OKAY I'm up to 20+ chapters, which seems like as good a time as any to actually post more than the preliminary snippet, so....
SUMMARY: When Feyre gets stolen away from their cabin by a beast, and Nesta's father and sister have no memory of it, Nesta follows her baby sister herself over the wall. But instead of rescuing Feyre, Nesta gets kidnapped by Rhysand and tricked into a bargain for Feyre's life. She has to rely on her wits to survive Prythian and this evil faerie's mysterious intentions, first Under the Mountain and then the Night Court.
Rhysand can't rationalize why he stole a snarling mortal girl away from the Spring Court. But when he drags her Under the Mountain, first to toy with her and then for some real companionship while in Amarantha's claws, he begins to realize that this odd mortal is more important to him than he wishes her to be.
TW: Implied graphic violence, implied/referenced sexual assault/non-consensual sex
Ongoing, updates 1x a week (theoretically)
Read on Ao3
Chapter 1: Preview Snippet of Nesta in Velaris (which, fair warning, isn't coming until Part 2 of this fic
Chapter 2: The Kidnapping
Chapter 3: The Cage
Chapter 4: The Stalemate
Chapter 5: The Sister
Chapter 6: The Third Degree
Chapter 7: The Sacrifice
Chapter 8: The Revelation
Chapter 9: The Escape
Chapter 10: The Confession
Chapter 11: The Turning Gears
Chapter 12: The Reunion
Chapter 13: The Reunion (Continued)
Chapter 14: The Bargain
Chapter 15: The First Trial
Chapter 16: The Hunt
Chapter 17: The Plan
Chapter 18: The Dance
Chapter 19: The Trade-Off
Chapter 20: The Second Trial
Chapter 21: The Night Before
WOOF-- ok, this post turned out gigantic. Will update link list as written/when I remember. Hope you enjoy!
It has been done! Huge thank you to @princessrottenpeach for setting the discord up. We hope for it to be a safe, positive, and inclusive space for anyone who loves Nesta, no matter which ship she's in. Bullying, harassment, and any form of hate speech will not be tolerated. Neither will AI in any form.
Join here:
Check out the Nesta Archeron Deserves Better community on Discord - hang out with 24 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.
Also, I feel like it shouldn't HAVE to be said, but just for my own peace of mind, I feel the need to remind everyone that we do have a section of the discord made for other ships within the ACOTAR fandom. We welcome any positive discourse but again, won't be tolerating any form of ship wars. Ship and let ship, yall!!!!!
The bastard had never intended for her to find it. An envelope, battered and weather-stained, had come bearing a strange seal and her name over a fortnight ago. Sheâd come across the first of them months ago; correspondence meant for her that heâd secreted away, but not before tearing them open to read first. Nesta had learned early on in their marriage that Lysander was a snake, but it hadnât been until the previous year that sheâd uncovered just how much of her life his venom had corrupted.
It was why sheâd finally agreed to spy for Demetra after years of the queen cajoling.
âNesta, you are the only honest person in this court.â
âNesta, you see through the bullshit and lies more clearly than anyone I know.â
âNesta, Iâm begging you to help me carve the rot from this palace. Please.â
Lysander, for all his cunning, never suspected that his elder sister knew of his duplicitous behavior. Because of this misstep, this small-minded belief that the women in his life could never amount to more than a pretty face or an obedient wife, Nesta began to listen, to watch, and to report her findings to her Queen.
If only she were the perfect wife he thought she was, completely uninterested in politics and only engrossed in the latest fashion or court scandal. If only she hadnât found the lettersâher lettersâand knew then and there that she needed to seize back control of her life.
If only.
But no, Nesta Archeron had been raised to be more than a passive woman whose only purpose in life was to bear children and defer to her husbandâs exceedingly poor judgment.
Among other important skills, her mother, as cold and exacting as she was, had taught her how to be an incredibly persuasive actress. Things as simple as crying convincingly on command or feigning what men thought to be a genuine infatuation. Such things had proven increasingly valuable over the years since she had been betrothed, and then married, to a prince of the continent. Her favorite, though, was what she came to refer to as âThe Feint.â
She would collapse at the drop of a hat, as if suddenly overcome with whichever emotion she was feeling at that moment, and would be carried to her rooms to recover for hours at a time. Lysander, who had no patience for such hysterics, would leave her to the care of a nursemaid and rejoin whatever court function or debauchery heâd been forced to leave.
