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Mouse2008 : Here is the next chapter, I'm writing as much as my schedule allows it! :)

goals968745 : I love writing Lucien and Helion, their dynamic is so interesting to work with~!

FANFICTION

A COURT OF NIGHTMARES AND LIGHT

PART II – THE DAY COURT

CHAPTER XX : Dark Sun

Selena heard little whines and scratching at her door. She opened her eyes and her hand flew under her pillow, pulling out a sharp dagger and sitting up. The moon was bright and the dawn still far away. She listened carefully and recognized the patted steps, the whiny sounds and claws against her door.

She stood up and walked in long strides towards her door. The High Lord's family's floor was mostly empty of guards – it was too well protected by wards and spells, only Koios, herself and Helion were allowed to wander here freely. Lucien had the blood that permitted him to go through the wards, and she suspected her grandfather, or maybe even her cousin, to have authorized Elain to come here as well. Her scent of flowers had lingered in the hall the other day – though why she had gone into Helion's private quarters was a mystery, he hadn't shared anything of the discussion with Selena.

She opened the suite double doors and lowered her head at the japing sounds that immediately rose. The three Autumn foxes that belonged to Elain and Lucien, were jumping all around her, squeaking and pulling at her nightgown to follow them.

"What the… what are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be with Elain? Or did Lucien kick you out while they're going at it?"

But that sounded unlikely. She didn't know if Helion, Lucien and Feyre had come back yet from the library – but knowing her cousin, they were only getting starting. It was against Elain's nature to get the foxes away from her, so why had they managed to come all the way up here? How had they gotten out of the suite and–

Selena gasped, and immediately ran as fast as she could. The foxes followed her. She went down the hall where Lucien and Elain's suite was. The door was opened – which explained the foxes' night escapade.

"Elain!" She called, rushing in.

Only a few days here and the space was already filled with Lucien and Elain's presence. Not just their scents, but flower and personalisation, piles of books and parchments. She hadn't dared asked Elain if she liked the Day Court yet but–

"Elain!" She called again, going into the bedroom.

She checked the bathroom for good measure, but it was as she feared – Elain wasn't here anymore.

Selena looked around, tried to follow a scent, but the foxes weren't any help at the moment, too panicked as they were about the disappearance of their mom.

She approached the main door, and noticed that it hadn't been forced, it hadn't been locked – but there had been enough of an opening to allow a High Fae and three foxes to go through. But where was Elain? Wherever she had gone, the foxes hadn't followed and had gone to Selena for help instead.

"Aren't you resourceful little ones," she muttered, lost in thoughts, as they japed, almost angrily, to ask her to find Elain.

Selena felt dread fill her and she walked over to the balcony. She leaned over and wind made her hair flow wildly. No sign.

Elain was gone. She had disappeared from her suite, without any intrusion, without any sign of escapade.

"Lucien is going to kill me…" she mumbled.

She hurried out of the suite. She quickly arrived right in front of a yawning guard. He jumped out of his armour to see Lady Selena appear so suddenly, out of nowhere.

"Lady Elain has disappeared, I want all guards looking for her right now," she ordered, her eyes hard as steel.

The guard opened and closed his mouth like a stupid fish, then he jumped into position.

"Yes, my lady!" he exclaimed, running off.

She quickly changed her clothes, with a useful spell, and immediately organised the search. Whoever might have seen Elain was to report it immediately. They were looking in the Tower of Light in priority – there was no winnowing in or out so any goings would have been noticed. Then, they'd expand to the vicinity and further and further until they'd find Elain. She couldn't have gone for long – the bedsheets were still warm and full of her scent when Selena had been in the room for the first time.

"Should we warn Lord Helion, and Lord Lucien of what is happening?" A guard asked.

Selena opened her lips to answer, as another voice boomed from behind:

"No!" Koios exclaimed, arriving after having been awakened from the turmoil, "We will not frighten uselessly and disturb our lords with Lady Elain's disappearance. As Selena has pointed out, there is no sign of infraction. No one would have approached the quarters of Lady Elain without being stopped."

"Several guards and the librarian have admitted seeing her walk aimlessly around the halls, but they didn't stop her," Selena added.

"That's stupid. Why did they let her wander the halls like that?"

"Orders, my lord," she said with a shrug, "Lady Elain is free to walk everywhere she wishes, and it's apparently not the first time she is walking at night around the Tower. No one thought it unusual."

