#vidalinav writes fic ideas

[vidalinav]

Another fic idea but where Nesta doesn’t change her body for reproductive purposes which is the most inane concept I have ever read with my own eyes and believe me I’ve read the minotaur milking book. Instead when Nesta is pregnant, Cassian gets very very very worried that something will happen to Nesta so he hopes that their children don’t have wings. He says it all the time and he gets pissy when someone mentions wings to him, because he’s adamant that their children should not and will not have wings. And when Madja confirms she can’t see wings, he is so happy and relieved that he’s literally over the moon with happiness. He’s like now we can really celebrate, because Nesta is safe. Except Nesta is very upset about this news, because she wanted them to have what he has and experience that freedom and joy that he expresses every time he flies and Feyre was okay-ish. She’s likely to be okay, she’s survived worse things. So Cassian and Nesta have a heart to heart about this. However, between you and me, It wouldn’t matter in the end anyways, because I would repeat what I made in a prior headcanon, where the baby(ies) are born without wings, but have them and just magically hide them because they’re fickle like that. 

#nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #vidalinav writes fic ideas #vidalinav #nessian fic idea

[moodymelanist]

I Guess It's Half Timing (And The Other Half's Luck) — Epilogue

I can’t believe this story has finally come to a close!! Thank you so much to everyone who followed along with me on this fic, I had so much fun writing it and trying my hand at slow burn for the first time 🩷

Also, a very big and special shoutout to the GC for motivating me every month to write this and helping me come up with fun little ideas to sneak in. Y’all kept me going and I couldn’t have done it without you!!

I hope this ties up everything nicely!!! until next time and happy 2024 everyone :’)

✷✷✷✷✷

Cassian

Cassian had been enjoying his dream when he was abruptly yanked into consciousness by the sound of his daughter screaming her head off in excitement.

“Mommy! Daddy!” Sera yelled at the top of her lungs, her little feet just narrowly missing crushing Cassian’s hand as she jumped up and down on the bed. How she’d managed to even climb up without shaking him awake was beyond him, but she’d certainly accomplished her goal now. “Wake up! It’s Christmas!”

“Jesus Christ, what time is it,” Nesta muttered under her breath. She looked adorably grumpy as always, and Cassian fought the urge to tug where her hair pulled into two loose braids for sleep like he was the little kid here. “Okay, okay, Sera. We’re up, I promise, just give us a second.”

“Too goddamn early,” Cassian mumbled right back. He was usually an early riser, but he’d been pulling a lot of long nights leading up to the actual holiday. Sue him for wanting to sleep in a little later than six thirty in the morning. “Sera, mijita, calm down a little, okay?”

Sera had just turned four last month, so they were much more concerned about making an effort for the holidays these days now that the chances of her remembering it were so much higher. She’d been talking about Santa and wondering aloud about her presents for weeks now, and if Cassian hadn’t been so worried about making the day good for her, he would’ve been able to focus on just how adorable she was.

Keep reading on AO3 here!

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[duskandstarlight]

The Girl (Nessian fanfic)

Notes: I needed angst and raw Nessian so... here we are. I have no idea if this is a prologue or a one-shot at this moment in time ( I think it's a prologue...) But here you are, a gift to you all because I am so shit at posting / writing these days...

And because it's not my jam writing-wise, now is the time to highlight that this will not be a pregnancy fic.

Prologue Cassian

It’s winter when he meets The Girl. Solstice lights are strung around the city and the music playing in the cramped bar is essentially a questionable mix of eighties, garage music and festive bangers that people scream along to until they’re hoarse.

Amongst the writhing bodies, Cassian spots her. Scarlet cami, hair like honey. He watches her for too long, the way her hips move to a rhythm nobody else quite seems to get like she does, the length of her ponytail as it swings to and fro. 

When she turns and meets his eyes, he’s a goner. And at the end of night, when he backs her into his apartment, he realises quickly that whoever this girl is, she takes what she wants and he’ll take what he can get.  

None of it takes long. 

It’s electric. It’s fire. It’s as if alone, they are both embers - but together they are the wind that ignites the spark, burning up a frenzy. His mouth on hers, the length of her hair wrapped around his palm whilst her fingers bite at his scalp. Her legs clamped around his hips as she unzips him and sinks down. 

It’s obscene that Cassian doesn’t think about protection. It’s there in the back of his mind, this small niggle. But he bats it away, marvelling instead at the pull and push of this primal attraction he’s never had before, relentless as the tide as it rushes back only to curl over inside of him again and hook him right back in.

When it’s over, Cassian has the distinct impression that he’s lost something, so he keeps his head buried in the crook of her neck a little too long. She smells like jasmine and vanilla and salt. Cassian feels as if he’s been shattered from some great height.

And then she’s untangling herself from him and tugging up her leather-look leggings over her hips, tucking her breasts back into her bra and pulling the scarlet satin cami back over her head. 

Cassian is still not quite back in the room when she grabs for her bag. Her voice is scratchy and thick with what they’ve just done. “It’s been fun.” 

The words have him scrambling up from the couch but his jeans are caught around his ankles.

“Hey,” he says as he manages to stand. The zipper jams in his shirt and he mutters a series of curses under his breath.

By the time he’s turned, the front door is shutting. 

She’s let herself out.

In all Cassian’s time sleeping around, he’s never seen such a quick exit. 

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#nessian #nessian fanfic #acotar #nessian fic #acotar fanfic #nesta archeron #Cassian acotar #cassian #duskandstarlightwrites #the girl

[theladyofbloodshed]

Omg your amazing writing (Nesta is the buffer especially) is really making me wonder what kind of chaos Azriel and Nesta would be in a relationship. Would you consider writing a kind of part two or even a separate fic where Nesta and Azriel decide to fake date for revenge on Mor and Cassian and end up falling in love?

If not it's completely ok !

I do love the idea of Nezriel both romantically and as friends! I don’t know if I could do a romance justice but @vidalinav writes the most exquisite Nezriel fics that have me like this 🥵🥰😋😈

#anon asks

[ncssian]

doing the @vidalinav thing is so much easier than doing the writing a whole fic thing, so here’s a vague continuation from this valentine’s day snippet

context: in which nesta receives the love she never had from the man she least expected it from

***

What do you want for dinner today? Nesta’s phone buzzes at 5:15 on the dot.

After a brief period of discomfort at Cassian’s daily texts about meals, she’s learned how to respond as easily as if she were giving her restaurant order to a waiter. She’ll never admit it out loud, but his pre-dinner texts have become the highlight of her day. Mostly because she loves having free food provided at her every whim.

At a red light on the way home from work, Nesta types out a quick reply to Cassian: Carbs. Every kind of carb. Had a rough day.

Whatever awkwardness Nesta feels at sharing an apartment with her ex-not-boyfriend is outweighed by the fact that he cooks and cleans for free. Nesta has no business harboring resentment at someone who makes a killer filet mignon and does the dishes afterward, so she treats Cassian with casual friendliness instead. As if he’s a stranger she picked up off the street and offered to let live with her.

A new start, Cassian called it.

Nesta is surprisingly okay with this. She hasn’t at all forgotten the ancient, unhealed wounds that lie between her and Cassian, but…she’s more than willing to let go of the memories and the pain. She knows better now, and that’s the only comfort she needs.

When she gets home, she’s greeted by the smell of rose oil instead of the smell of cooking.

From the hallway leading away from the living area and kitchen, Cassian pokes his head out of the bathroom door, his hazel eyes searching the apartment until they land on Nesta at the entryway. A small smile makes his eyes crinkle up at the sight of her, but the look quickly turns apologetic as he says, “Change of plans. I didn’t want to make you wait for home-cooked food, so I ordered takeout.”

“Okay,” she says slowly, setting her purse and coat down. A bit of a disappointment, but she’s relieved not to have to wait for dinner. She’s starved after skipping lunch today. “What are you doing in the bathroom?”

“I had free time since I wasn’t cooking and I drew up a hot bath for you.” He waves her over to the hallway, and Nesta warily pads over to their shared bathroom. A blast of steamy air infused with roses hits her at the door.

Nesta never gapes, but what she’s doing now is dangerously close to gaping. “What is this for?”

“You said you had a hard day,” Cassian says. He shoves her lightly toward the fresh bath overflowing with bubbles. “Get undressed. I’ll make bread rolls while we wait for the food.”

Nesta stumbles into the bathroom and Cassian half-shuts the door for privacy as he leaves.

Too stunned to do much other than follow Cassian’s instructions, she slips out of her dress and stockings and cautiously approaches the bath. Dipping a toe in, she has to repress a full-bodied shudder at the perfect warmth of the water. The smell of bath salts and essential oils invades her nose and runs all the way down to her last frayed nerves, soothing away the stresses of the day.

Nesta makes quick work of climbing into the tub and fully submerging under the water. She doesn’t know how long she’s in there for, playing with the bubbles and swirling the water around, when a knock sounds and Cassian reappears at the doorway. “Got the rolls in the oven.”

Nesta’s ears perk up at that. She fucking loves his bread rolls.

“Can I?” Cassian gestures to the tub, one foot hovering over the bathroom threshold in hesitation.

Nesta has no idea what he means or what he wants, but the tub is high enough to cover her up to her neck, so she lets him approach her with a careful nod. She watches him out of the corner of her eye as he wanders in and takes a seat on the low stool beside the tub, but her body remains oddly relaxed at his presence. Even if this situation is weird and unexpected, being with Cassian these last several weeks has become almost as easy as being with Gwyn or Emerie— just two friends content to share each other’s company, with familiarity and comfort taking the place of tension.

“Wanna talk about your day?” Cassian offers.

The question eases the cautiousness slinking around Nesta’s body like a cat. She huffs, “Don’t get me started,” before kicking one leg up onto the rim of the tub, then the other. “I’m dealing with the worst case right now.” Just thinking about her current client makes her feel heavy; she reminds Nesta so much of her younger self.

