Chapter 360

The sounds of the Throne Room reached Elain and it was as if ice flooded her veins. She shuddered, fear spiking through her and she couldn't help but stop where she was, unwilling to keep moving forward. Lucien turned to her, concern on his handsome face, and then he moved back to her, one gentle hand coming out to touch her arm.

"Petal…" he told her gently, "We have to move…"

Her breath was shaky as she drew it, shaking her head. The screams echoed up the hallway, and she couldn't move. She didn't need to see into the Throne Room to know what was happening in there. The sounds told her enough. "… Helion can't be in there." She breathed, eyes shifting from the hallway to her mate. "He can't be… You know he isn't… because if he was, those sounds wouldn't be coming out of there…" A loud shrill scream echoed toward them, and Elain looked back up the hallway. The scream had been female, and she couldn't help wondering who had made it. Did she know them? Was it one of her friends? What if it had been Tisia? Or what if it had been Ashk?

She looked back to Lucien, knowing that her eyes were wide, and he met her gaze steadily. "I was hoping that it hadn't gotten this far yet." He told her, voice low, words quick. "I was hoping that we could get to Helion before exactly what is happening in there had begun. You're right in that he can't be in there, not with that going on…" Lucien paused, his own eyes flicking up the hallway, metallic eye clicking and whirring as he did so. "If we go in there there will be a fight, and I don't know what will happen." He looked at her again. "Likely there will be too many of them and we will die."

"I know…" Elain whispered, and Lucien's fingers slid up her arm to her shoulder.

"So, we can't go in there." He said, and the ice in her veins moved lower and down to her stomach. "So," he went on, "we can't see whoever it is that they have in there…" Even without the bond, he had somehow known what she had been wondering.

"I know…" She said again, and he nodded.

"I just had to say it." He told her, "So there is no confusion about why we are not opening those doors."

"I understand…" Elain allowed her fingers to trace the soft material of his shirt as she looked at him. She could read the regret in his features, the sadness in his eyes, and she knew that he wanted to know who was behind those doors as much as she did. She knew that he wanted to get in there and do something about what was happening, and that it did not sit well with him that they were about to turn away.

"Where will we go then?" Sheera asked, horror on her pretty face as she held the knife Lucien had given her in front of herself, huddled against the hallway wall.

Lucien ran a hand through his ruby hair, the expression that meant he was thinking crossing his face as the screams continued to echo around them. Steps blended with the screams, and Sheera gave a soft gasp. Lucien's hand wrapped around Elain's wrist and he pulled her toward a nearby door, opening it and ushering her in with Sheera behind her. Once he was in there with them, Lucien closed the door quietly and the three of them stood in the small room in silence as they listened.

Elain held her breath, only releasing it when one of Lucien's warm hands descended down on the back of her neck. She was thankful for his warmth, enjoying as it sank into her, melting some of that ice in her veins. Slowly, she felt herself becoming more steady, and she wondered if he had done it deliberately, and if he might be getting some of his magic back.

Outside the door, in the hallway, several fae walked past. Lucien didn't move until they were long gone and then he looked from Elain to Sheera and back again. She could see that he was still thinking, practically see the cogs working behind his eyes. He went very still, and she found herself holding her breath again.

"We are still going to find Helion…" She said, hoping that he would tell her that was exactly their plan. "And your mother…"

"Of course." Lucien replied, "I…" he frowned, "I don't love the idea of dragging you all over the palace while this is happening…"

"I did suggest hiding in the garden." Sheera said softly, and Lucien shook his head.

"That's not safe… but… the Night Court…"

"No." Elain told him.

"If I could get you there…"

"No." She repeated. "I'm not leaving you."

"This is unsafe, Elain." He said, "If we are found…"

"Then at least I'll be with you." She said, "I'm not running off to my sister and her mate while my own mate is in danger and trying to solve things all on his own… You can't do that. I won't do it."

"Alright…" his hand moved down her arm again, fingers wrapping around her own hand and she stepped into him, going up on her toes to press her lips to his cheek.

"So, Helion isn't in the Throne Room…" She prompted, and Lucien nodded.

"With how far this has come, and what is happening in there, I'm assuming they will already have gone through his rooms looking for him."

"Maybe he's left the Palace." Sheera suggested, but Lucien shook his head.

"He wouldn't."

"Then we look for him." Elain said, surprised by how steady her voice sounded. "We find him."