A Court of Games and Fate

To Renounce

          "Do you still despise me?"

          Andromeda was finally in a decent swing of things. Between training her magic with Azriel, visiting Velaris every few days with her father and Mor, and finding new spaces in the House of Wind to lounge with the breeze and light of the outside world hitting her skin, she was beginning to feel more and more comfortable in the Night Court. Though she wouldn't give her father the satisfaction of admitting it, the hovering he had done did leave a positive impact on her ability to function as a normal being. The nights of no sleep were slowly drifting behind her, as were the uncontrollable bursts of magic in fits of stress, at least for now. However, the feelings of panic and stress were slowly beginning to transform into those of boredom and a longing to do something, anything to prove her place within the Court.

          Perhaps this newfound feeling of peace and comfort was what gave her the confidence to confront Cassian when happening upon him when arriving at the training room early.

          The sun had barely risen and the training room was still filled with cool shadow and an aura of awakening for the new day. Figuring she would beat Azriel into the training room for once, Andromeda didn't think about the possibility that somebody was using it before the morning lessons. Seeing the burly male and feeling his annoyance over her intrusion finally set her off.

          Cassian had avoided her the last few weeks. Sure, he would say the polite greeting to her or a few words here and there when they were forced to be around each other during dinners with the full circle, but that was it. It took some adjustment, but every other member of the circle seemed to accept Andromeda into their lives. Cauldron, even Amren- who didn't seem too keen on anybody- has put up with her in the most friendly way she could. Maybe it was selfish or childish, but she wanted to at least know why the male disliked her so.

          The war general froze in the middle of putting away his practice equipment.

          "What?"

          "You clearly don't like me," she bluntly stated, hopping up and taking a seat on top of one of the shorter cabinets, "Which is fine, really, but do I at least get to know why?"

          Cassian hesitated, clearly not expecting to see her, much less have a conversation with her. He resumed putting away and organizing the weapons rack across the room.

          "I mean, I understand the obvious reasons. My mother was horrible, I'm the spawn of evil, etcetera, etcetera. But what is it about me? Actually me?" Andromeda pushed, trying to make light of her demand for an answer. She wasn't going to make the bond between him and his brothers weird by asking them so it was about time she went straight to the source.

          "Are you really joking about everything?" He asked, finally turning toward her. His voice was low in a warning.

          Andromeda took a mental note of how easy it was to rile Cassian up. She innocently smirked, knowing it was impertinent. "Am I supposed to wallow my entire life away because of factors I had no control over?"

          "Rhysand is my longest-standing and closest friend. He is also my High Lord-"

          "-And my father," Andromeda added, gaining a flinch from the male. "Look. I don't expect you to pretend to like me for mine or even my father's sake. However, if I did something, I would like to know what it was."

          "I don't despise you."

          Andromeda snorted, causing Cassian to raise his thick eyebrows at her. "You could have fooled me. For somebody who works in a court, you're not so great with hiding your emotions."