Chapter Text
The water glided over her body. Or she glided through the water. It didn’t matter. They were one and the same as she disappeared beneath the silver surface, her arms outstretched. The floor of the pool was littered with stones and trinkets dropped by careless birds. She aimed for one of them, her hair streaming behind her only to flare around her head like a halo when she stopped. The stone that she picked up was imperfect. Perfectly shiny and perfectly black and perfectly smooth but not perfectly round. It had a little curve at the top so that it looked almost like a heart. Or, Lady Thureneth thought with a stifled giggle as she turned it this way and that, perhaps it looked like a plump bottom.
It was hers now.
She turned, her toes lightly touching the floor a second before she sprang away and up through the water. She surfaced – not gently or with the demure dignity expected of her, but wildly, throwing her head back so that her hair whipped through the air and sent glittering gems of water skittering across the pool. She laughed. This was the one place in the world where she could be free. Where she could be gloriously herself and blissfully alone.
But she was not alone.
She cried out before she could stop herself. The ellon leaning over the clothes that she had left in the grass straightened and turned to look at her. There was something vaguely familiar about him; the way that he looked at her from under his lashes, the gleam of his clear blue eyes and hair the colour of wheat, the curious cant of his head, and his cheekbones which she thought might be sharp enough to slice an apple on but which did not make him sharp featured – simply striking in his beauty. Thureneth took all of that in even as her mind spun and her heart raced. Her fingers tightened around the stone. It was not much defence against a strange elf, but she had learned some tricks from her uncle when they had travelled together. She could aim well enough to bounce the stone off the ellon’s head at least. But he spoke and his words made her pause.
“What are you doing in my pool?”
“Your pool?” she echoed. “It is my pool! And never mind that. Why are you sneaking around my clothes? Were you planning to steal them? Were you being creepy?”
“Creepy?” He said the word as if he had never heard it before. “If I was planning to steal your clothes I wouldn’t have put a rock on them to stop them blowing away in the breeze.”
Thureneth was too far into the pool for an angry splash to reach the ellon on the bank but she sent one in his direction all the same. “Liar. There was already a rock on them. I put it there myself.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did.” Thureneth glared a challenge at him. Then her eyes widened and she put her fingers to her mouth. “Oh! I didn’t!”
Victory did not make the ellon smug. “You didn’t,” he said calmly. “But now there is a rock on them and they won’t blow away.”
“Thank you,” Thureneth conceded. “But this still isn’t your pool.”
“It is.”
“It is not.”
“I’m not doing this again.”
“Why?” Thureneth teased. “Scared you’ll lose?”
“Bold of you to sound so confident of victory with defeat fresh in your mind,” the ellon said. “You did lose the last round.”
Well. That was true enough. The water slipped over Thureneth’s bare shoulders and the curve of her breasts as she slowly bobbed up and down. So certain was she of solitude that she never hesitated to shed all her clothes before diving into the pool. She was suddenly terribly aware of her nakedness. But the ellon, though he was likely aware of it too, kept his eyes respectfully on hers. She let herself sink a little and began to tread water again when the water covered her nose so that only her eyes and the top of her head were visible. She watched reluctant amusement cross the ellon’s face.
“What is your name?”
Thureneth lifted her head out of the water. “Guess.”
“Pool-thief,” he drawled.
“No!” Thureneth laughed. “Guess again. Or choose a name for me if you cannot guess.”
Sweet uncertainty came to replace his smile. “I couldn’t just choose a name for you. Names are important. You must think about them and put care into them.”
“Then think,” Thureneth commanded him. The ellon looked at her with such alarm and perplexity in his pretty eyes that she decided to take pity on him. “If I were to choose a name for you,” she said instead, “I would choose something like…Aeluin.”
“Aeluin. Why?”
“Because your eyes are as clear a blue as the pool,” Thureneth said.
“The pool that is a point of contention between us,” the ellon said, though a small smile playing on his lips suggested that he might be pleased by the compliment.
