Chapter 314
Lucien had taken the plate of tarts that Elain had collected back to the blanket to share with Feyre and Rhys, while Elain had told her mate that she was going to find Sheera and ask her to join them. She had circled the garden once already and had yet to locate her friend. Hoping that Sheera hadn't already left, Elain began her second circuit.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Helion's voice had Elain spinning on her heel, and she looked up at her mate's father with a smile.
"Yes." She told him, "This is a lovely garden, and the way you have had it decorated is beautiful." His magnificent smile beemed at her, and Elain smiled again in return. She could tell that Helion was aware she knew exactly why he had chosen to decorate the garden in the colours and style he had. "The music is beautiful too."
"I'm pleased you think so." His amber eyes shifted to the minstrels before going back to her. "I have not had them play at the palace before. I heard them in one of the parks in the city not long ago."
"Oh." Elain was surprised. "You seem to be collecting more and more of those who are useful from the city."
"Are you referring to Sheera?"
"Yes."
"Ah." Helion nodded, his eyes sweeping the garden once more. "She does a wonderful job with the gardens, doesn't she?"
"She does." Elain smiled, "It's because she truly cares."
"That is evident."
"I am glad." Elain said, feeling as if she should let Helion know what she thought about this. "I am glad that you value someone's worth over where they have come from or who they are." She looked up at him, "I know that Lucien loves that, too." She told him, "Especially considering what happened to him in the Autumn Court." A shadow moved behind the High Lord's amber eyes then and he gave a small nod of understanding.
"Ashk told me of that." He said quietly. "It… would not have happened here."
Unable to say anything in response to that, Elain just nodded. She was glad that the Day Court was as accepting as it was, and that something as awful as what had happened to Jesminda would not have occurred here simply because she had not been High Fae and the High Lord had thought her relationship with Lucien had been inappropriate.
She was thankful to live in a place that was more progressive than that, and she knew that Lucien felt the same way. Until that moment, though, Elain hadn't thought about how different Lucien's life may have been if he had grown up here. She wasn't sure that she wanted to, if she were being honest with herself. His first love would not have been murdered before him which, at first, Elain thought would have been positive. He would not have suffered so much, or had to flee his home. He would not have had to go through all the awful things that he had been forced to endure. But then, she realised, he would not have been free for her. He may not have even met her. He also would likely not have been the Lucien she loved.
Shaking her head, Elain dismissed that last thought. She had seen enough visions of Lucien as a youngling and before Jesminda's murder to know that he had always been thoughtful and kind. Those were the reasons his brothers had treated him the way they had. He had never fit in at the Autumn Court, even before everything had happened. If he had grown up here with Helion as his father, Elain knew that he still would have been the wonderful male that he was now. She still would have loved him.
Blinking, Elain realised that she was standing alone in the garden and that Helion had moved on. She spied him nearby, once again standing with Ashk as they both shared a plate of some delicious looking pastry that she thought she might like to try. Elain smiled and continued moving a she restarted her search for Sheera.