It was the exact stunt sheâd pulled a mere hour ago, giving her the opportunity to search her husbandâs study. This latest letter hadnât even been hidden well, only tucked between the pages of a bulging ledger, filled with odd sums and a series of cramped notes she didnât understand, or care to decipher at that moment.
The envelope felt heavy in her hands, as if weighed down by the secrets of its contents, and Nestaâs hands shook slightly as she slipped out the letter inside and unfolded it. By some miracle, the ink, though smeared in some places, was still legible. She held her breath and began to read.
Nesta,
It feels foolish, writing again when you have never replied to our previous letters over the years, but Iâm sending this in the hopes that this one will be enough. Â
I donât know how much you know about what has transpired between Prythian and Hybern, especially when your Queen was murdered by Hybernâs forces. Part of me wants to believe you have no knowledge of the full extent of it, because it would lessen the sting of your silence.
To put it simply, Nesta, I need you. We need you. Feyre and I have been turned Fae. Feyreâs mate, the High Lord of the Night Court, is as good as dead. Mother and Father are dead. There is unrest beyond what you can imagine, and itâs the belief here that we may be on the brink of yet another war.
If you ever loved us, you would come back home. I have never asked anything of you, Nesta, but I am asking now.
Watch for the Shadow on the night of the next full moon. Youâll know the one.
-E
Cold fury, unlike anything sheâd ever felt before, ripped through her nerve endings, nearly sending her crashing to her knees. Of all the letters sheâd found so far, only one had been from familyâher motherâand it had been written several years ago at that.
Elain and Feyre turned Fae? Her mother and father both dead? A fucking war on Prythian? While sheâd known of Demetraâs death, both from the lying tongue of her husband and from an unearthed missive from the captain of her guard, she hadnât known it had been by the hands of a Hybern soldier.
What else had slipped by her notice? What else had happened, unbeknownst to her, during the years sheâd been across the ocean from her family, blinded by her life at Court, once glimmering and new until the reality had set in?
A steely resolve settled slowly over her, slowing her raging pulse and served to clear the fog that had overtaken her. She had two weeks to plan. Lysander would have certainly also read the letter and would undoubtedly be making his own plans. Â
Nestaâs would need to be better. If her husband thought he still had full control of her, of the knowledge she held of what was going on outside of the borders of Etrea, and her unwavering loyalty as a wife, he would soon find out just how sorely mistaken he was.
She had not been beholden to him for some time. The wool heâd so carefully slipped over her eyes from the very beginning had been torn away. She was no lamb, and he wasnât the cunning wolf he thought himself to be.
Nesta would find this so-called Shadow and go to her sisters. To contribute anything she could.
Summary: In which Rhys gets to know Nesta's sisters a little better
As the threats to Prythian begin to loom, Rhys goes to Calanmai to try and recruit some aid.
Then, has an awkward conversation with the middle Archeron sister.
