BROKEN WINGS • ACOTAR

Chapter 1

When Cassian first found out that Rhys was trapped under the mountain, he flew straight to the Illyrian camps, assuming the role of General to keep his mind off of the things that were happening to his brother.

He hasn't expected to find a boy with broken wings. They weren't clipped. They were just . . . broken.

What's more was that he was doing the work a female was normally forced to do. Cassian was immensely surprised seeing as the Illyrians were very set in their ways.

He had gone up to the Leader, he got a reaction he certainly wasn't expecting.

"She has broken wings because she deserves it. She's doing housework because that is what women do."

That confused Cassian even more. The Leader has been referring to the boy as a woman. Cassian had no idea what was going on.

He had ended up asking Az about it because he knew everything. It was very scary sometimes but it was also useful.

"Cassian, look. I need you to promise me that you won't treat anyone differently because of this, okay?" Az asked, completely serious.

"Yeah, of course!" Cassian nodded enthusiastically.

"Do you know what being trans means?"

Cassian furrowed his brows, "Trans?"

"Or transgender."

Cassian shook his head. Azriel sighed.

"It means that a person was born in the wrong body and they're trying to fix it. He was born in the body of a girl and he's trying to fix it. She was born in the body of a boy and is trying to fix it, and so on and so forth."

"Oh. Okay."

Azriel looked confused. "Is-is that it? Your not gonna ask why? Your not gonna say it's wrong?"

It was Cassian's turn to look confused, "Why would I do that? They were born in the wrong body, it's not their fault."

"Cassian I don't think enough people tell you this but . . . Your a good person, okay?"

There was a moment of silence before Cassian grinned, "Azzy-bear likes me? Azzy loves me?"

"Now I know why."

Az now knew to never ever compliment Cassian again. He's ego was already bigger than Prythian, it didn't need anymore inflating.

After finally calming down, Cassian sent a smile his way. "Thanks for telling me."

"No problem. I do have one question, why did you ask?"

Cassian sighed, "There's a boy I saw at the Camp and they kept calling him a she. I wanted to know why."

The next day, Cassian had gone back to Camp and found as much as he could on the boy.

He knew his name, Calix Azael, his age -516- other than that he barely knew anything.

That night, as Cassian went to bed, he didn't have nightmares of what happened during the War, he didn't have nightmares about Rhys, about under the mountain, about Amarantha, about his mother.

Instead he dreamt. He dreamt of a boy with blonde hair, cut in the choppiest way he'd ever seen. A boy who had the brightest eyes Cassian had ever seen, brighter than the ocean, the sky.

He dreamt of a boy with broken wings and a smile lined with rays of sunlight.

He didn't know why he was so fixated on the boy.

But he would.

Eventually. . .