#Cass x reader

[themusingsofacurlyhairednerd]

Ludos Imperiales 13

Summary: Rhys and Reader return to the River House after the latest order from the Emperor

Content Warnings: Blood and Descriptions of Injuries (a little more wound tending because they deserve it, as a treat); Drug Use (we're just going to keep using mirthroot as a pain reliever instead of Opium like the Romans used to use); Jealous!Rhys, just a lot of sexual tension, but nothing NSFW (yet)

Previous Chapter/Masterlist

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The River House looms ahead like a crouching lion, the few lights shining through the windows like eyes watching my approach. 

Starlight shifts uneasily beneath me, like she can sense my apprehension. I run a hand soothingly up her neck as we enter the front gates, an entourage of the Guard following behind me. Father had sent someone for Rhys before dinner was over, the lights in the guest wing still on. I’d hoped to check on Azriel and Cassian before coming home, but the Guard had made that impossible. 

Anise is waiting at the front door as I approach with one of the stable boys at her side to collect my mount. 

I bite down on the inside of my cheek when I see her. This is going to be unpleasant.

“I was starting to think you weren’t coming home,” she says by way of greeting.

I dismount, pausing briefly to scratch Starlight under the chin before I pass off her reins. “You have a funny way of showing your concern.”

She doesn’t wince, doesn’t flinch, doesn’t show an ounce of remorse for slipping me that faebane. My chest tightens; it is an effort to keep my chin up. How could she do this to me?

“I am only looking out for you. As I promised your Mother I would.”

The Guard disperses behind us to attend to their individual duties as I stand there staring up at the place that had once been my sanctuary. This was the one place in the Empire that was mine; where Father couldn’t get his claws into it. It was my safe place to escape to and the one person in this entire godsforsaken place that I thought I could trust had ruined it.

I don’t want to argue with her. These last couple days have been bad enough. I can’t keep my shoulders high as I walk the couple steps to the doorway. When she reaches out to me, I flinch out of reach. 

“Don’t touch me,” my powers stir beneath the surface of my skin. 

Her weathered hand drops to her side and for a moment we stand there in the doorway, strangers. 

I am glad that I never told her the truth, glad that some part of me knew that there were some things she didn’t need to know. I’d thought I was protecting her, but in the end it had protected me. 

“You have to see that I made this better,” she tries.

I turn wordlessly and enter the house, leaving her to jog to keep up with me. Half way down the hall, I remember how she’d snuck up behind me last time and turn just as she catches up. Darkness slips from my fingers as I face her, leaving the ether weaving like smoke between us.

She eyes it curiously. “You’re in control again.”

“Go to bed, Anise.” My voice is cold. I sound like my Father.

Now she flinches. “I am helping you.”

“Go,” I repeat. “If I need something from you, I’ll send for you.”

She retreats back a step as the words hit home, as she realizes just how much damage she’s done. I’ve never, not even as a child, treated her like she was a part of the staff, she’d always been family and I’d always addressed her as such. I’d even gotten after other members of the staff for treating her like she was anything other than family. Tears pool in the corners of my eyes and I bite the inside of my cheek as I watch her come to the same realization.

“Little one,” she whispers, voice cracking.

The words come out through my teeth, “Go or I’ll involve the Guard.”

She runs her hands over her skirts and squares her shoulders, even though her breath shakes out of her. “You will understand my actions one day.”

I wait in the hall until I hear the door to her wing of the house open and shut, hands clenching and unclenching at my sides the whole time. Only when I hear the door shut do the tears start flowing and I barely make it to my chambers before a sob slips past my lips. My back hits my door as my body slides out from beneath me and I bury my head in my knees to muffle the noise. 

Exhaustion makes all my bottled emotions all the worse and everything from the last few days comes flooding in at once. Anise. The Arena. My mates being flogged and dumped in those awful cells. It is just one thing after another. On top of this lovely new predicament: If I don’t come up with some kind of clever lie, the Illyrians rotting in an Imperial prison are dead and I’ll never have my mates together in one place again.

I don’t know if my head or my heart is heavier. I sit there in the dark for a long time, until there are no more tears left to cry. My body feels like dead weight as I try to shuffle my way into the bathroom and clean off the city and all its troubles from my skin. Every move feels like a lifetime as I finish and slip into some sleep clothes and snag the mirthroot from my bedside table. It is sheer force of will that makes me abandon the call of my bed and head out for the kitchen.

Goddess when was the last time I’d slept?

The House is quiet save for the patrolling of the Guard outside and I wearily make my way through the kitchen and into the cellar. Just a few more minutes; I need to know that Rhys is ok. That the journey over didn’t ruin the Healer’s work on his back. Then I can sleep for a couple hours. I can come up with a new plan in the morning. I’ll fix this. I’ll make it right in the morning.

The secret passageway is lighter than it should be, the tunnel a shade of gray that tells me there’s light coming from the other end. Distantly, I can hear shuffling. 

Anise is the only other person in this House who knows about them, if she’s here, trying to do something to my mate…

My powers flare from my fingertips as I force my legs to move faster, steps rushed as I round the bend. Light spills from the open doorway on the other end, but it’s not Anise standing there in the tunnel. It’s Rhys.

I come to a sliding halt, nearly tripping as my mind catches up with my body. 

He keeps a hand on the wall, nearly holding himself upright with his fingertips, bandaged chest heaving from the exertion. 

“What the Hel are you doing?” I blurt as I rush to his side. Is he stupid? He’s going to ruin his back beyond repair moving like this!

His dark hair falls messily into his eyes, sweat dripping off the ends from how hard he’s been fighting his own body just to get this far. “I thought…” he fights to catch his breath, even as he raises a hand to touch my cheek. “I felt something down the bond. I thought you’d been hurt.”

Selfless bastard.

I wrap my hand around his wrist. “I’m all right.”

His thumb soothes over my cheek. “You’ve been crying.”

I draw his hand away from my face and pull it down over my shoulders, so the bulk of his weight is now on me and not the wall. “You need to get back into bed.” Gingerly, I slide an arm around his hips, where the damage is the least. His whole body is damp with sweat. 

He grunts as we turn back the way he’d come, body moving as sluggishly as I feel. “Why were you crying?” He asks through his teeth.

Goddess he’s heavy! It takes every bit of strength I have to let him use me like a crutch to get out of the tunnels, and the going is incredibly slow. If I make it back to his bed without dropping him it’ll be a miracle.

“I’m just tired,” I say as we pause at the altar. He slips his arm off my shoulders so he can fumble for the door and I rush to close it before he hurts himself.

“Liar,” he huffs. 

I get his arm repositioned around my shoulders once it’s closed, strength renewed slightly from the break. Fitting through the door is a little tricky, but finally we manage to get into his chambers and onto one of the beds. His ruined pants leave mud and blood stains over the stark white sheets. 

I climb around behind him on my knees to check his bandages, not at all surprised by the fresh blood stains that spread across them, but no less frantic in my search for new ones. I flitter about the room, rummaging through drawers to find fresh cloth and a basin for clean water. Where did I leave those oils and things I’d brought to them the other night? His whole back needs to be redressed.

I’m about to leave the room to grab things from the kitchen, when he catches my wrist to stop me. His grip is not at all strong, I could easily slip from his grasp, but the motion halts me in my tracks all the same. He might have repeated the question, but I was so busy trying to find things, it didn’t register that he had spoken through all the noise in my head.

“Hey,” he says gently, eyes full of concern. “Stop.”

He pulls me closer so I’m standing between his legs, close enough that I can feel the heat coming off his body. “I’m ok.”

Nothing about any of this is ok. “You shouldn’t have gotten out of bed.”

His hand drifts up from my wrist all the way up my arm and over my shoulder so he can touch my cheek again. The move has to be excruciating, his mouth pinched tight, but it doesn’t stop him. “Tell me what happened.”

Stubborn Illyrian. Of course I’m not going to talk about my problems when his are so much worse, but of course he’s not going to act like they are problems when I’ve clearly been crying about it. We’re both stubborn like that I suppose.

One of us has to bend somewhere, and I’d rather he not jump out of bed to follow after me again. 

I sigh as I lean my forehead down against his, relishing in the contact with him. The bond feels as if it hums in relief every time we touch and some of that tension that has sat coiled in the base of my spine for the last couple of days eases in his presence.

“Anise was waiting at the door when I arrived,” I admit.

His eyes go dark for a moment. He apparently wasn’t so delirious in his cell that he’d forgotten what she’d done to me either. The tether in my chest heats as some of his anger shoots down it. 

“She’s the only real family I have,” the words slip out of me despite my best attempts to swallow them. “And she isn’t even sorry for it. She said someday I’d understand.”

“There’s no excuse for doing that to you,” he growls. “She could have gotten you killed.”

It’s not that drastic, it’s not like she threw me into the Arena. “We have enough enemies,” I sigh. “It would have been nice to have someone in our corner.”

“You’ve got us,” he assures as I absently trace my fingers along his bruised jaw. There’s several days worth of stubble growing out of his face; I think I like him a little scruffy looking. “Others will follow.”

I frown a little at that, remembering the conversation with my Father. 

“What?” The frown does not escape him.

“You just reminded me of the conversation I had with my Father over dinner.” I pull away to resume looking for bandages. As much as I could stand here, tracing the planes of his face for hours, memorizing every inch of him until it’s burned into my memory, talking about all this is starting to make me antsy again. I need to do something with my hands. I don’t exactly want to be looking him in the eyes when I tell him my Father told me to seduce him. 

“A comparison I’d rather not have made,” he huffs.

I return a moment later, carefully balancing a bowl full of water in one hand and bandages in another. “Are you able to turn around?”

He tries to, I have to give him credit for even attempting after all the movement he’s already made tonight. He gets all of an inch, face twisting in agony, a sound somewhere between a sob and grunt slipping past his clenched teeth. 

It’s going to be too painful and too hard for me to try and turn him around, my best bet is to climb around the other side and pull him back to the opposite edge so that cleaning him up doesn’t soak the bed and leave him to sleep in a puddle. 

“This is going to hurt,” I say apologetically. 

He huffs as he tilts his head back, leaning against my shoulder as I get my hands on his hips. The jasmine and citrus scent of him envelops me. The urge to lean forward and press my lips to his neck is overwhelming as the bond roars for more contact. My mate is in pain, and it feels like that little tether linking us together demands I do something, anything to fix it.

“It already hurts, it can’t be worse,” he says.

“On three?”

He draws a shaky breath. “On three.”

“One,” my fingers dig into his hips. The sheet, theoretically, should move with his weight, making it easy enough to slide him backwards, but I know even this amount of pressure will break open whatever scabs might have formed along his back. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, Darling,” he assures, but I still feel him tense in preparation. 

Which is exactly why I pull him backwards on two instead, so he’s not so tense it makes it worse.

“Fuck!” His shout is loud enough to wake the house and now I’m tense, waiting for one of the Guard to come running, but no one does. 

“Sorry.” I say once I’m sure its safe.

His breathing is ragged as he asks, “What happened to three?”

“You were too tense, it was gonna make it worse.” As is, I see a new swatch of blood staining his bandages. 

“Cruel, wicked thing,” he huffs, as I reach around him to untie the knot of bandages at his chest.

I move as carefully as I can, wincing every time blood sticks the bandages to his flayed skin. The wounds look better today, if you can call deep gouges in his skin better. The swelling has gone down. Despite the fresh blood, the cuts are still clean, no sign of infection to be seen. 

I pass the mirthroot and liter I’d brought from my chambers into his hands in silent offering as I start the terrible process of cleaning out the cuts. The room soon turns hazy under the smoke as he brings it to his lips and breathes in deep. The pain has to be terrible if he isn’t even trying to fight me on using it. 

I try not to make a mess of the bed, but the sheets are probably already ruined considering he’s still wearing the pants from the Arena. He really shouldn’t sleep on them after this, but at this point in the evening I’m not sure how I’m supposed to get him out of them and into a clean bed. 

“What happened with your Father?” He asks as the mirthroot starts to take effect, his shoulders relaxing, breathing evening out. 

I wince as I dab at a particularly deep cut. “He’s getting impatient.”

Rhys snorts at that. 

“He wants to know if you had allies,” I continue. “He doesn’t think you could have beat him without any.”

“What did you tell him?”

He deserves to know about his men; I hate that I have to be the one to tell him. “He’s been trying to get it out of your men.”

He flinches like I’d hit him. 

“His attempts have been unsuccessful, even Amarantha is at a loss. Brannagh offered her services in trying to pry the information from their skulls.” How exactly do I go about explaining this next part? “I told him to wait, that you trusted me enough to tell me eventually.”

“He believed you?” 

I use a dry cloth to dab the water off his skin. I don’t want any extra moisture beneath the bandages. “He made some… suggestions on the methods.”

He turns his head enough to look at me, the collar scraping under his chin. “He wants you to torture me?” There’s a bit of laughter in his tone, but there is genuine curiosity there. 

“Not exactly,” I’m stalling now, embarrassed to even say it out loud. 

“How do you ‘not exactly’ torture someone?” He retorts. 

I take his hand and raise it gently, so he can hold one end of the bandage in place so I can start rewrapping his chest. “He um…” I take my time, making sure the lines are even and not too tight, pausing every now and then in case he needs to tell me this is making the pain worse. “Well he sorta suggested I appeal to the bond…”

I know I’m not making sense, but my cheeks are such a deep shade of crimson I can feel the heat coming off them. 

“Darling?” 

“He might have told me I should try to seduce you, since that’s all he thinks a bond is anyway.” The words come out in such a massive rush I’m not even sure he can make sense of it. It certainly takes him several seconds before a grin splits across his face. 

“You’re messing with me.”

“I genuinely wish I was.” I grimace as I reach around him again to tie the bandages, hands near trembling as the knot tightens over his heart. The beat is steady, even thanks to the mirthroot, unlike mine, pounding in my ears from the embarrassment. 

“But you agreed to do so?” There’s still a hint of amusement in his tone, but I do not miss the octave in which his voice drops, becoming huskier. His scent changes, just slightly, just enough for me to catch it. 

It’s not like I hadn’t made out with Azriel a couple days ago, I shouldn’t be surprised by my mate’s reaction. Yet the blush still tints my cheeks, heart still hammering beneath my rib cage as I climb off the bed to clear away the mess I’d made. Distance is good. I need to keep my head clear; I definitely don’t need to be thinking about him like that when he’s as injured as he is. 

“The alternative was letting Brannagh have her fun, or Amarantha,” just the thought of either of them being anywhere near my mates or their men makes my skin crawl. If they so much as look in their direction…

I give myself a little shake as I toss the soiled water out the nearest window and finally turn back to face him. Half bathed in moonlight, he looks like he’s waiting for someone to start carving his likeness into a slab of marble. There’s an ethereal glow in the flecks of silver in his eyes, like a thousand glittering stars. Even bloodied, beaten, he’s still the most handsome male I’ve ever laid eyes on. I could stare at him for hours and not grow weary of it. 

“He only needs to think it’s happening,” why am I rambling? He knows this. This is part of the game, I only need my Father to think I was obedient. “I didn’t… it seemed like the right thing to tell him.”

His grin is devilish, teeth glinting in the moonlight and I can’t help but feel like I just caught a lion in the middle of a hunt. “You’re not even going to try?”

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from blurting out the response I want to give him. This is stupid. We both need rest. He needs to get out of his ruined clothes and sleep. I need to focus. This is not the time to be flirting with this idea.

I move slowly, unsure of myself now as I kneel at the side of the bed, hands reaching for the laces on his muddy boots. I know he can’t bend to take them off. There’s still ash from the Arena over the laces, black smudges dotting my fingertips just from putting my hands on them. He almost died. I almost lost him and Cassian to that Arena. 

Rhys’s eyes widen. “I was kidding.”

“I know.” There is some resistance in the leather, but I manage to get his boots off and toss them near the door. I can clean them tomorrow. There’s probably blood in them, if the stains on his socks are any indication. 

My hands drift slowly up his calves, over his knees and thighs. He’s all lean muscle beneath his ruined pants. 

The violet of his eyes rapidly shrinks until it’s nearly all pupil as I lean forward to untie the laces of his leathers. They have to be Illyrian made, there’s nothing quite like these in the Empire. I definitely didn’t find them in the markets the other day. It’s fitting. I think a piece of me might die if I had to see him in Imperial clothes, dragged around like a dog on a leash. 

“I think…” I check the door to make sure no one has crept up on us when I wasn’t paying attention. “I think I can crack the collar, so that you can heal faster.”

He slowly, stiffly raises a hand, fingers caressing my cheek. “You know you can’t do that. He’ll know it was you.”

“There has to be some way for me to help you?” I press.

“You just did, Darling,” he returns. Voice so low it makes a little shiver run down my spine. 

I hope and pray my own scent isn’t so obviously changing. 

“Can you lay down, so I can get these off you? You shouldn’t sleep in them.”

If he wasn’t so clearly in pain, the way he flops onto his side on the bed might have been comical, face buried in the sheets with a muffled grunt. I help roll him fully onto his side and then make my best attempt at being quick to pull his pants over his hips, trying my hardest not to catch his underthings and leave him completely naked in the bed. 

Still, that damn blush won’t leave my cheeks, because I’m undressing my mate and we’re both very aware of each other at this moment. 

I toss the pants onto the floor with his boots. I’ll deal with the mess in the morning.

I don’t ask for permission as I crawl under the covers; I don’t think I need it, not when he immediately draws his arm around my waist, fingers tapping along my hip in a silent plea to be closer. We’re nose to nose now, sharing a breath and I can’t stop myself from tracing my fingers over his bandaged chest. 

“Thank you,” he says softly, fingers idly toying with the loose fabric of my nightgown. 

“We should probably try to get you a bath in the morning.”

“Only if you join me,” he purrs.

“Could you even raise your arms above your head to wash your hair if I didn’t?” I retort, trying to keep the conversation from going too far. 

“Probably not,” he concedes. 

My fingers travel higher, over that awful collar, the gorsian stone feeling like it saps some of the ether beneath my skin from a simple touch alone, and over his stubble lined jaw. It’s a pleasant sensation against my smooth skin, but I’m more interested in the yellowing bruise beneath. 

“Who did this to you?” My fingers trail higher, to the cut beneath his eyebrow. “You didn’t get these in the Arena.”

“Couple of the guards the night before,” he says, eyes drifting closed under my ministrations. Exhaustion ripples down the bond, I genuinely don’t know how he even has his eyes open, let alone how he managed to make it half way down the tunnel looking for me.

“Their dead males,” I promise.

He snuggles closer, bandaged chest brushing my own, lips ghosting over my neck as he rests his head against my collarbone. My whole body shivers under the contact, heat pooling between my legs. I know my own scent has changed. 

“You’re going to be too busy seducing me for violence, Darling.”

I snort despite myself. “I’m serious, Rhys.”

“So am I,” he says with a yawn. “I think you should give it your best shot.”

A challenge the bond shimmers in response to, the heat pooling between my legs turning into an ache that’s becoming hard to ignore.  “Ask me again tomorrow,” I grumble, fingers dragging absently through his hair as I fight my neediness to shut my eyes. We can figure this all out tomorrow. Tonight I can hold my mate. Tonight, that’s enough.

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It’s by some miracle that Anise doesn’t come storming down the secret passage in the morning; especially since I sleep way past breakfast, the sun high and streaming through the curtains by the time I finally drag myself awake. Rhys still slumbers beside me, exhaustion keeping him under, even though he’d kept an arm around my waist all through the night. 

He’s even more beautiful when he’s asleep, somehow. All the sharp planes of his face relaxed, no worry to furrow his brow. My hands itch to trace the fractions of light splaying across his bronze skin, following the patterns over his full lips and high cheekbones, but I won’t risk waking him. 

I can hear the Guard patrolling outside. I don’t know how often they actually come inside to ensure their prisoner hasn’t escaped. Yet, I allow myself a few selfish moments to lay there, drinking him in all the same. What I would give for real mornings like this. No collar around his throat. No Guards outside. Just the two of us, tangled under the sheets, exploring each other.

