#I remain in love with my take on the matebond in this

[flowerflamestars]

Effloresce Snippet

Ruby bright, blood ran down Rhysand’s neck. A knife that could slice air in the right hand- Cassian had the faraway wisdom to be glad it was Elain holding it, not Nesta to whom the wind would listen, Nesta, who probably would have taken off his damned head.  “Elain,” Feyre sounded like she was choking. “Rhys wasn’t- no one is going to hurt Nesta- what are you doing?”   Elain ignored her, pressed harder, blood welling. Rhysand, frozen in place, wasn’t even looking at her- over her head, to Cassian, as though to ask: why?   Cassian shook his head.   “You’ll get our people out.” Elain was velvet, a High Fae courtier speaking in a human voice.   And Rhys, sky fucking drown him, demurred. Look down her arm, ignored the blade like even bleeding, these women weren’t a threat. “It will take time, to evacuate.”   Nesta laughed, an entirely different sound than before. Storm wild, the sound of it moving up Cassian’s spine like a caress. “You don’t have time. You did this- Feyre didn’t get there on her own.”   Rhysand, who’d lost all ability to back down when he aught sometime in the last fifty years. Rhys, who’d absolutely play chicken with a curse that would destroy him and his- he was probably hoping it would helpfully boil Keir’s blood as it worked its way to him.   “The curse can kill you,” Elain crooned, “Or I can slit your throat and watch the crown pass to Archeron hands. Your choice.”   “A curse,” Feyre whispered, eyes flying between her sisters. “Nesta, please, what is she talking about?”

Lush bravado, Rhysand’s smile. “Always good, to have deadly allies.”   And just like that Elain turned the blade in her hand- starry, gleaming, released Rhysand and handed it bloody to Nesta, handle first.   Even braced for it, Cassian wasn’t prepared. Nesta continued the motion, angry and hectic, his dagger spun sure in her grip, keening to the air.   Did she know she could shape the wind? That Cassian- because Cassian- that the very storm would listen to her, in true need, star steel singing in her hand?   “I don’t understand. What crown? Is this about the Queens? You can pledge for clemency- if you’re really the one running all those trade route, the Lords owe you- they can”-   Steady, deadly, Elain in her lace and silk, the scent of her rage more Lucien’s fire than her own skin, Elain who said, “High Lord, would you like to say it?” Rhys, Cassian thought it, Cassian roared it in his head, barriers down, walls crumbling- I won’t forgive you- Feyre won’t forgive you- don’t- don’t- don’t- Rhysands mouth twisted.   “We have a deal, your sisters and I,” He told Feyre, charm laid thick over the grimace. “For the preservation of House Archeron. Isn’t that right, Banfhlaith?”   Nesta bared her teeth.   Like a call and response he couldn’t quite control, Cassian gave into the burning urge to slide closer, to guard even for a second, her back.   He loved his brother. He’d served faithful the Night Court for five centuries- half a millennia and never once, not for a second, anticipated a real future.

What loomed, endless, in the sky of Nesta Archeron’s eyes.

#we're back!! #remember like 6 months ago I kept saying i had so many things like...halfway done #they are all done now #we are cycling through #summer is here and a hundred stories with it! #the exact moment Cassian realized #the war was coming #but the war for his soul? already won #Elain I will STAB A HIGH LORD FUCKING WATCH ME Archeron #I remain in love with my take on the matebond in this #the blurring of magic #of being #that Illyrians do not in fact find their mates like high fae #ao3 is officially up to date and this new chapter coming very very soon! #time for the plot to break and canon to disintegrate #Elucien being married in the background #while Nessian speedrun enemies to ride or die means you can't fucking die lovers #Feyre...still taking Rhysands side. #in everything #the real joke is that Azriel had fully thrown in with Nesta's plans #and rhys is just like #ignoring that to act like a dick #fanon Cassian is back from the canon nightmare