Chapter 10

Despite the fact that you enjoy the sensation of his lips on your skin, you feel guilty wanting more after what he has just done to Tarron. Stepping back from him, you feel ashamed that you still feel this way and this only adds to your distress.

He chuckles deeply, noticing the blush now evident on your cheeks.

"You cannot hide your desire from me, Ariella."

"I hate you." you sob, wishing you weren't in this mess.

"If I recall, you were not so shy to hide from me in my chambers... anyhow, now that we are alone, we must discuss the matter of your punishment."

You had forgotten all about it. But wasn't Tarron's exile enough? What else could he do?

"But first, I will give you a chance to explain yourself..." he raises his voice and lifts his head slightly.

"..why did you run away?"

The space between the two of you is less than a few metres but you still feel intimidated and instead of answering, you turn your back to him at an attempt to hide your tears.

"Why c-couldn't you let Tarron st-stay?! He was no threat t-to you."

"I know. I also know that you don't love him."

"Then why did you ask us if we-"

"Because I needed to hear you say it."

You tilt your head, processing his words. Was he jealous? Well, it wouldn't exactly be the first time.

"…now, back to my original question…tell me. Why?"

"There's no point." you reply weakly, still unable to face him.

"Hmm…" he hums, one hand pressed to his lips as he begins to pace up and down behind you.

"I think I know."

He pauses and you wipe away streaking tears from your cheeks, uninterested in what he has to say.

"You ran away because you'd had enough of your King. You thought you could get what you wanted and run? Leading me on…allowing me to believe that you felt the same?"

You spin around to see him standing there, eyebrows furrowed and his pale skin slightly flustered.

"N-No. I ran away because I don't belong here a-and you're ashamed to admit that you like me, despite everything you told me after the Ball…you can't deny it, I heard y-you with Legolas.."

"And exactly how much of the conversation did you hear?"

"I-…Enough."

"Well then clearly you misunderstood, I told Legolas tha-"

"No, please...just stop. I don't want to here anymore of your lies."

You look away defeated, wishing he would just disappear. But he continues to drone on.

"How can you think it is I who dislike you? After all, was it not you, Ariella, who danced without me at the ball? Did you not just attempt to run away?"

"I'd only just met him and yes, bu-"

"Then why? Why go against almost every order I give you? If you insist on breaking them, I will have no choice but to confine you to the dungeons…unless you would prefer to be Orc food?"

His sarcasm is in bad taste and he smirks, knowing it'll anger you even more. Bastard.

"I wish I'd never come here. I'm glad I slapped you, because you're the most arrogant, irritating, rude, delud-"

In one stride, he grabs you by your waist and pulls you flush against his torso, making you squeal.

"Ariella. Stop this now, I cannot take any more. Whatever you thought you heard me say to Legolas wasn't true. If you had been listening properly, you would have heard me tell him that I love you."

"You're lying," you whisper, looking up to search his clear blue eyes for any hints of deception.

He pulls you tighter and you let out a small gasp.

"If I have to prove it to you, so be it."

Despite having just left, word soon gets round of Tarron's departure and after exiting the throne room, Nym, Legolas and Tauriel went off in separate directions. The halls were vast, but many elves made residence here and because of this, it was rather hard to find a quiet place where nobody could disturb you.

Sitting on the dungeon steps, Tauriel knew that few elves would be around at this time. They are most likely to be routinely patrolling the borders, although she should be joining them, other things are on her mind. But there was always one who knew where to find her.

"Tauriel?"

"Oh, ah…do require my assistance?"

Rubbing her eyes, she sniffs and sorts out her appearance as she jumps to her feet.

"Not quite, I just- are you alright?"

"I'm fine..."

"You forget, Tauriel, that we've grown up together and you have never been able to lie to me yet."

This causes her to smile slightly, still avoiding his eye contact. Legolas clears his throat feeling somewhat awkward at his inability to offer any words of comfort; his speciality is certainly not matters of the heart, much like his father.

"Uh...is this to do with Tar-"

"Legolas, I am grateful for your concern, but shouldn't a Prince have more pressing duties to attend to?"

"…You always have me, you know."

The sparkle relights in her eyes and Legolas mimics her soft smile. Although Tauriel doesn't reply, as she meets his gaze, she knows that he's right. He's always been there for her and always will be.

She despaired at the loss of Tarron because she knew that there could have been a possibility for something real. She could have actually loved him and had a happy life knowing that she could do a lot worse. Despite the fact that her feelings were strong for Legolas, his father would never allow them to be. All she could do was wait till the day when he would be paired off with a far higher elf, and this would hurt far worse than losing Tarron.

The next morning, you wake up snuggled in your bed, with Elora once again at your side.

"It is such a relief to finally see you getting some rest, m'lady! I know it's no place of mine to be telling you what to do, but after you disappeared the other day, it didn't half worry me."

"I know, I'm sorry Elora, really I am. I just had to, um-"

"It's alright, you don't have to explain yourself to me, m'lady."

You smile at her politely, feeling a sense of comfort in seeing her face again.

"Now, let's take a look at your side," she says, lifting up your silk nightie.

During all of the events that had occurred yesterday, you had forgotten about your wound. It hadn't really troubled you much after running through the woods. But as she placed her fingers around the bandage to replace it with a clean one, you winced slightly, wrinkling your nose at the sensation of her cool touch. Noticing this, Elora immediately retracted her hand from your ribs.

