The Son of Night & Spring

Chapter Eleven

Lotus never understood the phrase of having skeletons in the closet until he had one himself.

During the day, he'd leave it there, left to peek out from the window of his eye. Hidden behind his mask and facade. At night, he made sure to keep his eyes shut, hoping it wouldn't open the door Lotus had locked to keep it from escaping.

However, he always felt it staring at him, at the corner of his vision; haunting, stalking, luring and hiding in pretty words and plain sight.

If there was one thing Lotus despised, it was lying. Only when being told a lie, you'd know the other has a secret that they don't want exposed. His Mother had taught him that. To be honest even when the truth can be painful.

After hearing about his Mother and Nesta's fight; where she told Feyre that she and the babe would die due to her not having the same wide pelvis as Illyrian women in order to give birth to a baby with wings.

Lotus was blinded by rage, for even him, (along with his Mother) had been kept in the dark and when he found out...

That's when he realized he was more like Tamlin than he denied not to be.

From then, they told him never to lie. Even when you trick yourself into believing that you're protecting them, you're simply hurting them more.

Maybe that was why they were annoyed by him.

Lotus's honesty stung like knives slicing skin. His truth hurt. And though it might be cruel or mean of him, they did tell him to never lie. So in the reality of things, it was their fault.

However, Lotus found a loophole one day.

How can you lie to someone when even yourself doesn't believe it to be true?

Some might call it denial. Lotus sees it as a joke that should not be taken seriously. Because there was no way the Cauldron could be this cruel. He could already see his Mother's smirk as he closed his eyes. She'd be so happy.

And it wasn't that Lotus was upset- far from it- but Lotus never imagined himself to be in that position. Much less at a moment such as five months ago.

When one realization had made him blush head to toe and the other filling a part he never realized he was missing.

Lotus felt his throat burn, acid making his thoughts and feelings more bearable. Vodka was much easier to swallow than the reality of being in-love with someone who wasn't made for you.

"Drinking already? Isn't even the afternoon."

Lotus felt himself slump against the seat.

"Never too early to be happy, Calian. You should try it sometime, maybe you wouldn't have that stick up your ass."

Calian rolled his eyes and Lotus found it strange he didn't give a snarky remark back. He narrowed his eyes at him, watching as he poured a cup of tea and handed it to him.

Lotus eyed the cup Calian served him.

"Suko made it." He smiled at him, and Lotus pushed it away. The female always had a tendency to make it spicy.

"Speaking of her; Suko is currently setting everything up with the servants, making sure the decorations, food and pit is ready for you, my prince. Alyce has Spring's soldiers already stationed around the perimeter so tonight can go smoothly without a threat." He said, answering a question he didn't even ask.

Lotus twirled the cup around, tempting to spill and burn himself as he watched the steam swirl out. "Congratulations, Calian. Tonight's Fire Night where I fuck a woman for the greater good of the Spring Court will go a success, thanks to you."