to his son.
"Not even an announcement or period of betrothal? Do you think this was a truly wise and respectful course of action, Legolas?"
Tilting his head, Legolas shrugged. "We did discuss elven traditions briefly, but decided not to completely follow them, as neither of us wished to wait to marry after we declared our feelings."
The King frowned, looking displeased. "But was such haste really necessary?"
Elizabeth stepped forward, her chin raised stubbornly. "Blame me if you must blame someone, Sire. I ambushed Legolas at the fresh spring in a….shocking way."
Thranduil stared at her thoughtfully with furrowed brows. "Ambushed?" Raising a hand, he rubbed it slowly along his chin, and it was apparent when he deduced what she hadn't said, for one side of his mouth lifted in amusement while he gave her an appraising look.
"I did not know you had such boldness in you, young Elizabeth, but I suppose you've both been dancing around it for a number of years. Quite literally, in fact." Sighing, he set aside his glass and crossed his arms. "We will have to plan a feast to formally announce your marriage and introduce the new princess to the people."
Legolas smiled, his posture relaxing completely. "Thank you, Adar."
Elizabeth whipped her gaze back and forth between the King and the Prince. "That's it?" she asked incredulously, addressing the King. "You aren't going to yell at me...or...berate me for...anything?"
His brows rose. "Berate you?" Thranduil smirked. "You are my son's wife, not mine. If you require chastisement, I'm certain Legolas will accommodate you."
Legolas chuckled, giving his father a wry look. Biting her lip, Elizabeth took a step nearer the Elvenking. "Then...you do not disapprove of our marriage?"
He waved a lazy hand, a small smile still hovering about his lips. "I foresaw you marrying into our family some time ago. Did you never wonder at my show of favor to you?"
She glanced at Legolas, who looked as mystified as she did. "I thought it might have been because you actually….liked me? In friendship?"
He stood. "I do like you, Elizabeth. But I also wished to get to know you before you became one of us." He lifted her hand and kissed it, then turned to his son and gripped his shoulder, giving him a droll look. "We will discuss feast plans another day. Go and spend time with your new wife, my son. I believe she has plans for a kingdom filled with elf babies, and you now have a role to play in that."
She laughed in nervous embarrassment and blushed. "I really hadn't thought to include myself in any of that." Elizabeth's head shot up as a thought occurred to her. "Is it even possible for me to have elf babies?"
"It is," father and son said in unison, then both smiled in amusement. Legolas caught her hand in his firm grip and led her toward the door.
"Have a pleasant evening, Adar."
Thranduil murmured a farewell, then refilled his wine glass and went to stand on his balcony, lost in thought. He looked out at the view, a brief flash of pain and longing crossing his features as he thought of his own wedding night with Calarien, so long ago. It was his fervent wish that his son's marriage would hold more joy than his own failed attempt had, Legolas being the only positive to have come from the whole thing.
He had not lied when he told Elizabeth he had foreseen her marriage, but it had been of her married to him as his queen, and not his son. It was impossible to stop the piercing regret that filled him when he remembered the vivid images of all he had seen through his prescient gift. The great love he had shared with Elizabeth...and the children she had given him. Finally drawing an unsteady breath as he laid to rest all the things that would never be, he mastered his emotions and downed his wine, turning back to the work and responsibilities that still awaited him.
~o~
Legolas finally finished the long, intricate plait he had woven into the front of Elizabeth's hair while they talked, holding it out for her inspection. Upon introducing her to his apartments, they had immediately taken to testing out various surfaces in their amorous play. Against the wall beside the entrance was the first, and that was entirely his doing as he had been far too impatient to traverse the further steps it would have taken to reach the bed in his sleeping chamber, and he hadn't even bothered to completely remove her gown for that tryst.
The second was on top of his desk in the sitting room, which ended in laughter on his part and annoyance from Elizabeth when he managed to knock over a pot of ink in his zeal, which had left a rather interesting and amusing blot across her backside. After that, it was necessary to acquaint her with his private bathing facilities, which he found immensely enjoyable, and mostly successful at removing the ink. But only mostly as they had not been completely focused on washing.
