Took me a long time to write this chapter. . Anyway. I hope you like it.

One small question to you readers; Do you want a back story on Thalathar? If you do, write a Review. Thanks, in advance =)

Glassary: Oh, yes, Thalathar is slowly turning into something not quite elf, not quite orc.. Let's see how this will work for him. Thranduil is, I think accepting of what he is, but still it would be better if his past wouldn't be public knowlege. And yeah, poor Elrond. He has had a bad time in this story, that is for sure..

Cara was once again sitting by the large wooden table in the kitchen. This time she was not making food though. On the other side of the table Legolas' son Fëanáro and Elrohir's son Elros were making small figures from play-dough. She had somewhat successfully managed to recreate the play-dough recipe that her grandmother used to make for her and Evelyn on The Island when they were younger.

She had ended up more or less being a nanny to the elflings, since Elrohir had taken off suddenly to look for his father. The elf had been near what she would all a mental breakdown, and Legolas had taken it upon himself to go after him, and hopefully convince his friend to not put himself in harm's way because of his anger. It was nice of Legolas, and probably necessary, but she felt sorry for the boys, who were yet again separated from their fathers. They had been through many traumatic experiences lately.

The boys were generally very well behaved and they were a nice distraction from the current chaos in Cara's life. She found it quite odd how unaccustomed many of the elves were to children. Both Nessa and Amaria seemed clueless around the boys, but Thranduil had explained that children were quite rare in Valinor. She had just happened to meet Elaron and Tildara's son as soon as she arrived in Valinor. Other than her, it was mostly Lindir and Erestor, who took care of the boys, since they were their teachers. She was thankful that both elevs tried to continue the daily lessons, like if they were back home. Some continuity was probably good for the children, made them feel a bit safer as the chaos raged around them.

Two days ago a tall, very beautiful woman had arrived together with some guards. She was apparently Thranduil's cousin's wife Galadriel, and she made Cara feel slightly ill at ease. It was like her blue eyes could see right through her. The assumption was probably also correct, at least from what Thranduil had told her about what happened in The Golden Woods. At the moment Thranduil, Galadriel, Erestor and Lindir were in yet another meeting in Thranduil's study.

"Lady Cara?"

"Yes, what is it Fëanáro?"

"Are you my grandmother?"

"No I'm not your grandmother." Cara frowned. "What made you think that?"

"I saw you kissing my grandfather in the garden." The blond elfling said matter-of-factly.

Cara sighed. Jesus, kids were the same in every world. Nothing went unnoticed, apparently. She had no idea what to answer.

"Hey, why don't we have a sandwich and a glass of milk. Lindir will be here soon to take you to your lesson. I bet you are both hungry." Elros nodded, but Fëanáro didn't seem satisfied with her lack of an answer.

"But.." The blond elfling said. Luckily he was interrupted by someone walking through the door. It was one of Galadriel's guards, the one called Haldir. She sighed. He was probably looking for Amaria again. It was quite obvious that he had the hots for the maid, and he was not exactly discreet either. The constant sleazy compliments he showered Amaria with making Cara cringe. At the moment he held a pink rose in his hand. The term "fuckboy" came to mind when it came to Haldir. Amaria was not interested in the blond elf, even if she admitted he was quite handsome. Simply not her type.

"Lady Cara." The elf said with one of his cocky trademark smirks on his face. "I was looking for Amaria. Do you happen to know where she is?"

"Nope. I have no idea." Cara lied, even if she knew Amaria was in the wine cellar looking for a suitable wine for tonight's dinner. It was quite ironic really. The elves often tried to seem like the pinnacle of morality, but to her it seemed like quite a few of them were almost as lustful as humans. In that sense she appreciated Thranduil. At least he was honest with who he was, when it came to their relationship.

"Oh, well. Could you please tell Amaria I'm looking for her?"

"Sure. No problem." Cara smiled, and put a sandwich and a glass of milk in front of each of the elflings.

"Thank you Lady Cara." Haldir said, bowed slightly and disappeared again.

The boys happily ate their sandwiches, and it seemed Fëanáro had forgotten his questions about her and Thranduil. She sighed with relief.

A while later Amaria came back with a basket full of wine bottles, and when she entered the kitchen, she bumped into Lindir who came to get the elflings for their lesson. The timid elf excused himself a number of times and blushed. He was simply adorable, Cara thought to herself and almost broke into laughter. Lindir was also the first elf she had seen that had brown eyes. It seemed like something rather unusual among the elves, just like dark hair seemed more rare than blond.

Lindir said something in Sindarin to the boys, who immediately got up on their feet. The only thing Cara could pick up was "lesson". But at least that was something. She had only studied the language for two days with Erestor. After dinner they would have their third evening of lessons. There would sadly be a break from their lessons soon though. The next day, she and Thranduil would leave for Valmar.