My chest aches at the loss. What I would give to be normal people. I would get up and make breakfast in a small kitchen, no staff to worry about gossiping over my every move; I’d bring my mates breakfast and wake them up with gentle kisses. There would be no pain, no wounds, no Empire.

“You’re going to burn a hole in my head,” Rhys says, voice thick with sleep, startling me out of my revery. 

Despite my better judgement, I lean forward and press a kiss between his eyebrows, his skin warm from the sunlight and not a fever for the first time in days. That’s a good sign, at least.

His arm tightens around my waist, holding me against the firm planes of his chest. 

The bond thrums, I get a flash of blatant need down it so intense it makes my head spin. My eyes go to his lips, watching with bated breath as he takes me in, eyes once again dark and hungry. It’s a hunger I feel rumbling beneath my own skin. The bond aches for the contact. 

And yet there are footsteps outside the door, and a key rattling in the heavy lock they’d added to ensure there’s no escape.

There’s no time for words, Rhys releases his grip on me and I all but throw myself out the secret entrance, barely getting the door shut before the main one opens and the patrol stomps their way in.

I wait on the other side of the closed door, listening for telltale signs that someone had caught me, but it never comes.

There’s no sounds of them giving Rhys trouble either, just them checking to ensure he hasn’t somehow slipped out a window. Never mind they’re all too small for him to fit through, they have to be sure.

I wait until I hear the lock click back into place, but despite my base instincts, I turn and head for the opposite door. Everything in me screams to turn around, to find out what direction this morning might have otherwise gone before the interruption, but the rational part of me wins out. I need to make my presence known in the house. I need the staff to see me moving around, doing something other than hiding out. I will have to check on Rhys later.

---

It’s mid-afternoon by the time I find a free moment. After stealing some food from the kitchen, an Imperial steward had arrived with a mountain of paperwork to fill out from the GamesMaker. Turns out, even in an “undeserved” victory, there were still bets to sign off on, and payments to make. I spend several hours sifting through the paperwork, followed by a second steward with demands from the Arena’s Healer. At least they bring news of Azriel and Cassian with them: Their wounds are healing, about as slowly as Rhys’s, but slow progress is still enough progress to ensure neither of them will lose their wings. The steward refuses to allow me to send supplies back for my mates’, they only want payment for their work and the paperwork signed for the Healer so he has proper documentation that I’m the one who ordered him to do this. Seems there’s bureaucracy even in the underbelly of the Empire.

There’s a dull headache echoing in my skull from pouring over all the numbers. I rub my temples absently as I slip back through the tunnel to check on Rhys. I can’t ask any of the staff for help in this, it’ll only lend ear to gossip. I’ll have to do all this myself. 

He’s sitting upright, on the edge of the bed so he can watch out the chamber door, when I enter. 

“You didn’t come right back,” he pouts. 

“I unfortunately have appearances to keep… and a lot of paperwork,” I say, making a face. I hadn’t realized rebellions still required all this paperwork.

“Appearances didn’t stop you from kissing Az,” he says lowly.

“Is that what this is about?” I ask as I come to stand between his legs. Instinctively, I take his chin between my forefinger and thumb, tilting his head back so I can look him in the eyes. “You’re jealous?”

Those violet eyes gleam in defiance. I know that I’m only holding him like this because he’s allowed it. Even with the gorsian stone in place, he is far from powerless. Everything about him screams predator, like a large cat in the wild, sleek and beautiful, but deadly nonetheless. I’d be no match for him in a fight; at least out of practice and untrained in combat as I am now. Maybe one day, with time and training (I can picture it now: Cassian, shirtless, drenched in sweat marching me through the paces…) could the playing field be level, could I see just how equal we are. But not now, as I am. 

It’s a heady rush that trails down my spine, sitting hot and heavy in my lower belly.

“Yes,” he says, voice barely a whisper, like he doesn’t dare admit he wants it outloud. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment I laid eyes on you. I’ve barely been able to think every time you walk in the room. Everything about you is captivating.”

My heart skips a beat in my chest. What does someone say to that?

“And I told myself that I would be patient, that I had to be patient, that being honest about how godsdamned badly I’ve needed to know what you taste like is a danger to all of us. I have managed to tamp down on that urge every day… and then Azriel comes back one day after you’d asked for him to accompany you and he can’t stop talking about how soft your lips are, or the way you card your fingers through his hair. He won’t shut up about how your body feels again him and damn me I almost walked through that fucking tunnel and risked everything just for a single taste.”

I am royally and utterly fucked.

“And I know that it’s stupid, but I can’t stop myself from wondering why you haven’t tried with me. What’s so wrong with me that you would choose him first? That you could make that move with him and not me?” His hands move tentatively to my hips, as if he’s scared that I’ll evaporate if he touches me. 

“You have orders to seduce me and yet you pull back.”

I’m in too deep to back out now. I can’t just walk away from this one and pretend that I don’t have an answer for him. I’ve never seen a male look so vulnerable in their lives. This battle hardened, Illyrian rebel is pouring his heart out onto the floor in front of me, and I think I love him all the more for it. Because he could, and maybe he should be, cruel and harsh and angry at the world, angry at me for being born what I am, but he’s choosing not to.

“I never meant to hurt you,” I say and he gives a nearly imperceptible shutter of relief. “I’m just…” The words lodge in my throat, heart hammering beneath my ribs. He’s so close, it would take a mere heartbeat to put my lips to his. “I’m scared that if I start I won’t be able to stop.”

And that’s the truth. I barely kept my head with Az and that was after we got caught and nearly ruined everything before it even had a chance to start. We’re in even deeper now and how can I let my heart get the better of me? How can I be selfish when people are dying?

“There’s also the matter of you barely being able to stand,” I mutter.

He grins then, face aglow with starlight. “My mouth is still working fine, Darling.”

“I guess we could test that,” I say, leaning in a hairwidth closer.

His hands grip my hip tighter in anticipation. I can practically taste his desperation through the bond and our lips haven’t even touched yet.

“I think we should,” he agrees.  I press my lips to his in a quick peck, intending to tease him and pretend to pull away, but before I can even get anywhere, his hand jumps from my hip into my hair, tangling in the long strands as he pulls me back in for a real, proper kiss. I feel the rumble of a moan against my palm as I brace myself against his chest. The jasmine and citrus scent of him envelops me as he slips his tongue behind my teeth and there’s only one, dangerous thought in my head: I’d been right; now that I’ve had a taste, I never want to stop.

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Tag List:

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As always let me know if you wanted to be added to the tag list, and thank you all for being so patient I know it's been a hot minute since I updated. Might make the next chapter smutty as a treat.

[dollwhite]

.Face of another.

Aunt reader <3333 not really a chapter 🤷🏽‍♀️ this is just a like outline of how I went things to goooo

It was a regular night, but you guess not. All the bats and birds were focused on a new interesting case, to interesting to pay attention to the shadowy figure only six feet away.

You were expecting better from the infamous Bats and birds. You had heard a lot, especially about Batman.

Oh

Oh how big he’s grown, oh he’s almost pasted you height.

“Oh Damian, how’ve big you’ve gotten.” You couldn’t help but to whisper. It was like just yesterday he was asking you to read him a bedtime story. 

“Did anyone hear that?” A boy around 17, with black and blue eyes said. If you hadn’t done some research you would have thought he was Bruce’s biological son.

You had supposed they would have noticed you sooner or later. You aren’t trying that hard to keep your presence unknown.

“Who’s there.” A deep voice said, has your gaze turned to the one who muttered those words.

Jason

You had not been that close to the boy when he ‘joined’ the league. You held respect for him though, his relationship with Damian was good.

“ apologies, for interrupting. Sell I come by another time? You all seem busy.” You said, taking your time stepping out of the shadows.

“Talia, what are you doing here” Bruce asked stepping in front of Damian.

“Bruce.. Don’t call me my sisters name.”

Safe to say the bats were shocked, sister they never heard of Talia having a sister. Of Ra’s having another daughter!? Who would want to have two kids with him?

And you and Talia looking almost identical? Oh boy that was even weirder and you both sounded alike, who’s to say you weren’t Talia with a parm! 

They didn’t trust you, and you could tell by the way they all held their weapons up.

“I’m not here to harm any of you, I’m simply visiting my nephews.”

“How do we know you’re not Talia? What if you’re just trying to take Damian away!” This time dick answered, he was holding up his little electrified glow sticks.

A chuckle

You let out a loud chuckle. Because if you really wanted to take Damian back you would have already done it.

“I am Talia twin sister, [reader Al ghul] the heart demon.” 

“Father, we need to have a conversation” Talia said, walking into her father’s personals office.

“Talia what is it? I’m busy”

“It’s about [reader], she’s back.. back for Damian”

Guys I know it’s little but like 😔I was running out of ideas, if you are confused, just ask about it!!

Taglist; @lazyemmy @ninihrtss @tsuniio @jsprien213

[surielstea]

The Taste of Heaven

Kinktober day 5: Face riding + Impact

Pairing: Cassian x Fem!Reader

Summary: Cassian missed his mate, enough said.

Warnings: 18+ | minors dni | oral (f receiving) | face riding | spanking/impact play | smut | overstim | controlled orgasm | clit play | multi orgasm

2.1k words.

"Gods, I missed you so much sweetheart," Cassian confessed into my open mouth as my hips winded over his.

He had been gone, sent on a mission in Illyria for over two weeks. Over two weeks without my mate, without his warm laughter, without his wicked tongue that nothing could ever hope to replicate.

"Missed you more," I mumble, kissing him harder, needing him in my very bones in a sense, wanting him more than just inside of me but a part of me until I didn't know where he ended and where I began. "Please," I whisper.

"Please what? What can I do for you?" He asked, kissing sloppily down my jaw, my neck that he was already leaving marks on.

I didn't know how to answer his question, because in all honesty, I was unsure what I was pleading for, I only knew that I wanted more, so instead I breathed, "Whatever you want."

He smiled at that, his lips popping from the delicate skin of my neck. "Sit on my face," He ordered and my core tightened into knots, the kind impossible to untangle. I pulled away from his touch, breathing heavily as I pushed him down onto the bed and rid myself of my panties quicker than he could process.

He throws his head back in pure ecstasy as he watches my movements, his hands on my—now bare, hips and gripping me roughly, pulling me closer to his mouth. "So perfect," He raggedly whispered, his tone consumed with need. He stared at me like a starved man, and I was a full-course meal laid out in front of him.

I crawled up closer, now hovering over his parted lips. He impatiently attempted to pull me down but I resisted, holding myself up. "Please," He whispered, desperate to taste, to lick, to consume.

"Too heavy," I shake my head, and if it weren't for his dire need for me he might've scoffed a laugh, but instead it was a low growl that came from him. "Sit, now," He demanded and something feral burned bright in the dark pit of my stomach at his order.

"I might suffocate you," I continue to protest, despite my arousal now dripping down my thighs— much to his notice.

"Then I'll die a happy man, now sit or I'll make you," He gritted out, his hazel eyes filled with lust and desire and every needy emotion in between. I suck in a sharp breath and ever so slowly, lower myself.

He grows bored of my hesitance and pushes me the rest of the way down with his outmatched strength, and the moment his tongue meets my throbbing cunt, I lose all defiance and melt.

A moan tore from my throat, my head falling back as the heat of his mouth enveloped me completely. His tongue swirled and flicked against my swollen clit with practiced precision, and I couldn't stop the way my hips instinctively ground down onto his face. Cassian groaned beneath me, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of my hips as if trying to anchor me there. He worked me with fervor, relentless in his need to bring me pleasure, every sound he made sending vibrations through my core.

I tried to lift myself, worried again about the weight I was putting on him, but one of his large hands came down sharply on my thigh—once, twice. The sting was immediate, sharp, and hot, sending a jolt straight to my center.

"Stay," he growled against me, his voice muffled by my thighs but commanding nonetheless. The roughness of his voice paired with the sharp bite of pain made me dizzy with need. "I don't want you anywhere else."

I whimpered, my legs trembling as I sank down fully onto him and gave in to his demand. His tongue darted between my folds, circling my clit before sucking it, hard. My entire body jerked in response, and I had to grab the headboard in front of me to steady myself.

"Cassian—" I gasped, but it was cut off by the sting of his hand on my ass this time, the impact making me grind down harder. The burn was exquisite, each smack pushing me closer to the edge, making my arousal pool between my thighs, into his wanting mouth.

“Fuck,” He grunted lustfully, almost feral, and I felt his hands squeeze the abused skin where he'd struck, soothing and rough at once. His mouth never slowed, and I could barely think, barely breathe.

My nails dug into the wood of the headboard, providing me leverage while I arched my back, while he thoroughly devoured me. He responded with another slap, harder this time, and I yelped, the sound turning into a needy moan as pleasure and pain mixed in a heady cocktail that left me trembling above him. I was coming undone, piece by piece, and Cassian reveled in it.

"Cass, I'm—" I panted, the pressure building low in my stomach, tightening with every flick of his tongue and every punishing smack of his palm against my skin. "I'm so close."

His fingers dug into my hips again, pulling me down as he licked at me, each stroke more fervent, more determined. I couldn't hold back any longer, the orgasm barreling through me as I cried out his name, my body shuddering with the force of it. I ground down on his face, riding out the waves of pleasure as his tongue continued to work me, drawing every last bit from me.

But he didn't stop. Even as I told him too much, even as I whimpered and pleaded that I couldn’t take anymore, he kept going.

His tongue lapped at me with an insatiable hunger. He groaned into me, as though drunk on my taste, his hands squeezing my hips hard enough to leave bruises as he pulled me down harder onto his mouth. I gasped, trying to pull away, but his grip only tightened.

"Gods—" I breathed, squirming as the pleasure became too much. The overstimulation was unbearable, my body twitching from the onslaught. I tried to lift myself off him, my hands pushing against his chest, but he was far too strong. He growled again, his hand coming down hard on my ass, a sharp crack that made me cry out in surprise.

"Where do you think you're going?" he growled, the sound muffled by my thighs. "You're going to give me more."

The sting of his hand and the way his tongue continued to tease me made my breath hitch, my body spasming as he forced me to endure the overstimulation. My legs shook uncontrollably, but he held me in place, not giving me a chance to escape his tongue.

"Please, I—" I gasped, but before I could finish, his hand landed another punishing slap on my thigh. The pain mixed with the lingering pleasure, leaving me dizzy, and my thoughts hazy.

"You can take it," he murmured, his voice rough and low as he licked up my arousal, savoring every drop. "Give me another one."

My body thrashed as he worked me again, his tongue never slowing. I was completely at his mercy, his hands bruising my hips as he dragged me through the endless, torturous pleasure. My overstimulated nerves made everything feel sharper, and brighter, every flick of his tongue sending me spiraling further. I was crying out, shaking, barely able to breathe as another orgasm crept up on me, quick and unexpected.

When it hit, I couldn't hold back the scream. My body convulsed on top of him, and this time, I sobbed his name as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through me, my vision going white.

Only then did he slow, his tongue still teasing, still tasting, but gentler now, drawing out every last tremor of pleasure as I trembled above him. His hands rubbed soothing circles onto my thighs, the stinging sensation fading into a pleasant hum as I slowly came down from the overwhelming high.

When I finally managed to pull away, collapsing beside him on the bed, I could barely form a coherent thought. Cassian's face was still slick with my release, his hazel eyes dark with lust as he leaned down to kiss me, possessive and tender all at once.

"You taste like heaven," he murmured against my lips, his voice hoarse with desire. "Gods, I missed you." He repeated as if remembering how much he cherished the sweet feeling of me finding arrival on his tongue alone. His hand came down, caressing so softly where he had struck me, soothing the lingering burn with his calloused fingertips. "Did I hurt you? Was it too much?" He asked softly, his voice a little more raw than I had anticipated.

I smiled and shook my head, wrapping my arms around the back of his neck and pulling him impossibly closer. "No, no it felt good, all of it felt good," I reassured and his worried frown turned into a feline grin faster than I could blink.

"Come here," he whispered, his voice low and calming. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into the broad expanse of his chest. For a long moment, he simply held me there, his heart beating steadily beneath my cheek, a contrast to the wild thudding of just moments ago.

He shifted us carefully, rolling me onto my back with him still hovering above. "Let me take care of you, sweetheart," he murmured. His thumb brushed my cheek as his lips pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

He slipped out of the bed for a moment, and I heard the rustle of fabric as he grabbed a towel from the adjacent bathing chambers and my softest nightgown from my armoire in the corner. He returned swiftly, his large, warm hands moving carefully as he cleaned me up, his touch so gentle it sent a subtle shiver down my spine. There was nothing hurried about his movements, nothing rushed. He took his time, his expression softening as he wiped away the evidence of our passion. The silence between us wasn't awkward; it was full of care, full of unspoken understanding.

When he was done, he tossed the towel aside and slid my chiffon nightgown on. He smiled amusedly as I struggled to push my head through the neckline, my hair a mess as he helped me pull it down fully. "There," He whispered, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. "I'm so in love with you," He confessed and I flushed a deep tint, despite the fact that we've been mates for centuries, it was the earnest and genuine tone of his words that still had butterflies soaring in the pit of my stomach.

I couldn't conjure a reply in time before he was getting back into bed with me, pulling the covers up and over the both of us. He gathered me against him, cradling me to his chest once more, his hands running lazily up and down my spine in soothing strokes.

"You're sure you're okay, right?" Cassian asked quietly, his voice filled with sincere concern.

"I'm perfect," I whispered back, feeling the weight of exhaustion begin to settle in.

He tilted my chin up, pressing a lingering kiss to my lips. "You're perfect," he confirmed, his words brimming with admiration. His hand returned to rubbing my back, the repetitive motion lulling me into relaxation. "Let me know if anything feels sore tomorrow. I can rub it out for you," he added with a teasing grin, though the warmth in his voice remained.

I chuckled, nestling deeper into his hold. "Sounds wonderful," I murmured, my voice fading with sleep creeping in.

He shifted us one last time, pulling me more comfortably against him, our limbs tangled beneath the blankets. His fingers threaded through my hair, massaging my scalp with that same tender care, and it made my eyes flutter shut, a contented sigh escaping my lips.

"I missed you so much, sweetheart," he whispered again, his voice softer, more vulnerable in the quiet after the storm of our passion. "Every day without you was torture."

I smiled against his muscled chest, my fingers drawing lazy circles on his tattooed skin. "I missed you too," I mumbled sleepily, my words drifting off mid-sentence.

His arms tightened around me protectively, his lips pressing another soft kiss to the crown of my head. "Rest now," he whispered, his voice soothing. "I'm not going anywhere."

With Cassian's warmth surrounding me, his steady heartbeat beneath my ear, and the lingering tenderness in his touch, I finally let myself drift off, safe and cherished in the arms of my mate.

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[azsazz]

Evening Roost

ACOTAR Omegaverse Week Day 1: Cassian x Reader [Nesting]

Summary: This was supposed to be for omegaverse x acotar day 1 but now it just is. Prompt was: Surely there’s a perfectly normal, completely unsuspicious reason they’re feeling an irresistible urge to arrange and rearrange the blankets and pillows…. right?

Anon Req: for omegaverse day 1, I could so see reader spending AGES every year to make a nest, only for cassian to destroy it within like two minutes every heat cycle bc he's too distracted by his mate and excited to pay attention to little things like that ... and one year reader gets mad and is like "you're not f*cking me in here until you're not a threat to its structural integrity" and cassian is very regretful & apologizes & makes it up to her by making her cum until she can't think straight ...? (if you don't like this prompt feel free to ignore it this was just an idea ... also I'm a big fan of your work & I'm excited you're writing more!!) 🩷🩷

And also fulfills anon reqs : Not sure if you’re taking requests but could you write an omega/alpha fic with Cassian where reader is in heat? Love your writing! —and—Heyyyy! Once your requests might be free, can you do a Omegaverse heat fic but with Cassian, something with both angst and some spicy smut?

Warnings: Smut, dom/sub dynamics, light breeding kink.

Word Count: 2640

_________________________________________

“And…perfect,” you sigh, smiling contently to yourself as you shift the last pillow into place. Sitting back on your haunches, you admire the nest you spent the entirety of the week building, piled high and far away from where anyone can see it. Or touch it. 

