#and emery is a shit stirring medic

[no-white-knights-blog]

Halo - An Etrian Odyssey Novel (Chapter 8/50)

“Hn, where’s Sage?” Emery asked when he saw Dyria stepping through the hallway alone, two bags in his arms and a heavy frown on his lips. Emery would go as far as to call it an indignant pout.

“With Vien,” Dyria answered, pushing Emery’s bedroom door open with his foot, “He met up with us outside Sitoth Trading and dragged Sage to the bar to grab a request and see if anyone would recognize him.”

“Oh, I see,” Emery hummed with a teasing smile as he leaned against the door frame, folding his arms, “So Vien stole your date.”

Dyria tensed up in a highly amusing way before spinning around to argue with Emery, “Don’t be ridiculous, we were just taking a walk to Sitoth Tradin. Sage needed supplies, we were heading home, and Vien just showed up. It’s good for Sage to get out and walk around like he’s doing, and spend time with everyone else, he needs to bond with Halo so he can trust us.”

“See, that’s all great,” Emery said, lifting his hand to push his glasses higher onto his face, “Besides the fact you didn’t exactly deny the fact you were on a date.”

Red suddenly darkened Dyria’s cheeks, his shoulders squaring defensively but not bothering to really argue. He just turned with an irritated mumble and set the bags on Sage’s bed as Emery shook his head with a sigh and rolled his eyes.

“Well, I can’t blame you, Sage has that kind of rare, unexpected, ethereal beauty to him. I’m sure everyone he encounters will develop somewhat of a crush,” he smirked a little at the way Dyria bristled, but wiped the expression away when the protector turned to face him, instead frowning a little and tapping his chin, “Then again, you’ve always been so stifled and kind of uninterested in things like romance or relationships. You’re always so focused on raising Iliad and looking after Vien and myself. Don’t tell me the only thing you’re interested is how cute he is.”

“I’m not,” Dyria defended, shoulders tense, “It’s not like that.”

“Okay, sure,” Emery pushed off the door frame and leaned forward, hands folded behind his back as he winked, “Love at first sight then.”

“You’re not making this easier on yourself,” Dyria growled, and Emery snorted.

“What are you gonna to do, sulk?” he waved his hands in front of him, “Come on, Dyria, I’ve seen how you look at him; and by look, I mean you literally just stare at him for minutes on end. And somehow, he never realizes or catches you! It must be a side effect of the head injury,” he tapped his forehead, “Or he’s just too embarrassed to call you out on it.”

“Why is this even a conversation?” Dyria asked, striding forward, and slipping past Emery into the hallway, “You’re being ridiculous and immature.”

“I’m calling it like I see it,” Emery explained simply, following Dyria as he stormed down the hall, “You’re my friend, so it’s my duty to tell you when you’re avoiding some very obviously strong feelings.”

“No, I’m not,” Dyria stiffly denied, and Emery stopped walking, staring at Dyria with narrow eyes before sighing heavily and loudly in exaggeration, lifting a hand and raking his fingers back through his hair.

“Yea, I guess you’re right!” he said, his words echoing rather abruptly due to the fact they were in the entry, “I mean, you’re so blah, and Sage is so wow. You don’t fit together at all. He’s so adorable, though, he probably won’t be alone for too long,” he shrugged, smiling brightly, “Who knows, maybe he found someone better at the bar. Someone who thinks he’s just precious and adorable and beautiful. Someone who wants to do dirty, indecent things to him,” he dropped his hand from his head to cup his cheek, eyes wide, “Dear me, but I’m sure we can allow that, yes? After all, it’s not like you care.”

Dyria had essentially frozen to the spot in mid stride when Emery started to speak, and slowly turned to glare at him with an almost menacing expression. If Emery didn’t know Dyria personally, he would probably be terrified. He still kind of was. Dyria had done awful things after all, dropping to the lowest of lows just to defend the people he cared about. He would likely do it again if the need arose.

“There’s no way,” Dyria said, and a moment later the doors were thrown open.

“Great leader, we’ve brought a friend!”

Dyria and Emery both turned to look at the now open door, where Vien was standing in the threshold, Sage lingering behind looking embarrassed and uncomfortable, and a tall, unfamiliar man standing beside him, sporting thick dark purple hair tied into a ponytail and piercing red eyes. The shirt he was wearing was thin and strained against what muscle he had, and he was intimidating… and not awful looking…

“Huh,” Emery was holding his chin, appearing mildly surprised, “Well I didn’t think that would actually happen, to be honest.”

Dyria’s left eye gave a tic as Vien grabbed the ronin by the arm and dragged him through the door, silver eyes bright, “Ah, Dyria! Good! Look, I found a new member for Halo! His name’s Nirim, he’s a ronin!”

“A new member?” Emery questioned, and Vien nodded.

“Yup! Sage and I found the perfect request at the bar, but it required we have a ronin in our guild, and this guy was all alone, so we grabbed him!”

“Vien, you can’t just do that,” Emery sighed out, rubbing his temple, and Vien pouted, wrapping both of his arms around one of Nirim’s and leaning forward.

“But now we can take that request! It’s the perfect thing for Sage’s reintroduction of the Labyrinth! I’m not super sure why we specifically needed a ronin, but we’ll figure it out. Besides, they’re like hella strong, right? Look at this guy!” he patted Nirim’s broad chest, “Fuckin rock hard! So? What do you say? Dyria?”

Emery looked over at Dyria, who appeared a bit pale and sickly as he stared numbly at Nirim. The medic almost felt sorry for him and stepped awkwardly in front of him, holding a hand up, “Sorry, Dyria is currently unresponsive due to shock, but I’m sure we can discuss initiating Nirim into Halo,” he smiled at the ronin, “Where have you been staying?”

“Here,” Nirim answered, finally snapping out of whatever stunned trance he’d been in before, “I have a room on the top floor.”

“That’s perfect!” Vien decided, still clinging to Nirim’s arm in complete excitement, “One of us can move into your room!”

“Vien, you can’t just decide that,” Emery tried to scold, but the troubadour was far too excited to have heard.

“And we can leave tomorrow for the request! What do you think, Dyria?”

Dyria just pressed his lips into a thin line, and Emery laughed as he held an arm out, “How about we talk in the tea room? I think Dyria needs some fresh air.”

“Sure,” Vien yanked on Nirim’s arm and started to pull him towards the room off to the side, and Emery held his head, humming as he watched them go.

“I really was not expecting that,” he shrugged and turned, patting Dyria’s shoulder, “Oh well, shock treatment works best sometimes.”

With that said he followed Vien and Nirim, and Dyria watched after him with a grim expression. Sage stepped carefully towards him before reaching out to touch his arm, making him jump and whip around to face the survivalist, cheeks turning a dark red color.

“Are you okay?” Sage asked, “You look a bit… sick. Did something happen?”

