Chapter 25

The moment they walked back into their shared room, Lucien strode into the adjoining bathroom and closed the door. Elain moved about the room, unpacking the things from her bag that she had yet to organise. She could feel Lucien standing just on the other side of the door, trying to get himself to calm down and, as she listened to his heartbeat ever so slightly beginning to quieten, she hoped that it wasn't going to be like this every day they were here. She didn't know how he had the self-control to keep himself restrained when she could feel what was going on inside him. His brothers had continued to taunt him throughout dinner with both barbed comments as well as through Elain herself. The one sitting next to her had touched her at every given opportunity, his eyes always on Lucien as he had done so, and Elain had figured that her best option had been to act as if she hadn't noticed. Feeling how the anger and fear had built within Lucien, however, she might need to rethink her responses for tomorrow.

She had just set her books on the bedside table and begun to pull her night things from her bag when the bathroom door opened again and Lucien slowly emerged. A glance his way told Elain that he had only slightly managed to calm down.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly and he nodded stiffly.

"Yes. Sorry," he replied, "I … just need to sit for a bit. I'll be fine."

Figuring that he might want some privacy while he got himself sorted out, Elain pulled her nightgown from her bag. "Okay, I'll have a bath then…"

When Elain had gone into the bathroom, Lucien sank on to the edge of the large bed with a sigh. He listened to her begin to fill the tub and he tried to even out his breathing. At least his heart wasn't pounding in his chest as it had been by the end of dinner. He knew that he shouldn't react to what his brothers had been doing, but he couldn't help the anger that had begun to build within him. It had been hard enough to keep his face even and not launch himself out of his chair, he didn't stand a hope of completely ignoring it. He didn't care about what they had said to him or about him, but if they thought were going to use Elain to get at him…

He couldn't stop them. That was what both angered and terrified him. They had been careful enough to not do anything that they could be reprimanded for and, on the surface, it had only been polite conversation that one might have with any guest visiting the court. But, Lucien knew, they had continued to engage with her and touch her, all the while looking at him, to show him that they could. They could do what they liked and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Just like what had happened to Jesminda. Just the thought of the same hands that had held him down while Jesminda had been killed now touching Elain made Lucien want to vomit.

Getting to his feet, he moved across the room to drag the orange couch over Infront of the door. There was no way anybody would be coming through there without him moving the couch out of the way first. The added extra source of security gave him a bit of peace and he returned to sit on the bed. He had to find a way to deal with this. He couldn't walk around the Court for the next few days this much of a mess. It made him vulnerable and, through him, it made Elain vulnerable. Also, he thought, gritting his teeth, he refused to give the bastards the satisfaction of knowing they could still have this much of an effect on him.

He just needed to relax. He needed to just sit and let it all go so that, tomorrow, he could walk out of this room and play the role he had become so adept at playing all these years. He would walk into his father's hall and be cocky and sarcastic, as if he didn't have a care in the world and it was all so far beneath his notice. Bored and aristocratic. He knew the role well.

As Elain pulled her nightgown over her head, she listened to Lucien's heartbeat through the bathroom door. It seemed relatively normal and, she figured, he must have gotten himself to calm down. Hanging her towel over a railing, she glanced at her reflection, running a hand through her loose golden brown hair before she turned and walked back into the other room.

Lucien was sitting on the bed with his back to her as he stared at the wall, though she knew that he was aware she had returned to the room as his heart quickened in pace ever so slightly, the way it always did when she entered a room.

"How was your bath?" he asked softly.

"It was nice." She told him, moving toward the bed and he turned to look at her a moment later.

Elain froze when Lucien's eyes moved over her and his expression changed. Fire seemed to spark behind his russet eye and she released a soft breath when she felt a bolt of heat flare between her thighs in response to the way he was now looking at her. She heard his metallic eye click and whirr as he looked her over again, and she knew that he either knew about or had felt her response to him. With feline grace, Lucien got to his feet and began to walk toward Elain and she realised that the primal instinct that was so clearly driving him now must have been so very close to the surface since they had arrived. She was surprised it had taken this long to come out, really. Again, she knew not to run. This time, however, Elain realised that she didn't want to.

When Lucien reached her, Elain just looked up at him, meeting his burning gaze. Tentatively, he lifted a hand to rest on her shoulder, gently drawing her into himself and she went without resistance. When his other hand came to her cheek, Elain allowed him to bend and kiss her, her own hands coming to his waist. Through the kiss, she could feel his desperation and his relief that nothing had happened to her with his brothers. When Lucien lifted Elain to himself, he deepened the kiss, and Elain slid her arms around his shoulders, one hand making its way up the back of his neck into his vibrant hair and she was both comfortable and hot at the same time. After a few moments, Elain began to respond to Lucien's kiss and, as she threaded her fingers through his hair, trailing her tongue along his lower lip, she realised that she was kissing him back.

The warm spark that she had been able to feel within Lucien seemed to ignite into a raging inferno as she kissed him, and then he had broken the kiss to bring his lips to her throat. Elain's thoughts splintered, and she couldn't so much as think. She wasn't sure how it had happened, but the next time she became aware of herself was when she found herself on her back on the bed. Lucien's weight pressing her into the soft covers was far more pleasing than she had anticipated, and she felt herself blush as she realised that her legs were now tightly wrapped around his waist. When his hot mouth trailed its way down her neck to a particularly sensitive hollow and she felt him rocking gently against her, Elain let out a wanton moan that shocked her back to rational thought.

She could feel Lucien hard and pressed firmly against her as his teeth gently scraped her skin. Elain blinked when one of his hands began trailing up her thigh, dragging her nightgown with it, and then she was pressing her hands against his chest and shaking her head. "Don't…"

He stopped instantly. His hand on her thigh froze and he released her throat, pushing himself higher with one hand to meet her eyes for a second. Elain had been trying to think of something else to say, or to explain, but before she could figure out how to form words, Lucien had retreated. He was off of her in a second and backing away across the room, sinking onto the orange couch in front of the door and drawing his feet up after himself, his eyes never leaving hers as she sat up to watch him. "Sorry…" she murmured, pulling the hem of her nightgown back down over her legs for modesty's sake.

"It's okay." He said, his voice sounding strained. "I understand… I won't… not until you want me."

Elain just stared at him, trying to sort through everything she could feel through the bond as emotion after emotion rolled off of him. As Lucien began to get himself under control, however, he had evidently begun shutting down anything he was sending her way and, soon enough, all she could feel was the usual base desire for her, mixed with anxiety.

"Thank you." She murmured, drawing a blanket around her shoulders as her eyes moved over Lucien again. He just gave her a small smile and a curt nod.

"As you wish, Petal."

Author's Note:

Do let me know your thoughts. xx