Read here, blurb after the cut:
Rhys hadnât intended to keep things from Nesta.Â
With the exception of a few life-altering facts.Â
But, after the two of them reached an understanding, Under the Mountain Rhys had tried to be transparent with Nesta. For whatever bullshit notion he had of ignorance being protection, Nesta didnât buy it. She wanted to know the threats that laid before her, so she could be just as careful circumnavigating them as Rhys was. And minus a few moments of extreme impulsiveness, Nesta was good at avoiding the threats. Her brain might run even faster than Rhysâs. She saw exits he couldnât. That damned human ingenuity, he noted ruefully.Â
So he didnât like that he had inadvertently kept the looming danger of Amaranthaâs king from her.Â
To the optimistic, it was still a rather amorphous threat. Cassian, who really only understood an enemy he could stare in the face, brushed it off easily. But Azriel was relentless in his concern, and he had too easily gotten Amren on his side to badger Rhys about it too. They were right, he knew they were. The attacks on the temples, the conversation the twins overheard about the King of Hybern and the spell Amarantha stole from him, the encroaching Hybernian scouts - it all added up to something. It was just hard to see what that something was.Â
The thing is, touching Nesta, finally kissing Nesta â it had made Rhys a little stupid. (More than a little.) He could concentrate on almost nothing else. His family, barely tolerant of his distracted state even before this, had lost all patience with him. Every single conversation for a week went something like Mor, Az, Cass, or Amren clearly having been talking for a few minutes, none of which Rhys absorbed, and ended it with a âwhat do you think? Or â unless you disagree, Rhys.â To which, Rhys, completely oblivious to his surroundings or the conversation he was supposed to be participating in, said âIâm sorry, what? I wasnât listening.âÂ
âYouâre never listening lately.â Â
It was Amren, of course, who lost patience the quickest.Â
âI thought once you saw the mortal, youâd stop being so useless,â she told him, sharp-eyed and cutting in a meeting a few days after his brief visit to Nestaâs home. âThere are other more important things than your human pet, you know.âÂ
Rhys could hear it now, the way Nesta had always heard him say that word. As if she was something of his to toy with. To leash and own. He hated the sound of it. âYou will speak of Nesta with the respect she is due,â he told his second with a chilly firmness.Â
âUntil you stop hiding her from me, thereâs no way to tell how much respect she is due. All I know about her so far is that she inspires a five hundred year old High Lord to act like a child.âÂ
Ok. I know. I am taking several lifetimes with this chapter. Throw up a prayer to the Writing Goddess that I actually fucking finish this and post it this week. Here's a snippet of Rhys and Co. at Calanmai (without Nesta) (well, pre-Calanmai).
âWhy are you so obsessed with me and my family?â She was so young, the little sister. Or perhaps the better word for it was unformed. Unmolded clay. Exacerbated by the way she looked so uncertain in her fine dress, her forced air of authority and dignity a poor fit on the female. It was fortunate for Feyre she had endeared herself already to the fae, to the members of her court, because the role of Lady seemed unnatural for her. She made the weight of the title look too heavy. But there was still that something feral about her. She had held onto it, even in her new role, that energy like she was about to jump out of her skin if she didnât do something a little reckless and spontaneous. It suited her, but it would have driven Rhys mad.
Tam watched every word out of his mateâs mouth like it was his new religion.
Feyre, on the other hand, watched Rhys very carefully, waiting for his answer. He could sense something sparking under the surface Feyreâs skin, a glimmer in her eyes. As someone who had struggled to learn to contain his magic, he had an inkling hers was completely out of the childâs control. He wonderedâŠ
âPerhaps I miss your sister,â Rhys threw out with a careless shrug. Telling the truth, even mockingly, was like letting trapped air out of his lungs. âPerhaps I should carry her away to Night to keep her safe.âÂ
âStay away from Nesta.â The words came out of the Cursebreaker as a hiss.
âAre you so sure she wants to stay away from me? We became quite close, you know. Perhaps she misses sharing my bed.â Rhys grinned and Cassian chuckled behind him at the snarl Tamlin gave in response.
But then all laughter stopped. Feyre was practically vibrating with her untethered magic. Over her long, freckled arms, small flames had begun to dance, began to shift and move like adders ready to strike. They didnât seem to be hurting her, she didnât even notice for a second until they began to hiss and grow. A panic subsumed her. The flames grew taller and fiercer and a terror took over Tamlinâs face.Â
âTam. Tam, whatâs happening?â Feyre seemed ready to unravel completely, and the more she did, the more out of control her flames seemed to be. Tamlin moved to hold her, to comfort her, but Feyre shied away. It was Lucien who eased it, approaching Feyre like one soothing a wild dog.Â
âItâs alright, Fey. Calm yourself. Youâre fine. Nestaâs fine,â he repeated, his voice soft and melodious, until the words began to penetrate. Once he was close enough, he reached a hand out to Feyreâs burning arm. The flames didnât burn him, moved over his skin without harm. Lucien slid his arm down to take Feyre by the hand. He held it, his breathing steady, and silently instructed Feyre to do the same. After a few seconds, the Cursebreaker calmed and the flames dissipated, but it was far too obvious to Rhys at least that this wasnât the first time she'd needed to be talked down.Â
The silence afterwards seemed to weigh on all of them, no one willing to speak the obvious truth first, no one willing to offer an apology.Â
In my hc, I've always thought that WHOEVER Rhys loved, he'd go from like 0 to obsessed immediately upon him realizing it. So he's infatuated with pretty much everything Nesta does. The way she frowns when she's deep in thought. The sound of her voice. The quiet deliberateness of her steps. But in my specific Rhysta fic, his absolute favorite is the way she unconsciously bites at her lower lip when she's engrossed reading something. He's hit with this impulse to take his thumb and smooth it out.
