Chapter 101

Lucien's blood hummed in his veins when he took Elain's hand again, holding it carefully in his own, and headed after Nuan again up the hallway. It pleased him beyond anything he had ever known, that she wanted to accept the bond, accept him, officially, as her mate. And she didn't want to wait!

What did that mean? When was she thinking of doing it? Originally she had said that it would happen when they get back to the Night Court, and that had made sense to him. They had safety and comfort there, and they had places they could go for time and space to themselves. He wondered briefly what Thesan would think about them doing it here? It would be a bit of an imposition upon their host to lock themselves in their room to engage themselves in the frenzy when it hit. What if somebody happened to interrupt them and got killed? Lucien wasn't sure he wouldn't be able to murder anyone who walked in on him when he finally had Elain in his arms as his Mate.

His thoughts were interrupted when Nuan pushed open the door to her workroom and ushered them inside. A quick glance around the place told him it looked much as it had every other time he had seen it.

"Please sit down on that chair and don't touch anything." Nuan's voice was firm as she went to a nearby cabinet and began opening doors and drawers. Lucien grinned, slanting a glance at Elain, as he moved to do as he was told. Elain followed him across the room and stood beside him, her own dark eyes moving around the room.

"Have you… made everything in here?" his mate's gaze flicked to Nuan who closed a drawer and moved closer.

"Pretty much."

Elain began walking around the room, looking at various half-constructed creations, while Lucien watched her. Nuan fiddled with something on a nearby bench before coming to stand before him. "Look at me." She said, finger tapping his cheek. He flicked his eyes toward her and she grasped his chin, tilting his head back so that she could look at his mechanical eye. "How has it been functioning?" she asked, and Lucien went to nod before realising that he couldn't.

"It's just as good as the day you put it in." he replied, unable to help his gaze siding back to Elain when her shadow passed by him.

"Look at me." Nuan tapped his cheek again, "You don't need to watch Elain. She's right there. She's not going to run away…"

"Okay, okay…" he muttered, "There have been no problems with the eye…"

"And it's still comfortable?"

"Yes."

Nuan's clever eyes were inspecting him, and he just tried to sit still and do what she needed. He answered any questions that she asked him, all while tracking Elain's progress around the room out of his periphery.

This faerie was clever. Elain had known that before they entered Nuan's workroom, but now, as she saw the complexity and ingenuity of what the other female had been working on, it was even more clear. Elain would have put money on Nuan being the absolutely cleverest being that she had ever met. She continued to wander around the workroom, listening as Lucien answered his friend's questions about the metallic eye. Elain had never really considered the fact that the eye may have required maintenance, and she was glad that all of his responses seemed to indicate that it was working just fine and nothing had gone wrong with it.

"Lucien… focus…" Nuan's voice held patience, but Elain could hear another edge to it. "Look at me."

"Sorry…" his reply was a huff.

Knowing that Lucien was still trying to look at her, Elain moved across the room to come and stand behind him. She lifted a hand, laying it gently on his shoulder, and gasped when her vision blurred and her ears began to ring.

Tamlin practically carried Lucien through the door. It was this room, Elain realised as she watched. Lucien's face was half covered in bandages and she wanted to go to him, noticing the way that he was sagging and barely able to walk, even with Tamlin's help. Nuan suddenly appeared behind them, striding quickly as she pulled her long dark hair up into a ponytail.

"Put him on the table."

Tamlin moved to help Lucien up, and Elain moved closer, wanting to see what was about to happen. This was after Amarantha had ripped Lucien's eye out, she figured. She had been shown a vision of when that happened when she and Lucien had been in the Autumn Court the first time. She hadn't known what had happened after the vision had ended with Lucien screaming on the floor and Amarantha standing over him and cackling. He had been returned to Tamlin, she supposed. As emissary for the Spring Court, he would have been Tamlin's responsibility.

"How long?" Nuan asked, and Tamlin made a face.

"A day…"

"Has the bleeding stopped?"

"Mostly." The blond ran a hand over his handsome face, "He asked for you…"

"Mhm…" Nuan began undoing Lucien's bandages.

"He said you could help…"

"I have an idea…" Nuan muttered, she carefully removed a large cotton pad, and Elain flinched at Lucien's pained groan. "As long as he was lucky… I might be able to…"

"Do I look lucky?" Lucien's voice cracked, but Nuan's lips twitched in a smile.

"You've looked worse." She replied, "I've seen you after a swim, looking like some kind of drowned goblin…" Lucien made an indignant sound, but it ended in a soft whimper and Nuan rolled up her sleeves. "Tamlin, I'm going to give you a list of things that I need you to get for me…"

"Okay."

Elain moved to stand beside the table that Lucien was laying on, and she tried to touch his arm, but her hand passed right through him. Instead, she watched as Nuan inspected his wound and declared that he was lucky indeed. The tinkerer then softly explained to Lucien that she could make him a very special eye by way of replacement for the one that he had lost.

One of Lucien's hands had lifted, shaking, into the air and toward Nuan who had taken it with one of her own. "Thank you." He breathed.

"Of course." She replied gently, turning to take several instruments from Tamlin as he came to her side.

Elain's eyes slid back to Lucien, and she frowned at the pained look on his raw and bloodied face. When he let out a small sob, she reached out again, wanting to touch him, and knowing that she couldn't.

"Does he need to be awake for this?" Tamlin asked, and Nuan shook her head.

"No, it would be better if he was not." Onyx eyes flickered to Lucien, "When you wake up, Lucien," she told him, "I will have sorted this out…"

Tamlin moved toward the table and Lucien, and then Elain's vision blurred.

"Elain?" Lucien was frowning at her and Elain blinked as she tried to focus. His hands had hold of her elbows and he drew her closer, "What did you see?"

"I…" she was put into a chair and only then noticed Nuan watching her carefully. "I…" she looked back to Lucien and lifted a hand to his cheek, tracing his scar gently. It really had healed well considering the mess that his face had been when it was fresh. "I saw Tamlin bring you here…" she told him, "When this…" her fingers moved down his face again, "When this was new…"

"Fascinating…" Nuan's voice was soft and Elain looked at her again.

"I heard you say he was lucky…"

"I did." Nuan agreed. "If there was more damage then I don't think the eye would have been effective or been able to work the way that it does."

Elain looked at Lucien once again. "You knew she could help…"

"I hoped so."

"Maybe you are lucky." She let her hand slid back into his vibrant hair and he leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead.

"My luck does seem to be turning that way." He murmured.