Chapter 580
She needed a break. Elain always enjoyed her time with her friends, and with her sisters, and she had very much enjoyed the morning in the city with the others. But, she was tired. There was still some time before she expected Lucien would be finished with his day, knowing the High Lords had met that morning, and she figured that their meeting would have finished with Lucien being allocated all manner of jobs thanks to his role as Helion's heir. Elain intended to use the time she would have free to its full potential. She was thinking that she would begin with a nice hot soak in the bath. There was a small tin of colourful scented salts she had bought from the market that she was fairly keen to try. After that, she thought she might allow herself some time to read and perhaps sit out in their garden. It had been a while since she had taken the time to write, too, and maybe she would be able to find some time for that as well. Last night had certainly proven to be inspirational. Smiling to herself at the memories, Elain rounded the corner into the hallway that led to her rooms.
The flash of red hair at first made Elain smile, but an instant later she realised that it was not Lucien standing by the door to their rooms, but Vassa. The smile fell from Elain's face, and she watched the mortal woman warily, drawing closer.
"Oh, you're back from the city…" Vassa said, backing away from the door to rest against the wall on the other side of the hall.
"I am." Elain stepped closer to the door to her room, hand resting on the door handle as she kept her eyes on Vassa. "What are you doing here?"
"I…" Vassa flicked her red hair over one shoulder, biting her lip for a moment, "I was meant to meet Lucien here…"
Elain blinked, but did not allow herself any other reaction to that statement.
"Have you seen him?" Vassa pressed, no longer leaning against the wall.
"Not since this morning." Elain pushed open the door to the room and turned away from Vassa, heading inside. She did not expect Vassa to follow her through the door.
"He was going to show me the garden in here." Vassa said, and Elain clenched her teeth at the thought of the red headed queen in the garden she had built for her mate and for her family. "But you can show me, I suppose."
Turning to look at Vassa, Elain tried to work out what it was that she wanted to say to her. "I have plans, Vassa." She said, watching as Vassa looked around herself with interest. The redhead trailed her fingers across a pile of books on the table beside herself, then along the edge of a vase, followed by a small piece of leather that Lucien sometimes used to tie his hair back. Resisting a huff, Elain folded her own arms across her chest in front of herself, trying to distance herself from the mortal queen. "I have no intention of showing you my garden."
"Oh." Blue eyes looked up to meet Elain's gaze. "I see…" Those eyes moved past Elain to look out at the garden through the large doors. "That's alright. It just looks like any old garden to me."
"Yes." Elain said flatly, "Flowers, plants, soil. Just like the others." She stood firmly where she was, with absolutely no intention of letting Vassa past her. She was not about to let the woman a step further into the room at all, and there was certainly no way she was letting her anywhere near the bed. "I think you should return to whatever other plans you had for the day."
"Oh…" Vassa shook her head, and Elain did not miss those blue eyes moving all over the room. "I didn't have much other than this."
"Well, I do." Elain replied. "And I need you to leave."
"Alright." Vassa shrugged as if it made no difference to her, then turned on her heel and just about flounced from the room.
Shaking her head, Elain just stared after Vassa, looking at the empty door for several moments. She wondered what the red head had been up to, because she didn't believe for a moment that Lucien had been going to meet Vassa here. Glancing then, at the table, Elain frowned when she saw that the strip of leather that Lucien used in his hair was now missing.