The Price of Pride

Elvish translations

Pen-velui – beautiful one
Melethron – lover
Mellyn – friends
Ae syntrea chen – please

Chapter 40

He walked purposefully out of the clearing, my wrist caught firmly in his clenched fist. The closer we got to the village, the faster he walked until we were all but running.

“Slow down,” I told him. “If they see us come running in here like this, they will think we are being followed. We do not want to cause a panic.”

He growled something I did not really understand in response, but it sounded vaguely like, “They can go to Vala, for all I care.” I was gripped by the same urgency, though, and gave up trying to slow the pace. We flew through the streets to the inn. The twins were still in the tavern when we burst in the door. They jumped to their feet at the sight of us, sloppily dressed and obviously flustered. Before they could even open their mouths to speak, Aragorn shot them a narrow-eyed stare that would have frozen any lesser being in its tracks. “Do not interfere,” he ground out, all but dragging me up the stairs. Not that I needed to be dragged. He just happened to be in front.
We burst through the door to our room and stood, panting, as we stared at each other with wild eyes. It was too much for me. I burst out laughing. Aragorn looked at me strangely. I walked to him, still clutching my sides against the giggles, and kissed him. “Look at us, melethron,” I chuckled. “Running through town like a couple of madmen. And the look on your brothers’ faces when we went through the tavern. Estel, I want this. I want you. But not like this. Come here.”
I sat on the bed and held out my hand. He took my hand and sat beside me, a bemused look on his face. “What do you mean, not like this?”

“We were wound so tight, melethron, that we would have forgotten all about why we are really here, doing this. I do not want to just tumble you onto that bed and take you. I care too much about you to treat you like some tramp off the streets. This will be the first time we make love. I want it to mean as much as you mean to me.”

“You promised,” Aragorn hissed accusingly.

“And I will keep my promise. In my own way. Stay here just a moment, melethron. I will be right back.” I slipped out the door, calling for the innkeeper. Elladan and Elrohir were waiting for me at the bottom of the steps, a united front of disapproval.

“What is going on?” thskedsked in unison. They spoke in Elvish, as we always did when only speaking to each other. I could see the concerned, curious looks from the staff and guests as our words flowed past them in sounds they could not understand.

“I thought Estel told you not to interfere,” I answered in the same language.

“Since when do we take orders from our younger brother?” Elladan asked. “What is going on?”

“Do you really want to know?” I countered. When they nodded, I replied, “I am about to arrange a dinner for two, at which point I plan on completing my seduction of your brother. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to discuss our meal with the innkeeper.” I left them gaping at me.
“Master Innkeeper,” I called in the common tongue, “a word, if you please.”

“What can I do ye for, Master Elf?” he replied, bustling forward.

“Dinner for two, served in my room, as soon as you possibly can,” I requested.

“And the other two gentleme…er…Elves?”

“Will have to make their own arrangements. My plans for the evening do not include them,” I said, shooting a cold stare over my shoulder at the twins who were hovering nearby. The innkeeper backed away nervously.

“’Twill be ready in a moment, good sir. I’ll just be seein’ to it meself.”

I nodded my thanks and turned to go back of the stairs. Two sets of Elven hands gripped my arms, one on either side. The twins had apparently not seen fit to take Aragorn’s advice. Or mine.
I was suddenly extremely tired of them. “Make up your minds,” I told them. “First you tell me one thing, then you tell me another. You tell me you want me to be happy, then you stop me from finding that happiness. You tell me you will not interfere, yet you are keeping me from my goal. It is wearying, mellyn. Which is to be?”

“We were worried. Estel was furious when you left. Now you come back, hours later, with no explanation for where you have been or what you have been doing, and Estel is all but dragging you off to bed. How do you expect us to react?”

“By now, I expect exactly the reaction you are giving me, but I really wish you would realize, once and for all, that I am in earnest and that Estel is a willing participant in this. Now, I see the innkeeper with my meal. I would like to go eat it.” I shrugged away from their hands and walked back up the stairs ahead of the innkeeper. I took the tray from him at the door, assuring him I was perfectly capable of uncovering the dishes myself. Despite my earlier words, I knew Aragorn was upset at what he saw as yet another pointless delay. I was not sure of what he might do and I did not want to scandalize the innkeeper any more than we already had. Aragorn obviously held with Elven beliefs about males in relationship, just as the innkeeper obvly dly did not.

It was the right choice to make, for Aragorn lay on his stomach, arms folded beneath his chest as he sprawled enticingly across our bed, completely naked. I was incredibly tempted to drop the tray and give him what he was asking for, but I needed to teach him the difference between lust and love. Certainly, I lusted after him. I was not made of stone and he was so beautifully tempting in that pose. But I loved him even more and for that reason, I was going to make love to him, not simply sate my desires in his body. I set the tray on the table and joined Aragorn on the bed. I trailed one finger down his spine, from the nape of his neck to the crease of his buttocks. He shivered under my touch.

“Ae syntrea chen,” he moaned.

“Patience, pen-velui. We should eat, since the innkeeper went to the trouble of preparing us a tray.”

“I do not want to eat,” he pouted, though his eyes said that he was in the grip of a different kind of hunger.

I kissed his pouting lips as I drew the sheet from the bed around his hips and pulled him to his feet. “Then you can sit with me while I eat.”

Given the state of the tavern below us, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. I tasted a bite of the beef, then offered a bite to Aragorn. He took it, a trickle of juice escaping his lips. I leaned across the table and caught it with my tongue before it could soil his beard. I licked my lips as I sat back down. “Delicious,” I said. “Beef flavored Estel.” That brought a smile to Aragorn’s face. He slid his chair around so that he sat next to me, sheet clad body displayed to advantage.

We shared a plate, eating slowly, Aragorn taking his cues from me, copying my actions to draw out the tension between us. He was trying to be seductive. I had to give him that. And he was succeeding more than I let on. I could feel my leggings growing tight again beneath the table. When the plate was finally empty, we left the table and adjourned to the bed. I thought wistfully of Rivendell, of the beautiful rooms there and how much more fitting a setting they would be for this act of love, but Rivendell was leagues away. Then I focused on the man in front of me, and all the rest fell away. I forgot that we were in a cheap inn in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. I forgot the noisy, smoky tavern below. I forgot the innkeeper with his disapproving eyes, the twins who could not decide whether to encourage or discourage. I forgot everything but my love. My lover. My heart and my soul.