Dear Readers: I have gone and done it again! This was supposed to be the 3rd and final part of the super-long chapter I had originally planned. But, because this part was starting to get too long and, since the next few days are going to be very busy for me, I decided to split it again so that I could keep to my self-prescribed schedule of updating every week. If you prefer longer chapters and less frequent updates, I will be happy to oblige. Please let me know! I owe a big thank you, as always, to my beta Kris, and to Anon for that fabulous line about a certain Elf's hair! Once again, I will address reviewers at the bottom of the page.
WARNING: This chapter is rated R for explicit sexual content.
CHAPTER TWENTY- FIVE: TELL-TALE HEARTS, Part Two
Ellie stirred in her sleep, impatiently kicking at her blanket. "Legolas…" she mumbled, with a small smile, as she started to dream…
He was the most beautiful person she had ever known--a child of the stars, with his pale, pale skin the color of moonbeams and the long silk strands of his hair dusted with the diamond lights of the night sky. Even in the utter darkness of the room, the skin of his chest and arms seemed to shimmer and shine with an ethereal, otherworldly glow. She could see the sensuous rippling of his muscles as he pulled his long shirt over his fair face--a face now masked by velvet shadows but which she pictured perfectly in her thoughts.
"You are so beautiful, like starlight come to life," she said, her voice husky and breathless as she gently trailed a finger across his bare chest. She had spoken those same words to him before, and like as not, she would speak them again. For to her, that was precisely what he was--a beautiful, magical being come down from the distant heavens to spellbind her. A being who captivated her senses, stole her will away, and left her feeling weak of body and limb.
He chuckled, amused and pleased by her whimsy. When she chose, she could be as fanciful as any Elf. "And you, my love, are the very Night through which I will roam," he replied, crowding her with his powerful body, backing her toward the bed with the grace of a predatory cat. When she collided with the soft mattress, he gave her a gentle shove that sent her sprawling on top of it. She gasped then breathed in sharply when he followed her down. It was the last deep breath she would take for a long while.
"Gods! But I cannot get you close enough," he muttered as he mercilessly pinned her down on the bed. She was so much smaller than he was that, at first, his body covered her from head to toe, trapping her arms and legs, making it impossible for her to breathe. He immediately pushed her up toward the headboard until he could feel her breath on his face. "Sorry, love," he muttered, and meant it, but he kept his full weight on her, crushing her, and relishing the feel of her soft curves against his hardness. His arms were on either side of her head, pinning her long hair as surely as his body pinned hers. For the time being, she was his prisoner.
And she exulted in it.
She--who had always stood with quiet pride and independence, and had answered to no one but herself--now exulted in being mastered.
The Elf lowered his face and began to make love to her lips, as he would her body later on. His hair hung like a silken curtain around them, caressing her face and neck, mingling with her black curls. He kissed her slowly, profoundly, erotically covering her entire mouth with his, wanting to consume it…and her. The sensuality of his kiss echoed down her spine, and she was consumed. Consumed by flames, and filled with a desperate longing. His tongue darted in and out of her parted lips, teasing her own tongue, coaxing it to dance. He tasted the wine she had sipped earlier, drank deeply of her fragrant breath, then sucked and nibbled on her lower lip as if it were a nipple. On and on, he tugged lazily on the soft pink flesh, until her mouth was swollen and achy. Until she was swollen and achy.
"Oh, gods," she moaned, struggling against his body. That she should feel this way at last and with one such as he! Such mindless pleasure coupled with so much need! Surely it was no sin! Or perhaps the greatest sin of all.
He eased his weight from her, releasing her arms and legs from their prison. Now they imprisoned him--as she clutched and clawed at his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist, her long skirt lifting along with them.
Her skin became impossibly hot, and scorched him. As a rule, Elves do not sweat, but humans do, and soon she was bathed in a thin sheen of perspiration. Instead of being repelled, he was intrigued by the sudden dampness of her skin and clothes, and the musky, feminine scent of her body. "I want to taste every bit of you," he mumbled, as he raised her chin with his fingertips and lowered his head to her neck. He slowly, sensuously, slid his tongue from side to side, and up and down the slender column, tasting her saltiness. Driving them both mad with need and want.
