Chapter 239

Sinking into a soft velvet seat, Elain leaned forward to look down at the stage at the front of the room. There was a single light on it, shining where she assumed the performer would stand when the show began, but she could see nothing else set up for the performance. Shifting her glance then, she looked around at the other figures in hooded cloaks who were coming into the room and selecting seats of their own. She could see no faces, and nobody she recognised, as was rather the point.

A low murmuring was the only sound in the room, and Elain wondered if it was deliberate that everybody was whispering. Perhaps, she figured, they didn't want to be identified by their voices.

"If this is a vocal performance," Elain asked Lucien as he sank into his seat beside his mate, "Why is everyone still in cloaks trying to keep their identity secret?"

"I would think," he replied quietly, "If they were identified or recognised here tonight then one would know they are familiar with this place."

"…and that they come here for … other… things?"

"Exactly."

Elain met his eyes when he lifted a hand to adjust her hood so that nobody looking up at them would be able to see her. "You like this place, don't you?" she murmured, looking at him, knowing that she was correct when he grinned.

"It is intriguing." He replied, and Elain continued to watch him.

"You used to come to places like this, didn't you…"

He grinned even more widely and Elain narrowed her eyes. "Ah…"

"What did you come for?"

He blinked then, his metallic eye clicking as he held her gaze. Something reached Elain down the bond, and she tried to place the emotion while Lucien was clearly trying to work out what to say. "Oh… I… I liked the mystery of it."

"I see…"

"Besides," he went on, "it was nice to be anonymous, and not have everyone knowing I was a High Lord's Son… or an exile… or whatever else they used to say about me when I was Tamlin's emissary…"

"Did they have places like this in the Autumn Court?" Elain asked, thinking that it would be only too easy to see Eris frequenting places like this. Lucien nodded, and she could tell by the look on his face that he knew exactly what she had been thinking. "And you went there?"

"I did…" she felt one of his arms slide around her shoulders, drawing her in to his side, and his words were soothing when he spoke again. "Does that bother you, Petal?"

Elain thought for a moment before shaking her head. There was no reason that it should bother her. She had accepted that Lucien had had a life, lovers, a love in Jesminda, and all kinds of experiences before she had even been born. This was just another one of those. "No…" she told him. "It doesn't bother me…"

"Then what is it that I'm feeling from you right now?" he asked, his eyes trained on her face, and Elain tried to work out exactly what her face was saying. She just met Lucien's curious gaze, sifting through her emotions, attempting to figure out exactly what it was that she was feeling.

"I… I…" glancing around the room again, she took in the velvet chairs, and curtains, and the mysterious drama of it all. "…I am curious…" she breathed, "It seems so intriguing…."

"A little bit sexy, isn't it?" he smirked, brushing his lips against her cheek. She nodded, running one of her hands down his thigh. Lucien looked down at her in surprise and she smiled up at him. "Ahh…" he breathed, "It seems you've discovered one of the liberating benefits of anonymity."

"And what's that?" Elain asked, moving her hand up again.

"Those who feel they can't be identified, who are anonymous, find themselves experiencing boldness. They often do things they would never ordinarily do…"

"Safely hidden beneath their hoods…" Elain smiled.

"Sometimes masks." Lucien added and she nodded again.

"That does make sense." She watched his face as she ran her hand up and down his thigh again, pleased to see that it was distracting him. "So… what kinds of bold things did you do when you came to these types of places before…?" She wondered, just for a moment, if he had come with Jesminda, but she pushed that thought away.

"A bit of this and that." He replied, eyes moving across her face. He must have seen her dissatisfaction with that answer, because he went on. "I am much more interested in seeing what you and I can get up to here…"

"Is it common?" she asked him quietly, "Couples coming together?"

"Well, it's less common than coming in the hopes of finding someone to have fun with… but it does happen." He leaned toward her, lips brushing her ear beneath the hood, "I rather think your sister and Rhys come here together often…"

Elain's gaze shifted past her mate to where Feyre and Rhys had settled into their seats, their eyes focused on the stage beneath. Glancing down at the stage, Elain wondered idly what other shows those two had come to see together. "I think you're right."

"Wouldn't be the first time, Petal." There was a slight snicker to his voice, and Elain gripped his thigh tightly with her hand, enjoying the way that his voice seemed to catch in his throat.

"I'm hopeful we might be able to touch on a few first times here tonight…" she purred, and utterly loved the way that Lucien's heartbeat in her head just about tripled in pace.

"And just what do you mean by that, Petal?" he asked, voice tight.

"Oh, I don't know, my love." She replied, "It's my first time here. You'll have to show me how things work…"

"I am sure that I can manage that."

Elain smiled, leaning into him as she continued to caress his thigh. As skirling music began to drift up from the stage, Elain turned her eyes down to watch. The light was still focused on the centre of the dark stage, and it was still several moments before a small dark faerie stepped into the centre of the light.