Torchwood-99

So, the premise of this chapter is, Cassian goes to deliver a message to the human queens, off-page in ACOMAF proper, and has another run-in with Nesta.

It wasn’t that he was looking for a fight, Cassian told himself as he circled above the sprawling estate for the fifth time,

I can already see that it's going to go wonderfully.

Since this is a bonus chapter, that obviously means we need to take a time-out to have a paragraph about everyone else, before we get back on track.

He’d left their first encounter here not entirely sure where he’d stood, or who’d had the upper hand.

Because having the "upper hand" in what should be a relationship of equals is definitely not an oxymoron or anything. I swear, I do not understand why these books take such a combative stance towards relationships. It's bizarre. Cassian angsts over how every word exchanged with Nesta last time was "barbed and vicious", before finally heading towards the estate.

The thought sent him into a swift, near-reckless dive for the green-roofed estate, his magic’s cloaking rendering him little more than a fell wind and a hollow boom of wings.

Right, because the sound of disembodied wings isn't at all suspicious. But, luckily for Cassian, this world operates on Skyrim stealth logic, and indeed, the humans around aren't at all suspicious of anything. Cassian thinks about how easy it would be to slaughter them all (the kind of thoughts that are totally conducive to peace, I guess?) before knocking on the door.

[Nesta] casually opened the door for him to pass, and called to the insufferably nosy housekeeper that no one was at the door and the sound had only been the wind. Right. Because emptying the house of all the servants so often would raise more suspicions than was safe.

I mean, sure. But I'm pretty sure it's also suspicious for the lady of the house to open the front door herself upon hearing what was clearly a knock, and even more suspicious when it "must have been the wind" every time she does. But don't worry about that.

Especially with the other sister engaged to a Fae-hunting prick.

Well gee, if only the fae were like, physically and magically superior to humans in every conceivable way, then this wouldn't be a problem. Oh, wait...

The housekeeper scuttled into the immaculate foyer to confirm for herself that no one was there, but Nesta merely informed her that she was going upstairs and not to disturb her for an hour.

Seriously. Could not be any more suspicious if you tried. This is like, a five-year-old's understanding of subtlety.

But, luckily for Cassian, the housekeeper is just a minor character who doesn't even get a name, so the fact that she actually is suspicious means jack shit. He instead describes Nesta's clothes to us.

A thinner build than Feyre and Elain - discounting the generous breasts that he glimpsed as Nesta reached the top of the stairs and turned left. Not that he looked at them. Much.

Also, while it's certainly not impossible for slender-framed women to have big boobs, I wouldn't say it's particularly common, either. Boobs are mostly fat, after all. If you don't have much fat in general, there's not gonna be much on your chest, either. And it's basically down to genetic luck where it starts to build up first.

They make their way to Nesta's room, and then immediately begin to have a conversation. Because the nosy housekeeper is incapable of eavesdropping, I guess.

A blink was her only tell of discomfort or surprise - and he may or may not have let his wings spread a bit wider as she looked him over.

Aww, look at him, trying to impress her. Hoping she has a wing fetish like the author does.

“You’re ten minutes late,” she only said,

She "only" said? What else was she supposed to say? "My, what big wings you have???"

These books often do things like this, where a character "only" says something or whatever. It's kinda awkward for two reasons. One, it makes it out like you think whatever they're responding to is impressive/awesome enough that you deem it noteworthy that they "only" say [blah] in response. And two, it makes it painfully obvious that we're expected to think that the responding character is awesome for not being impressed by whatever the thing was. Just... really quite amateur all around. If your thing is legitimately impressive enough, book, we'll tack the "only" part on ourselves in our heads. Adding it yourself just makes you look desperate.

...moving toward the far end of the room, where a fire crackled against early spring’s chill. Where the sound of the flames might cover their voices. Clever girl.

God, how condescending. She's not a fucking dog, book. Or a velociraptor.

“I do have other duties, you know,” he said with equal quiet, flashing a grin. Like circling the house because he was compiling a list of choice insults to throw her way, responses to an invented argument. Like a complete fool.

You know, maybe I'm the weird one here. But when I'm making up arguments in my head, I tend to be arguing with people I actively dislike, not my alleged love interest. But what do I know.

