Chapter 425

"What is it that you saw, Petal?" Lucien could feel it in her, knew what her visions felt like now, and he knew that she had seen something while he had been in the bathroom.

"You," She breathed, leaning into him, until her chest was pressed to his. "It's always you…"

He smiled down at her. "Apart from that time it was Eris…" Elain's smile was bright as she stared up at him, a slight twist entered that smile and he thought she might laugh.

"Yes…" She agreed, "I also saw Nesta once…"

It was Lucien who laughed then, bringing both of his hands up to cup her face. "It is not often though." He chuckled, and she nodded her head, eyes never leaving his.

"It's mostly about you." Her hands went to his waist, fingers stretched over him as she pulled herself closer. "I saw you in the Glade." She whispered, and Lucien blinked in surprise at that. Elain's pretty brown eyes held his gaze and she smiled gently at him. "I think it was the first time you found it."

Lucien lowered one hand, allowing his fingertips to trace down the side of Elain's throat. He remembered that day. He remembered that he had felt lost, restless, and like he did not know what he was going to do with the rest of his life. He had lost his home, his family. Tamlin had allowed him to stay in the Spring Court, had given him a room of his own, but Lucien hadn't know what he would do there, if he would have a place and a purpose. He had wandered the grounds all morning, wanting to feel something beyond despair. It had all been swirling within him; choking him, until he had felt a pull and followed it to that Glade. He had been able to breathe in that glade, in a way that he hadn't been able to for years. The moment he had stepped into it, and seen it, he had felt something within himself relax. Lucien had loved the way being in that place had made him feel, and he had continued to return there for as long as he had lived in the Spring Court. While there, he had felt the promise being made to him, knew that something was awaiting him, and that he would one day be happy.

Bending just a little, Lucien slid his arm low around Elain's waist, half lifting her to himself so that he could feel her whole body pressed to his own. She gave a small squeak of a sound, one of her gentle hands gliding up his arm to her shoulder, and her other hand slid into his hair. "Do you remember finding it?" She asked, and he nodded, both of his arms locked around her, supporting her weight as he straightened.

"I do." He told her. "I loved it immediately."

"So did I," She smiled, "When you first took me there."

"I know." He treasured that memory. "That was the day you first wanted me to kiss you…"

"I did." Elain's voice was almost like a purr, "That was the most wonderful kiss…"

Lucien wholeheartedly agreed with that. The sudden desire to return to the glade moved through him. That had been where he had first kissed Elain, and that had been where he had first been inside of her. It was an important place for them, and he wished to lay with her in the grass among the flowers as they enjoyed one another's company with nobody else around them to bother them or distract them. "It's a wonderful place."

"Yes…" Elain's fingers tugged lightly at Lucien's hair, and heat flared within him. He could feel the same thing coming from Elain and he knew what she wanted when he saw the way that she was watching him. He turned then, holding Elain to himself as he strode across the room to their bed. Her hands tightened on him and Lucien heard the quickening of her breathing, and it seemed to him the only sound in the room. She was the only thing in the world, the only thing that mattered, and he knew nothing else.

Elain expected her back to hit the bedspread when Lucien reached the edge of the bed and stopped. She had expected him to drop her to it before falling upon her himself, but he did not. She felt him bring a knee up on to the bed as he carried her to the centre, and Elain was all but burning when he lowered her to her own knees. They knelt, looking at one another, and Elain carded her fingers through Lucien's hair as she held gaze. She could feel his breaths coming quickly, but deeply, and she listened to his heartbeat in her head with rapt attention.

"I…" his voice was thick, and his hands skimmed her hips, moving up her waist, "My Elain…"

"I am." She replied easily, "As I was meant to be."

His hands shifted then, going to the laces at the front of her dress, and it took Elain's entire self-control to allow him to slowly begin untying those laces. She desperately wanted to rip them free, wanted to be rid of the dress, and feel her skin against her mate's, but she forced herself to be still, her eyes on Lucien's handsome face as she watched his reactions and expressions.

The cool breeze from the window was blowing gently across the room, Elain could see it in the curtains and when it picked up several strands of Lucien's ruby hair, but she burned so hot that it may as well have remained locked outside. Lucien's eyes moved lower, roving over her when the dress was opened, and Elain allowed him to pull it up over her head.

"Better?" he asked, voice thick, and she could hear the leash on his own self-control in it.

"Indeed…" Elain replied, taking her own turn then, in gripping a handful of Lucien's shirt and pulling it up and out of her way.