*Dain's voice* How aaaaare we all? I have a wee proposition if you don't mind giving me a few moments of your time. Would ya consider...

Reading and enjoying this chapter? xD

Okay, sorry for the silliness xD

This was a very fun and interesting chapter for me to write, in more ways than one! Things are getting a little fired up and are escalating between Thorin and Aelin...it's a wonder they haven't killed each other yet xD

Some of you will probably love me AND hate me by the end of this one xD

Enjoy! :D It's the longest chapter yet!

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Another couple days of traveling has passed and the company was continuing to make good time. They had to endure some heavy rainfall, which was a bit perturbing, but it was better than coming across anything dangerous along the way. So far, the way had been clear of any danger or any obstacles.

However, that didn't necessarily mean the journey thus far was entirely peaceful. On account of Aelin and Thorin constantly going at each other. They both tried to ignore or avoid the other, but they were too proud or stubborn and couldn't keep their snide comments to themselves, always fighting for the last word. The others tried to stay out of their little spats as best they could so as to not further incur Aelin and Thorin's bitterness, but they were still rather annoyed.

What got them was that, even though Aelin and Thorin claimed to despise one another, it seemed like they just couldn't stop talking; they couldn't stay away from each other! They both did little things to annoy the other—although, that was mostly Aelin—and sometimes it seemed as though they actually enjoyed fighting! Some of the company swore that, at times, the two of then would argue just to argue. They hated each other yet they couldn't leave one another alone. Their hateful relationship was quite strange to the rest of the company, especially since most of them still didn't even know what the reason for their hatred was.

One late afternoon, after another day of riding, the company came upon a rocky clearing on the side of the foothills. In the midst of the clearing was an old abandoned house that was falling apart and looked partially destroyed.

Thorin, at the head of the line, wheeled his pony around and stated, "We'll camp here for the night." Then as he discounted, he said, "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."

Aelin came up next to Nori and said quietly to him, "The one good thing about Thorin hating me is that he never wants to give me any work."

Nori chuckled. "Aye, you're the lucky one here," he said as they both dismounted.

Up ahead, Gandalf had walked into the remains of the house and was examining it.

"Oin, Gloin, get a fire going," Aelin heard Thorin order them as he too made his way up to the old ruins.

"Right you are!" Oin responded.

Aelin scanned the area around them and then said to Nori, "Something seems a little strange about this, don't you think?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She shrugged and replied, "I don't know...it just seems odd to me that that house would look so destroyed and yet it's not in the path of where a landslide would be. It doesn't look like landslide or any kind of storm damage...so where could it have come from?"

"Perhaps it was attacked by huge, angry trolls!" exclaimed Kili enthusiastically, dramatically acting like a troll with his arms out and growling as he came up behind her.

She grinned at rolled her eyes at him. "Very funny, Kili," she said, playfully shoving him off which made him snicker. "But mountain trolls never venture this far south, so I think it's safe to rule that out."

"Then I suppose it will forever be a mystery!" Fili then said.

Aelin chuckled. Then as she looked around some more, she couldn't help but watch Thorin talking to Gandalf up at the house. As usual, Thorin looked bitter and disdainful as he spoke.

"And then there's Oakenshield...," she thought, "...who will also forever remain a mystery to me."

She continued talking with Nori, Fili and Kili until she heard Bilbo's voice say, "Gandalf, where are you going?"

Her head turned to see the wizard stomping away from the old, abandoned house, looking rather agitated.

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense," he answered the Hobbit

"And who's that?"

"Myself, Master Baggins! I've had enough of Dwarves for one day!"

With that being said, Gandalf angrily left them in a huff.

Aelin wondered as she watched him go what in the world had happened to make him storm off so suddenly.

Then Thorin's voice called out behind her, "Come on, Bombur, we're hungry!"

Right then, she just knew that Thorin had something to do with it. She flipped around, her hair almost whacking Fili in the face, and cried, irritated, "Oakenshield, did you just make us lose our wizard?"

He trudged down slowly from the house, glaring at her. "I don't want to hear one word from you," he started, pointing at her.

She raised her eyebrows defiantly. "Oh, with that tone, you'll hear far more than one word from me," she boldly declared, taking a couple steps towards him. "What did you do?

"I did nothing!"

