The second very M-rated chapter.

Also, if you have not heard Lee Pace sing, please immediately go to youtube and look up the song he sings with Amy Adams in Miss Pettigrew. His voice is like poured honey for the ear.

Chapter Twenty-One

After sharing the evening meal together, the King retired to his study to attend some correspondence he had neglected earlier in the day, and Elizabeth took the time to take a leisurely bath and change into one of her night gowns and a matching robe that she had used so little over the years.

All of her things had been brought from her apartments, and she experienced a pang of sadness knowing she would never return to live in the rooms where she had spent so many pleasant years.

Her new closet constituted an entire, separate space that connected to the bedchamber she shared with the king. Digging through one of the chests of her belongings, she smiled to come across some of her earlier translations when she had been learning Sindarin, and then on one of the pages of English and Quenya she and Tirion had written.

Laughing quietly at the mischief there, she set it aside with a sigh, eventually wandering through the royal apartments into the sitting room with the balcony. Looking out on the view, she wrapped the sash of her robe around her finger, then unwrapped it, repeating the motions over and over as the disquiet in her mind threatened to consume her.

What was she even meant to do in such solitary isolation? She had never been alone at all as a former queen of men, always surrounded by her ladies, servants, and endless courtiers. How strange that she should now be on the opposite end of the spectrum as a queen over elves, and left entirely alone and to her own devices for amusement.

Disgusted with her morose feelings of self-pity, she whirled and returned to the bedchamber, shedding her robe and crawling beneath the covers, determined to sleep. Burrowing into the thick pillow, the king's scent surrounded her, only managing to put her into a further ill humor, and wonder why in God's name he had even married her if he only intended to ignore her the very next day.

She was entertaining notions of getting dressed and seeing how successful she might be at procuring a horse for a middle of the night ride-of-rebellion when she heard the door open. With eyes tightly closed, she did not stir from where she was curled into a ball on the furthest edge of the bed, not even when the bed moved and the Elvenking's warm body pressed against the back of hers.

When he lightly stroked her hair, she stiffened involuntarily and he immediately stilled. Just managing to stifle a squeal seconds later when she was scooped up unceremoniously and deposited in the King's lap, she stared straight forward and clenched her jaw.

"You are angry," he said in a voice sounding both musing and curious. "...with me. Why?"

She glared, increasingly irritated by his calm demeanor, finally turning her head to look at him. "I might wonder at why you wanted me for wife when you seem to have no desire to be with me at all," she said in a low tone, practically vibrating with upset.

He stared at her in apparent fascination, and she looked away again only to have him catch her chin and turn her face back to his. The way he was looking at her with such interest made her brows lower further.

"Why are you staring at me that way?" she asked, only finally registering the fact that he was naked, and the only thing separating them was her thin gown.

Thranduil's hand ghosted up the bare skin of her arm and his lips lifted in the slightest smile. "This is the first time I have ever beheld your wrath, and I confess I find the sight of your temper rather arresting."

Elizabeth gave a humorless bark of laughter. "I'm glad you are so entertained by my discontent, but I think I would rather sleep somewhere other than your bed. Since we clearly aren't about to observe anything from my culture that would resemble a honeymoon, and you elves seem to have no such thing, I'm sure you would prefer your privacy."

When she attempted to climb off his lap with the full intention of storming from the room, but instead found herself held fast by arms like bands of steel, it took all her will to keep from growling when she turned to him in outrage.

"Shhh, peace Bess, you are overwrought. Be still but a moment and breathe."

He began to hum and stroke gentle fingers through her hair, the sound of his singing so enchanting that she felt the anger and frustration slowly drain out of her. His beautiful baritone voice wove a spell that wrapped around her and coaxed the tension from her muscles until she melted against him with a sigh.

After several moments more of his hypnotic singing, he brushed his lips against her temple, his voice finally falling silent. Turning Elizabeth so he could stare into her eyes, she had the bizarre compulsion of wanting to weep, scream, and kiss him, all at once.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked, her brows knitting in concern. "I don't feel like myself at all."

"I should not have left you." His voice was quietly intense as he rested his forehead against hers. "It seems your reaction to our joining is far more profound than I expected. And now you also believe I do not desire to be with you."

"What else should I think?" She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "No human husband would choose to go to work with his new wife waiting idly nearby, unless he did not care for her."

Hearing the hurt in her voice, he digested her words silently as he decided how to proceed. "What of this honeymoon tradition you mentioned?"

"It is a time of seclusion where the couple focuses only on each other, or even go away on a journey, so they may spend all their time together to learn one another."

He turned and laid her down alongside him, nuzzling against the softness of her cheek, while his hand pushed the fabric of her gown up. "You are greatly mistaken if you think I do not desperately desire you. I have never felt such a burning need for any other as I do for you, not in all my years. But perhaps you will only believe me when I show you."

