CHAPTER NINE
Raveyn's POV
The company moved slowly, plodding along towards the palace in a lazy hushed indifference, the slaughter now simply another memory adrift in a remembered but locked away sea of horror.
Any other time, my mood would have been black, and my tongue sharp enough to cut.
I looked at him again for what must have been the hundredth time. I couldn't help it he was so…so perfect. So beautiful, his face shining as the sun glowed around it; nature herself, the indomitable and cruel, bowed to her only liege lord. He was listening to one of the elves, as they talked animatedly around him, his back straight and shoulders thrown back. Regal.
He could have been dripping with mud, and still you would see that quality that eluded even kings. He turned suddenly and caught my gaze, his blue eyes as dazzling as polished sapphires. He nodded slightly, a smile playing on his lips, as if he knew the direction my thoughts had taken.
I looked away. That had been a glorious morning I remembered.
And afternoon.
My cheeks flushed as heat rose again, at the memory of those so skilled hands trailing fire across my skin.
And I let myself drift on my reveries, entertaining thoughts of that nice cool bed in his chambers, with those silken sheets and cushions.
The hours passed and soon the company gave a loud cheer, as the spiraling towers of Rivendell could be seen, flushed by the twilight sky.
White and gleaming the palace emerged out of the lush green paradise that cocooned it.
As I looked at the scene spread before me, I should have felt some modicum of happiness. But I wasn't. I frowned; something was wrong.
A dread grew in the pit of my stomach, and I turned worriedly to look at Legolas. He was smiling, the reins held loosely in his hands. I looked around me, and saw only relief and happiness. I let a smile shadow my lips.
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong though. A nagging itch that tugged at the corners of my mind like a screaming child. We dismounted and after settling Stubborn in, I left quietly, sparing one last glance at those smiling blue eyes. He was happy at least. I wouldn't bother him with my worries. I left him to his friends, and retreated to the cool darkness of Rivendell.
My solace and my comfort.
My life.
I walked down the terrace, and rested by the columned palisade. Leia. I needed to speak to Leia.
Troubled, I shook my head and tried to clear my mind.
"Shadows again?" His voice rang out coolly in the evening air.
He was standing behind me, a few feet away. His arms crossed over his chest as he regarded me, and an ever so slight smile playing on his lips.
"Did you expect me to change?" I said in retort.
He thought over that one, and I could read nothing in his eyes as he pursed his lips and regarded me.
"No."
The answer saddened me.
"Pity. I might have you know." I turned away, "If you'd asked. I might have. You never know if you don't ask." My tone was clipped.
"Raveyn." He put a command in that voice. Turn around and look at me, he said. Acknowledge me.
Acknowledge us.
I didn't turn. I stared at the garden before me, lit brilliantly by the dying sun.
I didn't want to hear what he had to say. I didn't want to talk about it.
I was afraid of what he would say. The ambience was all wrong, and I couldn't shake that sense of foreboding.
His arms wrapped around me, and he whispered behind my ear, "I would never want you to change."
My heart beat in fierce exultation, and turning I wound my arms about his neck, and fiercely kissed him. I wanted to swallow him whole, devour his essence till he became me. I him and him I. Inextricable inseparable always and forever.
My love.
He lifted me up, arms supporting me as my legs wound around him, and walked hurriedly to his chamber, throwing the doors open. I wound my hands in his fair hair and angled my mouth over his, clasping him tighter to me, my legs like a vise around his waist, joining my heat to his.
We barely made it to the bed, before clothes were torn off, and it was only us, in those cool hot silken sheets. What a picture we made I thought idly, as I moved above him, running my hands lightly over tanned god sculpted flesh.
What a picture.
Raveyn's POV
He looked beautiful in sleep.
Bastard.
I sighed happily and quietly gathered my clothes, careful not to disturb him. He was exhausted from the trip.
And from certain other…engrossing activities I thought; guilty pleasure coursing through me.
Humming I walked down the hallway, towards the servants quarters.
