Author: I need to hurry up and finish this so I can concentrate on my summer homework! LOL, but I can't, it's too much fun. I shall miss it when it's over...sniff As always, the reviews were awesome. You guys ROCK!

OK, this chapter is kind of choppy and whatnot, so I apologize. I might go back and try to rework it later, but for the moment, I just needed to get it out of the way. Cheers :)

'Cause I'm broken

When I'm lonesome

And I don't feel right

When you've gone away

The worst is over now,

And we can breathe again

I wanna hold you I

am still your pain

It was one of the few times in my life when I have been at a loss for words. My heart was screaming "YES!" drowning out my mind's protests. He has to get Father's permission first...This is all very sudden, don't you think?

I believe I stepped out of my body for a moment...instead of living it, I watched the scene acted out by players. I saw the handsome man drop to his knees and look plaintively up at the lady in the green dress. He spoke, her mouth fell open, and he waited. She stared at him for what seemed like an eternity. Shifting her hands from his grip, she clasped his wrists and raised him to his feet until they were eye to eye. Then, speaking clearly but softly, she spoke one word.

"Yes."

With a rush like that of a great wave hitting a rocky cliff, I was back. There were Eomer's eyes gazing down at me, full of love. There were his hands, now wrapped around my arms, pulling me towards him. There was his mouth, smiling with relief, bending to kiss me. Of the kisses Eomer had given me thus far, this one was the most intense, if it was possible to be more so than the others. Untamed, unhindered passion flew between us, racing from every place we touched through our bodies. I was wrapped securely in Eomer's strong, sure arms, his hands sweeping up and down my back while I clutched at his shoulders. Yet amidst our fevered frenzy of touch there was a deeper gentleness and caring; it was love.

Before I knew it we had tumbled, laughing, to the ground. Pinned underneath Eomer, I gave myself over to the delirious ecstasy of being in love. The sky seemed bluer, the flowers painted brighter hues. He gently pulled his fingers through my hair, divesting it of the carefully positioned coiffure Arwen had worked so hard on. I didn't care; Eomer's pleasure was much more important, somehow, than appearances. Still kissing me madly, his hand began to creep its way underneath my skirt. Ah, bliss.

"I love you so, Eomer." I sighed against his lips.

He froze. "And I love you, Ria." With a frustrated but somehow resigned sigh he rolled off me. I reluctantly roused myself from the sensual stupor that had clouded my thoughts and sat up.

"Why did you stop?" I blushed but asked anyway.

Eomer chuckled. "Rest assured, it is not as though I wanted to. I would like nothing better than to make love to you here and now...but it is better if we do not."

"Why? If we are to be married anyway..."

"It is a matter of principle. Besides, you deserve more than a tumble on the ground. Our wedding night will be full of flowers, candlelight, wine..." As he spoke, Eomer crept closer, mesmerizing me with his breath against my neck. I thought he was going to kiss me again, but... "Eomer! Stop tickling me!" I shrieked

The rest of the day and night passed all too quickly in a haze of excitement. We romped for a while longer in the gardens, flirting and teasing each other mercilessly. Then there was dinner with Elessar and Arwen, who were not at all surprised to hear our news. The evening was spent perfecting our plans to trap Mutheia. Eomer's mood darkened somewhat, and he again protested my involvement in the scheme. He was somewhat appeased only when Elessar pointed out that he could act as our lookout, and therefore be closer to me than anyone else.

We departed Minas Tirith with a company of 50 soldiers early the next morning. At Osgiliath we boarded a great ship to sail the Anduin to the Bay of Belfalas and thence to Dol Amroth. For two days we traveled on board the vessel. The men, I think grew bored of the inactivity, and I know Eomer was uneasy without the firm ground under his feet, but I tried my best to distract him. After all, there are many nooks and crannies on board a ship, many of which provide excellent privacy for a recently engaged couple.

It was nearing dawn on the third day when there came a tapping on my cabin door.

"Princess Lothiriel, my lord sends word that it is time." A voice called. I hastily threw on my plain gray dress and tied back my hair. Soon I was standing on deck, waiting to disembark. Eomer found me and came to stand by my side.

