CHAPTER 11
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Raveyn's POV
Shirt torn in strips, leggings smeared with mud; and still he stood, stalwart and proud facing me; that leonine head calmly regarding me in the light chased darkness, blue eyes still blazing with imperial fire.
But chained, I though turning away as exultation and euphoria bled through my veins, racing like twin aphrodisiacs in my blood. He was under me. He was under me. Under my control.
I raised my hands to my lips as I sought almost to suck that feeling from my bones, from the very air itself. Men could survive on that kind of power. And the temptation to abuse it was oh so great I thought wildly as I looked at him my smile so very feral.
And he knew. He knew exactly what I was thinking; he was very very still. As if even the slightest movement might tip the scales. Might make me cross that hair thin line.
"How careless Legolas, champion warrior manhandled and brutalized by vagabonds" I said, the words falling from my lips like poisoned honey.
I wanted to feed off his reaction, off his helpless anger. Off his powerlessness.
Because here, here I was King.
And I loved watching him. With each word I said, those remote wintry eyes became colder and colder, his lean body, honed to inhuman perfection, tautened as he flexed lean arms against the restraining wrist locks.
I moved close to him, tell I was a scant inch away, and peering at him mockingly, said in singsong, "Oh no, that won't do love, they will hold you till doomsday if need be. No use trying to pry them free. Somethings just don't. Let. Go" I said brushing the words like fur across the skin of his neck.
He said nothing, and the memories of that bitter night opened like a black flower in moonlight.
"Cat got your tongue?" I said, my tone harsh and mimicking.
He remembered.
"I made a mistake," He said angrily, his voice deepening as he still strained against his bonds.
"Yes?" I asked, my smile widening with wicked pleasure. Cat.
So you my love, you will be my mouse I thought as I brushed my forefinger along the skin of his face.
"I should have turned you over to the tribunal. They would have known how to deal with one such as you," he said glacially, "Traitor, murderer, thief and now," he looked me up and down with disgust.
His head snapped to the side as I backhanded him across the face, my nails leaving slight scores of bleeding flesh.
"Traitor? Murderer? Thief? How easily you pass my sentence without a word or trial," I said hating him for making me care, "This is what comes of the justice of elves," I said spitting the words at him.
He turned to me fiercely lunging and I laughed at him, standing so teasingly close he could feel my breath on his face.
"You can't touch me now. No one can. Look at me highness. Look at me Crown Prince. Look at me love," I hissed.
And I stepped away. A single halting step and I stood before him, shoulders back, feet together, hands clasped before me.
He hesitated at first, still pulling reflexively, smooth muscle twisting in the light; he was starting to bleed at his wrists from the abrasions of the manacles. His eyes slid over me, as intimate as a caress, and when he met my eyes again I spoke my voice exultant.
"No longer the little girl that clung to her shadows highness. No longer timid and afraid. No longer weak," I spat out at him.
You made me weak, I thought furiously. You made me love.
"No not any longer," I continued, "You may dominate the day, but the night, highness, dances to my direction."
Cocking my head I looked at him mockingly, "And little prince, you should know by now that your kind has no place in true night."
"And you do? Not only Saruman's lover, but his protégé as well?" He asked, his lips twisted sardonically as he stared at me vivid anger bleeding in his eyes.
I trembled with rage and my jaw shook as I answered him, "You know nothing. How dare you judge me? How dare you?"
Pressing him flat against the wall, I put my knife against the corded column of his throat.
"You will never get away with this-"
"Shut up" I said pointedly pressing the tip hard enough to draw blood.
"Do you remember this Legolas?" I asked sweetly.
"Granted our positions were reversed and I wasn't chained but this will have to do. Now lets see what was that game called you so loved to play?" I said in mock concentration, "Ah yes, Truth I believe you called it. A game by the name of Truth," I said, and watched recognition flare across his face.
"Lets see how well you play now highness. You will need to play very very well" I said, my voice a promise drawn across jagged ice.
"And if I choose not to," he said, still calm, as if my threat unfazed him. His eyes were unconcerned.
"Cassandra dies," I said simply, and the flash of concern in his eyes angered me.
