Chapter 83

As Eris threw himself onto his throne, Elain was certain she saw him stifle a yawn. "Explain." The redheaded High Lord demanded, and several people began speaking at once. Irritation crossed Eris' features and he ran a long hand over his face, holding up a hand again. "Cauldron help me." He muttered, before pointing at Lucien. "You."

"Uh…" Elain felt Lucien trying to keep his calm tone as he began to speak. "I don't know how they got in… the first I was aware of them was when a knife was pressed to my throat…" Eris raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to keep speaking, and Elain turned her gaze on Lucien. "Tallan had Elain pinned, and I tried to make them let her go. They wanted to pay me back for Tam and I killing our brothers… They came to kill me."

"And then?" Eris asked mildly.

Lucien rolled his shoulders, and Elain kept her eyes on him. "I got around Connal…" he said, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck, "But Tallan still had Elain and I didn't know what to do… I… don't know … I don't know what I did."

Shifting her gaze back to Eris, Elain watched him tilt his head, his amber eyes narrowed as he looked at Lucien. "What do you remember?"

"I don't know." Lucien muttered, "I got angry… hot… panicked… and then I was sitting on the bed and there were others around."

"Ah." Eris' amber eyes flicked to Elain. "Now you."

Elain glanced at Lucien who took her hand, holding it carefully in his large warm one. "I don't know how they got in, either." She said softly, "I was asleep when Tallan pulled me from the bed." She kept her eyes on Lucien. "He held me down while they held a knife to Lucien and woke him up. They wanted to kill him. They… they were going to kill him."

"And yet…" Eris said softly, "That is not what happened…"

"Tallan taunted him." Elain said, her eyes flicking from Lucien to Eris, "He… touched… me… And Lucien got free." Elain looked back to Lucien once again. "He got hot… hotter than the fire beside me… I could feel it across the room… and he started to glow…" Lucien squeezed her hand, and Elain met his russet and gold eyes as he stared at her. "Then it all exploded… and Tallan was no longer holding me; he was screaming… and his skin was…" She shook her head, "I just got away from him as quickly as I could… and then the others came…"

"Did I hurt you?" Lucien asked, his metallic eye whirring as he looked her over. Elain shook her head and they both looked back to Eris who made another gesture at a pair of faeries standing by the door.

The two faeries by the door exited the room, at Eris' command, and then returned several moments later, bringing Tallan and Connal with them. Lucien watched as his brothers were brought to kneel before Eris, close to where his stood with Elain. Shifting so that he stood between them and his mate, Lucien stared at Tallan. His brother's skin was nearly as red as his hair, blisters evident on most of the flesh that was visible. He had evidently been severely burned. The pain on Tallan's face was as blatant as his anger, and Lucien felt a small sliver of satisfaction. The bastard deserved it after what he had done to Elain, what he had intended to do.

"You entered Lucien's room with the intent to kill him." Eris accused, and Tallan and Connal looked up at their brother silently. "Do you deny this?"

"No." Connal muttered.

His expression hardening further, Eris snarled the next words. "You intended to murder a guest of my house under my nose…?"

"He deserved it." Tallan snapped, "You know what he did!"

"Shut up!" Eris got to his feet. "You will not disrespect me any further. I am your High Lord. Do you have anything to say for yourselves before I metre judgement?"

Lucien raised an eyebrow when Tallan's amber eyes flicked toward him. "Watch yourself, little brother." He said, "We won't ever forget."

"If you listen to me closely," Lucien replied, "you can hear me not caring…" he felt Elain's hand tighten on his, and he returned his attention to Eris who was now pacing back and forth across the dais.

"You're both to be ostracised." Eris eventually said, turning his eyes on their brothers, kneeling on the floor. "You are no longer welcome in the Autumn Court. You are no longer family, and you maintain no ties to this house. If you are caught trying to enter my lands, you will be put to death." Lucien caught the quick glance Eris cast at their mother standing nearby. "Do you understand?" he asked them. Neither one responded and Eris waved his hand at them. "Go now. You have until sunup to be out of my lands."

They moved as one, both brothers getting to their feet and fleeing the room without so much as a glance backwards, and Lucien's eyes followed Eris as he returned to sit in his throne. No more brothers, nobody else in line for the throne. There was nobody who would directly benefit from murdering Eris while he slept. Lucien wondered if Eris hadn't planned this whole thing. He had eliminated every threat to his reign in a single day.

"You should have just killed them." This was Nesta, and Lucien turned his head to glance at Elains' sister who was standing not far behind them.

"Oh," Eris replied, crossing one leg over the other as he gave Nesta a pleased look, "If they return, I will."

"Yet at the moment you have three exiled brothers who would probably love nothing more than to see you dead. They're still going to be out there, waiting for their opportunity."

"I don't think they will." Eris grinned, "They know if they so much as slip a toenail into my lands, they will be executed. They will not test me on this." Lucien watched the approving way that Eris' eyes moved over Nesta before his brother gave her another wide smile. "You are all welcome to stay, of course, I understand completely if you wish to leave in the morning."

Lucien skid closer to Elain, slipping his arm around her shoulders. "May we return to our rooms?"

Dragging his gaze from Nesta, Eris met Lucien's eyes and nodded. "Yes."

Lucien turned Elain to the door, and they swiftly returned to their room. He didn't so much as spare a glance for anyone else; they could wait for morning. When they got into their room, Lucien made sure to lock the door, and then drag the orange couch in front of it. Nobody would be getting in without him knowing about it this time and, by the time he had turned around, Elain had wandered into the bathroom.

"I want a bath." She told him, and the unbidden image of Tallan licking her back flashed before Lucien's eyes. It was no wonder she wanted to clean herself. He followed her quickly, entering the bathroom as she began to fill the bathtub with steaming water.

"Are you sure I didn't hurt you?" he asked, "I… had no control over what happened. I don't even know what it was…"

"It didn't touch me." She replied, "I didn't feel a thing. It was just hot, and then Tallan was screaming and he let me go."

"Alright…" Lucien lifted his hands, unable to help himself, stroking the back of her neck as she undid her dress. He thought again about Tallan licking her, and a territorial flood of heat swept through him. Lucien wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her back against himself and then releasing her instantly at her hiss of pain. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She turned to face him, "Just a little sore…"

Lucien had been about to ask her what hurt when she dropped her dress, allowing it to pool on the floor at her feet, and he forgot any of the words he had been about to utter. Instead, he watched her step into the tub and sink down into the hot water. After a moment, he managed to pull himself together enough to move toward the tub, sitting on the edge as he watched her. "How's it feel?" he asked, picking up a soft sponge and sipping it into the water.

"Warm and delicious." She murmured, turning so that he could reach her back. Lucien smiled and began rubbing the sponge over her, paying particular attention to the place he remembered Tallan licking her. When she leaned further forward so that he could reach lower, Lucien's breath caught at the sight of a large purple and green bruise already spreading across her lower back where Tallan's knee had been.

"Petal…." He murmured, "…are you alright?"

Elain looked over her shoulder, one of her hands coming back to touch the bruise gingerly and she flinched. "Yeah…" Lucien began moving the sponge over her slowly again, his other hand on her back, his touch featherlight. Closing his eyes, he focused on that bruise, on making it disappear, taking that pain from her. Smooth, pale skin, met his eyes when he opened them and Elain's dark eyes met his over her shoulder. "Thank you…"

"You're welcome, Petal."

She smiled at him and then stood up, wrapping a towel around herself. "The sun is coming up." She said softly, glancing toward the window. "We should dress and get out of here…"

Lucien nodded, more than ready to get her out of the Autumn Court, and somewhere they would be able to relax more completely.