“I can tell,” he chuckles in a low tone. “It’s all over you.”

“Thanks so much,” she drawls.

Cassian scoots his stool over so he’s positioned right behind Nesta and asks smoothly, “Can I? You look like you need it.”

Before she can think on it, Nesta nods. She doesn’t even realize what she’s nodding to until Cassian’s broad hands come down on her shoulders and squeeze firmly. Her breath catches in her throat and her spine straightens.

“Relax,” he orders in a gentle tone she’s never heard before these last few months. “You’ll make new knots before I get these ones out.” He emphasizes one knot in her back by digging his thumb into her shoulder blade.

Nesta presses her lips together until they turn white—not at the pain in her too-tense muscles, but at the utter shock that Cassian is giving her a shoulder massage. In a bath that he drew for her.

A thousand questions and concerns spring to her mind. Cassian rubs into a spot near the top of her spine that has her head falling forward onto her chest, and she breathes the deep scent of roses and pomegranate seed into her lungs. “Why are you doing this?” Her voice comes out in a croak she doesn’t intend.

She thinks he’ll play dumb, but he thinks over his answer as he massages her shoulders instead. “I just felt bad that you were feeling bad,” he eventually says.

That answers nothing for Nesta. Is he overcompensating for all the shit that happened between them in the past? Has he been feeling more guilty than usual lately, and this is his way of apologizing? Or—Nesta feels the old slither of distrust snake through her bones—he’s doing all this to manipulate her back into his bed before he hurts her yet again. He’s trying to gain her trust before twisting it into a weapon for his own use.

No—even if that were true, Nesta knows better now. She’ll never fall for that trap again, whether Cassian tries to seduce her or not.

She bites back a groan as Cassian works out a particularly tough knot between her shoulder blades, refusing to make a sound while she stews over these thoughts in the bath.

“You should let others take care of you more,” Cassian says when she doesn’t respond to him. “Even after all these years, you still carry too much by yourself.”

Tears prick Nesta’s eyes at his words. No one’s ever said that about her. No one’s ever done this for her, period, and even if it’s fake, it’s nice to experience.

She takes a stupid risk and decides to be honest to Cassian in return.

“You’ve changed,” she admits, twisting her head to look him in the eyes. “You’re so much… easier to talk to now. You’re a lot calmer when you have no one to answer to.”

Everything was always so tense between them in their past relationship, and not always in a good way. It was a relationship between her and him and five other people—his friends and family. Nesta always had her back stiffened and chin tilted in defense of an incoming attack, in case Cassian or one of his loved ones decided they wanted to pick a fight on whatever given day. It was an exhausting way to be in love.

“So I’m less of a volatile asshole, is what you’re saying?” Cassian says, his own eyes soft and teasing and…mournful.

Nesta turns back around, facing away from him. “Among other things, yes.”

A moment passes before he continues rubbing her neck. “Thank you,” he finally murmurs. “I really am doing my best.”

“That’s good to hear,” Nesta murmurs half-heartedly. She honestly isn’t paying much attention to the conversation anymore, because his hands feel so good on her back and the water is so warm and she feels so sleepy.

Her guard drops, and when Cassian runs a firm hand up her spine that lands at the base of her skull and squeezes, she lets an embarrassing sound of pleasure escape her.

She stiffens at the same time that she hears Cassian inhale a sharp breath behind her. All of a sudden, cold air replaces where his hands were massaging her skin. “I should go,” Cassian fumbles a bit breathlessly, knocking the stool back as he gets up. “I’m sorry, this was inappropriate.”

Before Nesta can even comprehend what just happened, Cassian is out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind him in a hurry.

***

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#nesta archeron #nessian #cassian #ncssianwrites #god i wish i’d edited this

[arinbelle]

A Court of Witches and Warriors

Hello!

I know it’s been a very long time since I last updated with a new chapter. Honestly with school and ACOSF’s hype dying down, I struggled to write this chapter and the decision to even finish it. But, there’s a lot of plot and overall story I had planned for this fic, and I’m not quite ready to part with it yet (obviously). So, here’s to Nesta and Cassian’s continuing story. Enjoy!

Warning: References to sexual assault, swearing, NSFW scenes

If you’d like to be added or removed from the tag list (just this fic or all of them) let me know please! I realized a lot of people’s tumblr names changed and I just added a few of them in with the new names. If you don’t want to be in this taglist anymore let me know!

Tagging: @bookstantrash @duskandstarlight @greerlunna @nessiansimp@queenestarcheron @nessiansimp @cassianscool @sjm-things @perseusannabeth  @courtofjurdan @vasudharaghavan @sayosdreams @moe8  @arielle-reads @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @nahthanks @oversizedbats @swankii-art-teacher @inardour @rowaelinismyotp @starryblueskies7 @nestaarcher0n @vidalinav @nessiantrashh @lanyjoy-13 @iwastoowildinthe70s @nessianlordandladyofillyria @nehemikkele

~*~

Chapter 16- Cassian

Cassian was not expecting the note when it came to him. Magicked over by Rhys to appear on his lap in the middle of the War Council meeting, it was almost a welcome distraction. Cassian had lost interest in keeping up almost half an hour ago, when two sons of prominent warlords had begun bickering about patrols meeting each other in the skies, and the threat that posed. He had rolled his eyes at that one, and focused instead on his reply. 

The note had been a request for him and Feyre to visit Cassian for dinner in two days time. Not Nesta, but the unspoken intent was there. He would bet his left wing that it was really Feyre's idea all along to come visit, even though no one would ever admit to it. Because he knew, all their problems aside, Feyre and Nesta cared fiercely for the other. Loved fiercely too. And Feyre had to be missing her sister just as much as Nesta was hiding that she felt the same. He quickly jotted down a reply to let him know, not yet writing that he'd ask Nesta first, even if that was exactly what he planned to do. The visit had nothing to do with Cassian, and so the decision would lie on his...on Nesta.

He wasn't sure who she was to him. 

Well, no. He knew who she was to him in his heart. And also what the universe had deemed her to be for him. But he didn't know what exactly they were calling it to other people- not that anyone was asking. 

Of course, that likely had to do with the fact that most people in Windhaven had assumed he and Nesta were together long before they actually were. He didn't even know if they were together, because it was such a mundane word for something so much more vital and all encompassing. He didn't know anything but her name on most nights when they were breathless and spent on his bed. He didn't know what to do when she wasn't near him and he couldn't find her heartbeat through the roaring sound of other's voices. It was moments like that which sent Cassian almost into blind panic. But then, he would always find her again, whether by her soft laugh that only Cilla or Delani were awarded with. Sometimes him too, in the privacy of their home. But at practice, it was all business. She was all business. And Cassian couldn't be prouder. Or happier. 

Through the two months after they’d given into each other on Solstice, Cassian couldn’t remember ever being happier than he was now. He also couldn’t remember what life had been like before he’d known Nesta. He thought he knew her when they met, when he’d spotted the fire in her across the dinner table in her human home. 

A kindred spirit.

He hadn’t been wrong about seeing a part of himself in her, but there was so much more than that. She’d given him glimpses into it when they’d first begun living together. Small pieces of her that were once so deeply concealed, he didn’t even know them to exist. But now it was almost disconcerting to see who Nesta was when she wasn’t worried about who was watching her. 

Her true self.

She was, to his surprise, young. He knew she had only lived a quarter of a century, which was so, so small in comparison to his five centuries of living. But it wasn’t the age. It wasn’t immaturity. No instead, in all her hurt and anger, she’d never let herself truly act her age. It couldn’t have been easy of course, the way she’d been thrown from one stage in her life to the next. He supposed it also didn’t help that everyone around her seemed so much better off and coping after the war. 

Then Cassian had heard her laugh.

Not at him with a scoff or snort. Not with Cilla as they teased him about his gruff ways during training or his mannerisms that he never knew he had.

It was a true laugh and one he didn’t expect from her. With her friends, she was coy and when she teased him with them, it was almost a flirtation towards him. Breathy and sultry and all things sinful.

Before, when she’d been less than content about being forced to live with him, a laugh was more like a snarl coming from her. Hell, a snarl would have been more welcome.

Then he’d said something idiotic while cooking one night, and he wasn’t even sure she was listening considering half her face was obscured by the newest novel she’d stolen from his collection. But she had been listening and she’d laughed merrily at the joke. A girlish, open, laugh that reminded him of when he’d once been in his twenties. No idea what the hell he was doing with his life but happy all the same. 

It was all he wanted for her too he realized. To just be carefree, young and happy for once in her life. Her life that had been filled with too much misery for someone so young. 

It was more than laughter though. He learned that she’d been a dancer once, when she was younger and they still had the wealth to afford the lessons. How she had loved music, adored it so, so much and how she wished for it each night in the silent cottage each night. Cassian hadn’t known how to fix the sadness that had overcome her face at that particular confession. 

He would though. Music, he’d realized, was much needed and long overdue for Nesta Archeron.

He would much rather be with Nesta right that moment anyways, either training or just lazing about doing nothing. Not that there was any practice for either of them to attend. For the past week, Cassian had canceled training for the upcoming holidays before the spring rains began. It was also a month before the Blood Rite would happen, and everyone had enjoyed the small reprieve from getting up early and training. Nesta certainly thought so considering he never saw her wake before he dragged her out of bed himself, growling at him while he threw her over his shoulder and brought her down to breakfast. When the meeting thankfully ended, Cassian barely spared a glance back after signing the documents and promising a meeting to many of the still slowly changing camps for females. It was a threat more than a promise, but Cassian knew it was the only way for them to make any progress. He did not expect anyone to say goodbye as he left. Not the warlords of which a few surprisingly nodded to him politely, if only out of courtesy. He definitely didn't expect any greetings as he made his way down the hall of the cabin he'd used for meetings like these.

It was an office away from home of sorts, where he very rarely spent his time unless a council or hearing needed to occur. He was quickly in and out with his assistant's help. 