“I have been coming here for nearly forty years,” Thureneth said hastily.
The ellon pressed his lips together and nodded. “That is impressive.”
“What about you?”
“One hundred and seventeen.”
“That is…precise,” Thureneth said grudgingly. “Another point to you then. Enjoy your victory. But can you blame me for thinking of the pool as mine? I have never seen anyone here before.”
“Oh, I don’t blame you,” the ellon said readily. “I have never seen anyone here either. Well – rabbits, foxes, the occasional squirrel. They make for pleasant company though the conversation is often slow and generally one-sided. I supposed that I couldn’t really be the only person in the forest to know of this place but sometimes it was nice to imagine that I was.”
“Don’t feel that you must stay on the bank if you came here to swim,” Thureneth said. “You may swim with me. I don’t mind.”
But the ellon paused. “No. Thank you.”
“You…you are upset that I’m here?” Thureneth asked, disliking the sudden self-consciousness that crept over her.
“Absolutely not. And I appreciate your invitation. But…” His eyes drifted to the abandoned clothes. “Well. I might have accepted the invitation had that pile contained one or two less items.”
“I don’t mind,” Thureneth said daringly.
“All the same,” the ellon said with a restrained laugh. “I shall sit and dangle my feet in the water if you don’t object.”
Thureneth nodded readily and watched him remove his boots. He leaned down and rolled his leggings up, and thin braids at his temples kept his hair from falling in front of him. He was a warrior! Thureneth didn’t know why that sent a thrill through her but it did. Maybe because she was not accustomed to socialising with warriors. That would have been quite inappropriate for a young lady of her standing. She waited until the warrior was sitting on the edge of the bank with his feet in the water before swimming over to join him because she thought that he might not have sat down had she got there first. She stayed in the water though, lifting herself up just enough that she could brace herself on her arms as her hair danced lazily in the gentle current.
“I found this,” she said, showing her new friend the stone that she had picked up.
“That’s pretty,” he replied. “I like how it shines.”
Thureneth felt her face grow warm with pleasure. Not that she needed his approval. But it was nice to share her enjoyment of the stone. “I have a box full of treasures that I have found at the bottom of the pool. Mostly they are just pretty stones. But one time I found a filigree ring and another time an entire strand of pearls. I think maybe magpies had stolen them. Magpies like shiny things, don’t they?”
“They do,” the ellon agreed. “How did you find this place, anyway?”
“Oh.” Thureneth sighed and put the stone in the grass, propping her chin on her crossed arms as she idly kicked her feet. “My husband had made me cry. I came for a walk to clear my head and emerged through the trees into this beautiful glade that somehow I had never seen on all my wanderings.”
Most people commented on the fact that Thureneth was married if they did not already know. She was young for it. But her new friend simply said, “I am sorry that he made you cry. That was ill done.”
Water trickled down Thureneth’s back as she lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. “How did you find the pool?”
“My parents had made me cry,” the ellon replied. “I came for a walk and stumbled upon it as unexpectedly as you did.”
“Why did your parents make you cry?”
He looked down and played with a silver ring on his right index finger, turning it slowly a couple of times before lifting his head and looking away. “They died.”
Thureneth caught her breath. Before she knew what she was doing, she put her hand on the ellon’s knee. He jumped slightly and looked down at her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “That is terrible. But the pool…our pool…it was here for you. And for me. I think perhaps it only reveals itself to people in need. Otherwise you would have found it before and so would I.”
“You might be onto something there,” the ellon said with a thoughtful nod.
“I often feel lonely,” Thureneth admitted. “My family is far away. Hundreds and hundreds of miles away. I am married, yes, but my husband…it was not just once that he made me cry. Somehow here at the pool, I don’t feel lonely at all even when I am truly alone. Is it the same for you? Are you lonely too?”
“Nobody has ever asked me that before,” the ellon said slowly, and Thureneth removed her hand from his knee lest she had upset him. But he looked down at her with a small smile. “I have brothers and a sister. I should not be lonely. And yet the three of them share a bond that I can never understand or be part of. Don’t get me wrong,” he added. “I love them and they love me. But they shared a womb and came into the world together.”