Nesta, my emotionally stunted darling, has a harder time admitting that she's fixated on Rhys's habits out of affection, rather than annoyance. He has a funny little half-smile he makes when they verbally spar that pisses her off/she's in love with.
đ How did they both realize âoh wait, this is actually loveâ?
I'd say that outside of my fic, Rhys and Nesta each come to the realization that they love the other with an "Oh, FUCK," type of feeling, after hours and days and months and years of thinking about the other constantly and believing they hate them. It hits Rhys in the middle of the umpteenth argument he's having with Nesta and he is extremely displeased about it. Nesta, on the other hand, discovers it more slowly. They have a rare moment of understanding between them, a little "we're not so different, you and I." She softens, just a little, towards him. They share a moment of sympathy because Feyre or Cassian or someone is doing something bone-headed, and they're on the same side of an IC fight for once. She finds herself glancing at him at dinners to share a look, a private joke. And the third time this happens, and he hides a smile at whatever they're sharing, uh oh. Nesta realizes she's a frog in boiling water.
In my fic where they're mates though, Rhys is in love with her WAY before the bond snaps. I think it's when he's being moody and she asks him about his mother, and it's the first time he's felt an honest, real connection with another person for fifty years, but I'm not sure he's honest with himself about what he's feeling. That he doesn't know until he thinks she's about to stabbed by Feyre. Nesta, tbd. She's still in denial in the chapters written.
NERIS
𧞠Who still has the very first gift the other ever gave them?
Eris gives Nesta her first present like it's nothing. Like basically tosses the box to her like "open it or not, I don't care" but he's watching her open it so intently and it has been meticulously wrapped and picked out. It's an heirloom piece of jewelry - beautiful but understated - that's recognizably "Vanserra". Not because he thinks Nesta loves jewelry but because to me, Eris realizes on some level that it's important that Nesta is "claimed" publicly, that he makes it clear he's really proud to be with her. Nesta of course takes very good care of the earrings, but only wears them on special occasions.
Nesta absent-mindedly picks a flower and hands it to Eris while they're on a walk one day, and he secretly pockets it, takes it home and presses it, and uses it as his go-to bookmark.
đ„ Whatâs the biggest risk one of them took for the other that the partner didnât find out about until much later?
Eris goes behind Nesta's back to try and broker peace with Rhys and her family and even Cassian, even though he knows they fucking hate him, because he knows she misses them even as she claims otherwise. He promises all manner of things that aren't his to promise. Truly stupid. If they betrayed him and told Beron, Eris's ass would be grass. Luckily, all they do is tell him to fuck off.
NESSIAN
𧞠It's truly hard to beat the Symphonia. It's also truly hard to forgive Cassian for being a petulant little asshole and destroying a one-of-a-kind antiquarian book (again, I work for a rare book dealer - apparently this is a mortal sin). I think even when Nessian breaks up or like in my Post-HOFAS fic, are "on a break", Nesta can't bear to leave Cassian's gifts behind. Cassian, on the other hand, would toss her gifts in a fit of rage if they break up, and would IMMEDIATELY regret it, and try to fish it out of the trash/fire/ocean. If they stay together though, he keeps and treasures all of Nesta's minor gifts to him- he keeps the little ones in his bedside table. He never tells her he's mildly allergic to the wool sweater she gave him and wears it often. (look, I just don't think Nesta would be good at giving gifts, and that's fine. She has other virtues)
đ„ The optimistic part of me who still believes in Cassian's redemption wants Cassian to put everything on the line. It's obvious he'd so easily sacrifice his life for Nesta, but I want him to be willing to sacrifice himself for Nesta. His ego, these ideas he has about himself and his insecurities, how he unconsciously uses/depends on his family as a shield against those insecurities, his place in the Night Court-- I think he finally learns that if he wants a real, happy relationship with Nesta, he needs to sacrifice these. And to be fair to Cassian, after 500 years, it's a HUGE risk for him to give these up and follow her to reinstate the Dusk Court.
