More Than Meets the Eye

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Arielle sucked in a sharp breath at the hot sting zinging across her scalp. "Take care, Elen! I'd rather not be bald, if it's all the same to you."

"Oh, I barely pulled it, so don't be such a baby. And besides, I'm nervous enough and you are not helping."

"You're nervous? Why?"

"Well, because this is my big sister and her big debut as the queen-to-be and I want you to look perfect."

She pressed her lips together at Elen's unexpected confession. Her eyes stung as she met his gaze in the looking glass. "Elen, I'm marrying this man and he is a bloody king..."

Elen smiled at the glass. "You look so happy, Ari. You do."

"I am happy. And it's so odd, because it all happened so fast, but... it feels right, if that makes any sense. It doesn't seem rushed and I don't have any doubts about this." She peered at him over her shoulder. "Is that wrong?"

"Do you love him?"

She nodded. "I don't even have to think about it. Is that odd?"

Elen shook his head as he went back to wrestling with her hair, trying to tame the curls as best he knew how. "No. I don't think so. Your heart knows when it finds its other half. Although, I have to admit, I never thought your other half would come in the form of Thorin Oakenshield."

She didn't miss the note of sadness in his voice. "Do you not like him?"

"I thought I wouldn't. I thought I shouldn't. Ari, he lied to us that night at the Master's house. He looked all of us in the eye and lied. And then, because of him, a dragon torched our town, our home. Killed Momma. I thought I would hate Thorin Oakenshield to the end of my days. And then when I heard he'd gone mad, and that he'd challenged Azog the Defiler and won, but at the cost of his life... I didn't hate him so much at that point. And now... I cannot find it in me to hate him at all. He seems a decent enough fellow and he obviously loves you and makes you happy, so there's that as well." He sniffed softly and drew in a shaky breath. "I wanted to blame him for Momma. I tried to, even, but..."

"She wanted it the way it ended, El," she told him softly, rising from the chair to come around and slip her arms about his waist. "Remember? That's what you told me as you carted me out of there like a sack of potatoes."

"She made me promise, Ari." He set down the silver comb he'd been using, and wrapped his arms about her. "While you were out ogling your future husband-to-be and then later on almost swooning over how handsome you found him—"

"I never swooned." She lifted her chin from his chest to glare at him. "I thought he was handsome and he was and even Christina agreed with me."

"Christina thought the Master was handsome, remember. I'm not so certain she had the most discerning of tastes, you know."

"Oh, I'd forgotten about that. Ew. But, Thorin is handsome."

"Yes, of course he is," Elen bobbed his head and in a monotone continued with, "The most handsome dwarf alive and his eyes are such a beautiful shade of blue, and when he kisses me... oh, I just want to die."

"Elen."

"Sorry. Anyway," he pulled back, "when we heard the first rumble, she knew what it was and she knew what it meant. And she made me promise that I would not let anything happen to you, that I'd get you to safety and not worry about her."

"I know. I remember."

"I promised her that I would find you a husband, Ari. And when I did, he would take good care of you. But," he offered up a sheepish smile, "you went and found yourself a bloody king on your own."