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ANYWAY

Nesta and Cassian are sparring, right? And Cassian ends up on top of her with a dagger to her throat but at the last moment Nesta aims her dagger at his heart.

He says, “you’d be dead”

But she chuckles and says, “then I guess we’d go together”

Then they both become very serious and look into each other’s eyes until Nesta pushes him off of her and leaves the ring

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What I would prefer for the Nessian mating bond if it exists:

So Rhys knew about the bond and kept it from Feyre. And it was this entire thing when she wouldn't talk to him cuz she was so pissed he lied to her and honestly it was kinda hilarious how she literally threw him in the mud and left. Miss that Feyre. Anyways onto Nessian.

Now I know a lot of ppl think that both Nesta and Cassian know and are just ignoring it, or at the very least Cassian does bc ya know he's Fae and 5 centuries old. But methink, perhaps, Cassian doesn't know. Like he talks about how rare mating bonds are to Rhys and how it's very lucky how Feysand is all perfection (idr exact quotes).

So idk, what if Nesta knows cuz she's super smart and nothing really escapes her notice (remember when she did quick maths about how many ships were needed to evacuate the humans- exactly she's a genius glad we agree) and she doesn't tell Cassian or even address it to herself because Nesta wants to make her own choices. But then her and Cass are some kinda together in ACOSF and she doesn't know how to move forward cuz she realizes well damn, he really doesn't know.

Now I would prefer for Nesta to reveal it in a super crazy shouting match way, bc Suriel spilling the tea was cute and all, but I love the age old trope of two ppl getting into a fight and one accidentally blurts out "because I love you" and the other one's stunned. Except instead of I love you, it's "BECAUSE I'M YOUR MATE YOU STUPID BAT."

Cool? Cool

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*screeching*

Considering how affectionate Cassian is on a regular basis, just imagine how affectionate he’d be with Nesta in an established relationship.

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When a depressed person shrinks away from your touch it does not mean she’s rejecting you.

Rather she is protecting you from the foul, destructive evil which she believes is the essence of her being and which she believes can injure you.

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A thought on Nesta

While I was finishing ACOWAR, my mind made instant connection between two scenes, and I thought it would be interesting to talk about it.

So, let’s start with one of the most famous scene about Nessian, the « I have no regrets in my life, but this. » scene. Nesta was ready to kill the King of Hybern, until she saw her father. He told her he loved her and apologized for everything, and she begged Hybern to let him go, ready to do anything to save him. A second after, her father was murdered in front of her, and Nesta didn’t move, she didn’t make a sound.

Her father who had just told her he loved her was dead.

Cassian tried to fight Hybern to give her time to flee, and we all know what happened after : Nesta tried to fight Hybern with everything she had, her powers, a sword, to buy them time to flee together with Cassian, in vain. Cassian told her to go, and what did she said ? « I can’t. ». And she covered him with her body, waiting for death to come.

At this moment, someone she had loved and who loved her had just died right in front of her, and Cassian, another person she loves and who loves her, is about to die. Imagine how things are turning in her head: everyone she cares about is hurt or die. Elain has been thrown in that Cauldron despite everything she tried, he father just got killed by trying to save his daughters, Cassian got his wings shattered twice for her, and he’s about to die.

Now let’s talk about the second scene: Rhys’ death.

Why? Because I think that’s where Nesta might’ve fully understood how powerful the mating bond is, therefore how dangerous it is for someone so unstable emotionally as her.

In that scene, Nesta saw how the death of Rhysand destroyed Feyre in a matter of seconds. She watched her strong, powerful sister begged and cry and scream and completely loosing it, because she’d not only lost her husband, but her mate.

I think Nesta, although she’s not great at expressing what she feels, can understand more than anyone what the others feel, and it hurts her. Remember what Feyre told us about her, that she felt it all too sharply, that she sees and feels it all, and how she had to keep her walls up to prevent from being overwhelmed.

So what’s the connection?

Bring these two scenes together, and you have an answer to why Nesta didn’t went to Cassian after the war, why she actually fled from him.

