The king wanted to see them?
Shit.
"Right now? Can't I get changed first?" She looked down at her dress. Covered in water, muck and moss. There was no way this would go well.
"Are you seriously asking that?" He looked as if she was going mad. "You don't want to keep your father and the king waiting for longer than they already have."
Raelee thought that she had only been missing for about ten minutes. She could still hear the party in full swing on the floors above.
Daron was pulling her towards the upper level of the kingdom. But just as they would have re-joined the party, the pair made a detour down a pathway she had never seen before.
"Where are we going?" She asked in confusion.
"The King's council chambers." He said with a grimace.
"And you expect me to greet him like this?" She gestured to her dress.
"Trust me this was not how I pictured my first private meeting with the King either." He flattened his hair as they now stood in front of an ornate door. She almost scolded him for his primping. It's not like the king would care if he had a hair out of place when she stood next to him.
Daron knocked three times and upon hearing the word 'enter', he practically dragged Raelee into the room.
Upon entering, they were met by two others.
The Elvenking Thranduil, who looked at the pair as if they were a joke.
An unamusing joke.
And beside the king stood her father. And he looked furious.
It took him no less than three strides to reach the pair.
"What in the name of the Valar is the meaning of this?" He gestured to her dress which was dripping water on the floor.
"I'm afraid Raelee fell into the river." Daron spoke. Her father's eyes bulged out of his head in horror.
"How did that happen?" He whispered harshly.
"Too much to drink I fear." Daron gestured at her. "Galion said that she fell through the wine cellars floor and ended up in the river. He heard me calling for Raelee and told me what happened. We found her just in time." She wished the ground would swallow her.
"And what in that little head of yours thought that coming here, when she looks like a drowned rat, was the right course of action?" He didn't give them the chance to explain. "What were you thinking? Showing up to an audience with the king in your state of dress?" Her father scolded her before turning to Daron. "And you, allowing her to run off. If I had known you were this careless with my daughter, I would never have arranged this marriage." He cautioned Daron.
She could hear Daron audibly swallow.
"I apologise, Counsellor Bragi. I did not want to keep you and the king waiting. It just seems that your daughter has become fond of our great king's wine." He joked towards Raelee.
Raelee's mouth opened and closed in shock at his accusation. How dare he call her a drunk in front of her father and the king.
But then again, it was better than the truth.
She quickly cast her eyes to the floor as the Ellyn joked about her, almost as if she wasn't here.
"Again, I cannot apologise enough my king. I just wanted you to be the first to know of my daughter's betrothal. It's been a trial keeping this a secret from the other councillors." She heard her father address the king. She had yet to hear him speak throughout all of this. She looked up when she felt foreign eyes upon her.
"Well, I gather congratulations are in order." The king took a step forward as he studied the pair. Herself and Daron did not look like the excited bride and groom to be. She stood as far apart as she could from Daron. The king's eyes scrutinized her.
She began twisting her hands nervously.
"Thank you, my king. The wedding is in five moons: the end of Summer." Her father spoke. The king nodded at her father.
"I wonder, Counsellor Bragi, if you would allow me to have but a few words with the happy couple to be? In private." The king said while only looking at her.
"O-of course, my king. I shall return to the festivities." He bowed as he left, not glancing at his only daughter as he left.
There was a moment of silence as the king studied the couple. She had seen the king many times, both afar and near but this was the first time she ever thought to study him.
He had long white blond hair, striking grey eyes and gave off an air of superiority that seemed to radiate from the Grey Elves. His crown that he wore to celebrate coming harvest was decorated with red berries and his hands were adorned with precious stones from far away.
When the silence seemed to never end, Daron attempted to speak but was interrupted before he could.
"You must be cold?" He asked Raelee. His eyes moving from her soaked dress to her blushing face.
"I do apologise for her dress, I didn't want to keep you waiting on her, my king." Daron spoke before she could. He was intent on humiliating her.
"I said, you must be cold?" He asked while still looking at Raelee, ignoring Daron.
She didn't have the strength to speak. She was afraid to utter one word in case the tears she had been holding on to broke free.