"Well lass?"
I turned and beamed at Leia, I was surprised to discover that I had missed her.
Leia, I thought as I walked happily towards her. Leia with her calm words, and soothing reason.
"Well what?"
She raised an eyebrow, and pushed wisps of her hair that escaped her bun, behind her ears.
She gave a whistle, "So is it true?"
I grinned, "All of it. And more. Amazing."
She nodded, "Damn lucky race."
"As long as they spread the wealth," I said coyly.
She smiled, "True true. But you seem to have monopolized one."
A grimace crossed my face, "Not monopolize. Purple is such a distasteful color don't you think?"
She laughed, "Hideous."
"How are you" I said. She looked well. Well enough for Leia.
She dropped her head, her eyes weary.
"Tired dearie. Tired, I am too old for intrigue."
"Intrigue? In the servants quarters," I asked.
Her brow furrowed and she didn't answer.
Shaking her head she put her arm through mine, and we started to talk towards the fountains that lined the eastern edge of the palace.
"So tell me now. Do you love him."
I was quiet, "Leia its too complic-"
"Do you love him?"
"It will never wo-"
"Do you love him?"
"What happened to you? Since when did you become so demanding?"
"Since I realized you were too silly to help yourself. Do you love him?" She said matter-of-factly.
"I want the old Leia back." I said mutinously.
"Too bad. Don't change the subject. Do you love him?"
"Did something happen while I was away? Did you have sex?" I asked suspiciously, looking at her.
She raised a supercilious eyebrow and looked me up and down, "Just because you have been indulging yourself in certain illicit activities, does not mean the rest of the world has lost their minds."
"Oh so now I've lost my mind have I," I said pugnaciously.
She snorted, "Dearie you lost your mind a while ago. Feeling its loss now are we?"
I was shocked, "Leia! That was an insult. That was a good insult! I am so proud of you! Yes it is directed toward me but I will overlook that," I said magnanimously.
"How gracious of you. Now answer the question."
We kept walking.
"Maybe," I said finally.
"Yes, and the daisies spoke to me yesterday. Do you love him?" She asked again.
"Really? What did they say?"
She stopped and glared at me.
"You know the answer dammit why do you want me to say it," I said crossly.
She didn't say anything, and the silence grew between us.
"Yes."
She simply smiled in response.
"Its rather liberating," I said surprised.
"You see," she said self-satisfied, "I told you so."
I looked at her affectionately and gave her a hug.
"I missed you Leia."
"I missed you too lass."
And it was as simple as that. The girl who lived in shadows finally found her own.
Narrator's POV
In a lofty room in the honeycombed palace, he paced. The leaf colored report loosely clasped in his arms and his brow furrowed he waited. And then the door opened, and he bowed, "Highness."
Legolas stared at him frowning, "You're back."
"Yes majesty, and here it is as you requested." Ellivir stood, his back ramrod straight, and the report held out in front of him.
Legolas hesitated, before reluctantly accepting the proffered report.
He sat down in the arm chair and opened it.
He read it through, his pose loose and relaxed. When he finished, he closed it and laid it aside.
All was quiet for a long while, and finally he spoke
Ellivir was not relieved as he was pinned with an icy gaze, "Is it true?"
"By my forefathers I swear it is the truth," he swore quickly, and nervously.
Legolas smiled coolly, "I do not brook mistakes easily Ellivir, nor do I forgive them. So I ask you once more, is it all true?"
Beads of sweat prickled on the inside of his tunic as his resolve quavered under that basilisk stare. Walking on the edge of a knife.
"Highness, I swear."
Legolas nodded and looked away, his arms folded.
He waved Ellivir away; Ellivir gracefully bowed again and made his way out. He was stopped at the door.
"Ellivir."
"Yes highness" he said turning towards his future sovereign. His back was too him.
"Tell no one."
"Yes highness," He made his way out and sighed in relief, as he loosened the collar of his tunic, and made his way through the palace to another room.