"But…"

Everyone's attention turned to the night librarian, who had been summoned to give his report. He blushed and went from one foot to another, uncomfortable by such a heavy attention.

"B-but… tonight… Lady Elain acted… strange…"

"What do you mean?"

"When she wanders around at night, it's because of nightmares and because she needs a distraction, or so I have come to understand it. Tonight she didn't seem… awake."

"She was sleepwalking?" Koios asked in bewilderment.

"Her eyes were opened but… she didn't seem… conscious…"

"And here I thought we'd finally have someone normal in our family," Selena muttered under her breath.

Koios sent her a warning, hard gaze, but she ignored it.

"Lady Elain's powers might have been active without her realising it. Do we know where she went?"

"The last guard who saw her witnessed her walking into the gardens. I was about to go there myself when you arrived."

"Let's go, then, without wasting another minute. Dawn is near and any minute with Lady Elain gone is more wrath to fear from Lord Lucien."

The guards were deployed in the garden. Selena and Koios were also there, but kept to themselves. The sky had coloured to that strange shade of light, greyish blue, the lightening announcing dawn.

"Do you think he felt anything through their bond? Shouldn't we warn Lucien to help us look for her?"

"He'll be too frantic to be of any use. Let him stay where he is, and unaware of the problem, for the moment." Koios said, "And… if he gets wrathful… you know how powerful he could get. Helion would hate to… stop him."

Selena's expression darkened. Her spies had been in the Autumn Court, the night Lucien had gone rampage and quit the court.

"Blue fire?" she repeated, after hearing her spy's report.

"I have never seen such an event…" the spy answered, his face almost pale, "He was… wrath incarnate. Even Beron didn't lift a hand against him, none of his brothers managed to stop him or even diminish the fire."

"It's not news that Beron is a coward, that's why he's survived so long despite being so despicable. But still…" Selena mused, leaning forward to read in more details the report, "I had never heard of blue fire…"

Her curiosity was ignited and she asked her cousins, and her grandfather what they knew of Autumn Court's powers. None had ever heard of blue flames causing such ravage. And Helion had been strangely silent…

It took a few years for Selena to find enough clues and piece it together but eventually, she confronted her cousin.

"Helion, it took me a while to figure it out but, you've met the Lady of the Autumn Court in the past, haven't you?"

"Many of us have, we meet on many occasions, such as balls and festivities. Haven't you noticed?" he said ironically, as if to distract her.

"You know what I mean by that." She insisted, stepping in front of him to keep him from escaping, "I know from several eye-witnesses that just before her marriage to Beron, she met you. Several times, in official settings, and I'm willing to bet that there were many non-official ones in between."

Helion had frozen, he looked down at her cousin coldly. He had the power of the Day Court flowing through his veins, and yet… he acted so distant, so cold – as if his heart had frozen as ferociously as the Winter Court. She noticed that shift in behaviour, that broken-heartedness, that yearning, that secrecy he had never dared share with anyone… Not even her, or Astreon – and the three of them were closer than mere cousins or siblings, they were best friends and confidents. When had Helion stopped telling her what was on his mind? When had he closed his heart from her? When such distance had appeared between them?

She hadn't noticed – or rather, she had, and had been unwilling to confront it. For centuries, she let the gasp widen and widen, and his heart turn colder and colder. It hurt too much, it hurt her to see him this way, to witness Helion, who was so lovable, so endearing, push everyone away to keep himself from being hurt any further. For so long she had had no idea what or who had hurt him… but now she had an idea – and it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"You and Lady Lucasta… she's the one you fell in love with all those centuries ago… but you never told anyone because you both knew she was promised to High Lord Beron."

Helion's face was as inexpressive as a statue. It was as if he was carved from marble. He turned away from her, perhaps to hide his emotions even more – the ones that his eyes would inevitably betray.

Despite the knot in her throat, Selena was encouraged by this reaction and she continued, staring at his tense shoulder blades:

"She married Beron, and I remember you saving her from Hybern's creatures. Lucasta had publicly asked Beron to reward you. You had the audacity to ask for a rose from Lady Lucasta herself. He laughed at you and almost banished you from his court… It would have been everyone's favourite gossip if it hadn't been for the end of the war against Hybern and the signing of the Treaty."

She observed him. He clenched his fists.

