Kink discussions of a variety of kinks. Discussions of abusive/manipulative relationships.

This is 14 pages. Also, my favorite dirty poem at the top. I cut this down a lot to get all the sex out. Go read the full thing on AO3. :)

I appreciate you all! I hope you all know that. Finn (my black male cat) has informed me he appreciates you all as well.

Saint Motel - My Type

Latto - Big Energy

Jessie J - Sexy Silk

Walk the Moon - Kamikaze

Lifehouse - All In

Rihanna - Dancing in the Dark

Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran & Future - End Game

ABBA - Lay All Your Love On Me

The Pointer Sisters - Jump (For My Love)

OneRepublic - Something I Need

Sting - Every Breath You Take

Chapter 27

Lying asleep between the strokes of night, I saw my love lean over my sad bed, Pale as the duskiest lily's leaf or head, Smooth-skinned and dark, with bare throat made to bite, Too wan for blushing and too warm for white, But perfect-coloured without white or red. And her lips opened amorously, and said – I wist not what, saving one word – Delight.

And all her face was honey to my mouth, And all her body pasture to mine eyes; The long lithe arms and hotter hands than fire, The quivering flanks, hair smelling of the south, The bright light feet, the splendid supple thighs, And glittering eyelids of my soul's desire. - Algernon Charles Swinburne

Erdene's eyes fluttered open to a warm wash of sunshine that filled the room, the fire Thorin began last night in the hearth after their third round was down to low flickering flames. Still, she was warm despite being nude under the blankets thanks to the veritable furnace against her back. Shifting ever so slightly she took in the lovely sight of a bare chested Thorin asleep on his side facing her. He looked so peaceful, breathing evenly, long lashes fluttering in REM.

I could wake up like this everyday.

What was he dreaming about? Their future? Of their twin girls and maybe a little boy or two? Smiling, not wanting to disturb his sleep, Erdene slipped from the bed, and grabbed his tunic off the floor followed by her wool stockings. The room was cooler now that she wasn't pressed up against a living dwarven furnace. She chanced looking behind the door in the wall near his desk to find an en suite lavatory. Thank goodness.

The problems with good, hard sex is that one, it left you sore in all the fun places, two, it left you horny for more and three, it left you messy as fuck. Even though Thorin had produced a towel from who knows where and very gently and lovingly cleaned her up after all three rounds last night, she was still sticky and slick in certain places.

Once she was clean enough until she could get a real bath, she discarded the towel she found under the wash basin's cabinet in what looked like a hamper and pulled open the door. Erdene found Thorin touching her side of the bed with a much too worried expression for someone who just woke up after a night of amazing sex.

"I'm here." She quickly crossed the room, falling back into bed beside him, "good morning."

His furrowed brow smoothed as he took in the vision of her wearing his tunic from yesterday which reached her knees and her black wool stockings, her hair a loose halo of curls, and smiling blue-gray eyes. "I thought for a moment I had dreamed yesterday entirely."

"Nope. I am really here." She drew a single finger down his perfectly straight nose. "I'm sorry I worried you. I am really here, we had fantastic sex last night, and your bead is in my hair." She brought the agate forward, waving from side to side. "Any other anxieties I can put to rest?"

Thorin leaned in, capturing her mouth with his, sighing into their kiss as her lips opened beneath his. He pulled her closer, his hands traveling up under his tunic to squeeze her thighs and bottom in his hands. She hooked one of her legs over his hip allowing him to fit snugly right against her wetness. If he adjusted their angle just a bit he could-

"Uh uh, nope, you got to be on top three times last night." Erdene pushed at his chest, rolling onto her knees next to him. With a short laugh he gave in, propping up slightly on his elbows to watch her straddle his hips, her core tantalizingly close to where his cock stood at attention between them. She dropped a small kiss on his lips before leaning back, and pulling his tunic over her head.

Mahal.

In the light of day, her curls a halo around her shoulders, bronze skin almost glowing in the sunlight, his one gazed at him with blue-topaz eyes and asked, "still like what you see?"

"You are perfect," Thorin answered honestly. His hands moved to her thighs, thumbs stroking above the edge of her stockings. The rosy blush his admission brought to her skin, her heated gaze softened, their lips met in a gentle, undemanding, sweetly loving kiss. His hands traveled to her hips, squeezing lightly.

"No. Hands off." She firmly removed his hands from her hips, and pushed him to keep them next to his head. Erdene leaned forward nipping his lower and upper lip before whispering, "I let you have your fun. It's my turn."

