Author's Note: Once again, sorry for the long wait, but finals! Arrrrgg, I'm finally done with them though. Can you imagine more than 120 vocabulary words! My English teacher is sooo cruel! Anyway, I'm going to get some review reviews out, since I have quite a couple to answer. If you didn't leave a review, or just don't want to read these, scroll down to the '~*~*~*', the chapter will be starting there, as I'm afraid this might be quite long.

KaniieViaske- Ughhhh, crossing over verbs, it's my nightmare. Yeah, I know I do that and I'm so damn mad at myself for it. I try really hard but then I don't notice even when I re-read the story fifteen times. I'll try to work on it and thanks for being honest and telling me about it. About your movie-going experiences? Woooh, scary. Yeah, that happened to me once. I was watching LotR with my friend for the third time and I really had to go to the bathroom. We waited until it was the part in Moria (not exactly my favorite, although Legolas looks incredibly cute when scared hehe, but yeah that part's sad * wipes imaginary tear off cheek *), and then we left. But then, when we came back, the guys who were sitting by us took our seats (we had the better ones), so we asked them to move and then a bunch of people from behind us started cussing at us, yeah, it wasn't a pleasant experience. And yes our seats were good enough to ask the guys to move from them.

Winter's Roar- hehe, patience young grasshopper, patience. Yeah, I hate cliffhangers too, and yet I still force you guys to live through them. Ughhh, I'm such a hypocrite! And don't worry, the lovey-dovey parts are coming.

Akili Moonwolf- ehh, I certainly hope it didn't get too out of hand yet. Sorry for being a bit late with updates. Please don't go insane, I want you to be able to finish my story (hehe).

You didn't leave a name, but here are the answers to that really long and informative review- first of all, the age thing, yeah at one point in time I had it wrong (I think I was about 600 years off hehe) but since the nagging of my perfectionist instinct (and a couple of readers) I changed it to the more correct one. Also, yeah, I'm definitely changing the history in this story, since in the real one there's no room for romance for our favorite little elf. To tell you the truth, no I actually didn't know all that elaborate history, sorry you guys, but I'm not a complete expert (but for those of you who are interested, I checked out the Silmarillion and plan to get started on it as soon as I find the time to). I learn more as I go from kind reviewers like you. About the wizard thing, yeah I knew all about that. * author's eye starts twitching * (note: my eye twitches when I lie.) Hehe, all right no, I didn't know, but now that I do, I think I'll work with making Him one of those wizards. All in all, thank you kindly for all your help, I truly do love learning more and I can't wait to get reading on the Silmarillion.

Prophecy- yeah the "Elbereth" thing was a typo. I really did know that part (note: my eye is NOT twitching), but thanks for saying that you'd forgive me even if I didn't know, it means a lot to me.

Just to make it more confusing for me, there are two more no-name ones. Well, I'll answer them both here then. - Okay, I'm a bit confused by what this question meant. "THis is the mean and strong elf right?" Ummm, depending on whom you're talking about.yes? I really don't know, but if you're talking about Legolas, it's not exactly natural that he's so sleepy, right, but that'll be answered in this chapter. The smudged spot, patience my friend, we'll get to that part, I know I've been dragging that but you find out about it either in this chapter or the next, don't worry.

Prantis - Queen of Hearts- yes Legolas's room is the one next to the healing room in the castle.

~*~*~*~Alrighty, that's all for the reviews. Want to tank you all for inflating my ego. Just a note, you might want to casually look back onto the middle part of chapter 8, and the beginning part of chapter 6. You don't have to of course, but just a bit of a hint. ~*~*~*~*~*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Beginning of the Chapter*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Mmmm, that was the best dream I've ever had." Alinne had just woken up and was stretching her legs and arms out and yawning while speaking to no one in particular. Her eyes stayed firmly closed. She was so comfortable and warm and she and she wanted to stay that way for as long as she could. For some reason she was afraid that if she'd open her eyes it would all disappear.

# Mmm, I never knew I could get this comfortable on the ground. It's so soft and.velvety? # Her eyes snapped open and she let out a terror- stricken gasp (a scream couldn't make it's way past her throat.) With lurid awareness she noticed that she was on a bed covered in a large white blanket. Even worse a pair of eyes were staring right back at her. With more than panic and revelation, she realized that the eyes staring back at her were those of someone she knew.

"Nerodel." she said almost as a question, her voice barely audible over the shock as her mind was racing to figure out what had happened. She saw a smirk, that smirk she knew only too well appear on his face as he nodded. His hand reached up and his cold pale fingers lightly touched her cheek.

