Elain stood there. Her sight in her left eye had come back, the moment Titus had crushed Luciens own left eye. She looked towards Luciens brother. She knew he was cruel, but she still couldn't believe he had just cut his brothers eye out. The metal one or not. Titus had done so without any hesitation.

She watched as Lucien sat there, blood dripping down his face, onto his clothing. She could see, andfeelas he was slowly losing his consciousness.

"It's a shame no one want's you around." Titus had said, looking at his brother with disgust. Elain couldn't believe it. She knew she had hard times with her sisters, but this was insane. This was, this was evil.

"I do." She spoke up.

She felt fear, as she watched Titus turn and look at her, through the two sets of bars.

"Well, he's about to die. I could get a healer in here, make sure he doesn't, but he's too lost to the insanity, insanity you caused by the way, that I doubt he would allow a healer to touch him. The only way to heal him is if you accept the mating bond between you two." Titus had said, with a cruel glint in his eye.

Elain stood there, completely shocked, if it weren't for the two guards who had kept her there, making sure she hadn't looked away, she probably would have lost her footing. "He- he- he won't eat anything I make though." She said, looking towards Lucien.

"Don't be an idiot. Does it really look like he has it in him to fight against anything right now?" Titus asked, before snapping his fingers. Then, one of the guards let her go, only to leave her cell, and come back with a tray with a single piece of bread, placing it infront of Lucien, and some butter. The other guard dragging her into the other cell, as Titus left the cell.

"I'd decide what you want to do quickly, because, by the looks of him, I'd say he has about ten minutes." Before walking off, stopping just out of sight.

Elain stood there. Now that she knew what her giving him food meant, did she really want to do that? But the alternative was him dying. She saw him right here, she could feel as he was slowly slipping away.the feeling within her soul, a feeling that terrified her. It left her feeling empty like she had never imagined. Bare. She hadn't thought this was what it would be like to lose someone she had never allowed herself to get to know. And if he were truly gone? If he died?

She stepped up to the tray, and slowly buttered the bread, her sand shaking, as she knew there would be no turning back from this once it was done. Once she did this, there was no turning around. But, the fear she had of the mating bond itself, was no where near as great as the growing dream she was feeling at the fear she was feeling at the growing emptiness inside her, as she felt it growing larger with each passing second.

Putting the butter down, with her shaking hand, a tear fell, and landed on her hand. She hadn't realized she had been crying when had she started crying? She didn't know.

Elain slowly picked up the piece of bread, and stepped forward to Lucien, and lifted his face. She pushed his hair from his face.

"Lucien? Lucien, please wake up." She said, looking at his face, feeling her heart break more as she saw more blood pour from the wound in his eye socket. "Lucien, please. You need to eat something. Please, just have this piece of bread and butter. Please." She said, moving more of his hair.

Closing her eyes, and pulling his face to her shoulder, trying to keep herself from crying more. "Please. I know I have no right to ask you, especially after how I've treated you, I know I have no right to ask you to stay, but please Lucien. Come back. Stay. Please. I need you to stay. Iwantyou to stay." Elain said, her voice starting to break, as she couldn't control herself anymore, and was freely crying now.

She almost didn't hear Lucien mumble against her shoulder, but she did. She heard as he had mumbled her name, and so she had lifted his face, nodding. "Yes. Please, please, Lucien. Please, eat this, youneedto eat something." She said, lifting the piece of buttered bread to his face. "I know what I'm doing. I know, and Iwantyou to eat something. Please Lucien."

It had taken him a moment, but hesitantly, Lucien had taken a bite of the buttered bread, worked on chewing it. Elain was starting to become scared it hadn't worked. But the moment she noticed he swallowed it, she felt it. Before she could hear his heartbeat. Now it was like she could feel his heart beating beside her own. She could see a thread, the battered, stretched thin, worn thin, now shon gold, and was new, strong. But it was the fact that she could nowfeelhis heart beat, not just hear it. Feeling it beside her own, she could feel how dangerously weak it was.