His eyebrows rose. "Am I not to touch you?"

"Remember when I told you about kinks?" She asked far too calmly for the way she rubbed her bottom against his hard cock.

He could feel how hot and wet her cunt was on his lower stomach. Thorin watched her cautiously, "aye…I remember."

Small cool fingers touched his chest, drawing nonsensical patterns. A coy smile graced her face. "I have kinks…one of them is you putting me over your knee for being naughty."

His eyebrows rose somewhat higher. Before he could ask if that's where they were headed (which he was not opposed to) she ground against him drawing a grunt of want and frustration from his throat. His hands found her thighs once more, his thumb stroking the soft skin above her stockings.

"Another is that I enjoy teasing my partner. I like seeing how long he can keep his hands to himself before he needs to take control." Erdene leaned forward, taking both of his wrists, much larger than hers, and placing them back by his head again. "Hold on to the bed, or the pillow, I don't care what, but don't touch me until you really can't stand it any more. Think you can do that?"

She would be waiting for some time. He and his willpower were notorious in certain circles. Thorin nodded, "I can," he knitted his hands together behind his head and lay back on the pillow once more.

He should have known from her grin, he had no idea what he agreed to.

Erdene began with kissing him, slow, soft, butterfly touches and Thorin's head rose to meet her lips. Much to his disappointment, she drew back as he did. One of her eyebrows cocked at him, almost as if she was asking silently if she was testing his control already. Mahal's breath. He settled back once more and once more she returned to kissing him.

This time she gave him more pressure, opening her lips, flicking her tongue against his while her pebbled nipples grazed his. Thorin found himself fighting the urge to wrap an arm around her and pull her down against his chest. Her lips left his, she kissed his cheek, the corner of his chin, nipped his earlobe eliciting a low groan from his lips.

"If you wish to stay in control, do not do that again." He threatened.

Erdene ignored him, biting the skin just under his ear lightly, then kissing her way down his throat, nipping, licking, sucking and biting one particular spot just over his pulse.

His fingers were coming unknitted on their own, his breathing harder, the muscles of his stomach flexing every time she moved. He felt her wetness, her heat so tantalizingly close to where he wanted her. And then, Mahal be good, Erdene began to whisper to him.

"Do you know how much I love your body?" Her tongue flicked his right nipple and then his left. Her small cool fingers splayed on both sides of his ribs as she rubbed her wet core on his lower stomach. "You're so hot to the touch," she pressed her breasts down against his chest and began to rub herself on him like a cat, "you feel so good, I love feeling your skin sliding against mine. I get goosebumps whenever you touch me, and I'm soaking wet within moments after you say my name in that deep, gravelly tone your voice gets when you want me."

His groan and shudder were both involuntary. His cock jumped against her bottom, and his hips, despite his self control, jerked upward.

Her lips followed down his breast bone, tongue paying particular attention to his scar, tracing his rune marks with small wet flicks. He gripped the back of his head hard enough to feel pain. It was grounding, Thorin was able to take a handful of breaths, open his eyes and watch as liquid topaz eyes met his. Her lips curled in a much too self satisfied smile as she followed his runes with her mouth and tongue until she was sliding back once more. Her hips rising over his straining cock, bypassing it entirely to straddle his thighs. Feather light kisses touched his stomach, flicking in the hollow of his navel, following the trail of hair down to his hips. Her tongue tracing the indents of his hips.

That sound of frustration? His entirely. "Mahal…you're trying to kill me."

With far too much cheek, she replied, "but what a way to go."

"Erdene," Thorin's head bowed between her breasts, his breathing slowing to normal once more."I believe I will enjoy kink." She was keeping him semi-hard inside her now. "I am going to withdraw from you ekûnê."

"Mmm, towel time." The loss of him left her slightly bereft.

Thorin was so sweet and caring to clean her up, paying tender attention to where she hissed from a delicate sore spot. He smoothed the towel over himself as well before climbing back into bed with her.

She sighed happily, snuggling against his side. "You need to feed me or my stomach is going to start growling loudly."

Chuckling, Thorin put one large hand over her stomach. "As my lady wishes." He placed one more kiss against her lips then slid from the bed. Once he located his trousers, he heard rustling behind him and caught her naked backside as she scurried to the lavatory.

"I know, I know, no leaving bed." She called over her shoulder before ducking into the lavatory, "but like I told you, if I get a UTI our stellar sex life comes to an abrupt halt."

He remembered last night as she explained exactly what a UTI was and why intercourse could cause one. Dwarrow were not prone to such infections. Another mannish bit of her.

