A/N: Don't miss the previous chapter. It's a double update today, and this one is the second half!

K.

He opened the door and came in. The lights were out in the parlour, but he could see a candle burning in the bedchamber.

She had fallen asleep on her bed, over the covers, in her robes. Even the hairpins were still in her braids; and he remembered how every night she'd pull them out, ruffle her hair, and make little moans and groans. Sometimes she would ask him to rub her head after a long day. He'd enjoyed the feeling of the heavy thick copper waves run through his fingers.

He sat near her on the bed, and started pulling the pins out. She didn't wake up and sighed in her sleep. His plan to ambush her now seemed cowardly and dishonest. He then adjusted covers on her and blew out the candle. He wanted to lie near her, it was a sharp painful desire. He remembered how her smaller frame fit pressed in him, her back to his chest, and the warmth and serenity her presence gifted him, easing nightmares. Nonetheless, he got up. He stood for a few moments, looking at her, and then left.

He did get the conversation he'd come for, though - given not in the manner he had expected.

The next morning he was woken up by a loud knock rattling into his door. He rolled off the bed with a grunt. He'd just started opening the door, when she pushed her way inside, and immediately shut the door behind her.

"You were in my room last night!" she hissed at him. She was shaking in obvious rage. "You came lurking into my bedchamber! Like a thief! You touched me!"

Thorin stared at her taken aback. She took another step forward, and pointed her finger into his face.

"How dare you? I told you to never come into my rooms again." She looked livid and completely mad. "What? Is your marble statue of a mistress too cold for you? You aren't getting enough honey there? Did you suddenly remember you had your old ugly wife stuffed somewhere in back rooms?" She was screaming now, and he only felt grateful she'd closed the door. They would've certainly been heard by the whole household otherwise. "Men are indeed like bulls. Legs just bring you back to the old pastures, don't they? - no matter how dry the grass is there." And then she suddenly punched him into the shoulder. "Never do this again, or you will have to recount your teeth! Your perfect Revna isn't the only woman who knows which end of a stick is the heavy one!"

She then turned around to leave, but he caught her upper arm.

It would have been wiser to let her leave. He should've let her calm down, and come to the realization just how outrageous her behaviour was. She had just threatened to attack him! And that was his calm and modest Wrena! Surely, she would come to her senses later.

And yet he was now tightly holding her upper arm in his hand - and she hissed and jerked.

"Let me go!" she sneered, and it seemed she even lifted her right hand to strike him.

"What came over you, Wrena?!" he shouted at her, and gave her a shake. "It is madness! All of it!"

"Let me go, you monster!" she screamed even louder; and indeed she then twisted and punched him into his shoulder. It was an unrestricted painful blow, but he didn't release her. "Gamlbarathgalt!" Swine.

"Stop it, Wrena!" He grabbed her second arm, just above the elbow, and shook her again. "You're behaving like a rabid dog!"

"I don't care!" she screamed into his face. "You're hurting me! You ruined my life!" She thrashed in his grasp. "I don't care anymore! I don't care..." A sob burst out of her, and she suddenly stopped struggling, and started slumping down. "You're slaying me… Every day... I can't stand this pain anymore..."

She was swaying now and crying desperately, and he led her to the bed and sat her down. He didn't know what to do with a woman in hysterics. It seemed even more confusing, since it was her, the woman he'd never seen crying before. She was hiding her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking, and low bellows wrecking her body.

"Wrena..." He shifted between his feet in front of her, not sure if he should sit near her.

"Go away… Please… Just leave me alone..." she whimpered, between her sobs. "Have some mercy..."

"Wrena, you're in my rooms! And you must be ill! I can't leave you alone in this state." Thorin gave her a bewildered look over.

"Mahal help me, how cruel can you be?!" She lifted her red eyes at him, her face was scrunched in a pitiful grimace. "Leave me some dignity!"

"Wrena, enough with this drama!" Now that she seemed a tad saner, and his fear for her stepped back, he was growing livid. "We should just talk this through, and go back to our life." She was watching him with clouded, forlorn eyes; and he puffed air in indignation.

"I don't have a mistress, Wrena, and never had. I would never break a vow of honour, and you know it. I don't see why you're allowing yourself these delusions..."

"You love her!" she interrupted him with a shout. Thorin clenched his jaws. Not only this was a ridiculous folly, it was also not spoken about! They were no maudlin younglings to squabble over some alleged attentions to another! "You love her! And now that I'm out of the way, you can go to her. Just don't let me see it..." Her face twisted again, and tears rolled over her eyes.

"Wrena, I'm your husband! I gave an oath." Among other things he felt offended to be even thought capable of disloyalty and unfaithfulness. "Revna is an old friend."

