Chapter Three
He hated living with Olga and Holgar.
It didn't really come as a surprise to him, but it was miserable nevertheless.
Now that they knew that Kili was completely under their control and would tell no one, the two had practically enslaved him. The first thing that Olga had done was dismiss Thyla, the housekeeper and cook that had served Kili's family for as long as he could remember. Kili had been sad and confused to see her go.
After all, she was hardly intrusive, so it would be easy to keep their treatment of Kili from her. Her main job was in Erebor's main kitchens. She brought food up at meal times and tidied up the quarters once a week in exchange for the relatively small salary Karn had given her.
It hadn't been until Olga barked an order at him to prepare breakfast for them that Kili realized what was happening.
They intended to use Kili as their servant, cooking and cleaning and who knew what else for them. Why part with any money when they had such a willing slave who would work for free?
The joke would be on them, Kili thought viciously as he pulled out the pots and pans in their small kitchen. Even if Kili was willing to give in without a fight, which he definitely was not, it was doubtful that they'd get anything edible from forcing him to cook for them. The one time he had tried to cook with Fili had ended in a smoking, charred disaster.
And he made sure that the simple eggs, bacon, and toast shared the same fate. He smiled defiantly as he dropped the plates of burnt breakfast down in front of his stepfamily.
Olga sighed and shook her head sadly as she glanced at the plate in front of her. "I had hoped that we wouldn't have to do this the hard way, Kili." Her eyes sparkled with malicious intent when she looked up at him and rose from her seat. Holgar smirked from his place across from her. "Come with me."
He followed after her unwillingly back into the kitchen. She smiled sweetly as she stopped near the stove. "Put you hand on the stovetop where you burnt the food."
His hand shot out but he stopped it before it touched the hot iron stovetop. He shook with exertion as he desperately tried to not follow the order. "Please," he begged, hating himself for how weak he sounded. He hated being this weak.
His hand inched towards the stove, so close he could feel the heat coming from the iron. Already, his hand was getting uncomfortably warm. He knew it would be agony to touch it.
"Stop," Olga said suddenly, causing him to snatch his hand away and sag in relief. "Do you understand now, Kili? You will stop your petulant behavior, or I will be forced to punish you."
More like force him to punish himself, Kili thought darkly. That was worse than them hurting him themselves, though. He could handle the pain. He couldn't handle his own body betraying him.
"I don't want to hurt you, Kili," she continued in a maternal tone that made him want to strangle her. "All you have to do is behave yourself until you present as a bearer, and I will be happy to relinquish you to Prince Fili. For the right price, of course."
"So that's your plan?" he snarled, looking at the dwarrowdam in hatred. "You think you can leverage some kind of bride price from Fili for me? It's a stupid plan. I will marry Fili whether or not he pays you."
"Not if you are ordered not to," she replied pleasantly.
He hated that she was right. Hated it with every fiber of his being.
"Now, fix us an edible breakfast."
He managed to hold back the tears once Olga had swept out of the kitchen, but only just barely. It would be alright, he decided as he pulled out more eggs. All he had to do was hold out until he presented as a bearer. He was already sixty five. If it were going to happen, it would happen before he reached his majority at seventy. If he were lucky, it would happen sooner rather than later. Once it did, Olga would somehow leverage money out of the royal family and Fili would swoop in to free him.
He could hang on until then. It would be awful, but he could do it. A little cooking and cleaning wouldn't kill him. And as long as he did a decent job, surely Olga wouldn't force him to hurt himself.
Everything would be fine.
Being as careful as he possibly could, he did manage to not burn breakfast this time around, though his shaking hands certainly didn't help. If Olga expected him to prepare all their meals for them, Kili prayed that she still planned to attend dinners at court with the other lords and ladies. He might be able to scrape together an acceptable breakfast and lunch, but he doubted any dinner he prepared would pass muster.
Thankfully, his prayers were answered. Not only did they attend dinner at court, but Kili was even allowed to sit in his usual seat at Fili's side, with strict orders to tell him nothing about anything that happened within their quarters, of course.
He must have looked off, though, because Fili kept shooting him concerned looks throughout dinner. The prince must have just chalked it up to him still mourning his father's death because all he did was squeeze his hand comfortingly every so often.
Kili felt guilt stab at his heart because he should still be mourning his father's death. It had barely been a month since he had died. Kili had hardly even thought of him since his funeral. All he had thought of was himself. He was a terrible son.
He couldn't think about that, though. He was sure his father would understand that his mind was otherwise occupied.
"How has your stepfamily been treating you?" Fili asked quietly as dessert was brought out.
Kili's eyes darted to the table Olga and Holgar were seated at. They weren't looking at them, but he knew the curse wouldn't let him say anything remotely negative about them. "They could be worse," he said with a shrug. It wasn't technically a lie. They could be worse.
Fili pursed his lips as if he knew exactly what Kili was thinking. "That means they could be better."
Kili shrugged again. "Well, they aren't Mother and Father. And they aren't you and your parents. Those are high bars to meet. But I will survive."
"I want you to do more than just survive," the prince said with a sigh. "I want you to be happy."
