The King of Starlight and Lullabies (Thranduil x OC fanfic)

Chapter 19- Lessons

Caledra stood as bravely as she could before the King, who had stopped the moment those words had left her lips. Thranduil stood before her, face expressionless. The hall was silent, and she did all she could do to stop her legs from shaking under his steady gaze. There was no immediate reaction, no anger or sharp retorts. But she had expected something like that. As awful as that would have been, the few silent seconds as he stood there were more frightening to her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking.

And then something happened she wouldn't have predicted in a millennia.

His shoulders slumped and his posture relaxed slightly, although he still loomed over her, and the corners of the King's lips twitched, the bottom of his chin soon doing the same as he swung his head down. He raised a free hand to cover his mouth as he laughed.

Caledra watched dumbfounded as Thranduil buckled over, the uncharacteristic sound of his laugh echoing in the room. This wasn't an arrogant snort or a smug chuckle as she had only heard from him before, but an honest, hearty laugh. The cachinnating was so uncanny coming from him that Caledra could scarcely believe he was the one actually making the sound.

The sound of his laugh was wonderful. She wondered how she had never heard it before. She had always just assumed the man was incapable of finding things anything more than simply amusing. Yet here he was, doubled over laughing.

He took a deep breath as he calmed himself, the laughter seizing as he looked up. The moment he met her eyes however he burst out into another laugh, trying to catch his breath again.

"What?" Caledra said incredulously. There was an honest smile on his face, with teeth and everything as he finally composed himself, light laughter still in his voice.

"You," he said, leaning down slightly to be eye level with her, "are frustratingly compelling."

She felt herself blush at this, even though it wasn't necessarily a compliment. It was however the first time the King had openly admitted being somewhat interested in her, even if just a little bit. Seeing her reaction, the king snorted, rolling his eyes at her. "Don't be so happy; I often find interest in the most poisonous of things."

Caledra chose to ignore his stingy comment, listening as he continued to speak. "Let us both be completely honest with each other then, Caledra."

She felt a chill run up her spine when he said her name, the tone of it solemn. He turned, motioning for her to follow and moving to the other side of the room, far past his throne, his robe sweeping and revealing his sword sheathed underneath. She followed thinking back to him killing the orc only moments prior, eyeing the sword with a mixture of wonder and fear.

He suddenly came to a stop and her eyebrows slowly went up, surprised at where they had ended up.

She stepped onto the balcony, arms resting on the railing as she leaned over, staring out into the lands beyond. This was the very place they had met long ago, when they hadn't even know each other's true identities.

He had settled into a chair behind her, his head resting on his hand as he watched her with piercing eyes. She felt herself blush, seeing how she had practically skipped onto the balcony, leaning on the railing like a child whereas he had taken a more dignified position and now seemed to be waiting for her to do the same. She followed his lead and sat down into the small chair adjacent to him. All was silent until a servant appeared, pouring him a glass of wine, leaving just him and herself alone with the rays of the setting sun.

He took a sip of his wine, nodding to her thoughtfully. "Come now, ask away." He said a little mockingly, looking at her slyly.

She eyed him suspiciously, speaking slowly. "What was that Orc talking about? What is this weapon?" The tension that was in the air before came back, and she could see him masking whatever sort of fear he had shown early when this was mentioned. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, cocking his head and swishing the wine in his glass, staring at it instead of her as he thought.