Chapter 105

"I think that you should rest…" Nuan's hand came down on Elain's shoulder, and Elain had to resist shrugging her off. Her head was pounding and her heart was beating wildly, but she had been unable to see anything further, and she had no idea what was happening to Lucien. She could still feel his heartbeat but it had been erratic for a little while now and she was terrified that every beat she heard would be the last.

"No…"

"At least have a drink…"

"I don't need-" Elain broke off when shaking her head caused her head to pound even harder. "Okay…"

Nuan pressed a cup into her hands and Elain obediently raised it to her lips and took a sip. "You haven't seen anything further?"

"No." Elain breathed, resting her head back against her chair. "Something is happening… but I don't know what."

"Lucien would want you to eat something…"

"I had dinner." Elain replied dismissively.

"Yes. And you have spent several hours trying to force yourself to control that ability of yours while not knowing how. You've forced yourself into a headache, and you need food and drink to ease it."

Feeling petulant, Elain wanted to tell Nuan that she wasn't a healer, but she knew the truth of what the other faerie was telling her. "Fine." She pushed herself to her feet and wandered over to the small side table that had been laid with a tray of food to pick at. Selecting a small golden fruit that she didn't recognise, Elain put it into her mouth and chewed. The sweet juice from the fruit did make her feel better and she picked up another for good measure before moving toward the first once more.

"When you accept the bond…" Nuan began, "Will you have a priestess bless the union?"

"I… what?" Elain turned to look at Nuan, surprise shocking her out of her previous thoughts. "I… don't know. Lucien and I haven't talked about that…" She rather suspected not, after what he went through with Ianthe.

"What about rings?"

"I…" Elain couldn't help looking down at her left hand. She had worn Graysen's ring, and more than a small part of her deeply desired another to replace it. She suspected that she would get great joy out of wearing Lucien's ring. "I like the idea…" she said simply.

"Does he?"

"I don't know." She replied. They hadn't spoken of that, either, but Elain was fairly certain that Lucien would like the idea as well. She really couldn't see him not enjoying anything that she could wear that would publicly announce that she was his.

With that thought Elain's ears began to ring and she groped for her chair before her vision blurred.

Spitting blood into the dirt, Lucien tried to push himself up with his bound hands. He could see Thesan sprawled nearby. The High Lord was only semi-conscious at this point, and Lucien didn't know what he was going to do to get them out of this situation. He knew that Connal had more of those creatures nearby, he could hear their chatter and strange voices in the dark. As far as he could tell, the camp was surrounded.

Connal's foot connected with Lucien's ribs again and he let out a grunt of pain. With a growl, Lucien tried to push himself up again. "So…" he ground out, flicking a glance up at his brother, "Where'd you find your friends?"

"There are lots of us who don't belong to a Court…" Connal said, his voice low, "Many of them don't take much convincing for anything that will shake the Courts up… like… say… killing a High Lord and starting a war."

"Why would you want another war?"

"I don't care about war." Connal muttered, "Although I wouldn't mind watching the Courts all burn…. I just want you to suffer." Lucien gave him what he assumed was a disgusted look, but Connal just smiled widely at him. "You deserve it all." He said, "You've murdered three of your own brothers."

"So this wasn't even your own plan?" Lucien managed to drag himself into a sitting position. "You just wanted to get at me and your new friends put the rest of it together?"

"They've had longer to grow bitter and think about their opportunities." Connal grinned. "But they were only too eager to join me in this."

"I'll bet." Lucien shook his head, "They're using you."

"Not likely." Connal spat. "I'm in charge."

"You can't kill me." Lucien told him, "Not if the plan is to frame me for Thesan's murder…"

"Even if I can't, you'll be executed for it…" He grinned widely, "Maybe they'll even make your mate watch… I'm sure you can understand how horrible that will be for her." Lucien couldn't bite back a snarl at that, and Connal's only response was to kick him in the ribs again. As Lucien gasped for breath, spitting more blood into the dirt, Connal made his way toward Thesan nearby. "It is a shame…" he said, "A shame you came here… that it will be him…" Amber eyes turned Lucien's way once more, "That is your fault too. You could have gone anywhere else, but he will die because you came here." He looked back down at Thesan. "It's a shame. He is quite magnificent…" As his brother pulled his sword from his belt, Lucien pushed himself up once more, trying to force his brain to work. If he did nothing now, Thesan would die.