Dyria’s eye twitched a little and he glared over at the tea room, “Emery can be a punk sometimes,” he said, and Sage smiled a little.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it, whatever it was.”

“Oh, he did,” Dyria mumbled, shoulders slumping and a sigh heaving from his lungs as he dropped his head, “Honestly he should just leave me be.”

“Well, he is a medic,” Sage noted, “It’s not in his nature to just leave someone alone.”

“But I’m not sick!”

“Yea you are!” Emery called, and Dyria tensed up.

“I am physically healthy!”

“I didn’t say you were physically sick!”

Dyria just growled in irritation, and Sage bit his lip as his fingers curled into the protector’s sleeve, “You’re not… actually sick, right? Maybe you should lie down.”

“What?” Dyria turned to gape at him, “No, I’m not sick, I don’t have a cold or a fever or anything like that, really, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Sage looked quite honestly worried, “I-I don’t want anything happening to you when we’re in the Labyrinth because you’re lightheaded or nauseous.”

Dyria seemed to struggle internally for a moment before shaking his head, his hand lifting to push Sage’s hair from his face, tucking it behind his ear so his eyes were in full view, “I promise you I’m not sick. Not… not in a conventional way at least, and not in a way that would ever put me in danger or in a vulnerable position.”

“Not exactly true!” Emery called, and Sage gaped over at the open tea room as Dyria turned and stormed over to slam the door shut before walking back over to Sage and taking his hand, leading him away from the entry of the inn.

“A-are you sure?” Sage asked, reaching out with his free hand to grasp at Dyria’s sleeve again, “You should lie down anyway, Emery said-.”

“Emery is just giving me a hard time,” Dyria mumbled, looking over his shoulder to glance back at Sage before turning back to the front and pushing the door to the bedroom Sage shared with Emery and Vien open, “Come on, I left all of your new supplies on your bed.”

Sage cringed, “Ah, I forgot about that,” he admitted, his hand lifting to mess with the fur lining the collar of his vest, “I still think it wasn’t necessary…”

“Well, how about this,” Dyria turned to Sage and squeezed his hand, “If I promise to lie down for your peace of mind, will you stop feeling so bad about me buying you supplies?”

Sage considered it before his lips twisted into an adorable pout, trying to glare at Dyria, though it wasn’t working, and pointed over at the bed, “There,” he said, “I want to see you resting myself, so lie down here.”

Dyria was mildly stunned, lifting his hand and attempting to hide the blush against the back of it before he easily gave in, “Fine…”

Sage seemed pleased as he pulled Dyria over to the bed and set the bags of supplies on the ground before pushing the protector onto the mattress, then sat down and reached out to brush Dyria’s black hair away from his eyes, setting his hand against his forehead to test his temperature. Dyria just frowned heavily and tried to sink into the bed entirely as his face heated up a little more and Sage hummed.

“Are you certain you’re not sick? Your head is hot.”

“Not from fever,” Dyria mumbled, eyes shifting to the side so he wasn’t meeting Sage’s intense gaze, “I’m resting now, see? I’ll try to sleep if you really want me to, so you should go through your things and prepare for tomorrow.”

“Mhm, I can agree to that,” Sage decided, turning away, but Dyria suddenly sat up and grabbed him by his shoulders, staring intently into his eyes.

“I need you to promise me something,” he said, and Sage tensed up, his eyes growing wide as he nodded.

“O-okay.”

“Don’t ever bring strange men home with you.”

“Eh?”

[emilia3546]

Shadowsinger Part 8 - Gwynriel

ACOSF Spoilers! Do Not read this unless you have finished ACOSF and the Azriel bonus chapter

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

*****

Azriel hadn't moved all night, and Gwyn hadn't stirred in his arms, she was still sleeping soundly, snuggled into his chest. Azriel cradled her against him, waiting for her to wake up on her own. She showed no signs of waking even an hour later, and they'd soon be late to training, not to mention his wing was cramping up from where she'd wriggled slightly onto it half an hour ago. He subtly sent a shadow to open the blinds, sending sunlight flooding into the room, bathing everything in a rosy glow. Gwyn scrunched up her nose, hiding her face against him, the light making her stir and blink open her eyes. She froze as she realized where she was, but smiled, and released Azriel's wing,

"Sorry," she mumbled, "You should have just shoved me off, y'know,"

"I didn't want to wake you," he muttered, brushing the hair out of her face, "You were so calm,"

"I was asleep, so obviously,"

"Still, I didn't want to incur the wrath of waking you, either,"

"I'm not that bad!" She protested,

"Oh really?" He chuckled, "Nesta told me one time you launched a full-on pillow assault because she woke you at the time you usually get up." Gwyn glared at him,

"Nesta needs to mind her own business," she mumbled, "I was tired." Azriel snorted, and got up, ignoring Gwyn's squawk of complaint,

"I thought I was supposed to push you off, make up your mind," he laughed, turning to grab a set of leathers from the wardrobe,

Duck

What?

A pillow smacked him in the back of the head, and he turned to find Gwyn grinning triumphantly at him from where she sat on the bed. She squeaked and dived under the duvet when he picked up the pillow and tossed it into the air a few times, before throwing it back at the lump under the duvet,

"Asshole!" Came the muffled response, and he chuckled before ducking into the bathroom to change, grunting when his face met another pillow the moment he returned. Gwyn giggled, and threw another one that he barely managed to dodge, before crossing to the bed and grabbing the last pillow off her. He chuckled when she dived off the bed, grabbing the pillows she had thrown earlier. She threw one, and then pounced, smacking him with the pillow again and again, until he laughed, 

"I surrender! You win, oh mighty Valkyrie." Gwyn huffed, and let him up, grinning to herself as she ran out of the room to get her own leathers. Azriel chuckled to himself as she ran out,

Ask her to dinner.

What? No, don't be stupid.

Ask. Her. To. Dinner.

Stay out of this, just do your jobs.

Our job is to help you. We're helping you. Ask her to dinner.

Gwyn returned before he could respond, 

"Az, you're supposed to be teaching, it'd be absolutely disgraceful if you were late." Gwyn sauntered back out, leaving Azriel to roll his eyes and follow her. 

*****

Nesta was already there when Gwyn reached the training ring, 

"Are you planning anything today?" She asked, and Nesta shook her head,

"I was supposed to have lunch with Elain, but she's still not speaking to me after I shouted at her."

"What?"

"For upsetting you. She's mad, thinks I should be mad at you for being happy, and Az for being an idiot." Azriel winced as he overheard their conversation. "I shouted at her after you left, made her cry actually." Gwyn glanced away,

"I'm sorry, I don't want to be the cause of conflict between you."

"Oh you're not, Elain deciding to be a petty bitch is the cause, she's just picking a fight because she's upset that Az isn't following her around any more." He what?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he used to fancy her,"

"Used to?"