“Triplets!” Thureneth gasped. “I have never met triplets!”
“No,” he agreed. “Twins are unusual enough.”
“How fascinating,” Thureneth said. “Are they older or younger than you?”
“Older.”
Thureneth noticed that he had grimaced slightly. She did him the courtesy of not commenting on it. “What are their names?”
“Curulas, Eldurlas, and Nimeirien.”
A triumphant smile danced across Thureneth’s lips. “You have given me a clue to your real name.”
“I…have I?”
“All your siblings have names that relate in some way to nature – leaves, stars, flowers,” Thureneth said. “Unless your parents decided to do something entirely different with you – which I highly doubt – then you must have a nature name too. And I suspect that it follows the same pattern as Curulas and Eldurlas and ends precisely the same way.”
The ellon looked stunned before allowing himself a rueful smile. “My name is Bregolas. Bregolas Elhaelion.”
“Bregolas Elhaelion,” Thureneth repeated, pleased. “My name is Thureneth.”
He looked down with another small smile. “I know.”
“You…what?”
“I know,” Bregolas repeated. “I know who you are. I’m sorry for pretending that I didn’t. I thought that it would be nice to have a normal conversation without having to bow or ‘my lady’ you. I will if you want me to.”
“Don’t you dare!” Thureneth said quickly. “How did you know?”
“You are married to Elder Elrain. I have seen you at his side,” Bregolas replied. “And I was there your first night in Amon Lanc.”
“My first night…oh.”
“Oh,” Bregolas agreed with a touch of sympathy. “You were in a prison cell.”
“I am sure that everyone has been in a prison cell at one point or another,” Thureneth said archly. “You know, I thought that you seemed familiar, but no wonder I couldn’t place you. You looked at me from under your lashes – yes, exactly like that – and told me that I should do as Elder Elrain commanded if I knew what was good for me. You were so sulky and sullen!”
“I had good reason to be!” Bregolas protested. “My older brothers had tanned my backside that morning for complaining about guard duty.”
“Both of them?” Thureneth put her fingers over her lips to stifle a giggle, supposing that it might be impolite to laugh, but the giggle came out anyway. “That’s not fun.”
“No, it wasn’t. Sometimes having older brothers is not fun. But sometimes it is,” Bregolas conceded. “And they have done incredibly well at looking after me since our mother and father died. So has my sister.”
“I am glad that you have them. I always thought that it might be nice to have a brother or sister,” Thureneth said. “But it was only ever just me.”
Bregolas gave her a thoughtful look. “Who do you have here if your family is so far away?”
The question made Thureneth pause. Not because she didn’t know the answer but because the answer was embarrassing. “I have nobody here,” she admitted finally. “Elrain, of course. As much as I can have him. But he has no family either. The household servants are nice enough to me but I suspect that is only because they feel obliged to be nice. The same goes for all the Elders. And…well, everyone really. I have made no real friends the whole time I’ve been here. Do you think that is terribly sad?”
“I think that you should try not to take it personally,” Bregolas said. “If people aren’t friends with you then I don’t think that is because of you.”
“Because of Elrain,” Thureneth said.
“Probably,” Bregolas replied sympathetically.
Thureneth let out a soft sigh. Bregolas hadn’t told her anything that deep down she didn’t already know. People tended to fall into one of two categories. The first lot didn’t trust her because they suspected that she would report their secrets to her husband who happened to be the Chief of the Elders and the Elder of Forest Law and arguably the most powerful individual in the forest (the Queen of dark Gorthebar in the far north notwithstanding). The second lot might not malign her as someone who would race to tell tales to Elrain, but they did think that she had inveigled a marriage out of him for no reason other than his wealth and power. That was not true. Nor was it entirely false.