"She's fine." Daron spoke quickly.
The king turned to Daron as he made his way over to a goblet of wine on his desk. He took a small drink of the dark red liquid before speaking.
"Would you be so kind, to bring your wife-to-be a dry dress?" He asked though there was no mistaking it wasn't a request.
"O-of course, my king." He turned to leave but not before giving her a tense look that said, 'don't do anything foolish.'
When the doors closed and it was just her and the king, no longer was she able to look directly at him.
"So, tell me." He started. "Why did you find yourself in my wine cellar this evening?"
"I-I-." She couldn't think of what to say. She had never spoken to the king before.
"Looking for something to drink?" He smirked as her eyes narrowed.
"I-I'm not a drunk." She said in annoyance.
He gave her a hard look.
"Have care how you speak." She backed away at his sharp tone. "I am allowing you one chance to tell me the truth away from your father and betrothed. I do not believe that you are a drunk let alone drunk as you stand before me." He came closer to her as he spoke. She could do nothing but walk back.
"I don't know of what you speak." She spoke looking at the floor, only looking up when he roughly grasped her chin and finally their eyes met again.
"Tell me the truth." He commanded.
"I-I was looking for the trapdoor to the river." She stuttered out. She wanted to be away from his intense stare. He had yet to let go of her chin.
"Why?"
"To… I don't remember." She was about to tell him but then she remembered that this was his kingdom. She was trying to leave his land without his permission. She would be thrown in the dungeon most certainly.
"Do you take me for a fool?" He sneered at her.
"My king?" She asked.
"I know what you were trying to do. I am not a simpering idiot like your betrothed or blind like your father." He finally let go of her chin knowing that she wouldn't look away from his gaze. "Were you trying to leave my kingdom?" He accused.
How did he know? Did he see her spying on Galion? No that was impossible. It had to be.
But she could not lie to him again.
Once was already enough to get her thrown in the dungeon.
"I was, my king." She breathed out.
She could feel her breaths becoming shallow and fast as he stared at her.
She couldn't tell what was going through his mind.
Was he getting ready to call on the Master of Keys to lock her up? Call her father so that she would be under lock and key until the day of her wedding? Inform Daron that his future bride would rather risk an eternity in the dungeon for a little adventure than consider the consequences?
"Why?" He asked her instead. No less cruelly, but he did step back to give her room.
"I wasn't thinking." She answered honestly.
"Do not lie to me again."
"I'm not lying. It was a split-second decision. I saw my chance and I took it." She sighed in defeat.
The king studied her for a moment. He knew she was being sincere. She didn't plan this.
"Is your life really so terrible here?"
Was it really that bad?
The answer was no. She loved the kingdom, her friends, family and her job. But her job was the one thing she loved most.
"I love my life. But not the notion that control of it is to be given over to someone else that doesn't understand or care about me."
"And there lies the challenge with Daron?" He asked as if this were but the tantrum of petulant child.
"He would have me give up my work, the one thing that I love, more than anything." She said earnestly.
"Yes, your father said you were in the early stages of retiring, although he made it seem as though this was of your own will. You yourself, volunteered to remain in the halls."
"It was a compromise. Father decided with Daron about my fate with the guard before I knew that we would be wed. It was Daron's idea that I leave my original post with the Greenwood patrols."
"Is he cruel to you?"
"No, he is not. But he dismisses my thoughts and dreams of becoming a captain of the guard as if I were an elfling." She took a deep breath. "And I don't love him." She finally let a single tear loose.
The king saw this, and before she knew it, the king was openly laughing at her.
She didn't know how to react. Here she was, pouring out everything she had felt since her father arranged the marriage, and here was the king, laughing at her misery.
She didn't know what in the Valar possessed her, but it seemed that her mind and her actions were not at one tonight.
She turned to the table where his goblet of wine sat and threw his drink at him.
The moment the goblet emptied and was now running down his face and onto his red robes, she staggered back in fear of what she had just done.
She had thrown a drink at the king.
Perhaps she wouldn't need to run away in order to escape her marriage.
The king was probably going to lock her away or worse.