NESTA & CASSIAN

Naked I

(I have this obsession with the idea that Nesta and Cassian were intimate before Nesta became Fae. This fanfiction takes place a few days after the events of A court of Wings and Embers written by SJM.)

***

Nesta tightens her robe around her frame. The satin fabric stretches over her chest and stomach and shoulders. She has been pacing her room for the better part of the afternoon. Her thoughts - those traitorous thoughts of hers - popping into her mind every time she wished to do something mundane, like wash, brush and braid her hair for sleep.

Her fingers have at least stopped trembling. And so has the rest of her limbs. Including her heart.

Yet something inside her soul still cannot be tamed. She cannot stop herself from looking over her shoulder at the mantel of the fireplace in her room. That is where it happened. He happened. 

She catches glimpes of the bright embers of the fire. As red as those stones that adorne his black leathers. Nesta growls in frustration before heading over to the basin in her chamber. She splashes some water onto her face. But as her eyelids close his face swims behind them. The expression he wore then makes her body shiver.

He looked so lustfull.

And yes for one fearfull moment - when he'd gotten close enough to her to feel the fire on her skin - she had thought of Thomas Mandray and his lust. How those things almost destroyed her.

A voice at the back of her mind laughs. Nesta cannot help but agree with that voice. She knows it was different with that Fae. She had felt fear, for a spit second, but when he touched then she...

Nesta cannot deny the truth of her body. She had liked it. She had felt something different than fear and cold and frustration.

Something that vaguely reminded her of peace and calm and warmth.

"Stupid." She mutters to herself. How could she have allowed that bastard so close to her. She can almost hear his voice as he brags about it at his friends, her sister's friends. Feyre.

Nesta sighs. Hard. There is only one way she can stop thinking about it. She makes her way to her bed. Nesta pulls back the heavy covers and unfastens her robe -

"Satin suits you, sweetheart."

Nesta spins around, the firepoker she has decided to keep by her bedside for the night in her hand. The tip almost grazes Cassian's smirk.

"How the hell did you get in here." Nesta demands to know. She pushes the firepoker further onto his face. His smirk disappears as he raises his hands in surrunder.

"You left your window open." He says with a pointed look. 

Shit. Nesta was so lost in her own frustration that she had forgotten to close the window. Even if she had seen first hand how easily the Fae of Prythian could get close to humans. Shit.

"What do you want." Nesta snarls. Not even considering to rise to his bait. She wonders if she can actually hit him with the poker she holds. He can probably snap her bones in less than a second. But she had managed to hit him in his private part, but perhaps that was because he was too distracted by the way her body - and his - had reacted to their proximity.

"If you would be so sweet as to put the damn firepoker down," Cassian snarls in turn, "Then perhaps I'll tell you."

Nesta narrows her eyes. There is no way in hell he would come to her house again out of his own free will after what happened. That means that he was send here by someone. The male that is so taken with her sister, no doubt. Which in turn means something must have happened.

"Is there any news?" She asks, lowering the poker down but still holding it, "Has something happened to my sister."

Cassian does not asnwer. Instead he frowns and watches her intently. His mind working, assesing. 

Nesta forgets about the damn poker. It falls at the feet of her nightstand. She grabs Cassian's arm, shaking him.

"Tell me -"

"I was not aware that you cared so deeply about your sister."

Nesta grinds her teeth against each other. Whom she cares about is none of his damn bussiness.

"No." Cassian quips and brushes past her to sit on her bed. "Nothing bad happened. But it seems that Feyre was worried about the two of you being here all alone. So she sent me to keep an eye on things."

Right now the only thing he kept an eye on were Nesta's hardened nipples beneath her satin robe. Nesta crosses her arms over her chest.

"She didn't seem to worry about us when she left us all those months ago to run off  with that beast," Nesta snaps, she is annoyed with Feyre, yes. Only because the last time she had seen her human sister, Nesta had started to believe that a bond was beginning to form. 

"And what," she goes on, daring to step a closer to him, standing between his knees, "You take orders from my sister now."

Cassian's spine stiffens for a split second. 

"Feyre is my friend. And she asked me if I could keep an eye on you because she worries. I said yes."

"The servants have returned." Nesta thinks outloud, "You cannot go about the house, they will see you."

Cassian's lips curl into a sensual smile. The stones on his hands glow a dark red. 

"I will stay here."

"No, you will not."

"Neither of us have a choice. Unless you'd rather word got out that there are Fae going about in your house. I am sure Elain's fiance will feel exquisite about that."

"Leave my sister out of this."

"I will take the couch." he sighs before he stands. His membranous wings spreading slightly. Nesta holds her bretah as she watches the multiple colors move along with the mebrain, it is so beautiful. Like the night sky with a thousand stars reflecting down on earth.

"Fine." Nesta mutters. It must be no secret to both of them by now that she quite enjoys their little sparrings sessions. But after what almost happened the last time they sparred she will not take any chances.

Nesta tightens her robe tighter around her before she cilmbs into the bed. She hears Cassian settle on the sofa next to the fireplace. A spark explodes in her heart. Nesta barely sits on that couch, the fabric and cushens remind her constantly of the bed she used to share with her sisters back at the cottage. 

It was uncomfertable to share a bed with them. They all had been thin but very tall. Their limps always interlocked and the bed itself... it was hard as straw. Nothing like what her bed feels like now. Soft and comfertable and warm.

And she was tiny compered to Cassian. How he was supposed to fit himself and the wings on that couch was a wonder. Nesta strechtes her arm out. Her fingers fist her cotton sheets but the edge of her bed is far beyond her reach.

"Cassian." she finds herself saying before she changes her mind, "Come here."

She hears the hesitation in his movements but says nothing more until he hovers over her. A serious frown on his face. 

"Is something wrong?" he asks her. 

Nesta shakes her head in response. "The couch will never fit you. Sleep on the bed if you must."

Cassian remains standing, staring down at her with the frown still edged into his features.

"Is that not improper considering the human standards?" he asks, voice low. Yet his eyes seem to possess a gleam. Nesta locks eyes with him.

"I think we are beyond that now. Sleep on the bed if you must. Or don't. I frankly do not care."

Cassian shrugs once. Then he takes his clothes off. Naked, he climbs into the bed.

***

Part Two coming soon!