Feral Heart (Thranduil)

Chapter Sixteen

 Though Thranduil had said I'd only be sharing his room for the nights we had guests, after our guests had departed, I was still summoned to his room every evening. We did not wrestle every night, which I thought was surprising and a little disappointing, as I'd started to enjoy our bedtime wrestling matches. Some nights he would take me on walks through the palace so I could find my way around, other nights he'd teach me how to read and write.

"I give up!" I shoved the book, meant for children, off the table in a huff.

Thranduil sighed, picked up the book I'd flung off the table and gently thunked it over my head. "Try again."

"I don't want to, it's boring." I grumbled as I rubbed my head before scowling down at the book as he dropped it in front of me. Defiantly, I reached out to shove it away once more but a strong hand coiled around my wrist halting me.

"You agreed to learn." He pointed.

"I never agreed to be a good student." I retorted.

His lips twitched ever so slightly, and amusement danced in his eyes. "Again." He commanded as he released my wrist.

"What's the point of reading stories, why don't you just put all your stories into songs so you can remember them." I grumbled as I picked up the book and looked at the strange symbols on the page. Thanks to Thranduil's annoying lessons, I recognized some of the symbols but it was still difficult as I had to sound them out in his language and translate it to mine to understand what it meant.

"That's a poor system." He sighed and rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Only if your memory is fading because you're old." I retorted childishly.

His eyes narrowed. I held my breath thinking he was going to give up on lessons for the night so I could be free. Suddenly, he smirked, as if struck with a brilliant idea, "how about we make this a little more interesting."

"You better or I'm going to fall asleep." I yawned.

"How about a duel?" He mused.

I sat up straighter feeling suddenly giddy, "fighting?"

He chuckled, "yes."

"With stakes?" I pondered.

"Yes."

"What are the stakes?" I asked.

"If you win, we can be done with our lesson for the night. If I win, you have to read all three of those books without complaint." He pointed to the other children's books sitting atop his desk.

"Deal!" I quickly sprung out of my chair and launched myself at him.

His eyes widened, surprised by my sneak attack and he stumbled backward to avoid my fists. Once he recollected himself he managed to catch my wrists in his hands and threw me a withering look. "...a duel, little wildling, is formal, organized and with weapons."

"Ugh! You even make fighting boring!" I groaned.

"You don't have duels?" He frowned.

I thought about it. We had duels but they weren't that formal and they didn't always involve weapons. Sometimes it was just two warriors wanting to prove one another rolling across the dirt throwing punches until someone gave up or fell unconscious. They were exhilarating.

"I doubt they're as civilized as whatever you're about to make me do." I sighed.

His lips quirked into a small amused smile. "Let's go."

"We have to go somewhere else for it?!" I groaned.

Thranduil chuckled softly, "yes, little wildling, let's go."