Chapter 1:

The sun slowly rose over the Sidra, casting the meandering water in vivid oranges and pinks. The breeze pushed the smell of the salty water up around Elain as she sat with a cup of warm tea nestled between her cold hands. She cherished her quiet, peaceful mornings and would carefully tiptoe around to avoid anyone knowing she snuck up here every morning. The sun and breeze and sky sang to her in a way that nothing else did, it was something in this world just for her and she would keep it as her little secret for as long as she could.

It took a week of sleeping late in her room at Feyre and Rhys' new estate for Elain to have a vision of a beautiful red and orange sunrise lighting up Velaris, her arms out in front of her holding a steaming floral mug against the banister of the balcony. Once she had snapped out of her vision she instantly went searching through all the empty rooms of the manor to find the same balcony. It only took a few tries to find the guest room on the third floor that had the right view and rod-iron banister she had seen. She couldn't keep a smile off her face that whole day as she waited for it to be the next morning, hoping she would be able to bask in the rich hues. No one had stopped Elain from going to bed straight after dinner, faking a headache to skip off to her room and snuggle into the blankets, wishing for morning to come quickly.

Everyday she snuck up to that same balcony and watched the large yellow sun rise into the sky, painting the city in beautiful warm shades. These moments that took her breath away helped her stay grateful for the life she had been given, and the joy that she found in a world that she had once thought could only hold loneliness and was a work of beauty every time she got to see that sun rise and she knew she would never get sick of the earth welcoming her for another day.

The light scent of orange rose up from her cup and tickled her nose as the warm rays cast down on her face. She desperately tried to push the feeling of dread as far away as she could as she breathed in deeply. Everything felt so right, which also left everything feeling so wrong. It had been years, decades, since her life had last felt so peaceful and happy. Elain could not shake the feeling that sometime terrible was going to happen soon to counteract all the good that had come her way. She tucked the unease tight into her heart where it wouldn't bother her.

The red had turned to purple and then blue and Elain knew it was time to slip back inside before anyone else woke up. She knew that no one would care about her mornings up here but it was her little secret and that made it all the more special for her. This early in the morning the world was hers and no one else's. The sun didn't have any expectations of her, it just rose everyday without fail, smiling it's warm greeting at her.

Elain had the suspicion that the ever-knowing Shadowsinger was well aware of her early morning routine. She wasn't sure how his shadows worked but she didn't expect her brand of stealth was enough to evade the spy master's observational ways. She also realized she didn't quite mind if he knew, his presence was always a comforting one. He was a watcher and she loved to watch him when he was observing others. His eyes would dart around as fast as his shadows and the thin line of his mouth would sometimes shift down into a grimace before flitting back to a straight line. Sometimes she would see a shadow curl into his ear before he would turn and find her staring. At first she would blush and duck away, averting her gaze from his. Recently though, she had held his gaze and found that a smirk would pass over his lips to match hers.

Her slippers lightly clapped over the cold marble as she made her way down the hallway to her bedroom suite, pushing her door o-rn to find her room glowing with the morning sun. Her cup of tea was still pretty full and hopelessly lukewarm as she knocked the rest of it back before slipping the cup into one of her desk drawers. Three other used mugs resided in there and she promised herself she would remember to bring them to the kitchen when she got a new cup the next morning.

The sun filtered through her open windows as she scuffled to the bathroom and filled one of her small watering cans before skirting around her rooms and watering all of her various plants. She was disappointed in the sad looking orchid that Rhys and Feyre had brought her from the Spring Court a few weeks ago. It hardly survived the trip back and even Elain hadn't been able to nurse it back to health. Elain loved her gardens here and couldn't help filling her rooms with various vines and flowers and cacti. Plants that she never would have been able to imagine growing in her father's old estate were in abundance here and she felt like they were her kindred souls. It filled her with love and light to nurture them and watch them thrive, gave her a purpose and made her feel like less of a burden.

Elain slipped out of her room to head downstairs to the dining room for breakfast. She grabbed a pair of work gloves and a light cardigan to get her through a morning in the garden, the early spring air making way for crisp mornings. Her hair was in a tight French braid down the middle of her back but would inevitably be flying everywhere by the end of a hard day in the garden. She stepped through the open doorways to find only Rhys at the table with a cup of coffee and a mountain of paperwork.

"Morning." He grumbled, without looking up from his work as she skirted around the room to make herself a second cup of tea and fill a plate of food.

"Good morning, Rhys."