She was drowning in a whirlpool of sensations. I am going to die! she thought hysterically, unable to think clearly any longer, and no longer caring to.
In a rhythm as old as the ages, he began to rock his hips, while she hooked her legs together behind his waist and pressed her body so close to his, that he could feel the parted folds of her womanhood against his bare belly. The Elf groaned from the exquisite torture of it. And still he waited. He had desired her for so long--weeks and weeks of endless torment--that now he was unwilling to rush their union. He wanted to savor the moment, savor her.
His hands dropped from her neck to her small breasts, moving possessively over them, cupping and kneading them. Her nipples peaked instantly under his expert fingers, and strained against the thin fabric of her dress.
"Rip it off," she said between clenched teeth, as she lowered her hands and tugged impatiently at her crumpled skirt, trying to pull it higher.
But the Elf merely chuckled. "Why the haste, love?" he drawled, his amused voice belying the urgency within his body. In truth, he would not be able to wait much longer.
"Please…" she begged, almost in tears. He could not see her face clearly in the darkness, but he could sense her desperation. Her need for release. He smiled in anticipation. His hand sought and gently traced her pouting lips before she closed her mouth around his fingers, and sucked and licked, devouring them as if they were sweet, succulent fruit.
He nearly exploded then. "Enough!" he hissed, chuckling again, as he kneeled on the bed. "Come, love, let me help you with that dress." He lifted her languid body to a sitting position, reached back and began undoing her laces. A short moment later, she pulled the filmy gown over head and carelessly threw it on the floor, then fell back on the pillows with a heavy sigh. She was smiling now--he could see the pearly whiteness of her teeth.
"Your turn," she whispered, reaching for his waistband. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew the curtains over them like a pair of giant wings, and entangled one of the panels on the carved headboard, letting the moonlight in. A shaft of pale, silver light pierced the canopy of leaves above the dwelling and settled on her slender waist as she lay on her back next to him.
The Elf's breath caught. For the first time that evening, her rosy skin lay naked before his eyes, and he feasted upon the sight, mesmerized. Ignoring the small fingers at his waistband, he bent over her body, his long blonde hair veiling his face, and pressed reverent kisses on her smooth, flat stomach. Then, as she arched her hips upward, his tongue slid a trail to the shallow cleft of her navel.
Her navel that was no longer pierced.
She had removed her belly ring and healed the tiny piercing long before she ever set foot in Lothlorien…
A puzzled frown furrowed Ellie's brow, and she stirred restlessly in her sleep, her skirt tangled and crumpled between her legs…
The Elf lifted his head slightly to look at her, trying to read her expression, and for a moment, his face was illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the open window. She stared into that beloved face, awed as always by the beauty of his finely sculpted features, the sensuous line of his mouth, the deep blue of his eyes, now ablaze with love and desire for her.
Haldir, March Warden of Lorien, and her lover…
Haldir, immortal Elf, and soon to be her husband…
Ellie awoke with a violent start to find herself covered in sweat and breathing harshly. Her heart hammered painfully in her chest. Haldir, not Legolas! she thought, stunned. Naia, not me! And her stomach heaved. Wide-eyed and pale from shock, she sat up in her mother's bed--it will never be mine, Ellie realized--reeling from the dream that she now knew had been no dream at all, but a memory.
A memory of her mother and father.
"Oh gods!" she exclaimed, appalled, and immediately stuffed her fist into her mouth to stop from screaming. Frantically untangling herself from the blankets, Ellie scrambled out of bed, and recoiled from it as one would from a flame after getting burned. She was shaking from head to toe.
Haldir and Naia.
"Oh gods!" she repeated, staring at the damp, rumpled bedding. In her sleep, she had relived every intimate moment leading up to her parents' first coupling. She had delighted in it, been aroused by the images, all the while thinking that she was dreaming of Legolas and herself.