"Of course you didn't. As it always is with you. You are never in the wrong, are you?"

"I would keep my mouth shut, if I were you!"

"I would like to see you make me!"

"Enough!" then cried Balin, stepping between them. "The both of you must cease this incessant arguing."

Thorin and Aelin did not break eye contact as they continued to stare angrily at each other.

"Defying me will earn you serious consequences someday. You will learn your place, thief," he sneered.

"I know my place, Oakenshield, and believe me, I wish it was anywhere but here with you," she retorted in a tone laced with bitterness.

Balin cast her a warning glance. "Lass, you need to calm down," he said.

"What I don't need is to be lectured by a Dwarf with a bad attitude," Aelin spat back, glaring one more time at Thorin before turning her back on him and walking back to her pony.

Thorin huffed in annoyance and turned on his heel as well.

Everyone else just averted their gaze or rolled their eyes at the two feuding Dwarves. Would this petty fighting ever end?

Bombur got to work on supper while the others started unpacking bedrolls and supplies. Nori, Fili and Kili went back to Aelin, who had seated herself down on a log and was drinking water from her flask.

She groaned loudly as she removed the flask from her lips. "I swear I will kill him if nothing else on this journey does!" she stated.

The three others rolled their eyes, knowing she obviously was referring to Thorin.

"Just what happened between you two that made you hate each other?" asked Kili.

Aelin grumbled, placing the lid on her flask. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Well, we want you to!" Fili replied, motioning to him and his brother. "The two of you are constantly bickering and most of us have no idea what the reason behind any of it is! If we're going to be traveling with you for hundreds of miles across Middle-Earth and have to endure your constant nitpicking, then we at least deserve to know why."

"He has a point, Aelin," Nori added as he started moving away to help Ori with his things.

"Great...," Aelin thought begrudgingly. The two young ones wanted to know her story and her best friend was backing them up. She figured she'd have to tell them eventually; she had just hoped it wouldn't have been for a while longer.

"All right...!" she sighed in defeat. "I'll tell you."

Satisfied, Fili and Kili sat themselves down on the ground in front of Aelin, looking like little boys excited for story time.

"First of all, the two of you should know, part of why your uncle hates me is because I have somewhat of a reputation...for being a thief."

They gave her curious looks. "Is that why he's been calling you a thief all this time?" Fili inquired. "I thought he was just holding a grudge against you for taking his money pouch at Bag-End."

Aelin couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "I am sure he still holds a grudge for that, but no, there's more to it than that. I've been professionally stealing things for many years, but lately I've been trying to change that."

She sighed, readying herself. "It all started a hundred and forty-two years ago," she continued. "I was just a young woman living on the streets of Ered Luin. All I had was the clothes on my back, a small amount of money I had acquired and a group of four friends who helped me."

"Who were your four friends?" asked Kili.

"There were three men and one woman," Aelin explained. "The three young men were Zedd, Kardur and Rama. Zedd was the oldest and considered our designated leader, although he was never really all that fond of me. Rama and Kardur were clever and more easygoing. Then the woman was Jéka. She and I were good friends for a while. She had more fire than even me at times, but unfortunately, she didn't have much of a backbone most of the time when it came to Zedd. He was intimidating and...well, he intimidated Jéka. She could almost never stand up to him. That was always me, if I ever had to. I can delve more into them later."

The two lads nodded in understanding.

"Anyways, one night, after collecting a reward for a small heist, my friends and I went to a pub for a drink. Everything was fine until—"

"Fili! Kili!" Thorin's belting voice then interrupted.

Both Fili and Kili as well as Aelin all rolled their eyes. Their leader had such brilliant timing.

When Fili and Kili turned their heads to look at their uncle, they found him standing just yards away, giving them a disapproving look. "Shouldn't you be watching the ponies like I asked you to do?" he chided them.

Fili sighed and responded, "As you wish, Uncle."

Kili looked back to Aelin as he and his brother got to their feet. "We're sorry, Aelin," he said, looking apologetic.

She flipped up her hand and replied, "It's no matter. That was bound to happen, anyway."

"Until next time," Fili then added with a subtle wink at her.

With a smirk, Aelin gave a small wave goodbye to the two Dwarf Princes and they walked off to attend to the task their uncle had given them.

