“This meeting is over. I hope Hybern butchers you all.”
“This meeting is not over...You are all there is,” she said to Beron, to all of us. “You are all that there is between Hybern and the end of everything that is good and decent...You fought against Hybern in the last war. Why do you refuse to do so now?....You may hate us. I don’t careif you do. But I do care if you let innocents suffer and die. At least stand for them. Your people. For Hybern will make an example of them. Of all of us.”
“I went into the Cauldron,It showed me his heart. He will bring down the wall, and butcher those on either side of it.....I am sorry for the loss of those children. The loss of one is abhorrent. But beneath the wall, I witnessed children—entire families—starve to death. Were it not for my sister … I would be among them...Too long,for too long have humans beneath the wall suffered and died while you in Prythian thrived. Not during that—queen’s reign.But long before. If you fight for anything—fight now, to protect those you forgot. Let them know they’re not forgotten. Just this once.”
“While a noble sentiment, the details of the Treaty did not demand we provide for our human neighbors. They were to be left alone. So we obeyed.”
“The past is the past. What I care about is the road ahead. What I care about is making sure no children—Fae or human—are harmed. You have been entrusted with protecting this land. How can you not fight for it?”
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“Run toward the light,” I breathed to Nesta. “I’ll hold them off.”
“Run,” I breathed. “Please.”
“Please,” I begged her, my voice breaking.
Nesta squeezed my hand once.
She gripped his leathers instead. “ Feyre,” she rasped, pointing behind her with a free hand, shaking him solidly with the other.... “Hybern.”
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"This is the talk of madwomen. Of arrogant, stupid fools.”
Elain grabbed for Nesta’s hand to silence her. But Nesta stalked forward a step, face white with rage. “Give them the Book...Give them the Book.”
“There are innocent people here. In these lands. If you will not risk your necks against the forces that threaten us, then grant those people a fighting chance. Give my sister the Book.”
“An evacuation may be possible—”
“You would need ten thousand ships,” Nesta said, her voice breaking. “You would need an armada. I have calculated the numbers. And if you are readying for war, you will not send your ships to us. We are stranded here.”
“Then I suggest asking one of your winged males to carry you across the sea, girl.”
Nesta’s throat bobbed. “Please.” I didn’t think I’d ever heard that word from her mouth. “Please—do not leave us to face this alone.”
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“I don’t take orders from the bastards of lesser fae whores.”
“That bastard,” Nesta said with utter coolness, though her eyes began to burn, “may wind up being the only person standing in the way of Hybern’s forces and your people.”
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But Nesta had jolted to her feet, staring at Cassian, at the helmet he had tucked into the crook of his arm, the weapons still poking above his shoulder, in need of cleaning...But she surveyed his seven Siphons, the dim red stones. And then she said, “You’re hurt.”
... “It’s fine.” ....But she reached for his arm—his shield arm.
...“You know better than to walk around with an injury,” Rhys said a bit tensely.
“I was busy,” Cassian said, not taking his focus off Nesta as she studied the swollen wrist. How she’d detected it through the armor … She must have read it in his eyes, his stance....“And it’ll be fixed by morning,” Cassian added, daring Rhys to say otherwise.
But Nesta’s pale fingers gently probed his golden-brown skin, and he hissed through his teeth.
“How do I fix it?” she asked. Her hair had been tied in a loose knot atop her head earlier in the day, and in the hours that we’d worked to ready and distribute supplies to the healers, through the heat and humidity, stray tendrils had come free to curl about her temple, her nape. Faint color had stained her cheeks from the sun, and her forearms, bare beneath the sleeves she’d rolled up, were flecked with mud.
.... “Icing it usually helps, but wrapping it will just lock it in place long enough for the sprain to repair itself—”
She reached for the basket of bandages she’d been preparing, then for the pitcher at her feet.
...as she washed his wrist, his hand, her own fingers gentle.... she wrapped bandages around his wrist, only grunting to confirm if it was too tight or too loose, if it helped at all.
...Nesta made to pull back, Cassian gripped her fingers in his good hand. She lifted her gaze to his. “Thank you,” he said hoarsely.
Nesta did not yank her hand away.
Did not open her mouth for some barbed retort.
She only stared and stared at him, at the breadth of his shoulders, even more powerful in that beautiful black armor, at the strong column of his tan neck above it, his wings. And then at his hazel eyes, still riveted to her face.
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“It was some distant thing, war. Battle. It … it’s not anymore. I will help, if I can. If it means … telling them what happened.”
“You’ve given enough,Amren claimed you were close to mastering whatever skill you need. You should stay—focus on that.”
“No.” The word was steady, clear. “A day or two delay with my training won’t make any difference. Perhaps by the time we return, Amren will have decoded that spell in the Book.You went off to battle for a court you barely know—who barely see you as friends. Amren showed me the blood ruby. And when I asked you why … you said because it was the right thing. People needed help.” Her throat bobbed. “No one is going to fight to save the humans beneath the wall. No one cares. But I do...I do.”
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yeah, she's really selfish, I can see it.Totally...
blakekathryn
yousharknotpass
izzy806