Reining myself in, I began, "Who gave you your information?" I asked.
He knew exactly what I was talking about, and we regarded each other in the weighted silence
He hesitated and I drew the knife across his skin; he remained unflinching, looking down at me, some emotion playing namelessly in his eyes.
He looked at me as if, if he didn't want to tell me, there wasn't a damn thing on this earth that I could do that would make him. As if I was a simple child playing with a too deadly fire. As if I were the one chained.
"Ellivir," he finally said softly.
I furrowed my brow as I tried to remember this Ellivir.
Legolas was watching me closely, his storm eyes turbulent as he searched my face.
"Ellivir," I said frowning.
Shaking my head I asked, "Did he go to Isengaard? "
He looked at me curiously, "Yes."
He was being annoyingly tight-lipped.
"His sources Legolas. Give me his sources. I am assuming he had some, and that you didn't merely sentence me on one elf's whim" I said angrily.
He shifted uncomfortably, and the light dawned horribly.
"You didn't ask him? You threatened me with death and you didn't ask him his sources?" I said my voice several pitches higher in outrage.
"There was no need. He wouldn't lie to me. I know he wouldn't." He said surely and steadfastly, and I continued to stare at him in disbelief, bitterness rising again.
Of course he would take an elf's word against that of the servant girl that he rutted with. Of course he would. It would never occur to him otherwise.
My emotions warred as I tried to understand why. But I knew. In all fairness I knew.
I had never given him any reason to trust me.
"Who ordered the report? Cassandra?" I acridly asked.
Silence.
A wealth of silence in his troubled gaze.
And looking at those cornflower eyes that had so haunted my nights, I knew. I knew.
I laughed then. I had to laugh. I dropped the knife and spun and laughed till I felt I would die, the colors whirling around me into indistinct brown with him in the middle, all glorious and slim and gold.
It was too much I thought, as tears of mirth slipped down my face. Everything had become too much. I stepped away and rubbed at my eyes, memories drifting in the silence. Memories of a lifetime ago.
Stone walls. They built stone walls around my village. The men did and said it was to keep hurt and evil away. That's what they told the little ones.
Big tall stone walls. Walls some 8 feet wide and 15 tall. They were so proud of those walls, so believing that they were truly indestructible. They were so simple; simple and innocent. A small pure bubble thrown up high above a storm of evil. But what goes up must come down. Always down.
Nothing could be stopped.
And it came that day. The day the heavens opened and cried blood. The day Saruman's men came those walls fell and my world died, soaked through with crimson. Rivers of it that winded through the streets…
It seemed I hadn't learned.
It seemed that even if I were to build a wall a thousand feet tall and a thousand thick, pain would always be perched like death beside me.
I dropped the knife and walked towards the table, and picked up the tankard of wine and poured myself a cup and drank it. Then I poured another, watching the undiluted wine sparkle in the dim light. I downed it feeling it burn down my throat.
I poured another cup and let it sit.
He hadn't said a word and when I turned towards him his face was a mix of emotions, each tumbling over the other like leaves in the wind.
"You know, for so long I dreamed of this. When you would be bowed before me and I would tell everything. About Isengaard. About me. But it was only till today that I realized that you don't deserve to know. Not any of it. Believe whatever lies you want to believe," I turned to him anger curled like a serpent on my tongue, "Judge me however you wish, but don't you dare think you know me. Don't you dare."
"Raveyn-"
"Shut up. Don't speak. I don't want to hear you speak," I was tired. So so tired.
I looked at him and it tore at me, how beautiful he was. How perfect, still.
Always nothing but perfection.
The day I saw him I knew I shouldn't have touched. He was light as I had never known it before and to one who had taken succor from the dark…perfect.
I knew I shouldn't have, I thought shaking my head, frustration flooding me.
Because even know, even after everything I still felt him.
Still felt him burning across my skin, still felt him filling that aching emptiness that had nearly swallowed me till I became nothing myself. And I had been so close, so very close…
I walked near to him, my steps aggressive as I stared at him clenching my teeth till they ached.
I trusted you my love. I would have given you my life, my love.
And now you have trapped me in an unending cycle of burning hot and cold till I am left unfeeling and dead to the world.
