A Court of Lichen and Twilight / An ACOTAR Fanfiction

Chapter Thirteen: Eye to Eye

I took a heavy inhalation of breath and let my eyes falter to a soft close. At the mere gentle contact of our hands joining, a spark between them almost broke my concentration. It wasn't painful, nor was it my lightning slipping through a crack. It was simply a new sensation that made a faint tug on my inner heartstrings taught as a bowstring. The force yanked me in his direction as if he was magnetized. His gravitational pull reeled me in on my line without a hook piercing my side. It felt like the same enchantment placed over me the night under the willow.

The colors swirled around us as I painted the picture in his mind's third eye. No walls kept me out of his deepest thoughts. I never tried to pry into his mind before tonight. I hated doing it in general for the invasion of privacy in one own's being. Yet, somehow, I couldn't believe how wide open his brainwaves were. I could peruse the various files he held in his gyri, look into every detail he kept on me, find out who Feyre was but...I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was only here for one purpose. To show him us. And no matter how much I wanted to find out who the Feyre woman was and how I shouldn't care about his personal space since he called my kind ilk...it was painful to persevere past it all.

Once my Daemati abilities enveloped him and with a gentle caress, I gave him everything. All of us.

The sounds of the drumming beats and fiddles in the distance, the rustle of willow branches framing our bodies, and the sound of my name - my real name, Clea - on his lips. The smells of the lilac, his fresh laundered shirt when he held me, and the whips of spring grass scenting the air. The taste of the flaky, lemon pastry I enjoyed, the sweetness of the burgundy wine in my cups that night, and the addicting flavor of his mouth when our lips intertwined. The feeling of the metal, amethyst mask that my power wanted to nip at, the soft petals of the conical flowers he plucked from the lilac bush, and the warmness and wholeness I enjoyed while being pressed against him. The look of his wheat field head of flowing curled locks, the light purple silk of my dress and where it dipped in the back to show off my once flawless spine, and the piercing beauty of his emerald eyes.

I let him know they were my favorite part of his entirety. They made me feel at home in them.

I showed him the entire memory, from his claws digging into his seat as we ate our luncheon of roast chicken to our heated kiss and to the last time he touched me before he disappeared after his emissary. I informed him I went looking for him. Through our mind meld, that memory now unfolded.

I stood there, shocked and huffing from Lucien's low ball comments. My anger building could have boiled water in an instant. How dare he bring Cassian into this: he had no right exposing my casual relationships through gossip nonetheless. Lightning bolts twirled around my fingers and nipped at the tips. The gloves were muffling my hands as their electric sparks spoke to me in sensual whispers. They pleaded to be freed from their satin cages and promised me they would behave if I obeyed. It could have been the wine settling in, too that made me think for a brief second it might work. I decided it was best to keep from murdering anyone and continue to wear the uncomfortable gloves to stifle the urge. A dead emissary wouldn't be a good look when trying to seduce the High Lord he served.

When I appeared back over the knolls, the wafting smells of small party foods and rich, flowing wines lured me into the thick of the crowd. After putting my mask back on myself, I realized how anonymous one could be when conversing through the pit of partygoers. A large festival like this celebration was full of so many individual lives coming together for a single night. New friendships, relationships, and even potential alliances could come from brief conversations amid the huddled bodies banging into one another on the dance floor. No one knew I had just been holding onto their High Lord as if my life depended it moments ago. I was now another stranger searching for a group to situate myself in and small talk. Despite the expanse of the party, it made the size feel so intimate. Especially when you spent it alone with the one you might love.