Chapter 14

"Tamlin!" Lucien snapped exasperatedly as the High Lord tried to walk around him. "You cannot keep ignoring everyone."

"Not everyone." Tamlin sneered, wheeling around. "Just you."

"This cannot continue…" he tried to be reasonable but Tamlin shook his blond head.

"The only reason you're here is because you're playing Rhys' emissary." Tamlin's lip curled, "You've traded sides."

"There aren't sides." Lucien replied, "And if there are, we're on the same one."

"No." Tamlin snapped. "No, we're not. You betrayed me. You took Feyre and you left. For him."

Lucien's blood heated. "You drove everyone away." He replied, "With your selfishness and petulance." Tamlin sneered again, but Lucien was pissed off now. "You act the victim, but you betrayed me too!"

"How?" Tamlin looked indignant.

"You didn't lift a finger to help me Under the Mountain…"

Tamlin's green eyes narrowed as he looked at Lucien. "If you're referring to what Amarantha made me do…"

"No." Lucien replied, "I know you didn't have a choice about that. I'm talking about when you were going to let Rhysand rip me apart for Feyre's name…"

Tamlin had the good grace to look uncomfortable. "I was trying to protect her…"

"I know that." Lucien said, "And I kept silent because that's what you wanted. But the fact remains you would have let me die to protect her name. Which gave the bitch no more power over us than before… It was such a small thing, that you apparently decided was worth my life. Thankfully, Feyre disagreed. Everyone always has to suffer for what you want."

"I took you in when you had nowhere to go. I gave you a home!"

"And then you ruined it!"

Tamlin bared his teeth. "You think I ruined it?"

"You let Ianthe walk in here and do as she pleased." Lucien paused as disgust flowed through him. "You sent me into that cave in your place…"

"I couldn't…"

"You knew I hated her!"

"I..." Tamlin stood taller, "I am the High Lord…"

"And that made it your responsibility!" Lucien cried.

"I couldn't!" Tamlin hissed, "I couldn't bear the thought of… knowing that Rhysand had Feyre…" Anger simmered in his green eyes, "Do you imagine you could go and engage in the Rite right now if I were to go upstairs and crawl into bed with your little mate…?"

A snarl slipped out of Lucien before he could leash it at the thought of Tamlin's hands on Elain. "It's not the same."

"Is it not? You love her don't you?"

"I was not the High Lord." Lucien insisted, "It was not my responsibility and Feyre is not your mate!"

Tamlin launched himself at him with a roar, and Lucien wasn't ready. He hit the wall before he'd even realised that the older male had thrown him across the room. Barely noticing that he was sliding toward the ground, Lucien struggled to stand upright again before Tamlin's hands had seized him once more. Pain seared his shoulder when those terrible claws sprouted, ripping into his flesh. Lucien didn't want to fight Tamlin. He never had. Even if he did want to, he would never have been able to beat him. Nobody stood a chance against Tamlin when he got like this.

Straightening her dress, Elain slipped out into the hallway. Her stomach was rumbling and she was really looking forward to seeing what kind of delicious food was served for breakfast in the Spring Court. She suspected it would be absolutely delightful. It would be perfect way to begin the day before she let herself go outside and explore the majesty of the gardens. She had been able to see them from her window this morning and, from such a height, they had looked even more breathtaking than she had imagined.

As she was descending the stairs, a roar rang out through the house, and Elain froze. Scuffling noises followed and she continued down into the hallway leading to the dining room. Gasping as she stepped into the room, Elain watched as Tamlin landed a powerful blow to Lucien's face, knocking him to his knees before dragging him up to his feet and beating him again.

"Stop it!" She yelled hurrying forward.

If they heard her, they made no show of it. Tamlin threw the redhead away from himself, and Elain shuddered at the sound as Lucien hit the far wall and collapsed to the floor. Tamlin advanced on Lucien, still on the ground, those awful claws raised, deadly and terrifying, ready to rip Lucien apart, and fear spiked through Elain at the thought.

Surging forward, Elain threw herself to her knees in front of Lucien, her arms out wide as she glared up at Tamlin. "Stop!" she cried again. She saw the moment he tried to pull himself back, but it was too late. His claws ripped through her arm and across her chest before he recoiled, pacing to the other side of the room. Elain fell back against Lucien with a whimper. She could feel him struggling to push himself to his knees behind her, hear the wrongness in his breathing, but she kept her eyes on Tamlin whose claws retracted as he looked back at them. Regret was clear in every line of his face before he turned and fled the room.

"Elain…?" Lucien's voice sounded wrong, and she turned to look at him. He was still struggling to push himself off the floor, so she leaned forward and helped him into a sitting position against the wall. "Are you okay?" he asked, barely able to open his russet eye. Elain nearly whimpered again looking at him. Blood was soaked into his shirt from where Tamlin's claws had ripped at his shoulder, and more blood trickled from his split and bruised lips. Worse, was the wheezing sound she could hear every time he tried to draw a breath.

"Lucien…" she whispered, "What happened?"

"Tried to talk… to him…"

Elain shook her head, her eyes moving over Lucien in an attempt to survey what was wrong. "Can you stand?" she asked. She wanted to get him upstairs to try and do what she could, and she didn't want Tamlin to walk back into the room and continue where he'd left off. Lucien nodded, but groaned as he tried to do so. Elain pulled one of his arms over her shoulder, trying to help lift him.

