Cassian & Nesta / Velaris
Cassian & Nesta
The winged male arrived home after a day taking training reports around the mountains.
“I will take a bath” he said after dropping a kiss on Nesta's cheek and on the forehead of their son, she just nodded at him.
A few minutes later the High Fae heard a sound coming from the door, by the way it was beaten, she knew exactly who it was.
“Aunt!” the dark-brown haired teenager girl said right after the door was open, she hugged Nesta careful and then kissed her cousin’s cheek.
“Why don’t you winnow inside the house?” The closed the door, while looking at the girl's eyes, the same eyes as hers and her sister.
“I didn’t want to scare Remiel.” as opposite to her brother, the girl hadn’t wings, but it didn’t bother her since she got the powerful winnowing from her father.
“It is late, do your parents know you are here?” she asked, the girl shook her head, Nesta lifted a brow.
“They will order Azriel to track you” Cassian emerged from the stairs, dressed on night suit, his hair wet dripping some tears of water, a towel around his shoulders.
“Uncle!” she hugged him tightly.
“What is up, Shorty?” he tighten his arms around her, as she released him, he said:
“Please, tell me you didn’t discuss again.” He took a seat at the couch besides Nesta, the girl sat between them.
“Did you have a fight with your brother or father, Danika?” Nesta asked resting a hand on the girl's shoulder, she knew that her niece didn’t get well with her brother and father, her brother was jealous about her power, while Rhysand would put the fall of Feyre's risk labor on her, relationship with Feyre was neutral, but she always demonstrated to love more Danika's brother.
“I didn’t, I wanted to see Remiel, also” she turned her gaze to Cassian “Even if my parents order Azriel to track me, he will find me later than he is supposed to.” she waved a hand to the internal pocket on her jacket
“He knew where I was going and asked me to give you it.”
He took the letter from her hand “What is it?”
“It is about the High Lords' meeting” Danika answered, Nesta's gaze on her, she remembered, when her niece was 13 years old and had a huge fight with her parents and brother, the reason? She called her brother out for being a envious and irresponsible, at some point she called her father a hypocrite as he defended him.
Rhysand was loosing his temper and tried to break into her mind, then she blindly windowed to the North woods of their Court, at night, Azriel warned Cassian and both of them tracked her, Azriel was supposed to bring her back, but wouldn’t, he told Cassian to stay with her while he would try to resolve it.
Nesta couldn’t forget how much her niece was trembling, from the cold, and fear, more from fear of her father than the creatures at the woods that almost attacked her, how the girl's right nostril and eye were dripping blood from Rhysand's tentative to break her mental shield. And the unforgivable part of it, the fact that her sister didn’t stop him, she didn’t even called him out, even gave the girl a punishment, of being banned from their wonderful city for 14 months.
“And what happened on this meeting?” Nesta asked, she glanced at the baby, then turned her gaze to the girl.
“They talked about odd movements in Hybern and Continent, a disease affecting humans and kids, and new lands.” Danika paused “It is in the letter that Azriel left.”
Cassian handed the letter to Nesta as she said: “How is Elain?”
“She stays in her room all the day, hardly talk something” Danika turned her head to Cassian “What is a Blood Spell?”
Cassian lifted a brow, sharing stares with Nesta before answering “It wasn’t in the letter.” He rubbed his hair with the towel “As the name clues, it is a spell made by someone's blood, what will determine how much powerful it is, is how many blood the spell caster poured.”
“This kind of spell is unbreakable, unless you kill the one who summoned it” Nesta said reading the letter “Who is using it?” she finished the letter, handing it at the center table.
Danika opened her mouth, she was going to answer her aunt but a sudden earthquake happened, it was strong enough to overthrow a few decorative vases, it lasted one minute until completely vanish.
oOoOo
Velaris
Azriel stared at the back garden, flowers dead, grass dry. Elain hadn’t put a foot on it in months, she stayed in her room all the time, he knows she is seeing something, he tried to talk with, but no word came from her month.
“Do you think Tarquin's explorers found Cretea?” he heard Feyre's voice coming from the all, the shadowsinger vanished in the shadows as usual.
“No, he said it was big enough to be a continent, also, Cretea is in the West. How did he call the city they arrived?” Rhysand asked going to the couch.
“I think he said “Steam City”, since his explorers described it as a place exhaling steam.” She sat in the couch
“And none of them had the nerve to ask the city's real name” the High Lord sat at her side.