I hope you die a thousand deaths roasting slowly in hell you son of a bitch.
Narrator's POV
He searched her as she laughed; seeing the anger and pain. So much pain.
Two years Cat, and how she'd changed. She'd grown into her skin now, and she dominated the room, a tigress pacing lithely clad in drowning black. But her eyes were hollow.
She had lost weight if that was possible, her cheekbones standing in stark relief against the burnished gold of her skin. He hadn't missed the wine. Undiluted wine. She drank it as if it was water.
He saw clearly; far too clearly.
She was dying.
Burning far too fast for a mortal, wasting so quickly; he'd seen it before. They stood out above the rest those ones; there was a desperate energy about them, a frenzy as if they knew that death waited, crouched in the wings. She had that same air.
The sudden knowledge of that stabbed at him.
He had let her go, free to find happiness. Free to live. He had given her freedom.
The years blew away like dust in the wind, and he saw her as she was then. He remembered the honey lit eyes, the wide curve of those full lips. Her smile. That shy tentative pull.
He fisted his hands, his muscles bunching under his thin tunic as he tensed.
Rage. It had blinded him that day, a red pall drawn across everything. She had led his friends go to their deaths.
"You know nothing. How dare you judge me? How dare you?"
Her words echoed, a lash across his skin. Had he been unjust?
Pride. Always pride, his damned, cursed pride. And always before this woman.
This mortal woman who had curled around his soul for eternity. And he had let her go, his traitoress, so that she could live, so that she could be the only master of her fate.
Even now he felt that old gnawing bite of anger tearing at old wounds. That conflict within him that never eased around her.
She was watching him under hooded eyes, her stance regal, arms before her and legs together; she looked magnificent. Burning so very very brightly.
She sauntered closer to him. Feeling the heat; feeling the fire along her skin. Did she want to burn?
Gripping his hair hard she put her face inches from his, "Set me free you bastard," she hissed ferally through her teeth, her eyes luminous in their glowing gold shades, "Let me go." The last was said on a breath, anguish heavy in her voice.
He looked at her; at the pain in those lidded eyes, at the time slowly tearing at her life, taking away years so fast he almost couldn't bear it. She was his.
"I can't" he finally said, "I can't." He shook his head sadly. Destiny wasn't so kind.
He had lived for so long. He had felt for so long and he knew that this…. this was something else.
And for one extraordinary moment, reality and absurdity flew from the world and it went insane; leaving only Legolas and Raveyn. Both chained.
"Why Raveyn," he asked her softly, forgetting everything but her, "Why do this?" he said tenderly.
She understood. Looking into those weary blue eyes, so lovely that to drown meant to live, she understood.
And she couldn't help what she did, little more than she could help what she felt.
She pressed her lips to his, their bowed shape opening under the pressure of her own as she joined her heat to his, pressing her body against his. She felt him strain and tense against the manacles and she kissed him harder, passion and anger driving her as her tongue slid over his in a timeless erotic dance.
Their moment had shattered, leaving bleeding edges jagged against both their memories as bitterness, anger and humiliation rose again.
She brought her knife up and ripped through the laces of his tunic, revealing a broad expanse of tanned flesh.
She slowly slid her tongue down the middle; his nipples tightened as she passed over them, laving them with her tongue. Her teeth rasped over each in turn, and she smiled vindictively as she heard the hitches in his breath.
Everyone had their weak point.
If he wouldn't leave her alone, she damn well wouldn't let him forget. She wouldn't ever let him forget if she had to burn the imprint of her body onto his. She would make the bastard suffer so much that he would wish he'd never laid eyes on her.
She run one long teasing finger down his body, sliding it in under the waistband of his leggings.
"Do you want me?" she asked tauntingly, resting her hand teasingly on the bulge in his breeches. Running her hand gently along its length, she watched anger and desire heat his eyes as they darkened, a stormcast blue shot through with silver. A muscle in his jaw ticked and she whispered hotly in his ear, her movements becoming more insistent as she writhed against him, her body a siren's call.