# Get away from me! # Her mind screamed, desperate for that scream to come from her lips, but all she could do was watch. She watched as his hand continued to caress her cheek and she watched as he leaned down to her, his hair lightly falling on her cheeks, tickling them in the most unpleasant way. She couldn't move; she was paralyzed with shock, so she watched as his eyes closed and his lips crept their way towards hers. Her eyes didn't close; they stayed open and wide with shock even when his cold lips found hers.

# Don't let him do this to you! Push him off you idiot! Push him off! # her mind was screeching inside her head, and her body was all too willing to oblige, but her shocked muscles wouldn't move.

So she continued watching, her eyes still open with shock. She saw as he lifted his head, looked her in the eye and smiled at her. She kept watching when his head once again made it's way down and his lips found their way to hers once again. She still couldn't move, but when a warm wet tongue touched her lips, her shock overwhelmed her, this time not paralyzing her, but giving her the strength to push him off. Her body responded immediately and before he knew it, Nerodel found himself lying on the cold hard floor.

"Where am I?" she asked hatred dripping like blood from every word.

Nerodel had gotten up and looked at her through cold hard gray eyes and answered letting a smirk once again tug at his lips. "You, Alinne, are at His castle."

"Whose castle?" she asked not noticing that he had already answered that by stressing the "Him" in his sentence. Then she gasped as realization struck her. Nerodel noticed her terrified face, but continued to answer her question anyway, watching her intently to see more shock in her face.

"HIS castle." He said, once again stressing the "His", but this time more noticeably. "Now get up." he ordered. Alinne refused to move.

"Why am I here?" she asked stubbornly.

His laugh was cold and merciless as his eyes glittered with enjoyment. "Guess Alinne, take a small guess at why you are here." His eyes watched her intently as she shrank back in fear.

"I am NOT going to play guessing games with you Nerodel." She answered keeping full control of her voice. "I want you to tell me why I am here."

"And I want you to throw yourself at me and offer me everything you have. We don't always get what we want Alinne." His eyes circled her cruelly before adding, "Of course, I will soon get what I want."

"Is that what you truly want?" She asked him, her eyes never leaving his. It had practically turned into a staring contest.

"Are you willing to give it?" His face showed a hint of amusement and a bit of surprise. Surely she wasn't handing herself over to him that easily. # This is much too perfect. # he thought.

"Is that what you truly want Nerodel? Is that what you desire?" She persisted with her question.

"Yes." He answered calmly and frankly.

"Then you shall never get it." She spat back before turning around coldly and looking down at herself, wrapped in the fluffy white blankets. Instead of her traveling clothes, she found a soft white nightgown clinging to her body.

"Watch your tone Alinne!" he yelled angrily and grabbed her by her wrist. He continued to painfully drag her out of bed. She squirmed in pain, but he continued to pull her out. She soon found herself standing beside him, her feet cold against the floor, agonizingly pleading to be put back into the warm bed.

"Why should I?" she yelled back, harshly pulling her wrist out of his grasp.

It was suddenly as if time slowed down and she was watching in slow motion as his face twisted itself into the most angrily fuming look she ever saw. She couldn't move as his hand came up and aimed itself at her. She watched with dread as it came towards her and as it painfully slapped her face causing her to stagger backwards and to turn her face to the side from the impact. She heard the slap as his hand made contact with her cheek, and it took a while for the nerves from her cheek to reach her brain and tell it that the cheek was hurting. She had a fraction of a second before her cheek felt like it was on fire.

Out of instinct, her hand shot up and touched the already reddening cheek. She kept her face turned and didn't look at him as tears of pain tried to push their way through her eyes, but she wouldn't let them.

#I refuse to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry! I refuse to show him he made me hurt! # Her proud mind chanted.

Nerodel grabbed her wrist harshly and through angry gritted teeth said, "Don't you yell back at me woman. Now get dressed! There's a gown waiting for you in the changing room." He pushed her harshly at a door and she hastily went in.

Alinne was inside a relatively small room (compared to those that she was used to in the castle), but it was big enough to house a comfortable- looking couch and an empty bookshelf.

"That room is for you in case you are wondering." Nerodel yelled through the door.

# For me? What is he talking about? How can this be for me? #

"Hurry up! Honestly, you women take hours just to change."

Alinne remembered the cringing pain on her cheek and hurriedly changed into the dress. It fit her well and she had to admit was gorgeous but that didn't keep her from remembering that it was Nerodel she would be wearing it for.