It was a struggle, but they eventually made it upstairs and to Lucien's room. She carefully sat him on a low chair and hurried to collect some water and towels from the bathroom. Kneeling before him when she had everything she could find, she looked up at him again. "Can you heal?" she asked, her eyes moving over him slowly. "I… I can clean you up… but…" She knew she couldn't do anything about whatever was wrong with his breathing. She didn't think he'd ever been this silent for this long, and it was beginning to scare her. Tears of fear pricked at her eyes, and she blinked rapidly, looking down to focus on the towel she was dipping into the basin she'd collected.

"Elain…"

Elain made herself look back up at him. She watched as he looked her over in turn, his gaze coming to rest on her arm and chest, evidently taking in the burning clawmarks she hadn't so much as looked at herself. Glancing down at them, she frowned at the blood running down her arm and staining the pale blue fabric of her dress. Deep gashes marked most of her arm and halfway across her chest. When Lucien lifted a shaking hand to her, she looked back up to meet his eyes. He set his hand on her shoulder and Elain shuddered as a pleasant warmth seemed to spread throughout her. When she looked down again, it was to see smooth skin.

"What are you doing?" she gasped, "Heal yourself!"

"It will take longer." He murmured, his hand falling from her shoulder. Elain went higher on her knees, lifting the damp cloth in her hand, and hesitating only a moment before she brought it gently to his face, trying to wash away the blood.

"But you can?" she asked softly.

"Yes." His eyes closed for a moment, "Just a couple of scratches… maybe a few broken ribs…"

Noticing her own hand shaking, Elain lowered it quickly back to the basin of warm water. "Has he done that before?"

"Yes."

Elain tried to keep her focus on the wet cloth as she carefully wiped more blood from him. When his warm fingertips found her shoulder again, not moving, but presenting a steady presence nonetheless, she lifted her eyes to his. "Are you healing yourself?" she asked.

"I am." His voice was soft, but Elain supposed that was the truth as he was now able to open both eyes properly to meet her gaze. "… nobody has ever put themselves in front of me like that."

Elain held his gaze, unable to look away. "It was instinct." She replied, not knowing if it had been her own instinct, or because of the bond.

Lucien's fingers slid down her arm to her elbow, holding firmly. "Don't do it again." He breathed, "If Tam loses it again… don't… you could have…" fear slammed into Elain down the bond and she swallowed thickly. Pushing it back at him, she raised her chin slightly.

"I won't just stand there and watch him kill you."

"If it's you or me, it's better if it's me."

"It doesn't have to be that way." Her voice was higher than she had intended, "If that's where we are, then let's go back."

Lucien's hand on her elbow drew her closer and Elain leaned into him a little. She noticed that the horrible wheezing noise when he breathed had disappeared and something inside of her eased. "It's okay." He murmured, "Hopefully he'll have calmed down by this evening."

Elain dipped the cloth in the warm water again and returned to what she had been trying to do. Lucien was watching her with half closed eyes, and she suspected his energy was going into trying to heal himself. She could feel the disbelief and wonder coming from him, enamoured with the fact that she had thrown herself between Tamlin and himself. Having always had Nesta and Feyre to protect her, Elain didn't know how it would have felt to have someone do that for the first time, but she could feel his desire to pull her to himself and hold her. As she began trying to clean his shoulder through the hole in his shirt, she began to see his healing take effect, and relief flooded her. Eventually she dropped the cloth into the basin and left it there. "Are you healed?" she asked gently.

"Not quite." His reply was soft, "I need to rest a bit." Elain glanced toward his bed.

"You should lay down."

"Yes…" He made no move to get up and Elain looked him over.

"And take that shirt off before you do. It's covered in blood…"

She watched him do so, moving gingerly and clearly cautious of his ribs. When the ruined shirt hit the floor beside the basin of water, Elain couldn't help herself. She reached a hand out to carefully touch the place where deep puncture wounds had marred his skin not five minutes earlier.

"Impressed?" he asked, just the tiniest hint of humour behind his flat words.

"It's remarkable." She replied softly. He gave a grim smile and struggled to his feet, Elain shooting to hers to try and help when he took an unsteady step.

"Elain…" he breathed her name, an arm coming loosely around her. Elain stood still, allowing him the contact. When he realised she wasn't going to pull away, his other arm wrapped around her, and he pressed closer to her. Leaning into him, Elain closed her eyes, resting her cheek against his bare skin, which was surprisingly hot to the touch. He felt like he was on fire inside, and she wondered if that was the healing still doing its work. When she felt Lucien rest his chin atop her head, she allowed her arms to loosely encircle his waist, thankful that he was in once piece and that she hadn't gotten downstairs five minutes later. "Thank you." He breathed, tightening his hold on her just a little, "Risking yourself for me… Thank you." Elain pulled back just enough to look up at his face. He looked tired, and utterly spent, but he was looking at her intensely, and she could feel him hoping desperately that she would know how much he truly meant what he was saying. Not knowing what to say in response, she just nodded, holding his gaze. He bent enough to press his lips to her forehead and then he had released her and was moving toward his bed once more. Elain took the basin of water back to the bathroom and hung the wet towels out before coming back to check on him once again.

Lucien was lying on his back, his eyes closed and his breathing even and normal. Watching him for a moment, Elain decided that he was okay and would be better off if she left him to sleep. "… I'll be back later." She murmured quietly, unsure if he was even awake and heard her or not. Then, she turned and headed for the door, figuring that she needed to change her own clothes and take a bath before retrying to find something to eat.

Author's Note:

Still want to know your thoughts, friends.