As it stood, his one was quite dwarrow in some aspects. In others, overtly mannish. Once again, Thorin wondered where in her lineage the dwarrow ancestor was. Three generations back? Four? He could not imagine more than that. Those unions were frowned upon heavily before the dragon came.

After, when it was found all half-dwarrow children took solely after their dwarrow parent, it was somewhat more acceptable.

Thorin opened the door to his room to find a tray of food placed neatly before it. He brought it inside, closing the door with one foot. A tea kettle, lukewarm, with two cups, a half full jug of milk, several boiled eggs, a stack of dry toast, a small jar of apricot jam, two palm sized pomegranates from the fruit tree, a covered bowl of whipped butter, a smaller pair of bowls with salt and pepper, several sausages and a saucer of sugar for the tea. A pair of knives, a pair of forks and a pair of spoons.

Erdene returned, climbing right back into the bed, pulling the sheets and blanket up over her nudity as he worked on warming the tea. "That smells good."

Thorin hummed as he worked on getting the fire to an acceptable heat once more. "It may take a few moments to warm everything again."

"Oh, no, don't trouble yourself." She smoothed the blankets around her. "I'm fine with cold food."

"This is not the home of your grandparents, you will not eat less than your fill or cold meals if I can help it."

The sharp, hard intake of her breath drew his attention. A tear crawling down her right cheek followed by another on her left when she blinked. Tears?

"Erdene," Thorin said her name in a worried question.

Swiping at her eyes with one hand, she shook her head. "Sorry, sorry, I'm not upset, I promise. It just…" more tears followed by a hiccup, "you're actively trying to undo some of my trauma and nobody has ever done that except my best friend." Erdene smiled at him, watery though it was. "And that means so much to me. You have no idea." She moved to get out of bed, paused, then asked, "am I actually confined to the bed or can I come over there and kiss you?"

Thorin met her half way, wrapping his arms around her waist, holding her against his chest. "Amrâlimê," he murmured against her mouth.

Once the tea was hot and the food warm once more, he asked about her best friend. There should be at least one person at their wedding from her life. Her small sad smile told him many things before she told him what happened.

"Monica went missing a couple of years ago." She shook her head, toying with the pomegranate in her hands. "I hated the guy she was seeing at the time, he was what we define as a fuck boy back home."

Thorin's eyebrows rose. "A boy that-"

"No, em, he was a sorry excuse for a male, let alone an adult. He thought he was a tough guy." Her eyes rolled, her nose wrinkling. "Gave unsolicited advice on how to train a woman to obey. And how to berate and abuse her if she doesn't. Her brother, Santi, asked Monica to stop seeing Paul, that was his name, but Moni assured Santi the relationship was good. Paul had some rough edges, but she could fix him." Her fingers squeezed the pomegranate. "She went missing a month later. So did Paul." She put the fruit down. "Tell me something about you."

He held out one hand, which she took, and pulled her into sitting on his lap. Thorin pressed a kiss to the corner of her chin. "I know too well what it is like to search for someone who was there just a day before."

Her arms went around his shoulders and neck, "the crossing?"

"Aye. I tried, we tried, my mother, brother, my father, my grandfather and the surviving guard, to keep our people safe. Together. We had so little between the fifteen hundred that survived. Dís had a playmate two years older named Weln, I saw him one day and the next his mother was screaming his name. We searched for days, stayed longer in the open than we should have, but he was simply gone."

Erdene kissed his forehead. "That was not your fault."

"Whose fault was it?" He murmured into her hair. Thorin placed one hand over the hem of his tunic. It hung just around her knees sitting like this. "I walked the lad back to his mother myself. She held his hand when I left them. He asked to play with my sister again. I said yes, if his mother allowed it. She thanked me. Morning came and his mother had been searching for him for at least two hours before dawn."

Her lips found his, "I know. It's frustrating to be so helpless. But it wasn't your fault. Eventually you have to forgive yourself."

"I vowed then I would not have a child until my people were safe." His thumb brushed her lower lip. "Often, I had wondered if perhaps my vow was a curse I placed upon myself."

She nipped his thumb gently. "Why is that?"

His hand moved to her face, pushing curls back from her eyes before cupping her neck. "My parents, they were one. My sister, she too found her one. Frerin as well, met his one. And yet, I was alone. Always alone."

Humming she set her forehead against his, their noses just next to one another. "Sorry about that. The gods had to make a custom order for you. Took a while. Some of my parts were back ordered."

