Chapter 477

Elain had never been to the Day Court pools. But, that afternoon Helion had announced that in honour of their guests, everybody was to take the afternoon off from working around the palace from the Memory Gardens to anything else the Court had been working on. Elain had then found herself, with Lucien, down at the Day Court Pools among a large group consisting of her sisters and the others from the Night Court, as well as Helion himself and Ashk.

"Have you been here before?" she asked her mate, one eye on him from the corner of her periphery. Sliding an arm around her waist, Lucien moved closer.

"Once or twice." He replied, "A long time ago."

Never having been one to enjoy removing her clothing in public, Elain eyed the skimpy bathing suits many of the faeries around them were wearing, and she couldn't help the blush that flared in her cheeks. The faeries of the Day Court already wore far less than those who lived in other courts, with their short dresses and fancy tunics, so she knew that they probably thought nothing of the bathing suits they wore now, but Elain was uncertain she could do the same.

"I don't even own anything like that…" She murmured, eyes following a pretty blonde faerie who strutted past them, all assets on full display. Lucien bent to Elain, his lips brushing her ear as he spoke quietly to her.

"No, indeed," he breathed, "Last time we went swimming, you wore nothing at all…"

"I…" Elain blushed darker, remembering the rock pool that she and Lucien had explored. "That was…" she shook her head.

"That was wonderful." He grinned at her and Elain elbowed him gently.

"This is a public place…"

"Indeed it is."

"If you require something to wear that is more appropriate, you can purchase bathing suits over there…" Helion indicated a shop at the front of the building to the left, right by some changing rooms. "They have a pleasing selection." Elain looked at the High Lord, about to thank him for the information, when Helion pulled his tunic off in one fluid movement. Anything Elain had been about to say died in her throat at the sight of the High Lord standing there in a tiny golden bathing suit that left nothing to the imagination.

"Cauldron boil and fry me." Lucien muttered with a glance at his father before looking away. Elain could not do the same, unable to take her eyes off of Helion. The High Lord was resplendent with his dark golden skin and powerful body now on full display. She wasn't the only one looking, Elain noticed. Just about everybody around had turned their eyes Helion's way, and the appreciative looks we was receiving were definitely not being hidden. Lucien's hands came down on Elain's shoulders and her mate turned her away. "Why don't we go and get something to wear…?"

"Okay…" Elain let him lead her toward the shop, and behind her the majority of the Night Court followed them.

"Do… you think… he wears that often?" Elain murmured, and Lucien gave a bark of a laugh.

"Yes, Petal." He said, pushing open the door to the shop, "I think that every pair he owns probably are exactly like that…"

"Wonder if he bought them here…" Cassian put in, following Elain through the door, "I might get some for myself… Would you like that, Nes?"

The look that Nesta gave Cassian was hard to read, but Elain rather thought that her sister was thinking that while she might like to see Cassian in something similar to what Helion was wearing, she would not enjoy having to stake her territory to every other female in the place who might also find the sight appealing. Cassian just smiled innocently at Nesta and moved to look at some bathing suits on display nearby.

Moving to a rack against the wall, Elain's stomach dropped as she looked at everything nearby, and her hopes of finding anything she would even want to wear sank. Everything in here seemed so small and far too revealing for her to ever feel comfortable in them. Perhaps she would just have to make do with what she could find and then secure a towel around herself for the remainder of the afternoon. Trying to talk herself into it, Elain tried to think about how much she had changed and grown in the last couple of months. She was no longer the shy and innocent girl she had been when she and Nesta had been pulled from their beds. She was High Fae, and she was a mated female. She had seen so much, experienced so much more than she had back then. She was no longer afraid to be publicly affectionate with her mate, and they had even done scandalous things, many of them actually in public. She could do this. She could wear a tiny bit of material that was meant for swimming… She just really didn't like it.

"You seem unimpressed."

"Oh…" Elain turned to see a young female faerie looking at her.

"Can't find something you like?"

"I…" Elain blinked and looked again at the rack. She may have been less shy and proper than she had been in the past, but she was still herself, and she still had taste. A tiny strip of red cloth that would barely cover her nipples just wasn't going to do it for her. "I… am not prepared to be so… on display…" she finished softly, looking back to the faerie. The faerie's eyes moved over Elain and she saw those eyes flick toward Lucien on the other side of the shop and then back again. Recognition flared then, as the faerie worked out who she was.

"You're not from the Day Court."

"I am not." Elain agreed. The faerie nodded and indicated for Elain to follow her to another rack. This already looked more promising as the bathing suits here appeared to be made of more material than the previous rack had consisted of in its entirety.

"This might be more what you are looking for…"

"Yes…" Elain pulled one off the rack to look at it. It was certainly less revealing than the others had been, and she rather thought that she could imagine Mor wearing something like this, but Elain could still not see herself in it. "Ah…" she put it back on the rack. Definitely not.

"Did you have an idea of what you want?"

Elain eyed the rack, thinking. She had no problem with the top of most of the bathing suits, in fact many of her dresses could be just as revealing about the shoulders. It was the lower half that held her concern. She bit her lip and looked at the faerie again. "I… was… hoping for more of …" She made a vague gesture around the lower half of her body, "a skirt situation…?"

The faerie nodded and moved further up the rack, toward the end. "Like this?" She shifted some hooks to the side, leaving a smaller selection visible. Elain took a purple bathing suit down to look at it. The skirt was shorter than anything she had worn in the past, and would probably barely come past her backside, but at least her entire body would not be on display. All in all, it looked like a small dress, and she decided that it was something she could deal with.

"Yes," She said, smiling. "This is much better."

Taking a few of them off the rack, Elain let the faerie show her to a changing room to try them on, and Elain raised an eyebrow at Feyre who pranced out in a skimpy black outfit. "What do you think?" Feyre asked, and Elain didn't quite know what to say.

"You look very confident." She eventually said, and Feyre just laughed. Elain supposed that with the kinds of things Feyre usually wore, this was not so out of the ordinary. Moving past her sister, Elain headed into a changing room, pulling the curtain closed behind her as she tried to find one of the suits she had brought with her that would fit.

By the time they had gotten back outside and had located Helion, the group found the High Lord of the Day Court reclining on a low chair, hands behind his head and body on full display as he lay with his eyes closed in the afternoon sun. Elain wasn't sure she had ever seen anybody as confident in themselves as Helion was, and she knew Mor quite well. If the High Lord was aware of the sheer number of eyes upon him, he gave no indication of it.

"Join me," he said, eyes still closed against the sun, but waving his hand to empty chairs nearby. Elain glanced at Lucien before she put their towels on a nearby chair, trying not to cringe as she bent to do so, knowing that the short skirt of her bathing suit did little to cover her arse as she bent.

"Do you make a habit of this?" Cassian's voice held interest as he claimed a chair of his own, reclining in a way that mirrored Helion. The High Lord of the Day Court opened his eyes, and looked at Cassian.

"As often as I can." He replied with a grin and Cassian smirked, looking to Rhys.

"I might change Courts." The Illyrian said, and Rhys snorted in disbelief.