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She was surrounded by a sea of tulips.
Hundreds of tulips. Thousands of tulips.
Yellow tulips, red tulips, purple tulips, pink tulips, orange tulips, all mixed together, dotting across hill after hill, accented in their beauty by a clear blue sky.
They were swaying in the gentle breeze, the sunlight hitting them just so , and Elain swore they all grew a little taller, as if they were just as excited by her being here as she was.
She leaned down to run her fingertips along the tops of the nearby flowers, kissing them with her touch.
She felt so giddy, so free.
Barefoot and giggling, she flung her arms wide open and spun around and around and around.
“There’s so many!” she couldn’t help but yell in her joy, laughing with pure delight.
Lucien sat back on his hands and laughed as he watched her.
They had been traveling together for a while now. Elain said she had wanted to see the courts, and Lucien took it upon himself to be her own personal guide. He filled their days with exciting new experiences, and their nights were spent huddled together under the covers, talking in hushed excited tones about where their next adventure might take them. Elain had never seen so many beautiful things, done so many exciting things, eaten so many delicious foods in all her life. She loved that there was so much to explore, and she loved that Lucien was there to share it with.
Lucien said they needed to make a quick stop before their next location, and Elain thought nothing of it.
She never dreamed that a "quick stop" could wind up being anything like this .
She stopped spinning and tried to take two steps towards him, and immediately fell flat on her bottom, making the two of them laugh harder at her gracelessness.
She tried to focus her vision on Lucien. He was grinning at her in triplicate, a swirl of red, brown, and green.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh so much,” Lucien said, gently plucking a lavender tulip and tucking it behind her ear.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before,” Elain said honestly.
She meant it. She was surrounded by flowers, it was such a beautiful day, and she was here with her mate.
How could this day get any better?
She angled her face towards him and leaned in, he met her in the middle so she could kiss him again and again.
It could hardly be called kissing because they were both smiling far too wide against each other’s lips, but it didn’t matter.
Lucien wrapped his arm around her waist, the other cupped the back of her head as he gently laid her down onto the soft, cool grass.
She brought her hands to cup his face, her thumbs stroking his cheekbones.
She loved the way he kissed her. Like he had all the time in the world, like there was nothing else he would rather be doing.
He kissed her in time with his heartbeat. She wondered if he knew that, or if loving her came from a place so deep within him, as though his body was formed for very purpose of loving her.
He sighed as she wound her fingers through his hair, and he started trailing kisses down her neck.
Days passed, or it could’ve been mere seconds. Time yielded to their desires.
He pressed his body against hers, and she felt invigorated with the weight of him. Everywhere he touched her alighted with a flame, and her toes curled in anticipation of what was about to happen.
Lucien pulled away to look at her, humming contentedly. She was lying on her back and he was leaning over her, the ends of his long red hair tickling the sides of her face, curtaining them in their own little world.
“I have to tell you something very important,” Lucien said, eyes sparkling with his secret.
“What is it?” she whispered back conspiratorially.
“You need to wake up.”
Elain blinked, confused. “What did you say?”
“Wake up, Elain.”
Wake up, Elain. Wake up, Elain. Elain, wake UP -
“Elain, you have to wake up!” Feyre was yelling to her, shaking her shoulder.
Elain woke up with a jolt, hand clutching her neck as she gasped for breath.
Reality settled in around her, facts slowly clicking into place one by one.
She wasn’t lying in a field of tulips with her mate, she was in the Town House. It wasn’t a warm spring morning, it was a cool winter night.
Soft moonlight was streaming in through the windows, casting a pale blue glow around the room.
Elain had sat back down at the table sometime after dinner, after everyone had parted ways for the night. She wanted a moment to plan out her week, and was sketching out new plans for her garden. There were papers and seed pouches strewn over the table.
Next to where her head was lying was a small container labeled Tulip Bulbs .
Feyre was sitting beside her, paint smudged on her cheek, braid slung over one shoulder. She must’ve been coming home from her painting class , Elain thought, the thought grounding her a little in the present.
“Are you okay?” Feyre asked her, worry etched across her brow. She poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the table and handed it to Elain. She accepted the glass and drank deeply.
Her mind was reeling from her vision. And it definitely was a vision, it couldn’t have been just a dream. It felt far too real .
But, it wasn’t real.
The soft glow of the tulips, the brightness of the sunshine, the warmth engulfing her.
The love .
None of it was real.
She didn’t have any of that. It was all in her head.
That was the worst part of her sight. Yes, she was shown all sorts of cryptic messages, but sometimes she was shown a glimpse into a future that was so beautiful, so perfect , it made her entire body ache with how badly she yearned for it.
Then she was dumped unceremoniously back into the present, and it felt like when she tumbled out of the cauldron - cold and alone, with no guidance on what to do next.
“You were sobbing in your sleep,” Feyre said, tone apologetic, brown etched with concern.
Elain’s hands went to her cheeks and found they were wet. She wiped them away and ran her hands through her hair, trying to catch her breath.
“Did you see something?” Feyre asked tentatively, watching her closely.
Elain closed her eyes, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
It wasn’t that she saw something. It was that she saw everything .
Everything she didn’t have.
But, everything she wanted.
She saw, and she wanted .
“No,” Elain whispered, shaking her head. “I didn’t see anything.”