Chapter 84

His smother smiled at him, reaching a hand out to hold his, and Lucien felt a flush of affection wash over him. He wrapped his other arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a gentle hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I will come and see you." He told her when she hugged him tightly, her own arms around him.

"See that you do."

"Of course." Lucien brushed her long red hair back over her shoulder, his eyes moving over her quickly. Although he thought he knew, Lucien had a question he wanted to ask her all the same. They were leaving within minutes, though, and his was the last chance he would have. When her fingers moved up his arm, he bit his lip. "It… what I did… it was my father's power, wasn't it?"

Ashk nodded, her hand still moving up and down his arm before sliding down to take his hand in hers again. "I have seen him do that before." She said softly, "When he saved me from Hybern… I saw him do that to some of Hybern's men. They burned and their skin blistered… just like you did to Tallan to protect Elain."

"I've used his power before to protect Elain." Lucien told her, "When Hybern had her turned." He began, "I broke the spell he'd used to restrain me so that I could get to her."

His mother smiled at him. "Of course." She told him softly, "She's your mate. Your great desperation to protect her would bring that out in you. Remember, though, it's not just his power. It's yours, too."

Nodding, Lucien squeezed her hand. "Are you okay?" he asked her, "With Malak, and now Tallan and Connal gone?"

"Ah…" She tilted her head, her eyes sliding away for a moment, "They made their choices, and now this is the way it must be."

"But you'll miss them?"

"I'll miss knowing they are safe and seeing them each day…"

"Do you know where they will have gone?"

"No."

Lucien didn't bother asking her if she thought if Eris really would kill them if they dared to return; he knew that he would.

"Lucien?" Feyre's voice called to him a moment before she appeared with Rhys beside her. "We're ready to go. Are you?"

"Yes." He looked from his friend to his mother, and smiled again. Moving forward, he pulled her into a gentle hug once again, loving the feel of her squeezing him in return.

"Once a month." Ashk said after a moment, when she released him. "I want to see you at least once a month. Do you think you can manage that?"

"I think I can." Lucien smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek before moving back. His mother's eyes moved past him and Lucien turned to see that Elain and Nesta had joined Feyre and Rhys and they were all watching him. Elain came closer, and Lucien reached out to take her hand. She smiled at him before her dark eyes slid to Ashk.

"You are also welcome to visit." His mother said to Elain who smile more widely and nodded hear head, golden-brown hair bouncing slightly with the movement.

"Thank you, I'd like that."

Her garden had survived her absence, but Elain could see the impact the neglect had had upon her flowers. As soon as they had returned, she had hurried out to back to see what she would need to do, although it seemed that mostly she would just need to remove some of the choking weeds to give her flowers room to flourish.

"Not a garden emergency?" Azriel's voice asked, and Elain turned to find him sitting on the low stone bench in the shadows. "Does it pass your inspection?"

"It's agreeable…" Elain murmured, hands smoothing her dress down in order to distract herself from wanting to get into the garden and begin working right away.

"Good." He got to his feet, "How long are you back for?"

"Just the night, I think."

"Ahh."Azriel nodded and then inclined his head toward the door. "I'll head inside and let you sort this out."

"Okay." Before Azriel could go anywhere however, Nesta came outside, Cassian following her closely.

"I thought you would have come straight out here." Her sister said, "You can't help yourself."

"Well, we're leaving again in the morning… I need to get some work done."

"You don't have to go." Nesta said flatly, "You could stay…"

"No, Nes." Elain said, sinking down beside the closest garden bed. "I want to see the courts… and I'm not leaving Lucien."

"After what just happened…" Nesta said softly, "Maybe it's not safe."

"I'm safer with Lucien than anywhere else." Elain replied, pulling several weeds from the soft earth.

"What just happened?" Cassian asked, his eyes shifting over Nesta, "Did you kill someone at the Autumn Court?"

"Nearly." Nesta muttered, and Elain tilted her head.

"I think Eris would have enjoyed that."

"Probably." Her sister agreed.

Elain shifted closed to the garden bed, creating a pile of discarded weeds beside her. The sun was high overhead by now, casting dark shadows over the small yard from the nearby trees. She would have a couple hours out here to get the most pressing work done before she would, no doubt, be called inside to spend a small amount of time with the rest of them. Figuring that she should probably do that to thank her sisters and Rhys for coming all the way to the Autumn Court to help her when she had sent that letter to them informing them of what had happened to Lucien.

Cassian was still questioning Nesta, and Elain grinned as she listened. "Who did you nearly kill?"

"A couple of Lucien's awful brothers."

"Makes sense." Cassian chuckled, "They have been pains in everyone's arses for centuries."

"Well, now they've been kicked out, and Eris has said he will kill them if they return to the Autumn Court."

"Interesting..." Cassian muttered, and Elain did not miss his eyes shifting to Azriel.

"Do you know where they would go?" she asked, and Azriel looked at her.

"Why would you want to know that?"

"They want to kill Lucien." She said, "Knowing where they went would be useful."

"That information could be… attained." Azriel said gently. Elain just nodded, returning her attention to the garden from which she was still pulling weeds. Cassian broke the silence that followed by shifting closer to Nesta once again.

"Tell me more about how you nearly killed those cocky bastards…" he said, and the laughter was evident in his voice.

"She told Tallan she would rip his arms off and beat him to death with them." Elain said, not taking her eyes off of her work. Cassian cackled.

"Oh… I would have paid good money to see that." He said, and Nesta gave a small laugh of her own, stunning Elain enough to turn around and stare at her.

"It was amusing in my own mind." Her older sister said, grinning at Cassian.

"It is a great image." He told her, and Elain just watched the two of them stare at one other in silence for a few moments. Looking back to her garden, she wondered how much longer it would be before Nesta gave in to what she was so clearly beginning to acknowledge being between herself and the Illyrian. She hoped it was soon, but she also hoped that she was here for it, and not exploring some other court when it happened. With that thought, Elain understood a little more why Nesta had been hurt to not have known how her own relationship with Lucien had progressed as she had not been present when it had changed.

Deciding that she would make the time to speak to Nesta about it all before they left the next day, Elain settled into her work, ignoring the heart of the day, in order to get as much done while she had the time and before she was ultimately called away to attend to something else.