Acotar oneshots

Cassian x Nesta

Hot sun beat down on Nesta as she nocked an arrow and raised the bow. 

"Feet in line with shoulders!" Cassian's voice boomed down the line of priestesses and Valkyries.  "String back to your chin!"

Nesta glanced down the line as they pulled back. She carefully copied Emerie next to her, straining to pull the string. As it finally grazed her lip, she looked to Cassian, awaiting the command to release. He glanced at her and she quickly averted her gaze. "Release!" He shouted down the line. The string slipped from her fingers, the arrow flying forward. It landed just short of the target, planted in the ground. She frowned as she nocked another arrow. 

"Release!"

This one flew even shorter. it stuck into the ground almost a meter away from the target. 

"I'm doing something wrong." She said quietly to Gwyn. 
"Its okay, you'll get there." Gwyn gave her her best smile.

"Easy for you to say." Both of Gwyn's arrows had landed close to the bullseye. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?" Gwyn gave her a sympathetic smile as they released their arrows. Hers landed right beside the eye. Nestas skidded along the ground beside the target. 

"Alright, collect your arrows!" Cassian called. Emerie and Gwyn both walked forward, alongside the other priestesses, but Nesta didn't move. A bitter scowl spread across her face. She knew she couldn't be good at everything straight away, but god, did she hate it when she wasn't. 

"Hey, you okay?" Cassian stood beside her.
"Fine."
He snorted. "Liar. You're angry that you haven't hit the target yet."

Nesta gave him a dry look. He chuckled slightly and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back. Almost immediately she felt his shlongalong against her. She raised her eyebrows at him. 

"Does my failure amuse you?"
He laughed again, giving her a gentle push on the back. "Go on, get your arrows."

She walked through the sand, small rocks kicking up into her rocks. She hated this hot weather. It made training completely unbearable. She had drunk almost an entire jug of water already (Feyre refilling it from the side.) She hated that so many people watched. It wasn't so much her family, sitting around the ring, or the other priestesses, but the thought that one of those people could be laughing behind her back. Surely no one was, but the fear was enough to scare her. 

~

Nesta stood, pooled in moonlight, beside every arrow she could find, shooting over and over again at the target. All she wanted was to get close to the bullseye. She had finally reached the actual target about ten arrows ago, but it wasn't enough. She needed to get it right. She needed to impress anyone who had laughed earlier.

A strangled noise resembling a scream erupted out of her when her arrow missed her target. Her knees gave out below her. She kneeled in the sand, sobbing into her hands. 

A broad hand brushed against her back.  Cassian. 

"You okay Nes? I woke up and you weren't there."

She stared up at him.

"I just want to get this right."
"No ome expected you to get it right straight away.

"But i didn't get it right at all. I hated it." A tear ran down her cheek. Cassian wrapped his arms around her.

He said three words, quiet, but so full of love.

"You are enough."