All was darkness and shadow and flame.

There was no beginning and no end to the storm that raged around her. She was drowning in it, everything she was and had been and would ever be sinking with her. She thrashed, raging against the darkness, trapped in that world of shadow and flame.

"Arien."

That voice awoke her. She'd been born waiting for that voice, had crossed mountains and forests and kingdoms to find it.

"Arien!"

She struggled, clawing her way out of the darkness, her rage thrashing in her belly. Rage at the darkness for keeping her separated from her king. From the one she loved.

"Arien. Come back."

Come back.

'I would find a way back to you.'

Arien's eyes snapped open, fear pounding in her chest. Thorin leaned over her, his hands on her shoulders, his whole body frozen as he stared at her.

"Thorin," she warned.

His heartbeat was thunderous and raging. Panicked.

"Thorin," she repeated.

Still he did not move, did not stop staring at her, scanning every inch of her. Searching for signs of harm. Something in her own chest shifted at his panic.

She grasped his shoulder, fingers digging into the muscle. "I am fine," she told him. He remained still, his harsh face still lined with wrath and the terror running beneath it. Arien slid a hand around his neck, twining a clump of his dark hair around a finger. "If you don't start acting like a king," she said as she ran her other hand down his naked torso, fingers tangling in the hair there. "You can sleep on the floor."

Thorin pulled back, his face still filled with rage, but not so near killing that invisible threat against her. He leaned in, nipping her jaw, and said into it "I'm going to make you regret using such threats, love."

Oh, god. Her toes curled, but she forced herself to remember what she'd just gone through.

"What happened?" she whispered. Her words trembled slightly.

"I don't know," he said quietly, that fear still in his gaze. "You were screaming and thrashing. I... I thought I'd lost you."

"It was... It was a dream," she said. "Just a nightmare." No need to tell him that it had been of him dying.

He nodded, but his hands were still gripping her shoulder, his expression still murderous. As if he would still like to kill whoever, whatever had caused her pain.

"I... I need some water."

He nodded again and released her, stalking over to a jug of water on the table across the room they shared together and filling a glass. He handed it to her, and she drank it, before slipping out of bed and returning it to the table.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"Arien, I..." Thorin was watching her, as if still checking for any injury. "I don't think I have ever felt such terror as I did when you wouldn't wake up. When I thought you were... You were..." He shook his head, unable to say it, his words coming out a bit strained as he moved towards her until they were so close Arien had to tip her head back to look at him.

"I know," she whispered. "I would have felt the same way."

Thorin's hands were on her waist as he slowly kissed her forehead, and when he looked at her his eyes were so full of love. He moved his hands up so they were on either side of her neck, his thumbs gently tilting her chin so he could look at her. Those hands were so gentle on her skin, though they were roughened and callused and scarred from battle and hardship.

"You have no idea how much you mean to me," she whispered as he lowered his head. And when he kissed her she arched into him, returning his kiss with everything she was, and had been, and would ever be. Everything he'd made her into. And the way he kissed her, his love, his tenderness reminded her of why she was alive, of what the world should be. Thorin pulled back, giving her one of those half-smiles that made her heart beat faster and her breathing slightly uneven, and said

"What do I mean to you?"

She buried her head in his chest, his arms enfolding her in his warmth, and the simple comfort of being held by her king made her realise just how much she needed him. Loved him. Finally she looked up, tears of relief and joy on her cheeks.

"Everything," she whispered. "You mean everything to me, and I will shatter anyone who tries to come between us. I will shatter the world if I have to."

Thorin smiled, his eyes warm and gentle, an expression so few got to see. He brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. "If I had lost you, Arien, I would have fought for the rest of my life to get you back. I knew it from the moment I saw that orc holding a knife to your throat. What I felt for you then and what I feel for you now are the same. I just didn't think I'd ever get the chance to act on it."

Arien smirked at him, tracing her hands over his bare, sculpted chest. "Then act away, Majesty."

His answering growl was enough to send the world tipping around her. He gripped her waist in one hand, the other plunging into her hair, and tipped her head back as his mouth met hers.

The kiss seared her to her bones, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she held onto him tightly.

Alone in the dark, silent bedroom, Arien gave herself to that searing kiss, to Thorin, unable to stop her moan as his tongue flicked against hers.

The sound was his unleashing, and Thorin twisted them, backing her against the wall. She arched, desperate to feel him against all of her. He growled into her mouth, and the hand at her hip slid to her thigh, hoisting it around his waist as he ground into her, exactly where she needed him.

Thorin tore his mouth from hers and began to explore her neck, her jaw, her ear. She breathed his name, running her hands down his powerful back as it flexed under her touch.

More, more, more.

More of this life, this eternity, this fire to sear away darkness.

More of him.

She was his, he was hers. He loved her to whatever end. It was enough.