Namely, your mate.

Yes, Cassian is everything you want in an alpha and more: muscle upon muscle that he uses unabashedly to carry you around, to throw you over his shoulder when you’re pouting and grumbling when you should really be riding his cock. Or when he smacks your ass with that rough, calloused hand of his, the one you’d like stuck right between your legs right now.

You shift, biting your lip as you rub your thighs together, eliciting a sensation you know all too well, a flood of warmth pooling deeply between them.

Your heat has been building for a few days now, as if waiting for the perfect moment to appear. Your body must have sensed that Cassian’s rut was on its way as well, forcing your body to respond to your alpha’s scent. You’ve been feeling the familiar discomfort of your oncoming cycle, irritable to anyone who wasn’t Cassian, sensitive to sounds and smells, especially blood, and feeling like your body is always just a little bit too hot. 

Which is why you’ve been patiently awaiting the other paw to drop, busying yourself by building the perfect nest. It has taken careful meandering and pawning of objects from throughout your home: a cord of leather that Cassian had taken out of his damp hair before climbing into the tub with you last night, the worn scabbard of one of his knives, a day old shirt that hadn’t been used for sparring, and another one that had.

In the corner of your closet, you sit, burrowing deeply into the fabrics and reveling in the scents of your mate. The mead he drank until he was dizzy still lingers from where he’d sweat it out the night after. The lingering scent of his soap, brash and heady and all male. The faint tinge of your juices from where they’d gotten on the sheets, the ones you hadn’t allowed anyone to clean, to touch when he fucked you into them two nights prior.

It feels like a secret, you think as you smile into the dark. All the way at the back of the expansive closet, nestled between hanging clothes and boots, nestled beside training boots and hidden weapons should you ever need them. It’s the perfect place, the perfect size for someone like you, an omega blissfully waiting for her alpha to fall into the throes of his rut.

“Little omega,” Cassian sing-songs. You hear the door to your bedroom opening and closing with a quick snap and your anticipation spikes. The heat between your thighs grows as your body goes hot. There’s a keen alertness to his voice that makes your stomach fill with butterflies, your cunt drench with need.

His rut is here.

“Where are you?” He wonders aloud, and a bolt of thrill zips up your spine at the thought of this game you have the chance to play. Hunter and prey. How he’s going to sniff you out like the depraved man he is, capture you and bend you over this pile of goods to take you long and hard and hot, just the way you both need. You know that within minutes you’ll be succumbing to the full effects of your heat, your body attuned so beautifully to his rut.

You eagerly await your mate's arrival.

You can hear it the moment he catches a whiff of your scent. The low growl has you clenching your thighs, sending your heartbeat galloping. What follows is what makes you want to moan, to give your spot away to him, to bare yourself to your alpha and have him claim you over and over and over again.

The bite mark on your throat pulses as the sound of his belt hits the floor, his weapons soon following. The dull thud of their sheaths are each a throb to your clit. You don’t need to imagine how perfect his body moves as he prowls closer to the door, already knowing that each muscle of his is coiled tight with the same anticipation you’re feeling. It zips down the bond, flooding your body with a pleasurable feeling. 

The closet door cracks wider and you only get a glimpse of those hazel eyes—all pupils with the untamed actions of a rut—before he lunges inside.

It’s tight with the both of you in here. Cassian’s fingers claw at your clothes, and it’s not a tear that can be sewed up like new to be worn another day. No, this is Cassian shredding your clothes into strips, buttons flying off of fabric and clicking against the walls. It’s the delicate lace of your panties he tears off with his teeth, wrapping the remnants around his wrist like he’s won himself a new bracelet. You love that he’s so desperate for you, but he’s being careless, dislodging items in your nest that were perfectly built while he scrambles to expose your body, more than ready to ravage you for this week-long cycle. 

You cry out at the feeling of Cassian’s sharp teeth nipping at your shoulder when you try to shove him off. You’re all too aware of how he’s displacing your pristine nest, the one you hadn’t hardly wanted him in in the first place because of this very reason.

He always destroys it.

“Cassian!” You shout, and only then does it seem to cut through the haze he’s already giving into. He pulls back quicker than an asp, fear a dark ring around his eyes as he stares down at you.

“Did I hurt you, mate?” He questions, frantically looking you over. His fingers trace your skin and your body buzzes in response. But as you look at your nest, now a mere mess of twisted blankets and skewed knick-knacks, your heart plummets and your brows draw together, your eyes prickling with tears.

“No, you didn’t hurt me physically,” you say, throat tight. Cassian frowns, not quite understanding until you gesture to the mess around you. “I know what it’s like to submit to the rut grating through your bones right now,” you speak quietly, enough for him to grasp your feelings. “But you wreck my nest every time you have a rut. Even during my heats. A burrow that is sacred to me, and should be to you too. It’s one of the only places I feel safe—” The other being in his arms.  “—When I’m going through a heat. And I want you there, mate, I need you there, but not if you’re going to ruin my hard work.”

You watch the regret lance his eyes, but before he can say anything, you’re continuing, fighting through the wetness coating your throat, ignoring the wetness coating your thighs.

“I’m sorry, my love,” Cassian leans forward, caressing your cheek. You allow it, lean into it even, but you will not continue with this rut until you feel fully at peace and comfortable to do so. “Please, what can I do?”

“Fix it,” you murmur, almost helplessly. There’s a hollowness to your chest that may be heightened by the effects of your oncoming heat, but right now it feels like you’ve lost something greater than a pile of blankets. You’d feel embarrassed, almost, if you were more clear-minded. “You won’t be fucking me in here until you’re not a threat to its structural integrity.” 

You watch Cassian’s throat bob, his cock twitch at your demands, a pretty pearl of precum making its presence known. You quirk an eyebrow, trying very carefully to keep your face stern, shoving back the teary sensations as you tear your gaze from the sight of his leaking cock.

He likes it when you make demands of him? 

You tuck that thought away for later.

“Of course,” Cassian agrees vehemently, already reaching for the first blanket.

You shuffle out of the way. It’s difficult in the space of the closet, now that you’re trapped inside with your behemoth of an alpha who trapezes around as he begins his work. The air is hot and thick already, your forehead is dewey with sweat. You might be regretting building your nest in the closet sooner rather than later. 

You find yourself wondering if you can convince Cassian to move the entire nest later, if he’ll make it just as perfect as this one.

“And Cassian?” You ask, waiting for him to turn. When you have his full attention, you allow your fingers to drift up your bare stomach to your peaked nipples, pinching and rubbing at them. Cassian growls in response and your cunt clenches at the sound. You nearly tell him to forget it and take you up against the racks of clothes instead. “For every item you perfectly fix, is the number of times we’re going to cum together.”

It’s a futile promise at best. Once the both of you succumb to your respective heat and rut, there will be no counting. There won’t be anything but the primal urge to fuck and breed, the both of you cumming more times than you could even imagine. There have been times when the lust was so consuming, you hardly remember anything besides the pleasure Cassian stoked into you, pumping you so full of his seed your stomach bloated with it. How he fucked you on his knot again and again until he fucked himself into a blacking out.

Your mate growls and nods eagerly. The breath whooshes out of his chest as he turns away, snatching a pillow that had fallen from the pile. You know that he’ll never get your nest back to how you had it, that he hadn’t taken a single glance at your work before crashing into it like a bull in a china shop, but you’re more distracted by the curve of that toned ass on display, his cock hanging heavy between those glorious thighs, dragging over one of the blankets and leaving a line of precum in its wake. You watch, entranced by his strong shoulders and wings, how they glide under his tan skin like butter.

“A little to the left,” you advise when Cassian turns to look at you after placing a discarded sheath in place, an expectant look on his face. You bite your lip to hold in the delightful purr that rages in your veins as he follows your command.

“Like this?”

“Perfect, mate,” you agree, taking one step closer. Your fingers smooth down your body, dipping between your legs because with the way he’s perched on his knees for you, you need some sort of stimulation or you’re going to pounce on him. Cassian’s eyes zero in on the movement, iris’ consumed by the black of his pupil. His nostrils flare at the scent leaking from your thighs.

Cassian begins to work even faster.

“Cassian?” You question when your body plunges right over the edge into want. Your heat slams into you full force, and all you crave is to be laid in that nest of yours, built by both of your hands, and give yourself to your alpha.

He hums, peeking over at you. He’s almost done, almost has it perfect, and then he’s going to be mounting you so fast that you won’t even know what hit you. His cock is leaking all over your nest, eager for your cunt to bury itself home in. All he can think about is how he hopes you don’t mind the mess he’s leaving behind while trying to clean up his other one. 

Every muscle in his body reacts to the scent that’s emanating from you. His cock is thick and hard, swollen and ready. He’s going to knot you within the first two strokes, he can already feel it, can imagine the way your cunt will swallow him eagerly, milking him desperately, latching for a pup. He’ll make it up to you though, he can promise that, because Cassian has days and he can be a very inventive male when he wants to be.

When he blinks the haze from his eyes, pupils finally settling their attention on you, you breathe, “It’s great, alpha. But one thing is missing.” 

Cassian frowns, his thick brows pulling tight in confusion. “What’s that, love?”

“It’s missing me.”

That’s all the invitation he needs. You shriek at his speed, the strength that he uses, wrapping an arm around your waist and hauling you back into the nest. 

You land with a breathless laugh that melts into a needy keen when Cassian splays your legs wide for him and licks a fat stripe up your cunt. You both shiver, you at the feeling of his wet tongue, and him at your taste.

“I won’t last,” he admits, but neither of you care when he pumps himself into you in one long stroke. Your body melts into the blankets and pillows beneath you, feeling so full. You could live like this forever, you think, Cassian’s cock buried deep inside of you, the warmth it provides, the pleasure, it’s all too much.

“Me…neither,” you pant, crying out when he hits your cervix. Fuck, he’s going to put a pup in you by the end of the week. Maybe a whole litter. You can feel it this time. “Fuck, Cassian! You feel so good!”

“You feel like heaven, mate,” he growls back. His breath is hot on your throat, his sharp teeth grazing your skin. It lights your body up like a star and your eyes roll into the back of your head, nails scratching down his back as the feeling builds. “You are my heaven. The stars in my sky and the breath in my lungs. You’re—fuck,” he chokes, quickening his thrusts. “You’re fucking mine.”

Cassian’s fingers slide between your bodies as he slams his mouth against yours. He’s devouring you in more ways than one, and when he starts circling his fingers against your throbbing clit—not too hard and not too soft, just fucking perfect like he always does, even when he’s lost in the throes of his heat—you cum.

You gush, even, and then Cassian’s cumming too, releasing with a growl that shakes the house built into the mountain. You wouldn’t be surprised if the noise causes a landslide.

He pulses inside of you, thick, hot ribbons of cum filling you. His knot grows with each pump, with each spurt, until you’re whimpering with overstimulation, writhing against his body. Cassian doesn’t let up, he’s still going, grinding down on you until there are tears in your eyes, until his incessant rubbing onto your clit turns from sensitive to all out wanting again. You chase that orgasm, jerking your hips against his until you’re drowning in the sensations of it again, until you’re drowning in the feeling of his cum stuffing you full.

Cassian watches you with rapt attention. Waits until you’ve calmed. Opened those pretty eyes. Then, does he cradle you in his arms and roll onto his back, letting you rest against his chest to catch your breath. He wipes the hair from your face, brushes the dampness across your forehead and kisses it tenderly, before dipping down to capture your lips sweetly. This is only the first of the orgasms you’ll both share, and it might not have lasted long, but it rocked your world entirely.

You blink up at him sleepily, moan a little when you feel his cock throb with another squirt of cum. 

“Rest now, mate,” he says gently, and the rumble of his voice is a lullaby all its own. “I’ll be keeping you up for many nights to come.”

[acotarxreader]

Swept Away

Cassian x Reader, Rhysand's sister

Synopsis: Cassian is growing desperate to make his feelings about you known but Rhysand is ever protective of his little sister.

Warnings: Silly, Angst, pining, blood, a creep in a bar, poor Azriel wing-manning like nobody's business, protective Cassian, overprotective Rhysand

A/N: A Cassian fic because it has been some time since he's been featured on the blog. I hope you guys enjoy this silly lil guy. Please forgive any mistakes in this, I wrote it while not feeling the best.

-------------------------------------------------

Cassian stood at the edge of one of the Windhaven training rings, his two brothers sparring across the mud. To the untrained eye, they looked as though they were gonna kill one another but Cassian knew this was all just goofing around. He felt his heart vibrate off his ribcage, waiting for Rhysand to tire himself out enough that he wouldn’t chase and mangle him for the question he was going to ask. He counted through his breaths, forcing himself to focus on releasing the stress from his chest. They finally stopped their clashing, neither conceding but both ready for dinner, calling a truce as they bellowed out brotherly laughter. 

“Hey Cass, ready for the mixer tonight?” Rhysand wiped his sweaty brow with his forearm, gratefully taking the cup of water offered by Azriel. 

“Oh yeah yeah, very excited, have a good session?” he spoke quickly, eager to get the words out of him before he lost his nerve.

“Definitely, I feel on cloud 9 now”

“Good, good, soooo just letting you know-I’m-going-to-ask-YN-out-tonight-after-the-mixer-okay-bye!” Cassian vibrated out before spinning on his heel and moving to bolt away. 

“Oh fuck” Azriel whispered as Rhysand caught hold of Cassian's shoulder, turning him back to face him. In hindsight, maybe saying this to Rhysand when he was pumped full of testosterone wasn’t the correct call Cassain thought. 

“Sorry Cass, I think I hallucinated, what did you say?” “I’m going to ask YN out”

“No, you’re not” A laugh left Rhysand as he released his shoulder and loosened the belt of blades slung around him. 

“Why not?” Azriel inhaled a breath that sounded like “here we go” at Cassian's question. 

“She’s my sister, so she’s like your sister, it's like illegal or something” Cassian scoffed a laugh at Rhysand’s half-answer.

“Except the four of us aren’t actually siblings and the sentiment is nice and all but I’m not her brother, I want to ask her out, nothing creepy about it” Rhysand’s turn to laugh at Cassian, shoving him back lightly at the words and leaning down to loosen his training boots.

“Nah Cass, forget it, move on, I forbid it”

“You what?” he bit out in return, Azriel’s eyes darting between the two, this was going to turn into another savage argument, he could see it. 

“Right, let's leave it there-” Azriel tried but was almost immediately cut off by Rhysand.

“-Yeah, I forbid it. I don’t want things to get messy”

“They won’t, I think we would be- “-Forget it Cass, enough drama was caused with Mor-” Azriel took a sharp inhale at Rhysand’s low blow, the two males began to square up to one another just as you called from the sidelines. 

“Hey! Come on, start getting ready, have a bath before the smell poisons the flowers” you beamed, raising an eyebrow at Azriel at the weird energy. He just shook his head at you not to get involved. Your gaze separated the two males, both storming away to their quarters. 

“Fuckers always leave me to tidy up” Azriel signed, picking up the kit the three had used in training. 

—---------------------------------------------

The howling Winter wind ripped through the hills of the Illyrian mountains, coursing through Windhaven. You looked out through the living room window of the place you called home in this unforgiving climate.

“YN? Are you okay?” Your brother whispered from the front door as he shook off the biting snow. 

“I’m fine Rhys, how was the mixer?” 

“Unsurprisingly violent-” He laughed, a small smile growing on your face at the sound “-Are you sure you’re okay? You look as though you are going to run away” Rhysand laughed again to cover his rising worry.

“Nothing to concern yourself with Rhys, I’m going to just go read in my room” You tried your best to beam back in your usual way to him, rising from the window seat and wandering to your room down the hall. Rhysand questioned whether or not he should follow you, deciding to return to bed and inquire further in the morning.

You stared up at the ceiling, the clock yearning to strike midnight as you sighed. You quietly strapped on your shoes and sheathed yourself in your thickest jacket. You ever so gently lifted the sash window of your ground-level room and slipped out into the night, knowing your brother and mother would go feral with the knowledge of you going into the Illyrian camp unattended at night, despite your own strength. 

You moved through the shadows of the grey mountain stone buildings, dipping out of the sight of passing party-worn Illyrians until you found yourself wandering down the disused service lane heading in the direction of the closest village. The chill sent shapes of cold down your spine as you fought the feeling of watching wild eyes from the deep thick woods the lane cut through. Your wings clung tight to your back trying to draw any ounce of warmth possible. You stopped and stretched before launching into your routine jogging trailing along the outskirts of the busy village, a relaxed breath releasing the stress.

Swirled in your own deep thoughts, the sudden weight thrown into your side caught you entirely off guard as you instinctively screamed. A hand wrapped tightly around your jaw preventing further alarm from being raised in your desperate shouts.

The wooded path grew thicker and thicker the further you were hauled into the woods, worst-case scenarios dancing across your mind. The movement suddenly stopped as you felt the solid thud of the body of a tree meeting your back, you forced your eyes open to meet your perpetrator. 

“Boo”

“GODS! YOU FUCKING JERK CASSIAN!” You pushed Cassian backwards and almost off his feet while lashing him with your hands into his shoulder blades while he hunched over howling laughing. 

“Your face!” he managed between laughs, half choking.

“Don’t do that to me! I thought it was one of the trainee warriors trying to earn his stripes!”

“Don't even joke about that YN, I’d kill them where they stood” his suddenly serious tone cut through you before you smiled at him. Cassian seemingly remembered the fright he gave you, returning to his laughter as you both strolled back towards the path. 

“I’ll walk you back YN, protect you from-”

“-From psychopaths who might sweep me away into the woods?!” you cut across him, now both laughing into the freezing night. 

“Why are you out so late anyway? Your mother and Rhys would be very unhappy with you”

“I could say the same to you” You raised an eyebrow to the warrior.

“I had business, I care not to go further into it with a Lady” he faux bowed towards you, gaining an eye-roll from you.

“Seriously YNN, what’s with the twilight running?”

“Nothing really”

“Tell me or I’ll start singing” You gave a sceptical look towards your dear friend before he took a deep inhale and belted half a note of pure torture, your hand covering his mouth at the release of the crow song. 

“Okay okay!” You laughed, pulling back your hand “-I was actually… I was actually thinking of going home to Velaris” You admitted, ending the momentary comfortable silence that bounced off the ancient trees. Cassian pursed his lips in thought, trying his best to not show all his cards, a futile attempt. 

“This is why we can’t be together YNN, so hung up on the glitz and glamour of city life, can't appreciate the wild” 

“I’m pretty sure the reason we can't be together is that I don’t like you” Cassain put his hand to his chest feigning hurt, you scoffed at your long-time friend before continuing along the path.

“No more nightly running alone YN, seriously dangerous especially for precious cargo like a High Lord's daughter, someone might take you as their chance to prove themselves and then I’ll have to commit murder and I don’t like my leathers to get messy” he ran a hand through his hair as you fought the urge to shove him again. 

“Aw you think I’m precious” you sarcastically shot back

“The most precious thing we have in this dump” his sincere tone ringing through you.

“We'll leave here someday Cass, get on with our real lives”

“We?”

“Well yeah I'm going to need someone to carry my bags” you smirk and he nudges you across the snowy path.

“Can't leave my partner in crime behind me now can I?” His genuine smile of gratitude made you feel warm. He always did. No one could quite understand him like you. The subtle glow of the training camp in the far distance came into view and you sighed at the sight. 

“Come on Cass, come get a drink in the village, I don’t want to head back just yet” he nodded to your great idea as you looped your arm through his for warmth and sauntered back towards the village. 

—----------------------

The village bar was heaving with Fae, all deeply relying on the crutch of alcohol to soothe their woes. You attempted to play snooker with Cassian, well beyond the scope of your ability. After playing and losing a few rounds with him, you sat at the bar away from his ridicule, allowing him to play more challenging opponents.

You sat cross-legged on the bar stool absent-mindedly tracing circles along the rim of your glass of caramel colour liquor. A rough hand found its way to your thigh, snapping your attention to the wall-like Fae it belonged to. 

“He-y it's the Night’s se-xy daughteeer, hey baaaby” The slur of words matched the smothering stench of centuries of whiskey leaving his wrinkled mouth. 

