Chapter 410

Russet and gold eyes flicked toward Elain for just a moment, and she heard her mate's heartbeat quicken. She knew that he had looked for her for several reasons. He had wanted to check that she was out of the way, she could feel that. He had wanted to make sure that she was still in the room, still near to him, and that she had not been taken somewhere again, had wanted to reassure himself that he still had her with him. Also, Elain knew, Lucien had wanted to look at her one last time before he'd faced Rian, just in case the dark-haired faerie were to best him. Elain pushed that last reason aside, gripping that golden bond in her mind. Pushing back toward him down the bond, she focused on her belief that he would be fine. If Lucien could somehow feel that reassurance, maybe it would spark his confidence a little.

Lucien had clearly gotten under Rian's skin. That would have been evident to everyone in the room. Rian's face was twisted in a snarl, and little patches of colour flushed his cheeks. His eyes were wide and focused on Lucien and Elain could see, even across part of the room, that his knuckles were white with the tight grip with which he held his blade. Opening his mouth, as if about to say something, Rian choked his own voice off when Lucien waggled the tip of his sword at him and chuckled.

"Come on then," Lucien's voice held a mock encouraging note, "Don't be gentle…" Elain knew that her mate was well aware of the impact his responses and attitude were having on the other male, and she knew that he was thoroughly entertained by it.

Rian threw himself at Lucien then, his sword coming down over his shoulder in a powerful blow that would have cut anyone in half. The blow may have been powerful, but it was slow. Lucien easily stepped back out of the path of the blade, moving almost leisurely to the side and around behind Rian, his own sword still held loosely. "I think you know why that was a mistake…"

"Shut the fuck up!" Rian wheeled around, blade moving through the air again, only to be deflected by Lucien's own this time.

"I take it," Lucien began, "You did not have the equivalent of the Autumn Court training rings wherever it was you spent your years as a youngling…"

"I've done my training." Rian thrust then, and Lucien barely got out of the way of that movement. Elain's breath caught in her throat and she very nearly took a step forward before catching herself and remaining in place. There was nothing she could do, nothing that would be of any help until this was over. Lucien was still smiling, though, and she took that to be a good sign.

Back and forth the pair moved. Rian seemed to have pulled himself together and was proving now that he was not without skill with a blade. Lucien was still smiling, but Elain could feel his breath coming in shorter gasps, and she could see the tightness around his eyes. He was not finding this as easy as he had been to begin with. He was not worried, however, that was clear down the bond, and Elain clung to that with every one of her own breaths. The fight put her in mind of the fight Lucien had once been forced into when they had visited the Autumn Court. His brothers had seemed to Elain a little more savage than Rian seemed, but she had no doubts that Rian would do as much damage to her mate as he could.

Elain was unprepared for Rian to spin away, flinging a hand in Lucien's direction, before coming back in with another series of blows, and she had barely noticed the shimmering in the air before Lucien tripped over it. Rian was the one grinning then, moving even closer, his sword raised as he seemed to envision his own victory. She rather felt that he deserved the handful of flames he received then when Lucien rolled away and to his feet.

"If that's the way you want to do this…" Lucien's metallic eye clicked and whirred as he looked around quickly, searching for any more trickly little shields that he was supposed to trip over.

"Don't think you can handle it?" Rian asked, and Lucien raised an eyebrow at him.

"You don't think you could have won without tricks?"

"I'll do whatever it takes for what I want."

"Excellent." Lucien threw another handful of flames at him.