"Ria..." He began.

"Don't even say it." I interrupted. "I want to do this, I will be quite all right, nothing is going to happen."

Eomer sighed. "I love you, Ria. Promise me you won't take any chances. If anything goes wrong, scream, run away, do whatever it takes to get away. Proof of Mutheia's plot is not so important as your life."

"I promise." In a few more minutes I was off the ship and mounted on a decent mare that Elessar had brought from Minas Tirith. She wasn't nearly as nice as Gwen had been, and I found myself missing the insanely fast horse I had ridden so often in Rohan.

It was still dark enough for the soldiers to inconspicuously walk up to the wooded hill that we had chosen for the endeavor. The northeastern gate of Dol Amroth glinted in the first light of dawn. Eomer, now dressed like a simple farmer (with a long cloak hiding his sword) leaned down from Wingfoot to kiss me. He rode slowly off along the road, winding his way towards the city. When he reached his mark, a twisted old oak tree halfway between the hill and Dol Amroth, he stopped to fake watering his horse. That was my signal to get moving.

With a deep breath, I straightened my back and rode briskly towards the gates of my home city. Following the procedure we had laid out, I ignored Eomer as I passed him. At that point, though, I really began to get nervous. Somewhere between here and the entrance to the city, I would be attacked or accosted by someone, somehow. What if they decided to kill me on the spot? What if Eomer couldn't get to me in time to help? What if Mutheia or Kutheia had gotten word through that the whole plan was off, and they had something else in mind?

The silver-laced gates of Dol Amroth loomed ahead. Twice the height of a man, thick with reinforced wood and steel, they were nonetheless a pale shadow of the grandeur of the gate that guarded Minas Tirith. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, lighting the towers and peaks of the city from behind. The sight should have filled me with pleasure, a sense of coming home...yet it did not. I was alone. Eomer was not there to share the beauty of the dawn.

There was a sound behind me. I reigned in my horse and turned swiftly to see three men ride out of nowhere on the black steeds of the south. They were clad in black, with dark paint on their faces. No wonder I hadn't noticed them sooner. Panic threatened to overtake me as instinct fought against my knowledge that I was safe. The first of the attackers reached my right side and grabbed my horse's bridle.

"If you value your life you will not scream." Thickly accented, the voice of the second man came from my left as the last rider drew up in front of me. The mare I was on sensed my unease and fidgeted. When I tried to regain my balance, I noticed the knife at my throat.

"Who are you?" I asked nervously, fighting for time.

Where was Eomer?

He saw the three men ride out of the shadows flanking the city gate. Mounting his horse, Eomer prepared to race towards Ria at the first sign of trouble...to acquire enough 'proof', they had to wait until she was actually threatened to rescue her.

Damn! He couldn't see! Why wouldn't they back off a little? What were they doing? Why hadn't Ria screamed or fled yet? A beam of sunlight at last made its way through the morning, reflecting off every window in its path. That first light illuminated the swords hanging at the sides of the black-clad riders. It revealed the wire fletchings of the arrows hanging on their backs, and every piece of trim on their horses' tack. Perhaps, if he had been waiting at any other vantagepoint, the riders would have blocked Eomer's view of the scene unfolding before his eyes. Luckily, he could just see between two of the men. The light shone on something else.

Rage such as he had never before known heated Eomer's blood. There was a dagger resting against Ria's neck, and one of the men had roughly wrenched her arms behind her back.

His angry cry pierced the morning. Behind the rise, Aragorn heard it and gave the signal to move out. Fifty of Gondor's finest soldiers, mounted on the country's best horses poured out of the trees. In Dol Amroth, a guard on the outer wall heard the commotion and send a messenger to the Prince, himself staying to watch the intriguing sight. There was a man in front of all the other soldiers, riding like the wind toward three foreign-looking travelers. The light of dawn fell on him, a warrior equal to the great lord of old, mounted on a mighty steed, and it seemed to the guard the there were wings on the horse's hooves.