Chapter 7

"Hold these." Elain shoved the hairpins into Amren's hand. Feyre looked pointedly out the window. It took everything she had to not turn to the mirror. Of course, it wouldn't have helped much since Mor had covered it. But, still...

Nesta swatted her hand away. "Stop playing with it! I am going to stick either you or myself this way." Well, this was what she meant to say. The pins in her mouth made it much harder to understand. Feyre understood though, and pulled her hand away from the spot on the dress. Oh, she wanted to look.

"I don't know why you let those boys convince you to have your wings out! I bet they did it just to make it harder for me!" Morrigan continued carefully cutting the lace as she griped.

Feyre laughed. "Yes, of course, they did everything to spite you, just like always. Really, Mor? You know why." The girls all looked at her. "They wanted to prove that my wingspan is bigger than Rhysand's, obviously!" Feyre smiled as everyone tried to stop giggling over that.

Elain looked up and shuddered a little, not laughing anymore. "He's here."

…

Elain had mixed feelings about her mate. On the one hand, he had revealed himself at a very bad time in her life and tried too hard when she wasn't ready. On the other hand, he did really love her, and would leave Tamlin's service immediately if she ever gave the word. That one pesky word. "Yes." He had asked for her hand many, many times, even going to her father long ago for permission. The thought of that caused a tear to fall. She had loved her father so much. She had been horrible at showing it, and he had chosen to never be Made. He died peacefully, but she still missed him. Mother even more so. Mother would have been able to advise her on what to do.

But Mother was gone, and Elain was left on her own. This boy loved her, but never seemed to know what to do about it. He showered her with affection when she needed space, and avoided her when she needed to be held. And now he was here. The day before her sister's wedding, and he was here. She hadn't sent for him over the bond. In fact, that kind of communication still seemed strange to her. Feyre and Rhys did it so effortlessly, she often envied them. It was more difficult for her. Maybe it was because he was so far, but she could hear echoes of him all the time. She tried to respect his privacy, but he made everything so open to her. She knew he had only the best intentions, but she struggled to send messages to him. It was as if her mind found the entire concept too foreign. So, she listened. But even now, as she listened, she couldn't understand. Why was he here?

Nesta, of course, had rushed downstairs, well, as much as she could. Her feet were starting to hurt her lately. Elain smiled as she thought of the twins she was going to spoil. Nesta flung the door open. "What are you doing here?" she seethed.

Elain shook her head, and poked her head around Nesta. "Lucien? Is everything ok?"

"I should be asking the same of you! How is she alright?" He pointed to Nesta. Elain's eyes widened, as she gasped.

"You mean...? You saw it, too?" She felt sick. She wanted to cry even thinking about it. Lucien gulped and nodded. He looked as frightened as she.

"I, um, I never wanted to say before. I thought, I thought that maybe you wouldn't like it. But this, this is different. I'll, well, I'll help however I can." He looked ready to pass out.

Morrigan pushed her way between the sisters. "Lucien! How ya been buddy? How's the piece of crap? Girls, really! You haven't even invited him in,yet! Come on, I'll make the tea." Mor sighed dramatically, giving the most "poor me, I have to do everything" pout she could. Amren put her head in her hands. Mor continued chattering away. "You should have waited until tomorrow, of course. Really, I should kick you out. No men are supposed to be in the house until tomorrow, but I think we can make an exception for you. But you are strictly not allowed in the living room or any of our rooms. I guess we'll just put in Cassian's room instead of your usual. Cas snores so loud, we just put him at the very end of the hall, nice and far from everyone else. Do you take cream or sugar? I forget."

Lucien just sat silently by the fire through all of this. How could they be so cheerful? Did they not know? Had Elain not told them? Why would she do that? He hoped to make some sense of this.