“Um Hi” You pushed his hand down roughly before it returned just as quickly and much higher, now squeezing your thigh making you tense. The much older Fae came closer to your face, leaning and whispering drunken inappropriate schemes in your ear. You scoffed in utter disgust, shoving him completely back from you. 

“Hey Prin-cess, you don’t fucking do that! Come here!” He almost spat at you, roughly catching you by the waist and pulling you off the stool. His fingers buried into your skin and you found it difficult to slip out of his vice-grip-like hands.

A hand laid flat on his shoulder from behind as he grunted to being interrupted. He turned to meet Cassian fist straight into his glass jaw sending him cold to the floor. You found yourself gasping, no one else reacting in the busy bar used to Illyrian antics. 

“Cassian!”

“Come on, we’re going” he caught your wrist and pulled you from the bar, stepping over the creep's body as you were pulled along. You hurriedly slipped on your jacket, the freezing breeze of the night burning your skin as you were pulled into the baltic night.

“Cass, slow down, you're going to take my arm out of the socket” you groaned at the slight pain he was causing you as you found it difficult to keep up with his rapid pace back down the service lane. 

“Such a fucking asshole”

“I was handling it Cass!”

“Oh yeah YN, really looked like that” you huffed at his sarcasm, anger growing in both of you the further you got from the bar. 

“Get off my case fucking hell”

“He could have run off with you”

“So?! What does it even matter to you?! Seriously Cass, slow down, you're not racing a Naga!”

“It does matter to me! I don’t want some ancient creep all over you” Cassian continued his marching in front of you, your wrist firmly caught. 

“You're the same when any male talks to me! You’re worse than Rhys!” You were sick of it, sick of being treated like some wounded bird they needed to protect, the thought caused the anger to grow in Cassian.

“THAT'S BECAUSE I DON'T WANT ANY MALE TALKING TO YOU LIKE THAT!”

“WHY!? WHY THE FUCK DOES IT MATTER YOU!” Cassian suddenly dug his heels into the snow causing you to crash into the back of him giving you a bit of a fright. Cassian span around, releasing your wrist in exchange for your hips, your hands instinctively draping across his shoulders as he pulls you forward in the falling snow to meet your lips hungrily. The cold was leached from your bodies as you basked in the glow of one another. 

“Cass you just kissed me”

“I just kissed you” You both had shock painting your faces before locking eyes and reconnecting hungrily again. 

“If anyone touches you like that again I’ll kill them” You nodded quickly to his protective stern words, kissing him deeply again. 

“Ahem” Azriel’s voice separated you both as he stood with hands on his hips glaring at the two of you, clearly having just been out for his own run along the service lane. 

“Az-” He only raised a gloved hand to you. 

“I don’t want to know any of the goings on between you two, ever, it will make me an accessory to a murder when Rhysand finds out” You both nodded slowly in reply before Azriel dragged a hand down his face. 

“Now, the three of us are going to walk home and the three of us will never speak about this again” Azriel continued, gesturing with his arm for you to walk ahead. You looked from Cassian to the Shadowsinger who only raised an eyebrow, you sighed before following his direction and walking ahead of the two. 

“You’re a dead man Cass” Azriel whispered once you were out of earshot.

“I know” “What is with you and their family, next thing you’ll be sleeping with Rhysand’s mother” “How do you know that didn’t already happen” Cassian was fighting for his life to bring back an air of silliness to the night and Azriel happily obliged, shoving his smirking brother across the path. 

“This is different Az” he rejoined his side quickly. 

“I know, it’s always been different between you two, doesn’t mean your funeral will be any less of a sure thing” The Shadowsinger smirked.

—-----------------------

The next couple of weeks became like a full-time job for Azriel and he wasn’t sure exactly when he had interviewed for the job. He spent a large amount of his free time running interference for you and Cassian, distracting Rhysand to allow you both to steal away moments together. It was beginning to exhaust him not to mention sicken him that he spent so much time focusing on Cassian’s love life that he forgot his own. 

The four of you sat around the corner table of the very tavern that three months previously you had been pursued. Azriel sat next to Rhysand as if by chance but very much planned so that you and Cassian may sit next to each other. 

“So anyways we’ve been sleeping together for some time now but I think it’s time to cut her loose-” Rhysand beamed at the telling of his conquests while you fought the urge to roll your eyes at your brother's hypocrisy “-What about you Cass? Any lovely ladies on the go?” Rhysand innocently questioned before taking a deep drink.

“Ehh yeah I suppose you could say that” Your chin sank to your chest, attempting to bury the wide grin on your face. 

“Well go on, tell us about her” Rhysand pried, Azriel’s eyes trying to find anywhere else to look at other than the red on Cassian’s cheeks” “I don’t think-” “-Oh come on Cass, since when have you been coy about your conquests?”

“Cauldron boil me” Azriel whispered under his breath, your foot sharply meeting his shin.

“I just think I should keep that private” Cassian spoke over Azriels audible pain. “From me? I heard you tell Azriel that you never wanted to leave the bed with this mystery female, so how come I’m not privy to the information?” You took a deep swig at your brother's playful prying, wishing the ground to swallow you up.

“I just don’t think you’d want to hear about-” “-I clearly do, tell me, tell me about this so-called best sex you’ve ever had, how you make her c-” “-For all that is good and Gods given Rhysand please do not finish that sentence!” Azriel cut across quickly as you inhaled your drink, choking slightly. Cassian rapidly tapped your back as Azriel and Rhysand began to bicker. 

“Are you okay?” Cassian whispered to you, searching your greying face for colour as it flushed back to your cheeks. He took your hand softly under the table, his thumb sending soothing circles across your skin. You looked up to Cassian with your glassy eyes, a small smile growing on your face at the look of adoration you received. The two of you looked quickly then to the silence that leaked from the other side of the table. Rhysand looked between the two of you, his own face now looking like he had been the one starved of air. Azriel covered his eyes with a hand, trying to think of any way to come back from this and what was about to happen. The table fell to an almost unnerving silence as Rhysand processed in real time before an equally unnerving laugh left him. 

“Oh no no no no” he shook his head while laughing, you glancing worriedly to Cassian at your brother's seemingly newfound deliria. 

“Rhysand…” You tried but your brother just kept shaking his head while laughing. 

“Oh no no no no” His laugh only got louder, Azriel daring to look at the Son of Night from behind his hand. 

“I’d say you have a 15-second head start” Azriel whispered across the table to Cassian who looked bewildered at the reaction. Rhysand rolled up his sleeves, his laughing continuing as he took a deep drink from his tall glass. 

“Maybe 10 seconds” Azriel added, Cassian needing no further invitation to bolt away. He made it as far as the edge of the village before Rhysand came in hot from behind him, you and Azriel trailing desperately. 

“I’LL KILL YOU!” Rhysand bellowed, tackling Cassian to the ground as they rolled in the slush of the last snow of Winter. 

“Rhys stop!” You went to separate them, Azriel pulling you back to his side. 

“Just, just leave them go YNN” he sighed, knowing this was years in the making. The two warriors rolled, Rhysand attempting to deliver blows that Cassian blocked. 

“Rhys-I’m-sorry!” Cassian managed through dodges. 

“My sister!” 

“Yes! Your sister! But my love! I love her!” Cassian rasped out, Rhysand’s hand finding his brother's throat as he gained the upper hand from above him. Rhysand released an ounce of pressure he had on the Illyrian before shooting a glance at you, a clear look of horror on your face. Rhysand allowed all the air from his lungs go before standing again, Cassian attempted to stand, only to meet the floor again with a shove from the future High Lord. He stayed down, thinking that was the best port of call.

“YN, really?” “Really” You found your own confidence, striding over the Cassian to meet his side on your knees. 

“How long?” 

“Three…almost four months” You admitted to your brother, pulling bits of moss from Cassian’s hair. 

“Four months?! And no one had any idea?” Azriel averted his eyes at Rhysand’s questioning. 

“We just wanted to see if it was serious before stressing you out Rhys” Cassain ran a sleeve over his bloodied lip. 

“And this is-this is serious? You’re not just fucking around Cassian because I swear to the Gods I will-” “-This isn’t fucking around Rhys, I love her” Cassian interrupted Rhysand’s worry. He wandered in a small circle, arms behind his back as he tilted his chin to the stars once again, taking a deep breath of the changing seasonal air. 

“Okay” Rhysand finally rocked his head back down to look at the two of you. 

“Just to say Rhys, I don’t care if you are okay or not with this, I love Cassian too and I don’t care if you are okay with it-” “-YN” Cassian dragged out your name like a whining child who was trying to stop the class pet from reminding the teacher about a test. 

“But, thank you” You kissed the top of Cassian’s head, his lip stitching together from the blowout.

“Oh Gods don’t do that in front of me!” Rhysand looked to the sky, the two of you laughing up at him. 

“Oh please Rhys, that’s nothing, these two would make you sick” Azriel laughed before the smile completely fell from his face. 

“You knew?” Rhysand glared towards the Shadowsinger.

“I ehh-” “You knew and you didn’t tell me?”

“I’d say you have a 15-second head start my friend” Cassian laughed up from the slush-turned mud. Azriel gave a panicked laugh before meeting Rhysand’s serious eyes. 

“He’s the one doing your sister!” “Az! Traitor” You chuckled, Rhysand still not removing his eyes from Azriel until he shot off into the woods, Rhysand hot on his heels. You helped Cassian to stand again before walking hand in hand in the direction of home, happy to have that weight off your chests and happier to hold one another's weight in your arms. 

--------------------------------------------

[solbaby7]

Sugar Kisses

warnings: sexual themes (not really smut but def alludes to it) , swearing, oral fixations, poor poker descriptions, idkkk i just picture cassian to be soft and flustered on the outside when he’s down bad but lowkey obsessed asf on the inside 🙂‍↕️

summary: Cassian has a sweet tooth for you and the things you do.

—

Cassian had come to the conclusion that lust was a shapeshifter.

Tonight, it seemed to favor you—setting up shop in the curves of your body and easing into the strappy little tank tops you favored and those flowy lounge pants that accentuated the curve of your ass.

Such simplicity and yet Cassian couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Utterly hypnotized—fixated solely on your mouth and the bright pink gum stuck between pearly white teeth. The slightly obnoxious chewing is soothed by the slow swipe of your tongue flattening it out, full lips parted, cheeks slightly puffing and the fruity scent blows his way when the bubble pops prematurely.

Your nose wrinkles in displeasure, tongue retrieving the remnants and tucking it back in your mouth to restart the process.

He’s hooked. Fingers digging roughly into the leathers on his thighs, worn fabric straining under the pressure but it holds strong. “Can I have another one?” Cassian hears you ask, a grin growing on your face when Azriel complies without even sparing a glance away from his cards. He pulls another from his pocket, handing it over with nothing more than a ruffle of the wrapper.

Mor huffs from her spot beside you, possessively hiding her cards as the game finally starts getting good. Her leg crosses over the other, upper body sinking further into the soft cushions when she cuts her eyes to Az and the pocket of treats he’d been steadily loading you with the whole night. “You’ve given her two already—if I have to hear her jaw smacking through this whole game, then I quit.”

Azriel breaks a smile, peeking over seven cards. “Was that a formal forfeit?”

And so it begins, that familiar banter that filled the living space once a week when the entirety of the Inner Circle gathered for family game night. It had been Azriel’s turn to pick and he always chose poker—robbing the High Lord and Lady of more gold coins than they cared to admit before deciding to sit the next round out to nurse their drinks instead.

They’re all so lax; so casual. While Cassian’s heart thudded like a bass drum against his chest, unable to stop noticing the way you were draped across the couch, taunting him with your every move. Painted fingers peel away at the faded red parchment before another bright ball of bubblegum was popped in your mouth.

It takes two whole minutes for you to smoothen everything out, all three pieces combining into one giant blob. Your cheek bulges on the side you chew on, lips sticky and tongue tinted. “That’s disgusting,” Mor whines, muttering complaints about the affects so much sugar would have on your teeth.

You take it in stride, rolling your eyes playfully as you pull your feet from her lap to move elsewhere. “Fine,” The lingering scent of your body wash fills Cassian’s nose when you plop down beside him with no regard for personal space or knowledge of the complete filth running rampant in his brain. “I’ll be disgusting over here—you don’t mind, do you Cass?”

Wide eyes framed by thick lashes peer up at him. They’re glassy, a side affect of the whiskey no doubt and an easy smile grows across his cheeks, body shifting to make room for you. “Not at all,” He answers softly, hoping that you don’t notice the way he all but shoves a pillow into his lap before your head finds a home there.

It’s not unusual. You were always the most affectionate when you were a little tipsy; five times more inclined to settle into whatever warmth you could find no matter who it came from and usually Cassian wouldn’t have minded. But you’re all sprawled out, hair fanning messily down his thigh with your neck bared and cheeks rosy.

The perfect temptation just within arms reach.

Tunnel vision takes over, golden eyes catching on the flimsy dip of your neckline. The soft fat of your breasts spilling upwards and Cassian actually finds himself jealous of the shiny gold necklace that rests between them.

“Why aren’t you playing?” Your voice pulls him from the trance, dragging his gaze back up to your eyes and a distinct warmth creeps up the back of his neck. “Usually we have to drag you away from the table.”

“Saving my luck for something more special.”

Someone more special, was more like it.

You hum in acknowledgement, finger twirling around the gum until bright pink fades into dusky hues from the strain. “Like what?” Cassian follows the hypnotic wrapping of your finger in the sweet treat, the pretty color a stark contrast to the dark polish on your fingers. Hearty laughs and soft chatter weaves a comforting symphony in the background as ice cubes melt in crystal glasses, watering down aged booze and creating a ring of condensation on the polished wood table. “Did some pretty little thing catch your eye?” You mean it as a joke and yet even after a few drinks you’re still terrifyingly attuned to Cassian’s shift in body language. His mouth clamping shut, hazel eyes drifting off to anywhere else—and maybe it was the firelight but you were certain you’d caught soft peachy tones beginning to warm his cheeks.

“Maybe.”

A flicker of emotion darkens your eye but it’s gone before Cassian can name it. “Do tell—I can keep a secret.” The same finger wrapped in pink raises to your mouth, glossy lips wrapping around until it disappears down to the knuckle.

Moisture coats his tongue, golden eyes shadowed with desire directed towards you and you alone. Maybe it’s the distraction that has the truth spewing from his mouth as if he’d injected a truth serum. “She’s—“ The crackling heat from the firelight feels slightly less comfortable now and Cassian can’t resist the way his body adjusts, hips bucking to settle better into the cushions. “Sweet.”

“That’s it?” You deadpan, the gum chewing momentarily pausing. “Come on, Cassian. I know you can give me more than that.”

It was a poor choice of words, like fuel being added to an already blazing fire. Need burns under the surface of Cassian’s skin, singing away at his self-control and his fingers itch to swipe away the strands of hair that tease at your collarbones. “She tests my self-control,” He answers vaguely, listing superficial features to mask the way honeyed eyes melt from the warmth lacing every word. “Wears my patience thin but otherwise a total dream.”

A total dream.

Your lips part to reply when Mor shouts her displeasure, throwing her hand of cards to the table while Az greedily slides his winnings to his side, shadows swiftly stacking like coins in neat piles. “You have to be cheating!”

“Come on, Mor. Don’t be a sore loser.”

Her wine sloshes over the rim of her glass, bright red seeping into a similar shade on her dress but Mor doesn’t mind a bit. Pointing an accusatory finger your way, her cheeks flush in frustration. “He cheated and you were an accomplice with that stupid gum.”

“If that’s all it takes to distract you then shuffle the deck,” You muse, making a show of blowing bubbles through your teeth and Cassian has to hide his laughter behind his knuckles when Mor flinches at the sharp sound. “I’ve been eying a pair of earrings in town— it’ll be the sweetest treat to purchase them with your money.”

“Oh, you’re on. If I win, you’re going to buy those earrings and then you’re going to give them to me.” Her heels are kicked off, the hem of her dress bunched up to make enough room for her legs to cross comfortably on the couch. “But, you have to spit that shit out first.”

With an eye roll you comply, showing off your tongue in all its stained glory. “Happy now?”

“..you swallowed it?”

“Spitters are for quitters.” Azriel spares his brother a glance, noting his fixed stare and that barely restrained clench of his jaw. The grip on the throw pillow conveniently placed in Cassian’s lap tightens, though it doesn’t hide a thing with the spicy scent of arousal tinging the air. “And, I don’t like to lose.”

Mor pauses her shuffling, eyes a little bleary and hands shaky from the alcohol. “Hm, maybe I should just forfeit before you end up conning me into giving you my apartment.”

“I do love your balcony.” You mumbled thoughtfully. “Private and with a view.” Crisp cards rustle against one another while you adjust the unruly ones and split it in two to shuffle. “The things a girl could do.”

Now you’re just being cruel, Cassian thinks. Mind wandering to the picture you’ve painted. You dressed in some skimpy silks or see-through gossamer, the winds chill cooling sweat slick skin after the rigorous physical activity the General would make you endure.

He gets stuck fantasizing about flushed cheeks and unbound hair. Lacy panties left in a messy heap on the floor and duvet sheets that reek of sex. Breakfast in bed with a sappy sunrise illuminating mouth shaped bruises along your neck while hand feeding you chopped fruit.

A fools dream. A sinners fantasy. A need that refuses to go unfulfilled.

“We doing this or not?”

Complying ends up being Mor’s downfall, with every second that passes you conjure up some new way to goad her on—adding to the stakes and then grinning like a fool when sliding the earnings over to your side. A shiny gold key dangles from one of your fingers, palms cradling a pouch of coins, a triumphant glow gracing your cheeks. “I hate you,” Mor grumbles but it only makes you laugh harder, hips shimmying in a little victory dance. “I’m going to bed.”

“Enjoy my sheets,” You tease, jubilance evident in the grin you sport as you wave her goodbye and even Azriel can’t fight a smile at the antics, your joy too contagious. “I’ll definitely be enjoying yours!”

Cassian tracks your exit, grinning to himself about the pep in your step and once you’ve finally gotten out of earshot he faces his brother. Azriel’s already looking, a knowing expression lingering in his eye as he pockets his winnings. “She can’t winnow, you know.” Cass’ brows furrow in confusion. “It’s dark out,” Az continues, tone holding a restrained amusement. “And awfully late for a female to be out travelling alone.”

“I don’t know what you—“

“Take her home, Cass.” There’s an annoying amount of smugness settling into the line of Azriel’s shoulders. It festers in his stride, steps casual and lacking any real urgency as if he wasn’t unveiling the crush his brother has had on you for years. “I know you want to—whole room fucking stinks of it.”

“Oh, fuck you.”

“No, fuck her. Seriously, the sexual tension is making dinners unbearable.”

Az leaves him there, lips parted in what appears to be shock but Cassian identifies the feeling that emerges rather quickly.

He knows he shouldn’t haven taken it the way he does.

Like permission.

As if the locks to his cage had been picked open, iron bars creaking agape; urging Cassian forward, crooning for him to seek out what he’d fixated on during the entirety of his imprisonment.

Colorful candies and the stain they leave behind. Sticky lips, sugar kisses and coy smiles. Strappy pajamas with pretty lace trim. Dainty gold jewelry. Unbound hair and soft skin that smells of cocoa butter and comfort.

A sweet thing that Cassian’s just dying to sink his teeth into. He barely notices the way he seeks you out, body moving on autopilot; nose greedily huffing in the trail of your perfume until he sets eyes on you and the duffle bag at your feet. “Make a wrong turn, General?”

“M’not that drunk.” He hides the greedy flinch of his fingers by grabbing your things instead, just barely grazing the curve of your ankle—he thinks his hand would make the perfect chain around it. All his. Locked in place; to do with as he pleased. “Just here playing escort.”

“Only playing? Could’ve sworn you were trying your luck on something sweet.”

That makes him double-take. A brow raising as he’s frozen in place, watching the swish of your hips while you walk down the hall.

