Chapter 484
Eyeing Cassian uncertainly, Elain weighed her choices.
"Come on, Elain." Cassian chuckled, moving closer, "We can totally take them…Don't you trust me?"
"You want me to… sit on your shoulders…?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. The whole group of them had returned to the large pool near to where Helion was still sunning himself, and somehow had gotten caught up in challenging one another in games of Shoulder Wars. Elain wasn't entirely certain how it had begun, but Cassian had been insisting for the last five minutes that she be his partner for the game, and she couldn't work out why. "But…" her eyes flicked toward Lucien and Cassian began shaking his head.
"Uh-uh." He said firmly, "No mates. Those are the rules."
"But why?" She asked, "Is it because mates would work so well together it would be an unfair advantage…?"
"That could be part if it." Cassian agreed, "But I think it's more to do with the fact that if you were sitting on Lucien's shoulders and I attacked you, he would literally lose his shit…"
"Right…" Elain saw the logic in that. Mates would be unable to help their defensive instincts in protecting one another. "But on the opposite team…"
"It remains just a game where nobody wants to actually harm anyone else…" Cassian grinned at her, waggling his eyebrows. "So, how about it? Be my partner?"
"Who will we be battling?" She asked, the words dying in her throat when Feyre grinned at her as she flung an arm around Lucien's shoulders. Looking at the two of them, Elain grew uncertain and she returned her eyes to Cassian who was still awaiting her response. "Alright…"
"Fantatsic." The Illyrian clapped his hands together and began a series of movements that Elain supposed were meant to mostly be for show as he pretended to warm up for the battle. She glanced again at Lucien and received a mischievous smirk and a wink from her mate. Recognising the challenge for what it was, Elain smiled back at him and straightened her shoulders. Nearby, she caught sight of Nesta coming to sit on the edge of the pool, dipping her feet into the water as she settled herself, and Elain wondered what her sister thought of the fact that she would be Cassian's partner for the game. Despite herself, and her brain telling her that it was nothing to be upset about, Elain wasn't completely thrilled with the prospect of Feyre on Lucien's shoulders, so she understood that Nesta might be less than pleased with the situation, but Nesta just smiled at Elain and seemed unfazed by it, so Elain said nothing.
"Come on, then…" Cassian moved toward Elain and ducked low so that she could clamber onto his shoulders. He then gripped her legs firmly as he stood up and she tried to balance herself. She had always found it strange that being only a little higher than one was used to felt like such a great distance, but she supposed Illyrians probably wouldn't notice such a thing with the ability to fly. Sitting on someone's shoulders would probably pose no difficulty to Cassian, if anyone was able to lift him, that was, but Elain struggled to maintain her balance as he moved around, and she tried not to look down at where they were going.
"So the way to win this game is…?" Elain had seen it played before, but she wasn't entirely sure of the actual rules. She was assuming, also, that the game had rules. It would not surprise her in the slightest if Cassian just wanted to mess around in a mock wrestling match where there was no actual discernible winner, and she wasn't entirely sure she would be up to engaging in that.
"It's pretty straight forward," The Illyrian said as he came to stand before their opponents. Feyre sat straight and proud on Lucien's shoulders, and there was a clear challenge in her expression. From somewhere by the side of the pool, Rhys gave a small cheer of encouragement to his mate, and Cassian made a gesture his way which indicated exactly what he thought about his friend's choice of team to support. "You try your best to pull Feyre off of Lucien and into the water. You do that, and we win."
Elain looked uncertainly at Feyre again. Her sister had had battle training. Cassian had taught her some himself. Elain did not possess the same skills, and she was sure that Feyre was going to make short work of her.