Five years before Feyre Archeron ever stepped foot in Prythian, another human girl found herself in the Spring Court. But the trials and tribulations of her time Under the Mountain left her with nothing but a certain red-headed High Fae emissary, wh...
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Tamlin made sure Lucien didn't step a foot anywhere near you for the next few days. He was forced to eat his meals in his room, isolated from everyone else, and Tamlin sent him on border patrol each day, leaving early in the morning and returning late at night, well after everyone else had gone to bed, even if there were no longer any of Amarantha's pets lurking there.
You still could not work out exactly what it was that had gotten Tamlin in such a state. Then you realised, as if something had clicked in your brain, what the problem was. He still believed that Lucien had taken advantage of you Under the Mountain, that he had become a client of yours. And he was angry.
Your suspicions were confirmed one night when you caught them in the foyer of the house. You had gone to bed early that night, with your new maid Carla having turned down your bed and helped you prepare for the night before the sun had even set. But sleep had evaded you, as it had so many nights since you'd returned home. You slipped out of bed, bare feet padding against the floor as you slipped from your room and turned toward the stairs, hoping that a cup of warm milk might help soothe you to the point of tiredness.
It was then that you saw them - or rather, heard them first.
"Don't act innocent, Lucien. You know what you did," Tamlin snarled. You shuddered at the harsh tone with which he spoke, the same one he had used in that hallway when he had been in beast mode. You quickly crouched behind the railing of the upstairs landing, looking down at where they stood in the foyer. Lucien was still wearing his patrol uniform, and you could only assume that he had just returned, only to be berated the second he had walked through the door.
"No, Tamlin," Lucien argued, although he didn't raise his voice. "I don't know what I did. I've told you, nothing happened between me and her."
Tamlin growled, and you didn't miss the claws that shot from his knuckles. Neither did Lucien, if the retreating step back that he took was any indication. Your breath caught in your throat. "You bedded her," Tamlin growled, voice low and rough; enraged. "My sister, and you took her to bed. You let her whore herself out to you, knowing that she had no choice."
"And you believe that why?" Lucien snapped, hand moving to rest on the hilt of his sword, just in case, although both you and he knew that the little sword on his hip would do very little against Tamlin now that he had regained his full powers. "Because Amarantha told you that?"
"Because I saw you with my own eyes!" Tamling shouted, and you flinched. Lucien's eyes flicked up to you at the movement, and his eyes narrowed, telling you with just that expression not to do anything, to retreat to your room and not get involved. But you couldn't move. You just watched them, helpless to help either of them. "I saw the way you watched her, saw your hands on her, saw you take her to her chambers more than once! You want me to believe you over my own eyes?"