He’s certain he’s imagined it; the teasing way you’ve dangled a hot meal before a starving animal. But he can smell the sustenance, swears he can feel a hearty supper filling his maw and settling in his belly. Watches the way you peer over at him through half-lidded eyes, tongue stained red when it wets supple lips. “Hurry now, Cassie.” The strap of your shirt dips down the curve of your shoulder, lashes fluttery and flirtatious when you lean against the doorway. “Luck runs out.”

[miniaturesuitgladiator]

Cassandra the moment she sees you with another person:

Cass: your supposed to be my girlfriend.....

You confused because your literally just trying to help a girl who feel down up: I am......?

Jealous Cass who doesn't like that your even touching another person: No your not..... your disloyal...

[icarusflewsworld]

Rhysand & Cassian & Azriel X OC

Hello, here is the chapter 14 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.

Thank you for readings, I love you guys ❤️❤️

Feel free to tell me what you think about the direction the story is taking! Thanks for reading, voting and for your comments. You brighten my day.

! Don't forget to read the previous chapters ! : Here

Enjoy the read !

Chapter 14

Azriel half-opened his heavy eyelids with difficulty. He noticed the room in which he had locked Luxiana yesterday without really seeing her. He repositioned himself a little more comfortably on the wall where he was leaning, his buttocks a little numb from the cold, hard floor he was sitting on. Then, suddenly, he realized. Luxiana! He scrambled to his feet, breathless and heart pounding in his chest. He searched the room frantically for his soul mate.

Then he froze, seeing Luxiana on the bed, in the same place they'd left her yesterday. He could release the air he'd been holding in his lungs, relieved, his shoulders sagging. She was on her back, her face half-covered by her hair, and the drool dripping from the corner of her mouth made Azriel smile gently. Even like this, she was cute. Her arms and legs were at dubious angles, and one of her hands was flat against Cassian's face, which was sleeping as soundly and similarly as Luxiana beside him. 

He grimaced. That bastard. He was so close to Luxiana. Luckily, he hadn't taken advantage of the night to take her in his arms and hug her. Well, maybe that was why she had a hand on his face, because she'd pushed him away. 

Then he looked down and noticed Rhys, on the floor beside Luxiana, lying full length on the ground, completely asleep.

He frowned as he ran his hands through his hair, watching the room a little more for a threat. The sun was fully up, and the warm yellowish rays streaming through the bay window confirmed to him that it was already late. His eyes widened. Had he slept all this time? Had they slept that long? 

He couldn't believe it. He had slept. He usually had great difficulty sleeping. The voices of his shadows, although he was used to them, and whatever else was still bothering him, usually prevented him from doing so, but here, he'd just felt so good. He'd been so reassured to know Luxiana was by their side, and the fact that his shadows had fallen silent, he'd dozed off deeply. 

He glanced at Rhysand. He was sleeping well too. It was crazy. In the last few weeks, thanks to their new bond, he'd felt all the times Rhys hadn't been able to sleep because of his worry about Luxiana, but he'd also felt the nightmares he'd had that distressed him greatly. But now Rhys was sleeping peacefully. Was he as reassured as he was to know Luxiana was by their side?

Azriel winced. They'd been foolhardy to sleep at all. Anything could have happened. Luxiana could have run away again, foolishly endangering her life as she had done so well last night. 

He took a deep breath, then let it out as he dropped onto the wall behind him and slid down to sit up again, but the clanking of his weapons and armor made more noise than expected. Rhysand and Cassian awoke suddenly, straightening up at once, tense and on guard. They looked left and right, ready to fight, but frowned as they remembered where they were. 

"Everything's fine," Azriel said to his two brothers through their telepathic link, not wanting to wake Luxiana, who was still snoring softly. "We just fell asleep."

"Asleep?" repeated Cassian aloud, still confused as he stared at the sunbeams streaming through the bay window.

"Shut up, you'll wake her up," Azriel ordered him, then glanced at Luxiana. Her hand, which had been resting on Cassian's face, had fallen on the mattress when he had straightened up, but she hadn't even felt it. She still hadn't moved. He smiled, at first relieved, but then a worry gripped his gut. She was such a heavy sleeper, it could be so dangerous for her. 

Rhysand cast a puzzled glance at Azriel, who nodded in agreement. “We slept really well," affirmed the shadows singer. "It's past noon."

Rhysand's eyes widened, and he glanced at Luxiana. He'd been so reassured to know she was close to him that he'd fallen asleep. But he hadn't had a single nightmare. He hadn't had one in a long time. He ran his hands over his face to wake himself up, and as he moved he realized he was in his combat gear. So were Cassian and Azriel. They'd slept in those uncomfortable clothes, even with their shoes on. It was crazy. 

After what had happened yesterday, Azriel had rested on the wall on the left side of the room so as to have his eye on Luxiana, the bay window and the front door. Rhysand had then lain on the floor on that side too, jealous of the closeness she had with Cassian in the same bed. And he hadn't even had time to think about what had happened before he'd fallen asleep. Cassian hadn't lasted long either. He'd watched Luxiana sleep, finding her so pretty, before he himself dozed off without even realizing it.

Rhysand turned his head to Luxiana and smiled as he saw her asleep, hair matted, facial muscles relaxed, sprawled like a starfish on the bed and half on top of Cassian. She looked so cute. 

Cassian, still seated, shrugged his shoulders and grinned in acceptance. He'd slept really well and was ready to do it all over again. Especially as the bubble of vanilla perfume surrounding him and emanating from his soul mate calmed him so powerfully that his heart felt as if it had stopped beating. He lay back down and turned towards Luxiana, tucking his wings behind him. He detailed the landscape of tangled hair and drool that offered to him with a smile. He remembered when he'd opened his eyes that night and seen her curled up in a ball under the blanket Azriel had laid over her. She looked cold and he'd wanted to warm her, so he'd reached up to wrap his wings around her body but, without even waking up, she'd pushed him away with a firm hand on his face. And her palm hadn't left Cassian's face all night. 

The army commander's smile widened. She was his soul mate. He could see his brothers in his field of vision, and he noticed that they were staring at her too. In any case, the feeling of peace, tenderness and comfort he felt in his chest wasn't just Cassian's. It was their soul mate. It was their soul mate. "How are we going to do this?" he asked through their bond.

"How are we going to do what?" replied Rhysand, deflecting her eyes towards him just as Azriel did. 

"When she will love us. Will we have to make a schedule so that each of us can take turns spending the night with her? It’s horrible to think that" A ball of stress and apprehension crushed Cassian's stomach, and the same feelings arose in Azriel and Rhysand. "Will she even want this? One of us is already a lot for one woman, so three for the same one, will she want this? Will she put up with all three of us? Will she even be able to unite with three people? Does the ceremony foresee such a possibility? Will she have to marry just one of us? What about sleeping with her? We've never shared the same woman in bed, so how do we ...?"

"That's enough," interrupted Rhys, "calm down. We'll sort it all out in due time. She doesn't like us yet anyway. Let's take it one day at a time and try to get her to like us first, then we'll see. Besides, given her character, I'm sure she'll sort things out on her own." Rhysand said this, but doubt was also eating him up inside. He'd been asking himself all these questions every second since he'd met Luxiana.

Cassian nodded, relaxing as he took a deep breath. Rhysand was right. Their soul mate was no slouch, and she'd probably manage all three of them just fine. She already did. He returned his gaze to Luxiana and smiled. It would worth it to give everything and fight for her, he was convinced. She was his mate, after all. He reached up to brush the hair from her cheeks, stroking the skin of her face with his fingertips. "My bed would be big enough to receive all four of us. Maybe I'd always known we'd share the same soul mate."

Rhysand smiled wryly as he sat cross-legged. "I swear, if we come to sleep in the same bed for her, if either of you get too close to me or to touch me, especially if you're naked, I'll disintegrate you."

Cassian and Azriel burst out laughing, trying to be as quiet as possible despite everything.

Wanting to get closer to her again, Cassian slid in her direction, but the bed was far too small and limited his movements. He wanted to try again to take her in his arms. He grabbed Luxiana by the hips to turn her towards him and bring her close enough to fall asleep again for hours, but his soulmate grunted. 

Azriel rolled his eyes, cursing his brother by their bond. "Cassian, I'm going to break your fingers, let her sleep."

Luxiana, without even opening an eye, pressed both palms and both feet flat against Cassian's abdomen to push him away. And she remained in that position, bent in two and still completely asleep. Cassian couldn't help himself and burst out laughing loudly. 

"Cass," Rhysand scolded to make him stop laughing and not wake up Luxiana, but it was too late.

The blonde sat up suddenly, letting out a cry of frustration. She grabbed the pillow behind her to press it against Cassian's face with both hands, surely hoping to smother the brunet with it. But Cassian laughed even harder. The Illyrian gently pushed back the cushion and Luxiana, not wanting to murder him just yet, decided to pull it away. She struck Cassian's thigh once with it, then returned it to its place behind his back. She ran her hands over her face to wake herself up, then crossed her arms, detailing the three Illyrians and their positions. "This isn't the best way to wake me up, you know," she growled in a broken voice.

Rhysand smiled wryly as he slowly rose to his feet. He looked down at Luxiana from his heigh for a moment as she stared at him intently. He leaned towards her, "what's the best way to wake you up then?"

Luxiana swallowed hard, lost for a second in Rhysand's beautiful violet-blue eyes before squinting, remembering that she was angry with them. But why was she already? "Not to," she replied coldly as she lay back down, curling up into a ball with her back to Rhysand. 

Cassian laughed softly.  "Are you always in such a bad mood in the morning?"

Luxiana muttered through her teeth. "Only when you're the one who wakes me up." 

The three Illyrians grimaced as they glanced at each other. Either she was always in a very bad mood in the morning, or she was still angry with them. Rhysand huffed, resting her buttocks beside her soul mate on the bed.

Luxiana, feeling the mattress in her back sink, closed her eyes a little tighter as she moved back, sliding further until she couldn't, coming into contact with Cassian. She preferred him for the moment. 

Azriel jumped to his feet and approached the bed, ready to move away Cassian and Rhysand, who were oppressing his mate. Azriel understood that she couldn't be enjoying this too much. He understood that when you're a young woman, you can't necessarily be very reassured by the presence of two unknown men so close to you in a bed. But Rhysand spoke. "We'd like to apologize.”

Azriel stopped a few steps away from Rhysand with some surprise. He'd never seen him apologize for anything before. To apologize was to admit his wrongdoing, and Rhys was the high lord; he couldn't afford to do that, it would have denied his authority. And when Cassian had spoken of making amends to their soul mate, Azriel hadn't thought those words would be uttered by Rhysand. But they had been. He smiled. Rhysand had put aside his pride and his role for their soulmate. He was a good man. He was reassured to know that Luxiana would be treated well with her two brothers too. He was happy to know that relations with his brothers would take a whole new turn thanks to Luxiana.

The blonde, completely taken aback by Rhysand's words, jumps to sit straight, startling the three Illyrians. She leaned back against the headboard and crossed her hands over her thighs. She looked at Rhysand with an attentive and serious face. "Why?" she asked slowly, in a drawling voice as she squinted her eyes. 

Rhysand glanced at Cassian and Azriel, and the three of them smiled softly, realizing that their future words could determine the rest of their relationship with their soulmate and her behavior towards them. "For interrupting Feyre's wedding and behaving like cads," continued Rhysand, gazing into his soulmate's electrifying blue eyes. 

Luxiana frowned for a second. Was he sincere? Was the high lord of the night court apologizing to her? For real? "Really?"

"Oh we can promise you we really blame ourselves, yes," Cassian smiled as he straightened up and leaned on the bed in the same way as Luxiana.

Luxiana glanced at him sideways, wary. "Why did you do it then?"

Rhysand took a deep breath, he didn't want to lie to her too much so he inspired from the truth. "Yesterday we learned something very... disturbing and..."

"What have you learned?" she asked, inclining her head and detailing the fae lord with piercing eyes. 

Azriel and Rhysand glanced at each other. Cassian laughed softly. "Someday you'll find out, believe me."

She crossed her arms, puckering up her face and settling a little more herself in the mattress, making the Illyrian smile triple. "And then what?" she sought to know more.

"And so," Rhysand continued, trying to regain a modicum of seriousness.  "As a result, all the decisions that were made yesterday were hasty and made in anger. Like the one where we decided to go and get Feyre to return the favor she'd promised."

"Which is?" she interrupted him again.

Azriel crossed his arms, glancing half-closed at Luxiana. "He could come to it if he wasn't interrupted every two seconds."

Luxiana gave him a dark look, which Azriel returned.

Rhysand placed his hand on the young woman's cheek, then forced her to turn her head towards him and take her eyes off Azriel. He wanted her to see how sincere he was. "We decided this on the spur of the moment, thinking it would be a good idea, and went straight for Feyre. We really didn't think we'd be interrupting her wedding."

Luxiana loved the contact of these three Illyrians far too much. It turned her inside out so much that she couldn't even think straight. When she spoke, her voice was weak, uncertain and a little too high-pitched. "Despite how much you hate Tamlin, you still wouldn't have interrupted his wedding?"

Cassian blew out a laugh. "We would have interrupted him in other circumstances but not here, not knowing he was marrying your best friend and certainly not knowing what she means to you." 

Luxiana's eyes widened as she stared at Cassian before her cheeks flushed violently. "Liar," she said, lowering her head. 

Azriel felt his heart pounding against his ribcage. She was so cute.

"We don't lie, I assure you," Rhysand said, shifting his hand from Luxiana's cheek to her chin to catch her jaw. He raised his soulmate's flushed head to him. 

She looked at Rhysand with doubt. She wanted to believe in his sincerity, but the massacre they'd made at the wedding wasn't erased. "Why do you need Feyre, or me, or anyone?"

Rhysand straightened his back, letting go of Luxiana and putting on a serious face. "Time is running out to neutralize the cauldron and prevent Hybern from destroying the wall. We must save the humans and to do that we must find the second part of the book of breathing. We already know it's in the summer court, but despite our many searches, we haven't been able to find out exactly where it is in the summer court. So we have to go there, locate it and steal it. And that's where we need someone. We're going to need all the help we can get to find that part of the book. And it's because of all this that we were in such a hurry. We hastily decided yesterday to stop searching and get on with it. It was a bad coincidence with Feyre's wedding."

Luxiana frowned. Part of her wanted to believe him, and to believe the glint of supplication that shone in his eyes. He seemed to really want her to forgive them. But another part of Luxiana, her logical, thoughtful part, which was putting all the events together and analyzing them, was screaming at her that something was wrong. That there was something the Lord wasn't telling her. 

Even so, she had to admit that his story made sense and could be true. After all, it could really be. She wanted to believe them. She liked them. Besides, it would make sense, that's why they needed a woman, to seduce the lord of the summer court and make him tell her where he'd locked the book. She could do that. "I can do that," she affirmed, nodding seriously. Everything that had happened at the wedding had been terrible and she was still a little upset, but Rhysand was right, time was running out. Now she understood why he'd done it in such a hurry, so she blamed them a lot less. But the doubt lingered in the blonde's mind with a bitter taste in the back of her mouth. What if they were lying? But why would they lie to her? She had nothing to offer them that they could possibly want. And in any case, she'd know in due course whether what they were saying was true or not. "But why didn't you talk to Feyre about it in that case?"

Rhys smiled wryly, she was clever but he'd planned everything. "Because this mission must remain secret, we can't compromise it... there were a lot of people at the wedding and a lot of people we don't trust. That's why we didn't say anything. But when we will be in possession of the second part of the book, we'll talk to her about it."

"And why didn't you let me say goodbye?" She insisted. She intended to get to the bottom of the whole affair. 

Azriel huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Why the hell was she so relentless? "As Rhys said, we were on edge. We acted without thinking and seeing all those people, it surprised us. We just wanted to get away as quickly as possible."

Luxiana took a deep breath, then lowered her eyes. She finally had answers to her questions, or at least she could settle for that for now. But it didn't help her solve her problem. She needed to contact Feyre or see her to reassure her. She knew her best friend was worried sick about her. She thought Rhysand was cruel and was probably torturing her. She just wanted to reassure her. Living in anguish would hurt Feyre and she didn't want that.

Rhysand noticed the gleam of concern and disappointment in Luxiana’s eyes. "Is it that important for you to see Feyre?" 

Luxiana simply nodded, her mind elsewhere, already imagining hundreds of plans per second to contact Feyre.

"Then we'll take you to see her. Whenever you want."

Luxiana raised a wide-eyed look of surprise at Rhysand before both her pupils began to glow brightly. "For real?"

"For real?" repeated Azriel just as surprised as Luxiana. He had clenched his teeth and his voice was wheezy. Luxiana was also his soul mate and he had something to say about it too, but Rhysand didn't seem to care. He didn't want his soul mate to get too close to Lucien again. He was going to have to have a talk with Rhysand. He had to learn to share all things concerning his soul mate, including decisions.

The lord glanced at Azriel before returning his gaze to his mate and nodding, more than happy to see that dazzling smile on her face again. 

Luxiana let out an exclamation of delight as she passed Rhysand and leapt to her feet. She didn't really believe in Rhysand's kindness, but wanted to find out if he had something on his mind or if he just wanted to please her. And either way, she intended to benefit from this moment to see Feyre. "Now then! Let's go now! I'm going in the shower!"

Cassian, who had crossed his hands behind his skull, watched the scene with tenderness. He would love to see this kind of scene every morning. Seeing his mate bickering and talking with his brothers. His heart was doing strange things in his chest, but it didn't seem wrong. 

Just as she was about to pass Azriel, he caught her by the arm, immobilizing her with a single blow. She gave him a confused look, but Azriel pointed at her. "We'll go on one condition."

Luxiana inclined her head to let Azriel know she was listening, and to encourage him to continue. 

"You don't touch Lucien, if he touches you you push him away and you don't get closer than three steps to him." he said in a growling voice.

"Four," Cassian accented, nodding in agreement with Azriel. 

"Four steps," Azriel then modified. "Is that clear?"

Rhysand huffed, casting dark, reproving glances at his two brothers. They mustn't let her think she was their soul mate, she'd get scared and intimidated, but Azriel's jealousy was stronger than that. Rhysand hoped Luxiana had no idea.  

The blonde frowned so much her forehead hurt. "What's your problem with Lucien? He's really..."

Cassian jerked to his feet with a growl, "If you're going to speak out about oh how wonderful you think Lucien is, I'm out of here, it'll be without me." He started for the door, but Azriel stopped him by raising a hand.

He caught Luxiana's chin in his grip, turning her head toward him. "It's none of your business what's wrong between us and Lucien. We're allowing you to see Feyre, but we've set a condition in exchange, so we expect you to respect it. Is that clear?" Azriel gritted his teeth. He didn't like talking to his soulmate like that, but he was so jealous, so angry, that he couldn't contain his dry tone too much.

Rhysand squinted at Azriel. He was seeing a whole new side to his brother thanks to Luxiana, and he'd had no idea he was so dominant and authoritarian in his relationships before now. He knew that the three of them were having a hard time dealing with all the amplified emotions they were feeling, but Rhysand, though deadly jealous, would never have forbidden his soulmate to approach anyone. But he said nothing; he knew it was better for everyone if she stayed away from Lucien. And despite that, a bad part of him was reassured to see that Azriel was like that. A bad part of him was reassured that he'd have that role in the relationship and that he'd make sure their soul mate didn't get too close to any other man. But he'd keep an eye on him. He wouldn't let him stop their soul mate from living.

Luxiana smiled as she tilted her head, glaring at the Illyrian who held her attentively. She was determined to find out what was wrong between them and Lucien. She didn't like taking orders, but part of her appreciated Azriel's authoritarian behavior. This time, she intended to stay away from Lucien until she'd got to the bottom of the whole thing and got to know the three Illyrians a little better. After all, as much as she liked the redhead, she didn't really care whether she got close to him or not. He was only her friend. And the important thing was Feyre. She shrugged. "If you like."

Azriel released her slowly, and Luxiana wasted no time going to the bathroom. He watched her walk away with a mixture of emotion in his chest. She'd shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't care about Lucien, and his whole body lightened at the realization, but it wasn't the answer Azriel would have wanted. He would have liked her to tell him that Lucien was nobody to her. But at least she wouldn't go near him. Azriel was so afraid that Luxiana would realize that Lucien was better than him, better than them. 

