Cantering smoothly across the sands, Éomer was thankful Geldsheen had left the barren landscape of the last five hours. It was becoming hot in the midday sun and Éomer made no effort to dismount when Geldsheen trotted into the sea to cool himself. He was tempted to slide off the huge horse’s back and take a dip himself, but he sensed that his mount’s foray into the waves had a greater purpose. Without warning, Geldsheen turned and raced out of the lapping waves towards the cliff face. Éomer closed his eyes, needing to put blind faith in his horse as it seemed to him that they would crash into the rock itself.
When he dared to open his eyes, he was amazed to see a hidden pathway, just enough for a horse of the Mearas’s size to pass, enclosed by high cliffs laced through with colourful rock formations. Gradually the path opened out to a hidden ravine, an oasis of green in the barren landscape. Had Éomer ever been there, he might have made a comparison with Rivendell. Clear, crisp water flowed through the verdant valley, with trees lining the steep walls and flourishing green grass on the valley floor.
Geldsheen finally stopped to drink deeply from the fresh stream, allowing Éomer to dismount and quench his own thirst. Once refreshed, the horse went to stand patiently under the shadow of a cool tree quietly nibbling the grass underfoot. Despite his peaceful and wondrous surroundings Éomer was finding it difficult to control his patience, although he took comfort from Geldsheen’s calm. He, at least, was not worried about his mate. Éomer could do nothing but wait and reflect on what he had seen and heard through the Palantir. He had so many questions. Patience, patience. To distract himself from his thoughts, he went for a swim in the cool waters of the rock pools.
The hours passed and yet she did not come. Geldsheen was resting under the shade, still showing no concern. Éomer stripped once more and went for another swim. The waters were deliciously cool. Bored and needing to occupy his mind, he ventured further upstream. The rock pool directly above the one in which he had first bathed was bigger and deeper than the one below it and he found that this pool led to a large cavern, which seemed to be the source of the stream. Not wanting to go in too far in case Lothíriel appeared, he swam back to the edge of the top pool and stood up out of the water to walk back down to the first pool.
He stopped suddenly. From where he stood on the top ledge of the cascades, he saw that Geldsheen had gone. He gasped in hope. ‘Please don’t leave,’ he heard her voice say, he turned around sharply. She was standing on the rocks beside the pool still dressed in her dancing clothes. ‘I’m rather enjoying the view,’ she continued amused, looking at his full naked body smiling playfully. She dived in to swim over to him as he waded back into the water to clasp her to him as she surfaced. She wrapped her legs around him in the water as they kissed ferociously. ‘I love you, I love you, I love you,’ she declared in between their kisses.
‘Don’t leave me, I don’t want you to leave me,’ he cried out in return. Eventually they calmed themselves enough to speak. ‘You must be starving,’ he said, ‘Genting packed some food. I saved it for you.’ She looked at him adoringly and smiled lovingly holding his cheek in her hand.
‘I am famished,’ she conceded.
To her regret he dried himself down and put on his breeches. She tutted while he did so, caressing his naked body while she could.
He pulled her to him and asked, ‘Food or me?’
She laughed. ‘I think I will enjoy you more on a fuller stomach,’ she teased.
They sat down to eat, content to say no more for the moment. There were too many questions, and each would need their full attention.
‘This is a beautiful spot, in such an inhospitable land, how did you find it?’ he asked as they finished the first of their rations.
‘There is so much I need to explain to you and show you. We will lose the light soon. Maela and Geldsheen are content to stay outside but come with me, bring the travel sack and I will show you what I found with Father when you left to return to Edoras after the signing of the peace treaty. Come.’
She led him back into the topmost pool which Éomer had explored. He followed her into the cavern he had found but without needing to enter the water. She followed what would seem to an untrained eye to be a pathway created naturally from the rock and not man-made. There was still enough sunlight entering the chamber through a large gap in the roof to see the back of the cave, to which Lothíriel brought him.
Facing as they were a rock face, he assumed they would be required to dive into the pool to access a hidden submerged passageway, but instead Lothíriel stood facing the wall and withdrew her mithril daggers. She placed them against the rock wall and tapped twice before dragging them over the surface as though she were writing large script and when Éomer heard a click, she pushed both daggers together into two almost invisible cracks in the wall and twisted them around like a key. A glistening doorway slowly illuminated in the rock face; she prised it open effortlessly.