She smiled across the table at him, cherishing quiet moments like this where the two of them can just enjoy each other's presence.

"Beautiful sunrise today, huh?"

Elain's eyes grew wide as her egg-speared fork hovered in front of her open mouth. "Uhm, I-"

"No need." He said, waving away the excuse that bubbled up in her with a flit of his fingers. His mouth tipped up at one corner even as he kept his gaze on his work. "I won't tell anyone if it's something you wish to keep a secret."

Elain pushed the eggs into her mouth and swallowed loudly, her cheeks and ears tinged in pink.

"You know you're more than welcome to move into that guest room if you like that view so much?" Rhys looked up, quirking an eyebrow at her, "We wouldn't want your routine to be interrupted if we were ever to have guests come and stay there."

A giggle escaped Elain's mouth as a smile danced across her face. "Tosser!"

Rhys pushed a hand against his chest and fiened a hurt expression, "Dearest sister, you hurt me so. I am only trying to look out for your needs and keep you safe from utter disappointment. "

"Don't tell anyone!"

They fell into a comfortable silence as Elain ate, not wiping the lingering smile from her face. She had fun playing with Rhys, and he always seemed to have a good time when they would throw harmless insults at each other. He would raise an eyebrow at her that said, how else would we keep things interesting my dearest sister, when we have an eternity together.

Sometimes Elain would try to send thoughts or pictures into Rhys' mind to see just to see if she could, to see if he would be on the lookout for incoming messages. She stared at him narrowing her eyebrows, Did Azriel tell you? Did his shadows see me? Am I the tosser and don't know that I'm super loud and clomping around like an elephant every morning?

If he heard any of her thoughts he didnt comment, and never had before. Elain figured that meant that Rhys had to be the one looking into her mind to see anything and that she couldn't just toss stuff at him to hear. My dearest brother, if you can hear me I'll tell you a secret. I find I cannot seem to stop staring at your beautiful shadow singer whenever he's around.

Oh that's no secret, Elain.

The sound of his voice in her head almost had her knocking her tea over as she jolted forward, her eyes wide open. They instantly narrowed as her brow furrowed, she crossed her arms in front of her and huffed at him.

And yes, you were mighty loud this morning rattling those damn teacups before any sane human should be awake.

She scoffed again, trying to keep the smile that she knew would inevitably bloom across her face. Of course he would be able to hear her and wouldn't say anything until she had made a fool of herself. Damn bully. She added before sticking out her tongue and was met with the deep rumble of his chuckle.

Elain always loved to make Rhys laugh and couldn't contain her glee whenever she would brighten his day or make a smile appear on his face. Though he hid it well she could see the darkness that would enter his eyes, the pain and fear he tried to not let anyone see. And like the flowers in her garden, Elain loved to see him bloom. But the laughs and smiles she elicited from him were nothing close to the looks of utter love and adoration that would cross his face when her sister was around. It filled her with such joy to see them so happy and at peace together, fitting into each other like two pieces of a puzzle, gazing into each other's eyes and minds and souls with such abandon. Elain could only wish to one day meet someone who looked at her like Rhysand looked at Feyre.

She had Lucien as a mate but it never seemed the same. She would watch Feyre and Rhys and even ask about their early relationship and it never seemed quite right. Even when they were just getting to know each other there was a fire, even if it was fueled by hatred there was at least some semblance of passion. Her bond with Lucien just felt familiar, but there was no passion between them. Not on her end, and it seemed like not his end either. He had been excited when she had fiened to visit him at the Day Court, they had spent a few days strolling around the markets, peeking over peoples fences into their gardens and dining under the sun. Elain had waited and waited for a strong connection to link them together but nothing seemed to come. Gods, she found herself more connected to the sunrise on the third floor balcony than she was to Lucien.

"You thinking too much?" Rhys asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

Her gaze flicked to him and she rolled her eyes, "Thinking of my time at the Day Court. I'm getting low on that lovely orange tea I picked up there when I visited."

"Would you like to go back?"

"I dont know."

"I could have someone else pick some up." He offered.

"Does it make me a terrible mate that I don't even want to visit to get the tea I really like?"

"It doesn't make you a terrible anything, Elain. You can do whatever you want, it's your life. You can sneak onto balconies every day a 4 am for a cauldron-damned sunrise. You can steal as many tea cups as you want and stash them in your drawers. And you can even send my beautiful shadow singer to get you some orange blossom tea."

Tosser.