"He hasn't made any sort of move for ages, and she's never had to go for anything before, so she's a bit put out by it, I think. She doesn't dislike you, don't worry, I think she's just a bit all over the place at the moment." Gwyn nodded, and glanced towards Azriel, setting up the obstacle course again with Cassian. He'd stopped going after Elain. Nesta groaned as she followed Gwyn's eye line, "Cass has been being so annoying about that damned obstacle course, we've got to beat it, beat him." Nesta grinned at Cassian, casually rotating her wrist, and sending her sword flashing through the air. Cassian snorted with laughter, and shook his head,

"Save the swordplay for later, sweetheart." Nesta lost her rhythm, and narrowed her eyes at him, leaving Gwyn struggling to contain her laughter at Cassian's grin as Nesta flushed at the promise in his eyes. Nesta was saved from further embarrassment by Mor and Emerie's arrival, and Emerie grinned when Mor said something quietly, vanishing moments later,  leaving Emerie quickly explaining at Nesta's questioning glance,

"The brace is finished, Mor's gone to fetch it, and she's staying for training today." Gwyn didn't miss Emerie's grin each time she said Mor's name, but didn't comment on it either, turning her attention to the obstacle course facing her. She let a few others go first this time, focusing on listening. With each female taking on the course, Gwyn remembered Azriel's words, listening for their footsteps, the slight changes in direction, whether they were louder or quieter, running or walking, or fighting. When her turn came, she had a reasonable idea of what the course looked like, up to a point at least.

For the most part, she was right, and easily navigated the first half, before having to slow down, to pay closer attention to the obstacles. She focused on one at a time, but kept listening and  checking for any new ones, any potential 'enemies'. She passed her previous marker, and almost reached the end before the wooden beam she'd been running across gave way, and she collapsed to the floor, her wrist twisting unpleasantly beneath her. She squeaked in pain, and scrambled backwards as the beam fell, slamming into the ground where she'd been moments earlier.

"Shit!" A shadow was already swirling around her wrist, even as Azriel sprinted across the ring to reach her, a blue shield flaring up when another chunk of wood fell towards her. She scrambled to her feet, inspecting her wrist as she moved, it wasn't broken, sprained maybe, but nothing more. "Are you hurt?" Azriel gripped her elbow, tugging her towards him as he met her halfway across the ring,

"Not really, just hurt my wrist a bit." Azriel's attention snapped to the wrist in question, a shadow still circling it, and heaved a sigh of relief,

"It's not broken,"

"I know that, dumbass, I just fell funny on it, what happened? It wasn't supposed to break was it?"

"No, no it wasn't." Cassian was already at the faulty obstacle, and shouted back to Azriel,

"It's been tampered with, there's a bit of damage here as well," he ran a hand over the next obstacle, and locked eyes with Azriel, "This came from Illyria." Gwyn looked to Azriel, his face cold, almost unreadable, but a muscle twitched next to his eye, he was worried. She gently rubbed the hand still holding her elbow,

"It's okay, no-one got hurt."

"This time, who knows what might happen next time, that beam could have killed you."

"It didn't, I moved, we'll just have to closely inspect everything before every session." Azriel nodded, his siphons fading from the brilliant cobalt blue that they had been a few moments ago to a more subdued color, light no longer shining from them. He stepped back from Gwyn, running his gaze over her, from head to toe, and she let him ascertain for himself that she wasn't hurt, "I'm fine, Az." She muttered,

"Perhaps we should do something else today," Gwyn nodded, and let him lead her away from the obstacle course.

*****

Azriel fought the panic at seeing Gwyn in danger, she was safe, she was unharmed, mostly. She sat onto a bench by the wall and Azriel mumbled for her to wait a moment, not quite paying attention until he had grabbed their medical kit, and found the bandages inside,

"Az, I'm fine," Gwyn insisted, but didn't stop him from binding her wrist, and she caught his hands as he finished, her own tiny beside his, barely covering them as she smiled at him, "Thank you."

"Probably best if you avoid using it too much for now, you're lucky it's your left, you'll still be able to fight if you want." Gwyn nodded, and waited with Nesta and Emerie while he and Cassian cleared the debris out of the way, "You get some hand to hand practice set up, I'll sort archery, Emerie at least will be wanting to practice with the brace." Cassian rested a hand on his shoulder, and met his eyes,

"Breathe." Azriel did, drawing in a deep breath and releasing it through his nose, "She's fine." Azriel glance back to the bench,

She's okay,

The shadows whispered in his ear again, as they'd been doing since the first step he took from her,

"She doesn't need you to protect her, not now at least, just to help her."

"I know that. I just, I don't know." Cassian smiled,

"I do. It's difficult, but they're capable, she fought off a full warrior on her own last night, unarmed, she can handle a bit of wood." They, who was they? He didn't ask though, it had just been a slip of the tongue, he couldn't possibly mean Nesta and Gwyn, perhaps he meant they as in the Valkyries, there'd be no point in comparing Nesta and Gwyn. Nesta was Cass's mate, and Gwyn was, whatever she was to him, no way. He could have sworn a sigh sounded in his ear, and he offered Cassian a small smile as he made his way to the archery range, finally relaxing fully at a light laugh from behind him. He didn't need to look to know what she looked like, head tossed backwards, hair slightly falling out of her braid. He loved it when she laughed, they way the skin next to her eyes crinkled a little, her dimples forming when she smiled, even the sound of it. She laughed again, and his shadows hummed in response, the sound echoing through his mind as he set up three targets.

Emerie was lagging a little behind, with Mor helping her to do up the brace, her wings set higher than usual, and she grinned. Mor accidentally nudged a wing as she did up the final clasp, and Emerie froze, but an accidental touch didn't usually elicit that response, perhaps clipped wings were different, perhaps a touch was just painful. Gwyn made her way over, but didn't move to touch a bow, good, it would be a very bad idea to try to shoot with an injured wrist. He'd see if he could fix it after the session had finished, when he was a bit calmer.

Nesta smirked at Cassian, slowly drawing an arrow from her quiver and twirling it through her fingers, before quickly sending it flying for the target. She didn't take her eyes off him the whole time, relying on her peripheral vision to aim,

"Nesta! Stop that." He snapped his fingers in front of her face as she raised an eyebrow, and grinned, Azriel didn't even want to know how Cassian had responded, "Stop flirting, especially by shooting things, it's weird." Nesta just shrugged, 

"Whatever you say, chaperone." Azriel rolled his eyes,

"And how long does that continue for?"

"Until it stops being fun." Nesta looked sideways for a moment, thinking, "So never." Azriel groaned inwardly,

"Shoot the damn target." Emerie chuckled beside him, and Gwyn appeared next to her,

"You should know better than to spar with Nesta by now, Az,"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, just," he broke off, Nesta was staring across the ring again, her gaze locked with Cassian's, "Do you two need five minutes?" Nesta shook herself,

"What?"

