Chapter 13

Out of everyone on this Earth, Nesta never thought that she would become friends with Tamlin. It was really weird. They had every meal together. After breakfast they always sat and drank a cup of coffee together before she would head to the library for a few hours while he did High Lord things. She wasn't totally sure what that entailed. Then they would enjoy lunch together.

"What ever happened to Lucien?" Nesta asked. "Do you see him?"

"No." He answered. "Not sure where he is."

"You don't talk to him at all?" She asked.

"No." He answered. "He left when Feyre left. You know after destroying my court. He left with her and never came back." Nesta wasn't too sure how to respond to that. "Just weird that someone who's been by your side forever will just…"

"Leave." She finished for him.

"I never thought that he would. I don't know. It's stupid." He shrugged. "Do you see him a lot?"

"At the beginning, yeah. But then when Elain didn't accept the bond he left." She wasn't really too sure where he was spending his time but it wasn't with Feyre or Elain. At least not always. "I enjoy you being here. I know you didn't really have a choice but at least I have someone to talk to." Nesta smiled a little.

"It's nice." She answered. "Never thought I would be friends with you. But thank you for letting me stay." Nesta still didn't feel like she belonged here. But she didn't really feel like she belonged anywhere. At least Tamlin accepted her and didn't bother her. Neither one of them really bothered each other. They spent most of their time together but it was mostly just talking or sitting in the silence. Nesta didn't feel like she needed to prove herself to him. He just accepted her the way she was.

"I know you would rather be anywhere else but here."

"No I don't." He looked over at her. He could see the sadness in her eyes. She could see the loneliness in his. They were just two broken people trying to heal themselves.

And maybe they wouldn't be able to heal each other but they could at least be here, together, without the people they hurt. Nesta wasn't sure if the guilt would ever go away. She would always long for Cassian even with the bond gone.

"I used to be able to feel him."

"Yeah. That's the bond." Tamlin confirmed. "You can't anymore?"

"No. The second it broke I felt nothing."

"I know that breaking the bond was a thing but no one has ever done it before." Tamlin continued. "I can't imagine the pain you're in."

"I'm just kinda ignoring it." She wonders if Cassian was ignoring it too.

The Night Court was booming. Things had calmed down a lot in the last few weeks. Everyone was beyond excited about having a babe around. Gifts were sent to the house every single day. Clothes, blankets, food. Anything you could think of.

It was overwhelming. Feyre appreciated all the gifts and the love that they were receiving but she wanted to be able to do some things herself. Everywhere she went she was congratulated. Everyone was so excited.

Elain stayed in her room. She locked herself in there all hours of the day. Feyre brought her food to her everyday. She only knew she was eating because Elain would put the empty plate in the hallway.

"What are we going to do?" Feyre asked Rhys as they were laying in bed. Everyone else was still downstairs enjoying the fire and drinking. She had become so exhausted lately that she couldn't stay up and party with the rest of them. She was laying on her side, facing Rhys who was rubbing her stomach.

"With what?" He mumbled, eyes closed.

"Elain. Nesta. Cassian." Rhys sighed. He knew that Feyre was worried about all of them. "First, we don't even know if Nesta is alive."

"I'm sure she's fine. Giving Tamlin a run for his money probably." He answered. "Cassian is fine."

"Elain?"

"She doesn't leave her room. Maybe we need to get Azriel in there."

"Azriel?"

"Yeah." Feyre was confused. "I think he likes her."

"What?"

"Yeah. During the snowball fight he mentioned something about it. I haven't questioned him since but something was going on with them." He gently moved his fingers over her slightly swollen abdomen.

"Oh." Feyre wasn't too sure if that was a good idea. Lucien would have a heart attack if he knew that Azriel was in her room. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why is she even staying in there?" Rhys asked.

"Cassian upset her."

"Of course he did."

"I don't think he meant to." Feyre ran her hands through his hair. "I would like to know how Nesta is doing. I think she would too. So maybe someone can bring Elain over there."

"You really wanna send Elain over there?" He asked.

"I think they would both like to see each other." Feyre would ask her tomorrow.

Nesta was sitting on the front lawn on a blanket with a book in her hands when Azriel and Elain appeared.

"Elain!" Nesta got to her feet as fast as she could and raced towards her sister. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you." Nesta smiled. It was nice to see some familiar faces. "See that you're okay."

"Oh. Yeah. I'm okay. Are you okay?"

"Doing my best." Elain gave her sister a small smile. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Do you want to come in? Have some tea?" Elain glanced at the manor and hesitated. "We don't have to go in. We can go to the garden." Nesta pointed to where the grand garden sat. Elains eyes lit up the second she saw it. Nesta looped her arm through her sister's and headed towards the garden. "How is Feyre doing?"

"She's good. Some morning sickness." Elain looked over her shoulder to make sure Azriel was still following her. "But she's excited." Elain confirmed.

"That's good." Nesta and Elain, with Azriel trailing behind them, walked through the garden. Elain smelled every new flower and loved seeing the bugs buzzing around landing on flowers.

"It's so pretty here." Elain smiled.

"Yeah. The house is amazing too." Nesta knew that neither of them would enter the house. She wasn't going to push it. She didn't know how long Elain would be here and she didn't want to spend it fighting with her.

