Sky and Bloom

What must he do to earn it? A shred of trust, the smallest flicker of vulnerability she hoards like a dragon curled around its gold? Instead, she wields her walls like weapons, turns her sharpness into something cruel, as if she alone holds the patent on suffering. As if he has not also been left starving. As if he has not also known what it is to be discarded, torn from those he loved, his dignity stripped with the same ease a butcher strips flesh from bone. And still, he remains.

"I am not everyone." A reminder, a vow. Not to her. Never to her. He has faced monsters carved from nightmares, stood bloodied and unbowed before enemies that would have gladly torn the wings from his back. Nesta Archeron is no different—formidable, yes, but she will not outlast him.

Sometimes, Nesta isn't fully aware of the harm she inflicts until it was too late. As her blue-gray eyes remained on hazel ones, they narrowed to his words — she would not back down from a challenge. Especially not one from him. But just as quickly as her eyes narrowed, they softened a fraction, despite his teasing. The devotion, even if he did it in a teasing manner, was hard to shield against.

Nesta didn't understand Cassian, how could he say such things to her? Or well, saying it was one thing. But he means it. How did he not see how unworthy she was of that affection? She had been unworthy of him back before the war, and she always will be. So why was he still here? She would ask, if that question in itself didn't leave her entirely vulnerable.

"Don't call me that!" A huff escaped her lips. "You can keep telling yourself that," she retorts, "if it helps you sleep at night. But underestimating me has never worked out well in anyone's favor." She looks down to her scarred fingers, away from the night sky and the stars, such a view could never truly bring her peace when she was at war with everything and everyone. With herself, even. Because she wants him, but he is the one she can't be selfish with. It was the only kindness she could truly give him.

But while Cassian would never know of it, Nesta had used the threat of her silver flames against Eris, if he ever dared insult Cassian again. She had seen first hand the effects, the way the word bastard was thrown his way and how it cut Cassian deeper than he let others see. But he had shown her, and while she would never admit it to him... there's not a line she wouldn't cross for him. "You don't know me." She tells him, but the truth was.. it scared her how much he did.