No One:

No one:

Tamlin:

One of last year's drawings I did for elucienweek. I wanted to capture secret wedding vibes.

Dame Maggie Smith

1934-2024

Nesta: Hey Feyre, how's motherhood treating you?

Feyre: Great! I didn't expect this much crying though...

Nesta: It's perfectly normally for babies to cry a lot. I mean, it's what they do most.

Feyre: What? No, Nyx is fine, he's a sweetheart, I was talking about Rhys-

Rhys: *Sobbing from Nyx's nursery as he watches him sleep* YOUR DADA LOVES YOU SO MUCH!

Autumn Leaves on a Flowered Breeze - Elucien

A mistake.

A mistake. That's what he had called it.

Elain didn't know what she was doing.

What was she doing? Standing in front of Lucien's door after what had just occurred was the last thing she should be doing, but her legs had carried her there before she had known what was happening.

It wasn't fair to him. She knew what they meant to one another. She knew, despite how she had done enough to make it clear she hadn't had any intention of having a relationship with him, that he hadn't been with other females, and yet there she had been right below him ready to kiss another male and who knew what else. She also knew that despite what she had been willing to do with another male that she was incredibly satisfied he never touched other females - that he was loyal to her. That also wasn't fair to him. It was incredibly selfish of her, but she couldn't help it. Admittedly, she didn't want to try.

She raised a hand to knock, freezing when the door opened just before she managed. There he stood, bare chested and expecting her, hair unbound and tousled like he had been pulling his fingers through it out of stress. She could only stare, having no idea what to say to him. Wordlessly, he stepped back, pulling his door open wider for her before clicking it shut behind her after she took his invitation without hesitation. When she turned back around he was leaning against his door with crossed arms, watching her with his gold eye whirring.

“Are you doing alright tonight, dove?”

She blinked, surprised by his incredibly informal question. Lucien was never so casual with her. She swallowed, wondering just how much he knew. Was there resentment in his tone when he asked it? She searched his face, finding nothing but a neutral gaze with just a touch of wary concern. So he wasn't upset with her, never once had he ever made her feel as though he was upset with her, but perhaps upset enough by whatever he had concluded about what she had been doing downstairs to not be as controlled as she was used to him being with her.

“No, I'm not,” she said simply, tilting her nose up slightly as she tried to appear sure of herself, clasping her hands behind her back. “I am not doing alright at all, and I am sure you know that.”

“I do know that,” he confirmed, dipping his head in acknowledgment, the concern in his eyes more evident.

“And I came up here to ask you for something,” she breathed.

“Anything for you, lady,” he automatically replied.

Of course that would be his answer. She already knew that would be his answer. Another reason why it wasn't fair for her to come up to him.

“I want a kiss.”

There was a moment of hesitation, and she knew why.

He was an honorable male.

She closed her eyes, ice cold defeat slowly trickling in. He wouldn't do it. Of course he wouldn't, and she shouldn't have gone up to his room to stand before him and demand his touch and affection just minutes after wanting another male's. Right beneath her mate. When she knew Azriel had gotten a thrill out of the fact, and that thought alone had made her feel gross and wrong, but she was desperate for real desire. Not forced desire sourced from some magical bond that neither one of them could control. But apparently she wasn't going to get that.

Before she could speak again, hands were cradling her face and tipping her head back as her lips were captured by his. She was unable to help the small gasp of surprise as he took advantage of her parted lips. Instantly she melted into the kiss, and she shouldn't have been surprised by how right it felt and how naturally she welcomed his kiss. She had always been tentative before in her kisses, but there was no hesitation when returning Lucien's. Her mate's.

She could feel the significant restraint behind his kiss, the raw hunger behind it. And though he was doing a very good job holding himself back, she could feel the smallest need to punish, to show her all that she had been trying to escape. Him. There was vengeance in his kiss, but nothing malicious. She tasted desperation as well, an urgency to prove himself.

What shocked her was how thrilled she was by the subtle possessiveness of it. She had fought so hard against the idea of him having any claim to her, but everything about it felt right and the effect on her very soul was instant. She could feel the pieces of her that had gone missing blooming once more and he had only just started to touch her.

His hand slid down to lightly guide her by the back of her neck, his thumb tipping her jaw back as he towered over her further, the same thumb tracing down over the center of her throat. She shivered beneath the very simple touch. It was subtle, but it reminded her that he was inhuman and there was a predator somewhere deep inside of him. Quite deep, based on how exemplary of a courtier he was, at least when it came to her, but it was there, and there was a piece of her that didn't exist before the Cauldron that called to it. He devoured her, and she wanted to race to devour him first despite how she knew she would lose every time. She couldn't even remember how it felt to kiss Graysen. She could hardly remember her name.

She made a small sound of protest when he broke the kiss much sooner than she would have liked, but his lips still hovered over hers.

"What happened, Elain? Why did you come to my room already scented with arousal? Was it for another male?" His thumb stroked back up her throat. "Hmm?"

"It was... not," she struggled to get out, completely out of breath and out of sorts as she was continuously shocked by his behavior.

"No?" He asked in only partially mocking curiosity, his head cocking to the side in a near comical way as the manner of it reminded her again that he was not at all human.

"No," she repeated firmly, tilting her chin back more as she watched his face, a taste of defiance on her tongue. “Whenever you are near I feel… flustered. I only meant to remedy it with another male.” She smiled when he responded with a snarl he clearly meant to keep in, pleased he had failed. At that moment the fey part of her didn't want a gentleman. The fey part of her wanted to challenge.

“And how did that work out for you?”

“I'm here, aren't I?”

Beautiful art by Charlie Bowater

Elspeth Spindle and the Nightmare from One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig