Chapter 463

The sick feeling coming from Lucien twisted at Elain and she glanced at her mate out of the corner of her eye. She hadn't seen his expression this grim for a while now. Even when they had been sneaking through the Palace while they were hunted, he had been serious and focused, but he hadn't looked as haunted as he did at this moment. She understood why. The idea of a spy in the court was fairly harrowing, especially after Amala and her family's actions. Not that Elain thought Rhys would do anything like that, nor would he have the desire to see anything like that done to the Day Court. Did Lucien think that he would, however? She looked at his face again, trying to read his eyes. He had just glanced back at her, opening his mouth as if he were about to say something when something moved in the hallway ahead of them, and Elain took Lucien's hand in surprise.

"Come this way, Lucien." It was Helion who approached them down the hallway, and Elain saw his amber eyes move from his son to her. "You may also join us, Elain." She tilted her head, holding tight to her mate's hand as they followed the High Lord into a nearby room. The anxiety coming off of Helion surprised her, and she allowed Lucien to guide her into a seat at the large round table in the centre of the room.

The High Lord seated himself elegant in another chair, and remained silent as he stared at his hands on the table in front of him. Elain felt herself growing more nervous watching him. It was startling and a little disturbing to see Helion, who was usually so confident and sure of himself, looking so uncertain and a bit lost. "It's alright." Lucien told her, his voice low. His warm hand moved up her arm, and she allowed his touch to comfort her.

"I do not believe I need to tell you the seriousness of this situation." Helion looked at both of them, ad Elain shook her head. "If my Court can still not be trusted…" he went on, shaking his own head, "We cannot allow what happened here to ever happen again."

"Do you believe that the Night Court wishes the Day Court harm?" Elain asked, not sure how she would feel if that were to be the case. Surely her sister would not allow such a thing to happen, knowing that this was Elain's home. They were family. She did not want any kind of tension between the courts.

"That," Helion murmured, "is not the point."

"A spy is a spy." Lucien said, "Just because they sell information to one High Lord today doesn't mean they won't turn to another tomorrow."

Elain understood that. "Who," she asked, "could they possibly tell who would want war with the Day Court?" All of the High Lords currently in power were on good terms with one another.

"And who is to say that Eris won't get a knife in the back next month and be replaced by someone who misses the type of Court Beron ran?" Helion leaned back in his chair. "They way things are now," he told her, and she was suddenly reminded that he was literal centuries old, "are not the way they have always been, and they are not the way they will always be in the future."

Glancing at Lucien again, Elain felt her stomach sink. If they had someone in the Court who was untrustworthy and they did not fix the situation now, who was to say that when Lucien eventuality did become the High Lord, they would not still be present, ready to betray them all again at any moment? But did they actually have a spy? "Azriel…" she said again, "Is particularly good at learning all kinds of information."

"Yes…" Lucien nodded, looking from her back to his father. "What remains to be determined is if he learned this information from one of his many sources, or if Rhysand sent him here to spy himself."