"Do you need to grab Cass for five minutes, we'll cope." Nesta flushed, and shook her head, muttering to herself, sounding remarkably like 'five minutes my ass', "What, Nes?"

"Nothing." She narrowed her eyes at him and went back to shooting the target. Azriel chuckled to himself as he helped Emerie with her position, and her aim. She grinned at the first arrow that flew straight, her confidence skyrocketing with each successive arrow. When she managed to hit the bulls-eye a whoop sounded behind them, Mor. He hadn't even realized she was back. Odd, usually he knew exactly where she was,

"Yes!" She shouted, her grin matching Emerie's as she ran over to the Illyrian female, "Do that again and we'll go out tonight for a celebration." Emerie did, and again, having three bulls-eyes by the end of the session, although Azriel only saw the first, missing both others when he was either telling Nesta off for making eyes at Cassian, or talking to Gwyn. At one point he had to bite down on his lip to keep from roaring with laughter at her assessment of Nesta's weird flirting. Still, Nesta had glared at them both, and Azriel had shoved Gwyn in front of him, with her jokingly 'protecting' him from Nesta's wrath. 

Gwyn stayed to help clear up, and Azriel pretended not to note Cassian and Nesta's absence, but did grin on their return,

"Eight minutes, I do apologize, I underestimated you." He dodged the practice dagger that flew towards his head, although who had thrown it, he wasn't sure. "I do hope you plan on actually helping now." Cassian just sighed and shook his head, not bothering to reply, 

"Gwyn, did you want to have lunch, I never let you finish earlier?" Nesta asked, tidying up the last practice swords,

"Oh, yeah, so long as you're not going to be busy." 

"I'll meet you at one?" Gwyn nodded, and laughed when she wriggled against Cassian as he picked her up, and scrunched up her nose when he kissed it gently, 

"You mean to say I have to be away from you all of lunch? However will I cope?" He wailed dramatically, Nesta just patted him on the cheek,

"Stop being a baby." She wriggled out of his arms, before dashing out to escape. Azriel smiled at Gwyn's shout after her friend, his shadows dancing and weaving with the sound of her laugh when Nesta flipped her off. 

"Do you have time to practice a bit of silent fighting?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, tell you what, Cass! C'mere, Gwyn's gonna try and sneak up on us, and if we hear her, it'll be like she got caught and has to fight her way out." 

"What? I can't fight you two!" Gwyn protested,

"Just one of us, whoever hears you first will act as your enemy, the other will coach you through the fight." He grinned, and Gwyn nodded,

"Okay, so long as you don't actually beat me up." She grinned, and waited a moment for the males to walk a bit away from her,

"I bet you I hear her first," Cassian whispered,

"Oh yeah, how much?"

"Five gold marks."

"Five? Ten."

"Fine." Azriel grinned to himself, knowing Gwyn was already moving, and grinned wider when she made a slight misstep, and Cassian made no indication that he'd heard her. He whirled to face her,

"Got you, defend yourself, and get out." Cassian swore behind him, but tossed Gwyn a practice sword, and she raised it into a block just before Azriel reached her, he stayed silent as he circled around her, blocking her exit,

"Look around you Gwyn, what can you use against him?" Gwyn frantically glanced around and launched an attack, pushing him back, back, but he stepped over the loose stone, and Gwyn lost her rhythm, scrambling backwards to avoid the blows raining down. "Think Gwyn, he's bigger than you, stronger than you, do not let him drag this into close combat." Gwyn nodded, slowing her breathing and moved to disarm him, and would have succeeded had Azriel not known exactly what she was about to do. "Careful, don't let him know what you're planning, feint, trick him." She didn't, a trick in itself, and Azriel barely dodged her blow,

"Let's make this interesting," she panted, "If I win, you have to sit through all of dinner with Nesta and Cassian." Ugh, not a chance, he was never letting her win now, breakfast with those two was bad enough. Gwyn yelped as she dived sideways,

"And when I win?"

"If you win. What do you want?"

"Teach me piano." She laughed but agreed, and feinted left, but struck right. Azriel was already there, moving too fast for Gwyn to respond quickly enough, her sword went flying across the room, and she ducked underneath his to try and wrench it out of his grip before he could move against her, but he was faster. Gwyn yelped as he slipped sideways, and flipped her over, carefully shielding her head as she fell. She glared at him, and wriggled, but couldn't dislodge him. She huffed, "I win." Gwyn narrowed her eyes, unwilling to admit it, but still glared at him when he let her up. 

"Piano lesson tonight then," she muttered, "I'm having a bath."

Azriel chuckled as Gwyn stretched off, his worry about her wrist having vanished long ago and she waved at him as she vanished,

"Pay up." Cassian feigned shock, but sighed and handed over ten gold coins, 

"Fuck you."

"Pleasure doing business." Cassian was still glaring at him as he left, and he could have sworn he heard a bark of laughter from down the hall when he changed into clean clothes. With Gwyn and Nesta out for lunch he had time to plan, to actually see what he could do about the coming conflict, because it was coming. He and Cassian found each other, well, Cassian dragged himself into Azriel's room, carrying an armful of reports,

"I got the reports on each camp, we can at least get an idea of numbers based on loyalty." Azriel sighed and let him in, falling into a familiar routine,

"Windhaven's loyal."

"Four hundred and twenty-seven."

"Ironcrest could go either way, I have conflicting reports,"

"Well, they have three hundred and eighty-five warriors." Azriel nodded, noting down locations and numbers on the map pinned on his wall as Cassian spoke, building a clearer picture of what a war could look like, if they would win it, or if they would need the Darkbringers as well. Cassian was studying the map with his own gaze, looking at troop movements and numbers more than locations, and lords' loyalty. It wasn't as bad as he'd thought, more than half the camps were loyal, about a third were absolutely not, and the others, well, he couldn't be sure. If all went to plan, they'd have over half of Illyria's warriors on their side, if it came to a war Azriel was confident they'd win, but the cost would be huge. 

"It's not enough, we need to ensure that those unsure remain loyal." Cassian grunted in agreement,

"Perhaps we can get through to their females, and they can sway the undecided males, get Emerie to start something, and let it spread."

"We could get her to 'worry about her family in a war', that way other females will worry more, and convince their families not to try to start a war, and to be on the winning side if it comes to it." Cassian nodded, 

"She's still staying here with Mor tonight I think." Azriel nodded, 

"I'd be worried to go home too if I was her."

"I'm not sure that's, never mind, she'll go home tomorrow, maybe the day after, we can speak to her tomorrow at training." He was being weird. He couldn't mean something else, what was he not sure about? He almost asked,

Don't be stupid. 

I'm not.

You are. It's Mor she's staying with, don't be stupid.

I - oh. 

Azriel just smiled, and asked if Cassian wanted to talk to Rhys and Feyre or if he should,

"You have a piano lesson to get to, I'll head over now." He, shit. At some point the sun had indeed gone down, he hadn't even eaten dinner per say, but he supposed the endless plates of snacks probably counted, maybe. He couldn't help smiling to himself as he crossed the corridor and gently knocked on Gwyn's door,

"Hello Shadowsinger."