Thorin stood where he was and watched his nephews leave. Then he looked back to Aelin, grimacing. He really was not fond of the idea of his nephews being around her. They didn't need her dishonest influence. They were already big enough troublemakers; they didn't need more encouragement.

As he started walking her direction, she heard him coming and their eyes met in a heated gaze once again.

As he approached her, Thorin said sternly, "Did I not warn you, woman, to stay away from my nephews?

She simply scoffed, raised her eyebrows at him and responded in return, "And did I not tell you, Oakenshield, that they are grown enough to make their own decisions and you cannot control them nor I?"

Thorin groaned. Something about her calling him by his second name really set his teeth on edge. "Enough of just calling me 'Oakenshield'!" he growled out. "I have a name."

Aelin scoffed again in astonishment. "Says the Dwarf who calls me anything but my name, such as 'woman' or 'thief'!" she pointed out.

She inched closer to him, almost challengingly, staring at him with great intensity, knowing she was getting on his nerves as she saw his eyes narrowing at her proximity to him.

"You have a name?" she asked rhetorically. "Then I will be sure to inquire as to what it is when you remember that I have a name, as well!"

His jaw tightened and locked and his eyes widened a little in aggravation.

Aelin, however, was not finished. "I will not call you by your name," she stated, "as it is a sign of respect…of which for you, I have none."

In that moment, she could swear she saw something flash within his fiery gaze.

Now she could feel her rebellious audacity building up inside her as she took one more step towards him and declared, "You prove to me once again, Oakenshield, that all you Kings; all you royalty are hypocrites. You demand respect from others and yet you give none in return to those you receive it from. And you still expect me to listen to you? I may have pledged my service to this company, but that is all there is to it. There is nothing you can do that will make me give you the respect you do not deserve! So as long as you continue to disrespect me, I shall gladly retaliate in kind."

Thorin's eyes bore into her with fury. No one before had ever dared to speak to him so directly and defiantly, yet this woman continued to do so. It was only driving his resentment towards her on even further. Who did this woman think she was to speak in such a manner to the King?

"You try my patience...!" he told her, seething.

In return, Aelin simply smirked, which irked him more, and replied, "I never said I was going to make any of this easy for you."

They stared at one another, their gazes heated and piercing. Their faces were just inches apart now; if they got any closer, their noses would touch.

Thorin told himself in his head that if she wasn't a woman, he would have surely thrown a punch at her by now. But he would never hit a woman, even one who fueled an angry fire in him like Aelin. However, he noticed that her green eyes seemed to gaze straight into his soul and he could feel the starting of another kind of fire within him; a kind he had never felt before, especially with her. As much as he wanted to turn away, he found that he couldn't. Something was keeping him from looking away, even though he was aggravated beyond belief.

Little did he know was that Aelin was experiencing something similar. More than anything, she wanted to strike him across the face, not only just for the way he was behaving, but for everything else he had done, but something held her back. His blue eyes kept her locked in place. She felt like she was in a trance. A foreign sensation rose up in her chest as she realized her gaze had wandered slightly down to his lips. An inkling of thought occurred in her mind, wondering what it would be like to feel his lips on her own...

The minute that thought crossed her mind, Aelin brought herself back to her senses. Why would she even consider such a thing with Thorin? It would never happen ever! She would have to be completely mad for that to happen! What on earth was it about him that made her think that way? She despised him, so why would she have such a thought?

Wanting to get it out of her head and to just get away from him, she decided to walk away, shoving him aside with her shoulder as she moved past him. He made no attempt to stop her, follow her or say anything back to her, which made her, at least, feel proud. She had managed to render the arrogant Dwarf King speechless which, to her, was an accomplishment. But she was still filled with uneasiness after what had just transpired.

"What in Mahal's name is wrong with me?" she thought to herself.

The company spent the majority of their time that evening setting up camp and preparing for supper. As nightfall approached, Bombur called out, telling them that supper was ready.

As Bofur dished out bowls of stew for everyone, Bilbo nearby said anxiously, "He's been a long time."

"Who?" asked Bofur, ladling some stew into a bowl.

"Gandalf," Bilbo replied.

"He's a wizard. He does as he chooses," Aelin told him.

