************Chapter 54****************
A few slow weeks passed. Maryn and Malkor saw Legolas everyday. Sometimes Maryn would stay with him longer than needed and they would talk. They didn't talk about anything in particular. They just spoke to each other, honestly and without shame. Legolas often had to stop and ask himself why he trusted this woman so much.
"Maryn?" He asked one day while she was feeding him.
The woman set down the spoon. The elf had a habit of wanting to talk when he was supposed to be eating.
"Yes, Legolas?" She answered as if speaking to a child. Legolas was used to that by now.
He shyly looked up at her. "What's the real reason you helped me?" He blinked. "And why do you continued helping me?"
Maryn's normally bright face fell. She paused for a moment to stare at the spoon full of stew in her hands but then spoke. "There are a combination of reasons, Legolas, and not all of them are ones I wish to tell you."
"You remember the deal we made." Legolas said sternly.
"Yes." Maryn said, finally looking up. She was unable to meet his eyes. "It's true that I convinced my husband to let you live, but I wouldn't have done it had it not been for Eressa."
Legolas's eyes widened and he listened to every word.
"I saved her from being killed, and then she started to beg me to save you and her brother. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have approached my husband in the first place." Maryn continued. "My husband agreed, but on one condition…"
"That you try to befriend me and tell him everything you heard." Legolas finished for her.
Maryn's blue eyes grew wide. "That's it." She said softly.
"So then you are not forbidden to come down here after all." Legolas concluded. "What have you told him?"
Maryn looked afraid. "Nothing." She said.
Legolas narrowed his eyes. He didn't sense a thread of a lie in her voice at all. "Not even my name?"
"No."
"And why is that, Maryn?"
Maryn felt herself wanting to retreat from the room very suddenly. "Because I don't want him to do anything that could hurt you." She breathed.
Legolas nodded and looked away from the woman, offering Maryn a moments peace from his piercing stare. He said: "Maryn, I remember the first time I saw you."
Maryn blinked and looked interested. "Really, when was this?"
Legolas smiled, remembering the event with a strange irony. "My first time in the ring…" He said slowly. "When I fought the warg. I saw you and your husband up in the balcony watching me."
"You fought very well that day." Maryn said for no reason.
"When was the first time you saw me?" Legolas asked.
"The same time." Maryn said. "I remember."
Legolas's smiled widened. He looked to the ceiling. It was obvious to him now that Maryn had some romantic interest in him.
"Maryn, are you in love with me?" He suddenly asked. He regretted the words even as they came out of his mouth, but he had to say them.
Maryn looked like she'd taken a hard slap in the face. She froze, her mouth the only thing moving. "Yes." She confessed. She looked like she wished to say something more, but paused.
Legolas continued staring at the ceiling. "You fell in love with me that day, didn't you? The first time you saw me fight."
Maryn gasped, and her body allowed itself to move. "I…I couldn't help it."
Legolas lazily turned his head towards her, his smile quickly fading. To Maryn's great surprise, the elf sat all the way up. She gasped again. She hadn't expected him to recover so quickly, elf or not.
She was even more shocked when Legolas raised his arms and took her in them. He kissed her, openly, on the mouth.
"Consider that the thanks I give you for saving myself and Eressa." He said when he pulled away, and laid back down on the bed as if nothing had happened. "You know I can't love you, Maryn."
Maryn was still in shock. "Legolas…I…"
"You know that, don't you?" The elf persisted. "You've always known it."
Legolas turned his head and looked at her again. His stare seemed to pierce her flesh, to scrape the flesh from her very bones. Maryn couldn't stand it any longer.
Legolas watched calmly as she got up and ran out…fast as her legs could carry her.
He sighed. He raised his hands up and tested his fingers. It was a skill he had been hiding from Maryn and Malkor for a long time now. He knew that Lord Curdolin was milking information about his recovery from them. So he had faked to not get any better. He knew how easy it would be to just get up and walk out of here. And he knew how easy it would be for Maryn to run and tell her husband that, now that she knew he was well.
Legolas smiled. He knew she wouldn't say a thing. Not after what he had just done.
Legolas looked at the door, left open by Maryn's hasty retreat. He had to think quickly.
There was a whole new escape plan he had to sort out before Malkor arrived.
******************
The palace was a dreary place to be for Maryn, three days later. She spent many of her hours calling the seamstress Eressa to her side, pretending to complain of a hem that needed to be raise or lowered, or a dress that needed to be made for some occasion that would never happen. She had the girl work in the room while she watched her and wondered what this girl could have that made Legolas fall in love with her so deeply.
She often thought about telling Eressa about the kiss that Legolas had shared with her. But she knew that would have been cruel, and besides, the kiss wasn't a kiss of desire or affection. It was a statement the elf had made, and he had made it well.
