Chapter 302

"He really has it…" Elain picked the book up from the shelf, her fingers moving over the golden design on the cover. She looked up at Lucien who was watching her, and she smile. "He does!"

"That's what I told you." Her mate grinned at her, "He said that you were as a daughter to him. And it was a good book."

Elain blinked, looking from Lucien down to her book and then across the room to Helion. She rather liked the idea of Helion being her father, rather than just the father of her mate. She had missed having a father since her own had been killed, and Helion would be good at it, she suspected. She smiled again and looked at Lucien once more. "He said that?"

"He did." Lucien brought a hand up to her cheek, his fingers brushing some of her hair back from her face. "That pleases you, doesn't it, Petal?"

"Yes…"

"This is our home…"

She smiled at him then, knowing that this was indeed a part of that. Their family was here, well part of it, anyway. Lucien had been separated from his family for so long that this was exactly what he needed to settle and to heal. "It is." She replied, "And I would be so pleased to have him for a father."

"I am." Lucien smiled and Elain laughed gently, sliding her book back onto the shelf. Her eyes swept the rest of the shelf, taking in various titles here and there.

"Have you looked at the rest of these?" she asked, and her mate nodded as he stepped closer to her. Elain reached out to take one of his hands as she ran the fingers of her other hand over the next shelf. "Some of them look familiar."

"I recognised a few from Rhys' shelves." Lucien responded, and Elain grinned.

"Who would have thought that the High Lords of the Day and Night Courts would share a taste in literature?"

"I'm not sure I'd call some of these literature." Lucien snickered, and Elain glanced at him before her eyes went back to the shelves.

"You mean he has…" she trailed off as she read some of the titles again with a little more interest. "Oh… Ohhh…." Elain couldn't help glancing once more at the High Lord of the Day Court, a grin spreading across her face. Of course he would have smutty books on his private shelves. She shouldn't have been surprised. "You took a book…" She murmured, her eyes going back to Lucien to see him wink at her. "Was it a little bit sexy?"

"It wasn't actually, Petal." He replied, "It's a mystery…" She pouted at him and he smiled. "I'm open to you choosing one that is a little bit sexy and then sharing your favourite passages with me…"

"We could do that." Elain agreed, her eyes sweeping the shelves again.

"Does Sheera share your taste in books?"

Elain's mouth fell open and she looked up at her mate with a gasp. "I have not asked her!" she breathed, looking across the room. She paused when she saw her friend standing by the far wall, beside the table with the water. Sheera was laughing and leaning against the table, Ashk standing before her as they giggled over something together. She bit her lip and looked once more at the bookshelf. "I'm not sure Helion would have anything that would interest Sheera all that much."

"Because she likes females?" Lucien asked, his voice soft as he whispered to Elain, moving around behind her and to the other side. Elain turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, shock moving through her. She hadn't told him that, not even down the bond, as far as she could tell. Lucien winked at her. "You think I don't have eyes?" he asked, then tapped a finger beside his metallic golden eye. "Well, I suppose I do only have one that is real…" Elain pouted and he grinned, "The way she looks at my mother is plain for anyone to see…"

They both looked at Ashk and Sheera then, and Elain felt a little sorry for her friend. Ashk was evidently very in love with Helion and, as far as Elain knew, had no interest in females in a romantic sense. If Sheera developed a proper crush on Ashk, Elain was afraid that her friend would only get hurt. Lucien was clearly thinking along the same lines as she was, as he ran a hand down Elain's back, rubbing at her soothingly. "There's nothing to be done for her." He told her gently, "She can only make her own choices, and her friends can offer whatever support that she may need when and if the time comes."

"Prevention is better than cure." Elain murmured, turning her head when her mate gave a small chuckle.

"Oh, Petal." He said, "I have no idea what you have in mind, but you know that I am in."