Daylight

Chapter 16

Balls of faelight bobbed in the air a few feet in front of them as they walked down, down, down, into the darkness. Lucien had never been inside this library before, but he'd heard stories about it.

"Lucien, I am... so sorry for what Nesta said to you at dinner," Feyre rasped.

"It's okay," he said automatically.

"No, it isn't," she insisted. "It crossed a line and I will be addressing that with her."

"Don't," he appealed. "Don't make her hate me more than she already does."

Feyre was quiet for a few minutes, the only sounds were their footsteps.

"So, I take it she figured out how to do it," Feyre said.

"Do what?"

"Speak through the bond."

Lucien blinked at her but wasn't sure if she could even see it. The darkness grew thicker with each level they descended.

"I've never fully understood mating bonds," he admitted. "She can communicate through it even though she hasn't accepted it." He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"Rhys tried explaining it to me. The bond is there, no matter what. Once it's exposed, it'll never go away... but a female can reject it. Which apparently isn't the same as just not accepting it and letting it go on unreciprocated."

"I don't know which would be worse..."

"Rejecting it," Feyre said darkly. "Mor told me about a friend of hers whose mate rejected their bond. I don't know what it entails to actually reject it, but the way Mor talked about it, the male was never the same afterward."

"Well, thank you for raising my spirits as I go to chat with nightmares made real, my dear friend."

Feyre burst out laughing, earning a scowl from one of the priestesses working nearby.

"It's my understanding that females rarely reject the bond. There have only been a few cases of it happening in the last millennium or so, and it's always been because the female fell in love with someone else and didn't want the mate to have that open line of communication whenever he pleased."

Lucien prayed he never found out what that felt like. The darkness had grown heavier. More tangible. Feyre slowed to a stop and Lucien nodded grimly.

"Do you want me to wait for you?"

"No, go ahead on back."

He could barely see the nod Feyre gave him. The faelights had refused to follow this far down.

"You only have to stay for an hour. That's its price."

She turned and began the ascent back up to the house. Lucien took a few deep breaths and walked the rest of the way in total darkness, keeping his hand out so his fingers could brush the stone wall.

"They've sent me a new one."

The voice resonated inside Lucien's head, making it rattle. Cassian had warned him not to look at it and he was not at all tempted to ignore that advice.

"What do you call yourself, new visitor?"

"I am Lucien. Seventh son of the High Lord of Autumn."

"You are not."

"Oh, I'm not? Pray tell me who I am then?" If the thing wanted to play, he'd play along.

"In due time."

"Feyre didn't tell me you spoke in riddles."

"She is unlike any other who has walked this world. I do not deny that she made her bargain with me out of fear and that primal instinct all beings have to save their own lives. But she did me a kindness that no one else even considered for over a millennium."