make sure to include the pairing(s) you are wanting these questions to be answered for . these should work for poly ships as well as monogamous . feel free to edit these as you see fit .
đ How did they both realize âoh wait, this is actually loveâ?
đč Who fell harder & who fell first?
đ« Whatâs their favorite way to hold each other when words arenât enough?
đ„ Whatâs the pettiest thing theyâve ever argued about?
đ Who says âI love youâ first & how?
đ Whoâs the little spoon & who pretends they hate it but secretly loves it?
đ Would they ever get married? What would the proposal look like?
𧞠Who still has the very first gift the other ever gave them?
đ Who is more likely to start chaos âfor the vineâ & who films it?
đ¶ Whatâs their song - the one that makes them both tear up / grin like idiots?
â Whoâs the morning person & how do they lure the night owl out of bed?
đĄïž Who jumps in front of danger for the other without thinking?
đł Whatâs the most embarrassing thing theyâve walked in on the other doing?
đ Whatâs the one fight that almost ended them?
my most toxic trait is i fucking love work gossip. i play neutral not to be the bigger person or take the high road but to hear slander and hearsay from every side. two coworkers complained about each other to me in the same afternoon and i nearly blacked out from the rush
when I was in college as a freshman, i took a 101 Art history class -- big lecture hall with high anonymity, most of us spent the hour and a half playing addictinggames.com instead of taking notes. And one day my professor put this painting up on the slides and waxed poetic for about twenty minutes about how lovingly these shoes were painted, and how the painting operated almost like portraiture. How you could see the shoes were cared for and repaired, even as the leather was aging and wearing, even though they'd been kicked off and left askew on the floor. And I fell completely in love with art history permanently thanks to this one unassuming painting.
As everyone may or may not know, @theladyofbloodshed sadly took a step back this year after having run Neris Week for several years. We've got some huge shoes to fill, but this year's team has already been hard at work to transition this event week into something really special across not just Tumblr, but also Instagram and Reddit!
Without further ado, and in alphabetical order, please welcome this year's mod team! behind the cut!
Hi hiii, I'm ebbie (or briar). Iâve been in the fandom just under two years now but it quickly took root in my life.
I shipped Neris in SF, but you bet I was side-eying that scene in WAR when Nesta stands up to Beron and the other High Lords. Their dance scene was the first time I felt like I saw Nesta. She felt more at ease in that scene than in any other to me. Neris just gives me the vibe that Eris would marvel in her destruction, and truly embrace her for who (and what) she is.
I just recently started writing fanfic so I donât have anything to show for Neris myself (yet), but A Court of Tangled Flames (classic) & No One Likes a Mad Woman(!!!) are the first two Neris fics that I read and only fueled my love for them more. There are so many different ways their story could play out and all are as equally beautiful and delicious (yes, I want max drama and angst, otherwise whatâre we doing here, y'all?).
Iâm super excited to be part of this yearâs appreciation week and I canât wait for all the wonderful art and stories to come! â€ïžâđ„
You may know me as Hope Iochi on Tumblr or Zealousideal-Can-403 on Reddit. I've been in this fandom for more than a year, though I read the books during the pandemic.
I don't remember how I came to read my first Neris fic, but it converted me. I do remember, for sure, that I devoured one fic after another: "A Court of Flames and Forgiveness" by mytearsricochet89, "A Court of Tangled Flames" by Theladyofbloodshed and "A Court of Unforged Hearts" by limeandorange (with whom I now have the pleasure to work) & MissMandy. My obsession with this ship only grew, and I discovered many more talented writers and artists. Every Neris fic I've read has fixed something I didn't even know was broken by the canon, every art piece I've seen brightened my day and filled my heart with warmth. I want to say thank you to everyone who has materialised their love for Neris into something beautiful.