But Rania would not be in today, as he'd told her not to come. It was only to help her stay comfortable, as he'd noticed she didn't particularly care for the company of the males in their own village, let alone the crass, cold ones of the neighboring camps. It definitely didn't help Cassian, who found her a tremendous help in putting filings together or dictating meetings onto parchment. However, he could manage a day or two without her if she wasn't able to handle the male's company. If Cassian hadn't cultivated a habit of glancing over at where Rania usually sat, he would have missed her completely. The usual coronet that she opted for was gone today, and instead, Nesta's hair remained unbound, only held back by two pins on either side of her face. The hairstyle may have been simple, but the rest of her wasn't. Not that Cassian had ever thought someone as lovely as Nesta Archeron could ever truly look simple. When she met his eyes, he could have sworn the world stopped breathing.

Or perhaps that was just him. Yes, definitely him as the world didn’t really breathe at all. 

Come on, Cass. Get it together. "Don't tell me you missed me so soon? I've only been gone for two hours." He didn't know if she'd take the teasing well considering how public this was. They hadn't left the house in a few days since training had been canceled, and they definitely never ventured outside of the ring publicly like this. Save for Cassian doing brief check ins with the soldiers in the mornings and then returning back to Nesta for the rest of the day, Nesta hadn't left the house at all the past week. He was sure she hadn't left his room either, which did nothing for his "stupid male pride" as Nesta liked to put it. Nesta rolled her eyes but he caught a small smile playing at her lips. Cassian was about to say something else to her, perhaps something more lewd, more innuendo-fueled, now that most of the warlords had left and they were almost alone. But before he could, a grating male voice filled his ears from the front of the room. "Is this the girl you've been locked away with for the past week Cassian?" It was asked casually enough, although the sneer on Sivak's face was nothing short of hostile. The perfectly kept sable hair, the unmarred copper skin, all spoke of a male who had seen only training rings and tutors to become the warrior image he so loved to tout. Cassian didn't remember ever seeing him on a battlefield, let alone in true battle. He remembered Sivak well enough from when they'd been younglings, pitted against each other in the sparring rings. Sivak's father, an old village chief in the North, had never forgiven Sivak for losing to a bastard born each time his weakling of a son had entered the ring with him. It would seem, from the darkened look in his beady eyes, Sivak hadn't forgotten either. It was instinct to move closer to Nesta, to cross the room in a few steps and situate her slightly behind him, wings flaring out just so. "This is Lady Nesta, if you were wondering how to respectfully address the girl," Cassian all but spat at them. Cassian had long forgotten how insults tasted and felt when they lashed onto his skin, onto his pride and imprinted in his very bones. It had been a long time since anyone's insult had truly hit its mark. But to even speak to Nesta was setting Cassian's temper aflame. Some ancient, long forgotten beast uncoiled from his stomach and roared to rip any male apart that so much as looked at her wrong. Sivak smiled and it was everything but friendly. "I meant no disrespect, Lady Nesta. You'll have to forgive the slip of tongue. You're quite young compared to the rest of us, and sometimes I forget how to address such...pretty females."

Cassian couldn’t help but stiffen at the words, not at all liking Sivak’s tone when describing Nesta’s beauty. Even if it was true that Nesta was the most stunning person Cassian had ever known in all his years of living. Truth didn’t mean he had to like it.

He felt Nesta bob her head behind him, in acceptance of the apology, and it was possibly the only thing that kept Cassian from lunging forward and snapping Sivak's neck. Sivak made his way to the exit, his entourage of burly idiots not far behind. Cassian was glad to be done with them, counting the steps it would take for them to leave, and how soon he could then take himself and Nesta back home. Only Sivak stopped just as he pushed open the door, turning his head behind to look at them once again. A once over of Nesta, then Cassian, and then a final smirk before he opened his mouth again. "She looks like she's fun to fuck Cassian. But like you said, she's a Lady. She'll understand what she deserves soon enough. Until then, enjoy her. I know I will when she tires of you and comes looking for better things." If Nesta hadn't grabbed his hand and pulled firmly back, he was sure he would have been explaining to Rhys why a peaceful meeting had ended with warlord's son decapitated at Cassian's hand. Sivak's and his entourages' laughs were lost to the sound of booming wings as they left the camp, and Cassian fuming, behind them. "Leave it be," Nesta hissed, pulling his hand again with that Cauldron strength that had him staggering back. "But-" "But nothing. Let it go Cassian. I didn't come here just to have my day end in bloodshed." As she stepped around his wings, now completely flared out in agitation, Cassian caught the hint of a frown on her face before she smoothed it over to fully face him. "So what did you come here for then? I didn’t ask you to be here." 

Cassian hadn't meant to bite it out, or to snap at her. But the insult to him, and even more to her had gotten him to reach a precipice he hadn't been on the verge of in a long time. And meaning to or not, the hurt was evident on Nesta's face at his brutally posited question.

It took a moment for him to see the flash of hurt on her face before she forced it to fade away.

"Nothing," she snapped back, scowling now rather than the small smile she'd given him earlier. Nesta began to walk away, making her way to the door quickly before he could haul her back and apologize. All Cassian could do was trail behind silently, keeping a good distance behind her as they walked back to the cabin. If she weren't upset and he enraged, he'd have flown them home. Maybe taken a small detour around the mountains so that they could fly together for a small time. He still needed to bring up the dinner request from Rhys to her. He found that Nesta didn't mind the flying when it was just him, and he could swear sometimes she even enjoyed it. Had they not been in their current stalemate with each other, he would have used the flying to loosen her up to the idea of her sister's unexpected reappearance. It was out of question though as Nesta didn't say one word to him as she barreled past him to the rooms. Her room. Not his. He wasn't pleased but, perhaps they needed the distance. He didn't trust himself currently to not say something he may regret, all for a moment of misplaced anger. Nesta likely thought the same thing. At least, he thought so when he heard her room's door softly shut and the lock click into place.

~*~

Cassian hadn’t known what to do with himself after their...well it wasn’t really a fight. Was it? They weren’t speaking, he knew that much. Or rather, he knew Nesta hadn’t come down even after he’d made her favorite lunch. He knew the smell of the spices and roasted chicken would have entered her room by then, closed door or not, but he didn’t hear so much as a shuffle from upstairs.

The chicken was entirely defenseless when he savagely shredded it up with his tongs. Even more so when he barreled it into a container and placed it away in the icebox. 

And when Cassian tore into his bedroom, eager to finish reports if only to distract himself from everything that had transpired not even an hour ago, it took less than five minutes to change his mind when he saw the bed.

Covers haphazardly thrown into placed, almost as if she’d run out of the room, and the scent of her filled his very being.

Nesta, Nesta, Nesta.

No. He couldn’t think about Nesta. That was too upsetting. How she’d seen him be completely stripped of pride and cut down to his very roots. A bastard born nobody.

Cassian decided very quickly that he didn’t want to do reports. He wanted to lie on his bed, wings flared, spread out unceremoniously like a youngling throwing a temper tantrum. All that was left was for him to slam his own door and scream about how his life was being ruined.

But he was no longer a child, no longer even young. It had been much too long for insults like that to even pierce the armor he’d donned centuries prior to protect his heart. 

No one was around to scold though. So Cassian glowered up at the ceiling, raging to his heart’s content about how unfair it all was. And no, it didn’t feel particularly productive let alone healthy, but it was all he had going for the moment.

He must have fallen asleep for a few hours, because when he awoke next, his room was bathed in glowing red light from the setting sun.

Nesta was also sitting beside his once sleeping form, her knees curled up to her chest, looking down at him.

“You’re here,” he said thickly, cursing his sleep-addled brain for speaking so slowly.

Nesta blinked and then gave a small dip of her chin. Acknowledging but not speaking. Not yet.

Cassian stretched his wings out completely, groaning at the burn in the muscles and pulling tendons. As he rolled out the kinks in his neck he saw Nesta’s eyes darken as she appraised the wings curving behind her. Not touching her, not right now, but he could have sworn she moved closer to the outstretched membrane and the small moment had him clamping down on everything in him that went taut. At the delicate hand that was mere inches from the bottom of his wing, that had been so good at learning just where to touch him in bed, to make him explode into release. 

He’d always wanted to teach her wingplay, ever since she’d first expressed curiosity on how sensitive Illyrian wings were. To his delight, Nesta was a quick learner. Cruel and utterly sinful too with how she pushed him.

But now wasn’t the time to think about sex. Unless...

“No, it’s definitely not,” Nesta warned him, and Cassian fought back the urge to laugh at how easily she’d called him out.

“Then what are we doing?,” he challenged. Perhaps it was foolish to tempt her into a full blown fight, especially when they both knew it wasn’t Nesta he was angry at. Angry for, maybe. But it was Sivak and all the others before him that Cassian wanted to pummel right that second.

Nesta appraised him without a hint of anger on her face. Then she turned to sit across from him, crossing her legs over each other and resting her hands lightly in her lap. A comfortable pose if he’d ever seen once. Perhaps he should try to relax too.

“I wanted to talk about those males at the meeting earlier.”

Cassian blew out a breath, not expecting her to go at it head on. Usually, she avoided the harder talks until he wrestled it out of her. Clearly he’d done a good job as she was sporting a look that said don’t even try to get out of this.

“What about them?”

“They upset you,” she said lightly. Then with a bit more hesitance, “I upset you as well.”

Cassian straightened up, his foolishness hitting him fully, realizing how unacceptable his behavior had been earlier.

“No, sweetheart. You didn’t. It had nothing to do with you and I shouldn’t have snapped. I’m sorry. I’m always happy to see you, it’s just...”

“Those males threw you off?”

He nodded, glad she understood without him having to spell it out.

Nesta sighed softly and met his eyes again. Dragged her gaze down to his own lap before reaching for his hand. He let her take it without contest, savoring the feel of her skin against his own, his callouses scraping along hers.

“You know it’s not true right?”

