Chapter 482

The males had gone, exploring pools higher above them, and Elain leaned back against the side of the rockpool, her elbows resting on the edge to keep her up as she looked at her sisters. "Was Cassian really about to rub lotion on Helion?" She asked, watching Nesta who rolled her eyes.

"Who knows what he was about to do. He hasn't been able to keep his eyes off Helion since the tunic came off."

"He's not the only one." Elain replied, "Half the eyes down there have been stuck on the High Lord all afternoon."

"Do you think he does it on purpose?" Feyre asked, sinking low in the water to her chin.

"Probably." Elain gave a light laugh. "Since being here, it has been fairly apparent that Helion is quite… open." She said, "He doesn't at all hide how he feels about things, and he's not guarded at all. You only need to spend ten minutes with him, and I'd say you'd know him quite well."

"Yes…" Feyre mused, looking thoughtful.

"And… look at him." Elain added, "He's one fine looking male, and you can bet that he knows that."

Feyre slanted a glance at Elain then, smiling slyly. "Oh, you think so…?" Elain narrowed her eyes at Feyre, wondering where her sister's thoughts had gone. "Better looking than Lucien, do you think?"

Elain made what came close to a snorting noise. "Obviously not." She replied, almost indignant. "Although, looking at the two of them, it's clear where Lucien got some of that…" She paused, searching for the word she was after "… power… from." Elain rather thought that Lucien more closely resembled his mother than his father, at least in colouring, but there was definitely more than a little of the High Lord in her mate. From the looks on both of her sister's faces, Elain knew that they were both aware that she hadn't only been referring to the magic that Lucien had inherited from his father, and neither of them properly knew how to respond to something like that. Nesta looked almost scandalised.

"Apparently," Feyre said, after a moment, "Lucien has learned to use some of that…" she blinked slowly at Elain, "power."

"Yes, we saw that in the Mountains." Nesta said, raising an eyebrow, and Elain remembered the shield that her mate had held to defend them all.

"I mean more recently," Feyre replied, raising an eyebrow back at Nesta. "Alongside his father… to defend the Day Court…"

"Azriel tell you that while spying on us?" Elain asked, unable to stop the words before they'd slipped out. She rather enjoyed the taken aback look on Feyre face, but her sister just nodded a moment later. "He was the one to tell me that."

"Hmm…" Elain lifted her gaze to the sky, watching the light fluffy clouds putter across the blue expanse of the Day Court. "And did he stand there in the shadows and watch us nearly die, or did he get that information from someone else?"

"I do not know." Feyre said simply. Nesta was frowning at Feyre now, and Elain tried her best to swallow it, and let it all go.

"Yes," She said, after a moment of silence. "Lucien is getting rather good at using what he has inherited from Helion."

"Interesting…" Feyre mused and Elain frowned.

"Why is that interesting?" She asked, "Did you not think that he would?"

Feyre stood a little straighter out of the water, her hands trailing through the surface, making little swirls. "It's interesting that it is happening now…" Feyre looked at Elain, "Not when growing up and learning how to use his magic…"

Elain didn't think that was interesting at all, and defensiveness moved through her. "He learned what he knew of himself then. What he was taught." She replied, "Considering what happened to the three of us, I would have thought you would understand that better, Feyre." Elain looked from one of her sisters to the other, "All of us had our entire lives ripped away and hastily put back together in a completely new way. We all had to relearn who we are, how to use these fae bodies, and whatever gifts that came with them that we did not understand but were suddenly within us…" She was a bit angry now, and tried her best to keep it under control, "A similar thing happened to Lucien. He had to relearn who he was, and what it meant that he was Helion's son. He had to learn to control those abilities he did not understand that had suddenly appeared more strongly in him, and I really do not think it is all that surprising that he is learning to do that here, in the place he has found his family and his home, and with someone who can help guide him in that."

"I meant no offense…" Feyre said, and Elain tried to believe that. Her sister too often made comments like that , and Elain could no longer deny how evident it was that her younger sister had a different view of the world; a view in which she and Rhys sat above everyone else.

"It's clear that you have made this your home." Nesta said, "Your garden showed us that… I take it that Lucien has a well, with his parents both here now…"

"Yes…" Elain smiled at Nesta. "That is why he has been able to grow so much here already." She could see that something was weighing on Nesta's mind, as if her sister had yet to decide upon something she had been mulling over.

"I think everybody was surprised by Ashk's announcement." Feyre put in after several moments of silence between them, and Elain nodded quickly.

"The whole court was surprised." She told her sisters, "I had wondered if more of them would have been … displeased, considering the ties this makes to the Autumn Court when Lucien as Heir is already from there, and now Ashk is permanently here, and the new baby will also…" She broke off, "But maybe those who would have disapproved are gone…"

"It would be a valid concern," Feyre replied, "If anyone was concerned that Eris was trying to get his hooks into the Day Court."

"I really don't think that's the case." Elain told her, and Feyre gave a one shouldered shrug.

"You never know with him…" Feyre squeezed her hair out, "He can be a sneaky bastard."

Remaining silent, Elain just looked at her sister. As far as she could tell Eris' sneaking and manipulating had revolved around him trying to take the throne in the Autumn Court. That had been his goal. She didn't think he had interest in taking anybody else's Court, and she doubted that, even if he did, he would use his mother for that. Besides, Elain knew that Ashk truly loved Helion, and had for centuries. This wasn't some twisted plan of Eris'. Figuring that Feyre probably couldn't see that Elain wondered when her views of the world and opinions had began to differ so much from her sisters'. Probably, she supposed, when she had been given the freedom to move around the Courts and see things for herself.

"I think I'd like to stay." Nesta said out of nowhere, and Elain blinked, looking at her. "Here." Nesta clarified, "For a while, anyway."

"Oh…" Elain smiled, "I didn't expect that…"

"You were talking about a celebration soon, with the other Courts…" Nesta was fiddling with her hands as if nervous, although Elain didn't know why. "Maybe I could stay until then…"

Happily, Elain nodded, moving toward her older sister. "I would really like that." She told Nesta, flinging her arms around her sister and squeezing her tightly.