Someone to Watch Over Me

Chapter Twenty-Four

The hot sting roused Thorin from a heavy, dreamless sleep, and when he tried to sit up, the burn worsened and he couldn't hold back his oath as he flopped onto his back. Sweat prickled along his belly, along his back, his forehead, as he gritted his teeth and tried to bite back the pain.

"Do you need something for pain?" Amara was there at his side without making a sound.

"Please..." It was all he could manage.

"Of course."

Little by little, the pain receded and he relaxed. Beside him, Seren sighed in her sleep. He turned his head to look at her, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as she came to rest on her side, facing him. He thought back to first night, outside of Bree, when she'd come to his aid against would-be assassins.

He'd been annoyed at the time, as he certainly could have fought off those fools. He needed no keeper. Or so he told himself. But, if he was completely honest with himself, that wasn't true at all.

No. He'd most likely be dead, had she not been watching over him.

If not outside Bree, on the ice floe near Ravenhill.

She'd watched over him since she was old enough to know what it meant, even before he knew of her existence. She'd been there that afternoon when he'd squared off against Alfryd. She'd been there when five half-wits did their best to remove his head from his shoulders outside Bree.

She'd been there to warn him on that bloody ice floe.

"Sent by some power, no doubt. Someone to watch over me." He winced as he stretched his right hand toward her. His entire right side hurt, but at least whatever Amara gave him dulled it enough that it didn't make him want to vomit.

Seren's left cheek had been scraped, was scabbed over, as was a smaller gash on her chin. A purplish bruise showed itself above that eye as well. All sustained in her need to get to him. And those were only the injuries he could see.

And she'd done it pregnant as well. She'd battled orcs and goblins, had come after him to keep him safe, and done it all the while carrying his son or daughter. How amazing was this woman lying beside him? There were no words to describe the love he felt for her. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt for any other woman. Ever.

His eyes misted over, as they did each time her words echoed inside his head. You're going to be a father.

They were some of the most beautiful words he'd ever heard, and if he hadn't hurt so bad, he'd have grabbed her around the waist and swung her about just from the sheer joy coursing through him at the news. He'd meant it when he told her he just wanted her, whether children would ever be part of the picture or not. But, learning that she'd been wrong, that she'd been lied to, about her ability to have them, well... he'd be lying if he didn't say her telling him she was pregnant didn't thrill him to the marrow of his bones. Because it did. There was nothing else she could say that would make him as happy.

Except yes when he proposed to her again.

Her breath hitched. Her shoulders trembled. A tear leaked from the inner corner of her eye to streak along her nose.

"Oh, love," he whispered, grimacing as he stretched for her and the slow burn returned to scorch his side. He ignored it, tugging her against him as she cried in her sleep. With a wince, he wrapped his arms about her, whispering, "Shh... kurdelê... you are but dreaming, princess. You are but dreaming..."

"Please, no... Thorin..."

She sobbed softly into his chest, her body trembling with each one, and he gently shook her. "Open your eyes, Seren," he murmured. "I am here, right beside you. Wake up, love..."