Chapter 337

Elain nudged the door and her breath caught in her throat when it opened just a little. Stunned, she turned to look at the others incredulously. Tisia and Noor were rising onto their knees, mouths open in surprise, and Ashk was staring at her.

"They didn't…" Eria breathed, a smile breaking out across her pretty face despite the red blotches from her silent tears. "They really left it open?"

"Looks like it." Elain replied, moving back across the room to the others. "I doubt they've gone very far." She whispered, "So, if we're to sneak out we will need to be as quiet as possible."

"What makes you think they're not just waiting outside the door to punish whoever tries to escape?" Kera asked, voice scathing.

"Well," Elain said, eyes flicking to the blonde, "I'll look if it'll make you feel better."

"Well," Kera replied, with the tone one might use when speaking to someone particularly slow, "that would help us in deciding on if we should do it or not…"

Elain resisted a huff and tried her best not to roll her eyes. She looked instead to Ashk and, upon receiving a nod from the older female, turned on her heel and crept back to the door. Finding herself holding her breath, Elain tried to ensure that she was hidden behind the door as she leaned toward it and gripped the handle tightly in one hand to keep from accidentally pushing the door in case it creaked.

"What do you see?" Noor hissed, and Elain glanced back at her in warning before she turned back around a peered out past the door. The hallway was empty and Elain made sure to check both directions, daring to creep out just a little further. She remained as still as possible, straining to listen for any sounds that might give warning that anybody was near, but everything was silent. She wished so very hard that she still had her seer ability because she was certain that it would be helpful right about now. She promised herself that she would never take it for granted ever again.

"Is there anyone out there?" Tisia asked, and Elain turned back around.

"I don't think so…"

"You think they're that stupid?" Kera asked, "To just forget to close the door?"

"Maybe they are." Eria retorted.

"Perhaps," Ashk put forward, "they've not done this before, and they will make mistakes."

"Who cares why?" Tisia argued, "The door is open and they are not out there."

Elain resisted another sigh. "Are we going to try?" she asked, hand still on the door handle. Several of the others nodded and she felt something within her relax at that, which surprised her. At least, she figured, she would be doing something to try and get away, to try and get back to Lucien.

"They've been looked at." Helion said, and Lucien waited for more. "The properties."

"And what did they find?" Lucien forced out, unable to wait for Helion's dramatics and his slow reveal. If they had found out something about those who had taken Elain, he needed to know. "Have they found where she is? Where they are?" he amended.

"It is possible." Helion paused again and Lucien thought he might scream.

"…where?"

Helion tilted his head and, for one wild moment, Lucien wondered if perhaps his father was testing him again. He remembered the way that the High Lord had tested him when he first arrived, touching Elain and being closer to her than he needed to because he wished to see the way that Lucien would react and if he had any self-control. Lucien rather thought that he was at the edge of his self-control now. "One of the properties on the list," Helion told him, "was… under…watch."

"Watch…" Lucien echoed and the High Lord nodded.

"My people thought that there were those watching this property and they decided not to get any closer in case they tipped them off… It could be the place."

"They didn't actually go inside and find anything?" Luicen stared.

"What would you have preferred?" Helion asked, "They march in there and had whoever took Elain know that we were on to them so they did something rash like have her killed?"

Lucien supposed not, and said so. "I suppose not."

"Anyway," Helion said, running a hand though his black hair, "I'm assuming you want to go with the group that I am sending for a closer look."

"Absolutely."