Bofur turned to him with two bowls and asked of him, "Here, do us a favor: take these to the lads." Then he motioned with his head in the direction where they knew Fili and Kili were watching the ponies. As the Hobbit left, Bofur turned in time to catch his brother in the act of sneaking some stew out of the pot and trying to eat it straight out of the ladle. Bofur smacked Bombur's hand away and chided him, "Stop it, you've had plenty."

Then Gloin spoke up from a few feet away, "Aye, it's not a bad stew, Bombur! I've had worse."

"Dori could've cooked it!" Nori added teasingly.

The rest of the Dwarves laughed and pointed tauntingly at Dori while the prissy Dwarf rolled his eyes and responded sarcastically, "Hilarious...!"

Aelin was still standing by Bofur when he handed her an extra bowl and said, "Go take this to Thorin, would you, please?"

"Surely, he's joking," she thought.

"Bofur, there are thirteen others here you could've given this task to," she told him through clenched teeth, trying to hint to him that she didn't want to do it.

He simply shrugged and said back, "I know, but you were the one standing closest to me, so I thought you could do it."

She groaned and let her head fall back. This was just typical. She didn't want to think about him or even be near him. She was in no mood to argue, so begrudgingly, she walked off to find Thorin.

He wasn't very far away from the abandoned house. The Dwarf King was sitting alone by a boulder, staring off in the distance. Aelin couldn't help but notice that he looked a bit downtrodden. He looked lonely...and she felt a small bit of pity for him. He was here with a company of fifteen other people around him and yet he was sitting there by himself. He reminded her of her, for she knew what it felt like to be alone.

Thorin heard Aelin walk up beside him and, when he looked and realized it was her, narrowed his eyes and shot her a hard look.

Right away, Aelin was annoyed, even though she suspected as much of a reaction. "Spare me that gaze, Oakenshield!" she spat. When he looked away, she took a minute to calm down and then told him in a softer tone, "I just brought you your supper."

Awkwardly, she held out the bowl of stew to him. He looked slightly surprised but eventually reached out to take it from her. As he took the edge, his fingers lightly brushed hers and they both flinched as if their touch had shocked the other somehow. They both remained silent for a short time.

Aelin then said to Thorin, "You are here with fourteen other people, most of which are your friends…and yet you elect to be alone all the time. Why?"

He frowned and looked down to his boots. "I would not expect you to understand," he replied grimly.

Then it was her turn to frown. "And how would you have any idea as to what I would and would not understand when you know next to nothing about me?"

His head shot up in response to her quick retort.

"I perfectly understand what it feels like to be alone, you arrogant Dwarf," she stated. "As a matter of fact, that's all I know! Unlike you, I don't know what it feels like…to have a home or a family…or to be truly cared about by others."

She paused and diverted her gaze, feeling her throat tightening as sentiment was starting to get the best of her. She was not going to show any emotion in front of him.

When she was certain she was fine, she looked back at him and said, "All your life, you've had everything…and all my life, I've had nothing. So, if I were you, I would quit sulking in self-pity and be grateful to have people around me who care."

Thorin shot up to his feet, clenching his fists at his sides. "You are mistaken in thinking I have always had everything," he told her.

Aelin furrowed her eyebrows and replied, "Oh, do not give me that! You are a King; of course you have everything! You came from Erebor to the Blue Mountains and were able to secure it for yourself; you were able to be King there, too, when it was not your home before. You can get anything you want with your title."

"It was not always that way," Thorin grumbled. "Years before we came to the Blue Mountains, my people were homeless and poor, as was I, begging for food, shelter and work everywhere we traveled. When Smaug took Erebor, I lost everything and had to rebuild a life not only for myself, but for my family and my people when we finally took refuge in the Blue Mountains." He stopped, taking notice of Aelin's silence and her glassy stare.

"Everything I did…I did for them…for my people," he said in a low voice. "So do not tell me I know nothing of hardship."

Aelin opened her mouth to say something back, but found herself unable to speak. All she could do was stare back at him. She had known of the fall of Erebor and that the Dwarves who lived there went to live in Ered Luin, but she honestly did not know what had happened to them in the time between. She had always assumed they had traveled straight there and nothing much had happened. Apparently, she had been wrong.

