An Unexpected Romance

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

*Ariel's POV*

"Have you come to make me apologize?" I asked the footsteps coming towards me at a steady pace. "Because I won't."

"Why should you have to apologize?" Kili asked.

I looked up from where I sat. He was looking at me carefully. Kili crouched down and extended a hand, carefully caressing my bruised cheek. My eyes fluttered shut as I leaned into his touch.

"He's the King." I whispered, eyes still closed. "And I've been out of line for two days."

"Yes, he's the King." Kili agreed. "But he was your father first. And he never should have hit you." I heard him shifting, and then felt his weight beside me.

I opened my eyes just as Kili leaned over and pressed his lips against mine. I took a breath and reciprocated shortly before I pulled away, turning my non-bruised cheek to him.

"Not the time." I whispered. "Not the place."

"I will never hit you. I swear on my life." Kili kissed my cheek, his stubble tickling my jaw. His warm breath on my ear sent a shiver down my spine.

I gave a small smile. "You say that like we'll be together forever and ever."

He took my chin in a gentle hand and brought my gaze back to his. His eyebrows were drawn together, a crease forming in the space between them. Kili's eyes were pleading, his lips just barely parted-

"Won't we?" He whispered.

I leaned forward and pecked his lips. "I'm not sure I believe in forever." I confessed.

Kili wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me onto his lap, something I hadn't experienced since childhood, and pressed our foreheads together. "I will make you believe. If it's the last thing I do."

He sounded so honest, so sincere and so absolutely certain that I believed him. I kissed him then, forgetting all my woes and just loosing myself in the feel of his lips sliding over mine. Kili was everything to me. I felt him brush my hair back, his fingers working into my dark curls.

"I'm going to marry you." He whispered, his breath fanning over my mouth. "I swear, when this is all over, I'm taking you to meet my mother and we'll have a big wedding- or a small wedding, or no wedding at all, whatever you want, but I'm going to marry you. We'll invite everyone we know, and we'll tell them to invite everyone they know, or it can be just us. Our family maybe, oh, I don't care. I don't care what we do, as long as we do it together."

My breath hitched in my throat and I gave a shaky laugh.

"I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you." Kili murmured.

I smiled against his lips. "Is that a promise?" I hummed.

"I like to think I'm a man of my word." He said.

I laughed and threw my arms around his neck, burying my face in the crook of his neck. His familiar scent straightened all the mixed-up and crazy things I'd been feeling. I knew what I had to do.

"I have to talk to Thorin." I said after a moment of silence.

Kili pulled back, searching my face. "Are you sure?" He asked.

I nodded. "I.. I don't think he meant to hurt me."

"Do you want me to come with?" Kili offered. "It might be a good time to tell him that we're planning our wedding in the middle of his war."