Elizabeth ran her fingers across the braid and smiled, leaning back against the fat cushions of the prince's over-sized bed, where they lay together, comfortable and relaxed in their nakedness. "Alright, shall I now tell you what I honestly thought the very first time our eyes met?"
He smiled lazily, looking up from where he had been tracing patterns across the bare skin of her belly. "Yes, tell me, then I shall tell you what I thought of you."
She reached down and snatched his hand from where it had wandered along the tops of her thighs and gave him a mock severe look. "You know I can't think if you start that again, Legolas."
"Very well," he said, stretching like a cat before lying beside her and lacing his hands behind his head. "I will attempt to restrain myself."
Rolling her eyes, she smiled teasingly. "Attempt being the key word there. So, as I was saying, the first time I saw you when you appeared before me suddenly like some ethereal spirit..."
"Ethereal?" he interrupted, his brows furrowed. "Surely you meant to say virile, masculine...or perhaps breathtakingly handsome?"
"God's bones," she sighed. "Singing your own praises? You really are your father's son, aren't you?"
He laughed. "Was there ever any doubt there?"
She angled toward him and ran her fingers through his golden hair. "In fact, I have begun to think you may be an incubus in disguise."
He smirked and reached for her hand, then kissed her fingertips. "Except I am not a demon and I do not take you in your sleep." He tilted his head. "Although I certainly could if you wish for me to wake you that way." He noted the way her pupils dilated at his words, and the spike of excitement he could feel in her emotions and made a mental note of it for later. "And I have interrupted you again. Pray continue. You were saying when I appeared before you...?"
Shaking her head to recover her train of thought, she met his eyes again. "I thought I could happily drown in your eyes; it was as though I could see a whole other world there in the depths of your gaze. Then, when you sprung up behind me on the horse and pulled me close against you, I felt very...happy and safe, despite knowing almost nothing of you. Well, I think I was quite enamored of you from that time onward."
He turned to face her and she scooted down until their eyes were on the same level, also turning to face him. He reached out to trace one of her dark brows and moved down her face, his finger following the shape of her lips as he looked at her thoughtfully. "I thought you were the loveliest mortal I had ever beheld."
"Did you, truly?" she murmured.
Legolas' eyes softened as his gaze swept across all of her in open admiration. "Aye, and that was before you stunned me with your blue gown." He grinned at her soft laughter. "But it was more than just that. I recognized your intriguing tendency to mischief when you told me a falsehood."
At her confused look, he repeated back her English words. "You said 'Good night, pretty elf Legolas. Perhaps I'll have pleasant dreams of you', but that is not what you said the words meant at the time. You told me it meant good night and thank you, but I knew better."
She giggled and bit her lip. "I can't believe you remembered what I said and translated it after you learned English. You had that tucked away for all those years?"
He narrowed his eyes, though he still smiled. "I knew you lied, and I wanted to know what you really said and why you concealed it from me. I will admit I was both flattered and amused when I managed to translate it."
"And what if I had told you what I said then? Would it have made any difference? Would you not have been scandalized?"
He shrugged. "You likely would have received my attentions much sooner, even though I thought you mortal at the time."
She sighed dramatically. "I suppose the moral of the story is to always tell the truth. I might not have had to wait for you so long if I had." She tilted her head and grinned. "Do you know I actually thought all you elves quite sexless for any number of years?"
Legolas laughed and laced his fingers with hers. "What changed your mind?"
"You," Elizabeth said with an impish smile. "The feast that we tangoed together, in fact. You were...different, in both your manner and the way you touched me. I couldn't stop thinking about what it might be like to kiss you."
He leaned over and kissed her slowly and seductively until she sighed and pressed closer. "I felt your desire," he murmured against her lips, "and my own rose to greet it. Or perhaps it was the other way round. You were wearing that red gown with the attention-grabbing slits up to your thighs." He tapped her nose teasingly. "In any case, I wanted nothing more than to ravish you thoroughly, as my heart already loved you."
She traced one of his leaf-shaped ears and bit her lip. "There's nothing stopping you from ravishing me now."
Nuzzling against her ear, Legolas pulled her flush against him. "No, indeed, there is not, my beloved English rose," he whispered, his eyes smoldering down at her. "Let me show you just how pleasurable it feels to have an elf with centuries of pent-up desire unleash it on you."
~o~
Thanks for reading!