The Daughter Of The Sun

Chapter Five

Dark. Dark. Dark.

Was he stuck again? He hated when they arrested him.

“Stop” a voice spoke softly.

“Shut up, b***h,” her father's husky, coarse voice growled.

Ah... he remembered. He was hidden. He had fallen asleep hiding in his mother's room.

“Please…” she asked.

"Shut up"

He was afraid. So scared.

His hands shook as he tried to muffle the voices and noises in his ears. He didn't want to hear it, didn't want to think. It was scary.

As his father left, slamming the door shut, Lucien heard his mother cry, sobbing. He wanted to help, wanted to hug her, but... her body was still. Paralyzed. It hurt so much.

Don't cry, he wanted to ask. Don't cry, Mom, it will pass soon. But when his body moved, when he finally left there, his mother was no longer in the room.

"I told you" it was Eris who laughed "he was hiding again"

No, he wanted to run, but his legs were too weak for that.

“I…” before he managed to complete a well-aimed fist, he fell to the ground with a bloody nose.

“You are the worst punching bag, Lucien. How can you be so weak?” one of his brothers laughed as he snubbed him and all Lucien could think of was… blood.

He was bleeding. Again.

It was hot.

"What are you doing?" A female voice growled and her eyes fell on the figure. Platinum-blond hair, black skin, golden eyes. On her hands were tattoos similar to those of a priestess and she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth when she saw what it was.

“Come, princess. It's good that you understand how to take care of someone inferior” Eris proposed and the girl looked in her direction with contempt.

“I know how to deal with someone inferior” Her words were loaded with irony. With calm steps she approached her, pushing the brute who had knocked him aside and crouching in front of her. “Drink,” she muttered, sinking the tip of one of her nails into her index finger and offering Lucien her own blood.

Was she part of the twilight court? Lucien questioned himself, but for some reason, he just felt he was right to accept and gently took the blood flowing through her finger.

Her body heated, burned, and Lucien felt that for the first time in a long while she was okay. It was refreshing, her eyes almost sparkled and the young woman in front of her smiled before turning to Eris.

"Don't you have anything else to do?"

The redhead mumbled “why? Did you fall in love with this thing?"

Nair rolled his eyes "Men are really troublesome, that explains the downfall of every prythian."

When Eris's lips pursed to answer her, Lucien woke up.

His eyes opened slowly and he rolled over on the bed watching the sun come up through the large oval window in his bedroom. The porch had a wide variety of flowers that looked like they were carved by talented artisans. The floral scent that invaded his room made him sigh for a moment as he thought of how Elain could like those flowers. Feyre had once told her how much she loved them.

Her partner, he reminded himself.

Elain Archeron was his partner. He still remembered when it happened. The connection between them, the way her heart fluttered.

Was her. It was like her home. Your little piece the universe. But it wasn't reciprocated, he reminded himself. She didn't love him, didn't even stand him.

How many stories had he heard about partnership? He could still hear the laughter of the red-haired girl he loved so much. She smiled saying that they would be partners, that soon the bond would come and then they danced as the autumn leaves fell and her laughter rocked his heart.

A partnership bond. A bond that would bind them for a lifetime.

He laughed. Elain would hate the fact that she was attached to him.

"Whatever" she muttered to the sun and rose. Her feet touched the floor and unlike usual, the touch was warm, welcoming. Lucien saw his own reflection in the mirror and admired it for a few minutes after changing. Her hair braided and long, loose and decorated. Outlined and golden shadow over his eyes, laurel leaves adorning his ears and the snake bracelets, like those that Nair and Helion carried in their arms.

The exposed part of his chest by the white tunic with gold brocade, made him much more like Helion than normal and the redhead could not deny that certainly the clothes of the day court fit him absurdly well.

On the porch in front of his room, Helion waved when he saw him appear there. The grand lord was seated in an elegant and casual manner while a table laden with fruit and food was served to him for breakfast.

Lucien went downstairs to accompany him and without any surprise found a young woman with brown hair playing the piano while Helion was drinking his coffee.

"Good morning, dear" Helion said waving for him to sit beside her.

“Good morning,” Lucien replied, remembering when he'd called him lord or lord and Helion curled his lip in disgust asking him not to.

"Anything in particular you want to eat?" he asked thoughtfully.