"So he's treating you well?"

"Yeah." Elain was shocked by that. From everything that had happened she didn't think that Tamlin had a nice bone in his body. "We're kinda friends."

"Really?" Elain picked a flower and brought it to her nose to smell.

"Yeah." Nesta answered. "I didn't think it would happen either." Both sister's looked at each other. They were both ignoring the elephant in the room. Azriel was standing too close for them to talk about what was really bothering both of them. Cassian. "How is he?" She asked.

"From what I can tell, he's fine." Elain glanced at Azriel who's face hadn't softened the entire time they were here. He was on edge, she could tell.

Tamlin was watching from the window. He wasn't sure how Nesta would react to them being here. He wanted to make sure that she was okay without making Elain uncomfortable. So, he moved around the house, watching from windows.

"Can you bring some tea and cookies out to Nesta and her guests please?" Tamlin asked the housekeeper.

"Yes." She headed off to the kitchen to prepare while he stayed by the window. Elain was still moving around the garden looking at the plants. Nesta had finally sat down on a bench. He could tell that she was tense. She hadn't looked like that since the first night that she was here. He was on edge.

"When is Feyre due?" Nesta asked.

"Early summer next year." She answered. "It's a boy."

"She can already tell?"

"Yeah." Nesta nodded.

"Have you seen Lucien?" Elain tensed, Nesta stayed quiet, Azriel stepped closer.

"Uh. No."

"Did something happen?"

"No." Elain rushed. Nesta chuckled.

"Doesn't seem like it." Nesta leaned back, placing her hands on the bench behind her and moving her chin towards the sun.

"I got into a fight with Cassian about it." Elain confirmed.

"Cassian?" Nesta asked, looking at her sister. "Why him?"

"He said something rude to me about mates."

"Don't listen to him. If you're not ready to be with Lucien then don't be. Take your time. But you should at least be friends with him."

"Like how you were friends with Cassian?"

"Touche." Elain smiled. She missed this side of Nesta. The side that wasn't so uptight and fighting everyone for everything they say.

"From Lord Tamlin." The housekeeper set a tray next to Nesta on the bench.

"Oh. Thank you." Nesta smiled at her and picked up some fruit. She could feel his eyes on her. Watching her every move.

"What's going on with you and Tamlin?" Elain asked, sitting beside her sister and stealing a cookie off the tray. She offered some to Azriel who Nesta swore only took it because it was Elain who offered it.

"What do you mean?" Nesta asked.

"I don't know. You look different."

"I don't have to worry about pleasing him." She shrugged. "Would it matter if something was happening between us?" She questioned. It wasn't like anyone was stopping her. They just dropped her off here and expected her to not do anything? Tamlin might be an asshole but he was attractive. There was no telling if their friendship would turn into something more.

"Not to me."

"Feyre then?"

"And probably Cassian." Azriel chimed in. Nesta looked over at him.

"He severed the bond. Not me. I can do as I please." Azriel just rolled his eyes.

"Go ahead. Go back to your old days of getting drunk every night and sleeping with anyone who has a pulse." He barked at her. She stood, flattening out the gown she had on.

"Thank you for visiting, Elain. I hope you can visit again soon." She gently hugged her sister.

"Stop. Ignore him." Elain said.

"I'm comfortable here." Nesta started. "There is no way anyone is going to make this place bad for me. You should go." Tamlin moved to the front yard to make sure she was okay. He heard the entire exchange. Nesta turned and headed towards him, he stepped to the side to allow her to enter the house.

"What happened?" He asked as she shook her head, trying her hardest to not cry in front of him.

"Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing." He gently ran his hand down her back, trying to soothe her. "It's okay to talk about it."

"Everyone thinks I'm a whore. It's fine."

"Did they ask you something?"

"Well first Elain made it seem like we were sleeping together. Then Azriel said that, which I'm sure you heard."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Even though they both knew it wasn't.

Elain cried the whole way home. Azriel felt like a piece of shit. The second they got back to the River House, she shoved away from him and headed to her room.

"What happened?" Rhys and Feyre were standing in the entry way the second they got there.

"Nesta upset her." He started until Elain screamed from upstairs.

"Don't you lie, Azriel!" Elain was not upset that Nesta cut their visit short. She was angry at Azriel from not keeping his mouth shut. "You insulted her!" Elain was standing at the top of the stairs, tears streaming down her red face.

"Elain, calm down."

"No!" Rhys sighed. He was never going to get a break. Between everyone fighting and them trying to get ready for a baby, things were stressful. Turns out banning Nesta would make his life ten times harder. "He pretty much called her a whore!"

"I did not!" Azriel fought back.

"Yes you did!" She yelled. She was going to fight him tooth and nail about it. No way was she going to allow him to blame Nesta for something he did. "You acted like a dick!" Feyre's eyes widened. She had never heard Elain raise her voice let alone swear. She had no idea where the anger came from.

Rhys couldn't handle this.

"What happened, Elain?" She went over everything that was said, wiping her tears as she went. "We are to leave Nesta alone."

"And if I don't?" Elain asked. "Will you ban me too, Rhysand?"

He was thinking of banning everyone.