[mskinkyafro]

In This Together (Ethan x MC)

A/N: So don’t get me wrong I loved chapter 16, however I do not agree with MC working with Landry at all. Anyway I’m essentially rewriting parts of this chapter on how I preferred/imagined it with MC going to Ethan when they figured out what’s been slowly killing Naveen. I’ll be using most dialogue and scenes from the chapter, but adding my own dialogue and moments as well. So this is a canon divergence fic.

SideNote: In my play-through, Naveen was kept at the hospital. Also PB still hasn’t introduced Jenner, but I have in a previous fic. Anyway my HC for the dog will be present again in this fic.

Summary: After realizing what’s killing Dr. Banerji, Katrina  goes to enlist Ethan’s help to immediately begin his treatment.

Rating: PG-13/T. Slight cursing, a F bomb is in this fic and also some suggestive sexual situations/heavy petting.

“Holy shit! Landry...your a genius!” Katrina exclaims as she scrambles to her feet. She paces back and forth in the living room muttering to herself as she stops in front of the large window pane. She leaves Landry, Nikita the chinchilla, and Gigi the Fennec fox looking at her curiously. All the while Pistachio the tortoise glares at Katrina with his small beady eyes because she woke him from his slumber.

The grumpy reptile squeals at young woman drawing her away from her thoughts to look at the small creature. Katrina picks up the tortoise and places a small kiss on its head.

“Aww did I interrupt your nap, Pistachio? I’m sorry. You go back to sleep. I promise I’ll be more quiet.”

Katrina places the tortoise back down and he grumpily lets out another squeal before settling into his shell to sleep.  Katrina then quietly cheers as she spins in a circle.

Landry still confused stands from the floor and walks over to Katrina and taps her on the shoulder.

“Umm you care to enlighten me, Katrina?”

She stops moving abruptly and turns to him.

“What?”

“You said I was a genius. I mean, I like to think so, but...why?”

“Oh I didn’t really mean that. That was just the after effects of the light bulb turning on in my head. I think you’re a dumbass.”

Landry’s expression turns sours as  he sarcastically speaks

“Wow Katrina. Tell me how you really feel about me.”

Katrina runs her hands through her afro frantically as she thinks. She grabs her cell phone  as she looks around the room one final time.

“Oooh I’d love to. Trust me I really would, but I have something important to do right now. I just figured out what’s killing Dr. Banerji so I’ll take a raincheck.

“What?”

“Yeah I know. Makes you think maybe I actually deserved those rankings that I earned.”

“Katrina--” Landry begins to talk but she cuts him off with her hand and calmly but sternly raises her voice.

“Look, you made your choice! Just like I made the choice to give Mrs. Martinez a chance to live her life, you made the choice to throw me to the wolves. Over what? A competition? No it’s more than that. Just another classic case of jealousy.

Landry face grows dark and he angrily says

“I told you already.! What you did was unethical and poor Mrs. Martinez’s family-”

Katrina’s voice cuts him off again.

“If that was true, then you would’ve came to me from the moment you decided to tell her family. Given me the courtesy instead of blindsiding me. If  you were truly concerned you would’ve asked Chief Emery to organize a meeting with herself and the family to discuss your concerns. However, you acted in such a sly way. So, stop lying to me and yourself and admit that you only spoke up because you’re concern was getting rid of me indefinitely from the competition, not Mrs. Martinez family.”

Katrina’s hands are balled up and she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before continuing.

“But it’s like you said, it doesn’t even matter now. So tell me...was it worth it?

“And so only you had to make hard choices!? You think this is I wanted things to turn out?! Look what happened Katrina! I got forced out from my apartment and everyone treats me like some villain! I’m alone! All because they were foolish of...”

“Don’t you get it?!  All that’s happened to you is the consequences of your actions! Just like I have my own. Awaiting my hearing, potentially losing my medical license, I accept what’s to come. Why can’t you accept yours?

Landry’s angry slowly fades from his face and regret morphs into his expression as his eyes cast down to the ground as Katrina’s word sink in.

“When are you going to realize that the only person responsible for what has happened  to you, is yourself?  You’re negligence and incompetence is something I refuse to take the blame for.

She shoots him a glare then turns on her heal and heads towards the front door.

Landry speaks softly causing her to pause in her place.

“This isn’t what I expected to happen. I didn’t want it to end this way, but maybe this was inevitable...however, for what it’s worth I’m--”

“No. I don’t want to hear it and I don’t want your apology. What’s done...is done.” she whispers loud enough for Landry to hear as she inches to the door.

As she leaves, always being a clumsy person she almost falls face first from tripping on Landry’s stuff, knocking it’s contents back on the ground. She looks down on it and continues to door.

Landry calls out to Katrina in irritation as she opens the door to leave.

“Hey! Really?!”

“I would say sorry...but I really don’t give a fuck.” she yells as she exits her apartment.

“Damn. I was so close for the perfect dramatic exit.my clumsy ass ruined it.” she mumbles to herself.

As she walks out her complex she looks down at her phone and dials Ethan’s number. Placing it to her ear she listens as it rings once before it automatically sends her to his voicemail. She curses but waits to hear the beep to leave a message.

“Ethan! Call me back as soon as you get this message! It’s urgent!”

She ends the call and checks the time before she races to the trains to ride to the library to research her theory pick up some medical textbooks as evidence and then head to Ethan’s.

Two hours passe before Katrina finds herself in front Ethan’s door. She ferociously knocks on the door.

“Ethan! Dr. Ethan Ramsey, it’s Katrina, let me in!”

She stands there waiting to here the man shuffle to the door besides the excessive barking of Jenner.  After five minutes she becomes antsy and reaches for the door knob and discovers that the door is unlocked. Katrina lets herself in and is greeted by a hyper Australian Shepherd.

The force of Jenner makes her drop the books she’s carrying.

“Woah! Hello again, Jenner. Where’s Daddy?” she asks between giggles as she pets the dog.

Jenner barks loudly and jumps down from Katrina tugs at her shirt to lead her through the apartment. She lets the dog lead her toward the back of Ethan’s home towards his bedroom. He barks one last time as he pushes the door to his owner’s room wider.

She sees a lump in the bed move and grunt out slurred words.

“Hush boy...I’m trying to sleep.”

Katrina shakes her head disbelievingly. She bends down to scratch the blue merle furred animal under his chin.

“Such a good boy. Thank you sweet baby.”

The dog rubs his head lovingly into her touch before retreating back to another room in the apartment leaving Katrina to wake up Ethan. She walks up to the his side of the bed and pulls the covers back to find him sleeping and smelling of scotch. Katrina watched him for a few seconds, hesitating to disrupt him. She noticed how calm he looked, almost all his worry lines seem to be invisible as he slept. Hearing a snore escape his lips, draws her away from her thoughts and reminds Katrina why she needs to get him up.