Kili didn't say anything to that. He couldn't tell Fili that he wouldn't be happy until they were betrothed and he was safely away from his stepfamily. He wasn't even sure if the curse would let him say any of that. Even if it would, he still wouldn't. Why upset Fili by telling him how unhappy he was? The other dwarf would ask him if he wanted to leave, and the curse would just make him say no. Fili would only end up even more upset and confused.
Fili excused them both from dinner as soon as Kili had finished his blueberry cobbler. Kili glanced at his stepmother, who watched them exit with a smirk. Of course, she wasn't upset about him sneaking off with Fili. She was banking on the prince being so in love with him that he'd pay any price to keep him.
Fili led him to one of the few balconies that opened to the outside of the mountain before turning to him with a smile. Kili took a moment to admire the golden prince bathed in silver moonlight and wondered how he could possible deserve the love of this gorgeous dwarf. But then, he didn't think anyone could ever deserve Fili.
Fili's smile widened as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Kili's waist. "There's that beautiful smile I love," he said.
Kili hadn't even realized his lips had curved upwards. "It's hard not to smile when I'm with you," he pointed out, shaking his head at his own sappiness.
"Then you should definitely be around me more," Fili suggested, leaning close and brushing a kiss to his lips.
"Is that so?" he asked coyly before wrapping his arms around Fili's neck and pulling him in for a deeper kiss. He moaned as Fili's tongue darted out to meet his own. It was a bit sloppy, neither of them particularly experienced, but it was perfect to Kili.
"Mahal, you'll be the death of me," Fili gasped out as they broke apart. "It is hard enough to control myself around you without you tempting me so."
"You love me even if I'm making trouble," he replied confidently with a smirk.
Fili snorted. "If? There's no if between you and trouble. But I do love you."
He sighed and rested his head on the prince's shoulder. "I love you too."
He endure Olga as long as he had this at the end of everything. As long as he had Fili, nothing Olga could do could hurt him.
He didn't realize until the next morning, though, that Olga was hardly his biggest problem.
He was attempting to cook breakfast the next morning. He had been mildly successive with the scrambled eggs and toast the previous morning, so he figured it would be safest to stick with that menu. Olga would just have to deal with having the same breakfast twice in a row. It was better than him ruining whatever else he tried to make.
He had just picked up the egg basket when he felt rough hands grab his hips. Startled, the eggs went flying, breaking as they hit the hard stone floor.
"Looks like we're not having eggs for breakfast," Holgar chuckled in his ear. "I guess you'll have to try to make something else."
"Let go of me," Kili hissed, twisting away from Holgar's hands.
The other dwarf just laughed cruelly. "You know, I do believe my dear mother is wrong about how to deal with you."
Kili ignored him and turned to dig out some oats from the cupboard. Olga would have to deal with oatmeal this morning now.
"Just giving you away for a little bit of gold?" he continued, shaking his head. "The perfectly obedient slave. That's worth a lot more than gold."
He scowled as he put a pot of water on to boil but refused to respond. He froze, though, as Holgar came up behind him against and grabbed his hips, pulling him back so that his back was flush against his stepbrother's chest.
He tried to squirm away but was stopped by a bark of "be still."
"You're an awfully pretty little thing," he whispered lustily in his ear. "And I must admit that I find the idea of a bed partner who will do anything he is told quite intriguing."
Kili's blood ran cold at the words, and he felt sick as Holgar ground himself into Kili. "No," he growled, squirming away once more as his stepbrother had failed to specify how long he was meant to stay still. "You cannot make me betray Fili like that."
"Of course I can," he sneered. "With one order, I could make you shove a dagger in the prince's back. I can certainly make you be unfaithful to him."
Kili stared at him with dawning horror.
"Now hurry up and cook for us," Holgar ordered. "Mother is waiting for her breakfast."
Thankfully, oatmeal was fairly easy to make because Kili could think of nothing else but his encounter with Holgar.
The threat of Holgar ordering him into his bed was terrifying enough, but it was his last words that haunted him the most.
'With one order, I could make you shove a dagger in the prince's back.'
Mahal, he had never thought his curse could hurt Fili, but now that the idea was in his head, he could think of nothing else.
Obviously, it wasn't that difficult to figure out that he would do everything he was told. Olga had certainly figured it out in very little time. And how much scrutiny would he be under as Fili's consort? If anyone wanted to harm Fili or his parents, they would have an easy-made assassin already in the perfect position.
He bit back a sob, quickly taking the bowls of oatmeal into the dining room before fleeing to his room and collapsing on his bed.
He couldn't put Fili in danger. He couldn't. But he was already, wasn't he? Every moment he spent with Fili, he was putting him in danger.
The entire kingdom knew how close they were. He was sure every enemy that Erebor had knew about them as well. It was no secret how close the two cousins were. Countless visiting dignitaries had seen how inseparable they were.
All it took was one wrong person to figure out his curse, and the entire kingdom could be brought to its knees.
He couldn't hold back his sobs any longer.
Fili was his light at the end of the tunnel, but he couldn't have that happy ending anymore. He had been naïve to think that he could ever have it in the first place. His curse would doom the entire kingdom, would doom Fili. He couldn't let that happen.
He would figure out a plan later. All he could do now, though, was curl up on his bed and weep pitifully for the happiness he might have had.
Tbc…