Chapter 429
Elain had read so very many romance novels. Most had been borrowed from Nesta, but she had also read some which were far more graphic and far less romantic than the ones borrowed from her sister. Elain had often been too embarrassed to share those ones with Nesta, but she had read them all the same. Elain had not been naive about what happened between males and females in the bedroom. She had been lacking in confidence in her own skills in regard to such things, but she had not been naive. She had read the books, and she knew what went where and how it was meant to be. It was meant to be passionate and wonderful. That was what all the books had promised her.
Each and every time she had been with Lucien, each time he touched her like this, had surpassed every expectation Elain had previously held about intimacy and sex. Initially, she had wondered if that was because of the mating bond. Before she had been made High Fae and come to live in the Night Court, she hadn't really read that many books by faerie authors, if any at all. The books she had read and had access to had been mortal authors and mostly about mortal protagonists. Even the faerie books she had initially read from Rhys' library hadn't really been about fae who were mated. They had mostly been much the same as the mortal stories she had been used to, only with faerie characters and maybe a little more promiscuous activity than she had been accustomed to. There had been one mated couple in one story she had read, but they had been supporting characters and the plot had not been about their romance. Before her own experiences with Lucien and the mating bond, Elain had known next to nothing about being mated apart from what she had seen between Feyre and Rhys and, even though she knew Feyre would have been all too willing to share many details of their bedroom activities, Elain was not in possession of a great deal of knowledge about the intricacies and expectations of sex with one's mate.
Viviane had once said something to Elain which had stuck in her mind. The Lady of the Winter Court had mentioned that while being intimate with a Mate, it was possible to experience the act from both perspectives. This had seemed wild to Elain at the time but, since accepting the bond and becoming more familiar with it, she had been able see things the way Lucien did and she could often feel his emotions. It did not seem a stretch to be able to do that while experiencing the intense passionate emotions that came with sex.
And it was passionate. Even when Elain was alone, and allowed her mind to wander, the mere thought of the way Lucien touched her, or kissed her, his hands roaming her skin, sent shivers of pleasure moving through her. Her heart would quicken at the thought of the sounds he would make as she touched him in turn, the intensity of the emotions that flowed through her so much more than anything else she had experienced or even read about in her books.
It was all so much more than she had experienced before, or that she had expected. Feyre had told her that it was worth everything, and Viviane had told her that she would love it. She truly did. Elain could not imagine any life in which she would be happy without Lucien and the bond connecting them to one another. She had come so close to having that bond severed today, unable to feel her mate for much of the day, and then nearly losing her life right along with it, and that made it all the more precious.
Sliding her fingers into Lucien's hair and gripping tightly, Elain adjusted her position on her back, enjoying the weight of her mate over her as she looked at him.