Thorin could not stop his smile. "And which parts were those?"

Erdene grabbed her breasts. "Specifically, these! I was flat as a board until I was twelve, then bam, suddenly, boobs and the next year oh hey, a butt and thighs!" She bounced on his thighs, "then you know it took time for the rest of me to catch up. I needed to bake a bit. Develop a decent personality. Get rounded out in the right places. You seem to like me as is."

Wrapping one arm around her waist. "I do. Very much."

"And you're not the only one who swore off kids." She pressed a small kiss to the tip of his nose. "Before I dreamed about giving birth to our kids, I was sure I wasn't having any."

Blue eyes searched amber-gray. "Do you still wish to forgo children?"

Erdene shrugged, frowning with a small furrow between her brows. "I don't know? I…I mean, I want to bring our kids into this world. But…at the same time, why can't it just be us enjoying one another for a while? Our sex life is turning out to be absolutely mind blowing. Hell, I think I developed a couple of new kinks after last night and this morning."

Is it so easy for a kink to come into being? "Tell me."

Ducking her head, shyly toying with one of his braids, "before last night I definitely did not have a creampie or breeding kink, and now I think I do."

"A what?"

Gah. So innocent. He could fuck her into a daze but he knew nothing about the dirty, dirty things he could do to her. That she wanted him to do to her. "A creampie kink is when someone gets turned on by the idea of filling their partner with–"

His ears turned a little red at the tips. Perhaps he had that too. He certainly enjoyed spilling himself in her. "Ah."

"And the other is doing that with the intent to get pregnant." Shyly, her gaze broke away. "I don't know why, but the thought of you telling me you're going to put a baby in me gets me instantly wet. And I don't know if that's because I know we can and will have kids or if that's because you are the first and only person I have ever let finish inside me."

His hand slid up, under his tunic. "I have seen you with our child inside you. I wanted you like I have never wanted anyone in my life." Thorin found her core slick and ready for him, her thighs parted just enough for him to ease one finger into her channel.

Clutching at him, voice catching on a low moan, "ah…ah…fuck that feels good."

"Does it?" He pushed deeper, stroking the spongy spot he found made her moan louder, harder, buck her hips into his touch.

"Yes!" Her legs parted a little more and his ring finger once more joined his middle inside her. "Fuck, Thorin, can this chair handle us having sex?"

"I've no idea." And there was only one way to find out.

His hand moved from her throat, thumb brushing her lips. "Too much?"

She blinked at him over her shoulder, "huh?"

He kissed her temple with a small laugh. Last night she'd been the same after their third time. It took several moments for her mind to recollect and focus last evening after a number of orgasms. Thorin slid out of her, lifting her in his arms to take to the washroom. He set her down on the bench.

That it seems, was when her mind came back from the hazy fog of sexual satisfaction. "I love you, really, but I'm not peeing in front of you. That is not one of my kinks. Out, please."

Thorin cleaned himself once more, pulled his trousers back into place and (because she insisted on it repeatedly last night before and after dinner) he rinsed his hands before warming the tea once more. There were still three eggs and both pomegranates to eat.

The shadows were growing longer, they must have slept late into the day to begin with.

Erdene emerged from the washroom as the tea had begun to boil once more. "Ooo, tea!" She had no idea where their grocer got black tea, let alone vanilla flavor black tea. After months of caffeine withdrawal, it was a small delicious taste of heaven.

Maybe she could ask Dís to order more? Or maybe she could use some of her own money to pay for some if Dís could direct her to the vendor? The only thing better would be finding coffee.

Goddam the things I would do for a latte.

Thorin held a cup for her. Such an amazing boyfriend. She kissed the corner of his mouth. "Thank you."

He turned his head and claimed her lips properly before she could escape to sitting on the bed again. "Eggs?"

"Mmm," she sipped, he remembered! Milk no sugar. Christ almighty, if she wasn't already falling down that rabbit hole for him. "One more, please and thank you." Together they quietly finished the eggs and last of the toast before he offered her a pomegranate.

Would there ever be anything quite as sexy as Thorin tearing a pomegranate apart with his bare hands? All those muscles moving at once. Nope. Nothing sexier. He handed her one half on a small plate.

"You know there is an ancient story about pomegranates." She picked a few deep ruby red seeds and popped them in her mouth. "About a young woman and a decently older guy."

One of his dark eyebrows rose. "Is there? I have never heard it."

