Chapter Text
Rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes, Cassian sighed. He stared at the sheets knowing that there was something big he was missing and the clue was staring back at him, mocking him for the fact that he can’t find it.
“So- let’s break this down shall we?” Rhysand spoke and Cassian could hear the frustration and exhaustion in his voice.
“Yes, please get this part over with. We’ve only been over it about two thousand times.” Cassian couldn’t help the agitation in his voice. It’s been a month. An entire month since Nesta first stepped into his life and into his home. Almost three weeks since the events of the gala. And not a single thing to go on.
Four weeks that Nesta has been running a marathon of people through his townhouse to get all the pie ces together for whatever this bill is.
He watched her single mindedness in her goals. How badly she needed to help the women she was. Women, he couldn’t help think, that were like his mother. Who would have gone to Nesta if she was around that time. How she listened to the plight of everyone who spoke to her, how he could see in her eyes the torment she felt on a personal level on many of them. On the security camera of course because he liked his balls right where they were. She even slowly started talking to him, asking him questions about the community he grew up in, watched her drink up his words. He felt them connecting on the same passion- getting these women a better life. One they deserved.
Their talks became so common over these past few weeks that he was now on her schedule daily. The end of day. One where she went over questions, ideas, what her day was like. He was slowly getting to know her through her work and he was secretly loving every single moment. Not that he let her know or show. Knew that letting her see that his interest was her and not her work would make her run away and hide.
But then all his hard work went right out the window when his brothers and her sisters walked through his door like they owned the place. As soon as they heard the door open and their voices carried through the house he watched Nesta get back behind her familiar walls again. He was able to see just how comfortable she was getting with him by seeing how she was preparing to see her family.
Or maybe it was his, but neither ever had anything kind to say to her regardless.
Why did she feel she needed to be so closed off with her sisters? The question circled his mind throughout the entire meeting. He understood his brothers, he could see the disdain in their eyes when they saw her.
“Well, it seems that what Az and you found was true. Elaine was just caught in the crossfire because of her relation to Nesta and Ferye. Nesta and Feyre are completely separate issues within Hybern.” Grabbing folders, Rhysand looked at them with contemplative eyes. “So, the next question is what do we do?”
“We handle each as an individual case. We keep separate until the moment arises when our paths cross, if they ever do. Feyre and your business is completely different from Nesta’s. Yours is with Hybern themselves, Nesta’s is with the Illyrian men who found camaraderie with people who Nesta has managed to piss off.” Cassian paused for a moment. He knew either Rhys or Azriel wanted to say more If we have any information we pass it along to each other. If anything we discover may be overtly dangerous, we tell each other. Lines of communication are open but we act as different units.”
Azriel nodded his head in silent agreement while Rhys studied him intently. Locking his gaze with him, Cassian decided that in this moment, he wouldn’t waiver. He knew what was about to come out of his mouth and the thought of sharing any details about Nesta made him irrationally angry.
“So it’s like that.” Rhys started with a bit of disdain. “You’re going to make me spell it out?”
“If you don’t you’ll never get the answer you’re looking for.” Cassian couldn’t help the anger in his voice or the stormy look on his face.
“You like her. You’re getting in over your head. That woman is not like her sisters. She is exactly what Mor calls her. A Viper. Did you know that as soon as she met Mor she transferred her to another lawyer at her own firm? With no real reason other than ‘because’? Are you forgetting what she did to Feyre when she was younger?” The more he spoke the louder and angry Rhysand got and in that moment he realized that he would never win in defending Nesta- Rhysand had made up his mind about her a long time ago. He had played judge, jury, and executioner to Nesta that moment he fell in love with Feyre.
“I suggest you double and triple check your sources. But allow me to break down all your points. Point 1. I like her- statement. I don’t know about you but I’m glad she is different from her sisters. Point 2- You can call her a Viper all you want. It doesn’t make it an insult when she goes in for the kill at court and helps protect people who cannot or do not know how to protect themselves.” He loved Mor, but damn if that woman didn’t like to spin her own story to her own benefit sometimes.
“Point 3- Have you actually spoken to Mor about the reasons she was given as to why Mor was being dropped as a client? That she not only said some pretty shitty things not just to her face but to other people about Nesta? How can you expect anyone to work with someone who talks negatively about her integrity, ability, and character? You would never deal with a client who did that but also demand that you be her lawyer. Why is she held to a standard where she has to deal with that? Plus, she is vetting other lawyers, and then setting up interviews for Mor to choose.”
Cassian had to pause for a moment because he could feel himself getting more and more worked up the more he spoke. He couldn’t help but think that despite what everyone in the room thought of Nesta, Mor was the manipulative one in this situation.
“And Feyre?”
Cassian had to look up to the ceiling knowing that what he was about to say would not go over well.