Raveyn's POV
It had taken Leia and I the entire day to finish our chores, and for me to tell her every detail of the camp ride. It was dark when we returned, laughing, to our quarters.
We were stopped abruptly by the bullish headmistress, he glared down at me.
"Prince Legolas wishes your presence in his chambers. I swear girl, if you have upset him in any way, then I will assign you kitchen duty for the next ten years!" She bellowed furiously.
Leia grinned and I meekly nodded my head, my steps quick as I made my way to his room.
"My Lord you requested my attention," I said, my voice sultry as I looked around the living room.
"Legolas?" I glanced around. Walking I opened the door to the bedroom and the smile abruptly slid off my face.
He was sprawled lazily across the plush velvet armchair in the corner, and he looked as if he hadn't slept for days. His hair was disheveled and his clothing was badly wrinkled. His fingers, lying against his temple tapped out a slow rhythm and as he regarded me, his lips curved cruelly.
Narrator's POV
She watched in trepidation as glacier cold eyes older than the seas raked her from head to foot.
Slowly and leisurely he looked at her, as if he had all the time in the world to strip her of everything she had ever hidden. There was a threat in that arrogant relaxed pose, and in the hooded sleepiness of those storm eyes. He smiled and chills ran down her spine.
"Raveyn." Her name rolled off his tongue, on a sibilant hiss, the knife in his hands gleaming dangerously in the pale moonlight.
He savored her name, lolling it in his mouth and sadistically reaching for all the memories that name brought with it. They ripped through him, trailing happiness and he could have killed right then for that alone. He had known such happiness that few were ever granted and it had all been false. Rotting beneath, festering like boils filled with pus. His hands clenched as he tried to tamp down his anger. Control himself long enough to know whether it was true; hope flickered briefly, and then as he glanced it her he knew.
"Highness, what is that you wish?" She said calmly, smoothing her shaking hands in front of her. She had to be very very careful about what she said. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead as she held his gaze, and she brushed them away.
He noticed, and his eyes lit viciously as he mimicked harshly, "Highness, what is it that you wish?"
His laughter rang out in the chamber, and she recoiled as he rose smoothly, catlike to his feet, his limbs slowly unfolding and pushing him forward, as quietly and stealthily as mist on a moonless night.
"What is it that I wish?" His head tilted to the side as if in thought. His eyes brightened.
"Lets play a game Raveyn."
She responded quickly, "I doubt I will win at whatever game you choose."
He stilled, "We will see. Its called Truth. You have proven remarkable adept at lying; falsities fall from your lips as sweet as honeyed dew, persuading all who might listen. Lets see if you are persuasive tonight. You will need to be persuasive tonight." The last two words where said with an underlying menace that glinted like a promise over the blade in his hand. And she knew where this was going now. Her face blanched as the realization hit her.
He saw, and his grip on the knife tightened.
"I ask you a question and you respond with the truth. I will know if you lie. Do you understand?"
He stood in front of her, forcing her to tilt her head up to look at him. He ran his knife slowly up the smooth marbled column of her throat, and smiled at her, his vision clouded. He saw her fear and it ate at him. She had betrayed him, played him like a fool. From beginning to end he had danced like a puppet to her strings. Bitch.
"In Isengaard, where did they put you too work?"
"Many places there wasn't one allotted-"
He put pressure on the knife and tears sprang to her eyes.
She whispered almost inaudibly, "The library."
He nodded in satisfaction, "And why did they put you in the library? Not in the pits or any of the numerous hellish places, but the library? What on earth gave you such a piece of good fortune?"
He said his voice mocking.
Her head bowed, "I had a talent for translation."
"Translating what?" He pressed.
"Elvish script." Her voice dropped.
"Elvish script. And how was this talent discovered?"
"Saruman," she said and looked at him.
He continued, "So Saruman somehow discovered that a little drudge in his dungeons had a mysterious talent for translating elvish lore. That proved rather fortuitous for him did it not?"
