A/N: Here is the second Chapter of the week!

Huge thanks to Infernas81 and inuverse for their Beta work.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

Enjoy!

Chapter 9

We had barely left my bedroom when there was a knock on the main door. Rhys went to open it and found Alis stood there.

"Good evening High Lord," she greeted, "Lady Morrigan said that Lady Feyre may need my help to get ready for the celebration."

Chuckling, Rhys opened the door further to allow Alis inside. She saw the state of my hair, shook her head and beckoned me to follow her so she could re-do it. Once she'd re-done the style how it was before, she bade us farewell and left to make her way to the clearing.

"Ready?" Rhys asked, whilst offering his arm for me to hold. I nodded, and we left our rooms together.

Tamlin was pacing in the hall as we got down the stairs. Like the first Calanmai I'd been to two years ago, Tamlin was shirtless and had his baldric full of daggers slung across his chest. I told him that I'd see him there as we left. At the top of the steps Rhys scooped me into his arms and flew us to the edge of the clearing.

When we'd landed I took the opportunity to straighten up my dress and crown before I started making my way through the clearing to the altar, past the many tables laden with food and drinks, and the huge bonfires scattered throughout, ready to make my speech. The clearing was full of High Fae and faeries of all kinds, some kinds I'd never seen before and made a mental note to try and find afterwards to find out about them and the Court they lived in. The assembled faeries and High Fae moved aside to let us pass as we made our way slowly towards the middle and when we saw our Court Rhys stepped from my side to stand with them as Elain followed me.

As we got to the altar I froze, worried that I wouldn't get it right. I was vaguely aware of Elain squeezing my hand. When I looked at her I could see that she was as nervous as I was. Why did we agree to do this? I honestly had to wonder at my own idiocy sometimes. I realised though that there was no choice but to go through with it, so I took a deep breath as I squeezed Elain's hand back and stepped up to the altar.

The music and revelry stopped, almost like all those assembled had been watching me closely, ready for me to take up my position. I looked out at the assembled faeries, and tried to calm my nerves. I took a deep breath to steady myself, laced my hands under my bump and opened my mouth…..

"I, Feyre Cursebreaker, High Lady of the Night Court and Defender of the Rainbow, welcome you all, to Spring's Calanmai celebration," I began, "soon, the drums will start their beat and High Lord Tamlin will make his way to the clearing, ready to begin the Great Rite." There was a cheer from the crowd. "Before that, we need to sanctify the ground." Elain stepped up next to me with an ornate bowl with water in her hands. I dipped my fingers into the bowl and flicked some water in front of the altar. Where the water landed on the soil, flowers of various types and colours sprang up in full bloom. The crowd cheered again, and the first beat of the drum sounded. Tamlin would now begin making his way.

Having finished my task, I stepped away and into Rhys' waiting arms. I saw that his pupils had started to dilate and knew that the magic was starting to affect him. The drum beats had steadily increased in frequency and I knew that Tamlin was now on the hunt for the white stag that he had to sacrifice before he picked the Maiden.

There was an air of anticipation in the clearing as the beats got closer and closer together. At this point the females that hoped to be chosen as the Maiden had lined up along the path leading to the cave. Cassian, Azriel, Lucien and Mor had surrounded Elain and Nesta. Rhys had kept his arms securely around my waist, a clear signal that I was with him.

Closer and closer came the drum beats, and then Tamlin appeared in the clearing. The only sound now was the continued hypnotic thumping of the drums. Tamlin lifted his nose in the air and I could see his nostrils flare; he then took off in our direction. I felt Rhys and the other males with us tense as Tamlin was drawn towards us. I prayed to the Mother that he didn't try to take one of my sisters or myself. Even though there was a line of willing females, the magic that had now taken over Tamlin's body would compel him to go for any female he wanted. That was why Lucien was so worried at the Calanmai celebration I'd snuck to when I was human; he knew that Tamlin would try to take me as the Maiden and had removed me back to the manor quickly, but it still hadn't stopped Tamlin scenting me and attempting to find me.

As he reached us all four males crouched down and snarled at him; it was a feral, animal sound. All of them were ready to fight, and with how they were acting now, it would probably end with serious injury – if not death – to one or more of them. I made to step from behind Rhys, but he roughly pushed me back behind him, which jostled me and elicited a roar of pure rage from Tamlin.

"Tamlin," I said, my voice full of authority, "none of the females here will accept you this night." He looked at me, shook his head, and started backing away. He lifted his head, scenting the air again, and took off towards the cave. I let out a breath I wasn't aware I'd been holding.

Mor stepped out from behind Azriel. "That, was intense," she said, stating the obvious. All I could do was nod in agreement. The males began to slowly ease from their stances.

