Acotar One-Shots

Overprotective Illyrian p.2 - Cassian

Words: about 1.4k words 

Warnings: fight, mention of blood, cursing and bad writing( I’m so sorry, my english is really bad) 

Author’s note: Hi! I’m so sorry, I promised to publish it so long ago, but I had really a lot to do with school and all. Hope you all are well, and you enjoy it. P.S. Y/B is “Your Brother”.

The Nightmare Court. 

The place where I was born. The place where all my nightmares take place. 

I’m here, standing in front of the door of the ball room, where Rhysand's throne is. My palms are sweating, the doors are closed but I still can hear the voices of the people behind them. The screaming and the cursing. It’s like I’m having my worst nightmare and I will wake in a couple of minutes, but at the same time  I’m wide awake and conscious that it’s all true. 

I try to dry my sweaty hand on the gown of the beautiful dress that Mor chose for me. It is sexy, but at the same time don't reveal all my curves to whoever is watching me. We decided to wear it after Rhysand told me that fateful family dinner that I had to take part in the monthly visit to his other court, because there we would meet the guard of the country that we had to meet important people and do important deals. Mor and I wanted to show my parents and my old people that now I’m an indepent woman, that isn’t afraid to dress how she likes, and to get them angry obviously. 

I’m still there, asking myself if it’s too late to run away, in the woods near the mountain, when I feel an arm rest on my waist. I recognize the touch immediately. Cassian. 

Cassian: “Calm down honey. It will be alright. Remember no matter what they say, you are great and now you have the life that you wanted, because you deserve it.” 

I nod at his words, not trusting my voice. I flush at his touch, so intimate, so loveable, but at the same time I know that he only sees me like a friend or a sister that he has to care about. 
Azriel arrives behind us and tells us that we have to enter into the ballroom. I try to escape from Cassian’s arm, thinking that he wants to enter alone in the room, doing his famous enter that I only heard something about from Mor, when I feel his hold tighten around my waist. He brings his mouth near my left ear and says.

Cassian: “I will not let you enter in there alone darling. You will come with me. Ready? “

I nod again, swallowing the knot that is in my throat, and then the doors in front of us open. We begin to walk down , all the people watching us, frightened of our power and amazed by our grace. Then I see a face that I already know unfortunately, that of my father. 
Immediately I stiffen in the arms of Cassian, who has already seen who I have noticed. Immediately his pace quickens and we arrive in front of the throne. For the rest of the time I seem to live in a bubble, copying the movements of the people around me, until I feel for the second time an arm around my waist. 

Cassian: "Honey, come dance and stop thinking for a few seconds. I can see the fear in your eyes, you don't have any, they can't do anything to you anymore." 

Y/N: "I can't stop thinking about what they did to me Cass, what they are doing to other girls and what they will do to them." 

Cassian: "I know, but for a few minutes, don't think about anything and just enjoy the moment." 

We start twirling on the dance floor, too caught up in the music we let ourselves go, until we accidentally hit someone on the side of the floor. Cassian and I are laughing, and I immediately turn to apologize to whomever we hit, when I recognize the person The Black heir, the man I was supposed to marry. The blood in my veins freezes as he starts hurling insults at me and the man I was dancing with. Cassia shifts me behind her seeing that I am now out of my depth. I feel like I'm no longer in my body for the umpteenth time in the day, like I've seen a ghost, as flashbacks of my past life surface to memory. Regulus, the man I was supposed to marry, looks at me ruefully as more insults continue to come out of his mouth. I don't see my family arrive, but after a few minutes I hear a man's voice behind me calling me. 

Y/B: "You stupid slut, you can't even look where you're walking. How dare you come back here after running away and becoming the whore of the High Lord and his friends. You are the shame of the family. You should never even have been born." 

With every word he says I feel a twinge of pain go through my chest. Tears begin to form in my eyes and my breathing becomes faster. I see an anger grow in Cassian's eyes that I've never seen before. 

Cassian: "You are the monsters that destroyed her life. You should just be ashamed, you should be the ones who should never have been born. And soon you will wish you were never born if you continue to insult her." 

Y/B: "I would love to see you try asshole. She must be really good in bed if even the great and powerful Cassian comes to your defense." 

That's all my brother can say as a fist from the man in front of me rests ungently on his cheek. A furious fight begins between my brother, his friends, Black and my father against the man I love. The fight is violent, blood flies everywhere as insults are hurled at people with almost more violence than fists. Cassian shoved me away just before this commotion began, and I find myself staring at this fight from afar as Az holds me close to him. Rhysand arrives shortly after, and tells me on his signal to take Cassian away, get him off the mountain, but not by the main routes, through a series of secret passages that few people know about. 

The High Lord approaches the fight, and then with his powers stops the fight. He makes a gesture with his hand and immediately I understand. The signal. 
I grab Cassian by the sleeve of the elegant shirt he's wearing and start running along corridors that I had forgotten existed. I pass endless rooms that lead back to my childhood, still happy, when the High Lord came to visit and the doors of that elegant castle in the rock, full of wonders and mysteries, which my friends and I loved to go and discover, opened. 
Eventually I manage to get out of that maze of corridors and find myself in the clearing near the mountain. The cool night air caresses my warm cheeks, the adrenaline coursing powerfully through my veins. I notice that I'm still holding Cassian's hand tightly, so I turn to look at him and see him staring at me. He blushes and then starts talking quickly.
 
Cassian: "I'm really sorry Y/N, but I couldn't help myself. When they started insulting you I couldn't see anything anymore. I don't- I don't know if this is the right time but I love you, and I can't hold it in anymore, but I understand if you don't reciprocate and I don't-" 

I stop him by kissing him. I've never felt more beautiful than I do right now. The feel of his soft lips on mine is worthy of heaven. With this kiss, I try to communicate everything I feel for him, while our bodies get closer and closer, trying to be closer and closer. 
It seems to last for hours, and at the same time when we pull apart it doesn't seem to have lasted long enough. Our lips are red and our breathing is short, but our smiles describe how happy we feel in this moment. I forget everything I felt just before, all the fear, anxiety and panic. All I see, all I feel is Cassian, the love of my life, my overprotective Illyrian.