Cassian didn’t know what she was talking about and the confusion must have been evident on his face as Nesta continued on.

“I don’t care about all that. You should know that. I’m not going to go looking for better things, certainly not with someone like him. I don’t care about whatever formal title I have or not.” Then after a moment of stunned silence from him, she added softly, squeezing his hand lightly, “And you shouldn’t either.”

Cassian squeezed his eyes shut, memories from so long ago flooding his mind. 

Bastard.

Nobody.

“Stop that,” she scolded, and Cassian’s eyes flew open to see Nesta much closer to him now than before.

“I can’t help it if they’re right.”

“They’re not,” she insisted, her hand tightening around his fingers. He squeezed back, the only thing tethering him to keep calm and to confront where this conversation was headed. The confrontation he didn’t want to have yet about his past.

“Nesta.” He sighed, not wanting to admit the same things out loud after Sivak had said them too. “You’re related to the High Lady of the Night Court. You were born into nobility even as a human. I was born to a single, unwed mother who died soon after I was taken from her. I am not what you deserve. Sivak was right about that. You deserve...”

Better. More. Not me.

“I don’t care,” she cut him off. Her hands braced on his shoulders as she climbed over his lap and straddled his waist. Leaned in close until all that was left was a small space between their lips as she pressed her forehead to his own. Sharing that small open air until their breaths synced. Their heartbeats too he could have sworn. Her fingers crept up from his shoulders to tangle into the locks at the back of his head, and Cassian drew himself closer to her.

“I don’t care about what I deserve, because I can tell you it’s not much. Or what you deserve, because it’s a hell of a lot more than someone like me. I just want you. And I don’t care if that’s selfish, not right now. Maybe that’s wrong but it’s the truth.”

He wanted to tell her that it wasn’t true. That she deserved the world. A king to spoil her with riches and palaces and a life far more luxurious than a small cabin in backwoods Illyria. He opened his mouth to do just that, but Nesta silenced him with a searing kiss. And as she pulled a little on his hair, pulling him closer than even before, he knew that he was done for. Perhaps he had been from the moment she’d let him into her home and he’d nearly gone to his knees for her.

When they finally parted for air, Nesta looked down at him. Scanned his face with eyes that were filled with more than just lust. 

He didn’t think too much on what emotion she was looking at him with. If there was more than just sex and the easy friendship they’d cultivated between them. If she burned for him as he did for her.

He’d made his feelings very clear to her on Solstice. Had all but told her he loved her. She hadn’t told him anything back, but he hadn’t pushed. Knew he didn’t need to. They had time to parse through whatever they were. Whether it was just friends, something more- which he desperately wished for- or just the right mix between the two.

They had time.

~*~

"I don't even consider myself a lady," she told him abruptly, hours after they’d pulled away from each other. “Definitely not after what we just did,” she added with a low, wicked laugh. Hearing that sound from her had desire coiling in his belly again, even if it was so soon after having had each other already.

And what they’d just done...

Mother help him.

He’d always known Nesta wouldn’t ever shy away from him, and he from her. Not when it came to the uglier parts of their personalities, both so grating sometimes that only space could help them calm down. Not when it came to fighting, to killing. He didn’t like for Nesta to see that side of him, the one that carried out execution orders and committed dubious acts in the name of protection. He knew she’d never judge him for it but still, it wasn’t something he was ready for her to witness if he could avoid it.

But Nesta knew of the savageness and brutality that lived in him, because it also lived in her. He had never judged her for how she’d torn off Hybern’s head with absolutely no emotion, no heart in her expression. Just a cold-blooded killer. Just like him.

No, how could he judge her, when he’d done much worse for far longer than she’d even been alive?

Clearly that bloodlust bled into other parts of their lives too. Namely the bedroom.

When he’d first met her, she’d told him she’d never been with a male. He wasn’t proud of the roar in his chest that had greeted him at finding it out. Some base, animalistic instinct to claim her as only his. In the rational part of his mind, he knew it was wrong to even like it, because his rational mind accepted that females could bed whomever they wanted, whenever, and how much. If he could as a male, so could she as a female. But the Illyrian male in him...that part didn’t think rationally at all.

Because when she’d told him she hadn’t, and after the initial memory of that filth who’d hurt her passed from her mind, only burning, roiling lust had taken over. For both of them. It urged him to claim, to touch, to feast. To take her to the canopy bed in her human home, lay her down, and teach her all the ways pleasure could be wrought from her body with just his mouth. Then his fingers and maybe more if she allowed- if she wanted it. It wasn’t even about him or his own release. Gods above, he had just wanted to watch her shatter around his tongue and hear the sounds he could get her to make.

But he’d also known that he could never do all the things he liked with her in the beginning. Not the frantic, rough fucking he liked to partake in. Not wild, unencumbered sex on any flat surface for hours and hours on end until they were both out of breath. Not for a female who’d never been with a male before.

Cassian had been wiling to go slow. Had assumed he would need to for her sake and had no qualms about it. And when Nesta had pushed him away after the war, he hadn’t thought anything of it, assuming they were always meant to be one day or another. It was only a matter of time, which they actually had now.

But then she’d moved out and away from the company of her sisters and his family. She’d begun drinking and frequenting taverns. And then she’d started fucking stranger males almost every night.

He told himself he didn’t care. After the initial shock had worn off and he’d wrapped his head around the fact that Nesta was having sex with so many males, and none of them him. Nesta, who wasn’t comfortable wearing pants in public. Nesta, who didn’t like low cut dresses or anything that showed off skin too much. Nesta who had been raised with the human modesty that she’d so desperately clung to after first being made Fae. It had thrown him for a loop.

So Cassian had tried to ignore it, and failed, utterly demolishing his heart each time he decided to follow her home from the sky above. Watching and flitting from roof to roof as she took home her entertainment for the night.

She always knew he was there, and he was well aware of her knowledge as well. Cassian never stayed too long though, not wanting to hear and put together what exactly was happening in that apartment. On her bed. On her body.

And each time he tried something on her in their bed and she let him, each time she drove him wild with her hands that boasted of a practiced touch, he tried not to think about how it all came to be. How she had taught herself what she liked in bed, what she liked to do and liked to be done to her. 

He had wanted to be the one to teach her. While whatever means she’d acquired her knowledge with only helped to make him come harder and better than ever before, it still stung in his chest.

He’d give it to her this time though. Nothing that she’d just done with him had been ladylike. He’d grabbed her hips while she’d still been straddling him, and pinned her beneath him. Had grabbed both her wrists and pressed them down above her head, lavishing her breasts through the thin nightgown that was begging to be torn off. 

He’d been ready to devour her, ready to absolutely ruin her for him over and over as soon as his tongue could latch onto her sex. But before he even made it to her waist, Nesta had shrieked and he’d stopped in a panic. Her hands had been grasping wildly around for purchase and she’d pulled out the knife he kept tucked in a spare pillow neither of them used. It was situated far enough so that neither could be hurt by it by mistake, but he kept it there for emergencies in the night. He certainly hadn’t expected Nesta to find it.

“Is this really a dagger?” She looked like she wanted to slap him upside the head.

Cassian had nodded mutely, really wanting to return back to his treat between Nesta’s legs.

“Cassian we sleep here. This is dangerous to keep here.” True and fair, but he wasn’t interested in her scolding. Not when he just wanted to taste her. So Cassian had lurched forward to grab it, only for Nesta to crawl off the bed and hold the dagger above her head, away from Cassian.

As if she wasn’t an entire foot shorter than him. 

He would have laughed if he wasn’t so turned on.

“Nesta give me the dagger back and then get back here,” he had ground out in warning. But Nesta didn’t really give a shit and she’d laughed and taunted him further. 

 “Or what Commander? What will you do to me?,” she had breathed. “Will you punish me?”

He’d understood the game very quickly after that.

“Do you need to be punished?”

Nesta’s lips had quirked up from the side, just this side of a smirk that would have had him crawling on his knees if she asked next. It was answer enough.

Cassian had instead moved over to the foot of the bed and hauled Nesta roughly over, until she was standing in between his legs, her dagger-holding hand laying limply against her side. The grip had slackened enough for Cassian to take it from her and with a quick flick of his wrist, tear the gown she was wearing clean down the side, until she was fully naked in front of him.

Nesta had gasped in shock when the flimsy material had fallen off but had quickly fallen silent when he pressed the cool tip of the blade flat against her taut stomach.

Nesta tensed for a moment, only to relax into his touch as he brought his free hand forward, cupping her sex. As he had slid his fingers through her folds, noting the wetness pooled their with relish, Nesta had whimpered and rubbed her thighs together. But he wouldn’t be granting her that friction or release just yet.

“You could have gotten hurt. You let yourself be distracted and now you have no clothes on and a dagger pressed to your skin.” She had shuddered as he had leaned close and wrapped his lips around one of her her already peaked nipples, swirling his tongue just how she liked it before grazing his teeth lightly. “Seems like we’ve been lacking in your training, sweetheart.”

She had shivered at that but the scent of her desire was thick in the air and melding with his own. There was also no mistaking the lust in her eyes. Not when a ring of silver surrounded the sapphire iris, telling him she had fully given into her arousal.

He had rasped against her breasts, against the skin that had turned feverish and covered in gooseflesh. “Looks like you’re at my mercy.”

Faster than he ever could have seen it coming, Nesta had hit his wrist in a disarming maneuver he’d taught her ad nauseum. Nesta’s legs had suddenly been wrapped tightly around his hips and the dagger was pressed against his neck, the sharp end of the blade horizontal and ready to cut should he move an inch.

Nesta’s eyes had glowed with menace and desire and he had struggled to fight against the urge to kiss her. She’d taken his silence as an invitation, lowering her lips down to his ear and practically purring, “And now you’re at my mercy Commander. Perhaps I’ll punish you instead.”

Please, he’d almost begged. If he hadn’t been so in love with her already, that moment would have sealed the deal for him.

