Authoress: Woot! Thanks for all the great reviews, guys. They rock! Hope you enjoy this chapter, I enjoyed writing it. :-)
Watching King Elessar's face, I got the feeling that if he had been less of a well-bred, noble, lordly gentleman his jaw would have dropped. As it was, though, he merely raised his eyebrows a fraction of an inch and took a breath.
"Well! That does put an interesting spin on things." Elessar said to me quietly before turning to glare at Eomer. "Mind telling me what you're doing with her? Alone?"
"Not what you think." Eomer snorted. To my amazement, I saw that he had again dropped the regal bearing that he had impressed the guards with. Elessar, too, was acting decidedly less formal. Goodness, they were conversing like two good friends would talk down at a tavern, not like kings at all! "She ran away from home," Eomer continued, "This I am sure you know. What you do not know is that the Princess of Dol Amroth came to Rohan, impersonated a seamstress and found employment in Meduseld, of all places!"
Eventually, the entire story came out. How I had saved Eomer's life, run off into the night, and what Mutheia's sentry had said all were reported to King Elessar. When the full extent of the ambassadors' plotting became known, Elessar's face darkened.
"This is treachery." He said gravely. "It must be reported to the Emperor of Harad, of course, but we have no proof. Not to mention Mutheia will suspect a counter-plot, for his soldier will have told him that he was caught." Elessar sighed. "I don't suppose either of you has an idea?"
By that time I was quite tired and leaning my head against the back of the comfortable sofa I had seated myself on. Closing my eyes, I murmured that I just wanted to go home, for it all to be over. Something clicked in my head.
"That's it!" I cried, leaping to my feet. "So simple, it just might work!"
"What might work?" Eomer asked suspiciously.
I began pacing. "I'll ride back into Dol Amroth just as I would have if Eomer hadn't caught me. When Mutheia's men kidnap me, you'll see where I'm taken and come rescue me if I can't escape myself! 'Twill be more than enough proof to have Mutheia and Kutheia sent back to Harad." Stopping, I looked at the two men in the room. Neither one was smiling. Elessar looked pensive and concerned…Eomer was flabbergasted.
"Tell me," Elessar began after a moment of silence had passed, "If Mutheia is aware that we know of his plans (For he will surely assume that after he finds his sentry), what makes you think that he will fall into your trap?"
Eomer leapt to his feet, interrupting my answer. "Aragorn, you cannot tell me you are actually considering this? It is madness! How many things could go wrong? That bastard could kill Ria before we had the chance to get to her!"
Agape, I turned to face Eomer. "It is a good plan!" I protested. "When I ride back towards Dol Amroth, Mutheia and Kutheia will simply assume that I have not heard of their schemes and hasten to intercept me. You can have a company of soldiers waiting nearby, one of whom should follow me discreetly and send word when and if I am taken. The second I am approached by anyone you can ride out, if you wish." Arms crossed defiantly, waited for the rebuttal I knew would come. It was as if Elessar had disappeared, and Eomer was the only one I had to convince.
"Absolutely not." He snapped. "I forbid it."
I gasped in disbelief. "You forbid it? Who are you to forbid me anything?"
"She has a point, Eomer." Elessar's voice came, soft and amused, from behind us. It was ignored.
"I am responsible for you, Ria!" At least he wasn't using my full name now. Small victory, but still…"I cannot…will not let you risk your life like it is of no value on another one of your bloody adventures!" Eomer cried.
"You know nothing of my life!" I shot back. "You live in a country where people are wild, and free. In Rohan I made my own choices, paid or reaped the consequences, and made friends! Friends, Eomer! I have lived my entire life in Dol Amroth without so many friends as I had in Edoras. There was never time for them on the schedule. Ladies in waiting, noblewomen at festivals…their power-hungry ways are not those of true friends." A tear found its way to my cheek and I wiped it away angrily. "I know my problems are small compared to the intricacies of ruling a country, but I am more than capable of handling them myself. Since you apparently care nothing for me beyond that I am a problem that will not go away, I fail to see how I am your responsibility at all!"
"That's just the problem!" Eomer began, but Elessar cut him off.
"I fear you are losing sight of the subject, my friend." He said, putting a hand on Eomer's shoulder. "The Princess will never be truly safe until this problem is taken care of. We must act quickly before Mutheia has time to regroup and think of another plan. Therefore, and with the assurance that she will have every possible precaution taken for her safety, it is my council that we adopt Lothiriel's plan to trap Mutheia."
Eomer gave more protest, of course. We sat in the room for another two hours at least, convincing him before we could fine-tune the details of the plan. Eventually, everything was settled and we were escorted off to bed to get some much-needed sleep. Glarius gave me a large, finely appointed room next to Eomer's, and after the two Kings themselves had checked it (a little overly carefully, I thought) for hazards, I was allowed to sink into a blissfully hot bath.
Immersed in sudsy, lilac-scented water, I soaked away the effects that five days of travel had left on my skin and hair. I put on the exquisite black and white silk dressing gown that had been left for me, hopped onto bed, and contemplated the glorious prospect of sleeping until noon the next day, for we were not leaving until the day after. I leaned back with a peaceful sigh onto the many feather-stuffed pillows and drew the light down coverlet over my body…
Then came a soft knock on the door.
Eomer couldn't sleep.
It was ironic, he knew, that though he was in a safe place, in the care of a dear friend, freshly bathed and lying on a soft bed, for the first time in days, sleep evaded him. He tossed and turned, Ria's face flashing behind his closed eyes. Over and over in his mind, she wiped a tear from her cheek.
He had made her cry.
I am a cad, he thought to himself. No, lower than that. I am a coward. I let a woman cry because I am too fearful to tell her I care for her. How can I allow her to go back to that life that so haunts her?
Eomer knew what he had to do. Gathering his courage, he climbed out of bed and put on the light robe he had thrown over a chair earlier. Bare feet quietly padding on the marble floor, he walked next door and knocked on Ria's door.
(AN: I was going to be really mean and cut off the chapter here, but then I decided you guys have been too nice for me to do that to you ;))
It was Eomer.
I clutched the sides of my dressing gown together at my throat. Good grief, I must look a sight. Hair wet and mussed, clad in a borrowed robe.
She looked so beautiful, Eomer thought wistfully when Ria opened her door. Wet hair clung to her neck and fell down her back, dark and velvety in the lamplight. Her black and white robe clung to her skin, accentuating her figure. The scent of lilacs floated off her skin. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and make love to her, but he knew he could not. If- when?- he made Ria his, it would be forever, not for one night she would regret in the morning.
Forever? Was that, then, what he wanted? A strange sense of peace came over Eomer. He thought of waking up next to Ria for the rest of their lives, of little children with sky-blue eyes and dark reddish-brown hair.
"Eomer?" I asked when he only stared at me, a strange look in his brown eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"I…I came to apologize." He said finally. "I upset you earlier, and though it stemmed from concern, I feel badly for doing so."
Surprised, I only nodded. There was an awkward silence while we looked at each other in my doorway. Finally, Eomer cleared his throat and turned to go.
He stopped and came back, stepping inside my room this time and taking both my hands in his.
"There is something else, Ria. If you think, as you said earlier, that I care nothing for you beyond the problems you have caused for me…you are wrong. I do care for you. I care a great deal, and I am only beginning to realize how much."
Eomer's kiss that time was soft and gentle, a promise of things to come that conveyed more than words his feelings for me. He held my hands throughout, not allowing me to wrap my arms around him. When he drew back, he smiled down at me.
Then he was gone.
AN: Alrighty! Next up, The Execution of The Plan! :D