At the mention of the other woman's name Wrena jerked and suddenly covered her ears. That was the end of Thorin's rope, and he grabbed one of her elbows and pulled. To make this situation even more bizarre she resisted, trying to keep her ears covered.

"Wrena, what are you doing, in Mahal's name?!"

She dropped her hands and screamed, her eyes suddenly dry and burning, "You drive me mad! I am almost two hundred years old and I behave like I'm thirty! I know it's madness, but I can't help it. And I asked you to leave me alone! I asked you not to come! Why do you have to torture me like this?" She then pushed him away, and rose sharply as well. They were standing in front of each other, both breathing heavily. "I know I shouldn't feel that way, but I can't help it! I tried to pretend… I did..." She pressed her hands to her temples. "I'm ashamed of it… But if you could just let me be… You owe me that much, Thorin..." She looked up at him, and her eyes were pleading. "Please, just let me be..."

"Wrena, I don't understand what you're saying, and to be honest, it's clearly some delirium! We need to cease it now." Thorin chopped the air with his hand. "You accuse me of infidelity - I have committed none. I need you to sober up and go back to being your normal self. And enough of this hollering!" He gave her a glare. "And I demand to be allowed back into our marital bed."

She'd been standing with her head lowered, her arms hanging along her body, and then he saw her shudder.

"No..." The whisper was hardly audible.

"What?"

"No, I can't… let you back. Even if it's true, and you and her didn't…" Her voice broke. She sat heavily on the bed and shook her head. "I can't be your wife anymore… It hurts too much." She rubbed her face with her hands and looked up. Bitter lines lay in the corners of her mouth. "You're right, of course… When I thought of it - actually thought of it - I knew you would not be unfaithful. But it matters not." She shook her head again.

"Wrena, what do you want from me?" Thorin's voice was gaining strength again. "Surely, you do not expect me to stop seeing Revna! That would be preposterous."

"You can see anyone you want," she answered her voice tired now. "I am not your slave driver. And any Dwarf is free to spend time with their friends, and enjoy a conversation, or a training… A Dwarf is even free to love anyone they want." She swallowed, her throat bobbing. "It's just that… you love her, and I love you. You see how this works, Thorin?" Her lips twisted anguishly. "I was stupid enough to… let myself feel this way. Dis told me before the wedding about… Revna, and how it went between you two. And we had a good marriage, didn't we?" A sad smile brushed at her lips. "And I hated how I felt when she came, because I was ruining it. We could've still been happy, but I just couldn't pretend… That is why people should never marry for love. It ruins everything..."

She then looked at him, and chuckled joylessly. "You have such a shocked face right now, and your eyes are glassy. Have I lost you there, in my convoluted explanation?" Thorin watched her, frowning. "The bottom line is that I can't be around you. I… I'm sorry I am behaving like this, and that I'm a burden. But I'm still doing everything my duty asks of me. And you can't say I'm not a good Queen!" she said more firmly. "We just have to find a way to cause little trouble. And… as long you two are discreet..." She didn't finish, and pressed her lips.

Nothing smooth or convincing came to his mind, and he muttered, "But you're my wife."

"I am," she answered softly. "I'm just not your beloved. And I know the duty of a Dwarven wife is to receive her husband, but I can't… I suppose I'm just not dutiful enough."

She got up and wiped her hands on her apron covered thighs. She always did at the end of some hard work, Thorin suddenly thought.

"I apologise for my behaviour," she muttered. She was a Dwarf, remorse came with difficulty to her. "I have only one excuse - I think I'm paying now for years restricting my feelings for you."

"Wrena, you have no reason to restrict yourself. We are married; we have accord. Let's just forget this nonsense..." Thorin said again, but she shook her head.

"I don't want to. I can't… I will always know that you love her..."

"But I don't!" Thorin interrupted, losing his patience. "Would you stop repeating this?! It's as if you enjoy torturing yourself with this..."

"You will never look at me like you look at her." It was her turn to interrupt. "And it's not just her beauty, or her skills, and her manners. Although as parochial of me as it is, I probably would have felt better if you loved a less perfect woman. But I just can't be the good old donkey to pull the cart of this marriage, reliable, and plain, and grey." She gave him another of her melancholic smiles. He always found them disconcerting - the sad eyes made the gesture full of some sort of… hopelessness. "Now that I know that you can look at a woman like that, follow her with your eyes in a feast hall, laugh with her… I saw you in the training yard with her… I never could make you so happy..."

She shook her head and started leaving. She made sure not to touch him when she passed by.

"Wrena..." he called after her, but the door already opened and closed softly behind her.