Chapter 549

Standing by the door to the Throne Room, Elain eyed the faeries milling about inside the room. Still, nobody had said anything about Eris, and she had listened for a good long while. Eventually, Elain had found Tisia and asked if her friend would come with her to speak with Nera. She figured that Eris' lover would be more likely to believe that she was welcome here if it were more than just Elain telling her so. Elain had been friendly toward Nera since the moment she had met her, so perhaps the other female would think that Elain alone would not have any problem with her, or that Elain was simply being kind. If Tisia were telling her the same thing, however, perhaps Nera would accept that the prejudiced opinions of whoever had been talking to her were not the norm and certainly not the dominant opinions of the Day Court.

"Are you ready?" Tisia smiled at Elain as she approached.

"Yes. I didn't mean to interrupt you…" Elain returned the smile, thinking about the intimate looking conversation Tisia had appeared to be having when she had interrupted her friend earlier.

"Plenty of time of that later." Tisia appeared to blush a little before striding out into the hallway, and Elain gave a small laugh as she followed. "So," Tisia looked at Elain over her shoulder, "who told Nera that she shouldn't be here?"

"Not sure." Elain said slowly, "I think Vassa had something to do with it, considering what she was saying the last time we spoke."

"As if she could say something about the Lesser Fae not being wanted here when she's literally a mortal." Tisia made a face, "So much further down the food chain."

"I suppose being a Queen means she thinks she's above it…"

"Or she has aspirations to be." Tisia muttered, and Elain frowned at that. Could that be the way of it? Did Vassa want that? Surely not after what happened to the other mortal queens who had come out of the cauldron the way they had. Surely she had learned her lesson. "You were Made," Tisia went on, looking at Elain, "and you're beautiful, and have a Mate who is to be a High Lord… you have the gifts of a Seer… It would be hard for her to look at you and not imagine herself with a similar fate."

"This was done to me," Elain said, "I did not choose it…"

"Would you wish it undone?"

"No." Elain replied quickly, "I… could not imagine giving Lucien up…" The mere thought hurt something deep within her, "But… she cannot truly expect to just make the decision to…"

"I bet she can." Tisia muttered, rolling her eyes dramatically, "She seems like the kind to think she can have whatever she wants."

"Well, that's not inaccurate." Elain agreed, having had the same thoughts about Vassa herself.

"Was Helion going to try and break the curse upon her?"

"I believe so."

"Perhaps she has intentions to ask him for more."

"Perhaps I should speak with the High Lord." Elain mused as they rounded a corner and came into view of the door to Eris' suite. "But first, we need to see if Nera will come out for the evening. I would just love to see Vassa's face when she returns to her human form and walks into the room to see that whatever harsh words and lies she was spinning have had no effect on Nera." That was, if she and Tisia managed to convince the other female to get dressed and join the rest of them.

"We should dress her as finely as a Queen." Tisia grinned, "I bet Eris has had several fitting gowns tailored for her…"

"You're likely correct." Elain agreed, nodding. She was sure that was exactly like something Eris would have done.