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cassianwithamessybun · 2 years

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Asterin and her hunter- throne of glass-

I had been wanting to write about Asterin and her hunter’s backstory ever since I finished throne of glass. their story made me cry. I just love them so much. I think this is almost 3000 words. it is just about Asterin and her hunter meeting and falling in love and stuff.

warnings: light smut, mentions of suicide

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Asterin had been flying through the blizzard for hours never finding reprieve. No matter how good her eyesight was, she was unable to see three feet in front of her.

Matron Blackbeak had sent her on this mission and she intended to finish it. Rounding up Crochens in the white fangs mountains was fairly easy unless you were caught up in a snowstorm and your flying was compromised.

Asterin tried Assessing the winds but a treacherous storm like this had no true direction. She would have to land and find shelter soon before the winds took her completely.

Hopefully there was a inn or village somewhere close—

An arrow whizzed past her face. She ducked, losing her balance and almost falling off of her broom. Before she could take another breath another arrow surprised her striking true this time, piercing through her arm.

Asterin was too far from the ground to land now and before she could decide what to do, blackness filled her vision.

Asterin had woken up to a deep clear voice humming. She blinked open her eyes, and groaned in pain as her deep wounds cut through her drowsiness.

She took in her surroundings, scenting a wood fire burning and a strong male scent. She was on a rather nice bed for a cabin. Maybe this person had money? they hadn’t killed her, so maybe they planned to sell her to the highest bidder.

That was not going to happen. Asterin growled sitting up and pain laced through every muscle in her body.

“Careful.” a male voice filled her senses.

She turned and found him standing by a stove, next to a steaming pot of tea.

“Who are you?” she rasped, not caring about her voice, and scanning the place for a weapon.

He only studied her with curiosity. She had killed men for less.

“Who are you?” she repeated, her voice cracking. He turned back to the stove and poured a cup of tea. Asterin was marking the exit. One door past the kitchen. She made to grab her belt that was on the floor to use against him because it seemed her nails were unable to work.

“Here.” he knelt down in front of her holding out a cup of tea. And though she was thirsty, he could have poisoned it. She had gone days without drinking anyway when she went to the Red dessert.

“The arrow you were shot with had poison in it. This will help.” he continued to hold it out to her. That was why her teeth and nails wouldn’t work. If they had, she would have sliced his throat by now.

Asterin only looked at him with a stare that drove most human men to their knees.

“Fine.” he sighed and took a drink. “Not poisoned.”

She snatched the cup from him not caring about the pain that laced through her arm, and greedily drank down the hot drink.

When she had drained the cup she broke the porcelain and before the man could blink, she was holding a sharp piece to his neck.

“Who are you?” her voice, though still raspy, didn’t waver.

His eyes looked dead and she didn’t smell the slightest bit of fear on him. “Do you not care at all for your life?”

He sighed as if explaining himself to save his life was a chore.

“I am Pádraig.” Asterin noticed a slight accent. He was definitely from the white fangs mountain.

“You were hurt so I brought you to my cabin to help heal you.”

She wasn't convinced anybody did anything out of the goodness of their heart, but It’s not like she would know. She didn’t have one.

She released the sharp porcelain from his neck. She didn’t presume he wanted to sell her, or kill her. So why help her?

He seemed like he wanted to die. He seemed like he expected her to kill him. Like that was the only reason to bring her into his cabin. Asterin thought it was strange, but he was mortal and they were all very odd.

“You should get some rest. You were bleeding very badly earlier.” he looked into her eyes with such earnestness she wondered if she had known him before. If she had stared into his brown green eyes before, because there was no way someone would look at a person like that without knowing them first.

Asterin had known lust. She could scent it off of a man just as quickly as she could scent fear. Still, all she could smell was a wood burning fire and a snow blasted forest.

She hadn't noticed him touching her arm until his hand had encircled her wrist.

“What are you doing?” she growled, pulling her wrist back towards her with a force that sent her bones aching.

“I think you broke your hand.” he didn’t let go. He only studied it and held it so gently as if it hadn’t decided the fates of Crochens and mortals alike. Like it hadn’t been a weapon, but something to be cared for.

She didn’t need to be cared for.

“Stop,” she said more sharply, but his grip on her hand didn’t loosen. She tried again to pull away.

“Lass if you don’t stay still I might have to hold you down,” he looked into her eyes again and Asterin noted something different about how he looked at her now. The green in his eyes shone a little brighter.

“I will have your throat ripped out before I allow you to hold me down,” she threatened, but he just smiled a little.

Asterin was completely speechless for a moment. She was shocked by the feeling his lips seemed to display. Amusement.

He was amused. That angered her more.

“You're a feisty one huh?” He was smiling again and Asterin was fighting an internal battle because she was so fascinated by it, but she also had the urge to slice it off of his face.

