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i-did-not-mean-to · 2 years

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Bodyguard Haldir + secret Royalty

This is for my lovely friend (I love you baby)

Words: 2,25 k

Warnings: violence, blood

Haldir was a professional – the very fact that he had to tell himself this in so many words might have hinted at the fact that, maybe, he was not as aloof as he tried to make everyone believe though – and he would behave accordingly.

In all his years in the service of Galadriel, a strong and ruthless businesswoman, he had never had any job even remotely as emotionally taxing as the one laid before him now; he was to play the bodyguard for a foreign dignitary, a young woman, while she was in the city of Lothlórien for diplomatic talks of the utmost importance.

“Haldir,” his boss had smiled – tight-lipped and charmingly enough for him to know that he was in serious trouble – as she had handed him the file of the young lady in question, “as she is such a tremendously vital part of these negotiations, she will be undercover; nobody is to know who she is.”

“I am to babysit a person who pretends to be someone else?” he had gasped in reply, “You seriously want me to supervise a young woman who’ll probably want to do all the things she’s never been allowed to due to her upbringing and name?”

Lady Galadriel – as the staff called her not without affection behind her back – had merely nodded and grinned.

That had been 2 weeks ago, and since, Haldir’s whole world had shifted.

“Princess Aahana,” Galadriel had introduced the most beautiful woman he had ever beheld, “this is Haldir; he shall be your shadow from now on.”

Oh, how those eyes – black as jet and ink – had radiated as they fell on him and – for the first time in his career – Haldir had wished, be it only for a single moment, that she might have seen him in his own well-tailored suits rather than the black on black uniform he was expected to wear while on a job.

“You’ve got to lose that suit,” she had giggled, “everyone will know that I’m travelling with a bodyguard otherwise.”

“As Milady commands.” He had hated the hollow sound of his own voice, but it had taken all his strength to dissimulate the treacherous tremor of admiration and breathless captivation he felt for that princess from a faraway land.

Already, minutes after that very first meeting, he felt his resolve mellowing; all his words of stern refusal of whatever fancies a young woman might have dissolved like snow in the sun upon seeing her fresh, open face full of life and joy.

Galadriel merely chuckled; she had been sure that Haldir was the right man for this job – conscientious to a fault but gentle enough to not disregard the princess’s well-being and happiness in the name of safety and decorum – and she loved being right.

“Ah come on,” Aahana, as she demanded to be called, laughed, “you look cute!”

Haldir made a face; he did not want to look cute, but – truth be told – he would have done almost anything to make his princess – for she was his for the time being – laugh; of course, he would have preferred to be called ‘handsome’, but any compliment falling like stardust from her perfectly shaped lips was a blessing he accepted in grateful humility.

It was hard to put into words how different she was from all the other people in his life; Aahana was a special kind of light that blinded his heart without hurting his eyes.

Looking at her felt as if he had slept through every single night of his life before, as if he had never seen the stars, for – unlike the pale and colourless beauty of those he called kin and friends – she made him discover and adore the endless nuances of duskiness.

Her skin was like velvet the colour of a sunset over the deserts he’d only seen once during his training years, and her eyes were as dark and mysterious as a moonless night.

Nevertheless, he had never seen anyone half as luminous as that young woman who could laugh and cry about almost anything; she had a quick wit and a tender heart, and – professional or not – he was already half in love with her.

On this fateful day, she had taken him into one of those malls where predominantly young people hung out to buy him a new set of clothes that would be less conspicuous as they walked down the street – discovering sights and restaurants – and visited museums of all sorts.

“I don’t know, Aahana,” Haldir muttered, looking down miserably at the tight jeans and the preppy sweatshirt she had chosen; it was the very opposite of the sober, clean style he usually preferred in his own private wardrobe.

“I like it,” she grinned, “it accentuates your butt.”

Haldir twisted and turned to check, freezing when Aahana’s soft fingers closed around his chin and directed his face and gaze to the mirror that stood in plain view just a few steps away from him.

“You look great, Haldir,” she repeated.

Someone cleared their throat and they both turned to the source of the ominous sound only to find an elderly saleswoman grinning at them.

“Is everything to your satisfaction, you lovebirds?”

Haldir froze, but Aahana only chuckled and assured the woman that they were more than satisfied with the wares; despite pretending to be normal citizens, nothing could dissimulate her good breeding and expensive wardrobe or – for that matter – his military precision and protective demeanour around her.

It was absolutely normal to think that they were lovers, Haldir tried to assuage the panic rising like acid in his throat, they were – after all – a man and a woman who went shopping for clothes together.

Also, Aahana stood suspiciously close to him, holding his face tenderly while she gave him one of those radiant smiles that always turned his insides to goo.

There was nothing strange about this and yet, he felt like he was breaking some sacrosanct rule by letting her encroach upon his personal space and break through the barriers of his heart so.

“You need to relax, Haldir,” Aahana laughed as they stepped out of the shop, “nobody will believe that I am not important if you keep looking at me as if I was made of pure gold.”

“It has nothing to do with your status, princess,” he muttered and bit his lip when he realised that he had said that out loud.

“Oh, really?” she pounced on this moment of inadvertent weakness with a sunny smile; her voice sounded like milk and honey – inflections of a faraway realm spicing it like her secret ingredients made her tea a symphony of subtle flavours – and he couldn’t help the slight shiver running up his spine upon hearing that sweet voice flow like a river of serene joy around him.

“You are precious,” he simply stated, hoping she’d leave it at that.

