Chapter Three

Nudging the door open with his foot, Lucien stepped carefully outside, a cup of tea held in each hand. He turned to try and close the door with the same foot, pleased when he managed without spilling anything on himself. When he turned back to the garden, he spotted Elain kneeling in the dirt seemingly trying to pull weeds out, although he could tell that she was watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"Good morning…" he fell silent then, not knowing how this was going to go.

Elain sat back on her heels and looked at him. "Good morning."

"I've brought you some tea…" he watched as she wiped her forehead with her arm, trying not to get dirt on herself, and he then realised how hot it was out here. "Although… maybe I should have gotten something colder…" He looked doubtfully at the tea in his hands.

"No," Elain dusted herself off and got to her feet. "Tea would be lovely…" She gestured to a blanket she had laid out under a nearby tree. Lucien headed toward her, his heart beginning to thunder inside his chest. He carefully passed her one of the cups and sank down on the blanket beside her, watching as she cautiously took a sip of the sweet tea. Mate. Touch her, smell her, taste her-

Lucien forced himself to look away, his breath catching as he struggled to get himself back under control. Those thoughts and desires had been easier to ignore, and had been far less prevalent, when he'd been half a world away. He'd almost forgotten how forceful they had been when he had been near Elain, when he could see her, when he could breathe in her scent.

"You slept well, I take it…"

He looked back to her, his eyes catching on her curious brown gaze. "Yes, thank you." He said, "I did truly need the rest, apparently."

She gave a pleasant smile and her eyes moved around the garden as if searching for something else to say. "I left you some breakfast… Did you-?"

"Yes, I found it. Thank you…"

She just nodded and took another sip of tea. Lucien thought he might die. His heart was thundering so quickly and brutally that it was almost painful, and he was sure that she could hear it. She had once told him that she could. Why had he not come up with something to say to her? Since he had decided to come back, he had worried endlessly about how she might react to him. He had thought she might run away or just shut down. He had only dreamed that she would want to be anywhere near him, and he had not thought far enough ahead that he had come up with anything to try and talk to her about. "Can you still hear my heart?" the words slipped out before he could catch them.

Elain looked at him again, a small smile tugging at the corner of her gorgeous lips. "Would you be embarrassed if I said I could?"

Lucien felt himself blush. "Well, that's a 'yes', then." He said, running a hand though his hair.

"I can always hear it." Elain murmured and he tilted his head.

"Even when I was away…?"

"Yes. Fainter… but if I really listened it was there."

He stared at her. He couldn't help it. "Can you hear everyone's?"

"Not anymore. I learned to tune them out." She glanced quickly at him, "But yours is always there."

"Sorry…" he said, "That must be annoying…"

"Not really." She murmured, and he raised an eyebrow in surprise, "I guess it's sort of … comforting." He watched as colour filled her cheeks and she looked away this time. "When you were gone," he was surprised that she was still talking about this, "I suppose it was how I knew you were okay."

"I didn't know that you cared." He wanted to smack himself in the face.

Elain turned back to him with a frown. "I cared."

Lucien tried to backtrack, "I just…" he shook his head, "I…"

"I don't know you." She said.

He tilted his head again, looking at her. The sun turned her hair into molten gold, and he could see that she was far healthier than the last time he had been here. He had barely begun to get to know who she had been then, but it was clear she was entirely different now. Elain blinked, her eyes meeting his. "It's strange." She said softly, "I feel like we know one another, but we don't…" She fiddled with the teacup, "You don't feel like a stranger… and yet when we speak, we're still trying to maintain this strange formality…"

"Do you want to know me?" he asked, hoping that his thundering heart wouldn't break though his ribs.

Elain nodded slowly and for a moment he thought his heart may just explode altogether. "Yes…"

He knew that his wide grin probably looked maniacal, but he couldn't help it. "Perfect." He said, leaning back on one hand, "Then, we can stop trying to be so formal." He set his empty cup aside. "We can lounge casually and do all the casual things one does…"

"Do you know how to lounge casually?" Elain asked, amusement in her voice, "That doesn't seem like something you're familiar with…"

He sat up straighter again. "Well, maybe I'll watch Cassian or Mor this evening and take notes."

There was genuine warmth in her eyes when she looked at him then. He watched as her eyes appeared to catch on his scar and his left eye, and he looked away hating the regret and anger that flashed through him. Elain's voice was gentle when she spoke again. "Can you hear my heart?"

He looked back to her, remembering that she had asked him that before too. He gave her the same response he'd given last time. "No, lady. I cannot." The look she gave him was thoughtful, before she reached into her pocket and withdrew the small book he'd given her last night. For a horrible moment, Lucien thought that she was going to give it back to him.

"You gave me an idea." She told him, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Oh?" Lucien watched the way she appeared to brighten as she opened the cover to look at the flower inside.

