Chapter 42: One

The stars were shimmering and bright, the perfect canopy for the feast below. Music floated on the air, drifting high above the trees, mingling with the sounds of laughter. Caladhel was certain the celebration would not end until the sun rose the next day. She was glad of it, and glad, too, to be free of court and kin.

Thranduil's arms came around to embrace her as she stood looking out across the trees. He breathed a sigh, slow and deep. He drew her back against his chest, possessively so. His fingers laced through hers and he held them fast, anchored above her heart. He rested his chin on her head and they gazed upon their kingdom together.

"Where have your thoughts wandered off to?" she asked as the silence lengthened.

"I fear to wake," he replied, "and find this has all been a dream."

"I have had that same thought a time or two today."

Caladhel untwined their fingers and turned in his arms. Thranduil had already removed his crown and hers along with several other pieces of jewelry. Only one remained. Caladhel's hands rose to his collar. She removed the brooch he wore and set it aside on a nearby table, and afterward, nimble fingers went to work unfastening the hooks securing his long robe.

"Perhaps we should not tarry," she said, "else one of us should wake."

The corners of Thranduil's mouth tugged upward at her jest, even as he struggled to keep a straight face. "And yet, a moment of reflection might be wisest." His hands rose to halt her progress and she stilled beneath his touch. "After tonight, there is no turning back. You will be bound to me forever. Is that truly your want?"

Caladhel made a face, of equal parts humor and offense. "Do you imagine I would have suffered through the day's events, and all the last year, if I did not desire you?"

She had him there, for Thranduil was certain Caladhel would suffer nothing unless it was her want. "Even still, I would give you one last chance to escape."

Caladhel laughed lightly and shook her head. She pulled her hands free of his and returned to her task. Thranduil was impressed by how deftly her fingers freed the little hooks. She put both his and Roewen's earlier efforts to shame.

Caladhel noted the amusement in his eyes upon glancing up at him. "You could help, you know."

"I could, but I enjoy watching you at the task."

"Is that so?"

"You take great care in the matter. And that face you make, so serious."

"Would you prefer it if I were careless of the eye hooks?"

"No, but I cannot promise to be as thoughtful with yours."

Caladhel eyed him crossly while her hands glided beneath his robe and across his silk tunic. When her hands reached his shoulders she lifted the robe and guided it down his arms to the floor. "Perhaps I should deal with the hooks myself, and save my seamstresses from tears."

"I can be made agreeable to that notion," said Thranduil, laughter lighting his eyes, "so long as I am permitted to watch."

Caladhel returned his jest with a mischievous grin. Her hands clutched the hem of his tunic, guiding the silk up over his head. Thranduil aided her by working the sleeves from his arms. He dropped the shirt on top of the robe before returning his attention to her. Enthralled he was, by every touch. Part of him wanted to reach out to her, but something stayed his hands. Caution or fear? He did not know what name to give it, only that it held him still, allowing her to lead them.

Caladhel traced a line with her fingertips where a year ago a sword had cut Thranduil's flesh. There was no mark left visible to his eyes or to hers, but she followed the memory. Her fingertips danced across his skin, a foreign sensation, but one which delighted him. She circled around his back until her fingers rested on his right shoulder. She touched the scar left by the arrow and set a kiss upon the mark, blessing it silently for its sacrifice. Her fingers danced across his back until she appeared again on his left side. Her hand glided across his shoulder and chest and upward to cradle the left side of his face. She studied him with a marked intensity as he did her in return.

"What?" he asked.

She traced the left side of his face, down his shoulder and arm until her fingers clasped his hand. "You do not have to hide from me, ever. I want you to know."

Thranduil lifted her hand to his cheek, an echo of how their journey began. "I hide nothing. I am whole with you beside me. It is no illusion."

Caladhel's free hand rose to his stomach. She traced the lines there, causing his muscles and breath to contract. "You are a beautiful ellon, illusion or no. I would know every inch of you."

"And I, you."

She tilted her head to meet his eyes. "Then we must do something about this gown," she said and turned around for his aid.

The gown was fastened at the back by a cord of silk and hooks underneath. She would require his assistance, despite her earlier jest. A knife would surely make a quicker end to the task, but Thranduil was in no hurry. They had forever.

"You trust me with the laces?" he asked, teasing.

Caladhel shrugged. "I am not the one who will be angered if you ruin them."

The laces were the easy part. The hooks took more effort, but they allowed Thranduil to savor every moment. Beneath the gown she wore a silk slip, gossamer thin. She took his hand and stepped free of the outer garment after he slid it to the floor to join his own. The light breeze on the air caught the silk in its wake, causing it to cling to the curve of her breast and hip, accentuating them. Thranduil touched her that night for the first time. His hands settled on her waist and traced the curve of her hip.

He had already confessed this a year past, that night he declared his love and took a vow to distract her. "I love this curve. As if my hands were made to rest there."

"Perhaps they were," she said.

Thranduil drew her close, closer now than ever before. And when he kissed her he held nothing back. There was no need to temper passion as he had so many times before. She was his and he was hers, now and forevermore. He walked her back, back towards a divan where Thranduil had once sat beneath the stars with his father. But Thranduil thought not of Oropher tonight, not as he guided Caladhel down to rest upon the cushion.

Thranduil's hands sought to memorize every curve – mouth and neck, shoulder and breast. His hand trailed across her stomach to her hip and down even to her knee, the curve of her thigh he had enjoyed before only through leather. Her flesh was soft, but the muscles of her thigh were taught beneath the skin. She trembled beneath his hand, body and breath, as his hand glided higher on her thigh.

Caladhel explored as well. Her nails grazed his chest, the muscles flexing in answer to her touch. She could feel his desire, not only by his mouth and hands. She had sensed his want before, felt it stirring even in the depths of her own body and soul. An ache sparked within her core, and it grew with every kiss and touch. Thranduil's own desire was more apparent, for she felt him grow hard against her thigh. Her hand grazed him, lightly through the fabric of his pants. He gasped, a sharp intake of breath. A sound of pleasure easily mistaken for pain.

"Did that hurt?" she asked, concerned, for she had not thought her touch would pain him.

Thranduil knew not how to answer. He had no great love for loss of control. He thought it a weakness, always, until now. Tonight he would surrender all reason to possess her.

"My body aches," he said, "but not with pain."

And that she understood all too well. "As does mine."

She did not lie, for even as Thranduil lowered his hand to stroke her she gasped, arching her back to meet him. Caladhel's hands sought to free him, tugging on what laces remained and Thranduil made short work of the thin silk separating her skin from his. And there beneath Varda's sky the stars bore witness to their union, thrice on that first night.


A/N: The wonderful Lucife56 has done another illustration for this story. The detail called Touch is now up. I've made it the new cover art. Check out the detail at deviantart.

lucife56.

deviantart.

com/art/Touch-538853083