The King's Lady | Thranduil x OC

Chapter 57

Sorry it took so long to update! I got sick and then I had writer's block :)

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After the interaction with Eirien, Thranduil had made his way directly to the healing halls. He was irritated with himself for the way he had snapped at her... and for the way he had let his glamour slip. He knew Eirien had seen it, he'd noticed the look in her eye, the way she had shifted, the flash of... fear? Was she afraid of him? Was she disgusted? Did she think he was a monster?

Thranduil was frustrated at the fact he had let her see it and he was frustrated at the fact that she had asked him what he'd been about to ask her a week ago. He had felt backed into a corner as she simply did not let it go and he had just started to feel hot and uncomfortable. He knew that it was not her fault and he was not actually angry at her, but at himself, though she might not have realised it. She couldn't know asking him such an innocent question would cause him... what? Upset? Embarrassment? He was a King! Grow up, he told himself... but he was embarrassed. He was embarrassed he had even thought to ask the question. He was embarrassed at how close it came to slipping out. He was embarrassed that he had hoped. He was embarrassed that he loved her when she did not love him - could not, would not. She had been clear when she explained her feelings about romance and love and sex to him. Very clear.

Thranduil still held that belief because she had not said anything to the contrary. He believed that all their little... slip ups... the fact she'd participated in them, was simply because he had shown her something new, taught her the pleasures of the flesh that she had never felt before, and that she'd liked it, and her body reacted, perhaps even missed it. That was all. The little kisses she had initiated, well, he saw them as seeking comfort and, with him, how else was she to seek comfort? He thought it was just... a reaction.

The second Thranduil strode into the room, Siofra knew immediately that he was not in a good mood. She eyed him as he walked wordlessly to the chair beside her desk and sat down, crossing one long leg over the other. He folded his arms and he sat there, silent, staring at the wall like a sulking child.

But Siofra could see he was in pain.

She stood and she quietly moved away to collect the medicines she always used on the king. She prepared some more of the spelled tonic that would do the majority of the work keeping his scarring concealed and she moved back towards him, taking her seat once more.

Thranduil's gaze slid from the wall and fell on her face. His eyes were unhappy and Siofra got the distinct impression that it was more than just his face that was bothering him... but she did not ask.

The room stayed quiet as Siofra worked on the king. She gently put some salve on his skin and soon the prickling, itching, burning sensation began to fade once more. Thranduil breathed a sigh of relief and then he took the tonic she offered and he drank it down, placing the empty cup back on the desk. His hard expression relaxed and some of the tension left him.

He had not been this severely worked up over it until the interaction with Eirien. Before he'd stepped into Laurina's home to help her, it had just been an itching sort of feeling. Now he was frustrated and unhappy with himself and it was making it feel worse.

Siofra watched him very carefully as she filled up vials with the rest of the tonic for him to take away. The tonic was special and the recipe was complicated, it had taken many years after the accident to get it right. Thranduil would take it for the rest of his life. The King had his own magic within him, certainly, but he was no wizard and he was not strong enough for something like that. He had found a way to create the glamour but to keep it in place all day, every day, for the entirety of his life would expend so much energy he would get nothing else done. The tonic did most of the work for him in that respect so he did not have to be so hyper-aware and uncomfortable. He still had the ability to drop the illusion at will, which he had once done in a flash of anger when Thorin Oakenshield had been brought before him, before the Battle of Five Armies. However, in moments of extreme stress, the illusion could disappear by itself as if he had no control at all.