She was no longer sure she wanted to go, but Thranduil still insisted she'd come with him, even if he himself had his reservations about going. Part of her wanted to stay here, but another part of her could not bare the thought of leaving him. Being close to him was almost like a scary addiction that she could not wrap her head around. She had never in her life felt like this before, and it couldn't simply be because the sex was mind blowing. Or could it? Once again her thoughts went back to their first time together, and the golden light. For a moment it had almost felt like she was inside his mind. She frowned. Thranduil hadn't given her any clear answer when she tried to ask him if he had felt the same. Maybe he just thought her silly. Anyway, she hadn't felt that same feeling again and they've had sex many times since that night. It was most likely her imagination playing tricks on her. She sighed loudly.

How she wished she had someone to talk to. Someone whom she knew well. All the people around her were new, and they were very different from her and the people she was used to. Sure, they all seemed nice, but they were not yet her friends, and she could not speak to them about intimate things like this. How different it would have been if Erica had been alive, and here with her. She would most probably have something smart to say about the situation. Hell, even Evelyn with her snarky remarks would have been nice to have around now. Or well, maybe not. Evelyn would probably have told her to get a grip and that she was only into Thranduil because he was hot and had money. Cara smirked to herself. In her former life, and with some other guy that might very well have been the case, but this was way different.

"I'm going to the garden to get some fruit and vegetables." Amaria said, and Cara snapped out of her thoughts. She nodded and the maid took her basket and hurried away to the garden.

Cara found herself alone in the kitchen and wondered what she would do next. Perhaps she should take a bath before dinner? Suddenly her eyes fell upon a small red book on the floor. Amaria must have dropped it when she bumped into Lindir earlier. Cara frowned and picked it up. The cover was velvety smooth and there was no text on it. She had seen Amaria reading it a few times, always a bit too eager to put it away as soon as Cara approached. It could hardly hurt to take a look, could it? Most likely she would not understand many words anyway.

She opened the book and the only word she could pick out on the title page was "king". Probably a history book then. She turned to a random page where she found an illustration. This was not a history book. Definitely not. More like porn. The illustration was very graphic and realistic. Then she immediately recognized the facial features of the male elf in the picture. Was this supposed to be Thranduil? Her heart started beating faster as she turned the pages until she found another illustration, and then another. Yes, it was definitely him.

"What the fuck?!" She said aloud just as Amaria entered the kitchen again. The elleth squealed in horror and dropped the basket, oranges, apples and carrots rolling all over the floor.

"No, no, no.." Amaria pleaded and her face and ears turned bright red. "I didn't know it was about him when I got the book from my cousin. I swear. Please don't tell anyone." Amaria seemed like she was about to cry.

"The likeness is quite striking isn't it?" Cara hissed and didn't know if she should laugh or cry. The situation was utterly bizarre. She was ashamed for doing a topless photo shoot when she was twenty and broke, but now it turned out Thranduil was apparently the porn star of Valinor. Probably not voluntarily though. "Does he know about this?"

The elleth looked devastated.

"I don't know." She whispered. "Please, don't tell anyone, I beg you. I didn't mean to hurt anyone by reading it. It's just that almost everybody has read this book in the last five months, since it showed up everywhere. I was just curious. My cousin basically threw it at me.. Please Cara. He will fire me if he finds out, won't he?"

"I don't know." She admitted. Amaria might be right. She wondered if Thranduil knew and simply hadn't told her about the book, or if he had no idea about its existence. In a way she almost felt a bit sorry for the elleth, but still she was angry. What was she to do? She slipped the book into her pocket.

"I have to think about this." She simply said. She understood that sometimes curiosity could make people do stupid things. On the other hand, she felt disrespected herself since she was involved with Thranduil. The book's content itself didn't bother Cara that much personally, she had probably seen and read much worse at home. Still, she felt a bit suspicious as to why this book seemed to be circulating at this very moment. This was simply slander, and with the way elevs most likely viewed this kind of behavior the consequences for Thranduil would be harsh. Hadn't Elrohir told them many times that someone was spreading rumours about Elrond as well. Calling him a warmonger and a half-breed with no right to be in Valinor. This couldn't be a coincidence could it?

Cara fled the kitchen and left a devastated Amaria behind her.

"No elleth has ever asked me to do that before. Did you really enjoy it?" Thranduil smiled and dragged his thumb over Cara's bottom lip.

"Yes, I did. Very much in fact. You're such an innocent boy, aren't you, Thranduil." Cara teased. He smiled and kissed her.

It was way past midnight, and they were lying in his bed face to face, Cara was drawing circles with her finger on his chest. Outside it was pitch black, and only the sound of the waves against the shore could be Heard. She sighed, and leaned closer to him. He had managed to make her forget everything about the book for a few hours, but now it all came back to her. The book was still tucked away in the pocket of her dress. Should she tell him? She sighed.