“No one is saying that what Feyre went through was terrible. But not everything is as it seems. And let’s not forget that there are 3 sisters- not 2. It says something that when we talk about this, we only bring up what one sister did or didn’t do. Not what both did or did not do. Once again, because we didn’t like one sister's attitude, we put nearly sole blame on them. And when you met Feyre, didn’t she live with her sisters, one that was owned by Nesta? Where she didn’t have any bills to pay?”
He couldn’t help but look at Rhys and see that no matter what was said, Nesta would forever be the villain in his eyes. And Azriel, who Elaine had clearly gotten under his skin, was quiet but had a pensive look on his face. At least he got one brother to think about this.
“Shitty attitude or not, there was an effort to make amends- how long must one seek redemption for you to give it to them?”
“For her, she’ll never get redemption. There is nothing she could do or say in my eyes to make up for the fact that she was selfish and she didn’t support Feyre.”
The anger that bubbled up at the unfairness of how Nesta was viewed and the insinuation that she would never be worthy of forgiveness. He did something worse with Mor, his actions had put her life on the line and yet he was still given forgiveness he wasn’t always sure he had deserved.
“We’re ready to go.” a calm voice spoke from the hallway behind him. Feyre didn’t even need to speak, he knew who it was just by the look in Rhysand’s eyes. The guy was head over heels in love but too nervous to tell her because of Tamlin, the idiot.
Getting up he noticed the only person not there was Nesta although he wasn’t surprised. He wouldn’t want to spend any more time around people who loathed him either.
Cassian left his family and made a beeline to the office Nesta had commandeered from him.
He got to the door and watched as Nesta stood near the fireplace leaning against the back of a chair with a tumbler in her hand, head hanging, taking deep slow breaths. He knew something had happened between the sisters and had to accept he would never really know unless Feyre or Elaine told him.
He rapt two knuckles on the door and waited to gain her attention. He knew without ever being yelled at that sneaking up on Nesta was never going to go over well.
Nesta turned her head, narrowing her eyes at him and he took it as a silent invitation even though he knew she probably didn’t want to be around him.
Too damn bad sweetheart. You can’t fool me into thinking that whatever happened with your sisters didn’t hurt you.
As Cassian walked over to the decanter, pouring himself two fingers of Illyrian whiskey, Nesta moved to sit in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace still not saying a word.
Still silence baby? Not speaking to me won’t affect me in any way. He felt his lips curl as the thought ran through his head. It wasn’t like this was the first time she tried to ice him out as a means to get him away. And still she seemed shocked that he didn’t or wouldn’t leave.
As the silence moved from minutes and started closing in on an hour, Cassian realized he found that he liked the silence. Liked that he could sift through his thoughts, be allowed to brood at some of the frustrations that have happened so far with Nesta, start game planning on how to get new information to help her cause.
In this moment he saw just how easy being with Nesta really was. She had attitude, anger, resentment, and a slew of other issues that could be hard to deal with at times. But she never forced you to speak, never got loud and never spoke without thinking. She may have spoken while angry, but Cassian noticed that she thought about every word that came out of her mouth- whether it hurt or not- it was always honest and always an unvarnished truth that sometimes people had a hard time dealing with.
He watched her out of the corner of his eyes, fire illuminating her in contrast to the computer screen in front of her. He watched as she slowly straightened her spine, that she was clenching her jaw. He watched her chest rise and fall at a more rapid rate as time went on. He could see that something was happening and not one bit of it was good.
But still, Cassian waited silently in the chair next to Nesta, because she had to come to him. It always had to be her move first, his move counter. He learned that from her now. It was a strategy that he grew to appreciate, because it became all the more gratifying when she opened up to him and let him see just a little bit more of what she was hiding from the world. Show him that tarnished gold heart she had.
As harsh breath followed by a gasp finally had Cassian turning completely to Nesta to wait for what she was going to say.
Nesta closed her laptop looking at him with silver fire in her eyes, “Pack the troops, we need to get to Illyria as soon as possible.”
Well, that was not what he was expecting her to say. Not so soon. “Okay. Can you please give context as to why. I can ‘pack up the troops’ but we need a plan. Tell me what I need to know.”
Nesta paused with a small look of shock on her face. Clearly she was not expecting his response either and he couldn’t help but mentally roll around in excitement at that.
“The women are being intimidated. They need help, support and just everything. I got a few messages that came in all stating similar accounts as to how they’re being punished without actually physically hurting them. I..” Cassian watched as Nesta looked around the room for a moment to collect herself. “They need us Cassian. You and me. I talked to the women who are working on the bill, we agreed that we need a presence there to help them. A Confidant for them to get them out of the shit situations they’re in. Get more proof to push this bill through. I have you so I told them we would do it.”
I have you. That statement said so many things to him that he almost forgot to respond to her.
“You have me. How much time do we have to get there? I need at least a few hours to prep and notify the team and get a plan in place for safety reasons. I need to reach out to a few contacts and it takes about 6 hours of travel on tough terrain to get to the closest villages.”
“As soon as possible. Two of the women who were testifying were found dead in one of the village squares.”