Lucien wasn't sure if he was breathing. But he could feel his fingers again. Feyre would skin him alive if her sister told her about this. Though, given how she'd spoken to him the other day, she might already want to do that. Elain rushed to stand and held her hands up.
"I… I…" The words seemed to catch in her throat. She swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut. "Y-you were the fox? Your legs… are they…" Lucien found himself nodding.
"They're fine. I would have been fine. I don't know how I got stuck there." She looked skeptical but he couldn't think of anything else to say. How had he gotten stuck like that? And why had the shift happened overnight? He was grateful to have his regular body back but now he had to figure out how to get out of this house. He wouldn't risk winnowing until he got back across the wall. The issues with his shifting were proof enough that magic was more difficult to work with here... "I don't suppose your sister will let me walk out the front door…" Lucien watched as Elain shook her head. The woman took a few steadying breaths her brow furrowing as she thought through their options. Lucien tried not to be insulted that she was in such a hurry to get rid of him. He had bigger things to worry about. If he could shift it meant he could use magic again and once he got to the wall he'd have to winnow as close to the manor as he could so he could check on Tamlin. If he didn't hurry then he might miss Calanmai. And he doubted Tamlin wouldn't notice the extended absence.
Lucien looked at the window and considered the drop. Second floor. He'd survived worse. But Elain seemed to realize what he was thinking and rushed to the window. She slapped her hands down on the bottom to pin it shut.
"Y-you just injured your legs yesterday, you can't mean to jump out a window." Lucien tilted his head to look down at her. A small squeaking sound caught in her throat Lucien took a step back. Granting her a bit of space, he asked, "Do you have another plan?" Elain wrung her hands and began to pace in a circle about the room. "This is bad… Why didn't you try to say anything? Who are you? Why are you here?" He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms while he waited for her to finish asking questions. She paused, interrupting herself to look at him as a bright flush bloomed across her cheeks. "I-I changed in front of you last night!" Lucien held up a hand, "I did try to give you privacy for that. If I remember correctly you laughed at me for it." Elain covered her face with her hands, obviously mortified at her actions from the night before. "Y-you could turn back into a fox right? Nesta wouldn't question it if I brought the fox back to the woods." Lucien grimaced at the suggestion. "I don't know how I got stuck in that form the last time. I would rather avoid that situation again." Elain looked incredulous, "You would rather jump out of a second-story window than try?" He nodded and fortunately, she dropped it.
He cleared his throat and extended his hand to her.
"I do owe you. My name is Lucien and I am here because I got caught in that snare before I realized how far I had gone. Before I was able to turn around and head back home." Elain carefully shook his hand. She had to tip her head back to make eye contact with him and some of her brown-gold hair still stuck to her face from when she'd been asleep. She scrubbed at her eyes with the heels of her palms and sighed.
"What about a glamor? Feyre said that our memories had been glamoured before. Nesta broke through it because she saw some claw marks that Father and I missed but there's nothing like that to break it if you just glamor your appearance right?" Elain puzzled through the situation as she stepped into her closet. She looked about ready to lock herself in it and hide from him. She was making an admirable attempt to keep calm. "We'd still need to get out of the house." He said and Elain tossed a pair of shoes out of the small room next to her vanity. Followed by a hanger with a dress and two folded cloaks. "Take the larger one." She ordered and Lucien picked up the bulkier cloak. He was a guest, and doing what she told him to seemed to be the easiest way to get out. And maybe Feyre would show him some kindness and kill him before she peeled the flesh off his bones for daring to approach her family's estate if Elain told her that he'd been compliant.
He draped the cloak around his shoulders, hiding most of the tunic that did not quite resemble current mortal fashions. He looked at himself in the mirror on Elain's vanity table. It had been a while since he'd stopped glamoring his appearance for Feyre. It would take a bit more focus. He stared at himself, willing the light to dull around himself, forcing his eyes into mortal shades of brown and amber, his hair into a plain coppery red, his ears were a bit harder but soon enough his reflection showed him the shorter rounded ears of a mortal. He was still taller than most mortal men but it would do for now. He searched his pockets until he found a spare strap of leather and used it to tie most of his hair back and out of his face.
"Did- Did you do it?" Elain squeaked from within her closet. He was tempted to go back to his plan to jump out the window. If I'm going to hell I may as well do it properly. He walked to the door of her room.
"I will wait for you in the hallway, Miss Archeron." He closed the door quietly behind himself and leaned against the wall across from it. He monitored the hallway for any movement but the rest of the house was remarkably still. Perhaps Nesta Archeron was still asleep. With any luck, she was and would stay that way until Lucien was well on his way.
Elain peered cautiously out of her closet and when she discovered the fae male had indeed gone into the hall she dressed as quickly as she could. She had handled that better than she thought she would. After Feyre's visit, she'd grown slightly more used to the magic and wildness that seemed to ooze from the faeries of Prythian. Slightly. She'd be surprised if Lucien hadn't scented the fear on her. She'd been too terrified to move when he was so close. At least fear what had initially frozen her in place. But he'd just been sleeping. And she could admit to herself that she had spent a second or two… admiring his face. But the fae were all beautiful and deadly creatures. Their allure was part of what made them so dangerous. And there had to be a reason why Feyre had not explained her experience with the spring court in more detail. Why she had breezed over her interactions with the spring court emissary named Lucien. Elain took a steadying breath, double-checked her appearance, and carefully tucked into her cloak.