Truth be told, Haldir cared nothing about the peace talks or the monumental role this young woman was to play in them anymore; all he could think of was how pearly her laughter rang out and how beautiful she looked in the silken robes of her people.

She was colour where he was blankness and – whenever he saw his own skin on hers – he couldn’t ignore the jolt of pleasure the contrast gave him; Haldir had never wasted a single thought on his own appearance before, but he could admit that he felt more handsome by her side as if they brought the best out in each other – inside and out.

Sometimes, when she was distracted by other things, Aahana would almost walk into traffic and Haldir necessarily held her back – his hand hard and white as marble on the dusky satin of her skin – which would elicit an apologetic giggle from her that made his heart cramp with longing.

Beyond a doubt, Princess Aahana was the most gorgeous and enchanting woman he had ever met and ever since he had clapped eyes on her and exchanged the first words with that sweet soul, his mission had become secondary.

He would have died for her, he would have walked into the inferno of lethal flames and off a cliff to protect her, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with his loyalty to Lady Galadriel or professional dedication.

At night, he would dream of exhausting all his life savings to cover her in jewels and precious metals for he didn’t doubt that the most valuable of gems in this world deserved to be worn and showcased on the smooth perfection of her pristine skin.

“Haldir?” Princess Aahana interrupted his shameful daydreams, “what are you thinking of?”

He would not, he could not tell her; his fantasies of holding her in his arms, of carding those stiff, white fingers of his through the thick, silken hair presently held by an exquisite pair of pins, or of kissing those warm, smiling lips were preposterous, for they would never come true.

“Nothing, Milady,” he sighed, tightening his grip around her wrist as she tried to hasten across the street.

Haldir realised that he had been momentarily distracted by her beauty, but – in a painfully blinding flash – his awareness returned with a sharp sting, the metallic taste of apprehension making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up; someone was watching them.

“Milady,” he called, damning propriety to hell, as he wrapped himself around her like a shield.

To the people passing by, they looked like an ordinary couple hugging in the street, and nobody heard the muted ‘whoosh’ of a bullet finding flesh even though it missed its target by a hair’s breadth.

“Haldir?” Aahana stared up at the tremor of shock and pain that flashed over those features she had come to admire so much before all colour drained from them.

“Haldir!” she repeated, frantic now, as his cold fingers tightened around her upper arms; it didn’t feel as if he was trying to keep her from doing something injudicious anymore, on the contrary, she got the distinct impression that he was clinging to her like a man afraid of drowning.

“Get…to…safety…” he panted, his eyes huge with an emotion too close to fear to leave her unfazed, “run!”

That’s when – trying to pat his back reassuringly – she felt the sticky heat seeping through the new sweatshirt they had just bought.

“Go, princess, please,” he croaked, squaring his jaw in a heroic attempt not to topple and – in the worst case possible – take her down and pin her under his lifeless body.

Damn her pride, Aahana thought feverishly, damn the whole secretive nonsense; clearly, her enemies had found her after all and despite all the precautions that had been taken to keep them in the dark.

“HELP,” she screamed, a sob shredding her words into a cacophony of feelings, “help me! Call an ambulance!”

People started turning around, hastening to her side; they were all in danger, Aahana knew, but she accepted to build a human shield if only it would boost Haldir’s chances of getting to the hospital before bleeding out.

“Aahana,” he wheezed, “don’t! You need to…”

Words failed him as the pain and the numbing cold flooded his senses.

“Hush, friend,” Aahana caressed his cheek tenderly, “it will be alright. I’ll alert your people from the ambulance; don’t worry.”

For weeks now, he had kept her safe – physically as much as emotionally – and she would be unworthy of her title and its honours if she could not repay his dutiful kindness by stepping up in his hour of need.

It had been her fault; she had become too confident and frivolous.

If only she had listened to careful, measured Haldir, but now it was too late, and she prayed to her gods and his alike that he’d be fine; she knew not how she would deal with the guilt and the emptiness if he was to succumb to that insidious wound.

Wasn’t it funny that a man so discreet and stoic was taken down by an attack equally as silent and dignified?

“Milady,” Haldir gasped – jolted awake by a bump in the road – and felt around the sterile cloth for her hand, “why did you…? How could you put yourself in danger for me like that?”

“I don’t often get the chance to talk to someone like you,” Aahana replied softly, “let alone be with someone like you, or be myself for that matter; I owe you not only my life but what little happiness I have known in the last year.” With a gentle hand, she brushed away a strand of hair – tacky with sweat – from his fair brow as she went on: “I am not more important than you, Haldir, no matter what people tell you…what else did you want me to do?”

“Run, as I told you,” Haldir frowned at her, but he didn’t manage to look quite as severe as he would have liked to, “get to a safe house and call Lady Galadriel.”

“And leave you behind?” Aahana was aghast.

“Yes, I am but a small cog in the works,” Haldir replied without false modesty.

“Wrong,” Aahana protested, “you are the only thing that mattered in that instant to me….” He managed a sad smile – allowing himself for a single second to believe that the way she looked at him now was proof of more than just professional courtesy and basic human decency – and then, the world went black around him.

I hope you enjoyed this, baby, once again, I love you truly <3

You are a really pretty girl and I hope I didn't say anything offensive. Love you ❤️

@eunoiaastralwings have her read this one to you <3

@fellowshipofthefics second entry :D

#fotfics may challenge #may challenge #haldir #haldir x OC #haldir x southasian OC #bodyguard #secret royalty #fluff #and violence #first part?

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