Chapter 548
Sometimes she liked to just watch. Watching had been something Elain had always been good at. As a child she had been prettied up by her mother and sat in a corner like a doll with no other purpose than to sit there and smile and be the pretty little thing her mother wanted her to be. Elain had grown used to doing just that. She was so good at sitting and just watching. She knew that, over time, others had thought she was not capable of anything more, that they did not understand what she saw and learned from just watching others and listening to conversations that went on around her when others were not aware that she was listening and understanding what she was hearing, and she had used that to her advantage. Now, she did sit and watch and listen as the Courts moved around her, socialising and laughing, and Elain thought about Vassa.
Kera had told her that the mortal queen had been trying to get information on the High Lords and the Courts and that she had tried to play it off as interest in the fae. Kera did not know what it was that the mortal queen was after, at least not yet, but the blonde faerie was good at playing the Courtly games and had told Elain that she recognised when someone else was trying to play them too. Elain had no doubt that Vassa would also be well versed in those types of games, and she was glad that Kera seemed to have taken this situation to heart, and was determined to find out more, because Elain did not have the heart or the stomach for those kinds of games. She had always hated the way she had seen people putting on various masks and switching them out for each new person they spoke to. She did not like that there was so much double talk and dishonestly and she wished that everyone would just say what they meant.
Wondering what kind of information Vassa had been after, Elain watched Thesan talking and laughing with some of the fae from the Winter Court, and she smiled. Just the image of the High Lord of the Dawn Court all rugged up and visiting the Winter Court made her smile. Kera had said that Vassa had seemed interested in Courtly Gossip, and Elain wondered what that entailed. What could Vassa have wanted to know about the High Lords that she hadn't already known about them. She had met most, if not all, of them during and after the war already. If she had wanted to know more, that indicated that she had some sort of plan for which she felt ill equipped. She needed further information before acting on it. Kera had promised to find out more, and Elain believed that the blonde faerie would do just that. There were still several hours before Vassa returned to her original form, however, so Elain was content to just sit and watch and listen.
Everyone seemed to be getting along well, although Eris had not yet returned to the Throne Room since he had spoken earlier with Lucien and Helion. If anyone else had noticed his apparent mood or his dramatic exit, nobody had reacted or said anything, and Elain wondered if that was some sort of polite custom of the fae or if they were just used to Eris, or any of them really, acting in such dramatic fashion that it was hardly worthy of comment. Elain would have bet that Rhys had made a dramatic exit or two in his time. Helion certainly would have.
Deciding that she should probably go and see how Nera was at some point before Vassa returned, Elain took another sip from her cup as she continued to watch and listen.