"Luxiana," Rhysand called to her as Luxiana went to close the bathroom door. She turned to him with a questioning look. "We'll wait for you in the hall" 

Cassian and Azriel glanced at him half-surprised, half-furious, but Rhysand paid them no mind. He had no reason to keep an eye on her now that she'd not run off to see Feyre like they were going to see her now. And he was giving her some space. He didn't want her to be sick of them already. "There are clothes in the closet," he added feverish to see her in his colors, "please, help yourself."

Luxiana nodded and closed the bathroom door. The three Illyrians reluctantly left the room. The three of them were really going to have to have a talk, especially as they didn't want to behave in the same way with their soul sister.

[redbleedingrose]

had a random thought that girl dad!cassian is the type to cry when his baby gets shots

I don't disagree with you!!!

First off, this male knows the importance of getting vaccinations, he knows that it saves children's lives and has erradicated diseases that used to seriously harm and kill indviduals. He also recognizes that even if his baby girl does get sick with what she was vaccinated for, she will be less impacted than a child who hasn't been vaccinated, AND will help prevent the spread of the disease. He is an educated king, even if he doesn't always act like it, and he believes in science and furthering it's advancements. (sorry ur ask is to a doctor in an era where modern science is being dismantled)

Anyway, with all that said, he still is in TEARS the moment his sweet girl starts to scream and sob her big fat angry tears with ruddy tan cheeks.

It really is something to watch as the nurse adminsters the vaccine, your poor angel babe is so friendly and happy, she does not see it coming, and the moments after the vaccine is adminstered, you watch as her chubby little cheeks drop from her big toothless smile into an angry, pained cry. Poor Cass is the one holding her, kissing her head, hushing her with "Papa is right here angel," and "Oh, I know it hurts baba, s'okay, you're my strong little girl," and "Don't worry sweetheart, papa will make the hurt go away," silent tears streaming down his own cheeks.

It kills him he can't stop the shot from being painful, he never wants to see his daughter in pain, he would stop the world from spinning just to prevent the pain if he could.

After its all over, and the poor babe has finally calmed down into a grumpy nap against his chest, he has the nerve to give you the dirty look as if blaming you, "next time, you hold her, I seriously cannot be in the room with her because I was ready to rip the nurses hand off, so help me, she was moving so slowly." LMAOOOOO

But the honest truth is, he would never abandon his babe, even when it hurts to watch, he will be strong for her and hold her close and comfort her while she squirms away. He will cuddle her, and kiss away her boo boos, and give her anything she really wants, because that is just the kind of father he is.

[harrystylesfan2686]

Weight

Pairing: Bat boys x Reader

Summary: they comfort you when you're unsure about your body.

Warning: slight body insecurity.

A/N: Just what I think who will react how, to you questioning yourself.

Masterlist

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"Do you think I've gained more weight?" You frown in concentration, looking at the reflection of yourself in the mirror.

"How do you mean?"

"I don't know. It just feels like I've gained more weight. Like, I feel like my stomach and thighs look bigger than before."

Cassian:

You yelp out as a pair of arms lift you in the air without notice. Cassian tucks you into him with a hand behind your back and one behind your knees. Your hands wrap his neck as instinct.

"What are you doing?!" Your wide eyes search his face for explanation but only find a smirk starting to form.

"What you said you've gained weight, I'm just checking." He lifts you once in exaggeration and you yell at him again, holding him tighter. "I think it's the same."

"Put me down now!" You pinch his arm but are unable to stop the smile forming at your lips.

"Nah. Only if you give me a kiss." He pouts his lips and you laugh. Rolling your eyes you kiss him and he forces his tougne past you lips, deepening the kiss.

Let's just say, he doesn't put you down all night.

Rhysand:

His arms wrap around you middle and he rests his chin on your shoulder, silently looking over you. "Maybe but who cares? Are you upset about?"

"I don't know... I'm not sure what I feel about it. Do you think it's bad? Maybe I should lose a little?" You turn around to look at him and rest your arms on his shoulders.

"No. It's not bad at all. I still love you, doesn't matter if you've put on weight." He smirks and you sense that he is about to say something crazy. "Besides, more skin for my hands to cover." His hands squeeze you butt for emphasis.

"Shameless flirt." You laugh and rest your lips to him in a innocent kiss.

Azriel:

His hands slide up your hands as he trails kisses down your neck and shoulder. You smile at him from your reflection.

"Maybe you have, but I don't care. I love you for you. I will never care about your weight as long as you're comfortable with it, love. You could turn into a ball and I would still love you." You laugh. He kisses your cheek and turns you to him, looking into your eyes he asks,"Are you comfortable with it?"

You smile. "Yes, I am." He smiles too and you wrap your arms around his neck while he, your waist. He kisses the inside of you arm and you whisper,"I love you."

He leaves small kisses all over your face. "I love you too, my love, always."

He spends the entire night showing you just how much.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

[fandomnerd9602]

Can we get a Y/N x Aunt Cass, where Cass gets saved by a Hero who reveals themselves to be Y/N?

Cass is dropped off the top of the San Fransokyo Bridge by a villain...

Y/N swoops in and saves Cass...

Hiro: good catch!

Cass: (gasps) thank you, you're my hero

Y/N: thanks but you're just perfect yourself

Cass: wait! Y/N?!

Y/N: h-hey

Cass: you're a part of Big Hero 7?!

Y/N: are we still on for Friday?

Cass: Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

[themusingsofacurlyhairednerd]

Ludos Imperiales 11

A/N: A little bit of wound-tending to make up for the wait of this chapter :)

Content Warnings: Blood and Gore, Gladiator Fights, Unnamed Character Death; Reader Tends to Rhys' wounds post fight (I know nothing about medical procedures, this is based off a Google search don't come for me)

Previous Chapter/ Masterlist

---------------

Torchlights flicker in monstrous shapes across the rough stone walls, the path beyond ominously dark. The rattling of chains and distant sounds of wheezing coughs lead me forward as I pull the hood of my cloak a little lower.  

If I don’t find them down here, I think I might die anyway.

The bond is a bleeding thing in my chest, the tether echoing with agony that feels like it might just rend my soul from my flesh. I can’t breathe beyond the pain that pulses through me, that compels me to move faster in the dark. Danger is irrelevant. My mates need me. Nothing beyond that matters. 

The path curves to the left and slopes, loose rock crunching under my feet with every step. I’ve never been so aware of how loud my own footsteps are until now. 

Once the path levels out, it goes straight for what feels like miles, I keep a hand on the wall as I inch forward little by little, until another torch finally comes into view. It’s anchored above a door, the wood old and faded, the iron edges covered in rust. Beside it, on a stool that’s seen better days, sits a guard. Not a Praetorian, which is the only reason I know this reckless decision of mine will work. A Praetorian will give word back to my Father, but this male? He’s human, round enough that he’s using his stomach as a table to balance a plate piled with bread and grapes. Crumbs cling to the patchy stubble that rims his round face, eyes glassy. There’s at least four empty bottles around his sandaled feet. Not drunk enough to be asleep, but not awake enough to remember I was here.

I slide a bag of coins out of my belt and toss it at him as he registers my presence. “I was never here.”

He opens the bag, nods to himself and hands over the key to the door with a chuckle. “Or you could stay for the company, doll.”

I ignore him as I jam the key in the worn lock and force the door open. The fact that it doesn’t creak when it opens tells me I’m not the only one that’s been sneaking through these tunnels lately. 

I lock it behind me and slide the key into a pocket on the inside of my cloak. I don’t need anyone sneaking up behind me. 

The room I find myself in is leagues taller than the tunnels, the roof stretching high out of reach, supported by massive iron pillars. We’re far beneath the Pit floor, but the smell of rot and decay and damp earth assaults me as soon as I step in. 

There’s a door to the right, locked with a padlock, probably a way towards the Pit, but no Guards on this side. Why waste them when you know the occupants can’t fight their way out?

My heart clenches so tightly in my chest I almost can’t breathe.

The Orc crawls its way up the boulder, meaty hands grabbing for purchase on the lip of the rock, just missing Rhys’s shoulder. 

My mate’s movements are terrifyingly slow as he manages to roll onto his side, pushing Cassian’s shaking frame off his chest. 

Azriel is screaming beneath him, throwing rocks and debris, trying desperately to get himself airborne, but his wings aren’t strong enough. The membrane shutters and twitches and Azriel is a deep shade of green as he keeps flapping them harder and harder, managing to get up an inch or two before they give out. He hasn’t had enough time to heal!

The rocks make the Orc chuckle as it gets another hand on the lip of the rock and begins hauling himself over the edge. 

I can’t do anything but sit there uselessly, my heart in my throat, watching in terror as Rhys manages to sit up, face twisting in pain. Only desperation has him throwing a punch into the Orc’s good eye, but the blow lacks the muscle he needs to dislodge him, he has to throw them again and again until the monster slips an inch or so down the rock. 

Rhys manages to twist so he’s sitting on the edge, using his heels to kick at the Orc’s hands and keep him from climbing back up, but it’s not doing enough. Cassian can’t yet help him, any attempt to sit up has his whole body shaking, the twitching starting all over again with each and every moment. 

I watch as Azriel’s gaze sweeps over the arena, looking for any remaining weapons, anything he can use to his advantage. There’s nothing, everything that had been left on that floor is ash. His gaze sweeps to our booth, past Amarantha and my Father, before settling on me. Without the bond it is hard to be sure, but that look, the way his lips droop, the way his hazel eyes turn pleading, it feels an awful lot like an apology.

There aren’t enough words to describe the terror that lodges itself in my throat as his shadows dislodge from behind his back, writhing through the air like a living breathing thing. 

“You said the gorsian would keep them at bay!” The Emperor snarls at Amarantha. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him find a flaw in her and it would be an entirely more unsettling experience if Azriel’s shadows weren’t pulling the Orc from his perch!

The crowd is in an uproar, booing and hissing and throwing things into the arena in outrage. The amount of money the crowd will lose has to be astronomical. And while they may lose the money on a technicality, Azriel will still have cheated. 

It’s like a bad dream, watching the Orc’s arms pinwheel as the shadows drag him through the air towards the yawning chasm of lava below. 

The Gamemaker’s mage flails his hands frantically, trying to shift the floor around in time to keep the Game going. 

Half a dozen of those disks come shooting out the walls, all aimed in Azriel’s direction, the buzzing loud enough to be heard over the screaming of the crowd. 

The ground splinters beneath Azriel’s feet, and even as he jumps to safety, a single shadow peels away from the writhing mass around the Orc, arching towards the Mage like an airborne snake. 

“Az no!” Rhys screams. 

But the shadows and their master pay him no mind as the tendril snags the Mage around the throat and hurtles him down into his own lava!

The crowd suddenly goes deadly silent.

The ground stops shifting, the loss of magic making the pieces of rock floating around the air come crumbling down. Rhys manages to get an arm under Cassian’s shoulders and hauls him off their descending perch so they don’t get smashed as it tumbles, their fall so hard I can practically feel the impact in my teeth. 

They land at the same time Azriel’s shadows bring the Orc down into the rapidly disappearing lava, the creature’s massive bulk just barely hitting the magma before the rock closes over his head, effectively sealing him in a fiery tomb. It all happens so fast there’s not even time for the male to scream before he’s gone and the world finally stops moving. 

The tether in my chest is finally reachable, leading me through the twisting tunnels, past cages filled with grizzly, slumbering males. The stench of decay and infection gets stronger the deeper I go, fighting against the heavy press of booze and opioid smoke. Can’t have rebelling gladiators if they’re too drunk and high off their winnings to fight back. 

At least it’s late enough that my sneaking doesn’t alert too many people.  I’m sure this whole place has been in enough uproar as is.

“You fucking knew, didn’t you?” The Emperor snarls so loud I see Eris and Tamlin flinch in their seats.

I don’t let myself look at him, don’t fold in my shoulders and duck my head to try and make myself as small as possible. My attempts at playing the subservient little girl have failed me. Fainting like a weak-hearted child did nothing but piss him off. If we are to survive, we have to be smarter than this. 

I have to be smarter than this. 

So far, playing this Game by my Father’s rules has gotten us to this point. It has brought us nothing but pain and misery. 

I don’t want to play anymore. I want to win.

I told Azriel that I wouldn’t let anything come between us, and I meant it. Maybe that means it's time to do this another way. 

“Yes. I knew.”

The silence in the booth is deafening.

I bite the inside of my cheek, fighting every instinct I’ve ever had to run and hide. 

I am not weak. I am not helpless. I beat that Raven; I will beat its Master too. 

“I was curious,” I continue, drawing a deep breath to steady myself as I turn to face him. The playing field was never going to be level between us. He’s spent my entire life making sure that I would always be small and weak and too scared to move. “They seemed so eager for the opportunity I presented them. I wanted to know how far they would take it.”

“And yet you did not consult me on this?” The Emperor snarls, not buying it. 

“It needed to look real. I needed them to think I was vulnerable.”

“And what have they shown you?” The contempt in his voice is clear. 

Almost as clear as the confusion Eris is trying really hard to keep off his face. At least for now, he keeps his end of the bargain. 

“They’re trying to get close. See if they can use me. The Shadowsinger slipped up with the shadows one night. I told him I’d keep his secret in hopes of finding what else they’re hiding. It is a long game. One I need more time in, but I assure you, Father, it was never for ill intent. I am only acting on the good of the Empire. You can have the twins look into my head if you’d like confirmation.”

Maybe that’s too much of a lie, but I’ll find a way to use it to my advantage. Whatever I need to do to ensure my mates walk out of this; whatever roll becomes necessary for me to take on I will take it. 

He runs a hand over his mouth, thinking. If this had happened in the Senate Meeting during one of his episodes, I’d be dead already, but he’s in a good mood today, far clearer headed than he was then. It might save them. 

At least for today. 

The Emperor stands. It’s customary for him to give a judgment before a death, the crowd is waiting to see what he will do now that one happened before his intervention. 

“You truly expect me to believe that you’re capable of handling this sort of thing?”

I bite back the bile rising in my throat. There is only one way I get him onboard with this; only one way I ensure he doesn’t kill them right here and now. “Weakness must be purged from the Empire.” The words stick like tar in the back of my throat. “You told me that story every night as a child.”

He goes very, very still. Only he would know which story I’m referring to; I doubt he’d tell anyone else that the gods cursed him with a mate. 

“The Shadowsinger thinks he’s your mate?” 

I raise my chin, hoping he can’t see how hard it is for me to swallow, how hard it is to even get air down. He will not kill them for this. No, this is grounds for him to test me, to see if I can purge the supposed weakness he has always seen in me and rise to the occasion, or if he can finally get rid of me. 

It’s my last card. 

“They all do.”

Romulus swears beside me. I don’t look at him. Only at my Father, who suddenly looks a little green. He has to know what mates were considered before the Empire changed the story, has to know that legend says mates are to be equals. I’ve just put a giant fucking target right over my chest.

But I’ll take it. It means the arrows are pointed in my direction, instead of there’s.

“You can’t be serious,” Amarantha starts, but the Emperor raises a hand to silence her.

“This is a grave weakness, child.”

“And an advantage to your cause. Illyria doesn’t share your sentiment with mates. They think it can be used to turn me against you. With enough time, they’ll tell me everything, and I in turn, will report it back to you. This rebellion nonsense can finally be put to bed, and the Empire will have the peace it deserves.”

“And when the time comes, you will kill them, as your Emperor demands.”

Red tints my vision, even as I bow my head. “That has always been the plan, Father.”

He smooths his hands over his robes. “Then they live to see another day.”

I have to clench my hands in my skirts to try and hide the shudder of relief that rolls through my body. I’ve bought them another day. “Thank you, your Majesty.”

The Emperor turns to face the crowd, the Guard flanking him, just in case Azriel’s shadows decide they want to try and yank him out of the booth this time. Before he reaches the railing to address the crowd, he says to his Captain, “Instruct the Gamesmaker to bring out the posts. I want them flogged for their disobedience.”

My stomach pitches. No no no!

“I said they’d live. I didn’t say this behavior would go unpunished. We can’t have the other gladiators thinking they can cheat and get away with it.”

I find Rhys first, his cell cramped and dark, his body dumped onto the dust covered floor like he’s nothing, no better than an animal. I can see the rust covered chain tied to the wall, looped around a new collar. The Emperor made sure the gorsian was stronger this time around. The edge of it juts farther out, scratching back and forth across his shoulders with every wheeze of a breath he draws. The metal has to be scraping against the gashes carved into his bare back. 

There’s no more mirthroot in my system, I never went home to give Anise the chance, and without it, the bond becomes a roaring, living thing in my chest. Darkness leakes from my fingers, hissing as it slithers out my skin.

How could I let this happen?

It takes every ounce of self-control I possess, every bit of my Mother’s training to keep my powers from tearing the doors off their hinges. My hands shake as I slide the key through the lock and slip inside.

The iron door screams on rusted hinges as I open it, and Rhys groans as he tries to lift his head off the floor to see who’s coming for him. 

My heart might just bleed out my chest as I kneel beside him, gently running my hands through his hair, matted with sweat and blood. They’ll pay for this! Every last goddamn one of them.

“Shouldn’t… be here… Princess,” his voice is raw from screaming. There was no tuning out the sound of it as they tore through his flesh with a metal spiked flagrum over and over and over again. I hadn’t needed to pretend to be lighthearted, I’d grabbed a pale and vomited twice before they were done. Much to Amarantha’s glee and Eris’s evident pity. 

“I’m sorry.” This is all my fault! This is so much worse than the brand. I could blame Rhys for that one, but this? This one’s on me. I hadn’t done anything to stop it! “I’m sorry.”

Rhys rests his forehead on my knee and I can’t stop my hands from the frantic patterns I comb through his matted hair, trying in vain to soothe him. “You didn’t…” he grunts, trying to find a more comfortable position and blood falls freely from one of the deeper wounds that spans from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. “Didn’t make Az do that.”

The pack of supplies I’d brought with me feels inadequate at best, but the sight of fresh blood knocks some sense into me and I start grabbing gauze and some oils I’d found at a small market in the street. An old Elvish healer has said olive oil and honey would help keep out infection, I’d bought out every bottle she’d had.

“I should have done more.” My hands shake as I try to find the best place to hold the gauze to stop the bleeding. There isn’t a patch of undamaged skin, any pressure at all will be horrific. It takes a solid thirty seconds of reaching for one spot, then changing my mind and searching for another, before he mumbles out something that sounds like “above my hip, love”. I settle my hand as lightly as I can as directed and even then the noise he lets out sounds like a cat being stepped on. 

Tears drip down my cheeks, I have to turn my head to make sure they don’t accidentally land on his ruined flesh. “I’ll fix this. I’ll find a way to make this better.”

He draws a shaky breath beneath my hands. “How… are we alive?”

Figures he’d ask me that first.

I start at the spot he’d directed, dripping a bit of oil into the most shallow cuts to weigh my options here.

His whole body spasms like it had when he’d been electrocuted and I stop what I’m doing entirely. “Fuck!”

“Shit! Shit I’m sorry, the Elf said it would help.”

Through his teeth, Rhys hisses, “I’m sure she’s right but fuck me!” 

I just make everything worse in every department, don’t I?

“Um, you want to try the honey instead?” Thank the Mother I never had the notion to become a Healer, I would have been absolutely awful at it. 

“I’m not hungry.”

“For your back, Rhys.”

“Oh,” he chuckles softly, realizing the mistake, then immediately groans from the way it pulls on his back. “Either has got to be better than the salt water.”

The air leaves my lungs in a rush. Forget the long game, I’m burning this whole godsdamned Empire down tonight.

“Easy, Darling,” he coos, and our bond ripples with a warmth I don’t deserve. “Just talk me through it.”

I give myself a little shake to clear the red tinting my vision. They will all pay for this.

“Tell me what happened last night? Why couldn’t we feel you?”

“Anise drugged me,” I say and I can’t tell if he flinches because I’ve started again with the oil or if that’s in response to what I’ve said. “Some kind of faebane and mirthroot mixture. She said my Mother had it made in case… in case I ever lost control.”

In case I ever turned into my Father.