Cassian couldn’t stop the booming laugh that had escaped him, nor his arms from tightening around her as he marveled at the stunning female on top of him. Completely in her thrall. He had then done the most logical thing that had appeared in his mind to do. 

Cassian had wanted a kiss from his lover, so he’d moved forward abruptly, only to be stopped short by the blade digging into his skin and drawing blood. That and Nesta coyly backing her face away from him.

“Eager are we?,” Nesta had murmured. Cassian couldn’t hold back the snarl even if he wanted to.

Nesta had laughed triumphantly as she’d pulled the dagger away and threw it to the ground. Then she had licked up his neck, on the slight wound and no doubt his blood as well.

It had felt like a million lightning rays had exploded on his skin, the moment she’d tasted his blood. He’d felt a sharp zap inside and knew this was some work of her powers, singing at his taste and her lust.

What had happened after was something he’d never imagined in his wildest dreams. Nesta had kept him on the brink of release for hours, riding him to that precipice and then dragging him back while her magic had coiled into ties around his hand, pinned above his head uselessly. He hadn’t even known she’d learned to do that with her magic- the silvery mist glowing in bands wrapping his wrists in a cool touch that was reminiscent of their owner.

He’d begged like he’d never begged before. Begged to touch her, to kiss her, to please let him come. Nesta had kissed him as he’d panted into her mouth, warning that if she let him come now, they’d be done for the entire evening. And Cassian had so many plans of his own to make her writhe, so he’d relented and let her euphoric torture continue.

After his release had wrecked through him, almost painful in its glory, he knew he didn’t care either way.

Nesta owned him mind, body, and soul.

~*~

After she’d let him go, Cassian had pounced and repaid all her fervent favors back in kind. She'd lain across his chest after both were thoroughly sated, her leg in between his thighs and her lithe body lounged out on top of his carelessly. He'd wrapped his legs around her own and it must have been instinct that had his hands rising to card through her now unbound hair. Smooth and silky, he marveled at the fact that she even let him touch her like this.

Only for a moment though, because he remembered that they were not the same people they’d been when Nesta had first come to Illyria with him. Deep down, in her heart, and his, yes they were the same. But on the outside, with their masks discarded, it was two very different Nestas he was allowed to see. He was very sure that had he tried such a stunt all those months ago, she would have broken a finger off. 

Maybe two... "You had the title didn't you? Of lady," he asked after a few moments of comfortable silence. He couldn't help but wonder how different her life might have been had she never been turned Fae. How would she have lived out her life on her estate? Would she have married someone of similar social standing? Had children much too young and maybe without her wanting them? Would she have been happy? Nesta raised herself up on one elbow and her eyes darkened as they met his. Not with simmering lust as they were prone to do during times like these, when almost every part of him was pressed up to each inch of her. No, rather, there was a lingering sorrow on her face that he didn't know what to make of. Nesta finally did answer, but it wasn't what he expected her to say. "The title was important to my mother. And me too I suppose. For some time anyways while I kept convincing myself that it was all I cared about in life. But then we lost everything and it didn't really matter what title I'd been born with." She pursed her lips in distaste and broke eye contact, tracing the Illyrian markings on his chest.

She added softly, still not looking him in the eyes, "And after everything I’ve done, I’m not very worthy of the title.”

“Why is that?” He kept his voice soft, low, so as to not frighten her away. It took coaxing and careful words to let Nesta open herself up to him. He hadn’t learned that right away, and had resorted to screaming back at her little taunts with greater insults of his own. All it had served to do was reduce them both to the brink of tears and almost swinging fists, even if neither actually occurred. 

He knew better now. When to tread lightly and when he could still push forward. It was because they’d lived together for some time now, and even if he’d recognized her soul as kindred to his own from when they’d first met, now he understood her heart. Her desires, her fears, the deepest most calculating thoughts that she seldom let anyone close enough to see.

Except him. She’d let him in, little by little, and he’d be damned if he ever lost himself that privilege again.

Nesta looked down at him, her breathing in sync with his own, her own chest rising out as his rose up underneath her fingertips. 

“I’m not...,” she furrowed her brow again, the expression almost bordering on pained even though he knew it was anger more than anything.

“Sweetheart?” He lifted a hand up and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, hoping she’d look at him again. Let him see her. 

All of her.

Nesta turned her head just enough for her lips to press into the heart of his palm and Cassian felt the universe shift underneath them, waiting with bated breath just like him, in case this perfect moment shattered. He wanted to commit the image of Nesta like this, so open and free with her affection, to his memory forever. One day, he wanted to tell his children his grandchildren, that that was the day everything had changed.

When she finally did pull away, sitting fully upright, Nesta grabbed his tunic and hauled it over herself. He bit his cheek from making a joke on how well she looked in his clothes. Just his clothes and nothing else underneath...

“My mother would hate the person I am today.”

Not what he’d expected. He hadn’t heard enough about Nesta’s mother to understand why that would be, only understanding that the relationship hadn’t been as great as it should have been. Not wanting to push her further and then away, Cassian waited for her to continue at her own pace.

“She had very strict beliefs on what women’s purpose was in life and what they should aspire to. It’s how she raised me and it’s how she had me thinking for a very long time. If she saw me now...”

Nesta trailed off quietly and Cassian had to quell the urge to get up from where he was lying down and pull her close. He couldn’t understand why she looked so lost all of a sudden. So small. 

He knew, dead or not, he had a bone to pick with Lady Archeron and whatever the hell she’d done to her daughter to make her look like this today.  

“What beliefs?”

Nesta’s throat bobbed and for a moment, he thought she might cry. Maybe she should actually. Sometimes, crying was just the best remedy. 

“She didn’t think women should be trained as warriors. So my training would most certainly not be something she’d like. She would have expected me married and with at least two children by now. Preferably a Lord or Duke, but her goal had been High Royalty for me.”

Cassian felt embarrassment slither down his back. That and oily shame at the realization that not only were his own fears of being inadequate for Nesta true, but even her mother would have disapproved.

“She would have hated me then.”

It wasn’t a question and Cassian didn’t know how he felt even admitting it out loud.

Nesta appraised him in that silent way she was prone to doing when he said something she wasn’t sure how to reply to. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but he always felt so naked under that gaze. It always confirmed for him that she really did hold that much power over him, just as he’d always suspected.

Then Nesta smiled something wicked at him and his heart began racing in his chest.

“Yes,” she mused. “She definitely would have hated you,” she added with a small chuckle.

Cassian couldn’t understand this new reaction. “That doesn’t...it doesn’t bother you?,” he asked tentatively, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

Nesta snorted. “Why should it? She’s not alive to tear into me. And besides,” she smirked at him, “I think it’s quite fitting that you’re exactly everything she didn’t want for me.”

Before he could stop it, the words were already out. “So, a big fuck you to her?”

Nesta’s eyes widened and Cassian wondered if he had gone too far. After all, it was still her mother.

But then Nesta had burst out laughing and slowly, Cassian joined her. 

“Something,” Nesta began, still gasping for breath at the joke. “Something like that, yes.”

But Nesta’s expression sobered up quickly after. “She would have hated who I became after the war and I don’t know if I can say I would blame her.”

Oh.

She never talked about it with him. And he never brought it up unless they were in a fight. Should he...

“I look back sometimes and wonder why I did it at all. And I know why, I just hate the answer.”

“Why?,” Cassian asked lightly, not sure if he or her were really ready for this conversation yet.

Nesta looked away, but that wouldn’t do. There would be no hiding from each other anymore. He didn’t want that. Gently, as gently as he could muster given how his hands were slightly trembling, he grasped her chin and turned her face to look at him.

“Don’t hide from me, sweetheart. No one is judging you here, least of all me. Okay?”

Nesta nodded.

And then she spoke.

~*~

Cassian had always known about certain things about Nesta, without her ever having to say them aloud.

Like how she had been amazed by the training he taught in Illyria. All the combat and military instruction she’d grown up hearing about but never seeing, now suddenly all for her to experience firsthand. She’d also been self conscious of even attempting to train, especially in front of anyone because she didn’t like to look the fool. 

Or how she hated raw tomatoes but loved anything with tomato sauce, and only if it was spicy enough to numb the tongue. 

Or how she wrinkled her nose each time Cilla called her sweetheart to make fun of her and Cassian’s  pet name for her- not because she hated it but because she wasn’t open about anything, not even their relationship.

What he hadn’t known much about, was her mother. It was a strange concept, to be with someone, to think one knew every little thing about them, only to miss out on some very important details.

And Nesta’s mother...

Cassian didn’t think bitch was a good enough descriptor. He actually didn’t think her father deserved much of a good name either, ships sailed or not, but he didn’t mention that to her. 

Because Cassian knew, if he were ever blessed enough to have children of his own, he would never fail them as the Archeron sisters’ parents had to them. 

There would never be a day where Cassian would bargain their lives away for the sake of status, never allowing them to grow and be happy as children. He would never hurt his children with words that would wound deep into the soul and stay there for years to come. And he would never, ever, become so miserable in his grief that his children would need to keep his house running. Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps it was cruel. 

Gods knew Cassian couldn’t imagine what he would actually do if he had three children and no Nesta left in his life anymore. But still...

The anger felt good even if it was a bit harsh on his own part.

He didn’t know how he would have handled it if he had been in Nesta’s shoes. Thrown around from party to party, always looking as best as possible, always coy and cunning and playing little games to go higher up on the social ladder. 

And for what?

A marriage. Likely a loveless one at that. 

No, Cassian couldn’t fathom how someone could ever hurt their children so cruelly, simply for the sake of wealth. 

When she’d told him that her mother would think of her as a whore, Cassian hadn’t been able to hold back the horror on his face.

Nesta hadn’t been able to hold back the tears.

He didn’t bother to mask the shock nor the disgust in his voice as he’d pulled her back to his chest, curling his wings around her in the only way he knew how to provide comfort.