“Actually, I'd like a pumpkin pie,” he replied, sitting down and pulling out a glass of pomegranate juice. “Where is Nair? I thought she always woke up at sunrise.”

Helion laughed "she wakes up, to the point that I dare say she could easily be the sun itself, but...she ended up going for a walk with Kali and Mor"

A walk he said and Lucien was reminded of his sister's temper and for a moment he laughed, thinking about what Kali and Mor had done to irritate her.

"I see" he replied as he sipped his juice and pulled out some toast. “By the way…when did Kali appear? He lives here? I thought all the seraphim had gone with Drakon.”

Helion nodded “well, it's not wrong. The seraphim left with Drakon, but... Kali and Helin appeared a few centuries ago and as soon as I discovered them, Nair had taken them as friends. Helin rarely appears, always traveling the world and picking up items forgotten by time, recording... but Kali returns from time to time. He and Nair have been close since she was just a little girl"

Lucien raised an eyebrow "Has Kali been here that long?"

"Yes, but he likes to be anonymous, like a shadow to Nair"

"Strange..." Lucien muttered "I've been dreaming of a seraph child who has the same characteristics as Kali and last night I dreamed of Nair..."

The grand lord smiled "Memories blocked, little Lucien?"

Lucien's eyes lifted with curiosity.

“It's common for members of the day court. You know that when one of us is happy, truly happy, we shine, don't you?”

The redhead nodded.

“For some this is just a cute question or even an irrelevant detail, but the truth is a little more complicated. We are more powerful when we are happy. We are like the sun, which shines brightly and warms everything, if our hearts grow black, our powers wither, if they continue to shine, they blossom.” Helion expressed each of his explanations using a small grape as an example, lighting it up and blackening it as it cracked and departed. As a last resort, if everything is falling apart, she will remind you"

Lucien smiled bitterly. So that was it, his mind and heart just accepted how much he needed to remember. How much he should have known he belonged somewhere.

"I didn't expect you to have that kind of ability" Helion stated "if you have it it says a lot about your ability to power"

“I thought I was relatively weaker than my brothers,” he replied looking up at the blue sky.

Helion laughed “you? Surely he could easily destroy them if he left behind the pain that threatens his light. But don't be in a hurry, I can show you the way"

...

“Mor hasn't returned yet,” Feyre muttered, his blue eyes carrying great concern.

She and Rhys flew over Velaris while Nesta took care of Nyx alongside Elain. Since the baby's birth, the three of them had grown closer, and Nesta adored his nephew.

“She will return.” Rhysand tried to soothe her, but as they both felt the dawn breeze, the grand lord felt Nair's presence and his eyes widened.

"Don't cry Rhys" she muttered in her mind "I just came to say hi"

“Let's go to the wind house,” he stated and Feyre followed. Both were on alert until they landed on the dining room porch. She was laughing as she sat on the sofa with a bottle of wine, and Nair accompanied her as she looked at some of Feyre's paintings.

“Hello Feyre dear,” she purred teasing Rhysand.

"What do you want, Nair?" he questioned without thinking twice.

"What do you think, Rhys?"

“We didn't hurt him and we intended to tell,” he replied, but Nair just laughed.

“Didn't they hurt him? Do you know how many times he almost died for his wife? Do you know how much he took a risk? How much did he suffer?" The princess's laughter faded and her eyes fixed on Rhysand. “Don't be an i***t, Rhysand. You've hurt him too much... and you wouldn't tell him until the time was right, but you know... I'm a great person and I've decided that I'm not going to destroy the court my father loves so much."

Rhysand huffed "don't overdo it Nair, you're powerful but you certainly couldn't destroy Velaris"

"Was that a challenge?" She purred.

"Nair" Mor called her and the princess sighed.

“Okay, sweetie. Well... Mor will help me out with some things and you won't be destroyed, but let your shadow dog know, Rhys. If he touches my brother, I'll kill everyone he meets and cares about, I'll start with the source that brought him closer to Lucien and I'll slowly and painfully destroy his life until he wants death, and that's it. ...kill him as a sign of mercy, after reminding him that this is all his fault.” His words were filled with a bloodlust that Feyre and Rhys felt a chill creep up their columns. Nair was imposing, it was like seeing Nesta before he lost his powers, it was like seeing an ancient being imposing himself before them.

"Azriel won't," Rhys muttered.

“Then everything will be fine, Rhysand, dear.” She added with a gentle smile.