Beginning with her mouth, he teased and tempted her with his lips and tongue, nipping at her full bottom lip with his teeth while she eagerly kissed him back. Thranduil freed her of the gown, touching her with his fingertips from her outer thigh and slowly traveling from her waist to her breast, where he circled and grasped her nipple with delicate pressure until she gave a breathy moan.

Moving down from her throat, he licked a path across her collar bones to a nipple, where he lavished licks and kisses there until Elizabeth was arching her back and thrashing beneath him in her need.

"My lord, come to me now," she pleaded.

She reached for him, stroking the hard length of him that was pulsing with his nearly blinding desire for her, but he pulled away before she could distract him further and painted a wet path with his tongue across her navel and down to her center.

He spoke his response against her skin, his lips brushing against her like a butterfly's wings. "Not yet. Not until I have all of you on my tongue."

He paused to inhale her dewy fragrance deep into his lungs, a half-strangled sound of rapture in his throat before he pressed against the wet heat at her core that was like a siren song. Feeling near unraveled by his lust, he gripped her waist and pulled her more tightly against his mouth, devouring her completely.

The feel and taste of her against his tongue was all he knew for a time, seeking more of her shivers and cries of release until the sound of his name from her mouth took on a desperate edge that broke through his haze.

Moving back up her body, he paused again to suckle at each breast, his earlier gentleness replaced by far firmer touches of hand and tongue as need drove them both. Her hands were grasping any part of him she could reach, her fingers sending tingling shocks of hunger to his own throbbing sex, making his breath come faster and harsher.

Raising up, he took himself in hand, moving until just the tip of his arousal connected to her burning heat, slowly pushing further inside until they were both moaning with the duality of sensation of filling or being filled.

Words of praise in a mix of Sindarin and Quenya flowed from his mouth after he was fully sheathed inside of her, and she squeezed him even tighter with her strong, inner muscles. Tilting her hips, she encouraged him to move, which he did immediately, a slow climb something neither of them wanted, but quick, deep thrusts sending both of them to the summit within minutes.

Taking her lips again, he drank her cries as they peaked together, feeling the echo of her pleasure ripple through his mind and body alongside his own, shuddering with the intensity and completeness of it.

The bedchamber returned to mostly silence at their exertion's end. Angling to the side so his weight was not directly on her, their bodies remained joined while they floated in the warm aftermath. She sighed and stretched an arm above her head and looked at him with a languorous and content smile. Satisfied at seeing her replete from pleasure, he leaned closer to kiss her.

"You have a well-loved glow about you that is beautiful to behold."

Her smile grew as she reached for his hair, letting strands slip through her fingers, her expression sobering as she studied his face. "Thranduil," she asked hesitantly. "Do you love me?"

Reaching for her hand, he laced their fingers together. "Have you not discerned my feelings from my actions?"

"Do you always answer a question with another question?" she asked with a lifted brow.

He gave her a tender smile, dimple flashing. "I do love you, Elizabeth; and my love for you has many facets, like a perfectly cut gem."

Her gray-green eyes shone softly with feeling. "And I have loved you for so long, I could not say when it really began. It seems to have always been there in the background. Just...waiting for you to love me too."

He gave a lazy nod, mouth quirking up on one side. "Or perhaps you have been under my power since you first entered my woods, and it was my plan to have you all along."

"Well," she said, smiling mischievously, "I have no objection should that be the case, as I'm very happy for you to have me, and I cannot deny that I greatly enjoy being under you, and your power."

The skin around his eyes crinkled with amusement at the emphasis she placed on her words creating a separate, succinct message all its own: 'have me under you,' which he fully intended to do. Many, many times, and in a myriad of moods and positions.

"I think it's time you were under my power again," he said with a smirk. "Or, perhaps you would rather have me under yours now?"

She reached for him, sliding her leg up and around his waist. "I think it should be….both."

~o~

Elizabeth licked dry lips, attempting to slow her ragged breathing and calm the frantic pounding of her heart and turned to meet the gaze of the insatiable elf beside her.

"I think you have more than proven your point, whatever it may be."

"Have I been proving a point? I was not aware," he said, smoothing back his hair, which was looking nearly as disheveled as her own with how many times she had run her fingers through it over the past several hours.

"There must be some reason you have kept us closeted in here for the better part of a week now. Other than bathing and eating, you have scarcely let me out of your sight." She flopped to her side, laying her head on his outstretched arm and resting her hand on his chest. "I don't think there is any part of my body that is not intimately acquainted with every part of yours."

Even with his eyes closed and lying apparently relaxed on his back, his smile radiated a self-satisfied superiority. "I seem to recall you doubting my desire for you, but perhaps that is no longer the case." He opened his eyes and turned his intense blue-eyed regard to her. "Or perhaps I should carry on with further proving you were mistaken?"