This is what inspired me to help the community by being a mod for #nerisweek2026. Even if it is my first involvement in such a big fandom event, I hope that together with this year's team, we'll do a good job.
I have been somewhat in fandom 2 years now, and let me just say I was basically lost to Neris before Nesta and Eris had even properly interacted. Every single Eris scene in SF had me sitting there like: âThis HAS to be leading somewhere, right?â
The flames, the sharp attitudes, the eldest child issues, the emotional repression, the fact they would absolutely combust if trapped in the same room together⊠and then the dance scene happened and I was gone, fully claimed by Neris Nation, no recovery possible. Naturally, the second I finished the books, I immediately started writing my fanfic "A Court of Unforged Hearts", and that story is still my baby to this day!
Some fun facts about me:
Limes are rich in vitamin C and honestly deserve more appreciation for their immune system contributions.
Oranges are great for hydration and potassium, which means together lime and orange are basically the power couple of citrus.
Citrus fruits can help with iron absorption which feels useful for surviving both life and Neris angst.
I have spent an unreasonable amount of time thinking about fictional faeries and also citrus fruits.
I joined the ACOTAR fandom in December of 2024 after mainlining the first book over the course of 3 days. I initially fell head-over-heels for Elucien (and am still a still a huge fan of that ship); Neris was a complete accident! I fell down the rabbithole by reading through @separatist-apologist's entire fic library, and No One Likes A Mad Woman grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and never let go. My love for Neris has only grown from there.
I've since written a few fics of my own featuring those two: "You've Got Mail (Neris' version)" (the first half is co-written; in progress) and "We Both Go Down Together" (complete, though the series it's part of is ongoing). I cannot fully express how thrilled I was to jump into Neris Week this year, and this year's team is seriously one of the most motivated and easy to work with groups I've worked with!
Outside of the internet, I'm a west coast working mom with too many hobbies that range from collecting plants, knitting, D&D, foraging, reading, writing, and both digital and traditional art. Fun fact: I've also written a fair amount of Forgotten Realms fanfic over the years, and have co-written several little 5e supplement books one can find on DMsGuild!
I just know we're all gonna have a great time this year. Let's go Neris nation! đ
Hi, Iâm PinkFuneral!
I joined the fandom in 2023 and shipped Neris when I read Silver Flames. I was so disappointed Nesta didnât accept Erisâ proposal, because they had so much chemistry and heat during the dance scene. It wasnât until I started talking to other fans on Reddit that I realized I wasnât the only one with this opinion.
I like to explore various ships when writing to see what I can come up with. Iâve written Morlain, Gwynlain, Jassa, Azris, and Tamris, as well as several Elucien fics. Iâm currently working on my first Neris fic.
In real life, Iâm a mom in the Midwestern US that likes to read, write, and garden. I have a no-lawn yard full of native flowers and plants, and I love to document whatâs growing every week through pictures and drawings. đŒ
Hi, Iâm teethmissing, or you can just call me teeth!
Iâve been in the fandom since 2021, but wasnât super active until 2025. Iâve loved Nesta from the very beginning, and after Silver Flames, I just felt myself wanting more to her story. Thatâs how I stumbled upon Neris fanfiction, and my addiction started there. Iâve probably devoured every fanfic thatâs been publicly shared, which inspired me to start writing my own.
Iâm extremely excited to be a part of the team for this yearâs Neris week! I hope youâll join us in celebrating what would be Prythianâs Hottest Power Couple.
I hope you've enjoyed getting to meet us - come say hi in the comments! Finally, we'll see you next week, when we announce this year's prompts!
you know how in (all) fandoms, inevitably someone will come into a public forum and be like "if you don't like so-and-so or if you're going to just complain about this, why do you even bother reading it? go be part of a fandom you actually like," and it's such an irritating straw man argument, because when did critical thought/considered criticism immediately meant that I don't enjoy something or can't engage with it?