The feeling of pity she had felt before now returned. There was something cold and dark in his eyes; the pain he was remembering from all the destitution he had suffered. It reminded her of the pain she always saw in her own eyes whenever she looked in a mirror or a reflective surface. That kind of look was one she could never forget and now she recognized it in the Dwarf King whom she loathed. Was it possible that they weren't entirely different from each other?

Now being the one rendered speechless, Aelin simply lowered her head and turned and slowly walked away.

However, she was given no time to ponder any of that as the sounds of Fili and Kili's cries for their uncle soon were heard. Within seconds, they came running through the trees back to camp, alerting everyone.

"Thorin! Thorin!" they called out.

"Fili, Kili, what is wrong?" asked Thorin as he went up to them.

Hunched over and panting from running so fast, Fili tried to reply, "The ponies…trolls…Bilbo…gone…."

"What?" asked Thorin, unable to decipher what Fili was trying to say.

Then Kili explained, after taking a deep breath, "There are trolls hiding in those trees and they took some of our ponies. Bilbo went off to free them."

"And you left him alone?" Aelin questioned, astounded that they would do such a thing.

"We came back to get help," answered Fili.

Aelin looked to Thorin. "We have to go after him."

Thorin ignored Aelin's suggestion and instead asked his nephews, "How many trolls are there?"

"We only saw one," answered Kili, "but we could hear more close by."

"I would say two or three in total, at most," added Fili.

In comprehension of that information, Thorin nodded.

"What are we going to do?" Bofur asked as the others in the company gathered around.

"We need to work up a plan," said Dwalin.

Aelin shook her head. "That'll take too long," she said. "The longer we wait, the more likely it will be that Bilbo gets hurt or worse."

"It's too dangerous to just go charging in blindly," Balin commented to her.

"It's also dangerous to waste time strategizing over two to three trolls instead of going straight away to save a member of our company."

"Quiet!" Thorin commanded. Then he declared firmly, "We wait to help the burglar until a formidable plan has been made to deal with the trolls."

Aelin stood by silently, grimacing, while the others began to discuss their plan of attack. She hated wasting this time when the Hobbit was in potential danger. She knew that Thorin was not entirely fond of Bilbo and that was why he was taking his time. If any of the Dwarves or even his nephews had gone off to follow some trolls, he would not have hesitated to go after them. She also knew that what he was doing with Bilbo, he would've done with her, if she were the one in this situation. He would not go to rescue her right away, if at all.

That was when she knew that if Thorin wasn't going to help Bilbo immediately, then she would.

Shaking her head, she finally mumbled, "Forget this!" and began to walk away, unsheathing her knives.

"Where do you think you're going?" Thorin demanded.

"I'm going to help Bilbo," she answered without turning around.

"You stop right now, woman, and come back here. You're not going out there alone."

She whirled around. "Let's get one thing straight, Oakenshield:" she stated, "I take orders from just one person: me! And I wouldn't risk the life of any of my companions. If it was anyone else, you wouldn't have hesitated to go after them."

"Do not take another step, woman. You are to stay here with us until we are prepared to go in."

"I don't care! There's no time! If you won't help Bilbo, then I will."

"You cannot go after them. We need a plan of attack."

"I have a plan. Attack!"

Without hesitation, Aelin turned on her heels and darted into the trees, ignoring the cries and shouts of Thorin and the other Dwarves behind her. She was a determined Dwarf woman and, at that moment, she was going to take matters into her own hands, not even caring what the consequences could potentially be when it was all over.

After running for a few yards, she spotted light ahead and could hear voices and commotion. When she moved closer and crouched behind a bush, she could see that there were indeed three trolls standing around a campfire with a pot hanging over it. One of them was dangling Bilbo up in the air by his ankles.

"Are there anymore of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?" the one holding him up asked in a deep, rumbling voice.

"No!" Bilbo quickly answered.

The second one spoke in a nasally, squeaky voice, "He's lying."

"No, I'm not!"

"Hold his toes over the fire! Make him squeal!"

"Oh, no, you don't!" Aelin muttered quietly to herself. Now was the time to take action. The headstrong Dwarf woman sprung from the bushes and, with a loud grunt, she slashed at the back of the leg of the squeaky-voiced troll with one of her knives, making it screech in pain. Then as it twisted to see what had attacked it, she took another swing with both of her knives and cut its leg again.

"Drop him!" she yelled.

"You what?" asked the troll who was holding Bilbo.

