Eclipse of Hearts ✔

Chapter 73. [Thorin]

The next morning Alyssae called everyone together in her house. Except his friends, the captain, Melline and her husband were present as well. 
From a chair he watched how she shared her presumption that Thranduil had sent an accomplice to poison her father and hang the necklace around his neck later. No one disagreed with her theory and eventually they decided to wait for news from Philae, who had already traveled to Mirkwood to gain information. 
"I have prepared a sleeping place for your in our guestroom. During the night there will be a guard."
The faces of his travel companions brightened up. They had slept in Alyssae's house tonight, but they all longed for some privacy now that they had lived so closely together. 
"What is your plan when Philae returns?" Eldinòr wanted to know. 
"I have more than a week to think about that. If they indeed have captured Niamh, I will call for the help of Rivendell and the Grey Havens. The army of Chyndall is too small to invade Mirkwood."
"And if she's not there?"
Alyssae sighed. "Then I will try to restrain the longing to march to Mirkwood anyway, to avenge my father. They will find the proof that Thranduil is a murderer too weak to interfere." She looked the other way. Thorin was the only one in this room who knew that she had destroyed the evidence in her anger.
Eldinòr laughed scornfully. "And then you'll act as if nothing has happened?"
His disbelief could be read from his face. Thorin had to admit he knew her well enough to be sure she wouldn't swallow this. 
"I'll wait until the time has come," Alyssae answered coldly. "The longer it takes, the sweeter my revenge."
With these words she ended the conversation. The dwarfs gathered the few belongings they had. Melline would show them the rooms and Thorin turned embarrassed to Alyssae, not knowing when they would see each other again. She however had walked to the door while the others left the house and she raised her eyebrows when she saw him hesitating. 
"Won't you stay with me?"
Thorin went pale. He hadn't expected she wanted him to. "Yeah, I will," he mumbled. "If you feel comfortable in doing so."
Alyssae closed the door and sat at the edge of the table. "We have to catch up some time, don't you think?" Her eyes sparkled and she grabbed his collar to pull him close. "And..." she whispered, with a playful look in her eyes that took his breath away, "it took a damn long time until we were together."
She let no room for an answer, but pressed her lips resolute on his and surprised he kissed her back. 

The sun made sweat drops appear on his fore head. It was airless hot outside and he wasn't used to the warm weather, since he had lived between the ice floes of Laketown and in the shadow of the mountain. Alyssae had taken him to the ancient fort where she had seen Niamh for the last time. He was sitting on a stone ridge, overlooking the whole ruin. He could hardly imagine his daughter had hid herself here for creatures who wanted to hurt her, barely a few days old and clacking with wings she couldn't use. His gaze went to every dark corner and every shadow, but of course she had left no traces and she hadn't been sitting her, waiting until he finally showed up. She was gone and even though he had never seen her, it hurt. Maybe that was the reason it hurt even more. 
If Vaughn hadn't hid his letters, he could have gone to Chyndall much earlier. He could have protected his daughter himself. A sigh left his lips while he watched Alyssae. Her face was fullof worries and he climbed down.  
"I am sure we'll meet her again. A creature like her can't stay hidden for long."
She smiled, but her eyes did't do the same. In silence he took her hand, for they both knew what Thranduil was capable of when he had really laid his hands upon Niamh. A shiver crept down his spine when he imagined a little girl, with a bleeding back because her wings were taken off and a face that was covered in welts. Welts of which he was still bearing the scars himself. 

When Thorin returned to her home, he was soaked. 
"I bet you want a bath," she chuckled and she went to the bath room, were a bad was situated. Thorin sat at the edge and watched how she bend forward to turn on the tap. Her arms were slender with a scar here and there, showing that she had seen too much of the world. She laid down clean linen and kissed him. "See you later."
Her smile warmed up his chest and he rubbed her hand, where after he unclothed himself en stepped into the bath. 
He closed his eyes and leaned backward, the warm water surrounding him. For the first time he had the feeling he could relax, as if the water washed all his crimes away, so that he could start over. 
He listened to the falling water, flushing away his heavy thoughts until he dozed off. 
He cracked his eyes when he heard a voice. "The bath will flow over when you don't pay attention."
Quickly Thorin turned off the tap. Alyssae stood in the doorway, watching him with a grin on her face. He felt the longing to cover is nakedness, although she had seen him without clothes before - but that was years ago. 
Thorin didn't know what to say and he murmured an excuse. His heart beat in his throat when she closed the door behind her and took off her dress. His stomach shrunk of nervousness, while his extremity swelled up immediately at the sight of her beautiful body. For a moment he saw himself in his treasure room, looking for something that was so beautiful it would never leave his memory. He never would have found it.
She hadn't changed in the years that had gone by, except that her wounds were healed and that she was a bit fuller. She stepped in the bath and sat down before him, his back toward him. His arms glided underneath her elbows and he pulled her close. Smiling she turned her head aside, kissing his nose. Then she went deeper in the water, resting her head against his heaving chest. With hesitation his hands glided over the bare, warm skin of her belly, up to her breasts, were his fingertips played with her nipples. He closed his eyes and sniffed up the fresh scent of her hair. Her hands rested on his knees and her thumb followed the edges of his patella. 
Thorin kissed her shoulder, holding her tightly. Never he had expected to hold her this way again and at the moment there was nothing in the world he rather wanted to do. 
"I love you, Alyssae," he whispered against her hair. He wanted her to keep that in mind, instead of the disappearance of their daughter or the dead of her father. "Even more than I did in times before."