Thureneth had been born into a noble house of Doriath in faraway Beleriand, the only child of a second son in a patriarchal society that loved and respected its ellith yet favoured its ellyn – especially those who had the good fortune to have been born first. It would never have been Thureneth’s fate to wield much in the way of power, but even so she had been surrounded by it from her first breath. Her grandparents Lord Ravondir and Lady Halloth were fantastically wealthy and high in the regard of Elu Thingol and Melian. Her uncle-by-marriage Lord Brandir was the foster son of the King and Queen, and her grandmother’s foster sister Lady Baraves was wed to the King’s nephew Lord Galadhon. Yes, Thureneth understood wealth and power. She was familiar with beautiful gowns and jewels, spectacular feasts and balls and hunts, the intrigues of politics and high nobility. She had not been impressed by Elder Elrain’s wealth. It was impressive by Greenwood standards. But not Doriath standards.
There had been no place for Thureneth in Doriath. No place that did not involve playing the game of courtship with handsome young lords in the hope of winning the noblest and richest of them and together providing the realm with yet more handsome young lords and maybe one or two beautiful young ladies whose fate would be to repeat the cycle when their time came. So Thureneth had left Doriath in company with her adventurous youngest uncle Lord Baralin. Travelling had been a means of finding a place for herself, and on their travels Baralin had taken her to frozen Forochel in the far north, to the rocky western coasts, to the green lands of Ossiriand and far beyond. Stunning places, but not for Thureneth.
Then they had come to Greenwood, crossing the north-western border and making their slow way through a forest that must surely be twice the size of Doriath. It had only taken Baralin three days to declare that he was bored because the trees and waterfalls and meadows and glades felt too much like home. The final straw had come when a mouse had nibbled holes in his boots overnight. “I can have my boots nibbled by mice at home!” he had complained. “Can we not find a place with giant cats or talking birds?” Thureneth had not pointed out that mice most likely existed everywhere in the world and were not a failing specific to Greenwood. Instead she had begged Baralin to let her stay and explore Greenwood while he went off in search of exotica. She had felt in her heart that the forest had more to offer than pretty scenery and daring rodents. Baralin had hesitated. Most guardians would have refused her plea. But her father’s baby brother was not so much older than Thureneth herself and was still looking for the responsibility that his parents and siblings had hoped he would discover on his travels.
Baralin had left.
Thureneth had stayed.
For a time she feared that she had made a mistake and that Baralin had been right in his assessment that Greenwood was as beautiful and dull as a vapid courtier trying to impress the King and Queen. Passing through small settlements and no-name villages, travelling days on tangled paths without meeting another soul, had started to wear on Thureneth. But then she had reached Amon Lanc in the south. Amon Lanc was Greenwood’s largest settlement and considered its capital. It was pretty and vibrant and exhilarating, a city within the trees, full of shops and inns and stunning architecture and fountains, and she had thought that she might stay there long enough to decide if it was somewhere that she might belong.
But then the fight had happened. In the middle of a loud and busy tavern, Thureneth and another young elleth had collided with each other. The other elleth had shoved Thureneth, and she had promptly delivered a stinging slap to the other elleth’s cheek which had led to them scrapping on the floor while other patrons either shook their heads disapprovingly or made hasty bets with friends and cheered on whichever participant they thought would win. Both had ended up in the cells. The other elleth had been dealt with swiftly. She had taken her judicial switching without complaint and immediately agreed to work off the debt incurred by the smashed glasses and damaged furniture at the inn. Thureneth had refused to accept either punishment – and it was her refusal that had prompted the prison guard, apparently Bregolas, to sullenly advise her to take what she had earned – for she was a noble lady and could have paid for the damage without needing to work it off. And the switching…well, she just hadn’t wanted to have a switch taken to her, especially as she had not started the fight. She’d ultimately had no choice about the switching. As for the debt, Elder Elrain had lost patience waiting for her to accept his judgement. He had paid her half of the damage himself and then taken her into his home to work off her debt to him by copying old scrolls.
That was all it had ever meant to be.