I don't know how much longer it was after Tamlin had left us, but the drum beats were getting to a point where it was so fast that it was difficult to determine between the beats. Just as suddenly, the drums stopped and a wave of magic spread through the clearing. A collective cheer emanated from those assembled, and the party seemed to begin, with lots of talking and milling about. It was a sight to behold to see all the different faeries 'liasing' with each other.

Rhys pulled me out from behind him, and wasn't too gentle about it. As I looked at him I noticed that the usual violet of his eyes had been wholly replaced by the black of his fully dilated pupils. He pulled me roughly toward him and growled in my ear "I want you." He pressed his mouth to my neck, growling "you're mine," then he bit me on the soft spot between my neck and shoulder. I gasped. In that moment I wanted him too, and I didn't want to wait – couldn't wait. Pulling his mouth away from my neck, I kissed him vigorously, as my hand went down his toned chest and came to rest on the bulge in the trousers. I undid the button on his trousers and slid my hand inside and grasped him firmly, then began moving my hand up and down. I was vaguely aware of Mor saying something, but I just didn't care, all I cared about was Rhys and getting him inside me as quickly as I could.

A small part of 'rational-Feyre' seemed to kick in in my mind. The rational part wanted to go somewhere private, somewhere I could make myself comfortable considering my bump. 'Horny-and-needs-it-now-Feyre' didn't care that I was about to fuck my mate in the middle of a field in front of my sisters and best friends – and countless other faeries – and was trying to run through positions I could use in said field. As my mind was at war with itself – all the while I was tugging at Rhys – I felt someone grab the wrist of the hand that was grasping Rhys' hair.

I barely registered Mor's voice, "you'll thank me for this later," she said, as she winnowed us to the front doors of the manor.

Without stopping, she dropped our hands and winnowed away, presumably returning to the others. I was scooped into Rhys' arms, and he ran up the stairs so fast I didn't realise what was happening until he placed me on the bed.

He grabbed my crown at the same time that I grabbed his, and they were both flung across the room towards my dresser, but I don't know if they landed on it. Next he pulled the pins from my hair and watched as it cascaded in gentle waves down my spine. My dress and shoes were removed before I could blink, leaving me in my lacy undergarments. I was trying – and failing – to remove Rhys' clothes, and sensing my frustration he helped me divulge himself of his clothes and stood before me in all his glory.

"You're mine," he growled again as he straddled me.

Last year during Calanmai we had been at the cabin sealing our bond and Rhys had shook the mountains with his release. This year, I was certain the whole of Spring would have seen and felt it as we reached the pinnacle of our release; what with our shouts and my Day magic shining so bright it was blinding.

Panting heavily, Rhys flopped onto the bed next to me. My lacy undergarments were in shreds that were scattered around the room, a victim to Rhys' claws and inability remove them quickly enough. "That….was…..great," Rhys managed to pant. All I could do was nod my agreement, I still hadn't caught my breath. It seemed like there was nothing loving about this coupling, it had been lustful and animal-like in its voracity.

Once I'd finally caught my breath, I rolled onto my side, idly tracing lines along his abs. "I suppose we need to go back soon," I said.

He motioned to me, "yeah, when you've dampened down the brightness a bit." I laughed and leaned over to kiss him. "If you want to go back tonight you need to stop that or I'm not going to be able to let you get out of this bed."

"Fine," I replied sullenly. I got out of bed and made my way toward my vanity table whilst Rhys lay atop the blankets watching me. I picked up my hairbrush to get the tangles out of my hair and noticed my neck in the mirror. Where Rhys had bitten me, there was a big purple bruise with two puncture marks in the centre; there was dried blood around it and that had dripped onto my shoulder. When I'd finished inspecting my wound I walked around the room, gathering up my clothes – and the scraps of lace – to get dressed. Rhys dressed himself effortlessly when he finally got out of bed and had to assist me with the lacing on my dress. When we were ready I grabbed both our crowns, Rhys scooped me up, ready to fly us back to the others.

Rhys landed at the edge of the clearing again, so we had to walk through all the revellers. The celebration was in full swing by the time we got back, with many of the faeries taking full advantage of the purpose of the celebration! We carefully made our way through the crowd, in places having to dodge participants whose desire had obviously gotten the better of them and they didn't find anywhere private to participate.

After about five minutes of walking I could see Cassian's head above those around him, so went towards him. When we reached them, he was jokingly trying to persuade Nesta to celebrate with him – Nesta was clearly not impressed. From her demeanour she was very close to taking a swing at him. To try and spare him, I grabbed her arm and was about to drag her away when Mor and Azriel returned carrying drinks.

"You can thank me later for winnowing you back to the manor; you two were starting to put on quite a spectacle for everyone around! Anyway, thank the Cauldron your back, I can't take any more of their bickering," Mor said, passing Nesta a drink, which Nesta gratefully accepted.