With good reason. How would he know a Greek myth? "Persephone, the goddess of spring was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods and Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. The king of the underworld, Hades, saw Persephone one day as he was gazing at the world above and fell so deeply in love with her, it pained him. He asked her mother and his brother, Zeus, for her hand but both denied him. So he went to her, the object of his obsession. The stories vary, some say he stole her away without asking, others say she saw him and fell for him too. Either way, he married her and made her his queen.

"Of course her parents went absolutely insane with worry for months. Demeter told Zeus that if her daughter isn't found, she will cause famine. Zeus tried to reason with her but I imagine if she was anything like my mother, she would have done much worse to get me back.

He hummed, handing her the other half of the fruit as she had just plucked the last seed from her current half.

"Her father found her after she had time to get used to her new life. He told her she was going back to her mother. He was dissolving the union. Now, the story differs here too. Some say Persephone protested and demanded to stay with her husband who she loved. Others that she couldn't wait to leave."

Erdene broke six seeds out of her half and handed them to Thorin. "In the version where she wanted to stay, she ate six seeds from a pomegranate that grew in the garden her husband had. In the other Hades tricked her into eating them. Either way, once you consume the food of the underworld, you belong there.

"In the world above, Demeter was devastating the lands and those that lived in it were dying in droves. Zeus took Persephone back to her mother. Immediately the sun returned, winter began to thaw and spring returned."

Thorin turned the seeds over in his hand thoughtfully before emptying his palm into his mouth and he began to chew. "It is a creation story, explaining the seasons." He said after swallowing.

"Yes, it is." She broke a few more out and swallowed them. "Every six months or so, Persephone must return to Hades and the underworld to rule beside him. Demeter, missing her daughter creates fall and winter, only to rejoice once Persephone returns in spring."

Thorin rose from his seat, coming to stand before her on the bed. Erdene parted her knees for him, allowing him to stand between her thighs. Gently he took the rest of the pomegranate and set it on the plate at her side. He tilted her head up.

"If you are not ready to marry, Erdene, I take no issue with waiting for you. Our courtship can last as long as you require." He pressed his mouth to hers, letting out a small groan when her lips opened and her tongue invited his to dance. His fingers of both hands tangled in her hair, tilting her head back.

Erdene's fingers traced from his chest to his lower stomach. "I didn't tell you that story because I'm not ready, silly dwarf." She nipped his lower lip. "I told you because you are not the first king to want someone other people might frown on. I love you. I'm all in. You, me and baby make three. Or more. I feel like we might end up being that couple who are always having a baby."

Huffing a laugh against her lips, how close to his dreams she was. "I am a king of miners, tinkerers, toymakers, blacksmiths, glassworkers and craftsmen, Erdene." He paused, then added solemnly, "An exiled king at that. You do understand this, don't you?"

"Huh? Yes, of course I do. Why would you think that I wouldn't be aware of…" An idea dawned on her. He said last night he had his mistakes too. "Who was she and can I break her face?"

Is she as jealous of his past as he is of hers? "It was my mistake. I was pressured long before my sister's sons were born to produce an heir. Marry. I found a dam I thought would understand, a daughter of a tradesman who had done well for himself and his family. We were of similar age, and seemed to have similar interests. She and her father agreed if I brought her an appropriate gift, we could begin courting." His fingers toyed with the bead of her braid. "I had this stone in my possession, Maker knows why I didn't use it. Perhaps I knew it was meant for you. I fashioned her a diamond necklace, it took months of mining the gems and cutting them, piecing them together and fitting them into a setting."

His hands remembered the feel of the fabric he carried the necklace in. "I had not felt such apprehension in all my life as I did the day I presented it to her and her father. Not even leading when my people across Middle Earth. I think, now, perhaps I did know it was wrong. She and I were not meant to fit together as you and I do."

Erdene pressed a kiss to his bare chest, over his heart. "Yeah, well, I made a couple of mistakes before you, but we're here now, and that's what matters."

"Aye," he tucked the braid behind her ear. "Do you wish me to continue?"

"Only if you want to. I know talking about an ex can be painful."

"From the beginning it felt wrong. She kissed me only in public before witnesses. She had no interest in sharing my bed or hers with me and did so only when she was certain others would witness her presence in my home and my rooms. We were courting one year before she stormed into my mother's rooms and demanded my mother remove herself as she was no longer queen."

"What a bitch." Erdene muttered. "What did your mama do?"

He shook his head. "My mother was trained by my grandmother to one day be queen."

"Your mama slapped the shit out of her, didn't she?"