"Do you want me?" She brought her mouth to his again their kiss angrily bruising as he strained against his bonds, his kiss demanding and taking. He took as if it was his right, and she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she moved her hips, rolling them against his. Slowly and seductively like a siren song that undulates in the air before wrapping tightly and convulsively around the hearer. She bit him below his jaw, a sharp bite, sucking and licking at his skin as his hips bucked against hers. She smiled against his skin, and pressing her back hard against his chest, she slowly slid down his body with a predatory grace.
"Yes" he finally choked out, his voice husky and deep, running along her skin like rough silk.
Rubbing her cheek against his groin, now tenting thickly in his leggings, she said satisfied, "Good," her lips curling as she moved.
Sliding back up sensuously, her hands clasping his thighs, her hips swaying in a temptress' rhythm against his, and her head coming to nestle in the crook of his neck, she looked at him with blank, black eyes.
"Because you will never, ever have me again."
And then she walked away slamming the door behind her.
Aching pain cracked through his body as he slammed once again at the chains restraining him and yelled; the sound animal and angry, reverberated through the empty barn, shaking the rafters.
Tivaer's POV
I sat and watched the elf woman on the floor. My eyes traveled over those bountiful curves and those pleading lovely eyes. She was harmless really and the bonds were far too tight.
"Don't even think about it." Leia's voice came from the corner where she had seated herself.
She glanced at me in irritation and I wondered at it.
"The ropes are too tight, they are cutting off her circu-"
"Good. With luck her limbs will drop off," she snapped angrily.
I looked at her carefully. She was very nervous about something, and so unsure of herself. Leia had never been unsure of herself.
I glanced at the gagged elf on the floor and back to Leia.
"Leia, do you know her?" I asked carefully.
She got up and walked over to Cassandra, looking down at her.
"Do I know her?" She gave a soft bitter laugh, "Oh yes I know her. I know her very well. Cassandra and I go a long way back don't we?"
Purple eyes spat fire as she sneered at Leia.
Leia turned toward me, "Don't believe anything she says Tivaer, alright you have to listen to me. Don't believe one word she is so good at seducing and so good at making things look her way but I wont let her not this time-"
"Shhh," I said enfolding her, she was shaking, "Shhh Leia its all right."
She shook her head vehemently, "No its NOT. Promise me. Promise me you wont let her out of your sight or let her try anything. Promise me Tivaer," the pleading in her eyes tore at me. She was so cold.
"I promise. I promise Leia," I looked at her, lifting her chin.
She shook her head slightly, small relief evident in her eyes as she gave a nervous smile.
"But I have one condition," I said rakishly clasping her close.
"Oh?" She responded cocking her head.
"I have a need you see, that only you can satisfy" I continued.
Her eyes had widened in mock outrage, that lovely gleam back in her eyes, "Really? And what need would that be Tivaer?"
I bent my head close, "I. Need. You….to get me a cup of wine."
She hit me hard, pummeling me with her fists.
"You horrid man- get the damn wine yourself!" She said laughing.
We barely heard the door open; Raveyn slipped in.
I held my breath. Raveyn….
Her eyes burned hotly, ferociously, in a pale drawn face. Her lips tightened and drew across her lips in a sneer.
"Cassandra" she said, and her voice raised the hairs on my arms.
Cassandra raised haughty eyes to meet hers and Raveyn her silently, walking in circles around her.
"Ca-ssan-dra" Raveyn said, lolling the name on her tongue, her manner languid as she moved like molten gold, her movements smooth and yet tightly controlled.
"What am I to do with you hm? What to do what to do?" She said moving her head back and forth.
She straddled Cassandra suddenly, leaning her face close to the elf's, "I feel we should get to know each other better. You will after all be staying here for some time. How long depends on you of course. And since you are being dined in my house you will follow my rules" she said smiling brightly at her nemesis, "Don't breathe around me. Don't move. Don't speak. If you interfere with my plans," she said huskily, "not even Sauron will be able to put you back together after I'm done," and kissing Cassandra soundly on the mouth she stood up.
"Goodnight Leia. Tivaer. Cassandra. Sleep well." And then she moved off without another word.
"Raveyn," I said unnerved, "The prisoners they will look for them tomorrow, what are we to do?"
The door closed.