Just to the left of the entrance, Lothíriel knelt beside a small box. Éomer’s eyes adjusted to the gloom to see her foraging for the tools she needed to create a spark. Startled by a sudden intensity of light when she lit a torch, he watched her hold the flame of the torch to a basin of oil, which fired instantly. She pulled a lever. The flames on the oil flowed gently downwards, illuminating a passageway in a cascading sequence which was magical to behold. They followed the path of light as it flitted from channel to channel irradiating their passage deeper into the cave complex. Éomer could only marvel, his keen mind absorbing everything around him in silence. The light finally filtered into a large cavern and settled where it was; it had no need to go further. The walls of the vast cavern reflected the light so intensely, he could only imagine it was pure mithril.
Lothíriel heard Éomer gulp. She knew he had understood the significance of what he was seeing. ‘This was as much of a curse for my ancestors as the Prophecy, Éomer. These are the fabled lost caverns of Rodhannor, which most believe to be a myth. They are not as beautiful as the Glittering Caves, but they are as valuable, possibly more. Whoever owns this land could become the richest being on Middle-earth and undoubtedly one of the more short-lived. One of my ancestors came upon it before the Fall of Númenor, before Elendil came to Middle-earth. They were of the same line as Elendil, the third son of Elendil’s grandfather, Ëarendur, 16th Lord of Andunië.
My ancestor was a wise man and a humble one. He understood that war over ownership of this land would never cease if its riches became known, and so he and his sons ensured its secrecy, only taking from it sparingly. They were skilled smiths, concealing all other entrances but the one we came through. They traded very carefully, so as not to bring undue attention to where they attained the mithril. As Arnor and Gondor were established, they became helpful to Elendil and his heirs and were rewarded with the position of Prince of Harondor at the same time incidentally that Elendil created the title of Prince of Belfalas for another distant cousin, the line of which became the Princes of Dol Amroth.
But the secret had to be maintained, so few were ever allowed knowledge of its existence, never mind the location. The last Prince of Harondor to know the location did not trust his son nor his sons-in law with the knowledge and so he hid it from them. He would rather it died with him than bring down constant death and destruction to the region. But he disguised directions to it, most cleverly, in a nursery rhyme, passed down through the generations. The family knew that this was the connection with Rodhannor and that Rodhannor itself was not a myth. Every child of the family had to learn it, it was tradition, even if none knew how to interpret the code within it.
When Alatariel married into the family, the location had already been lost but she had been told by her husband that the mithril daggers and the nursery rhyme were the key to finding the entrance, but something wasn’t right with the rhyme. It was suspected that someone had changed the words possibly unaware of the significance of doing so. Mother used to sing it to me, but she didn’t tell me of the connection to the caves or the daggers. Maglor only mentioned the significance of the nursery rhyme to the caves and the daggers when we were in Minas Tirith, after the battle when you had all left for the Gates of Morannon. I knew I had seen a scroll of nursery rhymes a long time ago, when I was a child. I found it, the nursery rhyme for the Princes of Harondor, on the same scroll which had the words and music for the Coronation Song of the Old Kings of Gondor, and the Wedding Song. It matched the nursery rhyme we had learned as children except for one full line. Father and I thought we would see if we could work out the clues last year, and we did,’ Lothíriel said remembering their astonishment.
‘Tuor knows of it, and Aragorn, but we do not want anyone else to know. Tuor does not want to know where this is. I want nothing of the inheritance of Harondor, but he refused responsibility of this outright. He understands the danger and the temptation, and he doesn’t trust himself with it. He said he would sign it over to Aragorn if I didn’t keep ownership of the estate on which this land falls. We have agreed with Aragorn that my father and I will come once a year and take out only what we ourselves can mine in four days. I am showing this to you so there are no secrets between us, as there were between my mother and father, which hurt them both so very much. Cirion would never have been able to weave the distrust he did otherwise.’
She hesitated before continuing, ‘I also thought that you would come in my place with Father when I am with child and you could mine enough mithril to make each of our children their own Alataturë, if Gimli wouldn’t mind performing such a task?’ Éomer spun her round and clasped her to him.
‘How many times do you think I might have to come? I was thinking that perhaps four times would be a good number if that wouldn’t be too much of a strain for you, if we are so blessed? If we have none, we can always adopt one of Faramir and Éowyn’s,’ he added flippantly.