“Here I was,” Nesta said, a pillar of ice and steel beside the hearth, “thinking I heard you flapping around for ten minutes. It must have been a pigeon stuck in one of the chimneys.”

Lol, get rekt.

This pisses Cassian off, apparently, and much fuss is made over how he's specifically crafting his smile to piss her off in turn.

No reaction, no shift in her scent at the smile that usually made his enemies start running.

Oh my fucking god, get over yourself. Cassian is nowhere near as scary-dangerous as the book thinks he is.

Nesta asks how Feyre is doing.

Healing, he almost said. Trying to outrun the fact that she’s falling in love with Rhys, and pointedly ignoring the fact that he’s been in love with her for a damn long time.

In Feyre's defence, "pointedly ignoring" in this case means "had absolutely no idea, and why the fuck would she, he's treated her like dogshit pretty much the entire time they've known each other." Rhys is the only one that can read minds, Cassian. You can't blame other people for his refusal to communicate with them.

The fire drew out the golden sheen in Nesta’s hair as she angled her head. A predator sizing up a worthy opponent.

Oh wow. So, whenever a guy looks at a girl like this, it's "a predator sizing up prey." But as soon as a girl looks at a guy? Suddenly the "prey" becomes a "worthy opponent." Cannot make this shit up.

Anyway, they start arguing about... idk, whose job is more important, or something. It's a bit of a random fight to pick tbh, but pick it they shall. SJM doesn't know how to write actually healthy couples, after all.

Then he was stalking toward her, his long stride eating up the ornate carpet between them. She did not recoil, did not yield one step back. Only lifted her chin to meet his stare as he towered over her, spreading his wings slightly, and said through his teeth, “Do you have news from the queens?” Her brows flattened. “Leader of the High Lord’s armies, and yet the brute remains. You cannot cow me with words, so you seek to intimidate me through your hulking size.”

I mean... is she wrong? That is literally exactly what Cassian is doing. Nesta hits him with a middling insult, he resorts to physical intimidation. Lovely.

[N]“You need me far more than I need you. So I’d suggest you merely agree, tuck in those bat wings, and ask nicely.”

Damn straight, at least according to the book. I still maintain there was no reason to get Feyre's sisters involved at all, but whatever. And there's also no reason Cassian couldn't have just asked nicely in the first place. He's the one that started the pissing match, after all. It didn't have to be this way.

But, this is a Maas book, so of course Cassian doesn't do that. Instead, he leans in even closer, and starts telling us all about how Nesta smells and wondering if she's a virgin and whatnot. Okay, creeper. Yikes.

So he moved his head closer, his dark hair sliding over his brow, and purred, “There are other ways I could play nice, Nesta Archeron.”

Er, sure. Or, and hear me out here, you could just ask the fucking question normally? This conversation would be over by now if you were just even vaguely normal about it.

Anyway, POV switch to Nesta. She recaps the situation for us re how awesome Rhys is, and how dangerous Cassian is, and etc. Especially the part where he's towering over her and being a creep.

“If I wanted a male pawing at me,” Nesta said, refusing to let her chin lower, “I’d sooner ask one of the hounds.”

And depressingly, the hound would probably have better manners, or at least would back off when you tell it to. That's how far we've fallen with SJM love interests.

And Cassian went right for the throat as he said, “have you ever been with a male, Nesta?”

How..... how is that "going for the throat?" He's just being a rude-ass, nosy prick. It's none of his business. And besides, what fucking difference does it make? Contrary to popular belief, being a virgin doesn't actually make one less than human. Everyone starts out as one, after all. Yet the book expects us to assume that it's shameful enough that even asking the question is considered "going for the throat."

To lie or tell the truth - where did the advantage lie? So she merely said, “have you?”

Oh, Nesta. I remember now why I love you. Also, I will be flabbergasted if Cassian hasn't at least wanked off to Rhys even once. He's siding with him over his alleged fated mate all through ACOSF, after all.

Cassian snorted, the breath of it caressing her lips. “I asked first, sweetheart.”

Hunt, is that you? Not gonna lie, I do get him and Cassian mixed up sometimes. They're basically identical except for the kind of wings they have.