She didn’t answer but her glare seemed to bring a flare of concern into his eyes.

Good.

He stood, letting go of her hand. “You won’t be able to walk for a few weeks I imagine.”

“A few weeks?” Asterin couldn’t spend a few weeks doing nothing. The matron would expect the absolute best from her on this mission.

She sat up and groaned, putting her weight fully on her hands as she attempted to lift her legs off the bed. She winced in pain and tore the covers herself off to view the damage on her legs.

She noted her bare legs bruised and some wounds had been stitched back together.

She inhaled a sharp breath as she tried to bring her legs to her chest.

A broad male hand pressed one of her legs back into the bed, not allowing her to strain herself. She glared at Pádraig and he shot her an apologetic glance. “Please do not rip out my throat.”

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her smile in. “your eyes will do just fine.” she brushed her hand over his upper cheekbones.

His Hazel eyes filled with amusement and Asterin was utterly confused as to why the color made her melt. The green and gold hues were how she imagined the forests in the wastes before the war. Beautiful greenery and blooming flowers. A safe place to lay for a while and rest.

She watched him study her legs tracing the stitches and Asterin noticed that the only clothing she was wearing was a shirt that did not belong to her.

Pádraig stood and retreated to the kitchen leaving Asterin cold at the loss of his touch. She was quite confused about what to do with herself. He didn’t want to hurt her, and she would likely be bed ridden until the poison left her system and her quick healing fully mended her wounds.

She was so lost in thought she didn’t notice Pádraig had come back until she felt his warm hands rubbing some sort of salve onto the smaller cuts and bruises.

“This will ease the pain,” he explained and Asterin intended to snap at him that of course she knew what slave did, but she was so distracted by his hands and the lavender and eucalyptus scent that filled her lungs.

She hadn't intended to lay back onto the soft pillow. She hadn’t intended to let the calming cracking of fire wood soothe her into a deep sleep, but when oblivion was pulling at her eyes she felt safe enough to submit to it.

Weeks had passed and Asterin had spent them in Pádraig’s bed healing while he brought her food and water and applied salve whenever she was in discomfort.

Astrien was confused on why he was doing this, but she did like being treated and taken care of. It was strange, but she became accustomed to him speaking softly to her, distracting her when she tried to stand a day too early and ripped her stitches. She had of course been in worse pain and the Matron had told her to walk it off.

She couldn’t help the oily feeling that stained her soul. Was she becoming weak?

No. Surely her body and mind were just tired. At the end of the day she knew who she was.

Asterin Blackbeak. A weapon. A witch. A being who was never distracted by the heart. Who never had one.

“I am going out to hunt,” Pádraig’s voice sounded soft in her ears.

“I’m coming with,” Asterin decided, standing on perfectly healed legs. Well, almost healed. The poison was out of her system fully but she still had a few hours before her fae side fully healed her.

He gave her a long look, “no.” he said simply as if he could demand anything from her.

She crossed the cabin floor and reached for her clothes, putting on her leathers as she said again, “I’m coming with.”

He sighed and shook his head strapping a bow to his back. “You are not fully healed.”

Asterin didn’t respond, only continued to pull on her boots and grab her baldric of knives, strapping it across her chest.

He stepped closer to her and Astrien didn’t retreat one inch. “Your legs are not fully healed.” his brown eyes flared gold so quickly Asterin thought It may have been a trick of the light, but there was no sun during the winters in the white fangs.

Was he mortal? She hadn't scented anything else other than the mundane pine and snow off of him.

“I’m coming.” she started for the door. She had already missed days of kills. The Matron would be disappointed when she returned.

Pádraig just sighed and followed behind as she walked off into the snow blasted forest.

Asterin had been tracking a group of Crochens before she was injured. She might be able to pick up their scent again.

She walked silently through the forest and so did the man behind her. She could barely hear the crunch of snow and ice under his foot.

Stealthy, she thought. She would have to watch out for that.

After the full day of hunting she was unsuccessful in finding the Crochens scent. Pádraig was carrying a weeks load of game, while she was empty handed.

When they made it back to the cabin he had announced that she was going to make dinner. Astrien busied herself by searching for an iron wood tree to carve a new broom stick.

when she returned the smell of stew made her empty stomach grumble.

“You are beautiful,” Pádraig muttered before sleep took him.

Asterin had been staying with him for a month and a half now, helping him hunt while she carved her broom.

She knew she should be hunting for Crochens and spending more time working on her broom so she could leave. But this man in front of her was preventing her from doing anything else other than being with him.

Many men had called Astrien beautiful before, but the comment had never made her feel as beautiful as it did coming from Pádraig lips. His lips that were now slightly parted breathing in and out evenly. Astrien knew she could watch him for the rest of the night, but she needed her sleep.

