When she opened the door, Lucien was leaning on the wall in front of her. She was surprised by it, the glamor she suggested he put in place. On the surface, he did look human. Almost painfully ordinary compared to the living fire and sunlight she'd woken up next to.
"So… what's the plan, Miss Archeron?" He asked with another slight tilt of his head. A predator stood across the hall from Elain. She would do well to remember that. Safe. Safe. Safe. The voice inside her whispered and tried to soothe but she could not listen to it again. She bit her lip as she considered. "You're going to chew through your bottom lip if you keep doing that," Lucien spoke and Elain hid her mouth with a hand. -,
"The condition of my lips is not any of your concern." She snapped back with as much gusto as she could muster. She blushed as amusement lit his russet eye. He thought her reaction was funny. She bristled at the thought and cleared her throat. "Keep your head up and walk like you belong here. I'll take care of the rest." She reached for his arm to escort him down the hall but recoiled as soon as her palm made contact. A metallic tang filled her mouth and she pressed herself against the wall, trying to steady herself again. What was that ?! She repeated the question aloud. "What was that?" Lucien seemed confused for a moment and then realized. "Magic. Mortals sometimes experience an extreme reaction to it. Especially when they are not used to it."
Elain took another breath and reached for him again. He pulled away and shook his head, "It won't look good if you pass out because you held on too long would it?" Elain shook her head and carefully moved to look down the stairs. No sign of Nesta. "I carried you here while you were still a fox. Why didn't that bother me?" she whispered and gestured for him to follow her down the steps. "I'm not sure. Perhaps my magic was more drained than I thought. It would explain why I couldn't shift back immediately and why none of your lovely friends sensed anything off about me." He must have meant Graysen and Lord Nolan. She frowned tightly and checked the sitting room by the front door. All clear. She quickly walked to the door and motioned for him to follow. He moved so quietly. She shook her head as she let him out the door. "Now we just have to get you to the wall." He lifted a brow at her and she shook her head as she locked the door behind herself. She was helping him. The least he could do was hide a bit of the doubt in his eye. The glamor seemed to flicker as her gaze snagged on the scar over his golden eye. Some kind of replacement for one he had lost.
Elain made her way to the stable and made short work of saddling her mare from the day before. She pointed at a stallion in the stall across from her and Lucien moved to do the same as her, working through the various buckles and fastenings as if it were just another day for him. She didn't realize she was staring until she caught the barely contained smirk pulling at his mouth. She huffed and pulled her mare back outside. She should have just kicked him out. Should have listened to Feyre and gone searching through the manor house for any ash wood that she could use. She should have screamed for Nesta the second she woke up and he'd been there in his early morning glory. A wry smile tugged at her lips as she thought back to it. Glory indeed. With his messy sheet of ruby hair and rumpled clothing. Should she have kicked him out? Feyre had mentioned the restlessness in the Spring Court. But Lucien had just been sleeping. He hadn't moved to hurt her at all. Hadn't even really touched her. That voice in her head seemed to relax and coo at her. That's right. He is safe. He will not hurt you. She scowled and smacked the side of her head a few times. As if she could knock the source of the musing out of her ear. Dangerous. But not. Wild but resting calmly in the smooth buttery light of dawn. He lived in both images. Like a rose. Beautiful but in a way that you were supposed to admire without touching. It was so easy to imagine him in her garden... She shook her head as he approached from behind. She only realized it because she heard the stallions' hooves crunch on the remaining snow. Winter would be over soon. And then she would be back in her garden preparing the flowers that would begin their blooming in the late spring, hike those beautiful vibrant colors for the summer, and then grow muted and soft in the fall. But before that, she had to get Lucien back to the wall. She mounted her mare and explained, "We'll have to ride through the town nearby but after that there's a fork in the road. Right to the next big town, but we'll be taking the left to the wall" Lucien nodded, mounting the stallion in a fluid movement. "Lead the way, miss."
Lucien had to focus on keeping his glamor up. To hide the features that would give him away. It would be much easier if he just shifted again but he couldn't work up the nerve to try it again. If Elain was escorting him to the wall then the town they lived in now had to be closer to it than the village the Archerons had lived in before. The ones where they'd nearly starved to death every year… in a miserable little cottage. How had someone like Elain survived that? Feyre was a stubborn ass. She had a sharpness that had been forged in the woods and an attitude that Lucien had enjoyed bickering with. He'd… he'd missed bickering with Feyre like that. The casual way they'd jabbed at each other on those morning rides.
"Lucien…?" Elain's voice floated over to him and he realized that he'd been gripping the reins so tightly that his nails dug into his palm. He shook his hands out and grimaced. Not enough. He hadn't been enough to bring Feyre back from wherever she'd gone under the mountain. Not. Enough. "Lucien, are you alright?" Lucien shook his head, trying to shake the thoughts off of himself.
"Don't worry about me." Not an answer. Or maybe it was. Judging by the look Elain was giving him, she could tell that he was avoiding a more direct response. Great. Just great. He should have guessed that she would be able to read him. The sympathy written on her face grated on him. He didn't deserve it. "You can stop looking at me like that now. I'm not broken," he spoke more sharply than he'd intended and Elain straightened in her saddle. "I did not say you were." Lucien stared ahead. You didn't have to. The road into town felt entirely too long when things were silent like this. "I don't think you're broken, Lucien." He almost scoffed at her, "You don't even know me." He spared her a glance and she shrugged. "You're right. I don't. But you remind me of my sister. And I know her very well."
Elain looked back down the road and ushered her horse into a gallop.
"Beat me to town and I'll treat you to something before I send you back to sulk in peace." She called over her shoulder and Lucien felt his lips twitch to the side. She wanted to race? Alright then. He could do that. He urged his stallion forward and made a show of yawning as he galloped past. Elain visibly gasped and leaned forward. The mare broke into a sprint and before Lucien realized it he was smiling as he and Elain flew down the road.