Such a way with words. "Just once. Then brought my intended to me to deal with. My intended told me she never wanted me." His hands rested on her shoulders. "She told me being my wife would be a burden on her. My touch disgusted her. The title of queen was nothing if she must spend her life with a dullard."

Erdene drew back, looking up at him genuinely shocked. "Dull, how are you dull?" She let go of his waist to count on her fingers. "You're a warrior, a king, a father to your sister's sons, a talented blacksmith, your sense of humor is to die for and you read. Yesterday you almost trapped me three times during out match. Me! I've won chess tournaments!"

There were chess tourneys? He would have liked to try his hand in one when he was younger. Perhaps where she lived before.

"I told her to return to her father after cutting my bead and braid from her hair."

Erdene grabbed her braid with both hands protectively. "Is that what happens if you break up? You have to cut it out?"

He stroked her shoulders, down to her elbows and back up, "Do you plan to leave me, Erdene?"

The horrified way she gazed at him. "No. Never. I'm yours until my heart stops beating."

Her heart. Her heart, dwarrow enough to allow her dreams, dwarrow enough to allow her to live a longer life if his dreams were to be believed. "If the courtship ends on equal terms, either party can remove it by untying the knots that keep it in place and returning the bead. If the dam no longer wishes to be betrothed to the dwarrow, she may remove the bead and return it to him.

"If, however, one is harmed by the other, or one dies, a cutting of the braid is appropriate. A symbolic cutting of the relationship."

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

"She wanted my title, and the crown. Not me. I suppose it cannot be much worse than your mistakes."

"Well mine never tried to manipulate me, or at least one didn't until the end. Caleb, he was my first love. I didn't realize I outgrew him until he wanted me to marry him and leave my home to follow him far from everyone I cared about. So I broke it off with him. It wasn't a pleasant break-up. He threw the ring he bought at me. And I, being twenty-one at the time, really wasn't ready for that."

He touched her curls, winding them in his fingers. How beautiful her hair was. Soft. Brown with faint red undertones that caught the dying sunlight.

He was aware she loved before him. He did not expect it to make him ache. Thorin breathed in and out several times. "A ring?"

"It's the tradition where I'm from." She sighed, shaking her head. "Back home, diamonds are over inflated in price and usually come from areas where there is strife and conflict because of the cost of those diamonds. Caleb bought me a diamond, knowing I don't like them. I knew he wasn't right for me anymore, but that just drove the point home. Our break up was awful. I didn't live with him but he kept trying to make me come over to talk to him by claiming he had things of mine that I had to come pick up. He refused to bring them. I fell for that once. The second, third, ninth, twentieth time, I told him to throw those things away." Her sigh caught in her throat. "He's the one that broke my father's birthstone. He threw it out the window at Monica when she went to pick up my stuff."

Thorin began to press kisses against her lips, cheeks, nose, forehead. "Think no more of him, amrâlimê."

She sniffed, kissing him back. "Easy for you to say, you made one mistake."

"Mahal, no, I have more than one. Lady Rhia was only the most prominent. When I was a little younger than Kíli is now I thought to try my hand at finding my one."

Her fingers poked his ribs. "Hey."

"Don't hold my hot headed youth against me, ekûnê. I learned some dwarrow-dam are happy to entertain a young prince, but they have no desire to wed him."

"Uh huh. Well none of those dam better get ideas about reclaiming your attention. I don't share."

Chuckling, Thorin kissed her once more. There was a soft tap at the door and the sound of a tray sliding. Erdene must have had the same thoughts because she too glanced from the bedroom door to the windows. The shadows had grown much longer now. They had been awake for a few hours at that point. Last evening they had gone to bed very late, enjoying each other as they had.

He kissed her forehead and moved to step away. She locked her legs around his hips, stopping him. "Erdene?"

"How long can we stay in your rooms since you asked for courting privileges?"

"We are permitted three full days in addition to whatever time was taken from our courting day." He tucked dark curls behind her small ears.

She nodded, pressing her lips to his chest, just above the scar. "Okay." Her legs unhooked. "Bring me dinner please future husband. Before my tumbly gets rumbly again."

"As my future wife wishes." He left, while she gathered her feet under her cross-legged.

"I like that." She told him as he gathered the pomegranate plate next to her.

"Hmm?"

"Being called your wife. I like it." Erdene smiled at him brightly, happily, kissing him.

Thorin returned her kiss, "I do as well."

Dinner was sliced roast pork, rubbed with spices and whole baked potatoes with roasted purple carrots. For dessert there were two slices of a thick looking vanilla cake with a sauce that smelled quite a bit like whiskey.

