Chapter 26

So the days passed. Rain came again for a time but was eventually chased northwards by blue skies and the calls of many birds. As spring gradually melted into early summer, the doors to the Last Homely House stood open and we welcomed several more travellers who were weary of the road and of sleeping among ferns and tussocks. One evening, just as the first stars pricked the velvety blue above, a small party of dwarves ambled up the stairs to my front doors, and great was the surprise of Legolas.

"Your eyes are so wide I am sure you will never manage to close them again," I heard Glorfindel say to him. We stood just inside the chamber where the dwarves sat huddled together by the fireside.

The dwarves had come through the Redhorn Pass at great peril, that much I understood from their gruff mutterings. Reluctant they were to speak but I gathered that they had lost their way after that and had wandered the slopes of the Hithaeglir for some time ere they stumbled upon the path that lead them to Imladris. Now they were murmuring among themselves in front of the fireplace, glad, I perceived, to have a roof over their heads again. Their cloaks had been taken away for washing and mending but that was as much as they would let my people do – except for housing and feeding them.

"Questions shall have to wait till tomorrow," I said to Erestor in an undertone. "If they are of Durin's folk, they might well have news from the Iron Hills."

"They spoke of unrest in the Misty Mountains," said he, "that much I thought I understood from them."

"That is hardly news," I said.

But there was a frown about him. "This is something new, I think. Or something old that we have not yet heard of until now."

I looked long upon him for Erestor would seldom give in to speculation and nor was he particularly foresighted.

"Very well," I said at last. "I will heed your words and keep them in mind."

With that, I turned to Legolas where he stood with Glorfindel. "Have you looked your full?" I smiled at him.

It appeared he drew his gaze from the dwarves with some difficulty.

"My brother once came upon some of the Naugrim," he said slowly, "and told such tales afterwards that I could scarce believe him. Clumsy, he said they were, with hands bigger than their feet and beards as long as their cloaks." He gave a weak smile. "The last part was true enough, I see."

"Save for that bit about the beards, that sounds to me more like Trolls," I said. "Though their numbers have dwindled and they are rarely seen by anyone outside the borders of the darkened realm."

"Maybe so," said Legolas. "Though now I am not sure what to believe."

I would have liked to slide an arm around his waist and draw him close but since we were not alone I stayed myself.

"They wield axes, like the Sindar in Elder Days, and short swords," said Glorfindel with a nod at the dwarves. "And they are never clumsy. Perhaps on the morrow we might persuade one to join us in the practice field." He raised a brow at Legolas.

"On the morrow," I said, "I shall hold converse with them and then see them on their way for, as I understood it, they are not keen on staying."

Glorfindel sighed. "Ever the politics, never the fun. Oh well, it was worth a try." Then he winked at us. "I think I shall leave you to attend them. Come Erestor, if you fancy a glass of wine?"

"Hardly," said Erestor.

Legolas turned to me and his smile was one that filled me with a fluttering light.

"My lord," he said quietly, "if you have no intention of questioning them tonight…" He let the unspoken words hang between us and I tasted the promise in them.

And so we bid Erestor goodnight and made for my chambers. Despite the taunts from my family regarding the way in which we looked at each other, I hoped we were discreet enough. Because for as long as Thranduil in his caves remained uninformed we were not free to display our relationship openly. This, I knew, was my own fault but Legolas feared his father's anger and I could not bring myself to discuss the matter with him. Not when my bed bathed in moonlight and he stretched out upon it, and not afterwards either, when he lay sated in my arms.

But now I was freeing him of his undershirt and it fell to the floor like a billowing cloud. He stood before me, then, with his chest bared, shimmering in the moonlight. And I removed my own shirt, and he traced a line from my collarbone to my waist with his fingertips, causing a shiver to race across my skin.

Then, for the first time like this, he fingered my breeches and fixed his eyes on mine. I nodded. His lips parted just a little as he undid the laces. Carefully, he pushed the fabric down past my hips and I was revealed to him.

"May I remove yours?" I asked, and my voice wove itself into the moonlight. "Or would you rather I grew a beard to my knees?"

He raised one eyebrow. "Is that a possibility, my lord?"

"Would you like it?"

But he laughed and shook his head. "In truth it would scare me greatly."

Stepping out of my breeches, I smiled. "That is good to know."

"Indeed." He caught my hand and brought it to his laces. "We shall have to do without the beard, it seems. I will do my very best to suffer through this night without it."

