Chapter 150

Refusing to go inside, Elain remained on what was left of the balcony, watching as those who could climbed back up, and Aelius and anyone else who had the ability of flight retrieved those they could find.

"Is anyone dead?" Elain asked, clinging to Feyre for support as her leg protested so much movement. "Have they found anyone dead?"

"Yes." Feyre murmured, "Why don't you sit down?"

"No." Elain replied, "Not until we find Nesta and Lucien." She looked at the edge of the balcony again, where the floor gave way to a huge gaping hole and open air. "Who is dead?"

"We don't know everyone." Feyre replied, before letting out a sigh. "There was a large shelf in the cliff." She went on, "It's where I ended up. Much of the table is there… I saw at least three of the members of the Day Court who…" her younger sister made a face. "They were crushed by debris." She met Elain's gaze, "There will be more under the rest of it."

"Lucien and Nesta…"

"I don't know." Feyre said, "Those I saw were sitting up the other end of the table, near Tarquin and Thesan."

"Thesan must be alright." Elain reasoned, "Or Aelius wouldn't be doing what he is." She knew that the Peregryn would never have left Thesan, even to rescue others from the cliff, if his lover had been hurt.

"He and Tarquin are both unharmed."

"Kalias and Viviane?" Elain asked, "Helion and Ashk…"

"They're inside." Rhys replied, "Tending to those who've been injured." Elain nodded, part of her soothed by that information. She looked around as Aelius landed nearby again, this time with Eris.

"Where's my mother?"

"Inside." Rhys told him, and Eris nodded, looking around the balcony with a frown. The fire that Elain had so often seen inside Lucien was evident in his brother's eyes as he approached Rhys.

"Who did this?" The High Lord of the Autumn Court asked, that fire clear behind his words as well. His face had seemed to become a little sharper, a little more feral.

"We don't know for certain." Rhys' voice was gentle, as if trying to calm the other High Lord, but Elain understood Eris' anger. She watched Eris stare at Rhys for a few moments, and then she forgot all about either of them because Nesta appeared, staggering across the balcony toward them.

"NES!" Elain released Feyre's arm and limped toward her elder sister, reaching out to her well before Nesta was close enough to grab. The moment Nesta's hard eyes found Elain, her sister went straight for her. Elain felt Nesta's slim, yet surprisingly strong, arms come around her waist, holding her tightly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm unharmed." Nesta murmured, "Probably just a few bruises." Elain pulled back to look at Nesta and saw her sister doing the same thing. "You can hardly stand…"

"Some of the balcony landed on my leg." Elain glanced down for a moment, taking in her already purple ankle. When she looked back up, she saw Nesta's eyes sweeping the balcony behind Elain, taking in who was there. Tightening her hand around a handful of her sister's dress, Elain choked back a sob. She still had no idea where Lucien was, or if he was even alive. Nesta's arms tightened around her in response, and those familiar blue-grey eyes met hers, and held her gaze.

"Lucien?" Nesta asked gently and Elain felt herself beginning to crumble. She let a sob out then, her eyes closing.

"I don't know." She breathed, "I can't hear his heart… I can't feel him…" Shaking her head, Elain held firmly to Nesta who pulled her closer again, hugging her tightly. "I can't feel him, Nes." Elain pressed her face into Nesta's shoulder, letting her tears fall. She felt safe, and she knew that Nesta would take care of her and, with her leg truly throbbing now, Elain wanted to just curl in on herself.

"We will find him." Nesta's voice was strong, and Elain knew that her sister had been speaking to those nearby as much as she had been speaking to Elain herself. Elain nodded, swaying a little when Nesta loosened her hold on her, trying to see her face again. "You need to go inside and sit down."

"I'm not going inside without Lucien." Elain twisted to look back across the balcony, where faeries were milling about and where Feyre still stood with Rhys and Eris. "If I can't look for him, I'll stay here." She adjusted her stance, trying to get her weight off her sore leg. "I'm not moving."

"Sit, at least." Nesta said, her voice firm, and Elain nodded, agreeing to that. She let her sister gently lower her to the ground, and she was thankful when Nesta sank down beside her, a warm arm wrapping around her back. Elain was still unable to help the tears from falling down her face but, at least from here, she was able to see as each new faerie was brought back up from down on the cliff. At least, each faerie who had been found alive.

"How many High Lords have been found?" Nesta asked, and Elain thought about it for a second.

"Well, Rhys and Eris are right there, and they said that Kallias and Helion are inside, and that Tarquin and Thesan are okay… So…"

"Tamlin?" Nesta's voice was soft and Elain met her eyes for a moment.

"It was Sorcha." Elain murmured, low enough that only Nesta would have heard her. "I know it was."

"Yes." Nesta agreed, "I'll bet she put faebane in those wine pitchers she put on the table." Elain nodded slowly, looking around at her sister's face.

"There was other wine, though. Not everyone would have been dosed?" Elain's eyes flicked around the balcony again. "Have you seen Sorcha since?"

"I haven't seen her since that toast she made." Nesta's voice was as cold as ice, "Should have realised it then. She was just trying to get as many people to drink as possible and it needed time to take effect."

Elain was only half listening to this, she was desperately trying to remember Lucien filling his goblet with wine. Had he taken from the same pitcher she had, or had he gone for a different one? "Nes, did you see if Lucien drank from our pitcher?"

"That is not something I was paying attention to."

"If he didn't…" Elain blinked, trying to swallow around the tears she felt building again, "He can winnow… and if he was okay he would have been back here by now. He would have found me."

"Stop…" Nesta breathed.

"Either he got dosed with faebane and he can't get back, or he didn't… and … he's…"

"Elain, stop it." Nesta said, "You don't have any idea what has happened to him or where he is. You're jumping to conclusions."

"He would have come for me, Nes." She said, "He wouldn't leave me wondering."

The pitying look that Nesta gave her then made Elain turn away and close her eyes to prevent more tears. Instead, she focused again on trying to reach for the bond, on trying to listen for any sound from Lucien, any faint flicker of a heartbeat. Her own heart sank when she still found nothing but silence. She didn't know how she had coped with that silence before she had met him. The comforting rhythm of it had become such a part of her world, so constant and reliable, and a reminder that Lucien was hers. She didn't want this silence, and she didn't like it.