But Thureneth had seen in Elrain something that she had recognised. He had been stern and authoritarian like her grandfather Lord Ravondir, regal like Elu Thingol, and commanding like Lord Galadhon. And unlike her distant and disinterested father Ramirith, he had responded to her defiance and wilfulness instead of simply dismissing her with a lazy flick of his hand. She had not enjoyed his autocratic nature or severe discipline. But they had given her a strange sense of stability, of security, and at some point she had started to feel a startling thrill when he warningly said her name or ordered her to him, a thrill that started deep in her stomach and spread to every nerve ending in places that she hadn’t even known existed. A thrill that she had not understood but had embraced all the same. It hadn’t mattered that she was so young or that Elrain had seen the first stars in the sky. It had surprised her but it hadn’t mattered. Not to her. Because Elrain had been tall and handsome and imposing, and the ice in his jewel green eyes had not frightened her but excited her.
Thureneth didn’t know what Elrain had thought of her in those early days. She suspected that he had only ever considered her to be a wilful and difficult girl who would move on once her debt to him had been paid. But the debt had been paid and she had not left. She had told Elrain the truth about who she was, and in acknowledgement of her nobility he had neither put her to work with his household staff nor encouraged her to find employment elsewhere. Instead he had allowed her to make use of his fine horses, his extensive library and beautiful gardens, and provided her with a small allowance so that she might replace her travelworn clothing with something more suitable for a young lady of her station. Eventually he had questioned her as to when she intended to resume her travels, but she had said that she had no such intentions just yet and he had simply looked at her in thoughtful silence.
The months had passed and two things of note happened. The first was Baralin’s arrival in Amon Lanc. Thureneth met him well away from Elrain’s house and assured him that she was enjoying Greenwood, that she was safe there and happy enough to stay a while longer at least. She did not tell him a single thing about Elrain or her living arrangement. Not that there was anything untoward about it as far as she could see, but she had felt that Baralin might have something to say about it all the same. Baralin had believed the story she gave and did not question her. He had just been pleased that she was safe and content. The second thing to happen was Elrain’s departure from Amon Lanc to preside over a legal matter in the north. At first Thureneth had told herself that she would not miss Elrain, nor his rules or the restrictions that he placed on her or the consequences for breaking his rules. And she had not missed them. But she had missed him. And when he had returned, she had flung her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Elrain had put his hands on her waist and moved her away. She had not been able to read the look in his eyes.
Whatever Elrain had thought about her burst of affection, that was where things had started to change. The embrace marked the turning point of their relationship. Where once they had been akin to a distant and stern guardian and his challenging ward, they became something…other. It was Thureneth who had initiated it. Even now, even after everything, she still accepted and owned that. Elrain could have – maybe should have – resisted or refused her. He was older. Old enough to see that they were starting down a dangerous path, that while Thureneth was not a child, even so the imbalance of age and power meant that what they were becoming to each other might not be wrong but nor was it right. But he had never told her no or stop. When she had taken his hand and guided him to touch her, he had allowed it. When she had slipped into his room in the darkest hours of night and let her robe fall from her shoulders, he had not told her to go.
Elrain had been curious. Not curious in a way that was naïve or inexperienced – indeed, so knowledgeable and in control had he been that Thureneth had understood that she couldn’t possibly be his first as he was hers – but rather curious in a way that suggested he simply wanted to know what would happen if he allowed matters to keep playing out. She thought that was why he had allowed her to stay in the first place. Not because he had cared to have her there but because he was bored and he had been interested to see what would happen if he did. Every step in their relationship was like that. Thureneth would make an advance – a kiss or a touch – and Elrain would hold back for long enough that she could see a flicker in his eyes as if he was mentally shrugging his shoulders and telling himself that he might as well allow it because what was the worst that could happen.