"Oh! I'm sorry my Lady, does it hurt too much? Perhaps we should wai-"

"No, no, it's fine, you just have cold hands."

"Ah, well only if you're sure..."

You nod and watch closely as she gently pries the white fabric away from your skin. Bracing yourself for the pain, you grit your teeth, but before you know it, the bandage is off with relatively no pain. Revealing a slightly darkened patch just over the top of your ribs, there appears to be hardly a trace of a scar, only a slightly faded line where you were stabbed.

"Wow."

"Our healers are the best in these lands, it should be gone completely within the next couple of days: magic m'lady."

Duh. You mentally remind yourself of elvish magic after forgetting everything you've learnt about it. She smiles whilst re-dressing the bandage with much less fabric, just enough to cover the faded bruising. Somehow, it reminds you of Tarron and you try to distract yourself before the tears come flooding back. Setting your focus on the wooden beam above your room, it looks similar to the ones in your house. Although it wasn't much, it was home. You missed working outside in your father's fields and the wind in your hair, tickling against your skin.

But I'm safer here (didn't you get stabbed not long ago?) and no Orcs can get in and it's not like they don't feed me. Anyway, now that Tarron's gone back, they'll know where I am (yeah, because they've really noticed you're missing)…

As you try to reason with your mind, Elora gently leads you out of the bed and into the bathing room. Once finished getting ready, your hair attended to in a high bun, wearing a pale blue dress with lace sleeves, you take a final glance in the mirror. You're about to attend the hall for breakfast and as Elora accompanies you off down the hall, you feel suddenly nervous, as it's something you've never been required to do before.

"But are you sure? I mean why wou-"

"For the fifth time m'lady, yes! The King requested your presence at every meal of the day and it is my duty to ensure that you do!"

"Great. I can tell this isn't going to be awkward at all. Nah, despite the fact that he made my best fr-"

Pushing you through the doors, Elora barely gives you time to continue your rant. Immediately, your eyes settle on the long table in front of you, laid out for at least fifty elves.

Christ…I didn't think I'd be joining the entire army.

Much to your dismay, there are only a few seats left but as you look around at their faces you spot Legolas talking with Nym. Seated at the lower end of the table, you casually walk over to them with your head bowed low, trying not to draw attention to yourself. Heading for the only free chair opposite the boys, they stop conversing as they see you and Legolas calls on a servant to help you to your chair.

"How are you feeling? Not just your wound but…you know, after yesterday. I'm so sorry, we heard-"

"I'm alright, I guess. Anyway, it's not your fault."

You throw an icy glare to the elf sat at the head of the long table. He is leant back surveying the room, whilst other elves attempt to capture his attention with their dull conversation. One however, succeeds and they soon become engrossed in their discussion.

Ha. It must be on the topic of banishment.

"Well at least now there shouldn't be any more problems. After all, you have to admit, that elf was a troublesome- what!?"

Nym kicks Legolas in the leg – although you doubt he even feels the pain.

"She's just lost her best friend!"

"Oh come on, you're all acting like he's dead!"

"And you're acting like you're glad!"

"Ariella, like I said, he did cause most of the problems around here-"

"Oh…you mean problems between you and Tauriel?" you say, raising an eyebrow as Nym giggles into his glass.

"No-I…look, let's just put this matter behind us, there's nothing more to be done about it. Let's just be thankful my father didn't banish us all."

Knowing he's sort of right, you sigh, but looking around, Tauriel's absence becomes clear.

"Where is she anyway?"

"The King wanted her to lead the patrol this morning. She should be back around mid-day."

Turning your attention to the food on the table, you don't really fancy anything. You had grown up on meat, rabbits and pork, your farm provided well in that area. But now, the bowls in front of you are piled with red berries and green leaves. There's also a weird looking loaf of bread that seems more like a biscuit, but you doubt they would ever eat such a thing.

"Is this really all you guys eat? These berries and shit? No wonder you're all so thin-"

Suddenly Nym splurts out half his drink as Legolas throws his head back with laughter and you giggle at their response until you see the King's stern expression looking at the three of you from the top of the table. It's then that you realise all is quiet except Legolas and Nym's remaining laughter.

"Was it really that funny?" you whisper, leaning over to them.

"Yes!" they both answer in unison.

"They all act as if they've never heard laugher before."

"Well m'lady, that's because they haven't - not for a long while."

Nym winks at you and you smile. As Legolas finally manages to compose himself, a maid steps forward and curtseys before whispering something into his ear.

"Ah, very well…" he dismisses the maid with a flick of his hand. Just like his father.

"…I must leave you both, but be sure to continue this splendid conversation without me."

"Of course, my prince. I wouldn't subject Ariella to a tedious conversation with the berries."

Legolas chuckles and departs by patting Nym on the back, but unaware of his strength, he almost ends up headfirst in a bowl full of thick, lime green soup.

Nym shakes his head as you cover your mouth, trying to hold back your laughter.

"He's spent far too much time playing with Orcs."

Smiling down at your plate, you're glad at least one of the elves has a lighter side. But this only brings you back to Thranduil's earlier words. Did he really love you? Not that he was the only thing you could think about, but as much as you tried to ignore what he'd said, you couldn't help but wonder…just how was he going to prove his love for you?