Elara's POV
The meeting finally ended. After moving into the marriage aspect, I couldn't even stand anymore.
The heavy wood door of the council room closed behind me with a sound that bounced off the stone walls like thunder. I did not stop walking. I could not stop. If I stopped moving, if I let myself stand still for even a moment, the noise of my own blood in my ears would make me crazy.
"Marriage."
The word tasted like dirt in my mouth. Like poison I had been made to sit for the last hour while sitting in that room, listening to Thorin's calm voice, watching his smiles that made me feel small, hearing his careful talks about how things would be.
I could still smell him. Pride and something else, the heavy smell of his own belief in himself. It stuck to my clothes, to my skin, making me feel dirty in a way that had nothing to do with real dirt.
"Consulted," I hissed, my voice hitting the cold stone walls of the hall. "Not needed. Consulted."
