Chapter 48

Slipping his green jacket on, Lucien fastened it as quickly as he was able. He knew that the others had gone down for dinner just as he had been hurrying back into his room. A bath had been required and he had washed as swiftly as he could. Dinner would likely well and truly have begun by the time that he got downstairs and he wanted to join everyone else as soon as possible. It wasn't that he was particularly worried about dinner, even though he was hungry, but he wanted to see Elain.

It had been incredibly difficult to drop her at her door the previous night and then return to his own room. But, Lucien had forced himself to walk away. He knew that Elain would likely have enough going through her mind after what had gone on in the maze when she had found him out there trying to get away from Vassa. She had then admitted to him that it wasn't just the bond that had made her miss him before she had quite literally thrown herself at him, tugging him down into a kiss. If he were being honest with himself, Lucien had wanted nothing more than to take her back to his own room and show her exactly how much he had missed her, but he had known that would not have been the honourable thing to do. Knowing Elain, he was certain that she would need time to go over everything that had happened and she would need the space to process it. He had decided to give it to her before they spoke further. Today had been far too busy, however. Having left early with Rhys and Mor, Lucien had not had the time to find Elain at all. She was down there now, however, and he wanted to get to her.

Pushing his sleeves up his forearms, Lucien strode for the door and out into the hallway. Something was sliding down the bond toward him and Lucien quickened his step when he realised that Elain was furious. By the time he had reached the stairs, that feeling had turned to doubt and helplessness and he frowned. He didn't know whatever it was that had been done to her, but he would find out.

Gritting his teeth when he realised that it probably had something to do with Vassa, he resolved himself to having to do something about it. Vassa was stubborn and not afraid to do whatever it took to achieve her goals, and if she had decided that she wanted him, Lucien had no doubt that she would make that clear to Elain. Having seen that fire in Elain when she had come for him in the maze the previous night, however; Lucien was certain that his mate would be able to handle anything Vassa threw at her.

Elain felt Lucien the moment he walked into the dining room. Sitting straighter in her chair, she twisted around to watch as he approached the table. When he met her eyes, she smiled at him, her blood heating as he returned her smile without hesitation. "Good evening, Petal." He just about purred in Elain's ear as he bent over the back of her chair and pressed his lips to her cheek. Elain felt herself blush, and bit her lip as just about every pair of eyes at the table turned her way. She looked away from them and back up at Lucien who began pulling the chair out beside her.

"Oh, Lucien." Vassa put in, "Your place card is over here… That's Jurian's spot."

"Hm." Lucien reached forward and picked up the small piece of cardboard with Jurian's name on it. His metallic eye clicked and whirred as he looked at it for a moment, his expression blank. "We don't need to be so formal." He said, "It's just us here…" He tossed the place card carelessly into the middle of the table before dropping casually down into the chair, his hand sliding onto Elain's knee as he smiled at her again. "Did you have a pleasing day?" he asked, his voice low enough that nobody but Elain would have heard him.

Sparing a single glance for Vassa, Elain noticed the queen's displeased expression and knew that the other woman was irritated by the fact that Lucien hadn't seated himself where she had wanted him, and then he had deliberately cut everyone else out of the conversation by speaking to Elain so quietly. "Petal?" he asked, a finger tracing gently down Elain's cheek.

Elain turned her head to meet his eyes. "It was nice." She said, "I spent the afternoon reading."

"I have another book you will like." He told her softly, and Elain's eyes dropped to where Lucien's fingers were tracing the skin of her wrist before moving down her hand. When his fingers slid between hers, Elain looked back up at his face. "I finished it last night…"

"I finished all of the other ones you gave me." She told him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Did you?"

"I liked them all."

Lucien squeezed Elain's hand gently. "I am pleased to hear that…"

She wanted to touch him. The thought shot through Elain fast enough that her breath caught in her throat and she just looked at him. She wanted to lift her hand and touch his hair or caress his cheek, she wanted to run her fingers down his scar, and those thoughts were completely inappropriate for the dinner table. Smiling gently, she lowered her gaze, trying to focus on the fact that he still held her hand in his and that was enough.

They both looked up when large bowls of soup were placed in front of them. Lucien released her hand to pick up his spoon, and Elain tried not to feel the disappointment. Beside her, Nesta made a small noise that suggested to Elain that her sister knew exactly what she had been thinking and she turned her head to meet those clever blue-grey eyes. "Nesta?" she murmured. Nesta's eyes moved across Elain's face before sliding past her toward Lucien. "Nes?"

"Interesting." Nesta breathed, meeting Elain's eyes again. Elain raised an eyebrow at her but her sister just gave her the tiniest of smiles before looking back down at her own soup.

Making sure that she kept her eyes averted from Vassa, Elain quietly ate her own soup as she listened to the conversations moving around the table. It seemed that, with Vassa only able to take her human form at night, much of the manor's happenings occurred after sundown. After dinner there was to be a small meeting in one of the sitting rooms, and Feyre was going to go through anything they had learned that morning with Vassa so that the queen was up to date. The chatter died down when Jurian strode into the room and to the empty chair beside Vassa.

"All settled." He said to Vassa as he sank down and picked up his spoon. "In the room on the west corridor, as you instructed."

"Thank you." Vassa's muttered voice replied. Despite herself, Elain's eyes shifted toward the redheaded queen. Vassa's own blue eyes were directed her way before shifting to Lucien, and irritation flickered through Elain. Tightening her hand on her spoon as her eyes went back to her soup, Elain wished she could somehow block Vassa's gaze as possessiveness flooded her. She wondered when she had begun to think of Lucien as 'hers', but she had. It had to have been a long time ago, she figured, because she certainly had thought of him as hers back in the Autumn Court. Maybe it had been when they had visited Spring? But then, Elain thought back to when Lucien had first left the Night Court to search for Vassa when she had been missing before the war. That morning he had left, she had felt it. She felt as if she had lost something. Even then, she realised, she had thought of him as hers. Her eyes sliding back to Vassa, Elain made the decision that she was not going to let the woman anywhere near her Lucien again. Elain had killed the King of Hybern and she was not weak. If Vassa thought she was going to get at Lucien, she was going to have to go through Elain to do it.

Shocked at her own thoughts, Elain chewed gently on her lower lip. Those were not thoughts that she was familiar with at all. She was not a confrontational person, and it confused her that she would think that way. Was it the bond? Was that where her jealousy and possessiveness had come from? Or, she wondered, was it just her?

Glancing around the table, Elain tried to figure out a way to sort her thoughts. As dinner came to a close, she looked at Mor.

When the dining room began to empty, Elain got to her feet and followed Mor out into the hallway. "Hey…" She called, hurrying up the stairs to catch up to her and Mor turned to look at her, a questioning look on her beautiful face.

"Elain?"

"Your gift is truth." Elain said, and Mor nodded.

"Yes." She agreed, clearly confused.

Taking a deep breath, Elain bounced on the balls of her feet, trying to draw any scraps of courage she could muster. "… I love Lucien Vanserra." The words came out slightly more defiantly than she had intended, but she didn't take her eyes off of Mor for a second.

Mor's gaze sharpened, "You love Lucien Vanserra." She repeated, her head tilting, sending her blonde hair cascading over one of her shoulders, as a half-smile quirked the side of her lips before she purred a soft "Truth."