"I was always with Astreon and grandpa during those times… so was Beron… but you… you were always disappearing the Mother only knows where…"

She let her words linger in the air. Quickly and unexpected, the air thickened with Helion's grief and sadness.

"She offered me a rose. And so much more…" he admitted in a hushed voice, as trembling and fragile as a rose petal.

She had never heard him like that.

Selena's eyes teared up.

"Don't tell me you… don't tell me you took such a risk– both of you…! If Beron finds out–"

"He won't."

Helion's voice was burning and sharp once again. He clenched his fists, and turned towards her, vivid and panicked – but something close to rage writhed in his golden eyes.

"He won't find out. We've been careful. He has no reason to suspect anything and–"

His voice broke. The fire in his eyes turned sorrowful. Selena had never thought that the flames of the sun could look so… sad…

"And we've stopped… We haven't seen each other since… in centuries…"

That last word was a breath, barely audible, so full of pain and longing.

"Not since the birth of her last son, Lucien." Selena concluded darkly, "If you approach that boy…"

Helion looked up and dived his gaze into hers. A warning. A shared secret. She didn't even dare pronounce the word out loud, as safe as they were in their private quarters in the Tower of Light… She didn't dare say it out loud, it'd make it real. The fear would become real.

"Astreon has no son, Helion, it means–"

"He won't know. He has no need to know. No one needs to know. He… he's in the Spring Court now. I'll never meet him if I stay away from the affairs of the court. Astreon will eventually father an heir, and… and that boy will never need to know."

It was wrong on so many layers – Selena knew it, Helion must know it too… But she couldn't voice what she knew he feared more than anything. If anyone found out Lucien Vanserra's true parentage, Beron's wrath would be ferocious, against the boy, and against Lady Lucasta. It could mean a war between Autumn and Day. But despite those strange blue flames, unique for the Autumn and the Day Court's… lords… as long as this Lucien remained quiet and the seventh son of Autumn, as long as Astreon fathered a child, as long as things remained as they were now… It would be all right.

Just for a little while longer.

It was too late now to breach that chasm that had grown between herself and Helion, but as she put a hand on his shoulder, he tremored. They both remembered that they were family. That they weren't alone. And a young High Fae who shared their blood was all alone in Prythian, heavy with guilt, shame and sorrow. Those were the emotions that the people of the Day Court could never handle well. They were the people of the sun, of the open sky, of the sun's cycle and bright days, they couldn't linger in the darkness without any light. It wasn't in their nature, it was against the very core of their souls.

They could only hope that, while maintaining this fragile illusion, Lucien would not succumb to the darkness and the nightmares.

"Koios knows." Helion said in a low voice.

She wasn't surprised…

"He always knows everything…"

"I… he's the only one who knows…"

"Not anymore."

She squeezed his shoulder, hard, to remind him of their bond. He glanced at her and for a moment, he was the young child she had taken care of when they were younglings. And for just a moment, he let the cold barrier melt around his heart and leaned against his cousin for comfort, trembling in fear and sorrow for everything he had already sacrificed, and everything he might still lose.

Only a few months after this terrible revelation, this dark secret only known by four people in all of Prythian, Selena met Lucien for the first time. He had been sent to the Day Court as Tamlin's Emissary and she had made sure he'd remain at the frontiers of the Day Court. If he went any further in their territory… who knew what might happen to his powers if they were to awaken, or if anyone recognized Helion's features on that face…

He was charming, young, and he appeared at ease. Still, his features were marked by the harsh lines of loss – somehow that was what made her see Helion in Lucien's face. They shared similar features for anyone who knew Helion well enough – the nose, the eyebrows, the way their mouths quirked up maliciously from time to time… But Lucien still looked enough like his mother, so much like her, that the illusion would keep fooling the rest of the world for a while longer. Perhaps that was part of the reason why Helion was so adamant on avoiding Lucien – he looked too much like the female he loved more dearly than he had ever loved.

That day, Selena and Lucien didn't talk. She watched him from afar. He didn't notice her, or didn't let it show that he did. That first encounter was full of heavy sadness weighing on Selena's heart. Lucien looked just like Lucasta, but carried himself with the same anguish as Helion.

That was the worst part. So much darkness, shared by father and son, for different circumstances but similar reasons – was that the true inheritance of the Day Court's family? The deepest pit of darkness hiding in the coldest flames of the sun?