She turned her head away, "You don't underst-"
"Be quiet. I have not yet finished. We were at translation. Your ability to translate elvish texts. Now tell me, were you ever asked to translate battle messages, captured by Saruman's spies?"
Silence.
"Yes."
He nodded, "But those translated messages were useless, were they not?"
"Yes."
"However if somebody cracked the code, then they would provide a wealth of information would they not?"
She was quiet again, and then he heard a barely whispered, "Yes."
She fell silent and waited.
He let her wait; he wanted to tease her across the nails of dread; he wanted to tease her apart and break her for having broken him.
"Tell me Raveyn, do you know of the 16th battalion?"
Her heart beat out a slow dull rhythm as her dream shattered and bled starlight. She had become so cold, and couldn't even feel the knife's edge anymore. She almost bitterly, and felt tears prick at the edges of her sanity. Not a single moment's happiness Raveyn, not one. At the beginning she had lived in terror, believing that the secret would come out and she would die instantly. And then time passed, and life passed and safety came crawling back. Snatches of comfort. A coolness found only in the dark. And then he came, and she earnestly thought that now, now she could begin to live. Her fists tightened as she fought to regain control, as she saw her world melt away like washed off watercolors.
His lips brushed against the side of her head as he whispered, "Do you?"
"Yes," and her voice cracked on that single syllable.
"They were ambushed. And slaughtered. A company of some 300. All dead and buried. I had friends in that company, whom I had known for centuries," he whispered, fierce menace veiling his words like a storm.
"They…were….betrayed" Each word was bit out angrily as he stared at her; his love. His traitor.
"How were they betrayed Raveyn," he asked.
She stared mutely at him, her eyes willing him to stop. He fed on the pain he saw in those luminous gold pools; he wanted to hurt her. His hands tightened convulsively as he brushed them against that slim neck.
"Cat got your tongue?" He asked mockingly.
"The code. The code was broken." Her voice was now a whisper.
"Yes. The code was broken. For millennia it was unbeatable. Undecipherable. And then it was broken, and 300 of my companions died. We changed it of course, but the damage was done."
He released her and stepped back.
"We all believed Saruman had been responsible. But it wasn't Saruman, was it Raveyn?"
He crossed his arms, and his knife began to tap out a slow rhythm on his arm.
"No. Who was it Raveyn."
Bright eyes pinned her, and she felt blackness fall upon her as the answer rose to her lips. She wanted to die.
"Me." Tears coursed silently down her face as she straightened her shoulder and raised herself.
Rage blossomed bloodlike in his eyes as he slammed his fist into the wall. She flinched.
"You whore."
The words struck her like a blow. The pain in his voice was almost tangible.
"Legolas-" She started not knowing what to say tears blinding her, and touched him gently.
He shook her off so violently, that she stumbled across the room and fell.
"Never call me by my name again. Ever. You have not earned that right."
He glared at her and walked swiftly towards her his steps light. Fear moved her and she scuttled across the floor, turning to run before he grabbed her by the front of her tunic and hauled her up roughly against him.
"You betrayed my kind," he almost spat in her face.
And pulling her closer he whispered hotly, "You bedded Saruman to save your life, sent them to the slaughter. I wonder Raveyn, did you serve him in the bedroom as skillfully as you did on the battlefield?"
She felt the sting of his words and horrified she pulled against his grip, shaking her head as her vision blurred; "No! NO NO NO. How can you say-"
"I speak truth," he roared, furiously. He shook her, his tone furious.
"With a flick of the quill you destroyed my brethren. Our numbers had already been dwindling, do you know what a blow that was? Did you think about what you were doing?"
"Highness I-" She tried to explain, her tone pleading, but he cut her off viciously.
"No you wouldn't have stopped to think about those lives would you? All that matters is Raveyn, and let the world burn. You wouldn't have cared. As long as it served your purpose. And it did," he laughed bitterly, "It did. You were rescued by us. And brought to work here. What a penance that must have been compared to Isengaard," he said mockingly.