“I think they didn’t want to give a bad first impression, or look suspicious…” She rested her hand on his knee, Azriel rolled his eyes, going upstairs still involved on his shadows.
He checked Elain's room, door closed as always, but footsteps’ sounds coming from inside, it was odd, considering it was three of morning. The winged male putted away his shadows as he touched the door's knob, slowly opening it.
Elain was pacing around in circles, arms crossed and head down, murmuring incomprehensible words.
The first time he saw her getting out the bed by herself in months, he said in a low smooth voice “Elain?”.
She suddenly stopped, body still as a rock “A war is coming” she said hoarsely, holding her long nightdress skirt so tight that her fingers tips were white.
“When?” he asked walking into her room, she didn’t move as he leaned a scarred hand on her shoulder, she looked up, until her gaze found his hazel eyes, they were filled in preoccupation.
She held his lower arm, keeping her stare, then a earthquake, he brought her close to him, her face on his chest, the earthquake stopped in one minute.
“Soon” she lowed her stare, walked away from him, and sat in her bed in a vacant stare.
“What do you see?”
“Nothing”
He waited, she lay down, covering herself in blankets, the male walked to the door, when he was already touching the knob she said: “It is all blurred, I can’t see. But I feel the pain, the pain of so many…”
Azriel found himself wordless, he gave her a light nod even knowing she wasn’t looking at him, he walked out the room, gently closing the door.
“What was it?” asked Mor, holding her wife's hand, a purple skinned fae and pink hair, they were at the stairs direction.
“That is what I am going to find out.”
oOoOo
Cassian & Nesta
“Nesta?” Cassian touched her shoulder, positioning a hand on the arm she was using to hold Remiel, Danika was standing in front of her.
Nesta's head was down, her breathing irregular, the baby crying loud, “Hold him” she said to her niece, the girl obeyed, took her cousin in her arms and gave them space.
“What is wrong?” he said getting close to her “Tell me what to do to help you.” He whispered, rubbing his hand on her back.
She took a deep breathe, turning her gaze to his worried eyes “This feeling,” she said hoarsely “Is the same as when I called you” she straightened her spine “In the Hybern war…” his lips were tighten in a thin line, he knew what she referred, when several soldiers turned into ashes.
Is this about the Cauldron, or death? He asked through their bound.
Death. She answered rubbing her temples.
Cassian kept his hand in her back, eyebrows narrowed, thinking about what to do, he glanced at his niece and the baby still crying,
“There is a bottle in the ice cabinet.”
Danika turned to the kitchen, she cursed in a scary when she saw Azriel was right in front of the cabinet with the bottle in one hand.
“You need to warm it first” he said handing her the object “What happened?” he asked, his gaze fixed on Nesta, he came here for a reason.
“A large number of deaths” she answered.
Cassian stared at the blue siphoned warrior, the short haired one tilted his head to the door.
Nesta glanced at them both, Go.
Cassian turned his head to her and nodded, I will keep the bond open. She lightly nodded at him “I will wear my armor” he rose up, walking to the stairs “Watch them.” He said to Danika as he glanced at her checking the milk's temperature, the girl nodded at him.
oOo
“So?” Cassian asked as he flied beside the shadowsinger.
“Elain got out the bed a few seconds before the earthquake,” Azriel answered, Cassian felt worry coming from the bond as Elain's name got mentioned “She said that there is a war coming. Soon. After it she said she felt “the pain of so many.”” A pause “I contacted a few if my spies, there is nothing in Prythian that might have caused it. Then I realized, the air was different, heavier.” A second pause “As close to the sea I flied, heavier it got-“
“I noticed that too” Cassian said looking around “Do you think it is about Cretea?”
“Yes.”
They kept flying, Azriel had winnowed them far from Cretea, it would take them a couple minutes to get in there, since he didn’t knew what had happened, he wouldn’t risk winnowing directly there.
“What is it?” the red siphon warrior said when he saw a orange light in the horizon, as they got closer, the light revealed to be flames, the entire island was on flames, a few unknown ships around it in retire.
They were even closer when Nesta shout out through the bond: STOP WHERE YOU ARE.
“Wait!” Cassian warned to Azriel, they both stopped in the air, he turned his gaze to a sea bird flying, as if running from the island, the small creature was a few meters away from them, when its healthy bird turned into a skeleton and ashes, as if it had passed by a wall of death. Thank you.
“Let’s come back.” Azriel held the long hair male's hand and winnowed them both to Prythian.