Elain shook her head, as she felt more tears falling down her cheek. She would have pulled his head back down onto her shoulder, except she was pulled back. She was being dragged back out of the cell, and back into the original cell she had spent the past two weeks in.

"Get the healer looking at him. Now I have the motivation, he will answer my questions. Make sure she works fast." Titus spoke, as he, not looking, anywhere else, only at Elain.

Elain looked at him unable to stop the tears, she started shaking her head. "What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Now that he won't be insane, he will be able to give me the answers I need. And you're going to help me. Question is though, where do I start." Titus asks, as a guard takes hold of Elain from behind. He then started smirking, as he slowly heard the healer getting to wrk behind him.

Elain watched as Luciens brother took a blade from his jacket, the same one he used to carve Luciens face, and started cutting through her dress. "He'll see this, and he wont be able to control the newly mated reactions, and try to lunge for me. But, with him being in a different cell, he will be powerless, seeing me work on you. The only way to get me to stop, will be answering my questions.

Elain was struggling fighting against Titus, as he Gottingen cutting into her, cutting up her dress. What she didn't realize was that as she was fighting against him, struggling, she was making the cuts messy. No matter how they would heal, there would be scars.

The pain was so intense, she found herself uselessly crying out for her sister, begging her sister to come free them from this secret dungeons, at the exact moment there was a flash of the brightest light coming from behind Titus.

The light only lasted a couple seconds, but when it ended, Titus turned around. "Learn a new trick did you? Unfortunately being a light isn't going to help."

Suddenly, Elain felt her hair pulled, and the blade pressed to her neck. She couldn't see what was going on, but she could hear as Lucien had pushed himself off the ground, and stumbled against the bars of his cell. She didn't know how he had the strength to do that after almost dying.

"Let go of her!" Elain closed her eyes, as she heard Lucien shout, just as she felt the blade start to dig into her neck and slide down. Titus had dragged the blade slowly, and deeply down to her collar bone. She knew it would scar.

"How did father die? And where did his magic go? Answer that, and I'll let her go easily." Titus had asked, lifting the blade, to where just the tip of the blade was angled right below her collar bone, pointing down, towards her heart.

Elain could hear Lucien struggling against the bars of his cell, and she was now too scared to struggle, or fight. One wrong move, and-

Suddenly, she felt the blade lift away from her.

It was her confusion that caused her to open her eyes, and suddenly she saw one of Luciens other brothers standing there.

"Now now Titus. Little Lucien would have no way of knowing the answer to either of your questions. I'll answer them. I killed father, and his power transfered to me. I'm the High Lord of the Autumn Court now. So back down. Now." Luciens brother Eris spoke, emanating nothing but power.

Elain stood there, backing up slightly. She knew Eris wasn't one of Luciens cruelest brothers, but as he was in that moment, he was frightening her. Especially how Titus had backed down immediately.

"These dungeons were sealed, and to die with him. How you got in here, and brought others in here as well, I'm not sure. Perhaps we will find out with our time down here. For now, Lucien and Elain will leave. You are staying here." Eris said, In a dismissive air, but there was still that frightening power coming from him.

She did notice the cell door had been left open, so slowly, she moved to leave the cell, and went to go open Luciens cell. She was fumbling, and couldn't figure out how to open it, until she heard from behind her.

"Unfortunately, you wont be able to open it."

Elain jumped in fear, before looking behind her to see it was Eris, just as he reached and opened the cell. "It's a part of the wards. One of the reasons I refused entrance to anyone else coming in. Anyone who does not have Vanserra blood, are not able to open these doors, or leave the cave. You would need to be escorted out by me." Eris explained, looking at Elain and then Lucien.

Eris took the lead, giving space for Elain and Lucien behind him to walk. As soon as they were out of sight and earshot of Titus, Elain stopped, before doing something she had not thought she would have done a month ago, and hugged Lucien.