She gazed up at him lovingly, ‘At least four and I think we should start straight away… Straight after the wedding that is,’ she clarified quickly as a spasm of ill ease crossed his face.
He slowly disengaged from her to speak seriously. ‘You know I would marry you as soon as we are back in Minas Tirith, Lothíriel, but if I do, I will not be able to let you leave for the North. If you must still go and I will not stop you, do not ask me to make love to you until you have returned, and you are truly free to remain with me.’
‘I understand, Éomer, but you will let me sleep next to you? I feel so safe when I am close to you.’
He nodded with a smile and with that she showed him the section of the cave where smooth beds had been hewn from the rock. She quickly found the bedding she had left with her father when they had first found the location and had sent for the necessary equipment to be brought by ship from Dol Amroth to a bay much further up the coast to keep the exact location secret. Exhausted, they both lay down in each other’s arms and soon fell sleep.
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Their passion on waking had been too intense to ignore. Careful though they had been in one respect, their cries of ecstasy resounded loudly throughout the cavern. It was well into the morning when hunger eventually drove them to leave their pleasures. Lothíriel went to the pools outside and using traps that had been made by her father on their previous visit, she caught two of the many fish living in the stream and brought them triumphantly back to Éomer still alive. He could tell she was mightily pleased with herself. She took out one of her mithril daggers and handed it to him expectantly with the fish.
‘I will go and get some herbs and see what else I can find,’ she said. He smiled to himself. Gallend had warned him that of the many skills Maglor had tried to teach her, she had resolutely failed to learn to cook.
After the meal, prepared surprisingly skilfully by Éomer alone, he had expected to make haste to Minas Tirith.
She put her hand on his chest, saying, ‘There is so much I need to tell you, I would prefer to spend the day here and I will show you how we mine the mithril. I wish to take some back with me. I have a sword to replace and one or two other things. Once we are back, we will be separated again, and you will have your duties and I mine. We will not have this time together for a long while. We are beyond scandal here, Éomer. Our families and friends are the only ones to know we are together and as long as I do not return with child, truly, no one cares. There is so much you need to know, and…. and… I need some time to accept that Maglor will no longer be with me. Here with you I do not think about it, but I fear it will hit me very hard when we are back…'
She looked so vulnerable that he swept her up immediately into a tight embrace and he reassured her they could stay for one more day.
‘Besides, he said, ‘you have to teach me to sing the Wedding Song as Éowyn wants me to sing it with you and I am not sure I want the whole of Minas Tirith to hear my failings,’ he said, making her laugh.
They learned so much from each other that he was thankful that they stayed. They had much to catch up on since their parting almost three months before as she had not been able to write anything significant to him in case their messages went astray. Gallend had been most insistent. All correspondence had been sent verbally through Genting who had made the three-day journey between Minas Tirith and Edoras numerous times. There was one story, above all, that he was curious about. He had heard little from Genting but had surmised much.
‘You must tell me what you have done with Amedlan. I assume since Erchirion was with you in Sennebar that the truth of what happened to Vandan, as well as the events leading up to his death, has now been accepted by all? It was Erchirion you were protecting, as well as Galador, wasn’t it?’ he asked searching for the full story. ‘And it was Amedlan who unlocked the storeroom and stole the wig to portray you as a whore… you have been told about that, haven’t you,’ he added suddenly panicked that she might not yet have been told what her brothers had thought of her, she only smiled and nodded, ‘… and it was also Amedlan I would wager who stole Vadamir’s sword and gave it to Vandan that night. Am I right?’
‘There is so much more I must explain to you, my love,’ she said, indicating for him to take a break from mining the mithril and settle himself down for a while.
‘Elphir has kept his suspicions and his actions so tightly secret that it was only when Amrothos came to him with his questions about what happened that night that he began to open up to Amrothos about the extent of his own secret investigations. Elphir is by no means as dull as he appears. It’s all an act,’ she laughed incredulously. ‘And I am supposed to be the actress!’
Éomer remained unconvinced, however, he decided to indulge his future wife and waited patiently for her to continue.
‘Elphir was only four when Belegond came to Dol Amroth with Melian, but he told Amrothos it was as though a shadow had fallen over him. He retreated into watchfulness. Even at that age, he preferred to watch and learn, careful in whom he put his trust. There was one adult he trusted above all others, one no one would suspect of being the closest ally to the heir of Dol Amroth. I remember him. Tarquith was his name. He was the town tramp, one tolerated at the palace for reasons none could fathom, except to assume it was through the charity and kindness of my grandfather. We found out only on our way to Sennebar that he had been Maglor’s agent all along, there to do what he could to protect Amahlia while Maglor could not. For some reason, Elphir bonded strongly with him and they spent years trying to understand the threat they could feel building around us.’
