A Court of Fire and Shadows -ON BREAK!!!-

Elain

As we strode back to the camp, Lucien told us of his time away, how he'd hunted for Vassa, how he'd found her already with my father, an army marching westward. How Miryam and Drakon had found them on their own journey to help us.

Then Feyre slipped into her tent to finally change out of my leathers, leaving him and I to go find a place to wash up. And talk, perhaps.

I scowled and went to find a nearby river, Lucien trailing after me.

I kneeled down by the small stream and began to wash the blood of my me. I dipped my hands in the water and scrubbed them and the water turned red. Lucien slowly sat down next to me, as if I was an small animal that was easily frightened.

Newsflash, prick. I'm a wolf, and I would rip your fucking throat out if you weren't my sister's friend.

"Elain," He said tentatively, "Can we talk?"

"Yes." I didn't turn away from the stream.

"I- I want to get to know you."

I didn't answer.

"Please, Elain." He was almost begging.

I sighed, "Fine."

He  gave a small smile, "So what do you like to do?"

"Garden." I said flatly.

He nodded and didn't say anything else.

There was an awkward silence -awkward for him, I was enjoying it- when he suddenly said, "Elain, you're my mate."

I fixed him with a piercing gaze, "And?"

"Please, I just want to be in your life." He pleaded.

I didn't respond. and splashed water on my face to wash off some blood.

I heard footsteps behind me, "Ellie? Where the fuck are you?"

Lucien shot me a questioning look, but I ignored him.

"I'm over here, Elide." I called back. She shoved through the bushes and saw Lucien sitting beside me.

"Is this-" She started.

"Yep."

She was covered head to toe in blood and gore.

She gave a saccharine sweet smile and held out a hand to Lucien, "Nice to meet you, I'm Elide. Ellie has told me so much about you."

I elbowed her in the ribs, hurting myself more than her as I hit her armor, "Bitch." I muttered under my breath.

"I'm Lucien," He politely shook her hand, "All bad things, I hope," He said jokingly.

"Only the worst." Elide gave a vicious smile. She squeezed his hand tighter and I saw the pain in his eyes, I smiled at that.

Then she let go. "Come on, Aelin told me to tell you that you two need to go see Azzie-"

"Azzie?" Lucien said, sounding very, very confused.

Elide sighed, "Azriel, obviously. And don't call him that. Aelin coined the name so she gets to decide who can call him that. If you have a problem, you can take it up with her."

She snickered and we walked away, leaving a very confused Lucien behind.

_____LINE BREAK_____

Elide walked with me to Az's tent. Elide, however, didn't come in, she said that she had to go find Fenrys and Lorcan to see what the hell they were up to. Aelin didn't come, she was busy with Rowan. Big surprise.

Az was sitting at the desk in his tent, bandages wrapping around his chest and left shoulder.

Az smiled up at me.

I flopped down on the couch and he came to sit next to me. I wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned my head against his shoulder.

"Lucien came to see me," I said.

Az tensed, "What did he say?"

"He wanted us to get to know each other, to be friends. But all he wanted was his mate." I spat the word out, because he was not my mate.

Az was my mate.

"I can't get to know him, even just as friends. After what he did to my sisters... Feyre forgave him somehow, but you see how Nesta is now. I mean, she was already cold, but now she's icy. To everyone. And now that our father is dead-"

Az pulled me closer to him and kissed the top of my head, "She'll be ok, Elain. She has Cass, right?"

I snorted, "They're always trying to kill each other, I don't know if that qualifies as support..."

"Yeah, but you can see that they care about each other. I mean, Nesta called Cass out of the battlefield, just to keep him from dying." He said, "Think about it, would she have done that if I was going to die instead?"

"No." I said, and I looked at him carefully before saying quietly, "But I would have."

I reached up and kissed him lightly. "I know." He smiled and kissed me back. "And I would've done the same for you." He kissed me again.

I will continue