“Ethan! Get your ass up! It’s the middle of the day!”

He doesn’t stir, seemingly unbothered by Katrina’s voice. Rolling her eyes at him she takes a hands on approach to waking him by climbing onto the bed and straddling him over the sheets.  Her hand traces his cheek which cause Ethan to open his eyes slowly, confused yet pleased to see her as he registers that she’s really there in front of him. Katrina  melts as she feels his strong arms instinctively wrap around her waist.

“Kat? What are you…”

“It’s not everyday you wake up to an angel is it?” she grins at him.

“No it’s not. But I wouldn’t mind making it routine. Especially if I can…”

His words trail off as his eyes pierce into Katrina’s putting them into a familiar trance. His hands slowly roam down from her waist to gently squeeze her ass to circle back up to run over her smooth coffee hue skin. Next his hands slide to wrap around to the front of her chest to massage her ample breasts from under her bra, his eyes never breaking contact with hers.

Distracted by his touch, Katrina lets her eyelids shut and moans softly

“Ethan…”

Unexpectedly she feels the shift as he pushes her back with him towering over her. Placing her pressed between the top of his sheets and half of his naked body. He leans over to press a small kiss on her lips, then turns to pepper her neck with light lovebites before reaching her ear lobe. He pauses and whispers

“...Get you right where I want you, To have you all to myself.”

She watches him with desire, momentarily forgetting why she rushed over here, anxiously waiting for him to continue his assault on her body. Ethan swiftly moves his head down further, but pauses as he winces in pain. His hangover making its presence known.

He sits up and retracts himself from Katrina, leaving her to calming her breathing as she perches herself using her elbows.

“Wait? Are you hungover right now?”

Through the pain he manages to look  towards her and smirks slightly.

“Perhaps a little. You kept me up very late last night, Kat. And my tolerance isn’t what it was in med school.”

She sits herself up and crawls on the bed to wrap her arms around Ethan, her curls tickling his face as she leans over his shoulder.

“Aww! Is someone getting old?” she teases.

“I’m only six years older than you. Plus, I didn’t hear any complaints about me being old last night. If I remember correctly, it seemed you could hardly keep up, you kept falling asleep.”  he retorts back.

“That’s because I’ve never orgasmed so many times in one night. I’m surprised my legs are functioning still.”

“Well I’m one to do things to perfection. The goal was to leave you crawling out of here not walking.”

Despite the pounding in his head he unravels Katrina’s arms and moves to pin her back on the bed, but she stops him.

“As tempting as that is...you need to get dressed and sobered up. I already wasted enough time. ”

She moves off the bed to stand up and inches her way to the door.

“Dr. Banerji needs us.”

She places her hand on the wall near the door but turns around to see him pause after he pulls his boxers and pants on.

“Naveen? I can’t face him again, Katrina. I failed him. I told you, it’s over--”

Katrina walked back over to him, standing in between his legs and places her finger to his lip to stop his speech.

“I solved it.”

She begins to explain her theory and all that she read up on, and the solution to treat him. She watches as his eyes grow in realization as she finishes talking.

“My god...You’re right!” Ethan exclaims as he bolts from his sitting position to grip her shoulders. Unexpecting his next move, Ethan picks her up from the waist and swings her around in a small circle before placing her back down.

He rubs his hands through his hair, his eyes glistening slightly.

“I’m sorry. But it’s truly extraordinary! You’re brilliant...I just…”

“I know. But we can’t celebrate for long if I can’t find a way into  Naveen’s room. I need to test my theory and if right,  you’re the only you can perform the phage therapy.”

“Alright. Let me get dressed.” he says seriously. He turns to grab his signature gray sweater and plaid shirt, but winces again and touches his temple and sits back down on the edge of his bed, tossing his shirts to the side.

“You don’t look so good.

“I’ll admit I’ve felt better. I’ll be fine just...give me a moment.”

“We need to get rid of your hangover. You need to be at your best.”

“I don’t need you to take care of me, Kat.”

She steps closer to Ethan.

“No? Because it damn sure looks like you do?”

He smiles despite the pain.

“Well...if it’s doctor’s orders.” he says as he surrenders.

Katrina runs one of her hands through his thick wavy hair, toying with the few loose strands. He lets his eyes close as he leans into her touch.

“I’ve always been by your side. We’re in this together, so get used to having a partner in crime. Ethan, let me take care of you.” she says softly.

“If...if you insist.” he looks up at Katrina, his eyes showing all the pain and stress he tries to hide.

Katrina smiles at him and places a soft kiss to his forehead before gently grabbing his hand and leading him into his kitchen.

Once they enter she leads him to a stool then turns to rummage through his cabinets.

“I just need fluids. We could drive across town to the hospital and grab some banana bags for the I.V.”

“That sounds nice and all but I have something even better. Dr. Michaels’ Miracle Hangover Cure. I invented for my friends in college and although it tastes horrific, it works like magic! ”

“Now I’m scared. On second thought, I rather have the hangover.” he ribs as he leans onto the counter as she continues to rifle through his kitchen.

She laughs aloud and responds to his teasing.

“You’re such an ass. Didn’t anyone tell you not to mess with the people who handle your food and drinks?”

“That’s not the first time someone’s called me that. And I supposed I’ve heard that piece of advice here and there.

“Hmmm, well you’re lucky you’re handsome and I’m such an saint. Oh perfect! You have everything I need!”

“Dare I ask what’s in it?”

“I’m glad you did!”

Katrina launches into details of what’s in her cure as Ethan watches with a mixture of fascination, skepticism, and disgust.  After blending the items up she pours it in a tall clear glass and slides it to him.

“It’s amazing what black coffee, cactus, and some cayenne pepper does to heal the body.” she says

“Or possibly slowly kill the body. You sure this will help, it looks horrific.” as he holds the glass, looking over the drink.

“Don’t you trust me? Absolutely! Stop stalling and drink already.”

“Not so fast.” he grabs another glass and pours some of the drink into the other for Katrina.

“You’re going on this journey with me. You said we’re in this together, that includes monstrosities like this. Bottoms up.”

“Well I meant along the lines, oh I don’t know...being your first mate, the Bonnie to your Clyde, or the Cher to your Sonny, but if this gets you to drink already…”  she rolls her eyes but a smile creeps it’s way onto her lips as she grabs the glass. 

The two take a sip at the same time and it takes all of Katrina’s  strength to not contort her face in horror. Ethan isn’t as trained and immediately moves the drink from his lips.

“My lord, Rookie. That’s an abomination!”

“I know. I know it takes nasty but you have to finish it.”

Ethan grimaces at the drink before shutting his eyes and gulping the entire glass down in seconds.

“Well?”

“Well, what? It’s not like my hangover is going to evaporate right aw-- Oh my god, it worked. I...can’t believe it. What the hell?” he says in shock and disbelief.