Oh…it was whiskey. Caramelized whiskey. Erdene moaned, biting the cake after supper. The bakery couldn't do that with sugar. She found him watching her with a hunger that had nothing to do with food in his gaze. Just to tease him, Erdene licked the last drop of sauce from her fork.

"Perhaps I should put you over my knee," he murmured with that dark, wanting tone of his that made her shiver.

Erdene immediately put down her plate and fork. "Thorin, don't get a lady's hopes up and then dash them. If you're gonna spank me, then spank me."

He said nothing, instead taking her plate and fork and removing them before she could bait him again. "You told me there were two, prior to me."

"You told me there were others before me." She shot back. "How many of them are going to want my head on a pike?"

Thorin leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. "None. The handful of dam who entertained my advances either did not survive the fire drake or were lost in the exodus."

Her playful smirk fell, "I'm sorry."

Shaking his head, "you couldn't have known. Tell me of the other mistake."

Hesitantly she began, her fingers tracing patterns on the quilt. "Santi…Santiago was Monica's brother. He wanted me for a long time before we actually began to see each other. We…we were in love for several years…and I did think he might ask me to marry him. He asked me about what kind of gems I prefer. Emeralds and sapphires and this beautiful agate, for future reference." Thorin smiled that wonderful, happy smile of his she was falling head over heels for at her. He held out one hand for hers, and drew her into his lap when she took it.

"But when Monica went missing it was like he blamed me for it. We lasted another couple of months, then he left me. Her whole family stopped speaking to me entirely." She drew a nonsensical pattern on his chest above his scar. "I honestly gave up on love when I came to South Yard. I was just trying to survive."

"And then you ogled a dwarven blacksmith." He remembered the day she stopped into the blacksmith for the first time. Mahal how he wished he had turned around and saw her face. Caught her watching him work. Perhaps the dreams would have begun then.

"To be fair, I have a thing for forearms, wrists and hands." Her fingers of both hands trailed up his biceps to his forearms, wrapping around as much as she could. "I had some incredibly dirty thoughts about how strong you were and if you liked human women."

Stroking hair from her eyes, "Yet you said nothing to me."

A faint blush graced her skin as she bit her lower lip shyly. "How would you have reacted to me propositioning you?"

He laughed tiredly, "You would not have been the first."

Erdene sat up in his lap, smacking his chest lightly. "Am I not your first woman?"

He caught her hand, bringing her finger tips to his lips and kissing them individually. "You are not purely a child of man. You are dwarrow and mannish." This did not stop her glower. In fact, the irritation behind her glare was faintly violet. "No. You are not my first. I attempted to enjoy myself with a woman once during my pauper days. I could not. She was too soft and I was too strong."

That seemed to leech all the violet from her eyes, instead her gaze shifted deep amber. Her fingers curled over his. "I'm soft."

His hands squeezed her bottom drawing a delightful sigh from her. "Very soft, and yet you do not bruise when I pin you down or touch you roughly."

"Huh. Weird. I thought you were holding back on me." He thought it odd too, though not unpleasant. "Also, side note, I think I like being pinned down. I've never been before and you restraining me was definitely a turn on."

It had excited him as well. That she could push back was exciting as well. "Noted. I am not holding back as you put it. To answer your question, at the time, your advances would have been rejected. Politely." He rubbed her hip, her thigh, resting his hand on the skin showing just above her knee. "Though I may have stroked myself to the thought of having you. I would have been too afraid of harming you to say yes."

Her head leaned on his shoulder, her fingers tracing patterns on his chest, "really?"

Thorin dropped a kiss on her cheek. "Is that surprising?"

"Have you done it before thinking about me?"

"Once after a dream of you and I." If they kept speaking about this he would have her again. In the chair. "Have you?"

She hid her smile in his hair. "Twice."

Mahal. "And you came both times?"

"I did." Erdene began to place small kisses on his neck at his pulse, "did you?"

He tilted his head to the side allowing her to suckle and bite over his pulse. "Spilled myself into my hand like I was a lad again."

Her giggle was soft, a little tired, almost sleepy. "Mmm, I would have loved to know you when you were younger."

He would give anything to have known her at perhaps forty or fifty. Long after the dragon and the battle. When he was seeking hope and it left him bereft. "Would you have?"

Erdene nodded, sitting up in his lap, touching his chin to turn his face toward her. Gray eyes met his. "Definitely. I would have spent weeks flirting with you. Made a few thinly veiled innuendos. Worn something form fitting enough to make you want to chase me." She winked, drawing a chuckle from him that reverberated deep in his chest. "Maybe accidentally brush up against you a few dozen times just to see if I could get you to break some rules."