‘What happened to the man?’
‘He was found murdered, not long before Cirion’s arrival in Dol Amroth. At the time, Elphir had not believed it was a coincidence, but there was simply no evidence to support this. He confessed that he too fell under Cirion’s spell of deceit and could not think ill of him.’
‘Amedlan was too young to have been responsible for Tarquith’s murder, surely? So Belegond? Or even Melian? Or do you now think it was Cirion all along?’
‘Well, Belegond was in Minas Tirith when Tarquith was killed and it certainly couldn’t have been Melian, as she had died two years before – a case of suspected poisonous mushrooms, whether by accident or design we never found out, but it resulted in the second unexplained death at the palace shortly after. The steward’s serving maid was said to have thrown herself off the Dallinir cliff above Dol Amroth and into the sea in repentance of her mistake in serving the wrong mushrooms, only she was not the kind of woman to have done that. She was the mother of Elphir’s best friend in Dol Amroth, Benethrin. And he is adamant his mother was not responsible for the mistake, nor would she have killed herself over it.’
‘Amedlan then?’ Éomer supposed.
‘She was only fifteen and Tarquith far stronger than he pretended. He had put up a serious fight. It could only have been a man and a powerful one at that.’ Lothíriel’s forehead crinkled in concentration examining what she had recently learned from her brothers in an attempt to make sense of it all.
‘Where is Amedlan now?’ Éomer asked, determined to hear how Lothíriel’s many childhood torments had been avenged.
‘Elphir had her arrested! He had nothing but supposition and hearsay until Amrothos came back from Aldburg. Elphir and Amrothos tackled Erchirion together about what really happened with Vandan and it all came out…’
‘What happened exactly, Lothi? I’m assuming it was Galador Vandan was in love with, only Galador was in love with Erchirion?’ Éomer probed. Lothíriel sighed.
‘Yes, it was. It seems that Vandan’s overt flirting with Galador had made Erchirion realise the nature of what it was he felt about Galador for the first time. Galador himself had known for a long time that he was in love with Erchirion but, given how such feelings were increasingly being persecuted, he was desperate to keep it hidden. Vandan had no such control. He was becoming seriously unstable. I was terrified of the consequences for Galador. At that stage, I had no idea at all that Erchirion was so inclined, none whatsoever.
Galador tried gently to tell Vandan that he didn’t feel the same way, but Vandan wouldn’t accept it and had grabbed him to kiss him just as Erchirion was coming around the corner. Both Vandan and Galador saw that Erchirion, far from being disgusted, had been on the contrary, most definitely aroused. And Vandan saw that it wasn’t that Galador did not like men, but that Galador preferred Erchirion. His jealousy raged uncontrollably. Galador was doing his best to avoid both of them and had succeeded until that day.
Amedlan had as usual followed me to where Galador was hiding under the pier. I had taken him some food and intended to stay with him most of the afternoon, but she knew I would have to leave Galador later in the afternoon to go to see Aunt Ivriniel, who was very sick and had not long to live. Vandan most likely had confessed his love for Galador and his jealousy of Erchirion to Amedlan, not realising what an evil bitch she was.
When Erchirion found out that Father wanted to see me about the men my brothers had seen me with, he panicked and was desperately trying to find me to warn me. It seems Amedlan heard him asking one of the servants where I was and she told him where he would find us, only she gave him the time she knew I would be with Aunt Ivriniel, when Galador would be still under the pier alone waiting for me to return. Erchirion arrived shortly after I had left in a dreadful state trying to find me. As Galador was trying to comfort him, one thing led to another and it seems that they, err, both lost control and well… you can guess.
I knew something was wrong when I came back from seeing Aunt Ivriniel. Elphir was prowling outside the entrance to the house from the gardens and I could see Amrothos on the lookout from the window. I froze. I thought someone was coming to attack me again, so I hid as Maglor had taught me and you know I never go anywhere without my mithril daggers. I saw Erchirion coming around the corner from the path to the pier and realised he would have seen Galador there. I was about to come out of my hiding place to greet him, when Vandan came running out behind him screaming about Galador with the sword raised. I shouted Vandan’s name, Erchirion turned to face him but he was unarmed. He just froze. I had to stop Vandan and the only way I could was to throw one of my daggers. Erchirion was blocking my aim. I had to act as Vandan raised the sword about to strike. I jumped onto one of the stones in the garden to find any angle to stop him…’
Tears were streaming down her face as she had described the events of that evening with difficulty. Éomer went to put his arms around her and he held her tightly to him.