He angled his head, that night-dark hair sliding over his brow like silk. “Unless you prefer females?” It was by no means an insult if she did,

Book, stop. Your gay people are conspicuous by their absence, which tells us enough about how true this statement is. Also, I would be 100% down for gay Nesta. She can end up with Gwyn and/or Emerie.

Anyway, clearly that was too much gay positivity for the book, because it immediately goes on to reassure us about how hot Nesta thinks Cassian is, and also they keep bantering about who likes what and also whether Nesta is a virgin. Because that's what's really important here. Virgin shaming.

She crooned, “No, I haven’t.” The truth. Her hand dug into the leather-covered chest. “Why should I have bothered? By the time I came of age, I was surrounded by low-born brutes and bastards. I’d rather use my own hand than sully myself with theirs.”

Because Nesta apparently deduced that he was a bastard and figured this would piss him off. Is it mean? Yeah, kinda. But I can't really be mad about it when Cassian was pinning her to the wall before and getting all up in her face. And was asking her such invasive, irrelevant questions to begin with. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, and all.

Anyway, Nesta begins to think about Tomas then, mostly in the context of how, when she broke it off with him, he attempted to rape her. Which is obviously an awful thing to happen to her, but we'll get to that in a second. I just want to flag this first:

Knew about [Tomas's] hateful father, and that he did nothing to prevent the man from beating his mother.

Just because it seems to be a bit of a recurring trend in SJM books. The idea that a man should be expected to do something about an abusive father. What this overlooks, of course, is that 1) domestic abuse is significantly more complicated than that and 2) for the most part, the men that she's ragging on with this would have only been boys for the majority of the time they spent with their family. You know, children. How the hell can you expect a kid to stand up to an abusive parent like that?

Okay, that's said now. Obviously, it doesn't excuse Tomas's attempted rape here. But, in another disturbing trend for SJM books, the rape of a woman isn't being used to explore things about said woman's character, oh no.

Something must have shown on her face, in her scent. Because his annoyance vanished - no, it shifted. Into something else, something…rage. That’s what stilled Cassian’s face. Pure, burning rage.

No, we're all about what the men think of it here. That's obviously more important than what Nesta thinks of the matter. Also, keep in mind, this is Nesta just assuming that his rage is directed towards the "something" that she assumes showed on her face. At this point, we have absolutely no evidence that he's not raging because of her bastard comment instead. And that's, uh, kinda scary, when the guy is pinning you to the wall and has an immense supernatural strength advantage and all. And was showing way too much interest in your sex life before.

Anyway, Cassian asks, "who?" Well, he doesn't ask, because this book doesn't understand how question marks work, but ya know. Also keep in mind, this is just on the assumption that he's made the connection that Nesta was assaulted based on the "something" we assume showed on her face. For all we know, he's acting like this because he just thinks she's lying about being a virgin. Which is really fucking disturbing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said and made to withdraw her hand. He gripped it, faster than she could detect, and pinned it there.

Right, so, if we roll with the assumption that he thinks she's been assaulted by someone in the past, then why the fuck is his response here to physically fucking restrain her? After being overbearing and physically intimidating, and also showing way too much interest in her sex life? Book, do you understand how this comes across? Like, at all??

Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous, this male. If only for the fact that he made her feel so out of control. That she had no idea what he’d do - what she’d do - if he found her vulnerable for even a moment.

Ya don't say. He thinks you might have been raped, and his immediate response is to act rapey about it. Disgusting.

The wrath, the utter stillness with which he stood - this was how he was when he was close to killing. Wanted to kill.

And he's pinning you to the wall and physically preventing you from leaving..........

..............you know, there's two possibilities here. Either the book has absolutely no idea how this looks, and the unfortunate implications are a complete accident. Or it does, and is choosing to do it anyway. I don't know which one is worse, tbh.

Anyway, there's a bit of "he'd totally kill this guy for me" and Cassian being all "I'd do it for anyone" and totally means it, allegedly. Blah blah.

Perhaps that was what unnerved her, made her want to slice at him. The utter sincerity. That he honored his promises and did not make them lightly.

Maybe he honours his promises, but he sure as fuck doesn't honour personal space.