For her, everyone around her die, are harmed, especially those she cares about. I think it’s one of the reasons why she keeps pushing people away, not only to protect herself from being overwhelmed, but also because deep down, she might think that anyone coming near her will get hurt, either by her of something else.

Cassian and Nesta deeply care about each other, and he’s already been hurt trying to protect her. She’s scared of her feelings for him, and she’s scared that she might lose him definitively.

What about the mating bond? Well I believe that Cassian and Nesta are mates, something Nesta isn’t ready to accept because of how scared she is to let herself feel things. This bond would ask her to be completely open to someone, bare, vulnerable. It would also mean taking the risk of loosing that person, like Feyre lost Rhys for a moment, and I’m pretty sure seeing her sister so broken made her realize how badly she would get hurt if it happened with Cassian.

Nesta is scared of her feelings, she’s scared someone might get hurt or die if she gives them a chance to approach, she’s scared of opening up, and she’s scared of the mating bond.

In short, Nesta is traumatized by everything that happened in ACOWAR, suffering from depression and PTSD and is freaking out internally, but she doesn’t know how to call for help.

And here starts the Nesta from ACOFAS.

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It’s gonna be real weird if Nesta & Cassian arent mates. There’s too many parallels pointing them to being mates. I just came across this in ACOWAR:

“I still dreamed of him trying to crawl toward her, reaching for her even in the semi-unconscious state the pain and blood loss had thrown him into. As Rhysand had once done for me during those last moments with Amarantha.”

Rhys admitted he knew he was in love with Feyre the moment he picked up the knife to try and kill her. You can argue maybe Cassian is just merely in love with Nesta and that’s valid but it just makes sense they’re mates.

Then there was this in ACOMAF (Pg 528 US paperback):

“But I couldn’t...I couldn’t stop being around you, and loving you, and wanting you. I still can’t stay away.” -Rhysand

And then this in ACOWAR (Pg 175 US hardback):

“Why do you bother, Cassian?”...But Cassian said quietly as we headed for the dining room, “Because I can’t stay away.”

Needless to say I am dead and have a ton of feelings 😭

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Azriel: *accidentally hits Cassian*

Cassian: do you wanna fucking die?

Azriel: ..... kind of.

Cassian: *soft voice* bro, we talked about this.

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yesterday for April Fool’s my workplace had a short training article on recognizing computer-generated faces from real ones and one of the tricks mentioned was “count the teeth” and I just wanted to say that it’s both ironic and kind of horrifying how society has unwittingly cycled right back to IF YE MEET A MAN ON THE ROAD, COUNT HIS FINGERS LEST YE DEAL UNKNOWING WITH A FAE 

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Chaol: hey so that sketchy dangerous assassin you employed turned against you

King: what?

King: she can’t do that

King: it’s illegal

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Elide: Lorcan I’m cold, can I borrow your jacket?

Lorcan: Of course!

Aelin: Can I borrow your jacket?

Rowan(who might I remind you, can control the weather): Well damn aelin I can’t control the weather!

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Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian Nessian

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i’m sure this has already been said but

gonna go ahead and say Nesta knew Cassian was hurt because of *cough cough* ~mating bond~ *cough* 

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Dorian: people are writing reports for me, pushing back deadlines to fit my schedule!

Dorian: I’m telling you, you get tought with people and you can get anything you want!

Yrene and Manon: …

Chaol: *walks by with his coffee*

Dorian: hey Westfall! Give me that coffee now!

Chaol: *barely glances at him and shoves him with one hand*

Dorian: *falls back and trips on couch*

Yrene and Manon: *check on Dorian then look at Chaol*

Chaol: *sits down with his coffee and smiles*

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Lucien, Jurian, and Vassa

The Band of Exiles™

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Lucien: so this thing between cassian and nesta… is it supposed to be a secret?

Azriel: Hardly. The only people who don’t know about it is probably them

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i have an announcement

nesta archeron is the best character ever in acowar series but some of yall are not ready for this discussion