He would have too. A young pretty dam, offering him release and pleasure only to find she was his One? He would have spent nearly every waking moment with her or inside her if she let him.

"I came close to breaking them now at 194. At fifty I would have given in quickly and risked everything to have you, ekûnê." Thorin took her chin, kissing her, Mahal, how he would have loved to see her in the days when Erebor was in its glory. How he would have given her everything.

Dressed her in the finest of silks. Given her gems beyond the count of worth. Made her golden beads to decorate her hair.

She drew away, covering her mouth in a yawn. "Sorry, sorry, just," Erdene yawned again, longer and louder, on the tail end of the first yawn, "tired. Our love making is a full body exercise."

He hummed, picking her up, and moving them to lie in the bed. Last evening was similar. It grew late and her yawning became frequent after she ate. She tried to stay awake by exploring his room, only for him to catch her as her feet wobbled beneath her. Thorin didn't have the heart to tell her he could go without sleep for days if need be. Instead he got into bed next to her, just as he had the night before when she fell asleep first.

She blinked tiredly at him, with a small sleepy smile, tucking her fingers under the pillows and wrapping her arm around his waist. "So, if we had met when you were young, and got caught doing all the things we have done to one another, how much trouble would we have been in?"

"You, you are female and young, none." He laughed at the very idea. "My parents and grandparents would have demanded I court you immediately. And if you fell pregnant with our babe, we would have been married before you began to show."

Her eyes crinkled, a bright smile lighting up her face. "I think I would have liked that life."

"I believe I would have as well." His right hand tentatively moved to rest on her lower stomach over his tunic. "Erdene. I would like to be a father. When you are ready."

She smiled sleepily at him. "I think you'll be an amazing father."

"Do you?" His sister, brother and mother have told him this before, but to hear it from the one who will give him a child it is entirely different. It warmed him to his core. It would not matter if the twin girls were first or a boy. He would be happy to hold any child they had together.

"Of course I do. Look how you helped your sister raise your nephews."

Ah. That. Perhaps now is best while they are on the subject. "There is something that I need you to know regarding Fíli and Kíli."

She nodded, blinking tiredly at him from the pillows. "You can tell me anything. You know that."

He was beginning to believe he could. It was strange to know, to want to, when he was forced to keep so much of himself to himself for so long. "Long before I met you, I named both of them my heirs. Should I pass," the frown that crossed her features, amber eyes watching him as he spoke, "our children will not rule."

"Oh…," her brow furrowed, "wait, you have a brother. Wouldn't succession fall to him?"

"Over these last fifty-five years, Frerin has lost his taste for the court. He informed me several years ago he plans to abdicate once I return to rule. He and Gillis and their daughter will come here to South Yard after you and I marry." Thorin stroked her cheek, chin to ear, "does this upset you?"

"No. Fíli and Kíli have been training their whole lives to be your heirs. It would be wrong to take that from them. You shouldn't."

"I will not." He kissed her forehead this time. "Are you falling asleep, ibinê?"

"Little bit." Her breathing was already evening out. "Just give me an hour or…two maybe. You wore me out."

Thorin settled down next to her, an arm around her waist watching as her eyes closed and her body succumbed to sleep. He stayed like that watching her face for several moments before rising, cleaning up their dinner and returning the tray to the hallway.

Dís was creeping up the stairs just at that moment. "Thorin." Her brother was shirtless and still in his trousers from the day before. And he smelled quite a lot like Erdene, sweat and sex. "Are you both…"

He glanced over his shoulder at Erdene's sleeping form. "She is sleeping."

Dís nodded and took a few more steps forward, motioning for the tray. "I'll have a bath made up tomorrow?"

Tomorrow was too soon. He needed more time. "No. We will use the full three days. Another pitcher for my basin wouldn't go amiss, however. And towels." The sly look on his sister's face. He scowled at her.

Dis took the tray, "I'll have another placed outside the door in the morning. And I won't mention that my older brother once told me three days of mahdîth u galâz is excessive." She laughed a little at the bright red coloring the tips of his ears and the skin of his cheeks and bridge of his nose. "Enjoy your blessings, I'll order a bath for you Saturday afternoon. Don't wear my new sister out too much, we have a wedding to plan."

"And I have a weapon to forge." He told her, "I will see you Sunday, for breakfast."

"Sunday it is."

mahdîth u galâz - Days of new blessings