“Mother’s tits!” Still not sure if that’s in regard to the oil or the story. 

“I was trying to get to you, to tell you that…” the coughing of one of the males in the cell across me reminds me of the lack of privacy. “That I’d found something that might be useful, but you were already gone and she jabbed me in the back of the neck with a needle. She must have done it again this morning, I don’t remember anything until arriving at the Arena.”

His breathing is labored as I work, body tense beneath me. I should have brought mirthroot, as unpleasant as my own experience had been, it could have eased his pain.

“Guard came quick last night,” he says through his teeth. 

The last twenty-four hours had really gotten away from me, I swear on the Mother I’ll never let myself be that powerless again. 

“I’m sorry.” 

The oil makes the blood look like it’s flowing freely, once I’m satisfied that it's covered enough, I reach for the bandages. 

“Don’t,” he says gently. “They’ll know you were here.”

My chest constricts. How can I tell him what I've done? He was already so angry about the marriage contract, this might just break him, but if I tell him the truth, would it give me an opportunity to help him. I can explain it away to the Emperor in the morning, claim I was trying to strengthen their trust in me by pretending to betray him. 

“I won’t leave you down here like this.”

“It will only make it worse,” he insists. 

“Maybe not,” my voice betrays me, nothing more than a cracked whisper in the darkness of these awful dungeons.

The bond ripples with enough concern I can feel a faint hum on both Azriel and Cassian’s end. At least I know now that they are all conscious, and that the gorsian hasn’t removed our ability to feel each other like the faebane had.

Rhys’s own voice shakes and the pain I can hear in it makes me look away from him when he asks, “What did you do?”

When I don’t immediately answer, he tries to sit up, tries to turn and look at me and I have to pin his palms to the floor to keep him still. “Don’t do that!”

“Tell me you didn’t marry any of those pricks? Tell me you didn’t barter another piece of yourself away-”

He’s going to tear his back open beyond repair if he keeps trying to move like this. “I told him we’re mates.”

I might as well have sucked the air from the room! Rhys goes deathly still beneath me and I think I liked it better when he was yelling. 

I try not to worry my lip between my teeth. “My Father murdered his own mate because he believes mates are a weakness that must be purged. I needed him to think I was trying to do the same.”

He doesn’t say anything, the minutes stretching out between us as I start using a bit of the honey to stick the strips of bandages over his back. The quieter the cell becomes the more the tether betweens us howls in pain. Maybe I need to resign myself to the fact that I might have been right all along; maybe this was always meant to end with him hating me. 

“I can’t beat him at his game by just sitting there uselessly. It wasn’t working. I needed to try another way.” If he can’t get past this fine, I will not let myself regret my decisions. I can’t afford to. They have to work. I have to make them work.

It might break my heart beyond repair if he can’t find it in him to understand where I’m coming from, but I’ll take that pain over the agony of him being dead. If I hadn’t acted, he could be another body rotting on the Pit floor right now. I do not need his permission, nor will I sit here and hold my breath for his forgiveness. We have to be willing to adapt. I have been so stubbornly set in my ways for years; I won’t let the stubbornness that ruined my Father ruin me.

I’m finished with the bandages before he speaks again. “When we went to war with the Empire, I gave up a lot of myself to be what my people needed. I wore whatever mask was necessary. I have worn cruelty and hatred in equal measure. There were days, weeks, where I looked into the mirror and didn’t recognize who was staring back at me. I can’t… I can’t let you do the same thing to yourself.”

I let my fingers drift back through his matted hair. Nothing would make me happier than to take him home, to get him cleaned up and into a bed that was safe; into a place where I knew he could rest. One day I will give him that. One day there will be no more dungeons or bloodshed or torture. One day we won’t have to swap horror stories to comfort each other. I can hold him and he can hold me and there will be no more pain between us. There will not need to be a question about whether we can live with our decisions.

“I can live with my decisions,” I say. “Let me help you shoulder this burden. You do not have to be alone to carry it.”

“People die when I let them in,” he whispers.

I can’t hold him like I ought, not without hurting him, so I allow myself a moment to lay down on the floor next to him, the filth covering the old stones seeping through my skirts as I lean my forehead against his.

“The things I love have a tendency to be taken from me.”

The bond hums between us, warm and alight even in this darkness. We are one and the same, Rhys and I. “Me too,” I confess. “But I never did anything to stop it then. I won’t ever do that again.”

His breath stutters out of him, a twinge of fear slithering down the tether to me. “You’re sure I can’t convince you to take that boat you talked about?”

That boat is long gone. 

And so is that girl who was so scared she’d need it. 

I can do this. We can do this. “We can beat him. Together.”

He nods gently, like it’s too much effort to do anything more, it probably is. “Together.”

I feel a twinge of pain flash across my left hand, just a flash and then it’s gone. Almost like something bit me. In this cell, bugs are a given. I raise my hand to take a look, and am surprised to find a band of black ink around my ring finger, a trio of stars circling the thin band of what looks like a tattoo.

Even wounded, the smirk Rhy’s flashes me is infectious. “Illyrian bargains come with ink.”

“You’re impossible,” I say, rolling my eyes. He’s honestly worse than Az.

He manages to tilt his head just enough to kiss the tip of my nose, his lips cracked and dusted with dried blood still. “If you’re going to make life threatening statements to the Emperor, so am I.”

I won’t admit to him that I like it, not now anyway. “I should go check on the others.”

“What if there were other parts of me that needed tending to?” He pouts.

I stand and dust off my skirts, rolling my eyes again. “You’ll survive.”

I push the door to the cell open. “I’ll bring some mirthroot next time. So you can sleep.”

He waits until the door is locked again. “Be careful, Princess.”

I won’t lie and tell him I will. The time for being careful is over.

----------------------

Tag List:

@sirenpearldust, @saltedcoffeescotch, @littlemissfix-itfic, @waka-babe , @raisam

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@getosimping, @georgiadixon, @throwing-up-butterflies, @marv3lsold13r, @mystirica-18.

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, @lucilia9teen

@elaselat , @deadlydemon , @erin-reads-stuff

Thank you all for your patience! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter! As always, if you want to be added to the tag list, let me know :)

[dollwhite]

“Face of another”

FOA chapter 5

It’s been a day since you took Damina to your house, you’ve noticed mini cameras popping up everywhere. Not in weird places but just like the living room or the kitchen.

And you’ve been destroying them subtly, like dropping pot on one. Or throwing something into the room. The reason you didn’t confront him about it is that.

You wanna see what he’s intentions are, like is he doing this because Bruce told him to? Or for his mother and grandfather?

You could never be too sure, it’s only been a week since that conversation with Talia. You don’t know when Damian last Spoke with her.

It’s sad really the one thing you didn’t want your nephew to inherit. His parents' personalities, Bruce’s paranoia and his Morales.

Killing people is bad, but putting a murderer in jail, and then them breaking out the next day to kill some more people?

Than that just makes you no better than the murderer.

Talia’s obsession with things going her way exactly.

The only difference is Damian’s ego, being raised in the league. Means being taught, not to underestimate your opponents.

And while Bruce’s doesn’t really have an ego, yeah he might get a little cocky every once and a while.

But his paranoia makes him overestimate his opponents.

So where did Damian get that ego? Did he somehow get it from you? Maybe it’s because he use to be around you all the time when he was a baby.

Oh he was the cutest little thing ever! Oh it’s just like yesterday he couldn’t even talk.

Ah how you missed those days, because now all you get is attitude.but back in topic.

You did have an ego, but not as bad as he’s. Ok maybe you were worse when you were younger but that was years ago!

You’ve grown, and matured a lot. Especially with you traveling around the world and other places.

“Auntie” Damian spoke, walking into your room like he’s been there before.

“Hm?”

“ you’ve got a cat? Not one but three. And you didn’t tell me.”

Looks like he’s find your cats, three beautiful little kittys.

One boy, and two girls. All from the same litter, you would have taken the rest too.

But someone beat you to it, they took the mom too. Only leaving three black, white and orange Fluffy cats for you to grab.

Lily, Luck, Lucy.

Lily was a sort of dark brown and a little bit of black fluffy mix. With a medium piece of her chest hair being white, alone with a little spot above her nose. With big green eyes.

Lucy, along with her sister was fluffy. With light brown, a little bit of orange, black and white fur. Majority of her nose was black, and she had a little scratch that’s orange near her left eye.

Luck is less fluffy than his sisters. He’s black and orange. And has hazel eyes! He always comes up to Lily to steal some of her warmth. He would do this to Lucy but she bites him for it.

“Yes, their names are Luck, Lucy, and lily. Have you meet them yet?” You ask, your cats aren’t the kindest to new people.

And with your nephew being an animal person…well.

You know he wouldn’t take it too well if some of his favorite animals didn’t like him very much.

“Yes I have, their fur is beautiful. Are they all from the same litter?” Damian questioned.

He never knew you liked animals, nonetheless cats. You seemed more like a crow kind person, but who was Damian to judge?

He has a pet dragon.

Lmao y’all thought this was gon be important for the plot huh? Nopeeeeee

Taglist; @lazyemmy @ninihrtss @tsuniio @jsprien213 @smithieandy @djpuppy-kittens @exactlynumberonekryptonite @awawage

[everydayyoulovemeless]

FNV Companions (+Victor and Yes Man) Ranked From Best to Worst Yandere's

➼ Word Count » 0.6k ➼ Warnings » Yandere Themes, Stalking, Manipulation ➼ Genre » Romantic/Platonic, Yandere, Whumpee/Whumper

1. Yes Man wouldn't ever dream of doing anything that you'd dislike. He's always at your beck and call, waiting for any orders he can carry out for you. He's complacent, understanding, and very loyal to you and whatever cause you're aiming for. That alone makes him the best on this list, only downside is that he’s wayyy too obsessive and worship-y.

2. Veronica is so head over heels in love with you that it's almost wholesome? You won't even be able to tell that anything wrong due to how gentle she is with you. She's always getting you gifts, taking you out on dates, and if you ever talked to any of the other Brotherhood members, they'd roll their eyes and say that 'of course they know you, Veronica never stops gushing!'. The only yandere aspect about her is the slight stalking she does whenever you do anything without her.

3. Cass might have a bit of a jealous streak, but she means well. She'd never dream of harming you or anyone you're considerably close to, she'd hate if you had to lose someone you cared for. Instead, she normally relies on her louder personality to scare off any 'competition' she might have. She's more of a bodyguard than a threat, only wanting your safety in the Mojave and you'll sure be getting that when you travel with her.

4. Victor’s honestly pretty chill. The only reason he’s below Cass is that he’s way more likely to ‘get rid’ of someone for your sake. He also, by default, has to be a lot more obsessed with you as he needs that extra motivation to override parts of House’s programming to be able to act in the ways he deems necessary. Such as wandering the Mojave with you instead of staying at his post, and shooting his rockets on his own accord.

5. Arcade isn’t violent, but he is manipulative. The others above him are way more relaxed than he’d ever be, which is why he’s been placed 5th. He’ll always make remarks about how you’re ‘friends’ are all fake, and that he’s the only one you could — the only one you should ever trust and confide in.

6. Raul manages to convince himself that what he's doing is in your best interest, and that's what makes him so dangerous to be around. Everything he does is justified in his mind and he won't be willing to compromise. Everything is on the table with him, whether that be making threats or full-on murder. He's done this all before and he refuses to lose you like he has everyone else, even at the cost of his own life.

7. Lily’s schizophrenia mixed with her fear of losing another one of her grandkids causes her to become incredibly controlling and overprotective over you. She’ll constantly be asking where you’re headed or who you’ve been talking to, worried that you’ll somehow be harmed or corrupted in some way or another. Leo doesn’t help either, in fact, he encourages her behavior because a part of it makes him stronger.

8. Boone doesn’t care how you feel about what he’s doing, he’s still gonna do it. He’s the lowest on this list for a reason, and that reason is he’s the quickest to act with violence. There’s nothing that could ever stop him from pulling out his rifle and taking out whoever it is he wants. He’ll isolate you, injure you, try and keep you complacent with horrific stories. As long as you’re alive, Boone is happy, but that state you’re in doesn’t matter.

[azsazz]

Tell Me I'm Your Midnight

Kinktober Day 13: Cassian x Reader [Virgin!Reader]

Summary: In the middle of the night in the middle of your thoughts, you want a distraction.

Warnings: Smut, descriptions of death,

Word Count: 3350

Notes: Yeesh, bout time I hopped back on these...OOF Cassian how i've missed you big boy 💙💙💙

_________________________________________

The moonlight spilling in through the open doors of your balcony does nothing to settle the aching in your chest. From your place in bed, you watch the stars sparkle in the blackness of night. The gentle and cool breeze makes your curtains sway, and the moon is so bright in the sky that you can make out the shapes of every piece of furniture in your room, the silhouette of the Starfall dress wrapped tightly around the figurine in the shape of your body. 

Cerridwen and Naula had been so very eager to show you what they came up with for Starfall and the dress had brought you to tears—your first glimpse of the deep navy fabric draped elegantly across the bodice of the dummy had the tears you’ve been desperately trying to shove inside of you for months spilling over. You had collapsed into a puddle of emotion on the floor like you aren’t the High Lord’s sister, but the sight of your mother’s Starfall dress from last year reworked to fit your body made the dam of emotion burst within you.

Oh, how deeply you miss your mother.

The thick comforter surrounding you does nothing to ease the clenching of your heart. It’s another sleepless night, haunted with images of what happened to your mother out in those lands of the Night Court she shouldn’t have been riding alone in. All to see your brother and check in on him during his time at the camps.

Something in your gut twists like a hot knife. It’s your anger flooding your senses at the thought of how she’d been brutally attacked and left for dead, succumbing to her own injuries. She was all alone out there, and you would have been too, if it weren’t for the request of your father that you stay in Velaris with him until his meeting with Keir was over, the promise that he’d winnow you to the camps and meet up with Rhysand and your mother later.

You’d always been excited about the prospect of winnowing, and you thought that if you stayed back to tag along with your father that he might teach you how to do it yourself.

These days, you wonder if he had set the ambush up himself, a deal struck with those from the Spring Court who you’ve been told had done the terrible awful. 

He died before you got the chance to ask. 

With a heavy sigh, you shove the blankets back and climb out of bed. You forgo a robe, letting the perpetual chill the deepening autumn airs bring forth settle into your bones. You need the bite of the cold floors to ground yourself, the prickling of your fingers, toes, and the tip of your nose because it had been the same cold your mother had endured for so long.

The House of Wind is silent except for the soft padding of your feet against the hardwood floors. You slow your pace, treading very carefully as you creep past Azriel’s room, biting your lip at the sight of the swirling shadows like a cloud of smoke curling beneath the doorframe, always on lookout for their master. If they report to him that you’re awake, he may try to console you in that way of his, where he sits silently in the same vicinity as you. Most of the time, you appreciate his ability to care for others without words, but tonight, you just want to be alone.

In the kitchen, you fill the kettle and set it on the burner, flicking the flames as they lick the bottom of the teapot. While you wait for it to heat, you slice into a lemon, breathing in its fresh scent. It’s relaxing, even though it reminds you of your mother, who would make you a cup of warm lemon water on the nights you were unable to find sleep. She’d often join you in the kitchen, lending an ear to whatever was on your mind.

Tonight, it makes your throat tight.

You climb up to the counter with your made mug between your hands, feet dangling off the floor as you think about her. You swear you can feel her presence, see her at the kitchen as she looked out over the vast mountains of your home, watching the butters and creams of the sunset. Or how she’d pretend not to notice when you snuck into the kitchen and snagged a taste of whatever she was making that night.

It brings a soft, sad smile to your face that falls at the sound of approaching footsteps drawing your attention to the door. Your shoulders sag because you wanted to be alone, but your heart kickstarts in your chest when Cassian is the one who stumbles through the archway.

His hair is mussed with sleep, but it looks like it may have been a restless attempt. He blinks groggily, clearing his throat at the sight of you.

“What are you doing down here?” You ask him. It’s a whisper of your surprise and delight of the beautiful male creeping into the kitchen. The cup in your hands is warm, matching the feeling that his eyes bring forth.

His sleepy gaze hardens into something that you can’t make out in the dark as it creeps up your bare legs to where the hem of your night shirt rests against your thighs. You’re careful not to move as he takes his fill, a moment of weakness in the dark for the both of you, a small acknowledgement of the charge in the air.

His hazel eyes sweep upward, lingering on the perk of your nipples where they’ve gone tight under his gaze. You swear you catch him shuddering, but he’s shaking the tightness from his wings, finally stepping further into the room with a shrug, his stare now pinned to the ground.

“Felt like this is where I needed to be,” he answers lamely, but it means more to you than maybe it should. He could be awake for any reason this late at night. Surely, he has enough on his mind with the looming war that’s headed the Night Court’s way. “Why are you up?” He asks, leaning against the counter across from you and crossing his arms over his chest.

You have to consciously remove your eyes from the sight of his bulging muscles, instead focusing on the slice of lemon that’s swirling around in your cup. “Couldn’t sleep. Was thinking about mom.”

Before your next breath, Cassian’s body collides with yours, those strong eyes you were just forcing yourself not to ogle wrapped tightly around you. You squeak in surprise, you didn’t even hear him launch himself across the kitchen, but you easily melt into Cassian’s comforting hold, tears prickling at the back of your eyes as you squeeze them shut tight.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he admits softly, and the warmth of his breath caressing your hair makes you shiver, makes you want to burrow even further into him. He has nothing to be sorry for, he’s not only lost one mother, but now two, since she had taken both Cassian and Azriel in like they were part of her own brood.

When Cassian straightens, he’s already too far away. He stays close, hazel eyes boring into yours as he brushes some of your hair behind your ear, examining you. His touch is a brand across your skin, sending electric zipping through your veins, making you sit taller. Cassian still towers over you, but he seems distracted, thumb stroking across your cheek, drifting down to your mouth to where your tongue darts out to wet them.

His admission is a whisper that strikes you to your very core. “As selfish as this may sound, I’m glad that you weren’t there that night.”

“Me too,” you breathe, trying to crane yourself further into him, to see if he’s finally going to act on the arousal a thick cloud surrounding the both of you.

You don’t need to stretch far because he’s as drawn to you as you are to him, and he kisses you full on the mouth, hard at first, like a desperate man finally getting a taste of the nectar he’s been yearning for his entire life.

Cassian’s hands caress your face, turning you this way and that as your tongues brush in a motion that makes your mind short circuit. He steps closer and your thighs open wide for him to fit between like two perfect pieces of a puzzle.

His hand slips between your legs and you whimper with anticipation that he might touch you there, but he’s only taking your cup in hand and sliding it away so that it doesn’t fall and shatter.

There’s no time to be disappointed though because the feeling of the warmth from your mug is easily replaced by that of his cock trapped in his sleep pants, especially when his hands grab a firm hold of your ass, dragging you closer to grind against him.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” Cassian says, even though his cock twitches because you’ve captured his lower lip between your teeth and refuse to let go, knowing that he might try and push you away after so quickly giving into what he’s desperately wanted for years.

“Don’t,” you pant, burying your fingers in his hair to keep him close. If this is the only taste of Cassian that you get, you’re going to make the most of it.

He falls into you easily, and the both of you lose yourselves in each other. Your pussy is uncomfortably wet and grinding yourself against his clothed cock isn’t doing much to relieve the aching in your clit. Your whimper of frustration is swallowed greedily by the man towering over you.

“Please, Cassian,” you plead when he’s finally able to tear himself from your lips. Your fingers are fisted around the waistband of his pants so that he can’t escape. “Help me take my mind off of everything.”

He curses because it sounds fucking tempting to have you right here and now, with the moonlight washing in through the kitchen windows and spilling across the counter, your body.

The way you’re looking up at him has him fucking weak. He’d fall to his knees right now, which is exactly what happens when he sees that confidence manifest in your gaze, releasing him only to lean back and strip yourself of your night shirt, baring yourself to him completely.

Your name is a low growl from his lips. It makes your incredibly hard nipples tighten even further, and you hiss in pleasure as he flicks one of them, his gaze hot and dark and utterly consumed by you.

