Excerpt from 'Midsummer's Eve part II'
"You could get nothing out of Aragorn?" Eowyn flattened the folds of her gown, eyes pleading with Arwen in hopes that she had discovered some secret plan.
"Nothing." Arwen turned Eowyn to the mirror and began to smooth the lace on her gown. "And I was most persuasive…."
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Persuasion
Interlude to Midsummer's Eve
Evening came at a gratefully opportune time, as the candlelight flickered across the tired King's rugged features. He grasped a pinch of sand and dropped it onto the parchment, slowly blowing it away to dry the ink. Using a waxed seal, Aragorn pressed the parchment together, wincing when his fingers touched the hot wax.
"Oh, it's time for bed," Aragorn muttered tiredly as he set the stamp aside and walked out leaving the royal guard standing outside to close the door.
Deciding to take a detour before returning to his chambers, Aragorn walked into one of the large gardens overlooking the city. He'd been cooped up in his office for far too long and the fresh smell of blossoming plants and flowers would do him some good. Standing in the entryway, surrounded by stone white pillars with vines wrapped around their length, Aragorn caught his breath at the sight standing before him.
Arwen stood with her back to him, staring out over the city. The evening breeze tossed her gown around her lean body, nearly obscuring it completely. Her ebony hair hung loose, not bound with jewels or circlets and it fell around her shoulders like a silken wave. With the moon alighting her alabaster skin and the wind whipping her gown around her limbs, she looked to him like an angel from Valinor.
He stood, entranced, unmoving, completely unaware of the two pairs of eyes watching from within the gazebo surrounded by blooming flowers and hanging hyacinth.
When he regained his wits, he strode toward her, slowly, watching transfixed as the wind lapped at her skin and the moonlight cast its pale glow against her dark hair.
She smelled of the sweetest elven flowers and he couldn't help but snake his arms around her waist and gently pull her back against his chest. His faced dipped into her hair and he breathed deeply, intoxicated by the scent.
"You've been released from your duties for the evening?"
"I was falling asleep at my desk." There was a slight tinge of amusement in his voice and Arwen smiled.
"I shall endeavor to let you sleep tonight, then" Her hands came up to cover his where they rested at her waist, slowly twirling circles atop his skin in a teasingly arousing gesture.
Aragorn could feel the years of pent up desire flood through his veins and he dropped his lips to the nape of her neck. Slowly, he lapped at the smooth skin, drawing breathy gasps from her lips. When his lips covered the tip of her ear, she shuddered in his arms. "Sleep is overrated," he rasped, voice deepening with arousal.
She quickly turned within the circle of his arms and hooked her wrists around his neck. She stared into his eyes and smiled. "When duty and promise have kept us apart for so many years, yes, it is."
His hands flattened against her backside and pulled her against his chest. Whiskered lips descended to claim the breath from her lungs, snuffing it faster than a blade through the heart. She whimpered, her legs giving way as his lips danced across her skin.
"Estel," her breath was whispered into the air as his whiskered chin tickled the sensitive skin of her nape.
The mood was cut cold by a sharp cough behind them.
Aragorn's head snapped toward the sound and Arwen's gaze followed that of her
husband, but their arms remained firmly in place – unwilling to be deterred
from simply because they'd been caught enjoying a private moment.
Celeborn stood with Galadriel, his eyebrow raised at the sight.
"While such actions in a public setting would not discomfort an elf, I do believe the people of Gondor would be quite at a loss to see their King and his new Queen acting in such a manner."
For the first time, the couple realized where they were: in a private garden overlooking the entire city of Gondor. Just as they could look down, so could anyone in the city look up and see the silhouette of the royal couple.
Galadriel smiled warmly and laced an arm through her husband's.
"The gazebo is quiet and private." Celeborn smiled and indicated a vine-covered dwelling to the corner of the garden. The couple gave a small start when they realized that the elves had been witness to everything that had transpired between the royal couple.
"I think we will move our – activities – to a more private location," Aragorn said with a smile and a squeeze of his wife's waist.
Celeborn smiled fondly. "It is a pity the world of men does not share the elves love of life and physical beauty." He turned and led his wife to the entryway, to give the royal couple some much needed privacy.
Aragorn stopped them with a comment that made the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien smile warmly. "Perhaps it will fall to me to teach them."
"Perhaps it will." Celeborn answered as they ducked out the door and closed it firmly behind them.
After a moment of silence, Arwen disengaged herself from her husband's embrace and took his hand, leading him toward the secluded gazebo in the corner of the garden. Her eyes darkened with mischief and his eyes narrowed but he followed without hesitation.
The vines falling from the rooftop nearly obscured the moonlight, casting those within into nearly complete darkness.
Arwen gasped when her husband's hands circled her waist and he pulled her tightly against his chest. Perhaps it wouldn't be so difficult to persuade him after all, the fleeting thought was driven from her mind when warm, moist lips covered the tip of her ear. Her body melted against him while her hands drew lazy circles up his clothed arms and over his shoulders, before delving into the dark locks that fell to his shoulder.
Inside the gazebo, they were most certainly alone. The vines stopped the cool breeze and dissuaded prying eyes – giving them a certain freedom.
When Aragorn's hands flattened against Arwen's backside, she arched her hips against his, inviting a more intimate caress. She bared her neck to him, her head lolling to one side with a heavy sigh.
His rough, neatly trimmed beard brushed against the sensitive skin of her nape and she trembled. Hot desire plummeted straight to her toes, heating her skin beneath his touch. As his mouth moved along the pale column of her neck, she gave his hair a gentle tug.
She could see the whites of his eyes as he turned a heated stare upon her daring her to stop the movement of his hands as they slowly slid the material of her dress up her backside.
She smiled seductively, her fingers tightening in his hair, her hips wiggling seductively against his own and drawing a long, deep groan from his lips.
He nuzzled her neck as her fingers snaked between them and began to expertly remove the fastenings of his tunic. Parting the velvet folds, her hands flattened against his chest, fingers slowly moving in teasingly slow circles across his heated skin.
His lips captured hers again, stealing the breath from her lungs, just as her fingers reached the fastenings of his breeches. Instead of unfastening them, as he expected, she trailed a single finger over the obvious strain, drawing a loud gasp from his lips. When she applied a bit more pressure, she could feel him tremble beneath her fingers.
"Wanton tonight, my love?" He whispered against her lips as his own hands continued their sensual caress over the bare skin of her backside.
"Always, for you." She breathed and trailed her fingers along his waistline before slowly unfastening the front of his breeches.
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