Katrina walks around the counter near his seat and leans back and crosses her arms over her chest with a smug grin climbing her face.

“I told you it’s magic. My work here is done. Now let’s get ourselves to Dr. Banerji to tell him the good news.”

She stands straight and heads to pick up the books she dropped earlier but notices Ethan isn’t moving, he stands next to a wall gazing at a hanging photo of him and Naveen receiving an award. She walks back over to him.

“You can do this. We have an answer.”

He doesn’t tear his focus from the photo.

“I know I can do it. I know. That’s not what I’m afraid of. I don’t know...I don’t know if I can face him again after I betrayed his only wish. How can I ever forgive myself for that.”

She steps so that her hand rests on his bare arm. He turns to face Katrina.

“Ethan, you did what you thought was right. It’s what you thought you had to do.”

“And I was wrong.”

“Maybe you were. You’re human. I know it doesn’t seem like it but even you can make a mistake. You’re allowed to be wrong. But now...there’s another choice. Forgive yourself...or don’t. At least at this moment. Because your mentor, friend, and...father figure needs you. Forgiveness can wait.”

“...Forgiveness can wait.” he repeats quietly as he reaches out to gently stroke her cheek, subconsciously drawing her closer to him.

Closing the distance between the two, Katrina presses her plump lips delicately to Ethan’s. His arms immediately slide around her waist, pulling her closer and meshing her body into his. She feels him kiss back urgently, eagerly, and passionately. Katrina never knew one could pour such emotion into a single kiss.

He pulls away and Katrina sees the adoration in his eyes as he looks down at her in his arms.

“What was that for?” h asks breathlessly.

“For luck. I thought it beat a four leaf clover or a silly rabbit’s foot.”

“I see. Though I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t need luck....”

He pulls Katrina into his arms so that she’s pressed against his bare lean chest. He let’s one hand tangle in her wild hair and roughly grip her head back to reveal her neck while one finger from his other hand trails up til it reaches her chin. Katrina shivers from his touch.

“...because I have you.”

“Have you always been so smooth?”

“I like to think so.”

“Sure...it’s annoying how charming you can be. I hate it.”

“You love it.”

“Look who’s ego is big now.” Katrina smirks.

Ethan finds her lips with his and the two continue to do so over and over again until they become lost in heady kisses. Soon Katrina finds herself once again drunk from his taste and his scent. In between kisses she manages to whisper his name

“Ethan…”

Their lips find one another once more tongues battling for dominance but ultimately Katrina’s succumbs to Ethan’s as she feels his hand gently squeeze the side of her neck causing her arousal to grow. Finally, she pulled away to catch her breath and Ethan presses his forehead to hers, smirking.

“I would say sorry, but I’m not one bit.

“Good, because I’m not either. But we really need to go, tell Naveen, and get the supplies. In this situation it’s literally life or death.”

“That was in poor taste.”

“Was it? I thought it was clever and witty.”

Ethan shakes his head bemused.

“You’re a nerd...Oh by the way, don’t say anything about us to Naveen, okay?”

“Are you embarrassed of me?”

“Nothing of the sort. I just don’t want to give the man the satisfaction of knowing he was right about us. He never let me hear the end of it.”

Katrina laughs and pushes Ethan back to his room.

“Another thing Ethan Ramsey loves to protect, his pride. Now go put your shirt on and let’s go.”

He goes into his room and throws on the rest of his clothes and together him and Katrina drive to Edenbrook to see Dr. Banerji.

Tagged: @hopelessromantic1352 @gabbisaur @flyawayboo @ifyouseekheart

@perriewinklenerdie @greywitchyshots @itsfabrayic @aworldoffandoms @lastfirstcupcake @lilyofchoices @siegrrun @radlovedreamer  

*Anyone else want to be tagged, let me know!*

[rhysanoodle]

In My Blood

A/N: In which Cassian again participates in the Blood Rite and both he and Nesta must deal with the consequences, post-ACOFAS

Nessian angst

Word count: 2166

AO3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Part 9

Cassian arose late in the morning to a sharp pain in his abdomen and utter confusion. His first thought was at how unusually late he’d slept. It must’ve been the sleeping tonic because he hadn’t noticed the pain medication wearing off, but Nesta had always been punctual with administering it to him. Unless...

A strong, too-familiar scent hit him a moment later as he tried to lift his head, cringing at the pain as his core muscles tightened, and found her unconscious next to him. She was curled in a ball, as if she had tried her hardest throughout the night not to lie against him, failing due to the cramped amount of space she occupied on the edge of the mattress, but… She was holding his hand. And Cassian was surprised to realize that he had been holding hers back.

Shit. The nightmare. He hadn’t meant to wake her. At the beginning of their stay in Illyria, he’d done his best to keep them as quiet as possible, so as not to alert her to their presence. He didn’t want to have to explain to her that every time he closed his eyes, he saw her getting thrown into the Cauldron or shielding him with her body on the battlefield or sometimes even just drinking herself to death. But for the past few months, the nightly terrors had been fewer and farther between.

He tried to recall what had happened between them last night, but came up empty other than her startling him out of the nightmare and placing his hand on her chest. Then...nothing.

Cassian desperately needed to clear his head, but there was nowhere for him to go in this state. He gently untangled their fingers and placed his own hands on his chest, safely out of range of snatching that supple, tempting hand right back. As he laid his head back down, he craned his neck so he could still see her sleeping form out of the corner of his eye. She looked so peaceful — for Nesta.

Cassian hadn’t realized how unusual it was for Nesta to also sleep this late until now. When she wasn’t completely hungover, she usually got up and out of the house early to train or go on a walk — or avoid him probably.

As she began to stir next to him, Cassian quickly shut his eyes and attempted to feign sleep — hoping she wouldn’t realize the deception and would quickly remove herself.

Damn, this couch was so much softer than she remembered. And the back cushion was...moving. Up and down. And, oh gods, that was Cassian behind her, and she’d fallen asleep in his bed after the nightmare incident.

As carefully as she could, she scooted off the bed, trying her hardest not to disturb him, though she’d have to wake him soon to take more pain medication. When she glanced back behind her, as she tiptoed out, she noticed his breathing hitch a bit. Was he awake? She just needed some coffee to clear her head because she was probably just imagining things.

Today’s breakfast only came with a piece of plain toast, in addition to some broth, but Nesta couldn’t help but notice that Cassian almost smiled a bit as he saw it. He also completely devoured it, which was a first for him this week. Hopefully, she’d be able to veer from the bland staples soon and stop having to prepare two different meals.

Around what would be lunchtime, they got their next round of visitors. This time it was Rhysand and Mor, accompanied by another healer. Once again, Nesta didn’t give them much more than a nod of acknowledgment before slipping out the door. She had a mission today — and all the walking would help her shake off the after-effects of what had occurred between herself and Cassian last night. She couldn’t let herself focus on how comfortable she’d felt when she’d awoken right now.