‘I knew I had killed him. It was what Tuor and Maglor had trained me to do… I then ran behind Erchirion and shoved him into the bushes, telling him to stay there or it would be Galador who would suffer. I heard Amrothos’s screams having jumped from the window when he had heard Vandan’s shouts, just as Sandrinë had, I heard Elphir shouting and running from the entrance of the house. You know the rest.’
‘Thank you. It is good to finally know the full story, even though I suspected most of it and never believed your version of it,’ he told her with a grim smile.
She had the grace to hang her head, ‘I was careful not to actually lie to you,’ she pointed out in her defence.
‘Had Elphir seen Erchirion? At what point did he realise that your version was not the whole truth?’ he questioned.
‘He hadn’t seen him. I also didn’t think that Amedlan had, but she must have seen him when he made his escape from the bushes after Elphir went to get Father. Elphir started to get suspicious though, when Amedlan began to drop hints which he interpreted as an attempt to blackmail him into marrying her. It is why he married Serillion so quickly. Luckily, he made an incomparable choice. No one understood it at the time as she lacks the beauty everyone expects of such a match, but Elphir wisely went for kindness and common sense, which the lady has in abundance.’
Éomer regarded his beloved rather amused by her sincerity. He allowed himself the fleeting but wicked thought of whether he would have made the same choice given how very beautiful his future Queen was, however kind and intelligent she might also be.
‘So, thwarted by her ambition to become the next Princess of Dol Amroth, she went after the second son, hoping no doubt that something untoward might happen to the first,’ Éomer surmised. ‘And you made it happen. That is somewhat ironic,’ he concluded.
‘I knew she was awful but at that stage I didn’t understand just how evil she is. Erchirion was desperate and I didn’t realise she was blackmailing him. She had threatened to expose Galador. Erchirion might have survived the scandal, but Galador would not. Father was very much set against the match and refused to finance them. I thought Erchirion might harm himself he was so distressed, so I gave him the estates. We can say with hindsight that it was the wrong decision, but I’m not sure it was, however terrible it must have been for Erchirion. He did it to save Galador...’
‘And Vadamir’s sword? Only she or her father could have taken that from the storeroom. As Steward, he had the master keys to the whole palace, and she was a talented thief. She stole the wig that looks exactly like your hair, as well as the dress. She either paid some wench to pretend to be you or it was herself who played the harlot for your brothers,’ he said bitterly.
‘Yes, my love and for this we have Sandrinë to thank.’ Éomer winced, disinclined to think favourably towards the lady who had caused his beloved to suffer on another’s behalf. ‘Elphir asked Vadamir to bring his family to Dol Amroth to bring all the witnesses together. She eventually confessed she had overheard a woman talking to Vandan outside the storeroom, telling him that he was a fool and he was being betrayed by Galador under the pier right at that moment. That he would see them himself from the rose garden which overlooked it. He was crying. She heard the door to the storeroom being unlocked and the woman saying, ‘You know what they deserve for their betrayal...’ Sandrinë identified the voice as Amedlan’s in Dol Amroth. That is when she was arrested.’
‘Why didn’t Sandrinë tell of this earlier? She had ample opportunity!’ he exclaimed exasperated. ‘This would have changed everything…’
‘She hated me. She thought that Galador loved me in the way she wanted him to love her. It was not her fault. Jealousy takes its toll. It has taken her a long time to accept the truth that Galador would never love her. Of course, once she learned the truth, she was then too embarrassed she had not mentioned it before…’ Lothíriel explained more sympathetically than Éomer felt the woman deserved.
‘So Amedlan is holed up in the same dungeon as her father – a fitting residence for her, although still too comfortable for them both…’ he maintained.
‘Actually, Elphir has her hidden in a house in Lossarnach under very tight scrutiny, not that she herself knows that. She has indeed been far more fortunate than she deserves. Elphir is sure she knows too much and her life is in danger as a result, especially as we know she sent a messenger to Minas Tirith from Lossarnach to her aunt… That was very foolish of her. Elphir only allowed it to draw out his real adversary, one who remains elusive: the current Condir.’
