Daylight

Chapter 14

"We met when I was an adolescent boy," Lucien began. "I'm sure you know that at any age, males think they know everything, but we are especially arrogant as adolescents and young adults."

Elain giggled softly.

"I absolutely hated lessons," he continued. "As I told you the other day, I'd often sneak away and either retreat up to the roof or I'd ride my horse into the woods. One afternoon, I simply could not take the monotonous drawl of my language tutor and snuck away. She didn't even notice I was gone."

"Where did you go?" Elain asked.

"I rode through the forest to the base of the mountains. There was a waterfall that fed into a secluded pool I liked visiting. It was peaceful and quiet. And most of all, it was nowhere that my brothers would follow me."

Lucien leaned against the backrest of the chaise and brought his ankle up to rest against his opposite knee.

"I hadn't been at the waterfall for more than thirty minutes when I heard a girl's voice from across the pool. I'll never forget the first thing she said to me..."

He trailed off, but Elain's eyes remained fixed on him, waiting for him to continue the story.

"You really want me to tell you this?" The doubt had returned to his voice.

Elain placed a soft hand on his forearm. He was glad of the long-sleeved tunic he wore, hoping it concealed the way his skin heated at her touch. As if the fire that flowed through his veins rose to the surface at her command.

"Lucien, I'm not naïve," she chided. "Well, maybe I was... but I'm not anymore. I used to believe that once you fell in love, it was impossible to ever love another, because if you did, then how could you have truly loved the first person? But I've learned life is not that simple. You loved her, didn't you?"

Suddenly, Lucien felt like he was a boy in lessons again, being surprised with a test he hadn't studied for. By the Cauldron, how did she expect him to answer this question? His throat constricted, causing his reply to come out as more of a wheeze than he'd intended.

"Yes."

"Then, please," Elain requested, "tell me about her."

Lucien still struggled to find a way to describe Jesminda without making Elain uncomfortable.

"What did her voice sound like?" She prompted. "You said you'd never forget the first thing she said to you."

Lucien closed his eyes and he was back at the waterfall pool.

🍂

"Aren't you a little overdressed to go swimming?"

Lucien's head snapped up to see a female faerie perched on the branch of an oak tree, suspended over the smooth surface of the pool. The faerie gracefully slid off the branch and into the water. When she surfaced, she swam over to the edge where Lucien sat, fully dressed despite the heat.

"I hadn't planned on going swimming," Lucien answered honestly.

"Then why come all the way out here? There are no posh restaurants or fancy garment stores anywhere nearby."

The faerie's voice was deep and sultry, conveying every bit of confidence she bore when she hoisted herself out of the water onto the rocks where Lucien sat.

"Well, obviously," Lucien replied. "We're in the middle of the woods."

"Which is why it's so odd to see you here. We don't see many nobles in this part of the Court."