Selena took a deep breath. Every time she had seen Lucien since that first encounter, he had reminded her more and more of her cousin. It had been only a very few times – she avoided him, of course, and Lucien wasn't particularly keen on coming in the Day Court. During Amarantha's reign, the worst that could have happened, that they had all feared, did happen: Astreon was killed and Helion became the High Lord of the Day Court… which meant that Lucien wasn't just a forbidden child anymore. He was the sole heir of the Day Court.

And his mate has just disappeared from the Tower of Light, slipping away from Selena's vigilance. She didn't want to face those blue flames and the hidden powers that slumbered in Lucien's soul. Who knew what could become of the magic of Autumn and Day mixed together? Who knew what wrath that dark sun could express?

Elain's fingers trembled against the grass. She shivered. Morning dew lingered on her, leaving droplets of fresh water in her tangled hair. Her nightgown was humid and clung to her skin.

She opened her eyes, just as the first rays of sunlight hit her. It wasn't high enough in the sky to warm her. She sat up and looked around her.

She had no idea where she was or how she had arrived here. The last thing she remembered – she had gone to sleep after reading some of the books she had borrowed… then the visions. She had seen the past. High Lord Phaethos, and his death caused by his own blinded arrogance… Sibylla– she was the Seer she had been looking for, the one just before her. Was she dead? No, Elain could feel that she wasn't dead. She was just waiting for the moment she would be needed… the moment that prophecy would be in the moves.

Elain had always assumed that her prophecy, concerning Vassa and Koschei was… hers, but it turned out… it had been in the works from fate long, long, long before she had been born. Before even Lucien or even Helion had been born. There had been one more line, and it left no doubt of who it referred to.

"In fire and blood, the Fox of Day and the Cauldron-blessed Flower will court the Deathless' rise."

Elain didn't like any of that. Fire. Blood. The Fox of Day was Lucien, and the Cauldron-blessed Flower was herself. And they will… "court the Deathless' rise"? Did it mean… they will let it happen? How could they possibly let Koschei free himself… Did it have anything to do with that sword she had offered Lucien, that she had seen him kill her with? The very sword that had killed Phaethos? Why did she have such a vision? What did it mean?

The fresh morning breeze, carrying the scent of autumn and heavy with rain, made her tremble.

Elain brought her arms around her and that was when she realised she was holding something in her hand. She looked down at her right palm. She held an arrowhead. It glimmered under the sun, as if shimmering with a golden light.

She looked around and finally realised that she had awakened in a field full of moonflowers. They shone, from the lingering shade of the moonlight of the previous night, and from the morning dew.

Elain stood up, turned around and realised two things. She had no idea what had happened the previous night. And she had no idea where she was.

The sun was peaking over the mountain when Helion, Lucien and Feyre walked into the Tower of Light. They were all too tired and numb with sleepiness and a night of non-stop research to linger in the hall and they immediately went to the throne room that gave the shortest access to the breakfast room… It was the early morning and yet… the rooms were too hushed, too empty. Helion immediately froze. He felt the change in atmosphere.

Something had happened in the night.

He tilted his head on the side and remained frozen on the spot long enough for both Lucien and Feyre to turn around to stare at him.

"What is it?" Lucien asked with an easy smile.

The guards, everyone's behaviour, that heaviness in the air–

"Helion!"

"Finally, you're back!"

"What took you so long?!"

Selena, Koios, and several guards arrived running towards the group.

"We sent a message last night to warn you we wouldn't come back for dinner… or the night," Feyre answered, getting tense as she understood that something had happened.

"We might have found a solution to Vassa's Curse…" Lucien started, but his voice trailed off.

He glanced around, then narrowed his eyes at Selena and Koios. His golden eye whirred ferociously.

"This is good news," Koios said carefully, "But I'm afraid the night was more… difficult on our side."

"What happened?" Feyre asked, something close to disdainful threat in her voice – so very much like Rhysand.

Koios and Selena glanced at each other.

"What were you thinking?!"

Everyone turned towards Amren who stomped towards them, or more specifically Selena and Koios. Both braced themselves as the small but threatening female glared at them.

"I just arrived at the breakfast room and found out that Elain has disappeared! What were you waiting for to wake me up and warn me?!" She hissed, venom in her voice.

Lucien's blood ran cold.

"Elain?" Feyre repeated, "Elain has disappeared?!"

Helion finally stepped forward to take matters into his own hands.

"How did this happen?" He asked in a hard, cold voice – the voice of the High Lord.