True to Emerie’s word, it didn’t take Nesta long to track down the young Illyrian male whose name she learned was Petros. He had been frequenting the largest tavern in Windhaven every afternoon while he waited around for news of his friend.

Nesta sat down at the table and promptly ordered them a round of drinks, hers only a water though. No need to tempt herself, even if the ale here was piss-poor. She wasn’t sure she could stop once she’d started. Hoping the beverage would loosen up the boy, she began prying him with questions, soon learning that his own backstory was tragic like Cassian’s.

He was also bastard-born though he knew his father — which made his life even more of a living hell as his father had made sure Petros had no companions growing up, nobody to confide in. After the outcome of the Blood Rite though, he was being celebrated in Stormridge. His father’s eldest pure-blooded son had perished in the Rite, and Petros had come out looking like the logical choice to the rest of the village as his father’s heir.

Despite the traditional mourning period they were observing, his father had been practically forced to recognize him as a legitimate son, especially considering his connection to the now-King. The entire experience still seemed surreal to the boy.

“So that’s it? You’re a lordling now?” she inquired after hearing his story.

“Seems that way. Still can’t believe it, but I’m eager to start making some changes and having some power for once in my miserable life,” he replied. There wasn’t a hint of any malice on his face, just pure ambition, as if he couldn’t wait to prove himself.

“Would you be desiring a little assistance perhaps? Right now I’m looking to get away from this place. I need a little change of scenery, and from what I’ve heard, Stormridge might be the best camp for me to start over in,” she admitted.

“I thought you were helping lead the reform here in Windhaven. Wouldn’t you be more useful being in the same city as King Cassian?”

“Not likely. I’m officially stepping down at the end of the week and need to go clear my head.” Nesta stared at the table, wishing she’d opted for the mug of ale now. This was more difficult to talk about than she’d thought, and after last night she had her doubts about leaving. But she really needed to make other arrangements. She wasn’t eager to stay any longer than she had to or gods-forbid move back to Velaris.

“Well, I’d be honored. I’m sure we could use a strong female presence in Stormridge, even if you decide you don’t want to be involved in political matters,” Petros smiled at her.

That was all she needed to hear from him. Finally, she had made a decision for herself, had taken control of her own future.

“Do you want to see him?” Nesta asked, and the kid’s face lit up. “Come on. He’s probably still awake right now.”

Nesta led the way back to the Cabin, Petros in tow. As they approached, she could tell Rhys and Mor were still inside, but she strode in as if she owned the place, or at least as if it were just as much her home.

She had barely even had a chance to make introductions before Petros had rushed into Cassian’s room, and the two were chatting like they were old friends, not like they’d spent one day on the brink of death together. Cassian’s ability to be so personable with others right off the bat still astounded Nesta. She’d never been good at it herself, though she had been fairly sure he’d appreciated the challenge of trying to win her over back when they’d first met.

Rhysand and Mor exited the room to give the two some privacy, and the three of them sat in an awkward silence before the others decided that maybe they’d spent enough time here for the day and should get going.

Nesta watched them walk toward the door before Rhysand came back to her and said softly enough that it wouldn’t be detectable in the other room, “Thank you. For bringing the kid today. I got the impression that Cassian is bored out of his damn mind in there, and as much as I know he loves my fabulous company, that made him grin wider than I’d seen in a long time.”

Nesta just nodded, any words she could’ve formed stuck in her throat. Rhysand’s gratitude had sounded a little forced. They had never had a comfortable relationship, but she could tell the words were genuine.

After they left, Petros stuck around chatting and joking with Cassian until the sun began to set before leaving, promising to be back in touch with Nesta by the end of the week.

As she entered the room to hand Cassian his dinner and the next dosage of his pain medication, she noticed that he did in fact seem in better spirits than she’d seen in months. She felt around for the words to say to him, but came up short and was about to leave when he gently grabbed her wrist.

“Petros mentioned that you’re moving to Stormridge at the end of the week.” Nesta couldn’t place the emotion she saw in his eyes.

Shrugging off his grip, she simply replied, “I’ll stay around for as long as you need — until you’re back on your feet, but I think we both agree that it’s best if I’m gone by the time this blows over. I didn’t want to go back to Velaris so I made my own arrangements.” She shrugged.

His gaze turned stony as he murmured, “Yeah. Good. That’s great.”

If Nesta hadn’t overheard with her own ears the fact that he was sick of having her around just yesterday, she might’ve mistaken it for some sort of ire at the news of her departure, but she still had her own issues to work out and couldn’t linger on what might be going through Cassian’s head. She needed to process the fact that her life was no longer this endless pit of numbness and try to figure out her place in the world again. And that didn’t involve being weighed down by her past, especially if her past didn’t want to be weighed down by her.

“I’ll be back in a bit to help you get ready for bed,” she said as steadily as she could before retreating to her own room where she flopped onto the bed.

She was making the correct decision, right? The past year had been insufferable, but today had been...tolerable to say the least. Maybe he could help her heal her wounds and sort through the myriad issues she knew she still had, but she knew that’d be asking too much of him right now.

Frustratedly, she grabbed a fresh book off the pile next to her bed and tore through it for the next few hours, letting the story take her away to a place where her own problems no longer mattered.

Nesta yawned as she closed the book. She probably should’ve put it down earlier, but she’d been so absorbed in the story that she hadn’t noticed the time passing and how late it had gotten.

She tiptoed over to Cassian’s room only to find him completely passed out. He seemed to have scooted over in his bed, uncentering himself, so that he could set the empty tray next to him and still have enough room to sprawl out closer to the far wall. Nesta took the tray back to the kitchen to do the dishes before getting ready for bed herself.

As she crept back into the room, she noticed him stirring somewhat. It didn’t look like it was anything on par with the nightmare she’d awoken him from last night, but he was still restless. She sighed and sat on the edge of the bed unsure whether to just leave him to whatever dream it was or try to awaken him like last night.

Nesta settled for placing her hand on his chest, making sure it was still clear of the bandage around his abdomen. Almost instantly the stirring stopped, and she sat frozen like she had the previous night, trying to figure out her next move before resigning herself to just staying for awhile.

She’d get better sleep anyway if he wasn’t tossing and turning and making noise all night, so she carefully slipped under the covers and turned to face him, laying her hand on his heart again. The steadying rhythm calmed her, and it was only as she lay in the dark, trying to match the rhythm with her own that she realized that she actually had room to spread out tonight — as if the tray weren’t the only thing Cassian had been making room in the bed for this evening.

Tags: @porcelainart @theartfuldodgcr @tswaney17 @lordof-bloodshed @aelinashgalathynius @aedionashryver-wolfofthenorth @anyone-anything-canbetrayanyone @refreshtoexpress @mikaylamee @wolffrising @tiredbutstillreading @velarxs

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