Leia looked at me worriedly, "She's not ready. Not yet. He threw her off badly."
"Will she be alright?" I asked.
Her gaze grew troubled as she withdrew from me.
When she looked back at me, strangely enough there was a new light in her eyes, "She was never alright. Maybe though, he can help her," she said, a small smile in her eyes as she spoke in hushed tones.
I frowned and crossed my arms, "How the hell can he help her?"
She smiled again, more sure this time, "He loves her still. And she loves him still. Isn't that enough for a little hope to grow? Maybe. Just maybe."
And then we both grew silent, our troubled thoughts laid down as my arms came to rest around her.
Narrator POV
Tivaer slept soundly that night, with Leia lying wrapped around him. She had needed comfort and he had been there. He promised to himself that he always would be for her; he glanced at the small tired woman next to him. He had never believed a man could find complete happiness with a woman; never that a woman could complete him. But here it was. Here was his woman; here his happiness. He smiled in the gloom and held her closer, enjoying her warmth as she mumbled softly in her sleep.
Cassandra didn't sleep. She laid awake, trussed and bound and thought; that calculating mind working very rapidly. She had been through worse she thought madly, and she would survive this. She would survive her and show her what it meant to be elf.
Legolas didn't sleep. He stood in the darkness, thoughts drifting through his head as he remembered. He was at fault for this. His fault again. He heaved a sigh; age should have taught him caution and wisdom. It should have taught him forgiveness above all. Compassion. Had she had a choice in what she'd done? She owed no loyalty to anyone but herself. Nobody had ever fended for her. Not even he. So he stood all night, alone with his tortured thoughts as he burned himself over a fire of his own making.
Raveyn didn't sleep. She went to her cot with a tankard of wine, and stared at the dying embers in the fireplace.
Raveyn's POV
Next Morning
I threw open the doors of the barn, and moved swiftly towards the manacled figure.
I lit the lamp; the sky was still dark, but dawn was fast approaching.
He was looking deceptively relaxed, a lazy look about him as he leaned against the wall and watched me curiously.
"You said I wont get away with this. You're wrong. I absolutely will get away with it," and taking a breath I yelled, "TIVAER!"
In a space of two heartbeats, Tivaer opened the door and slipped in.
"Lass?" he asked.
"If you hear me yell or scream, kill Cassandra."
Consternation registered on both men's faces.
"Trust me Tivaer. You, at least are capable of trust" I said.
"Cat-" He began putting a hand out toward me but I pushed him away.
"Not now," I said curtly as I stood up and walked over to a chest where I kept my possessions.
Opening it I took out a quill, a pot of ink, sealing wax and parchment. I placed the lamp on the table.
I could hear the door close softly behind me; putting everything on the table I walked over to Legolas.
Standing before him again I crossed my arms and spoke softly, "Maybe Tivaer doesn't understand but you do. You will write a letter stating that you and Cassandra have gone on ahead to the Shire to visit your hobbit friends, and you couldn't wait for the rest of the train. If you do not, Cassandra will die. If you try to escape, Cassandra will die. I hope you understand. A mistake would make things very….messy. " I said looking at him, my head tilted.
Unchaining his ankles and wrists, I pocketed the key and turning I walked toward the table, my back to him.
I heard no noise or movement, but I could feel his heat directly behind me as I stood, his body tight with anger.
I sat down and said curtly, "Put the knife down. You won't kill me. You couldn't then and you wont do it now. Foolishness doesn't become you."
Quiet.
He sat across from me.
"Give me the knife," I said putting my hand out.
He put it on the table and looked at me amused, "If I wanted to free myself Raveyn, I wouldn't need a knife."
"Write," I said, and watched as he deftly took the quill; his hand flew across the brittle page, smooth elegant strokes gradually filling the page.
When he finished he handed it to me and I reviewed it. Perfect.
"Your ring highness," I said as I carefully folded the letter and melted sealing wax over it.
Pressing the imperial seal on the ring into the wax, I let it cool.
"What are you going to do with us?" He asked carefully, as I turned to go put the lamp on the wall.
"Whatever I damn well please," I said absently as I tried to hook the lamp on. The ring was bent and the hook had to be forced through it.
