Burn Again

Chapter Six

"The eyes...they draw me in," he whispered. "I cannot escape from them. Each full moon I have been drawn closer and closer, and there is nothing I can do to stop it. The eyes are always there; haunting me, tormenting me, troubling me."

Legolas took a deep breath. "What does this have to do with Elu?" he asked.

His father's head lifted and anguished eyes gazed into his. "They are her eyes."

He stiffened in shock. "What?"

The King nodded slowly, looking away again. "The eyes belong to her. She will destroy everything I have ever known. I know that as true as I know my own name. She will be my downfall."

The younger royal pondered this for a few minutes. "How can you be so sure?" he asked eventually. "Perhaps some good will come of her being here. You are assuming that it is bad, but it may not necessarily be as bad as you think."

Long hair rippled as Thranduil shook his head. "I will not have her destroy what I have left behind in the past," he whispered. "I will not allow it."

"Do you speak of something in particular? You seem convinced that whatever the outcome, it has connections to years gone by," Legolas said. "A person cannot change the past; they can only change the future."

Again, he shook his head. "No. My past memories will be forever tarnished and laid out for destruction. I cannot and will not tolerate that."

"Elu is unaware of this," his son stated. "Yet she knows that something is amiss; I suspect that is the reason she left in the first place. You have not spoken to her of this."

"How can I?" Thranduil almost wailed. "How can I give her the key to undoing everything I have ever believed in? How can I give in to what she has done to me over the last three hundred years? How can I give her that power over me?"

"What power?" Legolas asked slowly. "What power does she have over you, Father?"

His parent's shoulders sagged as his head lowered, and another long silence followed. "The power of love," he whispered. "I have fought it decade after decade, but I am unable to fight no more. I am in love with her."

*****

Brelia chortled as she tossed the apple high up into the air. A split second later, an arrow shot through it and smashed it to pieces. The fragments fell to the grass and splattered in all directions.

Elu smirked smugly as she lowered her bow. "I told you, did I not?" she teased. "And you had no faith in me. My feelings are hurt."

Melderion snorted, nudging Ealan.

"I admit, I was wrong," Breila conceded. "I apologise. I shall pay heed to your words in the future, my Lady."

Elu laughed at the sarcasm in her title. "I may be useless with a blade, but I do know my way around a bow and arrow," she said. "Ealan is the one who is more deadly with a sword."

"And utterly hopeless when armed with a bow," her brother piped up. "Which is why I seldom carry one. It would be no more than a mere ornament; a decoration, if you will. Perhaps something to attract the attention of the ladies though..."

She shook her head as she crossed over to sit cross-legged on the grass with them. "I thought you already had your eye on someone..?"

"Who?" Brelia demanded, crashing to her rear beside Elu. "Tell us! Who is it? Is it someone here in the palace?"

"No, no, do not pay my ridiculous sister any attention," he grumbled as his cheeks turned red. "She has an active imagination and follows it around like a lost puppy when it wanders off."