Nesta monologues internally about how she has all this rage, how she wanted to let her family starve just to see if their father would save them, how she was angry when Feyre went hunting instead, etc, etc. It's all well and good for a character who is yet to have their arc. And then we start with the whole "but Cassian sees me" thing, because that seems to be yet another recurring trope in Maas romances. The idea that love interests can automatically "see" the "real" you.

That first afternoon, he’d looked at her - not at the face and the body that human men marked, but her -

Well, so far, he's only really told us about your clothes and your boobs. So you'll forgive me if I'm not completely convinced.

And then Nesta and Cassian stare at each other a bit, and Nesta decides to tip her head back and let Cassian sniff her throat. Uh, sure. I guess. Whatever floats your boat, Nesta.

POV switch back to Cassian. He is, of course, horny. A sneak peek of what ACOSF will offer us.

And then Nesta had tipped up her chin, allowing him access to her throat. Every instinct in his body came roaring to the surface, so violent he had to choke them with a brutal grip [...] But he leaned in and grazed the tip of his nose along the side of her neck. Soft - her skin was so soft; so fragile. He could scent the mortal blood rushing just beneath.

I mean.... are we sure that Cassian isn't a vampire? Because you usually only see this sort of stuff in vampire romances.

Cassian breathed in the smell of her into his lungs, stirring his cock as it latched onto some intrinsic part of him and sank its talons deep.

I'd also just like to remind everyone, Cassian suspects she's been sexually assaulted. This is what he chooses to do in response. Instead of just backing the fuck off and giving her space. "Oh, but she tipped her head back" yeah, and? "Hey, someone raped me *tips head back.*" "Hmm, yeah, don't mind if I do."

???????????????????????????????

Her pulse hammered right beneath his mouth. His tongue brushed it. It was that touch that had her jolting back. Nesta slammed into the wood paneling hard enough that he reached for her. But she was wide-eyed, livid, as she put a hand to her throat. Cassian beat her to the venom about to blast from that throat and said. “Wound a bit tight these days, Nesta?”

Bitch, you literally think she was raped. What the actual fuck is this question? Also, "beat her to the venom about to blast from that throat," how the hell do you know, Cassian? Can you read minds now as well??

She lowered her hand and hissed, “is it some faerie magic of yours, to do such things?”

Nah, that's the other one that uses mind control, Nesta. Rhysand.

“Well,” she said, sliding past him and pacing for the window with smooth, calculated steps. “If that’s what a bastard-born Fae warrior can do, no wonder my sister has become so entangled with the High Lords.” Bitch. Bitch for the insult to him and to Feyre.

I mean. I can see why it would be insulting to you, but to Feyre? Nesta's just saying her sister knows where to get the good stuff. Unless, of course, she actually *was* mind-controlled into it, in which case, yeah, I can see how that might be insulting... I suspect that's not the insult Cassian meant, though.

Nesta continues to snark at him.

What did he care? What did he care? He had enough shit to deal with.

Right. So why bring up her virginity in the first place, Cassian? Again, you started this.

And then he starts angsting about Mor. And Azriel. Sure, why not.

And Cassian had been jealous - of Mor’s shy glances at Azriel in those first few weeks, and the fact that his dearest friend and brother…was looking at someone else.

That sounds like a perfectly straight thing to say.

That she’d appeared, and then Azriel had changed. Only slightly, but Cassian had known his friend did not belong solely to him and Rhys anymore. So when Mor had asked him to bed her…he’d done it. A jealous, stupid prick, he’d done it, and regretted it at that very first thrust, when he’d felt her maidenhead yield to him,

Okay, so 1) Cassian is shit at sex - the whole hymen-breaking thing only happens if a woman is not sufficiently aroused. And 2) looks like he only slept with Mor because he was jealous that she took Azriel away from him and Rhys. Fucking hell. I feel like Cassian's life would become a hell of a lot less complicated if he just admitted he liked dudes as well.

This woman standing before him like a pillar of steel and flame…Cassian didn’t want to tell Mor about her. About how he’d touched her neck.

Literally everyone in the Inner Circle is more important to Cassian than his actual mate. They were honestly doomed from the start.

Cassian gives Nesta Rhys's letter, they bicker about unimportant things.

“Why are you letting [Elain] marry that bigoted prick?” The question snapped out of him. “He has good reason to hate your kind. As do we all.” “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

"Thousands of years of enslavement" and "continued predation to this day" constitutes "bullshit" in Cassian's mind, apparently. Good to know.