The final step had been marriage. Thureneth had been giddy with excitement at the thought that Elrain – handsome, mature, powerful Elder Elrain – would want to marry a foolish girl like her. Now that she was a century into the marriage, into the double life that her family in Doriath couldn’t image she was leading, she didn’t think that Elrain had ever wanted to marry her at all but that he had done it for two very simple reasons: to satisfy his curiosity as to what it might be like to have a wife, and to spite his colleagues who had counselled him against any attachment with an elleth of such tender years. Whatever his own private reasons, they had married.
It had not taken long for both Elrain and Thureneth to realise that they had made a grave mistake. Thureneth could never be Elrain’s equal any more than she could have been equal to a handsome Doriathrin lord, but being his wife allowed her privileges that she had not enjoyed as his ward. If he had not been inclined to suffer her company as his ward, he had been able to dismiss her with a wave of his hand. He could still do that, but as his wife it was expected that she should be at his side, that she should attend social events with him and host dinners, that she should have a say in this menu or the colour of that decoration or the wording on those invites. Elrain disliked that the household staff asked Thureneth for her opinions and that the people of Amon Lanc gave her almost as much deference as they gave him. He disliked that his home was now hers and that he might come home to find a new painting on the wall or a vase of flowers moved. He disliked that she wished to talk with him at the dinner table. He disliked the hurt look on her face when he had nothing to say. He might like the concept of having a wife. He certainly liked Thureneth’s willingness to perform her wifely duties in the bedchamber. But now that his curiosity had been satisfied, he did not like everything else that came with having a wife.
As for Thureneth, any hopes that she’d harboured of her cold and autocratic guardian offering the sort of tenderness that she had witnessed between her grandparents and the other blissfully wedded lords and ladies of Doriath had soon come to an end. The thrill of answering to Elrain for disobedience had turned to resignation. Her lust – and she understood now that it had never become love – had turned from a desperate need for affection into silent and smouldering resentment with occasional half-hearted attempts at earning his approval when she cared enough to try for it. The marriage was not what either of them had imagined. And yet they were trapped. Thureneth could have fled in the middle of the night and run away to Doriath. Elrain could have allowed her to leave. But she was too stubborn to admit that she had been a silly little girl. He was too proud to let the world see that they had been right and he had been wrong and he should never have let Thureneth into his life in the first place. And so they were tied together, doomed to a pointless and unhappy eternity together with not even the prospect of children to bring comfort and hope to Thureneth for Elrain had forbidden it. She was well and truly alone.
“Thureneth.”
She came back to herself with a shiver. A chill had settled in the air while she had been lost in thought. “I was…far away.”
“I know you were,” Bregolas said. “Look, you’re shivering. You should get out of the water. Dry off and get dressed. I need to be getting home anyway so don’t worry that I will see anything.”
Thureneth thought that even if Bregolas had stayed she would have trusted him to look away or keep his eyes shut. “I’m sorry that you didn’t get to swim.”
“Next time.”
“Next time…because you will have the pool to yourself,” Thureneth said softly. “Because you think that we will not see each other again.”
Bregolas had moved to a flat rock on the bank and sat there to roll his leggings down and pull his boots on. He stood then and looked down at Thureneth with a small smile. “You said perhaps the pool only reveals itself to people in need. Well, perhaps it brings people together when they are in need and that is why we met today. If that is true then you must trust that the pool will bring us back together when the time is right. Goodbye, Thureneth.”
“Goodbye,” she whispered.
She watched him out of sight and pulled herself out of the pool when he had disappeared through the trees. Lying back in the springy grass to dry off and watch clouds scudding lazily across the sky, Thureneth let her thoughts linger on her new friend. She quietly marvelled at him. At his kindness. His respect. The way that he had not scorned her for being wrong about the rock on her clothes, the interest that he had shown in her perfectly shiny stone. The smiles that he had gifted her. A rueful laugh escaped her. She supposed that it was a little sad that such things should impress her so. They might not have once. She might have expected them. She no longer did.