Ellie thought she might just throw up.
Gagging violently, she staggered toward the velvet-cushioned chair and plopped down. Then she reached for the glass pitcher Haldir had placed for her on the dressing table right before bedtime. At the time, he had touched her heart with his fatherly concern and solicitude, and she had gone to sleep feeling cherished and protected. Now Ellie tried to reconcile that image of her father with the memory of Naia's lover, and failed miserably. And yet there was no denying they were one and the same Elf.
With hands that shook badly, she dragged the dainty pitcher towards her, spilling water all over the wooden surface and her dress, before bringing it to her lips. She drank deeply from it, swallowing the bile in her throat together with the sweet-tasting Lorien spring water. Then she liberally splashed the remaining contents of the pitcher on her face and throat, trying to cool her body, and wash away the vivid memory.
She raised her eyes to the moonlit mirror and jumped, for a moment mistaking her face for Naia's.
"My mother…" she whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. Tonight Ellie had caught yet another glimpse of a Naia she had never known--one she would have to come to grips with if she wanted to remain in Lothlorien.
For nearly three hundred years, Ellie only knew Naia the mother. Yesterday Haldir introduced her to Naia the wife. Now she had met Naia the lover.
The girl's eyes strayed to the shadowy reflection of the bed in the mirror. I will never sleep there again! she vowed. How could she, when it was haunted by the images of her parents' most intimate moments? Yet, Ellie knew that she would not be able to escape such memories. They were bound to come to her again when she least expected, in other places her parents had been.
Ellie buried her face in her hands and groaned. I shall steel myself against those memories, she thought resolutely, slapping her hands on the vanity top. Then she raised her head and studied her reflection for a long moment. In the dimness of the room, she once again imagined that it was Naia's face staring back at her, and not her own. She peered closely into the mirror and started when she saw the faint lines that fanned from the corners of her dark eyes, and the creases that ran alongside her mouth to her dainty nostrils. It was her mother's face, for Ellie's was smooth like an infant's.
As the girl met the gentle gaze of the woman she so dearly missed, the discomfort she had felt after witnessing her parents' lovemaking all but disappeared. Logic told Ellie that she should be unsettled by what she was seeing in the mirror, perhaps even frightened, but she was not. Instead, a quiet calm settled over her and the entire room.
"We are so alike, you and I," she whispered to the woman's reflection. The same features, the same body, the same weakness--that is, if one was to consider love for an Elf a true weakness. Because of her feelings for Legolas, the girl understood, and could relate to everything her mother had felt on that bed. Naia's passion was Ellie's passion. Her surrender would be Ellie's too.
"I love him," Ellie said simply. Her mother, of all people, would understand. "And I choose love." Until that moment, she had never spoken those words out loud, although they had echoed in her heart for quite some time.
"I chose love too," Naia's reflection replied.
"You made a mistake when you left him," Ellie accused, unable to keep the bitterness from her soft voice. Naia should never have left Haldir. Both her parents and their daughter had paid dearly for that mistake.
"I made no mistake," Naia's reflection countered. What Naia did, she did for Ellie's sake. She had given her daughter a choice. A choice between two worlds, two ways of life.
And as surely as if Naia had spoken, the girl grasped for the first time the reason why her mother had acted the way she did. It had nothing to do with right or wrong, salvation or damnation. Had she been born and raised in Lothlorien, Ellie would never have known what it was like to live as an Ilissan, to be independent and strong, beholden to no man. And believe as an Ilissan believed, that a life selflessly dedicated to the healing and saving of others and to the preservation of the sisterhood, was the most honorable life of all. Her mother gave Ellie that opportunity, knowing full well that in time her daughter would discover her Elven heritage. But had that opportunity been worth sacrificing Naia's happiness…and Haldir's? Ellie did not think so. Her father had not deserved such a cruel betrayal.
And yet, the girl realized that if she had not lived in Ravenwood, she might never have gotten to know Legolas. She certainly would not have traveled all those weeks with the Fellowship--crucial weeks during which Ellie spent nearly every waking moment with the Elf. If they had only met in Lothlorien for the first time, she and Legolas most probably would not have fallen in love. Naia had inadvertently brought them together.