"Hm," I said, and then I set to work on the knots even as I lowered my mouth to his.

I hardened without his touch. Indeed, I was set aflame by his kiss alone. The knots were impossible to undo and I found myself breaking the kiss to be able to focus and yet I was hard for him. His eyes were burning as if my fire was his.

"These are unconquerable," I decided, and heard myself how a rasp had come into my voice.

He had hardened, too. Under the fabric, his length was swollen and straining.

He opened his mouth as if to speak but then something came into his face and he never did. Instead, with a peculiar smile, he sank to his knees in the moonlight and just then I understood nothing. But then… Oh, then I understood, and the explosion of a heat so intense I feared I would turn to ashes, claimed me and I stared down as Legolas licked his lips. And then he took my length in a light grasp and guided it to his mouth, and he kissed it.

My vision swam before me as he took me into his mouth. It was warm and wet and he pressed his tongue to the underside of my length so that I felt myself swaying. My breath went out of my body as he dipped his head and took in even more of me. His fingers slid down to the very base of my risen flesh and then, with gentle motion, he began to suck me.

My moan wrapped around us and my hands came to his head. I had no intention of guiding him, or setting a pace, but only needed to hold on to something. His rocking back and forth, the pressure of his lips and the feel of his hair overwhelmed me, and my blood sizzled. He pulled back, letting me almost slip from his lips before he took me into his mouth again and I slid inside so willingly. He revealed the head of my length and laved at it with his tongue and his teeth scraped the sensitive ridge just underneath it. I moaned again then and he repeated the action and made me shudder.

Like this we moved, his mouth warm around me, even as I lost my control to the heat and began rocking my hips to meet him. Then he tightened his hold on me and his sucking intensified and now he, too, moaned. His other hand came to my hip and he held on to me as I anchored myself in him. He swallowed around me and stars glimmered in the hazy moonlight. A glorious fire was building along my spine and it soon blinded me. Nothing I saw but nor did I have to for all I needed was Legolas' mouth on my length, and the way that he teased the slit with his tongue tip and coaxed pearly liquid to spill forth.

He kissed it away, licked at the tip and took me in his mouth again. Unseeing, I pushed inside, seeking only more of his warmth. His lips tightened around me and his other hand left my hip to cup the sac beneath my length. I stumbled on that already shaky breath and then I felt a great wave crash through my body. I had no time to warn him for ere I knew it, moonlight was transforming into a blaze and my release was upon me. But Legolas' mouth was still around my length and when I emptied myself he swallowed and I felt myself dissolve.

When he finally allowed me to slip from his lips, my mind was blank. All I knew was that he stood and that my hand was in his and that he kissed it. But it was not what I wanted and so I reached for him and exchanged my hand for my lips and opened them on his. I knew I was tasting myself on him but it did not strike me as strange. He was fused with me, with his tongue twining with my own and his fingers in my hair.

Without breaking the kiss, I steered him towards the bed and we sank down upon it. Only then did we part and my heart nearly burst in my breast when I looked at him.

"You are…" I lifted a hand to his cheek. "I have no words."

His smile was soft. "You were beautiful, my lord."

I shook my head, my eyes unwilling to leave his. "How is it that you have come to me?" I traced his jawline gently with my knuckles.

When he would have turned his face away, I brought him back. "I love you," I said. "And I will never let you go."

"I would never allow you to," he said. "For I love you with all my heart." And he kissed me.

There, swathed in moonlight, we lay down, and the knots that were his laces were finally conquered, and I found him hard and willing. Therefore, I encircled his length with my fingers and stroked him so that he arched back against the pillows. It was then that I bent my head and kissed one of his nipples and his next breath became a moan. So I kissed him there again and took the nub between my teeth and worried it gently, and now he almost came off the bed. Into his pleasure my laughter was woven and I rubbed my thumb over the satiny head of his length.

Had his mouth never descended on me I would have pushed at him. I knew this without thinking. My hips would have sought a rhythm and I would have craved the dance. Swollen and aching I would have lain against him, perhaps even seeking a way in between his legs to find there whatever was to be found. I desired it even now, even though my release had been so fulfilling. And so it was that I pushed him onto his side, with my hand still on his length; but I pressed into him and my kisses were lost in his hair. But my hips moved against his and I drank down his every tremor and smile, and I wanted everything.

TBC