"And in Rivendell you besotted a Prince, who was fool not to look beneath the surface. You have been quite the busy little bee haven't you?" He ended, his voice chilling.
"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you as mercilessly as you destroyed them?" He said. His eyes smooth as glass, and his voice hostile and frigid; it washed over her like the midnight winds that whispered over broken cemeteries.
And looking up at him, at those sharp features, angled in the moonlight she did the only thing she could.
Throwing her arms around his neck, she fastened her lips to his and kissed him with every fiber of her being. She kissed him like a woman drowning, fear becoming a heady aphrodisiac.
His lips remained unresponsive, and his hands stayed at his sides before he growled low, and she heard distantly the clatter of the knife against the hard floor before his arms wrapped bruisingly around her and he kissed her back with a force that took the breath from her body. Searing, it coursed fire in their veins as his hands moved across her body, stroking hard down her skin. Hotly their mouths burned as he fought for control. Savage tension soaked the air and with a guttural cry he pushed her from him.
"Leave" he said his voice harsh as he turned his face away from her
She trembled, "Highn-"
"LEAVE," he roared turning back to her his eyes blazing with desire and pain.
"Leave and never return. If your not gone by the morrow, I will kill you. If I see you in Rivendell again, I will kill you," he said, his voice as glitteringly sharp as unsheathed steel..
The words deadened her, and everything fell back to place as she turned to instinct. Gazing at him for the last time, her golden eyes clear, she turned and ran.
***************************************
She stumbled into the servants quarters, tears running unchecked down her face as she frantically threw clothing and food onto the bedsheets.
"Lass?" Leia asked softly roused from sleep.
She didn't answer as she continued to pack, her hands flying automatically. Her legs took her to cranny in the wall where she had stashed the little money she had kept. She carefully folded it and tucked it into her breastband, as tears kept streaming down her face.
"Raveyn whats wrong."
She bent down and took Leia's face between her hands, and said her voice breaking, "I lost him. Forever."
And as the words left her mouth she crumpled on the bed, and holding her middle she rocked back and forth as she tried to hold back her sobs.
Leia rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her, "Tell me," she said soothingly.
She just cried harder and clutched the front of Leia's tunic, her shoulders wracked in pain, as she sobbed.
"He's gone. He found out," she choked, and her head bowed as she curled in on herself again. "Found out what love? Found out what?"
She raised her head, and wild gold eyes met Leia's plain concerned brown.
"How? How how how? I destroyed it, I remember I did. And he knows and I tried to explain, I did I did. And he wouldn't let me, you should have seen him, you should have seen him. Eyes were cold so cold," and she dwindled off, her words becoming increasingly incoherent as she gesticulated. Tears came to Leia's eyes, at the sight of her friend, crumbling like a castle of sand by the sea.
She blinked them away, and held herself up. She needed to be here for her only friend. She needed to be strong for her. She had to plan.
"Raveyn listen to me. Raveyn."
She slapped her. Hard.
Raveyn focused and abruptly drew herself up, eyes spitting fire.
"Good. You need your anger. Feed on it. What happened to you? A cutting brush from one man and you dissolve. What happened to your spine girl? Your tongue?" Leia said harshly, her eyes raking disgustedly at Raveyn.
With each word and glance Raveyn's teeth clenched as slowly, she pulled herself together again.
Leia stood up and started quietly packing items.
"It does not matter whatever you did. You need to leave, and leave fast. Take your things and go quietly to the stables and take one of the mounts. Follow the Slip trail around the back of the west wing. You will avoid most of the guards, and the rest you can avoid. They generally tend to overlook the lesser stables. Take two mounts, and I will meet you down by the small brook that crosses the main road. Do you understand?"
She received a curt nod in response, and surreptitiously glanced at Raveyn. Her eyes had cleared, and she held herself with her fists clenched at her sides.
Her brow furrowed as she finally registered what Leia had said, and what she was doing, "What are you packing?"
Leia stood up, and placed her hands sternly on her hips.
"Did you think I would let you leave alone?" She asked.
