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Elain woke up with a feeling in the middle of the night, she got up. She couldn’t describe the feeling itself. She wasn’t even sure she was really feeling scared and angered. She just knew that she was. The darkness in the room cornered her, left her feeling out of breath. She couldn’t breathe at all, a wave of panic and nausea hit her. She stepped out of her bed. The feeling resembled the same feeling she get whenever she got a vision. But somehow Elain knew this had nothing to do with her being a seer.
She needed to get some fresh air. Her window for some reason wouldn’t open, so she had to go outside. She wrapped a robe around her nightclothes and she stepped into the further dark hallway. Just when she passed Lucien’s room, hoping she wouldn’t accidentally wake him, she could hear a smothered groan coming from his chambers. She gently knocked on his door. No answer. She pushed it open carefully, Lucien tangled in his sheets.
Because the curtains weren’t draw, she could make out the panels on his chest, illuminated by the moonlight. She started blushing. He wasn’t awake. He was tossing and turning. And then an other wave of fear washed over her and nearly knocked her to the ground. She exhaled, and made her way to the bed.
He was having a nightmare. She sat down next to him on the mattress, and gently shook his shoulder. He didn’t rouse. She whispered his name, again no reaction. ‘Lucien?’ He was struggling in his dream, like he was being held and he struggled to get her free.
Elain hoped Tamlin wouldn’t be awake at this time of night, what would he say when he saw them in Lucien’s chambers? And would he let Lucien live down his nightmare? Tamlin didn’t seem like a guy that would.
‘Lucien,’ she squeaked. He startled awake, looking around the room panicked, settled his eyes on her, and then shifted his gaze to her hand on his shoulder. Elain let go of him at once and blushed. ‘Are you okay?’ 'What are you doing here?’ He sounded groggy and hoarse. He wrapped the sheets around his waist, tying his hair behind his head.
'You were having a nightmare.’ 'Yes.’ He was brief, angry even. 'Do you want to talk about it?’ 'No. Again, what are you doing here?’
'I’m sorry, I never should’ve come in here, I had no right to.’ Elain wanted to get up again, she was about to do so, when his fingers curled around her wrist. She stayed put.
'I dreamt about my former lover.’ 'Oh.’ She didn’t know the specifics. Only that her father, the High Lord of the Autumn Court and Lucien’s brothers had held Lucien down and forced him to watch his other brothers slaughter his lover.
'I’m sorry. What they did was awgul and you didn’t deserve that, at all.’ 'No she didn’t.’ He let go of her wrist. 'Why are you awake?’ 'I woke up with a weird feeling, I was just about to go outside for a while, to get some fresh air.’ He nodded. 'Right. And what were you doing in my chambers?’ 'I heard you groan. I was concerned about you, I’m sorry.’ 'Please stop apologising.’
'Sorry,’ Elain let out a sound of alarm. 'I apologise for that, really, I’m sorry.’ He chuckled softly. 'I just wanted to make sure you were okay, if you want me to go, I understand, I’ll just be on my way then.’ Before she could get up however, Lucien grabbed her wrist again. 'Could you perhaps stay here?’
'You mean spend the night,’ she asked him softly. He nodded. He wiped his eyes. 'I could really use some company right now. My window can be opened, if you still want to catch some fresh air.’ 'I’ll stay.’ He smiled meekly at her.
Elain could feel a surge of gratefulness down the bond. She walked over to his window, opened it, drew the curtains, and tiptoed back to his bed. 'Come lie down for a minute.’ He patted the space next to her. The room was extremely dark. She lied down next to him, he had himself propped up on one elbow. 'Tell me about her,’ Elain asked him. He always lit up when he was thinking of her. 'Sure. She used to love the dead leaves, loved the reddish ones the most, also really liked the fashion we wore in the Autumn Court, and she absolutely loved squirrels. Which is weird because we didn’t really have a lot of them. It was usually pretty funny to watch her try to catch a squirrel so she could feed it acorns she had gathered on our rides through the forest.’ Eventually his voice carries Elain into a deep slumber.
Lucien noticed how Elain’s breathing got more shallow and even, and eventually she was asleep. He was lucky to have found her. His mate. He took off her robe and tucked her in, then he settled himself beside her, carefully wrapping an arm around her waist. He fell asleep again, no longer tortured by old memories of his former lover.
When Elain woke up, she knew she wasn’t lying in her own bed. The first thing that gave it away was the fact that the curtains were softly moving by the wind that the open wind let through, her second clue was that she was lying on someone’s chest. Lucien’s chest, bare chest, to be precise.
'Goodmorning.’ He whispered into her ear, his hair escaped his small ponytail, soread out of the pillow he was lying on. Elain wanted to pull back, but Lucien had his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. 'Hello.’ 'How did you sleep,’ she asked him. 'Good, better since a long while. You?’ 'Fine really.’ With other hand Lucien played with her hair. This was nice.
'Would you like to eat something?’ 'I feel like you’re always trying to feed me.’ 'It’s a mate thing.’ She blushed. 'I like this,’ Lucien said. 'Waking up with you in my arms, dove.’ She started blushing. 'We should do this more often.’ He winked at her. 'You appear to be in a good mood this morning.’
'What can I say?’ 'Nothing?’ He chuckled. He leaned down and pressed his lips on her forehead. She squeaked. He chuckled again. 'I like the way you smell,’ he admitted.
'Was it hard, getting over her?’ 'Yes.’ 'Then how come you’re so easy around me, with me?’ 'Because you’re my mate, dove. I can’t resist talking to you, and being around you.’ She blushed again. 'I like it when you call me dove.’ 'I’m making you breakfast.’ He made no move however to get up.
'Can’t stay away from you,’ she could hear the smile in his voice. She loved that he sort of purred. 'Do you have any important meetings today?’ 'No.’ 'We can go back to sleep, if you want to, at least.’ 'That sounds like a marvellous plan.’ Lucien traced her shoulder blades through her nightclothes with his fingers, she almost shivered out of delight from the way his touch felt. She wished he’d never stop touching her. She sighed, and closed her eyes again.
Lucien reveled in the way Elain’s skin felt on his own. He had to admit he was surprised at first when she had shown up in his room, but then couldn’t deny that he loved that she was there, his little dove.
He closed his eyes as well and fell asleep, with his lovely mate in his arms, soundly asleep.