Okay, maybe they have THE TINIEST BIT of a point, because I saw the "a story in four movements" bullshit, and instantly my reaction was --
Sorry sorry sorry to all my NTSM readers for the delay in the next chapter. I don't know why, but I'm having one of those bouts where I come back to the chapter after a day or two away, and hate all of it, and toss it away.
So to tide any interested parties over until I actually post it, here's a snippet of a scene of Rhys meeting Nesta's father that I've cut from the next chapter.
(there's the small possibility this will make it's way back into the fic, but I don't think it's likely.) Read under the cut...
Rhys hated seeing her here. No, a lie. He loved seeing Nesta anywhere, any opportunity granted to him. But if he could break the bars of the cage in which she locked herself, he would. She deserved more than devoting herself to raise the pretensions of the father who didnât care enough for her and the sister too blind and too spoiled to the sacrifices and feelings of her siblings. It was a waste of her talents, her intelligence, that authority she could muster at a blink. He wanted so much to be the one to give her the life she deserved. But Nesta would never allow that, would never allow even the point of view that her life was somehow less than satisfying.Â
He lingered, glamoured as he watched from the window as Nesta announced her return. She seemed surprised to find her father at home for once and sitting with a man with straight strawberry blond hair cut bluntly in a way that reminded Rhys of a broom. The male rose with a pleased grin upon her entrance. Rhys managed to stop himself from flying in and ripping off the hand that took Nestaâs in greeting, raising it to his lips for a light kiss, but only just. Nesta had not told him that she was still entertaining suitors. Not a surprise, considering wrenching secrets from her was pulling teeth, but as a mated male who had waited eight months for a single taste of his female, Rhys feltâŠpressed. Rhys had only just made his affection truly known, he reminded himself. Nesta may want things he could not give her - a marriage in which she could grow old with someone. Children. Once again, he was torn. Rhys wanted Nesta to have everything she desired, truly. He simply also wanted to be the only one to give her those things.Â
The Cauldron had been cruel. Â
But as the manâs hand drifted injudiciously low on Nestaâs back as he led her to her seat, fate was written. Rhys could put a stop to this right now in a civil manner, or he could find this man and mist him in his sleep. For the sake of human-fae relations, the choice was clear.Â
âLord Rhysand Adesius begs a moment of your time, Miss Nesta.â Rhys followed the servant who announced him to the astonished family gathering. He couldnât help the satisfied smile as the unknown man shifted uncomfortably at the sight of Rhys. Thatâs right, fucker, he thought, you havenât a prayer.Â
âLady Nesta, I apologize for my interruption, but you left your book in my carriage. I did not wish you to do without.â He had hit upon the excuse and conjured something from the shadow realm to give the easy lie credence. He held the book he had magicked blindly - a text on botany too dry for even him - and tried not to laugh when Nesta wrinkled her nose at it.Â
âHow thoughtful of you,â she answered flatly. âThank you. Iâd invite you to stay but- â
âNesta, child. Youâve no wish to be unsociable, Iâm sure,â her father was on his feet in a moment, heading Rhysâs way. Rhys didnât miss how her eyes flashed steely grey in anger at the rebuke. âIntroduce us to your friend.âÂ
She dutifully nodded. âLord Rhys, this is my father, Roland Archeron. And his friend Sir Cole Wynat. Rhys is a neighbor of Aunt Ripleighâs, father. He has just done me the kindness of escorting me home.â Nesta turned to Rhys then, her smile tight and forbidding. âWe shouldnât keep him.âÂ
Mr. Archeron brushed right past his daughter, ignoring her. Rhysâs nostrils flared at the manâs blatant disregard for daughterâs wishes, even if it did serve his own purpose. He told himself to keep things amiable as Mr. Archeron reached for his hand.Â
âForgive my daughter, Lord Rhys. She has a shyness that is often mistaken for indifference. You are more than welcome.âÂ
But Rhys did let himself squeeze the manâs proffered hand just past the point of comfort. Just a subtle warning.Â
âPlease. Lady Nesta and I are good friends, Mr. Archeron. We donât stand on ceremony with each other. No forgiveness needed.â