Raveyn stared at her, eyes brimming again and shook her head, "Leia, I can't let you do that. You are comfortable here, and if you went with me, your life wouldn't be easy. I don't even know where the hell I'm going."
Leia shook her head fiercely, "Comfortable? Comfortable?," she hissed.
"I don't exist here Raveyn. I am nothing," she said with quiet restrain as Raveyn opened her mouth to speak.
"No. I am going to ask you one question. And it is the only one that matters. Everything else is dust in the wind. Do you want me to come with you?"
She didn't need to hear an answer, she saw it.
Leia smiled, "Then lets leave this happy hell of ours shall we?"
With a brief grin that barely brushed her eyes, Raveyn slid back into the night, sliding against the walls as she moved quickly across the floor.
It always amazed Leia how easily she did that.
Turning Leia wrapped her few belongings tightly in her coat. And with a brief glance around, she left.
****************
The sheets on both beds were neatly tucked in. By morning, no trace of either woman would be found. It wouldn't be until midday that the servants would start to whisper amongst themselves, about the disappearances. The headmistress dismissed the rumors with a heavy grunt, and explained that his highness had discharged Raveyn. When told that the other woman was missing as well; the dark one, she shrugged. His highness had most likely forgotten to mention her. It wasn't her place to question why or how, and quietly, with the insipid stupidity of an ox, she went about her business.
*******************
Cassandra stood in her sheer gown brushing her hair. Black winged eyebrows winged over big violet eyes, as she stared thoughtfully at her reflection. That pert red mouth curved, revealing sharp white teeth.
She laughed then, throwing her head back and raising flawless gleaming arms, she arched her back, stretching the soft silk over her full breasts.
"Cassandra?" Said the quavering hesitant voice from the bed.
She sneered and turned back to the pathetic elvish specimen lying in her sheets. She would need to have those washed.
"Yes Ellivir," she said her saccharine tones ringing cloyingly through the chamber.
"The journal you received. It was true wasn't it?"
She looked at him in annoyance; the way one would at a fly that had been buzzing for too long.
"I mean all of it was true right?"
"Of course it was darling," she said sincerity tingeing every word.
Mostly true.
Rising she smoothly swayed over to the bed, slipping the nightgown over her head in one quick movement. Standing before him, she ran her hands slowly up her body; teased them across her stomach, and up to cup her breasts. She watched amused as he gaped at her hands playing across her chest. She threw her head back in mock ecstasy, and thought idly that perhaps she should have provided an instruction manual.
Pulling her clumsily into the bed, he crawled on top of her, and she restrained a sigh; as he moved above her she thought of another; another with blue eyes, a lithe body, and quick sure hands. He would be hers, and together they would be unstoppable.
Foolish little mortal; in the Game of Kings, Cassandra, and Cassandra alone was Queen.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
My thanks to everyone that reviewed, I appreciated them all, even the lovely flame I received.
I won't say anything about this chapter, or what's to come. I will say that there are two or three chapters left to write. Once again thank you to all.
Mandy Bean: I am glad you like the fic; particularly my grammar. I was grinning, because that bothers me a bit too. So if you see any glaring errors please feel free to point them out. Thanks!
Cara: Your review was so great thank you. I am glad you like the changing POV's, although with this chapter I am afraid it was the narrator's that dominated. I hope that didn't detract from the story. Thank you for your review.
Leena: I was worried about the flashbacks, my beta said they might be too confusing too understand so that's a relief. Glad you like the story, and I hope you enjoy this chapter, although Cassandra ends up with the upper hand.
Jhen: Sorry about the long wait, I hope this chapter made up for some of it. Not much romance, but that's later.
Lady Marmalade: Yay, I am making you feel warm and fuzzy right now. Ok that sounds bad. Anyway thanks for the review and the compliments. I am blushing with pride. And as you predicted the nice suitcase of problems did arise. Look forward to hearing your criticism, thanks again.