"I told Rhys this morning," she went on, "I want to collect flowers from every court in Prythian." She smiled at him, "I want to make a book. A collection of the prettiest or most unique flowers from each court. I'll have where they're best grown, how to care for them, any variations in colour or shape. Their scent…" Elain began to talk more quickly, and Lucien couldn't look away from her, "I could include any special significance they hold for their courts, and I can draw them… maybe I could get Feyre to paint them, although I doubt I could bring them back in a healthy enough state for her to get the colours right while they're alive. Oh! I could include what they feel like. There are some interesting yellow flowers over in that corner that feel like velvet when you touch them." She indicated the far corner of the garden. "I could include descriptions of the entire plant. Maybe I could break it into sections. One for trees, and bushes and then just smaller… No, it should probably be by court… You're smiling at me."

He was. "I've never seen you like this."

"I suppose I haven't been in a while." A light breeze blew a lock of her golden brown hair into her face and with it came a gentle shower of pink petals from the tree above them. Elain looked up with obvious pleasure as petals landed all around, "I love this tree." Looking up, Lucien realised that the flower that had been on the table by the pastries this morning had come from this tree. When his eyes went back to Elain he saw that several petals had landed on her and, without thinking, he reached out and gently took one out of her hair. The petal was soft between his fingers, but not as soft as the lock of hair that followed it as he retracted his hand. Slowly, he let her hair slip through his fingers, meeting her eyes when he realised that she was watching him. Remembering that she could hear his heart, Lucien dropped his gaze to the petal in his hand. He felt an obscure sense of pity for it having fallen from its tree to land on something as lovely as Elain only to be plucked away by him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lucien saw Elain brush several more petals from her dress, a smile on her face. "Are there any more on me?" she asked, sitting straighter and looking at him. Lucien looked back at her and noted that there were several more in her hair.

"Yes."

Elain shook her hair, trying to dislodge them. "Well," she said, reaching forward to flick a petal off his own shoulder. "… better?"

This time he asked. "May I…?" he leaned toward her and she nodded, sitting still so that he could get them off her. Lucien removed the two he could see in her hair, adding them to the other he still held in his hand. He studied them, feeling Elain studying him in turn. "So, Petal." He slanted a glance at Elain with a grin, "Which flowers from the Night Court are going to receive the honour of being included in your book?"

He liked the way the very sun seemed to brighten when she smiled, her eyes going to her carefully tended garden beds. "I hadn't decided." She replied, "I suppose Rhys should have some say."

"Maybe for one or two," Lucien agreed, "But your opinion, as the person who likely knows the most about the topic, is also important." The breeze shifted past them again and several more petals fell around them. Lucien reached forward and picked up a flower that had fallen whole before him, and then offered it to Elain. "You could draw this one." She took it gingerly from his hand, holding it carefully.

"Do you think it's…" She looked around the garden, "I mean, it's not…"

Lucien glanced around the garden at the array of arguably more impressive or quintessential Night Court flowers. "… worthy?" he asked, and she nodded, cradling the flower gently, and almost protectively, in her hand.

"You're including more than one from each court, I take it?" She nodded and he continued, "You said you loved this tree."

"I do."

"Then if you like it, Petal, it's worthy." He replied simply.

Reaching into his coat, Lucian withdrew a small pencil and handed it to her. Elain took it with a delicate smile and set the flower on her knee as she opened the book once again. He watched her flick to a blank page as she settled herself, letting out a small huff of a breath as her eyes focused on the flower, as if assessing its features. Lucien watched, unable to look away, as she drew her lower lip between her teeth and bit down gently, her attention focused entirely upon what she was doing. After several moments of watching her begin to try and sketch the flower, Lucien remembered that she was probably listening to his heart, and sought for something else to say so that she wouldn't notice how it quickened as he watched her chew on her lip.

"I wish you had been able to see the Spring Court." He said gently, "You would have loved it."

"Feyre said it was beautiful." She murmured, her eyes not leaving the flower on her knee.

"Beautiful doesn't cover it." He told her. "I suspect, that if you had been able to create a world, just the way you wanted it, it might look similar to the Spring Court."

Elain glanced at him. "What an odd thing to say."

Lucien felt himself blush. "I'm sorry, I-"

"No…" she said gently, her eyes on his face, "It was nice. I don't think anyone has considered my perfect world, or even what I think about this one…" she looked back to her drawing. "People barely even saw me." Lucien didn't know how that could have been true. "I'd like to see the Spring Court." She went on. "I told Rhys I wanted to see more of Prythian."

"Ah…" Looking up as more petals fluttered down around them in the breeze, Lucien wondered how things might go with Tamlin in the future. It was unlikely they would be welcomed to just stroll through the gardens of the Spring Court as things currently stood. "Maybe one day things with Tam will calm down, and you'll be able to see it…"

"Would you tell me about it?" She asked softly, and her dark eyes flickered his way for a moment. Lucien nodded, settling back a little so that he was more comfortable.

"Absolutely." He said, before beginning to slowly describe the gardens and the flowers and anything that came to mind that he thought she might have appreciated, which was pretty much everything. Every time he looked her way, he was pleased to see a contented and peaceful look on her face while she listened to him, though her gaze remained on what she was doing. Lucien kept talking, telling her about everything he could remember in an attempt to make this moment last for as long as he could. This was the best he had felt in so so long. He would have loved for it to go on forever. Who would have ever thought he would end up in the Night Court, lying under a tree in Rhysand's garden, while his mate sat beside him happily listening to him talk?