Eressa was working in front of Maryn's eyes right now, quickly sewing together pieces of a new dress Maryn had commissioned her to make. Her small hands worked the needle with perfect grace—not once did she prick herself.
Suddenly, Eressa's hands paused. She quickly looked up at The Lady with an uncomfortable expression on her face.
"Milady, may I be excused?" She asked frantically.
Maryn nodded once, but she hadn't even finished performing the gesture before the girl had stood and ran out to one of the side rooms—the bathroom to be exact, holding her mouth as she went. Maryn sat at her dresser staring at the reflection in the mirror, knowing what had just happened.
A minute later, Eressa returned, wiping the corners of her mouth and looking paler than usual.
Maryn turned away from her mirror. "Eressa, are you alright?" She asked. "That's the second time this morning you've had to leave. Are you sick?"
Eressa's pale face became even paler as she knelt down and picked up the scraps from the unfinished dress.
"I'm terribly sorry for wasting so much time, Milady." The girl blurted rapidly. "I promise that I will work hard on your dress so that it will be ready for tonight's dinner with your husband's friends, please forgive…"
"There is no dinner tonight with my husbands friends, Eressa. There is no need for you to hurry. Now come here." Maryn said softly.
Eressa frowned but didn't move. "What, Milady?"
"I said come here." Maryn repeated. This time Eressa obeyed. She stood perfectly still as The Lady placed a hand on her forehead, pausing, and then on her stomach.
"Have you been sick, Eressa?" She asked.
Eressa nodded. "For a long time now."
Maryn looked at her with interest. "How long?"
"Four months." Eressa said.
"Have you been gaining weight too?" Maryn asked.
Eressa took in a sharp breath. "How did you know that?" She inquired softly.
Maryn stood up from her stool in front of her dresser. "Eressa, dear. I think you should sit down."
"What is it?" Eressa asked, backing up to sit on the edge of the bed. "Is there something wrong with me?"
"No. There's nothing wrong with you. It's perfectly natural." Maryn answered.
"I don't understand."
Maryn clasped her hands in front of her as she sat beside the girl. "Eressa, I believe that you're with child."
Eressa leaned back and her eyes grew very round. "I…I…" She shook her head. "But…how?"
Maryn chuckled lightly. "How else? I know that you and Legolas were lovers before you tried to escape. I've spoken to him. You know that."
"You think I'm having Legolas's baby?"
"Well you haven't been with any other men, have you?" Maryn teased.
Eressa looked at her in shock. "No!"
Maryn took the girl's hands in her own and held them tightly, as they were shaking. "You must calm down, Eressa. Having a baby isn't a terrible thing."
"I--I know that…" Eressa stuttered. "By the Gods…I have to tell him! But I…" She turned towards The Lady with desperation in her eyes. "Oh, Lady Curdolin, will you tell him for me? You see him often!"
Maryn frowned. She had no intention of seeing Legolas again. But how could she him of the fact that he was going to be a father?
"I will, Eressa. I will." Maryn said calmly. "You must calm down. Think of the baby."
Eressa didn't calm down. "Oh, Milady, you'll help me won't you? You're with child as well, but I don't…"
"Silence." Maryn ordered. "Eressa, you will not give birth for another 5 months at the most. You have nothing to worry about now."
"But…but your husband, Milady!" Eressa's face clenched in fear. "You won't tell him, will you? Please tell me you won't!"
"I won't tell another soul other than your child's father, Eressa." Maryn promised. "Now…go back to your room and get some rest. The sickness you are suffering from is a classic symptom of being pregnant, so you cannot do anything about it. Just relax as much as you can. If you like, I'll have another servant tend to you."
Eressa finally seemed to calm down a little. She put a shaky hand to her brow and almost smiled. "Oh, thank you Milady. Thank you."
"Go now." Maryn ordered. "I will tell the elf of the news as soon as I can."
Eressa thanked Maryn a few more times before the lady could actually coax her into leaving and laying down. The Maryn prepared to go somewhere herself.
She wondered how Legolas would take the news.
*************Personal thingy****************
I know, it's terribly, terribly, terribly short! I'm sorry. And I'm sorry to say that I don't think that I'll have the time anymore to do the responding to the reviewers thing any longer. I just don't have enough time with my singing and Kevin and mowing the frickin' lawn and my father's new boat. I will try to keep a schedule and update once a week however. I'll probably type up a big huge thank you at the end of this story. I plan to end the story by summer. Then get to work on the sequel. *smiles*
Oh, yeah. And thank you for all the advice on the whole Kevin situation. He came over to my house yesterday and we jumped on the trampoline and talked for three hours. ;)
Bye guys, and thank you!
~Roseblade22