“You have a damned opinion on everyone else in the world. Why not tell Elain she’s marrying a monster?” “Perhaps all you males are monsters.” If she’d been harmed by one, he didn’t blame her for that feeling at all.

Oh, shut the fuck up, Cassian. You're the one who immediately started feeling her up after you worked this out. You've done approximately nothing to prove you're any different.

[C]“[Elain] deserves better than someone like that.” “Indeed she does.” Flat and cold. He pushed, simply because he damn well couldn’t stop himself, “and what do you deserve?” A slow smile, indeed a plains-cat readying for the kill. Then, “certainly more than a bastard-born nobody.” Bitch.

Well, stop fucking pushing if you don't like what she's saying to you, Cassian! It costs literally 0 dollars to just shut your mouth and leave! Honestly, it's starting to smack more of meta intentions on the book's end. Cassian's purpose here is to bait Nesta into saying bitchy things in order to prove she's a bitch to the audience. What the book fails to understand is that most people would probably be bitches in this context. He has, after all, just come into her home, asked her invasive questions about her sex life, tried to physically intimidate her, and then started feeling her up after he guessed that she was assaulted. Many of us would be bitches to people for less.

But he drawled, “what a fine partner you are, Nesta. Remind me to bring a book on military strategy next time. Maybe you’ll stand a chance then.”

..........what? No, really, what? What is Cassian trying to say here? I get the feeling that the book thinks this makes him look smart, when really, because it has absolutely no relevance to anything they were talking about before, it makes it look like he thinks that reading a military strategy book at least once in his life automatically makes him superior to Nesta. Which is an utterly bizarre take, but whatever. Big r/iamverysmart energy.

Anyway, Cassian decides to taunt her more, she tries to knee him in the groin, he grabs her leg.

“Cheap shot,” he said with a half-smile. “Come play with me, Nesta, and I’ll teach you far more interesting ways to bring a male to his knees.” She tried to wrench herself free, but he didn’t let go.

I'd like to once again remind everyone, because the book has sure as hell forgotten: Cassian thinks she's been raped. This is how he is choosing to act in the wake of that knowledge.

She swayed back, and he caught her by the waist, hauling her closer to keep her from falling through the window. He snickered at the skirts around him. “What are you hiding beneath all this, anyway?”

......................................................the book really saw me saying "he's acting rapey" and said "hold my beer" in response, didn't it? What the actual, actual fuck???

Well, anyway, Cassian refuses to back off, so Nesta makes like she's about to kiss him, and uses the chance to actually knee him in the groin instead.

“You’re all the same,” she said, imperious as the night and cold as the dawn. “Perhaps being an immortal makes you predictable.” “You,” he gasped out.

Cassian. YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WAS ACTING FUCKING RAPEY, EVEN THOUGH YOU WORKED OUT THAT NESTA WAS ASSAULTED, HOW CAN YOU BE MAD THAT SHE WAS DEFENDING HERSELF?????? And the book expects us to believe that his "promise" to kill men who assault women is "sincere." He can't even fucking stop himself from doing it!

Anyway, Nesta tells him to gtfo, as if she hasn't done that two or three times already (only for him to ignore it), and then leaves. And this time, Cassian actually leaves as well, crawling out her window.

He launched himself into the sky before anyone could wonder at the rustle and boom of wings.

You understand that you could like, walk for a bit, no? At least until you're out of earshot of the house? Pfft, no, of course not, that's way too much logic for this book! We're just going to turn him invisible while making the most unstealthy noises possible instead!

Cassian did not circle the house. But he could feel Nesta’s attention as he soared for the wall. Even shielded from sight, he could feel those blue-gray eyes on him. The feeling chased him all the way back to Velaris.

Well, maybe you shouldn't have acted so rapey after learning that she was assaulted? Just a thought.

Anyway, that was Wings and Embers! And all I can say is, yikes. Cassian really did just act that way towards a woman he suspected was sexually assaulted. No, the fact that the woman said mean things to him does not excuse this. He's allegedly a 500+-year-old adult. He can handle some mean things without getting fucking rapey about it. There is no excuse.