The Dragon's Curse

The Blessing

Artemis woke up the next morning with the best sleep she could recall since the journey. Her neck was slightly stiff and her shoulders ached from the angle of sleeping as she frowned, before realising her pillow was Thorin's chest and that he had a firm grip of her waist. She blushed slightly watching him sleep peacefully before she easily slipped out of his tight grip and walked over towards the dressing table.

She pulled back her long wavy hair and pinned it up in a messy bun, as she glanced at the bruises around her neck. She winced as her fingers trailed over her skin as she heard a deep grunt behind her. Turning she saw Thorin roll over as she gave a soft smile, her hand continuously rubbing her left shoulder and neck as she walked out to the balcony.

The sun and a firey glow as it made the deep snow on the ground look slightly red, as she watched chimneys starting to pour out smoke. The wind was blowing slightly, as she turned to look back to see Thorin peacefully sleeping. She wished she would be given the chance to get use to the sight of seeing him at peace, not a care in the world. Her eyes were soon drawn to a little bottle with a dragon mouth lid as her eyes widened.

Running towards it her feet were soft patters against the carpet as she grabbed the bottle. It held clear liquid with a hint of red and glistened like fire when it was held against the sunlight. Her hand covered her mouth as she gasped, how could she have been so stupid to put power in a bottle. Nervously glancing to see Thorin asleep she threw the bottle into the fireplace, as she watched the tears dissolve into nothing.

Falling back on her dressing table chair and rubbing her neck once more, she held her head in the other hand ashamed with herself. The amount of trouble to get one tear from a rider is dangerous enough let alone having a whole bottle worth of tears able to fall into many hands. It could be the fall of the world as she jumped slightly when she was comforted by warm, slightly rough hands massaging her shoulders.

She left her body relax as her eyes closed with a happy sigh. Her back lazily fell against Thorin's body as she titled her head up to look at him with a lazy morning smile.

"Morning" She greeted as he gave her a mischievous smirk before it slowly faded as his fingers traced down her neck the forming bruises as she gulped slightly as she watched in the mirror. His face was full of concern as she rose to her feet and turned to him.

"I'm fine Thorin. Truly" She smiled as he hesitated at first.

"Breakfast should be ready soon.....I'll leave you to get dressed" He smirked and kissed her hand, their eyes never leaving each other as he slowly left. Artemis noticed his coat was left behind as she chuckled, rolling her eyes before having a rose petal bath. The warm water relaxed her muscles as she just chewed on her thumb thinking of her father's ghost's warnings. When the water started to get cold, she snapped her fingers as a small flame appeared above the nail.

She watched the flame before flicking her thumb and dried off with a towel before refusing to touch another dress. She found her leather pants and boots and she slipped them on before rolling her eyes. Instead of placing her top that she had worn throughout the journey she grabbed a silk red shirt from her cupboard. Pulling on her black almost like a dressing gown, with long sleeves, no buttons of ribbon to hold it, with a four metre train behind her she made her way towards the dining room. Her hair pulled back up into a high ponytail as she received a slight growl from Lord Norgara for not wearing a dress like the prejudice man would have preferred.