Aelin twirled her knives challengingly and replied, "I said…drop him!"

To her dismay, the troll did more than just drop him, which she didn't quite expect. The troll threw Bilbo towards Aelin and they both toppled down into the dirt. Just as they fell, they both could hear the shouts as the other Dwarves came charging through the trees, attacking the trolls.

"Bilbo, quickly, hide yourself!" Aelin told Bilbo as they got back up to their feet. She knew he was weaponless and would be useless in the fight, so that was the only option he had left.

Without waiting for a response, Aelin joined in the fray and started hacking and slashing away at the legs of the three trolls. Other Dwarves, like Dwalin, Kili and Ori ran past her as the fight continued. She spotted Nori getting picked up by a troll by his staff and he was trying to fight it off.

"Ori!" she cried out, seeing as how he was closest to where Nori.

He too had seen his older brother being grabbed by the troll and he shot the creature right in the eye with his slingshot. But then, as he ran away, he too got swiped by another. Just as Aelin was going to call out to him, she saw Dwalin front flip over the fire, roll to his knees and then Thorin jumped off his back towards the troll, swung his sword and set Ori free. She had to admit that was an impressive move.

The third troll then came up behind her, took a grab at her with one hand, which she ducked under, but then she was snatched by its other hand, which held her so tight to the point, she thought she'd be crushed to dust. But then Fili jumped to her rescue and slashed his sword through the troll's fingers. Startled, the troll yanked its hand back and sent Aelin reeling over its shoulder and hard onto the ground. Dori was closest to her and quickly helped her to her feet. The rest of the Dwarves had assembled together into a line and were looking up to see two of the trolls holding Bilbo up in the air by his arms and feet.

"Bilbo!" Kili called out. He moved forward to help but was held back by Thorin.

"Lay down your arms…or we'll rip his off!" one of the trolls told them.

Knowing they didn't have a choice, the Dwarves threw down their weapons and surrendered. As the night went on, they each were relieved of their clothing save for their underclothes, thrown into big burlap sacks and laid off to the side or tied to a spit, which one of the trolls was turning over the fire.

"That's hot! That's hot! That's hot!" Nori was crying out as he was turned closer to the fire.

Aelin unfortunately found herself as one of the Dwarves tied to the spit. The frayed, rough ropes were digging into her wrists and ankles, the heat from the fire was making her hot and she was sweating more than a woman should and she was squeezed uncomfortably between Dori and Bofur. This is not what she had been expecting to happen when she had come to help Bilbo.

She could hear the trolls discussing how to cook all of them, but was barely paying attention. The heat and the constant spinning were making her dizzy and lightheaded. Then she could hear Bilbo's voice saying something about seasoning and the words "plate this lot up". Confused, she shook her head, regaining full consciousness and listened more carefully.

He spoke, "The secret to—to cooking Dwarf is…."

"Yes?" asked one of the trolls. "Come on, tell us the secret!"

"Yes! I'm telling you, the secret is…to…skin them first!"

The Dwarves were certainly not happy with that comment and began shouting angrily at the Hobbit. Aelin tried her best to pay attention everything that happened afterwards, seeing as how she was getting dizzy again off and on from the turning of the spit she was tied to. The trolls weren't quite convinced about skinning Dwarves and wanted to eat them raw, then Bilbo started to talk about them being infested with parasites. It was by then that Aelin caught on to the fact that Bilbo was lying. The others took longer to catch on, but eventually they went on with Bilbo's act, proclaiming that they had huge parasites in them. However, the trolls weren't too far behind them and caught on to Bilbo's ruse soon enough, saying he was taking them for fools.

Luckily, just as that happened, out of nowhere, Gandalf suddenly appeared on a large rock behind them, declaring in a loud voice, "The dawn will take you all!" Then he smote the rock upon which he stood with the bottom of his staff and the boulder split clean in half, revealing the bright morning light behind it. The trolls all grunted and cried out from the light and, within seconds, were all turned to stone. In reaction to their sudden victory, the Dwarves all cheered and shouted with gladness.

Aelin just simply wanted to get free from her bonds and to get off the spit. She started wriggling, trying to see if she could slip her hands or feet out. As she moved, she accidentally dug her foot into someone's back and heard Dwalin's voice say, annoyed, "Oh, get your foot out of my back!"