"She likes it really," Cassian told Mor as Nesta rolled her eyes. He then looked over at me, "you two clearly had fun, I swear the magic that went through this place was bigger than from the Great Rite," he said with a smirk. "That is an impressive mark," he said, gesturing to the bite wound on my neck.

I chose not to answer him and looked around for something to change the subject to when I noticed that Lucien and Elain were no-where in sight. I whirled around to Nesta, "where's Elain?" I asked her.

Nesta looked around too, "they were just here," she said.

"Don't worry!" Mor said, "she went for a walk with Lucien."

"You let her go off alone with Lucien?" I asked them incredulously.

"They came over and told us where they were going," Mor said. "They said they'd had enough of listening to them two," she pointed at Nesta and Cassian, "they didn't even notice they'd gone!"

"She'll be fine," Azriel added. "Besides, I made sure Lucien knows what'll happen to him if he tries anything with her," he added with a little grin.

We told the others they could go and join the celebration if they wanted, whilst we waited for Elain and Lucien to return, but they all declined. Whilst we were enjoying the music and food, I was still worried about Elain, so when they hadn't returned half an hour later I decided to go and look for them.

Sensing that I was not going to be discouraged from this course of action, and I wouldn't settle down and enjoy Fire Night without knowing Elain was safe, we all went to find them together. We headed towards the copse that Lucien had indicated to Mor that they were heading to.

At the copse we split into three groups and looked around for them. It was quiet, the trees were packed close together, giving an eerie feeling. I'd been here when I lived at Spring, and I never liked it back then, I hated it now, with my enhanced senses. Aside from us, there seemed like there was no-one else here as it was far removed from the celebration. A sense of dread settled deep in me, and Rhys squeezed the hand he was holding in response, no doubt feeling me through the bond.

As we walked we were 'talking' with the others mind-to-mind, and they hadn't found anything either. Nesta's thoughts were becoming volatile and I whispered to Rhys, "we need to meet up with Nesta, try and calm her down, otherwise I think she'll lose control of her magic if she keeps ramping up like this." Rhys nodded his assent, so we changed our path, so we'd rendezvous with Cassian and Nesta quicker.

We could hear Nesta before we could see her. "I bloody told you he was up to no good, but no-one listened to me, and now Elain is missing," she ranted to Cassian.

"You can't keep thinking bad of him Nesta," we could hear Cassian tell her, "he's been with us several months now and he hasn't done anything to suggest he has anything but good intentions towards your sister."

"Good intentions," she muttered.

"He helped Feyre, both times she was in Spring, and when she was Under the Mountain," he continued trying to reason with her.

We heard her huff, "I don't exactly trust her judgement…."

"What's up with my judgement?!" I said loudly, and rather indignantly. Nesta didn't look at me, but now was not the time. "Anything?" I asked rhetorically. I knew they hadn't, as they'd have told us through the bond we had open between us all.

"Can you give us a bit of that Day light?" Cassian asked. I nodded and attempted to summon some light, but made it darker instead. My magic once again playing up. "Thanks, that was…really helpful," Cassian laughed. I threw him a dirty look and stalked off, Nesta hot on my heels.

"What if he's taken her away?" Nesta asked once she's caught up.

"He's got no-where to go Nesta," I told her. "He isn't welcome in Autumn, he's mending bridges here, but if he attempted to flee to another Court they're honour-bound to inform us that he's there. Besides, he won't."

"You can't know that!" she snapped.

I looked over at her as we were walking, "yes, I do. He let me and Rhys read his mind as a show of faith when he asked to stay in Night. Everything we saw to do with Elain was a feeling of intense love, and a need to protect and be with her. There was nothing to show he would harm her or take her." Nesta didn't seem completely appeased but kept her thoughts to herself.

We continued looking, but were getting no-where fast. I had picked up their trail leading to the copse, so I knew this was the direction they'd come, but then it just seemed to stop. Mor and Azriel hadn't found anything either.

As the minutes ticked by Nesta and I became more fearful for Elain. I was just about to tell Rhys that I was going to call in some of the Illyrian's to help us search when we came to a small clearing. As we approached the edge of the tree-line I could faintly scent blood in the air. I felt like my heart had seized as I ran forward, despite Rhys calling me not to.

Following the scent as it got stronger I was fearful for what I would find at the end of the trail. We kept going, towards a dense crop of oak trees, the sky unable to be seen because of the thick foliage. As we rounded one particularly large oak tree we stopped, shocked by the scene in front of us. Elain's scarlet cloak was discarded on the floor….next to a foot.

Rushing forward, the four of us pulled the branches off the body that had someone had attempted to conceal amongst the twigs and other detritus of the forest floor. It wasn't Elain...

It was Lucien.

A/N: I've got the next couple of Chapters written, but I thought I'd leave you with a cliffhanger until New Year! Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!