"There is something you need to know." She said tentatively.

"Yes?" He lifted an eyebrow and looked at her.

"I found something in the house today that you probably need to see. It's not something good, but you deserve to know anyway." She decided to leave Amaria out of the whole thing for now.

Cara got up and walked over to her dress that was tossed over a chair. She pulled out the book and took it back to bed.

"This book is apparently circulating all over Valinor. I can't read it myself, but the illustrations give me a good idea what it is about."

Thranduil took the book and started reading. His face turned angrier, and angrier by the minute, but he didn't seem as shocked as she had expected.

"Where did you find it?"

"You knew?"

"Yes. During the little incident that I told you about in The Golden Woods, my cousin's daughter told me about a book supposedly written by one of my former mistresses. But I thought there were only one or two copies of it. Where did you find this?"

"In the kitchen..." She cursed herself the moment she let it slip, but Thranduil didn't ask any more questions.

"Damn it!" Tranduil threw the book away with force. It bounced against the wall and landed on the carpet. "Everything in that book is probably true. I am the architect of my own destruction. I don't really care what people think of me, but someone has found a very clever way to destroy my reputation. I am probably the most hated elf in Valinor now, people are conservative here."

"That much I have noticed, yes. Who do you think is spreading this shit? I didn't even know there were printed books here. It must be someone with a lot of resources. Maybe the same elf you and Legolas have been talking about. The one in league with Morgoth, who wants the keys? It must be someone important."

Thranduil took a deep breath and nodded. Then he was quiet for a while, before he said:

"I'm sorry Cara. This is the person I am. My past will always haunt me." Thranduil pulled her closer and kissed her on her forehead. She could feel his heart beating fast. She shook her head.

"Believe me, I've seen much worse at home. I don't think any less of you, because of this. In fact, I like what you are." She pushed herself closer to him and pulled the covers up around them like a warm protective wall. "But, maybe we shouldn't go to Valmar at all. With everything that has happened lately, it's probably not safe."

Thranduil sighed.

"It's not that simple, Cara. One does not decline an audience with the king. Especially not when I myself was the one asking for it. It is my duty to at least try to warn the king about the situation we are dealing with."

"Get a grip. What if you get abducted like Elrond, or killed by orcs, or I don't know what. What if it is the king himself that is in League with Morgoth?"

"The king would never do such a thing. He has ruled this realm for thousands upon thousands of years, and he hates Morgoth just as much as any other elf."

"Ok, but people can change, you know. Please think about it, ok. I'm scared of going to Valmar." Cara admitted.

"I have to go, with or without you."

"Then I'll come with you." She said, but regretted it almost instantly. A feeling of dread was lurking deep in her stomach. She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

He touched the prisoner on the cheek, quite gently in fact. He explored his cheekbone and the wrinkles around his eyes. Curious. He looked so very human, but yet his ears and his demeanor was so very elven. He was really delightful, something for him to explore, pleasure and mutilate. There was a very thin line between pleasure and pain his beloved Master had taught him, time after time. His lessons had changed Thalathar's body, but they had also made him the man he was. No one, could ever compare to his beautiful, dark master.

Elrond was chained to the cell wall, by his hands and currently he was sitting on the narrow ,hard bed that was provided for him. Elrond was fading. His beloved wife dead, and only one of his three children alive as far as he knew. Very heartbreaking. Thalathar smirked and traced the shell of the ear of his prisoner. The half-breed tried to get away, but Thalathar pushed him against the wall. He bit the tip of Elrond's ear, a bit harder than necessary, but still enough to provoke a soft hiss from the former lord of Rivendell.

If he only had some more time... How he would love to see Elrond defeated under him, moaning in a sweet mix of pleasure, hate and pain. Sadly, it had to wait. The king might have granted him a certain amount of privileges, but still, he had to watch what he was doing very carefully. The elves viewed all kinds of immoral behavior against their own race as sinful, and that perticular trate was hard to erase from his king, no matter how much of his mind control he used,

"Who are you? You are a Noldor, one of my kind, and yet you do this to me. Why?" Elrond's voice was harsh and he looked down onto his own hands. Thalathar smirked and kissed the tip of Elrond's ear.

"Why? Because it is what you deserve. Half-breed Elrond."

"I do not know who you are, or where you are from, but aligning yourself with Morgoth will be your doom."

Thalathar laughed. The damn half-breed had no idea what was coming for him. If the guards wouldn't be nearby he would have ripped the clothes from Elrond's body and fucked him into submission, but that was only happening in his fantasies, sadly. He had to leave the cell empty handed.

Still,he was satisfied that the King was firmly under his control and things were going his masters way.