A Court of Sunlight and Shadows

Spinning out, waiting for you

When he returned to the palace, Vassa was back in her human form. She was sitting pensively in front of the fireplace, her eyes watching the amber liquid in her glass.

Jurian had left two weeks ago, without giving Lucien any information about how he was going to find a way to free Vassa from her curse in just six months, before she gave herself up to Koshei.

If he had to place bets, he would have said Jurian was directed to the cauldron.

He had set out for on an impossible mission: even if he ever managed to find Myriam and Drakon, the odds of them allowing him to set foot on their land and agreeing to show him the cauldron... he would have had a better chance if he had asked Rhys to act as a conduit for that request.

However, he knew that, as things stood now, even Rhysand would never want anyone to get their hands on the cauldron and arousing its power, no matter how noble the cause.

Awakening the cauldron would only risk revealing its location. And the last thing they needed was to deliver that power into the hands of Bryaxis or Koshei. The power of death, which Nesta had wrested from the cauldron and then returned. The things they had told him about what she had done, what she had been capable of....

He poured himself a glass of liquor, sitting in the armchair next to the fallen queen. She merely greeted him with a nod of her head. The shadow of something darker than usual furrowed her face, but he knew she would not tell him about it, so he did not bother to ask.

"Any news from him?" he asked instead.

"No," she said, turning her gaze towards him. "I don't expect to get any. He won't find anything, especially not the cauldron."

"Even if he did find it, it would be stupid to use it now," he said, earning himself a fiery stare. He continued. "Koshei is looking for it, and Bryaxis may have allied with him."

"And Rhysand told you that?"

He nodded, taking a sip from his glass. The liquid burned his throat.

"Where is she?"

"She left me here and winnowed. I don't know where, she doesn't inform me of her affairs."

"Yeah," she sighed, her fingers twirling a lock of her fiery red hair, darker than his own.

"How are things, between you?"

"None of your business," she blurted fiercely, catching him by surprise. Flames shone in her eyes again.

Lucien raised his arms. "I thought we were...nothing, never mind. Sorry for asking."

Then, after a few seconds of silence, he resumed, speaking more to himself than to her.

"Do you know why I like you and Jurian?" he said, a bitter smile on his lips. "Because like me, you belong nowhere. We are the band of exiles. I thought we could at least talk to each other."

"Yes, we are," she nodded.

"Why do you want to give yourself up to Koshei?"

"Do you think it's easy to live like this?"

"No," Lucien snorted. "Of course not. But he would kill you. Whatever you think you can offer him, he will kill you. Or maybe he will hand you over to the queens for them to enjoy torturing you first."

"I know what he wants."

"If you are so sure, then why haven't you done it already?"

Vassa looked into his eyes so intensely that for a moment he shuddered. It seemed to him that the whole room had descended into frost, despite the warmth of the fireplace and the fire magic that ran through his own veins.