Chapter 475

By the time they got to the end of Elain's tour of the memory garden, she bent to pick up one of the small bells she had purchased in the market. "I thought these would be nice hanging from the branches of the trees once they're all in the earth." She said, holding the bell up. She then flicked a glance at Helion. "There will be more delivered by the faerie who made them."

"Very well." Helion nodded, but then his attention returned to Ashk, his amber eyes tracing her form slowly as he smiled. Elain was not the only one watching them. The others all had continued to watch the clear display between the High Lord of the Day Court and Ashk as they had walked around the garden.

Mor had gone nowhere near Helion, and it was clear that she had understood that if she had, Ashk would probably have attacked her. The earlier display of jealousy had not been lost on any of them, especially after that little announcement of Ashk's pregnancy, and nobody wanted to provoke that kind of reaction.

Elain wondered, not for the first time, if Ashk and Helion were mates, or if they would be. The savagery that Ashk had displayed reminded Elain of her own reactions whenever another female tried to get close to Lucien or displayed interest in him. Idly, she wondered just what her reaction would be if they saw Vassa again, and a part of her wanted to test that. Perhaps they could invite all of the High Lords to the Day Court to celebrate… something… and extend that invitation to the mortal Queen. Elain knew that much of her emotion previously had been somewhat heightened by her insecurity and uncertainty about her developing relationship with Lucien, but now that they were properly mated and they were comfortable and sure in that relationship, she thought it might be different. There was no weakness there for Vassa to try and prey upon, nothing for her to work at to sneak inside. Elain and Lucien were solid, and Elain wondered how her jealousy might present now.

"What are you thinking about, Petal?" Lucien's lips brushed against Elain's ear and she smiled as pleasant tingles moved through her in response.

"Well," She murmured, "Since we don't seem to be about to start a war with the Night Court, when everything here is healed and under control, perhaps we could invite all of the Courts to visit again, prove to them how well we are doing…" She slanted a glance at her mate's face, and the expression she found there told her that he knew there was more to what she was saying, "and perhaps we can invite Vassa…"

"Why do you want to invite Vassa?" He asked, and she felt unease from him down the bond.

"Oh…" Elain realised then that she hadn't been the only one impacted by Vassa's actions the last time they had seen her. Sure, she had been upset that the redheaded queen had tried to get Lucien to engage with her more intimately than he had been interested in, but Lucien was the one she had tried to force into that situation. "Sorry…" She breathed, looking up at him, "You probably don't want to see her…"

"I can deal with Vassa," he replied, "If you tell me why you want to see her…"

Elain gave a half-shrug and smiled, "I just wondered how I would go controlling my jealousy…" She tipped her head in the direction of Lucien's mother, "Considering Ashk didn't have much control over hers… but then they aren't Mated…"

"You want to run a little experiment about controlling your … jealousy?"

"Maybe…" she smiled at him again and he tilted his head.

"I have to admit I am interested…" He flashed her a grin and Elain wrapped her arms around his waist, looking up at him.

"Does that mean you agree?"

"We will, of course, have to ask the High Lord before we start inviting everyone in Prythian to his palace…" Lucien just gazed down at her and Elain nodded her agreement. That would only be the polite thing to do.

"What are you two organising?" Helion asked from nearby, and Elain bit back a laugh, almost having forgotten that they still had company.

"Elain just suggested that we have some kind of celebration, when the Palace is put right. She thought we could invite all the High Lords from Prythain to celebrate our strength, and to show them that we are still strong and you get the idea…" Lucien smiled at his father, and Elain found herself smiling to match. Helion's eyes flicked from one of them to the other and then back again. His eyes narrowed as he thought about it before nodding.

"I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I don't see why we couldn't do that."

"This sounds like a good party." Cassian said, slipping an arm around Mor's shoulders. "I haven't been to a good party in so long…"

"I thought you party every night." Mor rolled her eyes and Cassian glanced at Nesta.

"Not quite…"

Nesta rolled her own eyes and looked at Elain who smiled more widely at her sister. "Will you come to it?" She asked and Nesta nodded. Silvery blue eyes continued to watch Elain and she could tell that Nesta knew there was more to their request than Lucien had said. Her sister had the grace not to as publicly though, and Elain appreciated that. She didn't particularly feel like explaining her desire to test herself to everyone here, when it was certainly not any of their business.