Chapter Five

The next few days had passed in much the same fashion. Elain had gone out into the garden when the weather permitted, and after she had settled into what she wanted to do for the day, Lucien had come out to join her, always bringing something for them to eat and drink. He had begun going into Velaris to a bakery she had told him she favoured, and it had begun to be a habit for him to bring back several of the days' special pastries or cakes.

Already finding herself hungry, she looked up with interest as he slid the door open and stepped into the garden with her.

"Wait until you see what they had today." He told her, and Elain was already dusting her hands off as her stomach gave a desperate rumble of anticipation. If Lucien heard it, he pretended he hadn't, although she could see the small smile on his lips.

"I'm ready." She said, moving toward the blanket she had set up beneath the tree again. He carefully set the box down and flipped the lid open, casting a glance up at her as he did so. "Oh…"

"These…" Lucien began and Elain dropped down to sit on the blanket as she looked at the iced cupcakes in the box with what came close to awe, "are lemon flavoured."

"They're beautiful." She murmured, her eyes moving from one to the next. Each cupcake was decorated with a different coloured icing and shaped to look like elaborate flowers. She lifted her gaze to Lucien's to find him watching her, and she grinned.

"Too beautiful to eat?" He asked, and she could hear the amusement in his voice. Her stomach rumbled again and she made a face.

"It would be a shame to ruin them…" she said, "but…"

"Which one do you want?" he asked, seemingly unable to wipe the smirk off his face. Elain looked from him to the cupcakes, trying to choose.

"Mmm…" she bit her lip, "The purple one…" She watched as Lucien took it carefully out of the box and presented it to her. Elain accepted it, turning it around to make sure she got a good look at it before she let herself scratch a tiny bit of icing off to taste.

"…Good?" Lucien asked, picking up a green cupcake.

"Mhmm…" Elain swiped a finger through the icing before popping her finger in her mouth. When she looked at Lucien again, she found both his russet and gold eyes focused firmly upon her, watching her pull her finger from her mouth. She heard his heartbeat increase before he looked away. "I like lemon…" she said, looking for something to say.

"Thought you might, Petal." He replied, before licking the icing off the top of his cupcake. Elain swallowed and settled herself closer to the tree in order to lean against it. She set about eating her own cupcake, enjoying the light lemon flavour and the fact that it didn't make the cake too sweet to enjoy or, she thought, possibly eat several in one sitting. She watched Lucien finish his own and then lie back on the blanket so he could look at the sky. He closed his eyes, seemingly enjoying the sun on his skin.

Licking the last of the icing from her fingers, Elain found herself unable to keep her eyes off of her companion. She knew that males often did not enjoy being referred to as 'pretty', but with his ruby hair, practically glowing like molten metal in the sun, splayed out around him, Elain thought that Lucien didn't really look out of place among the rest of her flowers.

"See something you like, Petal?" he didn't open his eyes, but Elain knew that he'd somehow felt her watching him. Heat filled her cheeks, although she didn't know if it because he knew she had been looking at him, or the fact that he kept calling her 'Petal' and she liked it.

"Tell me something interesting." She said, trying to change the subject. His head turned toward her, but his eyes remained closed.

"In regard to what?" he asked. Elain's eyes moved over the sun-kissed skin of his face, marred only by that scar from his brow to his jaw.

"What have you been reading?" she asked, having seen him perusing Rhys' bookshelves on more than one occasion.

"Well," he said softly, lacing his fingers together and then resting his hands on his stomach. "I am currently reading first hand accounts of those who survived the last war…"

"With Amarantha?" Elain started when his eyes flew open and he looked at her.

"You know that name?"

"Feyre…"

"Of course." She watched him draw a slow breath before he closed his eyes again, "There were so many who were displaced, and they were trying to find somewhere for a new life."

"Must be sad…"

"Some." Lucien said, "But most of them speak of hope."

"Where did they go?" Elain asked, curious.

"Wherever they could." He answered, "Mostly they were spread across Prythian. There are some in all of the courts."

"How did they find new homes?" She watched him drum the fingers of one hand on the back of the other for a moment.

"Followed work, mostly. There were trade fairs where those who were after workers in certain trades could gather to find those who could do the work. Those who sought work could go and find that work…"

"And this was before you were born?"

His eyes opened again and his golden eye whirred as he focused on her. "Yes."

Elain nodded. "Feyre said you're old."

"Not that old."

"Rhys is."

"Indeed." He smiled at her and Elain shifted to slide down until she lay on her back on the blanket also. Lucien's heartrate quickened but he didn't move. She closed her eyes against the sun and drew a soft breath, allowing the warmth seep into her. "What have you been reading?" he asked and Elain bit her lip.

"Oh, I doubt you'd be interested." She murmured, figuring he'd find it trivial compared to what he'd just told her.

"I am." He said gently, "That's why I asked."

"It's…" Elain was thankful she hadn't begun the book Nesta had given her just yet, as that would have been wildly embarrassing to explain, "just a silly mystery…" she murmured, "There's this spy from the Day court…"

"Oh?" She felt Lucien turn onto his side to look at her, though her own eyes remained closed to protect them from the sun.

"And he's never left the Day Court before, but he has to travel to all the other courts… and it's actually kind of interesting because it's quite descriptive…"

"I can imagine." Lucien said, "Is that where you got the idea to tell Rhys you wanted to see more of Pyrthian?"

"I'd been thinking that before then…" Elain said softly, "But it certainly has sharpened the desire." She turned her head toward him before opening her eyes. Lucien was practically glowing in the sun. "You don't think it's silly?"

"Not at all." He said, and she believed him. "Why would I think it's silly?"

"I… don't know. It's not… serious stuff." She looked at him, liking that he would listen to her without trying to interject, and that he hadn't just dismissed what she had said outright as having no value. He hadn't tried to make her choice of reading material seem inferior to his own like Graysen had always tried to do. Greysen had never shown interest in anything Elain had liked, and had often sought to make himself appear superior by trivialising what she read or tried to talk to him about.

"If you like that kind of thing," Lucien told her, "I might have a couple of similar recommendations, if you are interested?"

Elain nodded and smiled at him. "I suppose you've seen all the courts…"

"Yes…" his eyes moved back and forth across her face.

"And you're Rhys' emissary now…"

"I did agree to that, yes." Lucien's voice was soft again.

"Do you not want to be?"

"I…" He gave a light sigh, "I am glad to have something to do." He told her, "Something useful. I've never been able to sit idly.

"No, I don't imagine fire is good as being idle." Elain suddenly sat up and looked at him. "Come on, then?"

Lucien sat up, looking questioningly back at her. "…come on where?"

She got to her feet and moved toward a garden bed that she had plans for. "Make yourself useful, then." She picked up a garden hoe and thrust it out to him. Lucien eyed it and then the garden. She grinned when his eyes returned to her.

"You want that cleared?"

"If you don't mind."

Taking the hoe, he gave her a lazy grin. "Anything you want, Petal."

Elain tried not to watch when he shrugged out if his jacket before approaching the garden. She was very much enjoying her days out here like this. She enjoyed Lucien and his company, and she found herself more and more at peace with everything around her. As she knelt down to continue her work from earlier, she kept one eye on Lucien as he set about doing as she had asked. This was nice, she had decided. She definitely liked it.