Your Elven Princess: Thank you! Happy you found the story again, and I hope you like this chapter. Good luck with your stories.
Vorbis: Yes I haven't made Legolas especially nice as evidenced by this chapter. He is mean, but then again he has grounds. Hope you enjoyed it.
Katsy: Not do justice? I was beaming. Thanks, I feel like I am repeating myself in every damn review, I am always saying thank you but I run out of words to express my gratitude. As for the running showers, that was a wild guess on my part. I figured if they could build gorgeous palaces with all sorts of neat stuff then they might have some sort of clay piping system or something. I don't know, if I am wrong, my bad. My apologies. Thanks for the review.
North Star: Three weeks, only three weeks this time. I know I know it should have been two. But I hope you like this chapter, your reviews are always a pleasure to read. By the by I am, glad you like Stubborn, I have grown rather attached to the old boy myself. Guess which mule she takes along with her?
Treesarepretty: I am honored to be worthy of tabogan tipping. Thank you. I am glad you liked the sarcasm, its one of my favorite parts to write. This chapter was slightly different than the rest. Lots of angst. And yes I have read Lord of the Rings, but in 8th grade. That was a long long time ago. So unfortunately I rely on the movies for the scanty bits of info I provide. If I make mistakes or anything please correct me, or direct me to sites that give guides or what not to tolkein's realm. Thanks!
Stefynae: I loved that line. And as usual I can always count on you to catch me, and give me new tidbits of info. I didn't know that about towards, I always thought it was a real word. I caught myself writing towards and changed it. If I missed any, my apologies. Look forward to your opinion of this chapter.
Kathryn Mason Sykes: I had to look up stichomythia, and I learned a new word. Thank you for that and your review. Hope university life is treating you somewhat ok. Good luck with everything.
Andrea: Lol, I have captured the spirit of the mule. I was laughing. I certainly hope I have too. Thanks for the review.
Rosethorn83/Holly: Glad you liked the chapter. As for Cassandra, I am really starting to like her. She kind of gets under your skin and fascinates you in an accident type way. Happy you like her, she is quite a bitch. Thanks for the review!
Sweettalk: Yes she was supposed to be in the dungeons of Isengaard when that took place. Thank you for reviewing.
Kitten4480 and ToEatTheseApplesFromYourEyes: You two both seemed to like the very same line, and I am glad you did. Your reviews made me smile and I am grateful that you took the time to review. Thank you, and I hope you like this chapter.
The Power of the Book: THANK YOU!!!! That's exactly what I was trying to aim for, a true sharing of intimacy. I am so happy you saw that. And I am glad you liked the love scene, there were so many different ways it could have gone. Thanks!
Black Pearl: Only a dead fish? Hehe.
Murgandy: Thank you very much for your kind words. I am truly happy that you connected to these characters. Thank you for the lovely review.
Tortuga: Lol, your comment didn't offend me at all. Feel free to do so at any time. For two such people it was a rather slow scene. That's what I tried to do, for them it wasn't so much sex as it was a connection of (too be cliché) two souls. That sounds so ridiculously corny, but that's what I was trying to do. Hopefully later on you might find them a bit more to your taste. Thanks!
Snowdevil: Thank you so much! Stubborn was slow on the uptake wasn't he? He is so cute. Glad you enjoy the story so much and so far, and I hope you like this chapter.
Rinlossien: Thank you for reviewing. And the sex was a bit organic wasn't it? They used a bed this time.
WyldeKat: Unpredictable eh? Then you might like this chapter. Thanks for the review!
Fruity: As usual your review made my day. Hope your finals went well, generally they're a bitch. And I updated! Yes in three weeks…..but at least it wasn't longer than a month. Sorry about the wait. Hope you enjoy it.
Gertidoo: your review made me laugh out loud. 'Timid virgins' lol, that was great. As for the smut, I am trying to keep it within bounds of the R rating. Later on it wont be full out, but I will try to add a little more, how did you say it? Ah yes, "whip cream, cherries and nuts." Hehe. Thanks for the review!