My Dear King (Thranduil love story)

Chapter 5.

(Thranduil's Point of View)

He had danced with every elleth that had been brought to his kingdom as possible future queens. At first he paid attention to every single little detail but by the end of the night he barely even looked at them anymore. He found the entire process painful. It was in his fathers will that his future wife should be someone from another kingdom that offers an alliance. He respected his father’s wishes and had agreed to go through the process of picking out an elleth fit for the part.

The entire night he drank more and more wine in order to dull out their constant yapping and to ease the ache in his feet.He would much rather get shot with and arrow than go through all of this again. 

He had finally danced with the last one and he needed to try his best in order to even stand straight anymore from all the wine. He bowed and stumbled a little while a very offended brown haired elleth glared back at him. He winked at her, flipped his long hair over his shoulder and turned on his heels exiting the main hall. 

The walk to his bed chambers seemed longer than usual, he had just recently moved out of his old room and into his late fathers’ bed chambers as the new king. Realizing he was going the wrong way he stopped and turned around heading for the right room this time. His new room was very large with a bed that could fit five orcs if they all laid down elbow to elbow. He threw his long coat onto his bed and put his crown on his desk beside a painting of his own parents. On the other side of the desk was a large painting hung up on the wall of Oropher sitting on his throne with Thranduil standing beside him, at the time he looked like a ten year old boy. His hair was a lot shorter and braided backwards, he was even smiling. 

Thranduil touched the painting trying to remember those simpler times where he could simply run around in the halls with Arasseth and pretend they were brave elven soldiers defeating all the awful things this world had to offer. A small smile crept on his lips, he turned around, leaving his coat and crown behind he made his way to a very well-known room. He had told a certain blonde haired elleth that he would come see her later. The walk to her room sobered him up a little but he still had to steady himself once in a while. He knocked on the door but there was no answer so he slowly pushed it open and peeked inside, there was only a little bit of light coming from her bathroom. He stepped in closing the door behind him and made his way to the source of light. At first glance it looked like the room was completely empty but he could see the milky water of the basin move. He waited a little and then raised an eyebrow at how long she was spending submerged. 

The sweet scent of herbs tickled his nostrils and he could barely contain his smile; that familiar scent never failed to lift his mood. Arasseth finally came back up from the depts of her basin, only enough for the top of her shoulders to show. When she noticed him she sunk into the water more and looked confused. Thranduil laughed internally at her response to his presence and started walking towards the couch where she had a few towels folded while exchanging a few memories from the past. He sat down feeling his muscles slowly relax and he leaned hi head onto his fist listening to Arasseth talk.  

Thranduil wanted to tell her everything, everything about those elleths. He would never be able to choose one just like that, they all seemed bothersome to him and they seemed to care more about things that sparkled, how their hair looked and the idea of being married to the king of greenwood. They seem to barely care about things that really mattered. He pinched the bridge of his nose when he felt a disgusting, sickening wave of nausea fill his body. Arasseth was not like that; she would often come back from hunts with mud in her hair and did not wear many jewels. She would choose a pair of pants over a gown but never complained about neither. He looked up at her, she looked like a goddess surrounded by white silk.

“Arasseth…I” He paused. He wanted to touch her skin so badly. The alcohol must have really been getting to his head; it was awakening primitive instincts deep inside of him.  He sighed snatching those thoughts away from his mind and the awful feeling was just getting worse. She spoke again, when his name left her lips it sounded like an orchestra of birds on a spring morning and felt like warm honey was slowly being poured down his spine. He wanted to enjoy that blissful felling for much longer but like everything else, it was quickly snatched from him when he thought about all those elleths. His moment of bliss was replaced by the awful feeling the alcohol was giving him.

“I…think that too much alcohol, food and dancing can even make a king feel awful.” He quietly said to finish his sentence.

She chuckled lightly and raised a teasing eyebrow at him.

“Can’t handle a little party anymore? Who are you? An 80 year old human man, or the Elvenking of Greenwood?”

He responded by rolling his eyes at her. “Very funny Arasseth.”

They sat in a comfortable silence and suddenly his eye lids were starting to feel heaving, with a sigh Thranduil got up and walked over to her, he bent down and kissed the top of her damp head. He lowly made his way out of the bathroom but paused and looked back at her over his shoulder.

“Arasseth, could you join me for breakfast? I’m afraid I might try to drink myself to death and wouldn’t want to damage my reputation.”

She frowned at him “Why would you drink yourself to death?” she slowly asked him while turning her head to look at him.

“I’m having breakfast with all the lovely elleths who are competing to be my…wife.” The king sighed and looked into her dark room.

“I guess I could be there so our king doesn’t destroy his image on his second day.” She smiled lightly at him as he left her room.

As soon as Thranduil got to his own room, he peeled off his clothes and left them on the ground. He didn’t even bother to put on his night robes and crawled under the covers in his oversized bed. As soon as his head touched the pillow, the king found sleep but it was haunted with nightmares from start to finish.