Chapter 514

She had felt his heartbeat growing closer, and she had known that he was on his way back to their room. Elain had forewarned Nesta and Sheera of the fact that Lucien would be there soon, but none of them had so much as moved from where they had sat and lay in the grass with one another in the little garden she had been building. Lucien strode into the garden, smiling when he saw them, and Elain allowed herself to appreciate the striking figure he was as he moved closer, gorgeous hair shining in the afternoon light.

"Hello, my love." She said, eyes still moving over him as he approached.

"Petal." He stepped around Nesta on the grass to stop by Elain, and her own heart fluttered in her chest when he bent to press a soft kiss to the top of her head, before he sank down onto the small bench beside her. "What have you been doing?"

"We were weeding…" Sheera put in, casting a guilty glance at the nearby flowerbed, "But… we stopped."

"We got distracted." Elain said, glancing over her shoulder at Lucien who nodded slowly.

"I see." He looked from one to the next, his gaze coming to rest on Elain again. "I feel like I've walked in on some secretive female discussion…" he said, "Is this the case?"

"No…"

"If it is, I can find somewhere else to be until you're finished…"

"No…" Elain repeated, reaching a hand out to him. "It wasn't secretive." She smiled again at him when he took her hand, holding it gently.

"Alright..."

"We were discussing Vassa." Nesta said pointedly, and Lucien's eyes widened just a little.

"Oh."

"…and what might happen if Elain loses her shit and kills her."

"We decided that wouldn't happen." Elain said, frowning at Nesta. She knew what her sister was doing, knew that Nesta wanted Lucien to think bringing Vassa here was a bad idea. Nesta wanted Lucien to put a stop to it, but Elain wasn't going to let that happen. "We talked about why I need to explore my ability to control what happens when I get jealous." She looked at Lucien. "You have had so much practice with self-control regarding the bond and what it drives you to want." She couldn't help but remember that night she had walked in on him in Rhys' kitchen and he had tried to back away from her to control himself but she had hugged him and he had struggled to control his desires. Feyre had told her that not just anyone could do that, that nobody could fight the bond like that. Lucien had, though. Elain knew that he had a tight leash on his self-control, and she needed to make sure that she did too.

"I have had longer to practice." He replied, looking at her in a way that she knew meant he was also reading her through the bond. He nodded after a moment, evidently agreeing with whatever it was he had found. "We will take the necessary precautions to ensure that Vassa is not murdered." He threw a grin at Nesta. "Although I would not have thought you would be overly concerned with Vassa's wellbeing."

"I'm not." Nesta snapped, "I am concerned with what will happen to Elain if she loses control and murders a mortal queen, however."

Shaking his head, Lucien kept his eyes on Nesta, his metallic eye whirring as he held her stony stare. "You know, Nesta, that I will not allow anything to happen to Elain. You know it."

Sighing, Nesta leaned back on her hands, lifting her chin as she stared right back at Lucien. She said nothing, however, and Elain relaxed as the topic was dropped and they were all able to move on to more pleasant conversation.