Chapter 25 ended with:

She sat in his lap, smiling like a lunatic. "Ellavon just confirmed it. I am with child."

It took a little moment before the king reacted, but it was not the reaction she had been expecting. He made them stand and then pushed her away from him.

"Who is the sire of the elfling you are carrying?" he spat.

Chapter 26 - Reasoning

"Are you asking what I think you are asking?" she asked, her happy mood killed instantly. She could not believe he had just accused her of cheating on him. With whom could she have had sex other than the king? Who would even dare looking at her with an appreciating glance?

"You heard me perfectly. Who is the father of this child? With whom have you been frolicking?" he yelled, hitting his desk with both his fists. She had never seen him this angry. His angst was usually expressed with extreme coldness, not with yelling and physical violence. His eyes were like burning fires, and something must have been wrong with her vision because his face seemed blurred.

She would have laughed in his face if he had not been frightening her at the moment. She wondered if he could attack her physically. Would anyone come to her aid if they heard a commotion in his private study? Maybe only Legolas would dare. She had no idea where he was in the fortress at the moment. Hopefully, he was in the royal aisle and had just heard his adar scream like a mad ellon.

She had to keep her temper in check and escape the situation until he regained control over his emotions.

"I will not even bother answering you, Thranduil. You have insulted me like I have never been insulted before. I understand that we were not planning to conceive, but it happened. I will talk to you when you have calmed down, not before."

At that moment, she heard a knock on the door and someone started opening it immediately without waiting for permission to enter. She realized it was Legolas. She turned around quickly and ran towards the door.

"Keep your father away from me!" she cried while she passed him.

She heard Thranduil running after her, and he would have caught her if Legolas had not put himself on his path. Valerie was able to escape while Legolas held Thranduil against a wall in his study.

OoOoO

"Your Majesty," Bronadon said respectfully, "I understand your dilemma. You have always been making sure that your semen was not fertile during intercourse, but maybe one day you forgot-"

"No, I never wished to have a child now!" the king cut his councilor.

Legolas was sitting with them while Ninaelil was quietly crying in a corner of the study.

"Maybe Valerie, as a half-elf, can get pregnant from an ellon at all times," Legolas speculated.

"Highly unlikely!" the king replied.

"Perhaps the Valar decided that it was time for her to have a prophecy elfling and they made it happen against your will?" his son continued with the speculations.

"That would make a lot of sense," Bronadon approved. "After all, you have been bonded for more than eight months. The Valar could have become impatient."

Thranduil frowned, thinking about the possibility.

"Quite frankly, Adar, I do not believe that any ellon would ever dare try to seduce Valerie. And she loves you… She would never have an affair. This explanation makes more sense than any other that has been suggested so far. She is pregnant with your child, even if the Valar intervened."

"How can we be sure?" the Elvenking asked. He seemed regretful for the first time in the hour it had taken Legolas and Bronadon to finally calm him down and make him see reason.

Ninaelil whispered something from her corner.

"I beg your pardon?" Bronadon asked.

The elleth seemed to hesitate, but then a determined expression appeared on her face. "Maybe you would know if you had listened to her instead of accusing her of a crime against your bond," she said to the king.

Her reply was so disrespectful to the king and so unusual coming from her that the three ellyn stared at her, speechless.

"Ninaelil!" her mate finally cried. "Your Majesty, please excuse her. She is distraught by the disappearance of the queen! I am certain that she regrets her words, do you not, Ninaelil?"

The elleth's expression contradicted his statement. She was saved from a difficult moment when a servant knocked on the door to introduce Brethilon and Cadworon. The two bodyguards informed them that the entire fortress had been searched, and that no one could find the queen. The guards assured them that the queen had not crossed the gates, that she was still somewhere inside the fortress.

"Find her!" the king ordered in his most unpleasant tone.

The two bodyguards escaped the study, and Bronadon excused himself and his mate under the pretense of participating in the searches. He was truly trying to get her away from the king's wrath. Ninaelil ignored him and followed the guards, inquiring about the locations where searches had already been made.

Back in the study, Legolas kept trying to calm his father down.

"Do you truly think that she could have had an affair with anyone in the realm?" he challenged Thranduil. "I do not want to sound like I am meddling, but my quarters are very close to the queen's suite. I know you are… very active in a certain regard. Can you honestly say that you think she would still crave for the attention of another ellon?"

The king did not reply.

"Do you?" Legolas insisted with steel in his voice.

"It is unlikely," Thranduil eventually admitted.

"So we agree that you made a mistake. Now, I have not heard all that was said between you, but with the yelling I heard and her escape, I imagine that you turned this joyful moment into the most awful moment of her life?"

"Probably."

"Probably?"

"Yes. Yes, I did. I will apologize to her when she returns to her suite."

"And you think that it will be enough?"

"It will have to be."

"Adar, you have not been honest with her. You never told her about the dragon burns and the scars-"

"You have never seen my scars either!"

"I was talking about the mental scars. You never gave me any details, because you are overly secretive about this, but I know that you still have some of the dragon's evil in you, and that it comes out when you are deeply angry like you were today. Am I wrong to think that if I had not arrived at that exact moment, you would have hurt her?"

"In all likelihood, I... would have hurt her, yes."

"She needs to know about this, so she can be on her guard."

Thranduil stared at his son for a while before admitting out loud that Saruman was presumably going to try to manipulate him by threatening to reveal his secret to Valerie.

"All the more reason to inform her."

"You are right. I have much to apologize for and to discuss with her. And to think I accused her and insulted her rather than celebrate her pregnancy. It is our first child. She will never forgive me."

"She will only forgive if you are completely honest and sincere. I will let you think about what you will tell her and I will go help with the searches."

Six hours later, Valerie was still missing. The entire fortress was in uproar.

A/N: in the next chapter, Thranduil makes a big revelation…

AhealingRenaissance: He was too scary for Valerie to fight back. The evil emerged and took over, he was not controlling himself anymore. But they will have to seriously discuss their relationship following this…

princessnera: he was controlling the fertility of his semen – the most plausible explanation was that she had cheated on him. He jumped to conclusion without looking for another explanation…

Lyryenn: Legolas and Bronadon reasoned with him – he was so angry that he could not think of the Valar interfering without some external help…

W: since he is still unsure of their bond, it was his first assumption…

stubs1101: since he truly was scary, she was afraid and escaped the situation rather than fight back. But he will have to explain his conduct – and Valerie will hear a certain story for the first time!

Glassary: you are right about that – this will require a lot of discussions and reflection on both sides!

Riddicks-gurl1988: his angst took over completely. He was no longer in control. He has a lot to explain, and he will have to do it in the next chapters!