When I finished I turned and stared at an empty barn. My hand immediately went to the knife in my boot as I peered around in the darkness. The lamp gave very little light, and left much of the room in darkness.
He was calling my promise, forcing me- bastard.
"T-" was all I managed to get out before he slipped out, behind the pillared shadows and pushed me to the ground his hand quickly wrapping around my mouth.
My knife rose as I twisted, trying to loose myself. He tangled his legs agilely in mine and with his other hand grasped my wrist and gave it a shrewd twist. The knife clattered to the floor and I gasped in pain- I raised my elbow fully prepared to jam it into his solar plexus as I tried to kick out angrily.
He twisted lithely again and managed to completely still me, his body a hard carapace around mine; all sinews and steel.
"That was very foolish my love. Turning your back on me? I suspect it was the wine," his eyes became flinty as he stared hard at me, "When did you begin to drink?"
I tried to bite his hand but he merely tightened his grip around my jaw, keeping it closed.
He turned my head to face him, "Well we are in quite a compromising position aren't we Raveyn?" he said, his body flush against mine.
"But you have me trapped don't you? If I run, I won't be able to get to Cassandra in time. Even if I knock you out, I still won't manage to get all the guards before they kill her. But I also have you trapped."
Damn damn DAMN.
He released his grip from my mouth, and tightened his arms about my waist as looked at me expectantly.
"Well?" He said cocking one eyebrow.
I said nothing, frustration bubbling hot as I cursed my stupidity in releasing him on my own. I should have at least had Tivaer guarding the doorway and my sword trained at his throat. No instead I turned my back on him. What bloody monumental arrogance. I should have cleared my head at least before I came waltzing in, so sure of myself.
"Ah. Nothing. Silence. Because if you do yell, then I have nothing to lose and I slip away. And don't tell me I can't escape. Your men would be stumbling puppets in the dark, they would have better luck catching the wind. The only hold you have on me, is that I want Cassandra out alive. But you want me more than you do Cassandra. That makes you vulnerable" he finished reasonably, his eyes burning now as his body melded to mine.
"Quite the logician. One would hope that after thousands of years you might be able to reason properly. Congratulations highness," I bit off, infuriated by his calm demeanor.
He didn't respond, he just looked at me almost…tenderly. It brought back memories. Beautiful memories. I turned away.
"Let me go. You have proved your little point. But it hasn't changed anything. Cassandra dies if you make the slightest mistake and one would hardly want to lose their bride to be now would they?" I said fiercely.
"Bride?" He said confused, " Cassandra and I aren't marrying," he said, disbelief and incredulity in his voice.
Every bitter word I had planned to fling at him, died suddenly in my throat.
I said slowly, "Your not marrying Cassandra?"
"No" he said, "in the future kindly ask me, and only me, about my nuptial plans. I would, naturally, be the best informed," he said warmly.
"Were you jealous?" he asked casually.
"No," I said too quickly and loudly.
He looked at me and smiled. When Legolas smiled….
There was quiet for a long time, and I just lay there, comfortably, tangled in him.
Quiet.
"Raveyn is everything al-" Tivaer's last words came to a sputtering halt as he saw us; and I belatedly remembered my position.
What in the seven hells was I doing?
"You bastard!" I yelled and kneeing him on the groin I picked myself up.
"Taking advantage of women in an alcoholic stupor…" I muttered angrily as I walked stiffly toward Tivaer who was looking at me as if I'd sprouted horns.
I glared at him.
"Chain him. Have Donor deliver this letter to the tavern master."
"Raveyn…." Tivaer began hesitantly.
I stared steadfastly at him.
He shook his head and with a sigh walked toward Legolas.
I walked out the door and didn't look back.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
This chapter came after quite a long delay. Most of it burned hot and cold due to the nature of Legolas and Raveyn's romance. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it. I don't know when the next one will be out.
This chapter however is dedicated to all the fans of this story. I really hadn't planned on finishing it, and with chapter ten I had decided to put the story away for a variety of reasons. The only thing that made this chapter come out was you guys. So seriously, I just wanted to say thank you to everybody. This chapter is yours.
Any criticism would be welcome as usual. Thank you.