She walked out of the room and noticed him looking out the window. She finally had a chance to look around the room. It was quite large, she noticed, with a very large bed (that right now was messy) backed up right to the middle of the far wall. There was only one relatively large window, unlike Legolas' castle, which, she remembered, was filled with light and beautiful windows. They all had a beautiful view as well. Forests and birds chirping and squirrels jumping form one branch to another. The view from this window was hidden to her by Nerodel's body.

She decided to stay quiet for a bit, seeing as Nerodel hadn't yet noticed her presence. The room was a perfect rectangle, with bare gray walls. It seemed even light from the window didn't want to go in, and the gray walls adding to the darkness, this room was like a dark depression hovering over her.

Nerodel was about to yell for Alinne to hurry up, but then noticed that she was already outside. He smiled at the way she looked in that dress and satisfaction loomed over him. He walked up to her until he was mere inches away from her.

Alinne stood there and just waited. His lips soon came into contact with her. She didn't push him off at the painful memory of her burning red cheek, but she kept her eyes firmly open and emotionless as her silent protest. Nerodel pulled back and took one of her hands into his.

She looked down at her hand as she felt cold metal ring fall into it. She gasped, it was by far the most beautiful ring she ever saw, and gold band that shone brightly against the cold dark room and a shiny red stone in the shape of a tear glittering in the middle, surrounded by some small sparkly clear circular ones.

"That red stone you are looking at is the most precious stone of our time. It is in the shape of a blood drop, the symbol of power."

# Funny, # she thought, #Why does it look so much like a tear. #

"It will symbolize your life here."

#It sure will. # She thought in response (obviously) meaning a completely different thing than Nerodel was.

"You will marry me." It was a statement and it was definitely meant to sound like one.

"No." she said plainly. Disbelief struck on Nerodel's face. 'How- dare-she' was most definitely the thought playing in his mind.

"What?" Nerodel's voice was more than dripping with malice.

"No" she said again, her voice as calm as ever.

Another slap hit Alinne's already red cheek. She didn't turn her face away this time or stagger backwards. She in fact stayed perfectly still ignoring the scorching cheek.

"No." she answered again, her voice final.

A smirk appeared on his face.

"Let me remind you, Alinne. You are in HIS castle, and I am HIS advisor. Why don't you sit down while I tell you of our little plans?"

Reluctantly Alinne sat down, still refusing to wince from the pain in her cheek, which had been hit twice.

# Yes because it was too hard for him to do the other one. # she thought and then wondered how she could be so sarcastic at a time like this.

"You see, He and I have a little agreement. Your little friend Legolas, " she winced at the mention of his name, but Noitamni continued without noticing it. "he is the king of Mirkwood. Of course you already knew that, but Mirkwood is very important, believe it or not, for the capture of Middle Earth. My job was to get your precious little prince to Him, and I would get whatever I want. And guess, my sweet, what it is I wanted?"

"So let me get this straight Nerodel, you slap me, and then you want me to marry you?"

"You say it like you have a choice. You WILL marry me."

"No" she answered plainly once again.

"So why not?" he asked getting sick of being talked to like he was in any way less powerful than her.

"I will die."

"Ahhh, so that is the reason. But, you WILL marry me. Let us just put it like this, your precious prince, I assume, is in love with you as well, yes? Well, we will get technical and say that you love him, and he loves you. Who you go to bed with every night does not matter."

"It matters to me. I will die."

"You will NOT die. HE is a powerful wizard, He can make sure of that."

"What will happen to Legolas?"

"He gets to marry too."

"Whom is he going to marry?"

"Do not rush this Alinne, you will find out soon enough. However, just to make sure you understand the severity of this situation, if you refuse to marry me, your Legolas will die a most painful death. So, I tell you again, you WILL marry me. Are we understood?"

She sat still making Nerodel's face coil with anger.

"I want an answer Alinne, right NOW!!!"

Author's Note: Ahhh, mother of all cliffhangers (again). Anyway, this really wasn't supposed to be a cliffhanger (originally this was just the first part of this chapter) but it's taking me longer than I thought to write it, so here's the first part. I'll get the second one up as soon as I can. (Maybe even later today or tomorrow.)

In the mean time, thank you all very much for reviewing. You have no idea how happy I get to see new reviews.

And for that long no-named review, I was thinking about the wizard thing that you told me about, and I realized that I could fit that into the story pretty well. I mean, we need a wizard who had fallen in love with Alinne's grandmother, and one to be evil. Both are unnamed, which kinda works out. But then you said they travel together (sigh.) and I don't really know how to work that in, so this'll probably be a very AU (alternate universe) fic, although it's pretty impossible not to have an AU fic with Tolkien's writing. He thought everything out so well. Ahhh, all hail the God. * Drops on knees and repeatedly bows down to J.R.R. Tolkien's picture *.