A Court of Blood & Mercy || Elriel Dual POV

Chapter 19 - Forty-Nine Days

Elain picked the edge of her gown up, stepping over the wet stones as she crossed the bank of the stream, her feet carrying her automatically through the worn-path over crunched brown and red leaves as a cold chill blew past her ears.

A soft hooting sparrow sang in the distance, the sun creeping above the treeline though it was only the middle of the afternoon.

The nights were becoming longer and the days shorter as Autumn continued to unfold, the never-ending haze of crimson swallowing her small figure as she stepped, her cheeks red and dried from the air as she huffed, working up a small sweat under the base of her hair, though the thin veil of gauzy organza was creating a pocket of heat over her face.

Her mind cycled through the events of the past week, cycling and pulling through the memories as she walked, trying to process everything that had happened in such a short while.

They had only returned from Velaris a week ago, but the memories already felt like years ago.

Lucien had arrived in the Court shortly after Penelope's disastrous adventure, the male flaming with anger as he argued with Eris and Rhys in the study before confronting Elain in the kitchens of the house.

She was just pulling out a batch of dinner rolls, the steam from the oven warming her face as she jumped in surprise at the sight of her mate rounding the corner with Eris beside him, both of them dressed in shining embroidered suit coats of the House of Vanserra.

And Elain could not help the sick chill that swept up her spine at the sight.

She set the dinner rolls down, her brows raised in surprise as she removed her oven mitts and wiped her hands on her apron. She let out a breath as she dragged the back of her hand across her forehead, pulling the sweating curls from her face.

"Lucien?" Her eyes volleyed between the males. "Why are you here?"

He seemed to let out a hiss. "No, the real question is why it was my brother, not my mate who informed me that our DAUGHTER went missing."

Elain frowned, her eyes now pulling to Eris who was ignoring her, leaning against the wall of the kitchen with a disdainful expression.

That cad! Why did he invited Lucien to Velaris? Hadn't they agreed to keep the situation a secret?

Her gaze flickered toward her flaming mate as she fought the urge to shrink her shoulders down. "She's fine. It's okay. I was going to tell you— but I knew you were in Osenya and—"

"And what? You thought I wouldn't care? That I wouldn't drop everything to be here?" Lucien's face was distressed as he crossed the kitchen, pulling closer to her as she felt herself pull back.

"No.. I just—" Elain stammered.

"Come on little brother." Eris' charming voice cut into the altercation as Elain felt herself backed into the corner of the cupboards. "You're not being very fair. The girl only went missing for a few hours. She's back— everything is fine."

He scowled at Eris. "This is between mates."

Elain blinked, her eyes flashing between the two red-haired males as she fought to form a response.

But none would come. "You leave for Velaris, which I was fine with, but to leave our daughter unsupervised? Letting her run off with a MALE? To the Court of fucking Nightmares!?"

"Calm yourself. I wouldn't have called you here if I knew you were going to frighten her." Eris seemed irritated, pushing off from the wall and stepping toward his brother with an almost-threatening expression.