The Moth and the Flame (A Thranduil fanfic)

Chapter 23

The next morning, Evelyn woke up. But the sun did not shine. The birds didn't not sing. And she did not smile.

It had been raining and lighting stuck often, making Evelyn jump. She wasn't overly fond of the noise.

Thranduil was gone when she had awaken. She had gotten up and walked to the bathroom.

There was an awful pit in her stomach. The same one from the night before.

She walked up to the sink mirror and stared at her reflection. She looked awful, with dark circles under her eyes and and pale face. When she raised her hand to move her hair out of her face, she noticed bruises on her wrists.

Looking down, she realized that both wrists had hand shaped bruises on them. Logan had pinned her so hard, he bruised her.

She looked back into the mirror. There were marks on her shoulders. Pulling her dress off more, she noticed a number of bruises all over her body. Her arms, shoulders, thighs, and waist.

Evelyn felt disgusting. She didn't feel like a person. All her dignity had been taken from her. Having Thranduil see all of that, was not what she wanted.

She didn't want Logan. He wanted her. She tried getting away. The whole idea of being with him made her gag. But she couldn't help but feel guilty about it. An enormous weight sat upon her shoulders and she couldn't figure out why.

Evelyn wanted to leave no trace of Logan on her body. Not a finger print. So she filled the basin with soap and hopped in.

She grabbed a small towel and started scrubbing. Evelyn couldn't get the idea of Logan's hands out of her mind. The more she thought about it, the harder she scrubbed. She scrubbed until it hurt and when the pain finally came, she couldn't take it anymore. Evelyn sat there and cried. She didn't feel worthy enough of anything at this point.

*meanwhile*

Thranduil had woken up early to inform his father about last nights events. Everything was sorted out. Evelyn's room was cleaned up and Logan's body was taken care of.

And after that, Oropher had assigned more guards to the upper levels. Nobody would go up or down without the consent of the King.

And when speaking with his father was over with, Thranduil returned upstairs.

He heard sobbing when he entered his room. It was Evelyn. She was in the bathroom. He had thought she was hurting herself again. But when he peeked in the bathroom, he realized that she had her head in her hands and she was crying.

He wanted to help honestly. But this time, he figured he'd leave her be. That last thing she probably wanted was a man walking in on her. So he sat quietly outside, until she finished.

And when she came out, she was fully dressed, wearing a Thranduil's robe on top. When he saw her, all he could see was sadness plastered on her face. He couldn't see her eyes, for she was avoiding his gaze.

"Please don't look at me..." She whispered. Thranduil looked away

"Why???"

"Because I'm..."

"Evelyn stop it alright. What happened last night wasn't your fault." He said turning to her

"Then why do I feel like it is? I feel disgusting Thranduil!" She sobbed

He couldn't understand. He wasn't an elleth like her.

"Evelyn...he's dead. He's not going to hurt you anymore. I promise."

"Thank you for saving me by the way...I would've been taken had you not shown up."

"Anything for you Evelyn..."