"I think I understand you now," the girl whispered, her spirits rising even as her heart broke over her mother's foolish mistake. She smiled tenderly at the reflection in the mirror, and lifted her hands to the glass to touch Naia's cheek only to find her own smooth face staring back at her.
"Mother?" she called softly, lifting her brows. She turned around in her chair and scanned the room, but she could not see her, although Naia's presence filled every inch of space, every corner. Had she really been talking to her mother? Can memories talk? Ellie wondered.
Then her eyes alighted on Naia's bed. For certain, Ellie would never be able to touch it again, let alone sleep in it. But she was no longer horrified by what she had seen. No longer horrified by the memories she might yet see.
I will accept them when they come and not fall apart like a ninny, she decided. After all, her parents had loved each other, had even married. Physical intimacy was a natural expression of that love.
Together, Ellie and Legolas had just begun to explore and take pleasure in such intimacy. But Naia and Haldir had lost it, along with their love, after having known it for only a short time. The tragedy of her parents' lives was magnified tenfold in Ellie's eyes.
She gave me a choice and lost everything…
Ellie stood, and quietly walked out of Naia's room, closing the door behind her. She would find no rest there tonight.
Then she turned her head toward her father's room and, much to her dismay, immediately felt uncomfortable again. How can I ever face him after this? she wondered, and blushed scarlet, mortified at the thought. Because he is your father and he loves you…and he need not ever know, her reason replied. Ellie breathed in deeply and took a step forward.
Like his daughter, Haldir had left his door ajar lest Jamie should awaken and be frightened. Not a single sound came from the Elf's room, although she had certainly made enough noise to awaken him. So much for Elven hearing! Ellie thought, briefly amused, as curiosity got the better of her. After a quick glance at Jamie, who was visible in the dim light from the single taper left burning, she approached Haldir's open doorway, took a peek…
…And instantly recoiled. Her father was lying on his side, facing the door, his eyes wide open and staring. Ellie could see them shimmer in the gloom, and was utterly embarrassed to be caught stealing a look at him. As she frantically searched her mind for some explanation to give, the hot blush spread from her face down to her entire body. I will tell him I thought I heard a noise! she finally decided, cringing at having to use that worn-out excuse.
But just as she opened her mouth to apologize, Ellie realized that he had neither moved nor spoken. He is fast asleep! And she sagged against the door in relief. How could you forget?! she chided herself. Like most Elves, Haldir slept with his eyes open! Legolas had slept that way too when she and Jamie first encountered the Fellowship. But the girl had found it deeply disturbing, eerie even, and for weeks he had made a point of closing his eyes.
Now she quickly walked away from her father's room.
I need to get out of here!
With one last look at Jamie, she walked out the front door.
I need to clear my mind of ghosts!
And lifting her skirt with both hands so that she would not trip, Ellie ran down the long, winding stairs of her family's talan.
I need to find Legolas!
To be continued…
A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE REGARDING NAIA: When my beta Kris read this chapter, she had some questions regarding Naia's history and her belly ring. Since I have not talked about her pre-Lorien past in this story (it is part of a prequel I'm toying with in my head!), I wanted to give you a brief summary of how Naia came to be in Lothlorien. If you go back to Chapter 4 of ELLIE'S CHOICE, when Gandalf is telling the Fellowship about the Ilissans, he mentions that the last known Ilissan was put to death some 300 years ago in Minas Tirith. That Ilissan was Naia's mother and Ellie's grandmother. After she saw her mother being burned at the stake, Naia escaped Minas Tirith and was on the run for some 12 years before arriving in Lorien. She wandered from place to place, keeping her identity a secret. She also got rid of the belly piercing for fear that she would be discovered and suffer the same fate as her mother. She did not give up her faith until she fell in love with Haldir, but Haldir had nothing to do with her decision to remove the ring. Some 3 years before she became pregnant with Ellie, Naia crossed Lorien's borders as she tried to escape a band of Orcs and instead ran into a very belligerent Haldir, who as March Warden, is in charge of securing Lorien's borders. Haldir actually meant to kill Naia for trespassing, but stayed his hand at the last moment. And the rest, shall we say, is history you are already somewhat familiar with!