Touch seemed to work with Nesta just as much as it worked with him, thank the Cauldron.

“Why would you say that sweetheart?,” he asked her softly. Gently, in case he scared her away.

Because she would, and she had, Cassian had learned after coaxing a reply out of Nesta.

Prone to sharp words and menacing threats, Lady Archeron was not one who looked on kindly at females who were not chaste or refined. And after the year Neta had had in Velaris, in the bars with all those strangers, her mother likely would have disowned her had she still been alive. Definitely turning over in her grave at the very least.

Cassian didn’t ask about Nesta’s father, and Nesta didn’t offer up anything about him. That was fine with him. He wasn’t going to push on that particular topic, knowing full well that when the time was right, she’d address it to him or herself on her own.

Cassian took in a shuttering breath before asking the question he’d been dreading the answer to. He’d waited until Nesta had quieted, still tucked up against his chest, no longer crying but still sniffling every few minutes.

“Did you...did it help? The...everything in Velaris.”

He didn’t say the drinking and the males and gambling and the partying. But Nesta still stiffened against him, and he worried if he’d gone too far.

But then she sighed and relaxed and Cassian couldn’t tell why, but he did too. By instinct.

“Yes. It did. In the beginning at least. Sometimes my powers still came out and it didn’t help how many...distractions I used. They still came out and ruined my stuff.”

“Stuff?,” Cassian chuckled nervously. “What stuff?”

Nesta huffed but it wasn’t with any annoyance. “My furniture. My dishes. Every time my powers came out, things would just shatter in the apartment. It was almost guaranteed every time I-”

“What?”

But Nesta wouldn’t answer no matter how much he tried to probe. Something had been setting her off, setting her powers off, but she’d stopped herself cold before he could be told.

“Nesta-”

“It was you, alright!,” she erupted as he asked her again. “Every time we ran into each other at my sister’s parties or in town, or you talked to me, it would just set me off again. And it didn’t matter how drunk I got, or how many strangers I fucked, the powers came back out and I couldn’t control them.”

To say Cassian was shocked would be an understatement. He’d never admitted aloud the effect Nesta had had on his own self control, not when it came to his lust or his powers. But he’d never told anyone out loud, even if his brothers had guessed it soon after he himself had made the connection.

Mate.

The mating bond tended to chafe and rage internally when it wasn’t fulfilled. And with the state of Nesta’s lack of control and her dark gifts from the Cauldron, it was no surprise that she’d been struggling so horribly against them for so long.

It was his fault too. That she’d pushed away so much and that she’d done all that she had in an effort to drown it all out.

“It’s not your fault,” she told him softly. “You tried. I know you did. I wasn’t ready to listen.”

“I should have tried harder,” he finally spoke, after the silence stretched on too long between them. It was an admission and also an apology. 

Forgiveness that he was asking to be granted.

“You’ve done more than enough Cassian. You brought me to your home and let me stay here with you when I was...not the most pleasant person to be around. I needed it. I was,” she stopped, breathing in deeply and closing her eyes before finishing her thought. 

“I was falling apart in Velaris. I needed to be here. Anywhere away from that city would have helped, but here specifically, I know,” she placed a hand on his chest, over his heart, “here is best for me.”

He knew it was true. Had seen up front just how horrible a state she had been in when she’d been all but kicked out of Velaris and forced to come here. It hadn’t been easy in the beginning. Gods knew even he with all his infinite patience had run short when he and Nesta had begun sharing a house together.

And yet, somehow, something had changed. He’d barely ever had time to stay in Illyria before. Often, he really just preferred Velaris and the company there. Illyria now though, with Nesta no longer a hostile female just taking up residence in a spare room, but more so a friend and a lover...

He had a home here. With her. In her. Content wasn’t a strong enough word for how he felt in that moment.

But all good things had to go, or at least fade for some time. He still had to tell her about his little note that morning.

“I’m glad you feel that way, witchling.” He grasped the hand splayed over his chest, pulling it to his lips and brushing a kiss over the tips of her fingers. Nesta took it as invitation to come back down over him, lying over his body, her fingers slowly traveling through his hair, stroking ever so gently.

“Nes,” he said softly, hoping to keep her attention while he still could. But Nesta was already dropping a kiss over his exposed neck, over the faint bite mark she’d left there that would fade within a few hours. He wanted to mark her in the way mates in Illyria had done by the old ways. A mating bite, a mating claim, decided on by both partners and then kept intact on the skin by ways of saltwater or magic.

But that was only for mates to do.

And Cassian wasn’t sure she was ready for that conversation, let alone that step yet. 

“Nes,” he tried again, and she pulled up from his jaw, looking down at him. “I got a note this morning. From Rhys. Asking if he and Feyre could visit here.”

If she’d been loose and relaxed on him before, there’d be no guessing that anymore. Nesta’s body went taut completely, and he shot out an arm to wrap around her waist. Soothing and hopefully calming. Selfishly too, holding her close in case she decided to bolt.

Nesta didn’t speak right away and no emotion on her face was revealed to him. She pursed her lips in quiet distaste and it was answer enoughf for Cassian to decide. 

“I’ll tell them we’re busy. They can always-”

“They asked you didn’t they? They want to see you, it has nothing to do with me. You don’t need to ask me permission Cassian.”

Her words were cold, distant, and he fiercely wished to go back in time, and erase the moment he even mentioned the note to her.

“Your sister misses you,” he blurted out.

A shot in the dark, but he hoped it might help.

Nesta didn’t respond but she also didn’t argue it, so Cassian continued. “I know she misses you. Rhys made the note because she didn’t want to push herself onto you. But the choice is yours. Always will be with me. Whatever you want to do, tell me.”

Nesta swallowed, silver beginning to form at her waterline. He lifted a hand to her cheek on instinct, hoping to catch any stray tears should they fall.

They didn’t though, because Nesta cleared her throat, composing herself and likely putting up the mental armor she always protected herself with. He couldn’t blame her for it in this instance. Her sisters had always been a touchy subject, even before she’d begun to heal here in Illyria.

“Do you think,” she asked quietly, meekly if he were reading her right, “she wants me to go back with her? To Velaris?”

Probably, but he didn’t say that.

He kept his responses to Feyre’s letter brief, but there was only so much he could keep hiding. Nesta had been getting better in Illyria. With the training, with her powers, and it wasn’t something he wanted to lie about. Certainly not when it was something he knew Feyre would love to hear about.

So yes, perhaps she did think now was the time for Nesta to return to Velaris. No matter the fact that just the thought alone had him screaming internally. At sharing her with the world outside of the home they’d created here together. At not having whatever this was anymore. He didn’t like it.

But it wasn’t about him. If Nesta wanted to go back, and he really wouldn’t blame her if she did, he would support it. Would agree and tell her it was great, even if his heart would likely shatter the minute the decision was made.

“Cassian,” she prompted again.

“Maybe. I’m not sure. The note didn’t say anything specific. Just that they’d come for dinner in a few days.”

“To check up on me no doubt,” she said bitterly. 

Yes. Definitely that, but he kept quiet.

“What do I do if she asks me to return to Velaris?”

Cassian cocked his head to the side as she appraised him, biting her lip...nervously?

“You go with her sweetheart. It won’t be like last time, I promise,” he told her fiercely. “And we can make sure you aren’t around anything that will hurt you and bring back memories of the war.”

He’d have to go with her. Make sure the cracking of the fires and other triggers didn’t come back. Because even though Nesta was better about being around fires and the sound of clanging weapons, that was here. She’d become accustomed to the life here. Velaris hadn’t been kind to her, nor she too open to it. It would be a painful rehashing of old memories that would be unwelcome at best, crushing at worst.

Nesta blinked furiously and looked away, but Cassian felt the splash of her tears fall on his chest, on his cheek.

“Nesta,” he started, bewildered at the reaction, pulling himself upright if only to be closer to her slowly shrinking away from him. “What’s wrong?”

Nesta sniffled lightly, brushing her cheeks of the tears. “What if I don’t want to go? What if I want to stay here?”

Cassian was too shocked for words. He wanted her to stay of course. But he had always assumed, from the moment she’d entered the threshold of his home in Illyria, that this was a temporary situation. That after she’d mastered her powers and gotten the dangerous habits that she’d picked up out of her system, she’d go back to her life in Velaris with her sisters. 

Then there was the matter of the human Queens that still needed to be dealt with. Cassian could tell himself that he would protect Nesta to the death. Because he would.

Except, it would be to the death for both of them. The defenses in Illyria were nothing on those in Velaris. Ignoring what his heart ached for, she was safer there and it was the smartest decision.

“Do you?,” he asked carefully, trying not to show how affected he was.

Nesta took a moment to take him in, and then almost imperceptibly, nodded once.

“You want to stay in Illyria? Over Velaris?” He couldn’t keep the disbelief out of his tone anymore.

Nesta corrected him though, shaking her head, eyes clear and no longer shiny with tears. “I want to stay with you. I don’t want to leave without you.”

Cassian answered before his mind could scream at him to stop. To reconsider how strong an effect his words may have on her. “I want to stay with you too, sweetheart. But if you go to Velaris I’ll come back with you. Once everything here is more settled.”

Nesta shook her head, more vigorously now, as if she were frightened. “No. I don’t want that. Illyria is my home in a way that Velaris never will be. And I don’t want to be apart at all.”

Nesta pulled back into herself, eyes widening as if she hadn’t anticipated revealing that last part to him. Something so deep it seemed even she had just realized the sentiment as she’d spoken it. But Nesta seemed panicked at the thought of them being apart, and Cassian, sad to see her so worried, also couldn’t help but allow the small bit of joy inside himself to flare. 

She cared.

Just as much as him. Maybe more veiled and hidden than him. But she did care. And whatever growth they’d had, whatever new beginning they had slowly worked towards, she wasn’t ready to part with it just yet.

Thankfully neither was Cassian.

So he grasped for her arm at her side, and pulled her towards him, until they were knee to knee on his bed. 