‘Ah yes,’ said Éomer only too happy to explore that subject. ‘The Condir. This is a matter Genting has been able to inform me about. Gallend fears the Astari network in Rohan extended well beyond Elbrond. If I understand correctly, Tuor’s theory, to which Gallend concurs, is that Hannestor was the old Condir’s deputy in both Minas Tirith and Umbar with the old Condir using Hannestor’s family business as a front to run the Astari administration. Which means that Hannedriel’s older brother, Hannemor, was most likely deeply enmeshed in the network himself. Hannestor disappeared for good, most likely dead, but Hannemor survived the repercussions of the killing of the old Condir and continued to run the family business. Although he was rarely seen, Galador told Gallend that he knew him to be in regular contact with his aunt. It is possible that he was elevated to replace the old Condir on his death and therefore needed to be more discreet. Even if Hannemor didn’t become the new Condir himself, it is likely he knows who did, and that alone gives us a lead,’ he concluded.
Lothíriel concurred. ‘And now they have Assa back, they will be able to uncover more, as they don’t know if the Astari even knew the old Condir had been murdered and then who killed Hannestor: the Astari or Assa?’
‘How involved do you think Denethor was in all of this? I still find it difficult to reconcile what I have heard of and know of Boromir and Faramir and believe all he has been accused of,’ Éomer asked.
Lothíriel breathed deeply before answering. ‘I loathed him, as you know. Aunt Ivriniel let it slip once that her sister, my aunt Finduilas, never loved him. He was proud and strong, yet insecure and susceptible to flattery, but… I do not think he was as dishonourable as he has been painted, much as it displeases me to admit that. Hannedriel knew how to play him.
It’s possible they were lovers at some stage but beautiful though she was, he would never have considered her a match for himself with her tradesman father, and lack of pure Númenórean blood, however intelligent and wealthy. My guess is that she fanned the flames of his lust for my mother, telling him that the match was desirable despite the huge age gap, he would after all live far longer than most men and would probably outlive my mother. He needed a much younger wife who could bear him more children. She would give him legitimacy to become King… who knows what cunning she used. She probably even told him that my mother desired him, and she had confessed her love of him to her. I never thought of him as a rapist, not a calculating one like Cirion at any rate….’ She looked up shyly at her future husband who had flinched at her mention of that name in that context.
‘And it wasn’t Denethor who sent the Astari to kill Boromir’s children and their mother,’ she continued. ‘That could only be Hannedriel, or her brother Hannemor, paving the way for Annedriel to become the wife of the future Steward of Gondor. Although I still find that hard to believe. The strange thing is why keep the contract open after Boromir had died? That is either pure vindictiveness or the person who ordered the contract died themselves. And why risk the death of Faramir on the suicidal mission to recapture Osgiliath if your aim was to marry your daughter to the heir of the Steward of Gondor? You see, Faramir’s name was not on the list Galador’s Tower Guard saw. He was added later by Denethor himself, so unhinged had his mind become.
Elphir is now convinced that this goes beyond the Prophecy and the Grand Master. It’s more personal and not just against me but our whole family, Boromir and Faramir included. He has done a great deal behind the scenes to root out the spies and evil in our midst. I think Father has only just begun to realise what a magnificent heir he has produced. I am so proud of my brothers.’
‘And I believe your brothers are even more proud of their extraordinary sister as I am of mine,’ he added, glad that the family had finally found the love and trust that had eluded them for so long.
They talked all day and well into the night about the dangers they and their friends still faced, and what steps might be taken to protect them. As they prepared themselves for an early start before dawn, she marvelled at how easy it was to be with him, the complete trust they had in each other, but then the shadow that lay upon her pierced through her consciousness.
‘Lothíriel?’ he had noted her change of mood instantly so attuned had they become. ‘You look worried, my love’, he said cupping her face in his hands.
She smiled hesitantly up at him, ‘It’s Maglor. I will have to face his loss when I return. A year from the day Sauron fell, he will be judged. The day of your sister’s wedding. I’m not sure how my mood will be, so yes, I am worried. This must end, Éomer, this torment. It will end.’
Taking his hands in hers, she pulled him close to her and they slowly explored each other’s bodies, delighting in discovering their lover’s most sensuous regions. They did not doubt that when they finally gave themselves to each other, it would be explosive.