When she felt his muscles tense for movement, she gasped and pressed her hand more firmly against his chest. "Be still! If you touch me again in the next hour, I'm going to die."

Chuckling, he relaxed again. "You have claimed that several times in the past many days, and yet you live. As to why we have spent the week this way, there are several reasons."

Moving her hand to lay on top of his steadily beating heart, she closed her eyes, having learned to snatch rest when she could. "I'm listening."

"The first I have already mentioned of curing your misconceptions, as well as giving you a honeymoon time, which coincided nicely with my own desires." He turned to look at her, and she opened her own eyes, feeling his movement, and was met with a surprisingly boyish looking grin.

"Hmm…..and?" she pressed, unable to stop her own smile.

He turned on his side to face her, his playful demeanor sobering. "But the main reason for our isolation and continued togetherness, is that you have been in the grip of angol-ûr, and as such we must be in almost constant contact until you are able to move beyond it." (Sindarin: magic heat)

"I'm in the grip of...angol-ûr? You make it sound like a sort of illness, but I haven't gotten ill since I was changed, so what exactly does it mean?"

Thranduil shook his head and rested his hand across her flat belly. "No, not an illness, per se. When elves bond, there is an equal effort put forth for the joining of the two fëa, but as you are human I exerted my own will to coax yours to follow, and I believe this may have created a temporary imbalance, with your erratic emotions and inability to be separated from me as the result."

Elizabeth pursed her lips. "So...I am the sunflower and you, my sun...and without your light I'll die?"

"That is a more poetic way to put it, and while essentially true, you would not die. At most, you would feel strong, irrational emotions, and perhaps progress into some form of physical pain, but separation would not be fatal. I...think."

Her eyes widened. "What do you mean 'you think'? You don't know?"

His expression tightened, and she saw in his eyes just how much he detested not knowing what to expect. "I know much, Elizabeth, and I can feel the bond is well on its way to correcting, but you are human and our joining is simply unprecedented. There are many things we must discover for ourselves."

"But," her brows furrowed in thought. "You said human and elf coupling was not unheard of, only rare, so why…?"

"Those I referred to were always between human males and female elves. To my knowledge, we are the first and only male elf and female human couple."

Her hand came up to cover her mouth as she tried to wrap her head around all the implications. "Are you saying we may have to spend all eternity mating like bunnies? If so, you better call someone else in to run the kingdom, as we're likely to get little else accomplished between shags."

He laughed, the sound filling the room and vibrating the bed, shaking his head at her in amusement while he stroked her face. "Ah, my Bess." He kissed her nose and raised his brows teasingly. "Would you find that such a terrible fate?"

She narrowed her eyes. "It might be nice to get out occasionally, perhaps go for a ride."

His lips curled into a naughty smile as she had never seen him wear before and she gaped at his next words.

"You have had many satisfying rides this past week, and you never ceased to praise me for them."

She giggled and reached for his face. "Did you actually just use sexual innuendo? I'm stunned! Where is my proper king?"

His kissed her slowly and thoroughly and stared into her eyes with a contented smile. "Your proper king is drunk on your charms, lady." Lips twisting in amusement, he continued. "In any case, you need not fear an eternity of ceaseless mating, as no sexual contact is required to counter the effects of angol-ûr, merely being together. Perhaps the holding or touching of hands if physical contact is needed for grounding."

Elizabeth bit the inside of her cheek, giving him a knowing smirk. "So, this frenzied week was really all you, wasn't it? So much for your legendary impassivity and iron control, Elvenking!"

He loomed over the top of her, giving her a mock severe frown. "Not all me, you were an eager and enthusiastic participant, and you further said you wished me to..." He leaned down and whispered in her ear, lingering to catch her earlobe in his teeth before pulling back and looking at her blush-stained cheeks with satisfaction.

"I never said that...did I?" she asked, looking abashed.

Quirking a brow, he lifted the mass of her dark waves splayed across the pillow to his nose and inhaled the floral scent. "You did. Should I take it as a challenge?"

Laughing nervously, she shook her head and scooted further up the bed and away from him. "No, really, that isn't necessary. You know that was said in the grip of...passion. For you quite drive me out of my wits with your vast skills, and I forgot I told you what that English phrase meant."

A soft tap on the chamber door had her looking toward it eagerly. "There's dinner! We should probably get dressed, and...eat?"

With a slight smile, Thranduil moved forward with the easy grace of a stalking lion, catching her ankle in his hand and slowly pulling her back down the bed toward him. "I do find I have a sudden, ravenous appetite, Bess." He kissed the side of her ankle and leveled an intense blue-eyed stare at her. "But dinner can wait."

~o~