Beauty and the Beast | Thranduil x Reader

Chapter 35

Two days later, you had finally stopped crying at every opportunity. You had half wondered if you should flee the kingdom and spare Thranduil the pain of watching you wither and die before his very eyes, but you knew that it had never actually been something you were seriously entertaining. Merely the panicked scrambling of a mind scared to break the already fragile heart of the one it loved so deeply.

Leaving Thranduil now had never been an option, not really. You could not have lived with that and it was true that it would cause him pain just as much as losing you in the future would. You did not wish to hurt him at all but doing it right now felt far more cruel, especially when he had finally blossomed into this wonderful being who had learned to open up and feel love once more.

Besides, you were quite selfish, and you could not be without him.

So you accepted, a little reluctantly, that you loved Thranduil as he was and he loved you as you were - a mere human - and you were going to marry him and live out your days in his realm before one day, far too soon, leaving him to mourn you beneath these very trees.

Your father had been able to tell that something was wrong, of course, but you were loath to talk about it with anyone else in case you started sobbing again. You assured him it was fine and he accepted it even if he did not fully believe it.

He smiled and laughed more in the days since he awoke and you found great joy in seeing him interacting with the elves, even with Thranduil who he had once feared and wished to rescue you from.

You walked in on the two of them one day, your father laughing heartily over a glass of strong elvish wine and Thranduil lounging in his chair with a glass of his own, an amused chuckle leaving his lips.

"What have I walked in on here, hm?" You asked with a soft laugh of your own as you sat down at the other side of the table, propping your elbow up and resting your chin on your hand as you looked between the two.

Thranduil was the one to speak, your father too busy trying to get his laughter under control. "Well, your father was regaling me with stories from your village." He raised his chalice to his lips and threw back the rest of the contents, his brow quirked in amusement when he set it back upon the table. "However, I fear that the wine is much too strong for him, considering that he has been laughing over something he is certain he said out loud to me, but in fact only said in his own head, for the past twenty minutes."

You shook your head as your eyes turned on your father. "For Eru's sake!" You tried to scold him but it didn't quite hit the mark and it wasn't long until he looked as though he might fall asleep at the table any moment.

"Elros!" Thranduil's voice beckoned to the elf he could sense lingering outside the door. You turned to watch Elros enter and you smiled kindly at him. He seemed much less jittery than last you had seen him as he returned the smile.

Thranduil gestured to your father. "Would you be so kind as to escort our friend here to his room? I fear he shall keel over any second."

Elros assisted your father in standing, the man putting his arm around the elf's shoulder and leaning in close as though he were about to tell him a secret, but all that came out ended up being a jumble of nonsense. Elros looked a little concerned as he walked your father from the room and it was all you could do not to laugh at the poor fellow.

You turned back to Thranduil as the door closed and found he had risen from the table and moved towards a little desk at the back of the room. When he returned, he lay out a little box on the table in front of you and opened it up. Curiously, you watched as he unveiled a collection of beautiful looking rings. You tilted your head as you looked up at him, silently asking what they were for.