Chapter 270

Blinking, Elain looked again at the bandage being wound around her wrist. "It's a good thing I thought to bring these supplies…" The young Illyrian female currently binding Elain's wrist said. Elain's breath caught in her throat as she looked up at her. These visions she had been having were coming more and more quickly, and she didn't feel that she was being given adequate time between the vision and when she was evidently supposed to make some kind of change. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes." Elain said, turning her head to look for the others. "Thank you for this…" she lifted her wrist and received a smile.

"No worries."

"Thank you…" Elain got to her feet and hurried toward the others. Cassian was explaining to them his idea for using the shield as a weapon, and she thought about the way he had attacked one of their enemies in her vision, that thread that had come from the shield and wounded one of the Illyrians above them. It hadn't been enough, and it wouldn't be effective.

"You need more than that." She said, and five pairs of eyes turned her way.

"Why's that?" Nesta asked, her brows furrowed.

"I saw it." Elain told them, glancing up when Lucien's hand found her arm.

"What did you see?" her mate asked.

"I saw the shields fail, even as you were trying to use it to hurt them." Her eyes went to Cassian, "They got in, and they were ruthless…"

"It won't just be me." Cassian replied, "Everyone will be using the shield to attack."

"It won't be enough." Elain said, shaking her head. "That's what I saw. Even the five of you individually trying to take out one or two here and there… it needs to be all of you channelling into one." Her eyes went back to Lucien, "Use one another's strength."

"So," Azriel murmured, "If we all pour our strength into the shield, and one of us wields it for a full strength attack…"

"The shields would likely hold longer with all of us supporting them." Cassian agreed. Elain saw him look to Feyre then. "Does that work for you?"

"I think so." Feyre nodded, her expression thoughtful. "I've used the magic of others before, I could probably figure out how to use it to attack…"

"Could you?" Nesta asked, "Do we have time for that?"

"I don't think it would work that way." Lucien sounded thoughtful and, this time, five pairs of eyes turned his way. His metallic eye clicked and whirred as he gazed up at the shield, and that expression that Elain loved which told her he was deep in thought passed across his face.

"Why not?" Feyre asked, and Lucien looked down at her.

"Because," he replied, "we would be giving our strength to the shield, letting you have access to that. You wouldn't have access to our unique abilities…" He blinked, "It would be raw, unshaped, magic."

Elain watched as her younger sister grew uncertain. "Oh…" the High Lady of the Night Court pulled herself together, then. "You do it."

"What?" Lucien took a step back, clearly surprised by that reply.

"You do it, then." Feyre repeated, her eyes on Lucien. "You know more about this, and you've had more time to develop your skills with magic anyway. You do it."

Looking up at her mate's face, Elain watched Lucien think about that. "Alright…" he turned his gaze upward once more, looking at the shield. "I think I can…" She watched him, thinking about the vision she'd had. The first one had been showing her that he would be very good at using his Day Court abilities in the future, so that was promising, and the second had been the cost of failure of the group all trying to work independently.

Thinking about the end of her vision and the way he had come at the Illyrian who had grabbed her, she thought again about what he was to do. When Cassian began directing them all to pour their strength into the shields, Elain took her mate's hand, meeting his gaze when he turned toward her.

"Petal?" he asked, and she tightened her grip on him, drawing him a little distance away from the others. "What is it?"

"You need to do more than just use the reservoir of power they're giving you."

"What do you mean?" he asked, and she loved the fact that he didn't dismiss or disbelieve what she had said, he only asked for clarification.

Holding his hand tightly in hers, she told him about her vision and what he had done at the end. "You need to combine your own magic…"

"Use both?" he asked, "Day and Autumn?"

"More than that." She replied, "What makes a thread stronger?"

"More than one…" he gestured at the others "All of us together…"

"Yes, but even stronger than that?" she asked, looking up at him. When he shook his head, she squeezed his hand. "Weaving them together." She said. "Like a tapestry."

"Tapestry…" he gazed down at her, that metallic eye clicking and whirring as he thought.

"Yes. Weave the threads of your own magic together. Day and Autumn, around one another, so one supports the other… use both of them together." She leaned into him. "You are both of them… Ashk and Helion. Autumn and Day. They are both a part of you, and you will wield both sides of yourself."

Elain felt the spark those words ignited within her mate and he looked at her silently for a few moments. "As you say, Petal." He eventually murmured.

"You know the theory." She told him softly, "It will be instinctual. The magic is within you, and you know how to use it."

"It does have a habit of working well when I need it to…"

"Exactly." She smiled, "You will do it perfectly. I have no doubt."

"Thank you for the confidence, my love." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her in to press a kiss to the top of her head as Cassian called out to them. Elain looked up when Lucien released her, her eyes going to the shield above them. It was no longer flickering, and she could see the added strength. It would not easily fail now, but there would still be no escaping from here without getting rid of the Illyrians outside, and she knew there was only one way that was going to happen. She looked back to Lucien and saw the look of determination fill his features. He squared his shoulders and stood taller, before moving toward Cassian and the others, ready to give this his best efforts. He would succeed, Elain knew. She didn't need her abilities as a Seer to know that.