Gods he could look at her for days. The beautiful face, those perfectly framed eyes staring back at him with so much vulnerability he thought he could cry at how far they’d come.

Cassian beheld her once more before cupping her jaw gently and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. A kiss that she returned just as tenderly, the force of it threatening to knock him out completely. To bow in reverence at the truth Nesta had offered up to him.

The heart she’d offered to him.

Brow to brow, sharing the same breath, Cassian whispered his confession onto her lips.

“I don’t want you to go back to Velaris. I never did, even when you first came here and we all thought it was for a little while. And I don’t want to be apart ever either.”

Nesta sighed contentedly, her hand coming up to stroke his cheek.

“So you’ll stay.”

It wasn’t phrased as a question, but Cassian was asking her. It was a decision. An agreement.

A promise.

Nesta smiled, a hint of peace on her face that he’d never seen before.

“I’ll stay.”

#nessian fanfiction #nessian #nesta archeron #nesta archeron fanfiction #cassian #nesta x cassian #nesta and cassian #acosf #acotar #a court of witches and warriors

[sayosdreams]

🌾 A fic you really want to write but you haven’t (yet)?

Oh, @flamingveritas , there are so many. So so so many. I’m putting them under the cut so u can read them all if u like but u don’t have to

Thank you so much for this ask 🥰

Okay, so let’s ignore the fics that I need to continue/ update. Fics that want to write but haven’t include

This James Sirius Potter / Lysander Scamander story where Lys is a trans woman. I actually started plotting this bc of how much I adored the concept and it was one of those “daydream worlds I’d escape to when I’m bored” sort of things. I do want to write it someday (hopefully)

This kind of long modern AU that is centered around Aedion and Aelin’s friendship / cousin dynamic. Basically the prolongue would start off when Aedion moves in with Aelin and her parents when he’s around 6, go through her parents’ divorce and stuff, and the actual story would have a few chapters where the characters are in middle school but the main crux of the story would be in high school. The vibes I’m basing this off of is Aedion and Aelin drifting apart and Aedion being rly sad abt it. Aelin will introduce Aedion to her new friends (Rowan, + maybe the rest of the cadre) as her “second cousin” even tho she used to introduce him as her “brother”. So yeah those r the vibes. Oh also Aedion is gonna be best friends with Elide. I actually started writing this fic but idk I felt like I wasn’t doing Justice to it? Hopefully I will be able to write this

Another fic I started writing was this Rowaelin modern AU. It started off with mild angst in the first chapter which I wrote based off a prompt or smth, but then when I started writing ch 2 it went do RLYYY angsty, dark stuff. It would be the darkest fic I’ve written / thought abt writing so far (Before the Dust Settles is kind of dark in some ways I guess but that’s mostly just angst. This fic would be dark in terms of Aelin’s past trauma with Arobynn). I don’t know if I’ll finish it or not but I do think it could be an interesting story. If you’re wondering, it would be like the premise of Dark Roast No Sugar by but no coffee shop, Aelin and Rowan are exes when the story starts, and also like Rowan isn’t an investigator or anything and Aelin isn’t pregnant, and… yeah

A million Nessian fic ideas. I honestly might start doing what ppl like @ vidalinav have done where they just post the incomplete snippets of fics they don’t think they’ll finish.

I rly would like to write a Nessian fic where Cassian loses / almost loses his wings. I can’t remember the title rn but there’s a fic where Nesta shares Cassian’s pain when she touches him, so kind of like those vubes but not that premise?? It would essentially be Nesta explaining to Cassian that he is much more than his wings and his life isn’t over without them (it would sort of be a commentary of masculinity as well). Nesta would be going through her own shit abt turning into a fae, etc so Cassian would be helping her through that as well

It’s amazing that I still haven’t written a Lysaedion fic or a Teddy Lupin fic when those are some of my fav fics to read. I rly do want to write them someday

everyday I get more and more tempted to write a Regulus centric fanfic, soo I guess we shall see what happens 👀

#answered ask #sayosdreams asks

[vidalinav]

So I’ve been thinking more about my fic idea where Nesta and Cassian are forced to literally sleep together because Nesta makes things go boom in her sleep because of her nightmares. An acosf re-write.

Of course it would start off with Nesta only letting Cassian into her bubble of pure death or whatever like acosf when she has a nightmare and her power is about to explode, except Nesta this time would cling to him without waking up and Cassian would stay with her. As they all do really, because they’re like what is happening? 

In the morning, Nesta’s like hell no is Cassian touching me, but Feyre and Rhys summon her to the estate and in a very similar fashion to the intervention scene, everyone is there and they recount what’s happened. Rhys asks Nesta if this has happened more than once, and Nesta’s like usually I’m too drunk for any sort of magic to occur. This makes them all (sad face), so they’re like well we can’t risk you blowing up the city, so what can we do? Nesta’s like it’s fine, I’ll monitor it. All the rest of them are like hell to the no, you almost blew us all up, and they suggest that since only Cassian could calm her, Cassian should stay with her while she sleeps. 

Nesta is like hell no. 

She refuses. But she does feel guilty and worried that she’s going to lose control of her power and kill people, so she says she’ll just not sleep. To which they’re all like HA! Impossible! But Nesta tries her darndest to not sleep. Like days go by and she gets crabby, but she keeps moving and drinking caffeine, and she is nearly delirious but she lasts longer than a human would bc fae stamina and whatnot. Until, she nearly has a breakdown from not sleeping, and she’s like the cauldron should have killed me... and Cassian who witnesses this breakdown, does what Cassian does and he’s like is being with me worse than death??? And Nesta admits that no it’s not. But still she persists in staying awake, until Cassian in a ploy to get her to fall asleep without just passing out, tells her that he needs to take her the House because Feyre insists she tries something, like a task, and on the way to the House, Nesta falls asleep in Cassian’s arms. 

So that’s one step, except Nesta still is upset that she wakes up in Cassian’s arms so she’s like no, and leaves and the next idea is that she’s going to sleep with someone else, because why does it have to be Cassian? She’s trying to push Cassian away again, so she is going to find someone to sleep sleep with and just have them stay the whole night. 

BUT for some reason she just can’t do it. Cassian leaves for Windhaven because he doesn’t want to watch Nesta avidly searching for someone to sleep with, but Nesta never even makes it out of the estate (because she’s staying with Feyre while all this happens as a safety precaution). She just sits on the couch, crossing her arms, very angry that she can’t make it out the door and now she’s tired. Mind you everyone is watching her (the IC I mean) because this whole situation is something they think they have to deal with and it’s not resolving itself. Nesta cannot be handled by one person, they think. 

So they’re like ehh well Cassian will be back in the morning, let’s watch this play out. Nesta doesn’t go to sleep, she literally sits in the living room all night and she supposes that this is going to be her life. Driven insane by lack of sleep or risk blowing up the entire land of Prythrian. 

But in the morning, Cassian is so sorry for sleep deprived Nesta who has bags under her eyes and is nearly falling asleep eating breakfast so that’s when he says let’s go to the house and Nesta’s like I’m not falling for that again. But Cassian’s like for real this time and up at the House he shows her the massive bed that could fit three Illyrians and he’s like see, if we use this bed, then you won’t even have to be really near me. 

So finally, Nesta agrees. Even though she recognizes that it’s only a matter of time before she can’t escape him any longer. They’re all just waiting for them to be happily ensconced in a relationship where she’s no longer any one’s problem. 

Except of course, Nesta always ends up climbing over Cassian to cover his body with hers while they sleep. Cassian is so fond of her, he can barely restrain himself from touching her (affectionately) when she does. 

A few other details though, Cassian wakes up early as shit so Nesta has to wake up when he wakes up so she wakes up at 5 am and she hates him for this. Literally plans gutting him with his own knives. She also has to go where he goes or Cassian has to go where she goes, because she needs sleep and because of this whole situation Cassian feels very responsible for making sure she’s well taken care of and healthy. Also eventually she starts wearing different nightgowns to torture him but that’s a tale for another time. 

#acosf rewrite #nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #vidalinav writes fic ideas #what should this be called?

[vidalinav]

In an au where Nessian are next door neighbors I just feel that they’d live in an apartment where one is below the other instead of side by side. I also think that Cassian would be the one with a big dog who barks at the wind and the one who walks like an elephant at all hours, everyday, and that Nesta would be the one with a quiet cat and the person who’s hitting a broom on the ceiling in an effort to make her upstairs neighbor quiet. 

#nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #vidalinav writes fic ideas

[moodymelanist]

All The Wisest Women Chapter One

What if Nesta Archeron went Under the Mountain?

So this came about because I was initially looking for a fic where Nesta was the one who went Under the Mountain, and because I couldn't find any, this was born. I'm writing this by the seat of my pants (as opposed to my usual outlining), so I really don't have an idea of how long this fic will be or just how much of the original series I'll change.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy! Special shoutout to @c-e-d-dreamer for giving me the idea to check out Mastermind by Taylor Swift for the title (which is where I did end up pulling it from). And as usual, shoutout to my fellow Nesta stans for helping me brainstorm about this little passion project of a fic lol.

Hope you all enjoy! Next up, we'll see what happens when Nesta gets to Velaris...

♕♕♕♕♕

Nesta

“Elain, can you come help me with this bread?” Nesta called as she did her best to knead the dough into some kind of recognizable shape. Feyre had managed to hunt something big enough to actually fetch a good price at the square, so they’d been able to splurge on enough wheat to make decent-tasting bread for once. 

Normally Elain handled the baking, but Nesta had wanted to try her hand at it for once. Her sister had simply shrugged and wandered away to take care of one of the seemingly-endless tasks that needed doing around their tiny home, and Nesta had been doing fine without her, but she wasn’t anywhere close to being able to make the shapes Elain could.

“Elain?” Nesta called again, confused as to why her sister was ignoring her. Their home wasn’t that big – not like the estate they had before Rhea had died – so it wasn’t like there was even enough room for Elain not to hear her. “Feyre? Hello?”

