Chapter 525

Unsure about the way in which Ashk was going to react, Elain chewed on her lip. Lucien's mother had drawn her away for a private talk, even though Nesta had invited herself along and followed them anyway, but the redheaded female didn't seem to mind this.

"Tell me about this mortal Queen."

Not bothering to hide her heavy sigh, Elain ran her fingers through her hair as she thought about what she would say. "I do not know all that much about her personally." She began, "She was cursed… still is, I suppose… and that is quite horrible."

"Cursed…" Echoed Ashk, the question in her eyes. "The queen who turns into a firebird by day…?"

"That's her." Elain nodded, "What has been done to her is awful…" Under other circumstances, Elain rather thought she would have felt for Vassa, understanding what it was like to be turned into something she had never asked to be. "She helped us during the war, obviously… and I suppose has become an ally…"

"She's impudent and spoilt." Nesta muttered, and Elain flicked a look at her sister. Clearly Nesta was not over Vassa's claim that she had been close with their father, and that she somehow felt pain equal to theirs at his passing.

"With an interest in Lucien, you said…" Ashk looked from Nesta to Elain.

"He found her," Elain said, "They were… friends." She tried not to clench her teeth. "He lived with her and Jurian in the Mortal lands…" The twitch in Ashk's face at the mention on Jurian's name was not missed by Elain, "They all got on quite well, I believe…"

"And this was after the mating bond had…" Ashk frowned a little.

"We did not know one another." Elain felt the need to defend Lucien's choices a little. "It was harder for him, I think, than it was for me, to be around one another before I had…" She paused, "I was not yet adjusted to being Made Fae… I struggled… with… many things. It was not until I had come through several of those that I wanted… When Lucien came back to Velaris to see me, I found that I then wanted to get to know him. But… prior to this, he had been in the Mortal Lands… with Vassa."

"And they were friends…?"

"Yes." Elain blinked, "Although it is fairly clear that she had developed a desire beyond friendship."

"I see." Ashk blinked "And she still does?"

"She might not." Elain gave a half shrug, "We have not seen her in months. I had not accepted the Bond when we were there, and she seemed to think that was an opportunity for her to…" making a face, Elain shook her head. "Now that the Bond is as it was meant to be, perhaps she has set her sights elsewhere."

"And this is why you have invited her to come?" Ashk tilted her head, her red hair cascading over her shoulder in a fiery wave of brilliance.

"No." Elain glanced at Nesta, growing uneasy again, "I… thought that I might be able to test my own limits and the bond."

"How?" Russet eyes were locked on Elain's face.

"I've never felt jealousy as powerfully as I have when I saw the way Vassa looked at Lucien." Elain's voice sounded strange to her own ears as she remembered the way the mortal woman had lit up when Lucien had walked into the room they had all been in when the Night Court had visited her in Graysen's manor. "It was a physical sensation, even then. Before I knew that I loved him, and before I had considered accepting the bond. It stands to reason now that it would be even more powerful, and I would like to know that if something like that ever grips me, that I can control it."

"And if you cannot?" Ashk asked, "If you kill the mortal queen?"

Elain blanched. "I am trusting that with this Court full of High Lords, with the most powerful Fae in Prythian, I will not be able to accomplish such a thing."