Warrior's Heart

Chapter Thirty-Three

Arielle slipped her hand into Thorin's as they neared the seamstress' shop. For reasons she could not explain, she was nervous. She looked up at Thorin, but his expression was unreadable, impassive and hard. But, she'd come to know him well enough to see the danger glinting in his blue eyes.

He didn't look down, but his fingers tightened about hers, his thumb skimmed along hers, and then he slipped his free, saying, "Wait here a moment. I want a few words with her first."

"Thorin, I thought—"

"You thought correct. I'll leave the door open and you will hear all of it, and do not believe a word of it." Now he turned to her, bent and brushed her lips with his. "Trust me."

She sighed, but nodded and stepped aside as he pushed open the door. "Miss Asharm, are you about?"

"Thorin? Oh, what a wonderful surprise. Do come in." Arielle rolled her eyes as the simperingly sweet tone of Gamella's voice. "To what do I owe this pleasantry?"

"I couldn't stop thinking of you all last eve."

"Oh, is that so?"

"I think you know it is." Wood creaked and Arielle shifted to peer around the door. Thorin's back was to her, of course, but she had a clear view of Gamella, who smiled up at Thorin as if she wanted to devour him.

Which, of course, she did.

The baby kicked then, which made Arielle forget her fury, if for only the moment. Pressing a hand against the foot thudding her insides, she smiled and whispered, "Shhh... little one..." as she slipped her bow free and then reached for an arrow.

"Why would I? You've married, after all. And a baby is on the way. I am happy for you. Truly." Gamella's voice grew a bit harder as she added, "If you are happy, that is."

"I thought I was. But after I left here yesterday, I wasn't so sure. Perhaps I married in haste. For the wrong reasons."

Arielle knew he meant not a word of what he said, but she scowled just the same. Scowled and set the arrow in place between her first and middle fingers. It wouldn't take much for her to fire it and hit Gamella clean between her eyes. She was angry enough to do it without a second thought. 

"How so?"

"She is an elf, you know. Thranduíl's daughter."

"A wood elf." Arielle could hear Gamella's sneer and she drew the bowstring back. Just to be prepared, of course.

"Or, perhaps I should say, she was."

"Was?" That sneer became more hopeful. Arielle stuck her tongue out at the door as she maneuvered closer to it.

"When I returned home last eve, all I could think about was how she kept me from you. She doesn't swim, you know, and so I took her to the lake and... well..."

"You did that for me?"

"I did it because of you." Thorin's voice grew hard and angry. "What did you give me? What was in that tea?"

"Something to make you see what a mistake you'd made, choosing her. That is all."

"Really. And the cider at the Yule festival two winters ago? Was that to make me see what a mistake I was making?"

"No. That was to open your eyes." Gamella's voice rose slightly. "You wasted your time with silly dwarf girls, and I was there the entire time. We spent that night together and I knew you'd realized the same. And then you go and marry an elf? And a woodland elf to boot! That could not stand. She is not our queen. She is not one of us. And now, she is no longer a problem, either."