Sighing, Nesta grabbed one of their knives and made a half-hearted attempt at lines across the top of the bread. She supposed it would have to do, since her sisters were so intent on ignoring her. She didn’t even bother to put it down before turning and marching into their tiny excuse of a kitchen into their even tinier excuse for a living room, intent on finding where they’d gotten off to.

Instead of her sisters, Nesta emerged from the kitchen to see a strange man standing in the tiny living room. It took everything in her not to hurl the knife she’d been holding at him, but even she was quick enough to realize how ineffectual it would be.

Fae, her instincts screamed at the sight of his pointed ears. Danger. Run. Hide.

Keep reading on AO3 here!

tag list: @perseusannabeth | @bookstantrash | @nestaspegasus | @a-court-of-valkyries | @rowaelinismyotp | @live-the-fangirl-life | @sv0430 | @brieq | @positivewitch | @sayosdreams | @nesquik-arccheron | @talkfantasytome | @simpingfornestaarcheron | @vidalinav | @swankii-art-teacher | @that-little-red-head | @secretlovelybeauty | @starksravings | @dustjacketmusings | @katekatpattywack | @claralady | @gwynethhberdara | @duskandstarlight | @arinbelle | @vanserrass | @mrs-shadowsinger04 | @houseofcalores | @imsointobooks | @silvernesta | @planet-faerie | @teagoddess99 | @champanheandluxxury | @catplayinvioline | @flora-shadowshine | @nerdperson524 | @story-scribbler | @vasudharaghavan | @dealfea | @snickerdoodlechittybangbang | @charming-butt-insane | @highqueenofelfhame | @julemmaes | @oversizedbats | @readingismyonlyhobby | @milkkand-honey | @wildlyglittering | @thewayshedreamed | @goddess-aelin

#acotar #acosf #nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #rhysand #moodymelanistwrites #acotar what if #canon divergence #feyre archeron #elain archeron #acomaf #acowar #acofas

[vidalinav]

If I ever write another modern AU, Cassian would not be a boxer or an officer or in the military. Nothing physically exerting. Not a gym instructor.

He would be a chef for literally that one moment in acomaf where he made stew that I’ve been obsessing over for years.

He’d be a chef and Nesta also wouldn’t like him in this one, but through the work of classical conditioning, she would start associating him with good food and the free extra sauces and side dishes he throws in so that every time she craves her favorite, she would unconsciously think of him. Nesta goes as far as not recommending the restaurant he works at to any of her coworkers, because she’s very territorial and she doesn’t want any of them coming back or flirting with the hot chef who sometimes greets his patrons and throws in free dessert to his beautiful, but snarky regulars.

Cassian’s motto is that he can fix any bad attitude with food. Nesta is very certain she’s hungry for more than just his cooking… and that’s on that for my spicy romance novel cringy synopsis.

#nesta archeron #nessian #vidalinav writes fic ideas #you can steal this if you’d like I don’t write modern aus

[vidalinav]

I have the suddern urge (as I do when I don’t want to finish things) to write a  Nessian au but like a trashy romance in the acotar universe that has nothing to do with the acotar universe. 

Like Cassian gets injured near the split between human and fae land, or the wall, where human Nesta, takes care of him during the dead of winter, while her sisters are away. Feyre because she went out to hunt in the woods at the crossing and hasn’t returned, and Elain who leaves a few weeks prior to marry a lord, and when Nesta tries to look for Feyre (because the dad is dead in this as he is in my mind when I think of him) she finds Cassian injured, and it’s to his wings. She debates leaving him there, but she figures he’s her only evidence as to what happened to Feyre since they’re both at the same location.

So Nesta takes him in, intent on coercing him and threatening him for that knowledge. Except he’s like in and out of consciousness, and he takes forever to heal. Because in this, fae are just weaker when they pass on the other side of the wall. She nurses him back to health, but she always has a weapon near her because she will kill him if she must. 

He eventually wakes up, and is so confused as to why he’s in a human home and why this scary, but very beautiful human girl is like tying him down with rope and has ash everywhere. Thankfully, she’s not a lunatic, but she does demand to know where her sister is, because she still can’t find her. 

Eventually though she receives a letter in Feyre’s handwriting about Feyre finding a group of hunters who tell her about a lucrative location to the west, and she’s going to follow them to see if she can’t get enough food to last them through the winter. Because you know they’re not poor... but it’s very common thing to do. You know if grocery stores don’t exist, you hunt bro. Especially in the winter. So Nesta settles down, but then she realizes she has a whole ass fae in her house, and he’s so stubborn. 

He wants to get up and move around, and she’s like I’m not untying you. But Cassian is really just holding up pretense, because he can get out of these ropes as soon as wings are not injured, because he’s pretty weak, but he’s much stronger than her. But she is so gentle about his wings, and he starts growing fond of her. And she is also just so pretty to look at, and so snarky that he’s like... ehh I’ll take my time. 

It’s a trashy romance obviously, so they're going to fall in love, in that small cabin house in the dead of winter, and Cassian will eventually be cutting wood to help her, and making her bookshelves, and he’s going to be increasingly aware that she’s human and he’s a big, bad fae, but for some reason lol Nesta likes that idea. Finds herself blushing a lot. Because he’s so much larger than her... wink wink. 

But two things happen, the human village find out there’s a fae living in her house and want to kill him, and Feyre never returns, so Nesta embarks to find her sister and Cassian offers to help. 

#nessian #cassian #nesta archeron #vidalinav writes fic ideas #nessian fic idea

[vidalinav]

I’m obsessed with absurd fanfic ideas. So I’m going to make one right now. Another amnesia fic with Nesta of course losing her memory but this would be a modern AU where Cassian finds Nesta unconscious while he’s jogging one morning. He kind of assumes she had a hiking accident since she’s basically in a ditch having rolled down the mountain and she’s very injured. Cassian lives in the mountains with his two best friends, Azriel and Rhys so he takes her back to their house and is just about to call the ambulance when she starts waking up. It’s going to take a while for the ambulance to get there because of where they live. While they’re waiting Nesta basically has no recollection of who she is or why she’s there. But Cassian tries to be as patient as he can be and caring and tries to be as non threatening as possible.

The ambulance get there and the police to file a report but no one knows who she is. She’s not from around there. It’s a small town and everyone knows everyone. So they basically put out an alert but for a while she lives with Emerie who is Cassian’s cousin in this and who doesn’t live too far until Nesta hopefully starts to remember who she is. Nesta settles into the town and kind of starts just getting to know everything and she kind of starts falling in love with this place and Cassian of course. She makes friends and everything. Emerie runs a coffee shop and Cassian has something to do with construction probably or like lumber because again I want Cassian to be building some bookshelves in a flannel. Virgin river vibes. Gwyn will be there. The Vanserras too because well it is autumn vibes and woodsy shit. Mor too because… jealousy.

BUT plot twist, the reason she was unconscious in the mountainous woods is because Tomas and her were staying at an Airbnb (which is actually a family property) for their honeymoon and he tries to kill her!!!! (Nesta has an inheritance from her parents that’s split between the three Archerons and technically the money is suppose to go to the surviving spouse should they be married at the time of death). Tomas’ family is still in the lumber business in this but thanks to some illegal actions and fraud their business is failing. They’re about to lose it all. He in fact is well known to this town and not in a good way, but Nesta doesn’t remember his name so they don’t know until later that she’s the new wife. He planned to kill her to help his family with the money and keep their business afloat. It was his fathers plan and all.

So romance and murder mystery and slice of life all in one fic.

#nessian #nesta archeron #vidalinav writes fic ideas

[vidalinav]

Anyway, what do you want to see in Nessian goes to CC? 

I got: 

Nesta with a gun. 

Nesta trying out new clothes. Cassian also trying out new clothes, but in a less dramatic fashion. 

Listening to music! Like on a phone will be interesting. 

Cassian discovering photography. 

Nesta discovering college education. 

I actually think I’ll give Cassian a hobby that’s like cooking or something because I really love the thought of him trying food in CC and loving the flavor, and also Nesta loves food here too and he wants to bring it back. They’re total foodies. But also yum yum, Cassian in an apron or one of those chef outfits. This really big guy fitting in a tiny restaurant. 

Their own apartment that they have to work to pay for. They’ll be the secretive couple that everyone tries to know but no one understands completely.

There’s so going to be a language barrier. I love languages and not knowing them when you are quite literally dependent on that language for work and social life. 

But what else? 

#nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #vidalinav writes fic ideas

[vidalinav]

I hate pregnancy fics but I want to write a fic where Nesta gets accidentally pregnant with Cassian and then they enter a weird co-parent relationship where they are sort of but sort of not dating.

#nessian #Nesta archeron #vidalinav writes fic ideas

[vidalinav]

Interestingly enough... I was thinking this morning of a fic where Nesta works at Hooters (or the equivalent of a sports bar in this fic) and Cassian comes in to “watch the game” and she’s completely caught off guard because he sits by her one of her college classes (graduate). Cassian is also caught off guard because he’s sure she is much too serious and studious, and she always has her nose stuck up in the air, that he could never imagine her here in the smallest shorts and top he’s ever seen. But Nesta’s not for that bullshit and she’s like why shouldn’t I take men’s money when they offer it so willingly to anyone with boobs and a nice ass and Cassian then tries not to stare at said boobs, but also then doesn’t like that his friends are now staring at Nesta’s boobs and he doesn’t know why... So he pulls her away at some point and is like “hey I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect to see you here.” But Nesta takes offense to that because she assumes he means that he thinks she’s too good to work there and she happens to like the women she works with and so she gives him a hard time about this too and Cassian’s like why is this short women yelling at him (though she’s only short to him). She ends up throwing a beer on him probably... just for funseys. 

#nessian fic idea #vidalinav writes fic ideas #nessian #nesta archeron