Something in the Night

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Perhaps the floor will open up. Perhaps it would just open up beneath me and swallow me whole.

It didn't happen, of course. The stone floor remained solid beneath her feet and heat flooded Nina's entire body as Dís turned a horrified stare at her. "Is this true?" She looked to her brother. "Thorin? Is this true?"

Thorin stepped up, the look he shot Elisin enough to melt the smug smile from her face. Nina's heart pounded her ribs with such force, black dots danced before her eyes and her pulse throbbed through her temples. A sour, brackish taste flooded her mouth as her stomach threatened to betray her.

"All anyone needs know about Miss Carren is that I am in no danger from her and I was never in any danger from her. Miss Elisin is mistaken and her fears are unfounded."

"Thorin, why are you lying?" Elisin asked, shaking her head. "I clearly heard—"

"You were mistaken, Elisin. Terribly mistaken and it will stop now, is that understood?" Thorin closed the gap between her and him, arms crossed, expression one of fury. His eyes glinted with that same fury as he growled, "And I will not hear another word from you regarding Miss Carren. Especially when the filth that spills from your lips is a lie."

"A lie—"

"I mean it, Elisin." Thorin gripped her firmly by the upper arm. "Not another word."

"Your Majesty, I—"

"Dwalin!" Thorin thundered.

Dwalin rose from his chair to join them. "Aye, Thorin?"

"See Miss Elisin out. Send an escort with her to Dale. And Elisin, you will not set foot in Erebor again. Do I make myself clear?"

Nina bit the inside of her cheek as Elisin stared up at Thorin, her eyes growing redder by the second. Her bottom lip trembled. "Thorin, you cannot mean—"

"I can and I do. As for the rest of you, you need not worry about Miss Carren. I can assure you, I am in no danger."

"Thorin," Dís came up to catch him by the upper arm, "we need to discuss this."

"No, we need not." He pulled free of her grasp. "Truly, we don't."

Nina almost took a step back as Dís' frosty gaze alit on her. "Is this true, Nina?"

She looked from Dís to Thorin, to Elisin, whose own expression of triumph quickly melted away when Dwalin seized her by the arm and growled, "Ye heard him. Let's go."

"No, I'll not leave just yet," Elisin told him, trying to break his hold on her. "I want to hear this creature admit to the truth."

"Nina, I've asked you a question and I do hope you will not think to lie to me."

Nina faced Dís, held her stare easily as she slowly nodded. "It is true, yes. I tracked Thorin to Rivendell with the thought of collecting the bounty that had been placed upon his head by Azog the Defiler and left in place by his successor, Tarog."

At once, the Great Hall buzzed like a million angry bees, and for a moment, Nina was concerned that someone might actually attack her. But none of the dwarves were armed, so stares and words were the only weapons they could wield and they proved to be plenty as someone in the crowed shouted, "A murderer is among us! Not a one of us is safe!"

"Oh, don't be silly," Thorin snapped, spinning about to face the angry mob gathering around them. "She's killed not a single dwarf and has, in fact, come to my defense on more than one occasion, beginning with the night I met her. You are all fools to believe this harpy," he jabbed a finger in Elisin's direction, "when you see me standing before you alive and well and utterly unharmed. In fact, I would have likely been slain on the road between here and Dale, had it not been for Miss Carren, when I was ambushed by an orc pack."