Chapter 55

When Lucien bent to press a kiss to Elain's cheek, she smiled at him in her vanity mirror, setting her hairbrush down in her lap. "Will you be back after dinner?" she asked, and he slid his arm across her until he could rest her throat in the crook of his elbow. He kissed her again, this time pressing his lips to the top of her head.

"I should be."

"Okay." Elain smiled, leaning back against him as she held his gaze in the mirror.

Lucien smiled back at her, stranding straighter until it was his hands loosely around her throat, caressing her. "Have fun with your sisters." He said, and Elain could see the mischief in his eyes, hear the teasing note in his voice, and she knew that he was all too happy about not having to be around for when Feyre and Nesta wanted to talk about what they had seen earlier.

"You think you're getting the better deal here?" she asked and he grinned in response. "I hope you have a good time with Cassian." She continued, honey in her voice, and watched as his grin faded. "Yeah, that's right."

"Uh…" Lucien opened his mouth as if to say something, his eyes wide as he blinked. Elain just laughed.

"Oh, you'll be fine." She told him, smiling widely. "We'll both do what we must." One of his hands moved up her throat to her jaw, tilting her face up, as he bent over her to press a kiss to her lips.

"Yes." He murmured, "And then, I'm really looking forward to bedtime."

Smiling up at him, Elain nodded as he kissed her again. She was very much looking forward to it as well, but they had a whole evening to get through before they would be able to go to bed. When Lucien released her, Elain picked up her hairbrush again as he straightened and stepped back from her. "I'll see you later." She told him and he gave her a wink before he headed for the door.

Looking back to the mirror, Elain began to brush out her hair before bringing it, piece by piece, up onto her head where she set about securing it with pins. When she was satisfied, she headed downstairs to find Feyre and Nesta. "Where are Mor and Amren?" Elain asked, sinking down onto the couch beside Nesta. She had assumed that since Lucien had gone into Velaris with Rhys, Azriel and Cassian, that Mor and Amren would be joining her and her sisters.

"They decided that we needed a little privacy." Feyre grinned and Elain bit back a groan.

"Why?" she huffed.

"Sisterly talk." Feyre replied, grinning more widely.

"You mean you're going to torture me for information."

"Only if you don't willingly talk."

Elain looked to Nesta for help, but Nesta just shook her head. "Things are obviously changing." Her older sister said, "And I want to know too…"

"Yeah, I'm not doing this without wine." Elain said and Feyre chuckled, getting to her feet and walking from the room.

While her younger sister was gone, Elain tried to work out what her sisters already knew and what they would probably be asking her about. She bit her lip at the memory of Feyre settling an air shield around her bedroom so that the rest of the house wouldn't hear her the night Lucien had come to her before he had left to give her space to decide what she wanted. Yeah, she was definitely going to need wine.

"Alright…" Feyre strode back into the room with a bottle of wine and three glasses, and Elain watched as wine filled the glasses before one was passed her way. Lifting the glass, she took a long sip and eyed her sisters again. "Talk." Feyre said, settling back in her own armchair, legs slung over the side.

"Talk?" Elain asked, "That's vague…"

"Lucien Vanserra…" Feyre waved a hand, "Come on…"

Elain said nothing, just looked between Feyre and Nesta as she tried to work out what to tell them.

"…You love him." Nesta prompted, and Elain's eyes flicked to meet her sister's. Nesta just looked calmly back at her and, after a moment, Elain nodded.

"Yes."

"Hm." Nesta drained half the wine from her glass, her eyes still on Elain. "How do you know?"

"I wasn't sure I did know…" Elain murmured, "So, I asked Mor."

Feyre laughed and Elain glanced her way. "You asked Mor? So she could tell you the truth?"

"Yes." Elain looked back to Nesta, "But I didn't need to…I already knew it."

"Are you going to accept the bond?" Feyre asked and Elain bit her lip. She began tracing her finger around the top of her wineglass, listening to it sing as she did so.

"I… I haven't thought that far ahead…"

"Don't push her." Nesta turned toward Feyre.

"I'm not." Feyre said, lifting a hand in defence. "I just want to know… if I'll have to create any more sound shields…"

"First of all," Elain jumped in before Feyre could say anything else about that, "There's no way I'll be accepting it anywhere near this place." She pointed out the door toward the stairs, "And, second… I wouldn't be taking him upstairs so that the whole house could listen to whatever mating frenzy we would end up in…"

"Where would you go?" Feyre asked and Elain shook her head.

"I… don't know." She made a face, "I haven't thought about it… I said that…"

"If you love him…"

"I do." Elain said, "There's no 'if' about it."

Feyre looked at her, swirling her wine around her glass, "Then accepting the bond-"

"Feyre!" Nesta said sharply, "There's no rush. Let her just have this as it is for a while…"

"Okay…" Feyre said, her eyes moving from Elain to Nesta and then back again, "… and how is it?"

Elain blinked at her. "What do you mean?"

"We've all seen how handsy you are with one another…" Feyre said, "And I know what I've seen…" Elain blushed at the memory of her sister's mind brushing hers as Lucien had licked steadily between her thighs. Nesta was looking between them with an odd expression on her face and Elain took another sip of her wine. "So," Feyre continued, "Have you found out if he fucks like he's got fire in his blood yet?"

Eyeing the bottle of wine sitting on the table, Elain tried to keep her face neutral. "No." She murmured, "I have not."

"…are you going to wait until you accept the bond?" Feyre asked, "… for the frenzy?" Elain looked at her sister then. Feyre's eyes were a little wide and Elain shook her head, watching as her sister relaxed a little.

"Maybe we should talk about Nesta and Cassian…" Elain murmured, reaching for anything that wasn't centred around when she and Lucien were going to have sex. She didn't have an answer to that question. She wanted him, and she knew that he wanted her. She hadn't planned on waiting until she had formally accepted the bond purely because she did want him, she hadn't even considered the issues that could arise if she was a virgin when the mating frenzy hit them.

"Nesta and Cassian…" Feyre echoed and Nesta whipped her head around to look at Elain.

"Sorry…" Elain smiled, "But we've talked about me enough…"

"Because you have something to talk about." Nesta replied, "I don't…"

"Cassian would disagree." Feyre put in.

"Cassian can go jump in the Sidra." Nesta snapped. Feyre smirked and reached for the wine bottle. "Are we going to actually have dinner, or are we just going to sit here and drink wine?"

"I'm sure we can do both." Feyre replied, grinning at Nesta and Elain tried to hide a smile. This was far more entertaining when they were talking about somebody who wasn't her.