"Just shut up, Dwalin," she replied.

Soon, they all were freed from their sacks and were able to put their clothes on, restoring their dignity. Aelin wandered a ways further into the trees so she could change in peace, not wanting to have to deal with any of the other Dwarves during that process.

Once she was fully clothed again, she slowly began heading back towards the others were. She couldn't hear the sound of their voices, so she figured she had wandered farther than she had thought. Now she began to wonder what would happen when she got back, if any of them would say anything about her running off the night before. Surely, she knew Thorin would. He was probably going to have her head, but she would fight him—as always—if needed.

Then suddenly, she was grabbed by the arm by an unseen figure and, before she could cry out, was shoved up against a tree. Something cold and sharp was then pressed up against her throat and a hand was pressing into her shoulder, keeping her in place. When she was able to focus again, she found herself looking into the raging gaze of Thorin Oakenshield, who was glaring furiously at her and holding his sword horizontally across her throat.

"You insolent woman!" he growled, seething. "Do you have any idea what you almost caused with your foolishness? Last night, my men could have been injured or killed! Does your stubbornness know no bounds?"

Aelin cackled amusedly. "You're one to talk about stubbornness," she retorted. This was not quite how she thought he would react to her actions from the previous night, but nevertheless, she wasn't going to give him an easy time. She was not going to back down.

"At least I know when to follow orders, the capacity of which you lack!" he spat back, pressing the sword just a little harder into her skin. "You do not listen to me and you have no regard for my authority as the leader of this company!"

"You really think I want to be here?" she asked, feeling her own anger towards him building up inside her. "You think I want to be in this company? I don't!"

"Then why are you still here?" he asked rather loudly.

"Because Gandalf asked me to come! And I won't abandon the company…and…and…."

"And what?"

She gulped, struggling to find the words to what she was trying to say.

"Answer me!"

"You! I won't abandon you!"

Those were not the words Aelin had been planning on saying…and she was honestly unsure as to why she said them. But they had suddenly escaped her lips before she could even process what she had just said.

Thorin too seemed taken aback by her sudden outburst. He hadn't expected those words. She wouldn't abandon him? What did that even mean?

Putting more pressure on her throat with his sword and on her shoulder with his free hand, he responded in a quieter, but still no less stiff, voice, "I don't believe that. You despise me."

"Yes…," Aelin replied, trying to steady her breathing from the pressure she was feeling, "but I gave Gandalf my word that I would stay and offer my help. I promised you my knives and service." Then she looked him square in the eyes. "I am never one to break a promise…no matter what."

Thorin's eyes and jaws twitched slightly. She could tell he wanted to say something back but was unable to. In all honesty, he couldn't find any argument against her words. With a loud growl, he then pulled his sword away and thrust it down into the grass. Just as Aelin began to feel victorious against him, he reached up with the now sword-less hand, grabbed a handful of her hair and firmly yanked her head back, tilting her face up towards him.

"You will…learn to obey me," he told her breathily.

Her green eyes met his blue ones and flashed in anger at him. "I do not take orders from you," she responded in defiance.

"And now you are breaking your word. You are not helping me by disobeying me."

"I will only help you fight. Any other time, I do things my own way."

Thorin's grip on her shoulder and her hair tightened even more, eliciting a slight groan from her. This woman was infuriating him so much with her insolence, it was driving him mad! But he had her in his grasp now…he would make her listen. Seeing her looking up at him with her knife-like green gaze stirred up something angry inside him that he could feel was desperate to break free.

"I am a King and the leader of this company, which you agreed to be a part of!" he sneered at her, trying to keep his composure. Then his voice got louder. "When I give you an order, you will listen to me!"

Pulling the King title on her was the last straw for Aelin. She tugged against his grip on her hair, which sent a sting into her scalp, got dangerously close to his face and yelled irately at him, "You are NOT my King! And you never will be!"

That was when Thorin finally snapped.

With a forceful shove, he slammed her back into the tree, grabbed the back of her head and suddenly smothered her mouth roughly with his own. The fire of anger he had felt initially had gradually transformed, as their fight escalated, into a fire of lust, which had finally erupted within him.

