Chapter 364
Something hit Elain in the back, sending her into the opposite wall, and she only had time to register the fact that she hadn't been able to draw breath when she then hit the floor. Opening her eyes from where she lay sprawled, Elain blinked when everything she saw was out of focus. She groaned, feeling like she might throw up as she tried to rise onto her elbows.
By the time her vision came into focus enough to make sense of the blurred colours around herself, she saw Sheera collapse on the other side of the hallway. "Sheera…" she murmured, frowning. The sound of footsteps and then metal on metal and Elain rolled slightly to try and see the other way. There was laughter, and then some invisible force picked Lucien up and hurled him up the hallway to land with a bone-jarring thud. That sent a rush of adrenaline through Elain, and her head and vision cleared quickly. She pushed herself up, biting back a grunt of pain, and then she was on her feet.
In several quick steps she was at Lucien's side, crouching down and putting herself between him and the three fae advancing on them. One of them raised a hand and Lucien's sword lifted from the ground and clanged away up the hallway, the sound echoing around them until it was drowned out by sound of male laughter once more. Elain looked at them, knowing that she had seen them before. Lucien shifted a little on the ground behind her, and she reached a hand back, touching his arm gently as she went up onto her knees to block him from view as much as she could. Something struck her across the face then, and she tasted blood when her chin collided with the ground and she bit her tongue. Lucien stirred again and Elain pushed herself back up. She could see Sheera still laying unmoving nearby, but her friend was ignored by the three fae facing them.
"Reckon we'll get a reward for being the ones to find you…" the one in the centre said, smirking at Elain as they got closer. He flicked his wrist and she was knocked backward, half on top of Lucien. Her mate groaned, and she got off of him as quickly as she could, crouching in front of him again as she glared up at the three fae. The telekinetic one laughed, lifting his hand again, and Elain braced herself for whatever it was he was going to do. "I wonder what we will be given…"
"I know what I'd like to give you…" Lucien's voice sounded pained, and Elain felt him shifting again, trying to push himself up. His breathing sounded laboured, and she couldn't help glancing back at him.
"We don't want anything from you." The telekinetic one grinned and then Lucien slid away from Elain, colliding with the wall with a sound that turned her stomach. He didn't move, and Elain launched herself to her feet, stumbling over to her mate as the other males laughed again. "Get the garden slut…"
When the tallest of the males turned and moved toward Sheera, Elain realised that they hadn't been referring to her. The other two moved closer, and she lifted the knife Lucien had given her. She was not about to let them get anywhere near her mate. If they thought they were going to take him anywhere, they would have to go through her. She knew that she wasn't a great warrior like Cassian or Azriel, she couldn't fight like Feyre had learned to do. Even Nesta had more skills in this type of thing than Elain did, but she knew that she was perfectly capable of giving everything she had to defend those she cared about, and her mate was firmly at the top of that list. These jerks were not getting a hand on Lucien; not as long as Elain drew breath.
They didn't need to get a hand on him, she realised moments later. Not when one of them possessed a very effective telekinetic ability. Elain glared again when he laughed and she met cold brown eyes as he grinned at her. "It's rather noble of you, Lady," he snickered, "trying to protect your lover."
"My mate." She corrected and he smiled more widely.
"Does that mean that he can feel what happens to you…?"
Elain swallowed as the ice from earlier flooded her veins again. She very much did not like the sound of that. "N-no…" she breathed, hating that she sounded completely unconvincing and, worse, scared. Her breath hitched then, and she choked back a scream when something wrapped around her and hauled her up off the ground, slamming her back against the wall. Her vision swam as her head throbbed in protest as she was yanked forward and slammed into the wall a second time. Unable to help a grunt, Elain tried to raise a hand but found both her arms pinned to her sides and all that she could see through her blurred vision was that nasty grin.
"Are you sure…?" brown eyes sparkled with apparent excitement, and Elain was thankful that Lucien couldn't currently feel anything from her down the bond due to the faebane they had been dosed with. Her breath hitched again when what felt like a phantom hand slid up her leg and she tried to jerk away from it when it passed her thigh and moved up her side. The phantom hand continued up her ribs, across her chest and up to her throat where it tightened, and she gasped as she found herself unable to draw breath.