They had been sleeping in the same bed for a while now, trying to conserve heat in the cold winter nights. Even though Astrien ran hot and rarely felt the bite of cold, she… she liked being held.

She had never been held like this before. Not by her mother, or any lover she had ever had. She knew what it meant. She knew how disappointed the matron would be if she found out Astrien had been subject to these human emotions, but Astrien couldn’t stop herself as they filled her chest.

“So the witches used to live in the wastes?” Pádraig asked, sitting next to the fire on an especially cold afternoon.

Asterin nodded, smiling. “That is our home, but the curse the Crochens created prevents us from returning.”

He nodded and looked down for a moment contemplating. “Well, until then this can be your home.” he looked back up at her smiling. “It can be a place to lay and rest for a while,” he continued. “A place of peace.”

Her smile widened, but sadness started to cloud her vision. She wanted this to be her home more than he could understand. There wasn’t another place on this earth she would rather be. And it wasn't a good thing. It made her chest ache and her eyes grow wet.

She didn’t feel her tears, only Pádraig thumb brushing them away.

“What's on your mind?” his voice was so soft, Astrien thought she might die if she never got to hear it again. She knew she would die if she never got to see him again.

Instead of answering, Asterin gently brushed her lips against his, hoping he understood what she couldn’t voice. The more you spoke of your fears the more real they seemed.

Pádraig returned her kiss with the sweetest pressure that had Asterin melting into his touch.

She had never been kissed like this before. With this much emotion guiding their lips, creating passion that was all consuming.

Asterin dragged her lips over his cheek and down his neck, feeling especially hot even in the winter chilled night. His answering groan told her he felt the same.

Her wandering hands had found the edge of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Asterin had assumed he had a nice build from hunting and the way his shirts always looked tight around his shoulders, but she never could have braced herself from seeing him without a shirt.

His pale freckled skin was all hard cut lines showing off how brutal he could be. Asterin thought it was strange how in contrast his body was with his soul. While his lean stomach had defined sharp lines his words seemed to be made up of all the softness in the world.

Asterin pulled him into another kiss that made everything other than them cease to exist.

Pádraig tore away from her mouth and picked her up with unwavering strength as he brought her over to the bed.

Their clothes came off despite the cold that was of no importance to them anymore. Nothing else was other than this feeling Asterin couldn’t yet voice.

When teasing touches turned into hard thrusts that had Asterin moaning and gasping for air she knew what she felt. When the passion exploded, clarity washed over her as she studied Pádraig breathing heavily above her.

His hazel eyes flared gold as they met with her own. He leaned down and placed the sweetest kiss on her lips whispering, “I love you, Asterin.”

He kissed her and they were once again swept up by the devotion their bodies moved against each other with.

When they were both utterly spent, Asterin was lying on his chest listening to his soft voice, and heartbeats.

“The week before I found you in the woods,” he started, fingers trailing up and down Asterin’s spine. “My brother passed away.”

Asterin looked up at him then, but his eyes were focused on the wall. “My mother was a healer. She had magic in her veins.” that explained his eyes, Asterin thought brushing her thumb over his cheek in a soothing motion. Encouraging him to continue talking.

“I tried to heal him, but–” his voice broke. “But I didn’t have enough power.” he paused and took a deep breath, and Asterin didn’t know her chest could hurt this bad from seeing someone else in pain. But it threatened tears in her eyes.

“His loss hurt so much, I was so consumed with grief. The day I found you in the forest I had planned… I had planned to end things.”

A tear fell on Asterin’s cheek. This man, this wonderful light that could never be replicated almost burned itself out.

Asterin shook her head in disbelief, the tears preventing her from forming coherent words.

“But then I found you,” he smiled up at her, wiping away her tears. “And you gave me a purpose, Asterin. You saved me.”

He leaned up and kissed her tear stained cheeks, and that was when Asterin felt it. Her heart. She did have one after all. Pádraig just had to turn it on for her.

And for the first time in Asterin’s life she voiced the words that threatened to destroy her. “I love you,” she whispered through her tears. “I love you,” she repeated, the words giving her strength.

Admitting the feeling was unlike she had thought it would be. Love was never a weakness, it was a strength. And it didn’t just save Pádraig but Asterin as well.

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Let me know if anyone wants a part two when all the sad stuff happens. I just didn’t think I could write it today without crying my eyes out, but if anyone wants me to I will power through. Anyway I hoped you liked it!

side note: I want to also write more stories about the throne of glass parents like Elide’s and Aedion’s parents.

#throne of glass #asterin blackbeak #blackbeak #manon blackbeak #asterin and her hunter #tog #sarajmas #aelin galathynius #rowan whitethorn #dorian havilliard #chaol westfall #celaena #matron blackbeak #aedion ashryver #fenreys #gavriel #kinda sad #ok I def cried a little bit

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