"While I'm sure you've fantasised about it, you know he'd never touch you."

Connal sent a sneer his way. "What would you know about it?"

"I've spoken with him." Lucien said, his brain trying to catch up with what was happening, "I've found being an emissary gets you through doors that being the nobody sixth son of a High Lord never would. Everyone knew Eris would inherit the throne, and I bet that Thesan doesn't even know your name."

"I'm older than you…"

"Yeah, but I've made myself useful in other ways." Lucien tossed his hair over one shoulder in what he hoped was an arrogant manner, "I'm not only a High Lord's son now."

"You're nothing."

"Yet someone like him would still never look at you." He winked at Connal with his good eye, "I'd wager you're just not up to his standards… aesthetically."

He paid for that when Connal strode quickly toward him and kicked him in the teeth. Blood flooded his mouth and he rolled onto his side from where he had fallen to spit it out, running his tongue over his teeth and hoping that he hadn't just lost any of them. He coughed then, when Connal kicked at him again, although a grim satisfaction spread throughout Lucien at the fact that his brother was no longer standing over Thesan.

A faint flicker sparked somewhere within Lucien and he wondered how long it had been since he had been dosed with Faebane. It had been several hours as they'd been brought here before nightfall, and there had been several hours of darkness so far. He judged that it was actually probably close to midnight. If the dose had been small enough…

When he felt a rush of fear from Elain, Lucien grasped at that bond. He hadn't been able to feel her since the faebane had been in his body but, feeling her now, he knew that it was fading. He also knew that she had figured out where they were being kept, and that Thesan's Captain of the Guard was on his way to find them.

Remembering that the camp had been glamoured to hide them from sight, Lucien resisted a groan. Turning his focus inward, he tried to gather his strength to stoke that little flame of power he had felt spark to life. For several minutes Lucien poured everything he had into it, building it and cradling it until it burned bright. Then, as Connal kicked at him again, Lucien released it. He squeezed his eyes shut as a golden light flared and encompassed the camp as he flung it at the glamour, cleaving it into pieces and revealing them to anyone who so much as glanced their way.

"What… what the fuck was that?" Connal demanded, and Lucien glanced up at his brother who glared down at him. As Connal lifted his sword, Lucien tried to scramble backward, but found it difficult with his hands bound before him. "What did you just do?"

Shaking his head, Lucien didn't answer. It hadn't been a conscious decision, but rather instinct. It had been the same thing he had done when he had been desperately trying to get to Elain as Hybern had ordered her dumped out of the Cauldron. He knew now that it was Helion's power, but he still didn't have control over it. Connal lifted the sword higher, and Lucien had just figured that all his efforts had been for nothing when several pairs of feet hit the dirt nearby.

White feathers caught Lucien's attention and he glanced around the camp as more armoured Peregryns landed among them. Connal seemed to realise, too late, what was happening and made a dive for Thesan, but a handsome faerie, the same Lucien had seen the High Lord with earlier in the day, got there first. There was a clash of metal on metal, and then Connal hit the ground and did not move.

Tears of relief fell from Elain's eyes and she sank to the plush rug before the fire, burying her face in her hands. She felt Nuan kneel down beside her a moment later, and she sought to get herself under control enough to tell the other faerie what she had seen.

"What happened?" Nuan asked.

"Aelius found them…" Elain wiped her eyes with the back of one hand. "Connal is dead."

"And those who were helping him?"

"I… didn't see…" Fear seized Elain's heart again. She hadn't considered the others who had been outside of the camp, and she tried not to think of those talon-like claws that she was certain could do huge amounts of damage if raked across flesh.

"We will find out soon enough…" Nuan's gentle hands were suddenly under Elain's elbows, lifting her from the floor and directing her into the nearby chair. "Once Aelius has Thesan, he will return him here as quickly as he is able."

"And Lucien…?"

"No doubt close behind."

Elain sat silently in the chair, her eyes on the fire, as she listened desperately to Lucien's heartbeat. If she held on to that sound, then she would be able to track him all the way back to the palace. If she couldn't see him though a vision, then she would listen to him, making sure that she knew that he was alright and on his way back to her. She wasn't moving from the chair she was in until she had him back.