To all my readers: I hope you did not find this chapter too disturbing. I needed a good excuse to get Ellie out of that room and out of that talan and into Legolas' waiting arms. Fortunately, because it was dark--and because she woke up in time--she didn't see anything ACTUALLY happen between Haldir and Naia. That just would have been--to use my beta's word--too gross!
To my readers who had been expecting a mushy scene between Legolas and Ellie: I PROMISE you, it is coming up in the next chapter! It was supposed to be part of this chapter, but for the reasons I mentioned at the top of the page, I decided to leave it for the next. Please feel free to flame me AFTER the next update if I don't keep my word! And once again, if you prefer longer chapters and less frequent updates, let me know. I thank you for your patience and understanding!
To ACE, bEtH, passerby, Nimthoron, Crecy, beth, and nap-003: Ladies, don't be mad at me! That sort-of make-up scene between Legolas and Ellie that I promised you last week is coming up next! Honestly. Truly. Scout's honor. I SWEAR!!!! :-)
To elvesmagic 010: So happy to have put a smile on your face! I hope this chapter does the same for you!
To Nevasaiel: Bless your heart! You have got to be the sweetest lady! I myself am quite sentimental and tend to get all misty-eyed when I read romantic/angsty stuff.
To Selayawen: WOW! What an awesome review! It left ME speechless and feeling very humble. Thank you so much.
To dragonfly: It was great fun reading all your reviews! As for Legolas and Ellie, I dare say, our beloved Elf is just as ready as you are to give Ellie a little shake--and he just might do it! heh, heh As for Nev, well…I am afraid to say that she is not entirely out of the picture yet…
To Crecy: I hope you thought this chapter had some "cool" stuff (as opposed to creepy). I wouldn't want to be responsible for you losing your last few scraps of sanity!
To kittynip9: In truth, I seriously thought of removing Nev after I wrote her in, and I even took a poll of my readers, but they overwhelmingly wanted to keep her in. I guess there's nothing like a villain to stir things up every now and then! Anyway, I hope you are not TOO disappointed with the length of this chapter. In my new informal poll of readers, I have jotted you down as preferring longer chapters and less frequent updates (personally, I do to). Let's see what the rest of my readers think.
To kwannom: My dear, you brought up a good point. Why doesn't Haldir fade away from a broken heart? I will actually be touching upon that in a future chapter! (Girl, you know your Tolkien!)
To Wicklowe: Yeah, I've always heard that it rains a lot in Ireland. That is why the island is so green and beautiful! I did promise you some smushiness in this chapter and I wrote some in (JUST FOR YOU!--just kidding). Unfortunately, it was not between Legolas and Ellie. Next chapter, it will be. I promise. And I TRULY mean it this time!
To clumseysweetpea: Haldir's brothers will be coming up! They are still at least a couple of chapters away. The poor things have had to travel from the southern borders of Lothlorien and the journey takes a couple of days.
To briamber: You have paid me a great compliment, once again! When I write I always try to draw a picture for my readers, but sometimes I worry that I get too carried away. Thanks for reassuring me!
To elfiehead: At the rate I'm going, ELLIE'S CHOICE may go on forever and ever and ever and ever. LOL! Already, I have written twice as much as I did in my original version, and I still have only revised half of the story. LOL!
To Avian Lee: Cool! So I helped you write your crossover fanfiction. How in the blazes did I do that? By the way, with regard to your katana (my FAVORITE sword in the whole world!), I am quite tempted to give it a cameo appearance in one of the later chapters in my story. It sounds like something dear old Sauron might want to wield when he gets his body back! YIKES!
To anon-101-6: Loved the way you described Haldir's hair in that delicious little passage you sent me. So I HAD to use it. Thank you so much for putting up with me!