Aelin's whole body was frozen with shock from Thorin's sudden movements. For a moment, she didn't stop him, but when she could think again, she pushed him back, prying his lips from hers, and then slammed a fist right into his face. But then, just as he turned his head back to her, an overwhelming sense of blazing desire from his kiss consumed her, so she took control, grasped his face hard in her hands and slammed her lips onto his again.

Their kiss was rough, dominating and zealous as they practically devoured each other. The two of them were overcome in the moment by a lust that they both had unknowingly buried deep inside themselves. All the times they had argued and fought, their rage had only fueled that lust for each other they did not recognize initially, but now it had been unearthed as they engaged in a rage-fueled moment of passion.

Thorin held Aelin tightly against him, his hands running up and down her back. Aelin held the back of his head with one hand, her fingers webbing themselves in his luscious dark hair, and wrapped her other arm around his neck. Being nearly crushed against his solid form was driving her crazy with desire and her body reacted to him before her mind knew what was happening. Her leg lifted up and wrapped around his waist and, in response, he ran his hand along her side and down her thigh, holding it against him. Then his lips moved down to her neck and he kissed her skin fervently, his hot breath sending delightful shivers down her spine.

What was happening to her? How was this Dwarf, whom she despised more than anyone, able to incur such zeal from her and undo her in ways she never imagined he ever could?

"How are you doing this to me?" she whispered breathily as his ministrations continued upward to her jaw just below her ear.

"How am I doing what?" he whispered coyly into her ear, his deep voice teeming with desire, as he then ran his tongue along the edge of her ear.

Aelin moaned loudly, half in irritation and half in ecstasy. The arrogant Dwarf knew exactly what he was doing to her!

Before she knew it, she was lifted slightly off the ground and then was on her back on the grass with Thorin on top of her as their lips crashed together again, turning them both into a moaning, heavily breathing mess. Their passion and lust for each other was overpowering to where it could surely swallow them whole. Aelin gasped as Thorin's mouth moved down her neck again and then started venturing down towards her chest, sending waves of pleasure through her body. She then felt his hands starting to wander further down her stomach towards her legs.

The sudden awareness of what he was going to do broke Aelin free of the trance she was in and her eyes shot wide open.

What was she doing?!

"NO!" she screamed. Swiftly, she thrust her knee up into Thorin's side, eliciting a cry of pain from him. With him distracted by the ache now in his side, she roughly shoved him off of her and scrambled back up to her feet, moving herself away from him. She leaned against the nearest tree, panting heavily as the realization of what had just happened hit her hard like a stone wall. She had just shared a moment of passion with Thorin Oakenshield! Of all people, it had to be him! And, had she not stopped him, she knew where that moment would've gone…and the very thought of it filled her completely with fury.

She looked back at Thorin, who was on his side now, staring up at her with a startled expression. She couldn't tell if that look was a result of her suddenly pushing him away or if he too had suddenly realized what they had done.

Then she stated to him with distinct steadfastness, "You may be the leader of the company and I may have agreed to follow you…but I will NOT...ever submit myself to you in that way! Do not think you can ever take advantage of me like that again and do not think this changes anything!"

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath and then said finally, her voice seething with wrath, "And I swear, Oakenshield…if you…ever…come anywhere near me like that again…I will slay you where you stand!"

Then Aelin ran away from Thorin as fast as she could, not even caring which direction she was going. All she could focus on was getting as far away from him as she could for now.

She ran for a few minutes until her legs, which already felt weak at the knees, felt ready to give out. She braced herself against a tree briefly before she collapsed down to the ground on her knees, the weight of everything that had happened with Thorin crashing down on her. Aelin was consumed by a myriad of feelings: shock, uncertainty, confusion, anger, fright, pleasure and relief. All of these things rendered her speechless and she felt frozen in place; she couldn't move. Something had happened to her back there and she could find no logical or reasonable explanation for it.

There was only one thought running through her head now:

"What…in Mahal's name…is wrong with me?!"

.

Whoa, boy, did THAT escalate quickly! xD

However, just a quick little clarification: if any of you were expecting full smut from that last part, get used to that. I don't do smut and that's about as close as I'll ever get.

And sorry for kinda mulling over the trolls :P I love that part, but I had already gone through it in detail in my other story "Home Is..." and just didn't feel like re-writing it all over again.

Thoughts or comments? You know what to do! :D Review or PM me, lovelies!

Until next time :)