He sent a wary glance in Lucien's direction. He was pale and shook with restrained anger, but his attention was all over Selena and Koios.

"She wasn't kidnapped," Selena immediately said to appease the first fears, "She apparently… sleepwalked out of here, then vanished. I believe she walked far away from the wards to winnow and now… we don't know where she's gone."

"Why didn't you warn me?!" Amren repeated, furious.

"We initially assumed that she was still within the Tower's grounds and we didn't want to worry anyone–"

"It's my job to protect her when Feyre and Lucien aren't here – not only you separated us all by keeping Lucien and Elain so far away from us but now you don't even warn when my disciple disappears?!"

Feyre had bittersweet memories resurfacing of the war against Hybern – the last time Elain had disappeared, she had walked away, attracted by the Cauldron. It couldn't be the Cauldron, not this time but… what threat had lured Elain away from safety this time?

"Where is she… where is my mate…?!" Lucien hissed, trembling in contained rage that his mate had been taken away from him and was nowhere to be found – he was supposed to protect her, keep her safe, and he had spent the night talking spells instead of being with her–

"Calm down, I'm sure we'll find her soon enough," Helion said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Lucien pulled away and slapped away Helion's arm. He snarled, his russet eye alit with fury. Flames licked at his clenched fists – blue flames and everyone could feel a tremor in the air… Power, pure power that asked to be let out, to consume – but magic just as powerful was holding it all in, it leashed in that power and strangled the wrath.

Everyone felt uneasy, none stepped away, too proud to do so. But they glanced warily at Lucien, at the blue flames that had started appearing around him, at the dark red of his eyes, gleaming like the threat of the sun itself…

Only Helion wasn't frightened or wary enough to make any move to defend himself. Perhaps it was because he was a High Lord and the most powerful being in the room. Or perhaps it was because Lucien's gesture of rejection when he had tried giving him comfort had hurt him deeper than he would have expected.

"Don't worry, Lucien, we'll find her," Feyre said, though she only sounded confident enough because she had frozen her voice to erase all emotions from it.

"If anything has happened to Elain, I will burn this place to the ground…" Lucien threatened, looking right into Helion's eyes.

Something snapped in that gaze. Helion narrowed his eyes, and the power of the High Lord started rippling from him – his court, his home was being threatened, and no matter how he felt towards Lucien, he wouldn't let him weaken him in front of his people.

"Watch your tongue, boy, or you'll get yourself burnt–"

The double doors suddenly busted open.

Everyone jumped away, daggers, swords or pure power in hands in an instant. Guards ran from all the corners of the throne room to assess the threat. Wind boomed through the room and most guards wavered in their steps.

They made a half circle around the newcomer, more guards running behind after obviously having tried to stop the female who had wandered in here like she owned the place.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?!" Helion asked, stepping forward and letting his aura of High Lord shine around him.

Everyone around him felt the tingles of power and almost recoiled from it – only Lucien seemed to actually relish in the waves of that pure sunlit power. That was such a shocking reaction from his own body, his magic pulsing in echo to Helion's, that it calmed him long enough to not be blinded by the panicked rage of Elain's disappearance. He put aside that strange sensation awakened by Helion's power, and took in the threat in front of them.

It was a High Fae, female, with brown skin and long dark hair. The most obvious trait were her eyes. They looked at emptiness, milky from blindness and the skin all around the eyes had been burnt and scarred. And yet, there was an awareness in her gaze, in the depth that resided in those eyes, in the way she pinched her lips together, that everyone could tell she was no ordinary High Fae, blind or not. Lucien knew to some extent what blindness felt like, and just like his golden eye was enchanted and gave him the ability to see certain things, he could tell that this female could see the Truth. Her skin wasn't as wrinkled as some very old Fae, but it was obvious that she wasn't young either. There was something in her features, in the lines of her face, that were weary from centuries, and centuries, and centuries of life…

Just like Helion's power had risen the moment she had entered the room, her own power seemed to awaken to confront it. It seemed to call each other – ancestral powers that originated from the birth of Prythian. Something that rang through the air and went deep into the Earth. The Power of High Lord, offered by the Apple of Knowledge, and another Power, just as ancient, just as mighty…

And Lucien recognized it.

He stepped forward, ignoring everyone's warning gaze, and especially Helion's.

"You're a Seer."

I hope you like this chapter, I'll post the next one as soon as possible!

Yours Truly,

May