When Thureneth must at last return home she went to the study. She hovered outside and imagined herself stepping in to be swept into her husband’s arms and kissed until she was too giddy and breathless to answer when he asked her to tell him all about her day. She had to imagine it because she knew that it would not happen. Still, she could hope, she thought, as she knocked to announce herself and opened the door enough that she could quietly slip inside. Elrain was seated at his desk with his customary glass of wine close to his right hand. He looked up from his work with a disdainful glance for his wife.
“I just got home,” Thureneth offered.
“Being possessed of both eyes and ears, that had not escaped my notice,” Elrain replied.
Thureneth felt her cheeks warm. “I went swimming.”
“Yes. You told me last night that you intended to swim today. You told me at breakfast that it was still your intention to swim,” Elrain said, his voice dripping with such contempt that it shamed Thureneth. “I do not require these frequent insights into the inanity of your life.”
“I…I just thought that you might…”
“What?”
“Be interested in how it was,” Thureneth said quietly.
“Unless it was anything other than cold and wet, I can’t see what you could possibly tell me about it that I do not already know,” Elrain said.
Thureneth sighed and looked away. The pool was never cold but she supposed Elrain wouldn’t care about that. She realised then that the left side of her gown felt slightly heavier than the right. “I found a stone,” she remembered, fishing it out of her pocket. She went around the desk and knelt gracefully at her husband’s side. “Look.”
Elrain looked. He said nothing.
“I thought that I could put it in my treasure box. See how shiny it is,” Thureneth added, and she put her hand on Elrain’s shoulder only for him to shake her off. “My love,” she began in dismay.
“Are you my child or my wife?” Elrain snatched the stone from her hand and flung it to the far side of the room. He caught Thureneth by the wrist as she started to rise. “Leave it. I said leave it!” He tightened his hold on her, his fingers digging in so that she could feel her bones grinding. “You are not a little girl to collect stones and proudly present them to me as if you have achieved something of worth. You are my wife and you will behave as such. Perhaps to remind you of it I should have you perform your wifely duty here and now.”
Tears shone in Thureneth’s eyes as she pulled her wrist free. “I don’t want to.”
“Then go,” Elrain said succinctly.
Thureneth rose shakily. Her wrist was on fire and she kept it cradled close as she smoothed down her skirt with her other hand. She turned away and went to collect the stone from where it had landed, ignoring Elrain as he commanded her once more to leave it. The stone was hers, she thought. She had found it and it was hers and she was going to keep it for her treasure box. But as she reached down to pick it up, strong hands came around her upper arms and for a moment she and Elrain were locked in a struggle as she grabbed for the stone and he forced her away from it. She tried to fling herself out of his grip. He lost his temper and gave her a downwards shove, and she landed painfully on her hip.
Elrain looked down at her and shook his head. “See what you made me do.”
“I’m sorry,” Thureneth whispered. “I only want the stone for my treasure box.”
“I told you no,” Elrain replied, going to one knee before her and lifting her chin. “I can buy you gemstones and jewels if you desire something pretty. I can adorn you in the finest silks and satins and velvets. But this childish behaviour must stop, my sweet. Remember who you are. You are wed to the Chief of the Elders. What would people think if they saw you with your hair dishevelled and your gown a mess and your cheeks tearstained? Hmm? What would they think if they knew that Lady Thureneth throws temper tantrums when she has a toy taken away? Do you think that they would be impressed? Because I am not, Thureneth, and I will remind you of your place before this day ends.”
A tear slid down Thureneth’s cheek as she bowed her head. “It is only a stone.”
“It is not about the stone.” Elrain briefly tightened his grip on her chin before roughly releasing her. “Wait for me upstairs.”
The first thing that Thureneth did when she went upstairs was hide her treasure box. It was not the same as her jewellery box where she kept her necklaces and rings and bracelets. The treasure box contained the things that really meant something to her – more stones and trinkets that she had found at the bottom of the pool, pretty feathers, letters from home. She didn’t think that Elrain would be cruel enough to destroy the letters but she didn’t trust him not to get rid of the stones and feathers. She wondered if there might be a way for her to get back the shiny black stone – the thought of losing it forever made her want to cry – but she supposed Elrain would dispose of it before he came to her.