His palm flattens and you arch into his warmth with a soft moan. Your head rolls back on your shoulders because you’ve never had this before, never felt something so sure, something so perfect. Cassian growls at the exposure of your neck, drawn into you like a moth to a pyre, shoving his nose into your throat to catch your scent, heady for him.

“We shouldn’t,” he groans like a dying man.

“We should,” you cry at the nip of his sharp teeth, melting under the sweep of his tongue he uses to smooth the hurt. “Want you to be my first, Cass. Please!”

He freezes against you, completely ignoring the way that you’re writhing against him because all he can focus on are those few words.

“Your first?” His voice is husky, settling right between your thighs. Cassian’s gaze is enamored, desperate almost. You’ve seen that look on the battlefield once or twice, a bloodthirsty one that screams his victory. You’d shy away from its intensity if you weren’t so sure about this.

You swallow harshly. “Yes.”

“You mean that no one has touched these beautiful breasts?” He asks, dragging his large hands to where he’s mentioning. He’s completely consumed by you as he tweaks a nipple in his hands, his mouth coming down hot against the other. You nearly bite through your lip to keep from screaming, your fingers already clawing down his broad shoulders.

“No one has tasted this perfect skin,” he murmurs, mouthing down your body. It makes you want to collapse against the counter, but you need to stay sitting up, you need to see his facial expressions and what he’s doing with his hands. His breath is hot as he lowers himself to his knees before you, hooking his hands beneath your knees, dragging you forward so that your ass is nearly teetering over the edge of the counter. “That no one has tasted this pretty pussy?”

“No,” you breathe, shuddering as his knuckles brush softly across your cunt. Cassian looks like a beast untamed, no semblance of brown in his eyes anymore. They’re all pupil. “Want you to be the only one who does, Cassian.”

Your admission is his undoing. He all but tears your panties from your body and you don’t have time to properly prepare yourself before he splits your seams and drags his tongue up your cunt.

“Cassian,” you say desperately, pressing the back of your hand to keep the noises threatening to escape inside. It feels too good, the hot press of his tongue against your most intimate spot. He’s undeterred by your pleading, your nails digging into his skin. He’s finally had a taste and he’s never letting you go.

He brings you to the edge much faster than you thought was possible. You’d be embarrassed if you weren’t getting wetter by the second with his tongue fucking into you, then one finger and two, three before he’s sucking on your clit and flickering his tongue against it in a motion that sets your body on fire.

You’re a shaking mess when you come down from your high, blissed out with the cold cut of stone beneath your bare body. You shut your eyes as you try to catch your breath, only to rip them open when Cassian stands, his hands undoing the ties of his sleep pants. “You know we’re not done yet, right sweetheart?” He asks, and your jaw drops at the sight of his cock bobbing from its confines. He hadn’t been wearing underwear, and your cunt clenches, dripping when he takes himself in hand, giving himself a rough tug before he’s slotting himself between your thighs and rubbing the head of his cock through your slick. “It’s not over until my cum is painting your insides and you are officially mine.”

“Yes,” you groan, spreading yourself wider for him. You’ll take anything he gives you, everything he gives you. “Please.”

Cassian hushes you softly. He needs another taste of your lips before he takes you for the first time. You’re so perfect for him, all spread out on the counter like this, more than eager to be impaled on his cock. And no one else has experienced this, has touched you in the way that he is right now.

He doesn’t know how he’ll ever begin to thank you for this gift.

When you part, he helps guide you back onto the counter, making sure that you aren’t too uncomfortable. Your back is going to be sore tomorrow, but he’ll spend the day hiding away in your room, massaging your tight muscles before he’s easing himself back into you.

Your breath catches in your throat, and you squeeze your eyes shut at the breach of his cock in your channel. His thick fingers hadn’t quite prepared you for this. He’s fucking huge, an apologetic look on his face as he eases his way inside of you as slowly as he can manage.

“Relax, sweetheart. Yeah, that’s it. Good girl,” Cassian groans, “Almost there.”

You both share a heart stopping gasp when he’s fully sheathed inside of you. It awakens something slumbering deeply inside of you, that thing you’ve only heard stories of rousing in your chest. You swear you can see it, the thread of essence that moves from your body to Cassian’s, who’s completely enthralled by the feeling as well, eyes locked onto yours.

It’s the feeling of two souls reuniting after so long apart, here in the kitchen while he’s hip deep in your cunt.

You feel whole.

You feel settled.

You feel complete.

“Cassian?” you ask tentatively, because you’re still in shock.

“Will you be my mate?” He blurts, and it’s when he leans in, pressing himself flush against you that you see the glittering of emotion in his eyes. His hands caress your face again, but it’s tendered this time, like he’s going to explore every part of you all over again.

“Yes,” you breathe, a grin breaking out across your face. What a night this has turned into, from your heart broken and sad to fuller than you ever thought it could be.

Cassian kisses you hard, like the emotion of the bond has him feeling completely new, needing to taste your acceptance off his lips.

It hits you when he gives a gentle grind of his hips that this bond isn’t complete until you offer your mate food.

Cassian releases you at the gentle push at his chest. His brows furrow in confusion, biting back a noise when you twist, reaching out for your abandoned mug and digging around inside.

“Here,” you offer the lemon to him and his eyes shine in amusement, even if he gives you a playful pout. He doesn’t crack a joke though, because he’d lick the dirt off your fucking feet if that was what you offered him. He takes the lemon into his mouth, rind and all, chewing thrice before swallowing it back, and it’s official.

“My mate,” he purrs and holy Gods, does that sound perfect rolling off his lips.

“My mate,” you agree, brushing a falling strand of his hair behind his ear. It soft, an intimate moment, then, “Can you please start moving now?”

Cassian’s responding chuckle makes your heart swell. “I promise to make this up to you, but I need you to know that I’m not going to last long.” You laugh and he groans at the feeling of your cunt fluttering around him, constricting his cock. You’re not going to last long either, your emotions so heightened that everything makes you feel like you’re right on the precipice of orgasm.

“Deal,” you answer, and he begins moving, pulling out before he’s pressing in again, reveling in the way that you cling to him so quickly, are a mess for him so easily.

Cassian hooks his hand under your knee and pulls it up over his shoulder, changing his angle. The noises you’re making are loud, but neither of you care because of the rawness of the mating bond, the heightened emotions, touches, everything. It’s better than they always told you it would be, not just sex itself, but finding your mate.

And you can feel just how much Cassian loves you with his sweet words, the way his grip is as harsh on you as yours is on him like you might slip away from one another if there’s a part of you that isn’t touching.

That fire builds between you, you can feel it through the bond, blurring your mind as you crash life a wave against the reef, letting your orgasm consume you.

Cassian’s mouth finds your as he plunges over the ledge himself, following you obediently into oblivion. He’s lost in the feeling of you as he fucks his cum deep into your womb. He’s going to have to take you to a healer for a tonic when tomorrow comes, if he’s done with you by then. For now, he’s going to bask in this, the feeling of you in his arms and wrapped tightly around his cock.

He's going to bring you upstairs just as soon as he can catch his breath, but with you as his mate, he doesn’t ever think he’ll be able to catch it again.

And he’s more than okay with that.

[acotarxreader]

The Stray and The Snakes

Cassian x Reader

Synopsis: Your adjustment to the Night Court after meeting your Mate is made all the more difficult due to the unwelcoming nature of two particular sisters.

Orignal request: "Okay, so I have a request. Reader is mates with Cassian, and Nesta is like jealous or something. Nesta and Elain are horrible to the reader, like always putting her down. Reader tries not to let it bother her, and no one really notices until it finally does get to them and the inner circle does notice."

Warnings: Fluff, Nesta and Elain being meanies

A/N: Hehe my first Cassian request. This was a lot of fun to write, I hope people will forgive the Inner Circle for their blindness, Nesta and Elain are a real piece of work in this.

Let me know what you think!

p.s thank you for the love on Other Worlds, over a thousand of you have interacted with it, can't believe it!

---------------------------------------------------

“It’s beautiful YN” 

“Do you think?” your hands traced down the front of the snowy dress, your head tilting to the side as you watched your own movement in the mirror. Feyre sat behind you on a blush-coloured pouffe, sweetly smiling in the reflection. 

“Do you think Cass will like it?” “Who cares what that big baby would like, do you like it YN?” your head tilted to the otherside before you span to face your fast-friend.

“I want him to like it” you admitted softly, Feyre unable to keep the roll away from her eyes as she stood, pulling your hands in hers. 

“You could walk into Starfall in a paper bag and your mate would love you in it. So, I’ll ask you again, do you like it?” a smile grew across your face to match Feyres as you nodded. 

“Great! Let’s wrap it up and head to the House of Wind” 

The both of you strolled across the city you had learned to call home, a far cry from the outskirts of the Autumn Court where you were born and raised. It had been six months since Cassian had rocketed into your world and changed it forever, meeting you while you worked as a cook in a grand house. The preparations for Starfall had sent the city into an excited frenzy and you couldn’t wait to experience it for the first time with your new family. 

“Feyre! There you are” Nesta’s voice sang out of her in excitement but it felt as though the tone was a snake heading for your feet. She looped her arm through her sister’s as the both of you entered into the House of Wind, pulling her away from your side, to walk ahead of you. 

“Where were you sister, Elain and I are just getting ready upstairs”

“I was helping YN find something to wear for tonight for her to feel beautiful-” “-as if you could find anything that would help that” she laughed out, the snake climbed its way around you further. Feyre rolled her eyes with a small laugh, brushing off her sister's words as you fought your faltering smile.

“She found a lovely dress, didn’t you YN?” She called back to you as the three of you entered the main living area of the house.

“Ye-” “-Feyre! How could I forget to tell you, I found the perfect shoes for tonight, come on I’ll show” you huffed out slightly, familiar with Nesta cutting across you. Nesta spun on her heels to face you, causing you to almost walk directly into her with the abrupt stop of movement.

“Something the matter YN?” she almost bit out, the snake of words wrapping around your throat. Feyre had crossed the floor towards her own mate who beamed at her.

”N-no Nesta” 

“I didn’t think so, go make yourself useful, go help the other staff, back to your true calling” whispering at the end so only you could hear. 

“I-” “-My love, there you are!” Cassian's voice pulled the imaginary snake from around your airways, returning lightness to your chest as he met your side, his arm wrapping around from behind. Nesta’s face softened and a smile you knew to be laced with simmering irritation crossed her face.

“You're so kind YN for offering” Your eyes snapped from your shoes back to Nesta.

“Offering what?” Cassian kissed your cheek gently, his hand moving from your waist to lace with your fingers.

“Well, your lovely stray has offered to help with the setup of dining room! Right YN?” Her sickly sweet words turned in your stomach as Elain joined her side to collect her sisters and return to getting ready for the party.

“Oh, really YN you don't have to”

“I-”

“Cass, let her help, she probably craves the familiarity of a dirty apron” Poison-coated words dripped from Elain but shielded behind a smile. You looked to your mate standing behind you, his genuine well-meaning grin warming you despite the cold environment Nesta and Elains’ presence had swaddled you in. You were finding settling in around the two sisters especially difficult, your arrival had halted the friends-with-benefits situation between Cassian and Nesta and this had led to some deep-rooted resentment from the latter. Elain joining the cause in some sort of sick solidarity with her sister. 

That had decided your plans, afraid to contradict Nesta, with the mentality of service in the Autumn Court of being seen and not heard, very difficult to unravel yourself from. 

-

By the time you had finished setting up, the inner circle had finished readying themselves. You met Cassian on the stairs as you rushed to get yourself ready.

“My love, are you alright?” His hands cupped around your face as his lips pecked your forehead with the utmost of tenderness.

“Yes Cass, just finished with the table, you look so handsome” You held his wrists as his thumbs brushed across your cheeks. 

“Thank you! I can't wait to see your dress…and see it again on our bedroom floor later” he laughed as you rolled your eyes at him. He kissed your forehead again before releasing your face with softness, his brothers appearing on the landing behind him, guests beginning to arrive. You marvelled at the three Illyrians before rushing yourself up the stairs to change. 

By the time you had built up the courage to leave your bedroom, the party was in full swing. Fae seemed to flow from every corner of the bustling House as you found Feyre glowing alongside her mate on the outskirts of the courtyard where the festivities were bursting to life. 

“YN, you look dazzling”

“Thank you High Lord” You did a small curtsey and Feyre elbowed Rhysand cutting off his building laugh. 

“YN how many times have I to tell you, please call me Rhys” he offered you his hand to help you rise from your curtsey as your cheeks flushed.

“She can't help that she's built to serve” The two mates laughed at Nesta's joking tone from behind you, its undertone of sincerity not lost on you. 

“Nesta you lo-look lovely” you offered like so many white flags you had beforehand. 

“And you look clean for once”

“Nesta” Feyre laughed out a half warning, carrying no weight. The group had chosen to believe that Nesta's relentless snipping at you was more like she was hazing you instead of its true goal to wear you down. 

“I-I must find Cass, the migration starts soon” You bowed your head slightly to the three, out of sheer habit, gaining a snide laugh to leave the eldest Archeron sister. 

“Oh he went down the side corridor” Elain offered with a smile that didn't meet her eyes as she joined her sister's side. You gave a somewhat thankful smile and began to make your way in the direction she sent you. You felt suddenly pairs of hands collide with your side, pushing you with harsh force into a service pantry of the hallway, the door closing behind you.

Your hip met the tile floor of the cupboard with force, your arms instinctively going outwards to the shelves lining the walls, sending various cooking powders and syrups down on top of you. You gave a small shriek in pain and shock as the sound of two laughing females on the other side of the door spat venom in your ears. 

“Hey! Hey you guys let-let me out!” You pushed shakingly from the floor, palms splaying against the solid wood of the locked door. The laughing grew distant until dissolving completely and you found yourself sitting back down on the cold, food-covered floor. You fought back tears as you tried to swipe the savoury and sweet additions to your dress from the fabric, the dark of the room holding you close. 

“YNN!” You heard your mate's voice call out through the hall, giving you the strength to call back, trying to keep the shake from your voice. 

“YNN! What the fuck?!” The light flooded the small space, Cassian's eyes landing on his beautiful mate, sat in a ball at his feet. He dropped down to his knees, beginning to sweep away the floury coating.

“I-I-” The thoughts of the truth ran around your mind, would he even believe you if you told him? Did you want to risk finding out if he'd choose them over you? Or what if he did believe you and it ruined the family dynamic you knew he had spent his whole life craving? “-I…was looking for the bathroom” you offered as he stood, pulling you back up to your feet. 

“The bathroom?” He raised an eyebrow at your obvious lie, a faux smile painting across your face. You looked down at your destroyed dress, the tears once again threatening to add to the scene. 

“You-you look beautiful YNN” his eyes traced the stained fabric, a thumb brushing over the last remaining flecks of flour on your face. 

“I'm covered in food Cass” Your genuine smile returned.

“Just makes you even more delicious” he kissed wholly then, the taste of him took any bitterness from you. 

“C’mon, let's get you changed” he separated from you, his hand slotting into yours as you both traipsed back up the hallway. 

To get to your chambers, the main foyer had to first be transversed, the inner circle gathering there before going out to enjoy the spectacle in the sky together. You stepped slightly behind Cassian as you walked closer to the stairway, hoping to be able to sneak past the group.

“Ah Ah, you guys! We all promised we would watch this Starfall together, you can have sex after!” Mor laughed from behind you, your feet having only spent a moment on the bottom step. You reluctantly turned back to face the full group, Cassian instinctively standing to shield you from their eyes.

“YN and I will just be a moment”

“Yeah, I heard that's all you can last” Azriel laughed, the group following suit as Cassian shot his brother a playful death stare. Nesta sauntered over to the two of you, her hand landing gently on Cassian's shoulder, pushing him to the side, revealing the full picture of your ruined look.

“YN, what happened!?” Feyre looked you over, a bruise beginning to grow across your elbow.

“I-”

“It's obvious our little YN couldn't help but get involved in the kitchen” Nesta remarked, turning back on her heels, happy to watch the gawking take place. 

“I think it improves her outfit”

“Definitely Elain, anything would improve that tarp she's wearing” the two snickered, the group unsure of the sharp tones of the two sisters, too shocked at the brashness of the females. 

“That's not very kind of you two” Cassian felt himself bite out, the maroon now painting across your face as Cassian's hand held yours tighter.

“Oh Cass please, how could we ever match your level of charity, taking in such a lost cause” the group's heads snapped to the uncharacteristic bitterness dripping from Elain.

“I mean honestly Cassian, when are you going to wake up and realise she's never going to fit in here!” Nesta's sharp words gave life to the internal doubt you fought daily and you couldn't hold it back anymore, your tears flowed freely, having spent months being kept just below the surface. You dropped your mate's hand, catching the end of your long ruined gown and darting up the stairs in awash of pure heartbreak. You heard the beginning of Feyre and Rhysand reprimanding the sisters, with Mor and Azriel joining in, the agile footsteps of your mate echoing behind you. 

You crashed into your shared bedroom, wrenching the hair clips from your hair before running your hands across your tear-soaked cheeks. You had practically prised the stained fabric from your skin as your mate's knuckles rapped against the door. 

“YN let me in” You ignored his desperate tones, choosing to clothe yourself in trousers and a loose top before beginning to collect your things from around the room. The sound of Cassian's hammering had stopped along with his calling. You exhaled deeply before continuing to pack up your space. 

“YN!” You screamed with fright at the sight of Cassian closing the distance between you both, having landed on your balcony. He pulled the bundle of clothing you had grasped in your hands, tossing them aside before gripping your upper arms with a gentle firmness. 

“My love, please please stop”

“You heard them! I don't belong here, they're only saying what you're all too cowardly to admit!” You managed between falling tears, Cassian's heart beginning to shatter in his eyes at the sight. 

“YNN, you know it's biologically impossible for an Illyrian to be a coward” You felt a slight laugh leave you at his joking tone. His hands moved from your arms to wrap around you, pulling you flush with his chest where you could clearly hear his trembling heart beneath his midnight blue suit. 

“No one thinks what they said is true my love, they must have eaten something poisonous or something” You pulled back to look at your mate in his hazel eyes, it was clear to you from his words that he had not been aware of their historical treatment of you. 

“Cass-Cass they always say stuff like that” you managed to rattle out. You could see the rose-tinted glasses shattered in front of his eyes beneath his furrowed brow, reevaluating every interaction he'd seen between you and them before tonight.

“Gods…” he released you from his arms, standing back to run his hands down his face in disbelief at his blindness. 

“YN, I am sorry, I'm so so sorry for not seeing before, what kind of mate am I for being so fucking blind” You step back towards him, relief rushing through you that he had believed you. 

“One who believes the best in people” your hand ran down his cheek.

“I never thought I'd miss something like that”

“It's okay Cass, I'm sure you never thought they could be like that”

“No, it's not okay, it's not okay at all” his eyes darting across your face, the true reality he'd not been privy to before making him feel instantly ill.

“Cass, I love you, it's okay”

“It's not okay YN!” His raised voice surprised you slightly as he moved towards the bedroom door again.

“Cass, where are you going?”

“To defend you, I'm just sorry I didn't do it earlier, they will be sorry for this” His unfamiliar coldness stunned you almost as much as the sudden sparkling out of the corner of your eye. You looked to see the migration decorate the sky with a level of beauty you had never seen before. 

“Cass…please stay with me for this, I want to experience this with you” You manage to tear your gaze away from the view to land back on Cassian as he seemingly reluctantly removed his hand from the doorknob.

“Of course” he said with an almost sad smile, reaching for your hand to bring you to the balcony. You both looked up in comfortable silence at the glimmering skyscape, a genuine smile growing on your face. Cassian couldn't help but look down at you with pure unadulterated love, his annoyance that he didn't see the torment you had been under sooner. 

“You’re my everything, my love” 

“And you're mine” You leaned into his side.

“If there's anything left of those two downstairs by the time Feyre is done, I promise I'll make them understand their grave error in hurting you” 

“I don't expect much to be left” you laughed, the sound releasing pressure from Cassian's chest. You both stood on the balcony marveling at the glorious sight above you, unable to image being anywhere else with anyone else.

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