Light in the dark

FIFTEEN

When I woke up the next morning, I noticed I wasn't laying as when I fell asleep. My back was resting against the chest of the Elvenking, and his arm was draped over my body. As I tried to free myself, his grip tightened, making it impossible for me to get out of bed.

"Thranduil," I whined. Please tell me I'm dreaming.

The King groaned, as a sign he was awake, apparently. He slowly opened his eyes, the blue colour greeting me.

I tried to turn around to face him and he kissed my forehead.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"I did," I said. "You?"

Thranduil smiled. "To be honest with you, I haven't slept so well in a thousand years."

I laughed, thinking of it as a joke, and layed my head slowly on his chest. His skin was soft, his body warm. He softly started to stroke my hair.

We fell silent for a while, but it was a comfortable silence.

After a couple of minutes, I said: "I'm really sorry about what happened to your wife."

The hand that was stroking my hair stopped, and I was afraid he didn't want to talk about this again. When he began to stroke my hair again, I felt my suddenly tensed body relax.

"Thank you, little one," he whispered, pressing a kiss on the top of my head. 

Later that day, I was alone in Thranduils room, when I found a dress being laid out on his bed. It was blue like the sky, with silver patterns stitched into the fabric. Mindlessly I let my fingers slide through the feather-like material when the King himself entered the room.

He was wearing a silver gown with blue accents, very different and a lot more... fancy – if that was even possible – than his 'casual' attire.

"Why are you dressed like that?" I asked, a little suspicious.

Thranduil smiled. "Does that mean it looks good, or does that mean I should wear something else?"

"No, it's beautiful," I said, and it was true: he did look absolutely stunning. "I was just wondering..."

"I was hoping you would be wearing that tonight," he said, pointing at the dress on the bed while he walked over to me.

I stared up at him, confused. "Tonight?" I asked. "What's tonight?"

"The party, of course," he replied simply.

"What party?" I asked, unaware as always.

"The last one for a while, I'm afraid," he sighed, as if he was about to face a dark period ahead. He let his hands comb through my hair while my eyes wandered off to the dress. It was beautiful, and it reminded me of the Stars of Estel.

As if he could read my mind, Thranduil said softly: "This dress makes me think of our night out stargazing."

"Me too," I said, and tearing my eyes away from the dress, I turned around to face him and look at his blue eyes instead.

"Come, I'll help you try it on."

While I undid my body of the Elvenclothing given to me, I still couldn't believe this was actually happening. After everything that happened, I had hated the Elvenking so much, and now he turned out to be the Elf that was in love with me. That I was in love with. It was a drastic change, that was hard to understand, even for myself, and one that changed everything.

Thranduil took the dress in his soft hands and slid it over my head, letting it fall over my body. It fit perfectly (which was weird for someone with no Elven size). The dress was absolutely astonishing.

"You look beautiful, Roan," he said. "Shall we?"