He made her wait an hour.
If Thureneth was not sitting on the edge of the bed slowly rubbing the ache from her wrist she was pacing up and down the long length of the room, her skirt whipping around her ankles each time she turned. If she was not doing that, she was standing on the balcony staring across the garden and over the orchards where apple trees grew in perfectly straight lines. That was where she was when Elrain came to her. She stepped slowly into the room and closed the balcony doors behind her, swallowing as her husband stared dispassionately at her. She had seen him look that same way at people on trial. It didn’t seem to matter that she was his wife. When she had upset him, and sometimes even when she had not, he viewed her no differently.
“Take off your clothes.”
That was the only difference.
Thureneth bowed her head at the familiar command. She slowly removed every item of her clothing until she stood in only her hair and jewels. Elrain looked at her in silence. He looked at her for such a long time that she became ashamed of her nakedness and wanted to cover herself though she stood in the presence of the ellon she had married. Against her will she thought of the blue-eyed warrior she had met at the pool. It was not the same because Bregolas had not truly seen her unclothed, but he had known even so that she wore nothing beneath the water. His knowing had not made Thureneth feel ashamed or even embarrassed, and for a fleeting moment she wondered how it would feel to stand naked in his presence. The thought startled her and she caught her breath.
“You are right to be apprehensive,” Elrain said. “I intend to teach you a severe lesson. But you know why I do it.”
“To make me good,” Thureneth whispered.
“Yes. To teach you how to be a good girl who I am proud to call mine.” Silver flashed in the air as Elrain unbuckled his belt. He pulled it taut with a vicious snap. Thureneth had known that it was coming. Still, she flinched. Elrain’s expression didn’t change but amusement flickered in his eyes. Doubling the belt, he gestured to the end of the four poster bed. “Bend over.”
Thureneth’s feet were impossibly heavy and her mouth unpleasantly dry as she turned to the bed. She got into position, braced on her hands with her feet apart. A hand came to rest on her lower back as the warm leather touched her naked bottom. Elrain tapped it there once, twice, gauging his target. Then he drew back the belt and whipped it across the fullest part of Thureneth’s bottom cheeks. She stifled a cry and barely had time to gather her thoughts before the second stroke landed just below the first. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Each one was hard. Merciless. Each one left a slender weal of fire. But Thureneth did not move. To move would be to incur Elrain’s wrath.
He spoke no words to Thureneth, offering no murmur of reassurance or comfort that might give her the strength to face this trial. She must face it alone. It was a fierce and relentless pain and even when the belt stopped striking its target Thureneth did not at first realise that it was over. She only realised when Elrain dropped the belt onto the bed. That he had not put it back on was clue enough as to what must come next. There was no need for Elrain to quietly tell Thureneth to hold her position. He told her anyway, but it wasn’t needed. A tremor ran through her as he trailed his fingers over her welted bottom to her thighs. He gripped them tightly before moving them apart. Thureneth curled her fingers into the bedcovers and turned her face away.
“You ruined my lovely day,” she said distantly when it was over.
“No,” Elrain replied, rearranging his clothing. “You ruined your lovely day.” He reached over her to pick up his belt. “I will have a servant draw a bath for you. Clean yourself up and make yourself presentable. You will join me for dinner tonight. Wear the green gown with the gold embroidery – the dark green, not the pale – and braid your hair in a crown atop your head. Is that clear?”
Thureneth moved her head in vague assent. The door clicked shut. She flinched and lay still. Then slowly, so slowly, she pulled herself further onto the bed and collapsed as if she had climbed a mountain. The silk coverlet was cold beneath her bare flesh. She had no energy to crawl beneath the covers nor fetch a robe. She lay there with glazed eyes and stared at the wall until her eyes burned so fiercely that she must close them. Tears slipped silently down her cheeks. In that moment the pool had never seemed further away.